The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-03-02
FILM ON THE CENSUS
Was Willing Some Should Die But
Hard to Make Selection

well known lawyer and stump speak
er Of Springfield. Vt. was a census
enumeratOr at St. Adams where he
then lived. After sending in his re-
turns his pay was held up because
his mortality statistics did not come
up to the average whereupon Finn
wrote to the census superintendent.
His letter was shown by Superinten-
dent Porter of the census bureau to
a reporter OF the New York World
and printed in that paper and was
copied all over the country Recent
ly the letter was reprinted in the
Springfield Reporter and the follow.
ing extracts are taken from it:
ST. Adams, Vt, Nov. p. 1890
Hon. Robert p. Porter, Supt Of the
Census. Washington, d. c.
Sir.-I have your favor of the 18TH
inst, and am surprised and grieved
TO learn that your department is dis
satisfied with my mortality reports
or with anything else | have done Of
ficially, although / must confess that
your frequent demands on me either
for this information or for some ex-
UiuitiAAoAA VI val lOuo HttANN VI AlAttt
which | had forwarded in the regular
way have led me to suspect that pos
sibly you were not fully appreciative
of my ability as a census enumerator.
You now inform me that my dis
trict contains 1910 persons and that
| have reported but six deaths dur
ing the last five months of the cen
sus year, when according to some law
of average hitherto unknown and
therefore UNDECIDED by the people of
my district there should have been
ten deaths rather than six reported
during the period indicated. You
further inform me that my account
has been suspended and will not be
paid until the deficiency is supplied
or the low death rate satisfactorily
explained
am very sorry that my conscience
prevents my reporting to you more
deaths than were actually reported to
me, for | inquired in every house and
you already have the result
| studied your instructions very
carefully and found nothing in them
to indicate that you expected ten
deaths in order to make the census
complete.
OF course had | realized that the
safety and reputation of my country
demanded ten deaths here | certain
ly would have adopted some plan for
obtaining them, for | am acquainted
with several good subjects for large
and enthusiastic funerals, all of said
subjects being men whose deaths |
should be glad TO record, even with
out expense to the government.
| gather from your letter that you
require us to report under the rule
adopted by your department, one
dead person for each 1Sl live ones.
But, pardon me for calling attention
to a violation OF. this rule by another
ST. Adams enurnerator Mr.. Barney
F. Kelley, who took the census in the
district adjoining mine, reported 1909
live persons and twenty deaths dur
ing the last five months of the census
year. Can't even the census depart.
ment see that there is a glaring in
consistency in the rule which you re-
quire me to follow in reference 10
deaths? You, doubtless, have some
clerk somewhere who is able to show
you that Mr. Kelley has reported one
dead person for each 20 live ones,
while your rule as laid down to me
states the true proportion to be one
dead one for each hundred eighty-one
live ones. Now Mr. Kelley has such
large surplus of deaths, can't you
transfer some of them to my account,
or are you going to make him resur.
rect enough to bring his average
down to where you seem to think 1t
belongs?
But possibly If you knew my dis
trict you would not presume TO ap-
ply to it the rule indicated.
In the first place | know 1t from
good authority that there is but one
place in the world where the rate of
mortality is as low as in> st. Adams,
and that place is far away in sunny
Italy, but those people being ignorant
and beyond our jurisdiction we can
hardly expect them to die according
to the rules of the census depart
ment.
My district contains a large mum.
Der of persons who for pluck, patti.
ence and perseverance are the won
der and admiration of the age | re-
fer, of course, to Vermont Democrats,
who, you know, must occasionally
grow old but never die
There are few government office
holders and you know from your long
official experience that dying is not
one of their peculiarities, but had |
received your instructions subsequent
to the last election, and if they felt
anyway as | did while the returns
were coming in, | think | might have
persuaded some of the newly appoint.
ed one to die with little difficulty.
There are also a few school teach.
ers, but presiding as they have SO
long over the band of angelic beings
whose bright abodes are in the pleas
ant homes of St. Albans-they are
not yet prepared to run the risk OF
being compelled to take positions In
the sulphurous district beyond the
veil" where the reigning spirits have
as little comprehension of a gooC
school law as the Vermont legisla
ture.
There are also some lawyers t
whom if the angel, of death were t
appear with his sword already drawn
they would calmly ask for his ere