The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-04-09
THE CENSUS MAN.
List of Questions Would Make Down.
Easter Ashamed of His Country.

Whoever compiled the questions to
be used by the enumerators who will
take the 1910 census certainly was of
an inquiring turn of mind. If there's
anything he forgot to ask, casual
glance at the list doesn't reveal it.
The regular population schedule is
ahout like that of ten years ago, but
there are dozens of other schedules to
be considered.
on the population schedule you
Will be required 10 tell your name
right name. too; give your last birth
day. your color and sex; state
whether you are married or single,
widowed or divorced; tell your birth
place, the birthplace of your parents,
and tell also whether or not you can
speak English.
In addition to this, you must tell
the enumerator what your trade or
profession, if you have one, and if
you haven't livelihood. If you are
an employee, you will be required to
state just how many months you have
hcen out of work during the year and
whether or not you are working at
the time the census is being taken.
Then you will tell the minion Of the
government whether you can read
and write, and whether you have at
tended school since September /,
1909. If you own your home, you
must tell him that also, and if you
do not own it, that goes down on
the official scoreboard, too.
The enumerator will also be requir-
ed to ask you whether you are sur
vivor Of the Union or Confederate
army or navy, and whether or not you
are blind in both, eyes. He will also
inquire If you are deaf and dumb,
but it Is fair to presume that you
won't be required to answer If you
are.
But the population schedule Is
modest compared with some of the
others. the agricultural schedule, for
instance. Owners of farms will be
asked how many fowls they possess
over three months old; how many
fowls and eggs were produced on the
farm during 1909. A fellow would
have to have pretty good memory
to recall every chicken and egg that
was produced on a farm in the course
Of year, but Uncle Samuel wants
the info, and he's going to have it
or have some mighty good reasons
why.
But the number of eggs and
chickens produced is as nothing to
the query that follows that. This is
simply a request for the farmer to
state the number Of bees he has on
hand April Is. 1910. Think of going
out and counting the little busy bees.
Stung!
And the enumerator is going to get
right personal before he gets thru
with the tillers of the soil. He is
going TO inquire. for instance, If there
is mortgage on the old home and
just how much it will take to wipe
IL out. Then he will want to know
the total number of acres in the farm
| and how much of it is improved and
how much isn't. The statistics to be
compiled on this schedule will in
| clude about everything one can i'm
agine in connection with agriculture.
To give you an idea of the enor-
nous amount of work to be done in
compiling the figures for the census,
which starts April Is, it is only neces-
sary to quote you the names of a
few of the special schedules. These
include automobiles. beet sugar fac
tories. bicycles and motorcycles. boots
and shoes. brick. tile. terra Gotta fire
clay products, butter, cheese and con-
densed milk factories, canning and
preserving fish and oysters, steam
q,
copper smelters and refineries, cot
ton seed oil mills, dyestuffs and ex-
tracts. electrical machinery, explo-
sives. fertilizers. gas works, glass
works. and right on down thru the
| alphabet to u. There are more than
go of these supplemental schedules.
They are designed to develop statistics
peculiar to the different industries
The information sought by the
government is to be regarded as
strictly confidential by the enumer-
ators and the agents are prohibited
by law from delegating to any other
person their authority to enter estab-
uShments and collect information