The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1910-10-21
.TACOMANS PROTEST
CENSUS FIGURES
ANNOUNCEMENT or POPULATION
sTIRs UP CITY OF
DESTINY.

Tao I'll NuHUeT enumerated,
Though Admitting TabIuation a. Re.
turns Was Faulty.
Tacoma, Oct. 17.-Protests against
Census Director Durand's allowance of
S2,972 as the population of Tacoma and
demands for recount have been wiz
ed to Washington by the Chamber of
Commerce and the Commercial Club.
Mr.. Durand's padding charges are
generally considered lightly and as I'M
warranted by facts.
Members of the civic organizations
declare that if any of the regular
enumerators were guilty of padding
they should be punished to the fullest
extent of the law.
Tacomans Can't Figure It Out.
Tacomans feel that after the NEAR
recount" as they call it, of September
was made, Special Agent w. A. Nc
Kenzie either double-crossed them
when he told them in conference lust
prior to his departure from the COM
munity that the population figures
would be between 100000 and 1O7, 900,
or that Director Durand has picked on
Tacoma as an example to the entire
United States, "penalizing beyond all
bounds of reason as some put it, that
the lesson might have the maximum
strength.
General indignation was expressed
against Special Agent Mckenzie be-
cause of the hurried manner in which
the recount recheck was made, and the
small number of men that he employ
ed to do the work.
Chance to Even Up.
Numerous claims of injustice were
made and one instance pointed out was
that in the recheck the re-enumerators
found one district containing twenty
eight residences that had been missed
completely during the April work.
Mckenzie, it is charged, arbitrarily re-
fused to allow the names of the occu-
pants of the homes to be added in the
remuneration.
Little credence is placed here In Di-
rector Durand's charges of fraud
against Special Agent Stacey NJ. Cor
win. Corwin received a straight per
diem remuneration of SIS, and other
than possibly as a matter of pride
could not have benefited financially
through larger number Of names than
legitimate. Corwin left Tacoma soon
after census taking ended in April
saying he was going either to the Phil.
ippines or Panama.
He had formerly been in the govern.
ment service in both places, but had
not determined which he would visit
when he left.
Corwin's one blunder, it was declar.
ed. was overzealousness. Four days
after the census began it was seen that
with only seventy-three enumerators
the entire city could not be counted in
the fifteen days allowed.
At that juncture the civic organiza-
tions took a hand, distributing upwards
of 100000 blanks containing the regu-
lar census questions, but not of official
form.
Toward the close of the census a
perfect food of the special slips began
coming in as the civic organizations
increased the supply Of special enumer.
ators. Corwin had charge Of the com
pairing of these slips with the regular
schedule, but was unable to keep pace
with the supply.
Names Entered Promiscuously.
He asserted at the time that the
names were all bona fide, but that
there was not time to enter all on the
schedule by the districts in which their
address was given. So, rather than
not have them included at all, it is
said he allowed the names secured dur
ing the last few days to be entered
promiscuously. Thus, when Special
Agent Mckenzie began his recount, he
found persons living in Regents park
entered as residing in the Third ward,
but not entered in the Regents park
schedule. It is believed that irregu-
larities OF this kind, which were not to
be consirered padding because the
names were not duplicated, is at the
bottom OF the charges against Corwin.
Certain it is, say his friends, he did
not have dollar to gain by any pad.
ding.