The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-22

not be counted. In a few cases spec ia1 agents connived with enum era tors in fraud, or even instructed them to commit it.
 clearly desirable at the next census that the law should explicitly prohib- it the printing and circulation by pri- vate persons of slips containing the census questions.
 List of Overcount Cities.
 A list of the several cities in which, as a result of remuneration or re- checking, the population. as finally determined by the Census Bureau, was enumerators is inserted. The Direc- tor says it is impossible to assert as to every one of these cities whether the excess in the original enumera- tion was due to deliberate fraud on the part of the numerators or oth- CTS, or to misjudgment only. It may be stated, however, that there is less evidence of conscious fraud in the case of the districts in San Francisco, Duluth, Minneapolis, Boise. Rawlins, Laramie, Havre, Ogden, and Everett than in the case of most of the other cities In some of the cities in which some of the enumerators were un- doubtedly guilty of fraud, others who overcounted the population apparent ly did so withouts fraudulent intent.
 ACTION UPON COMPLAINT.
 On the subject of undercounting the population the Director staten that prior to the time of the an- nouncement of the total population of the United States whenever com plaint that the census of any place was incomplete was presented and supported by any evidence worthy of consideration due investigation was made. CompIainants were required to submit some tangible evidence, usual ly in the form of lists of persons claimed to have been omitted or in the form of the results of private accommodations. Tn most instances where complaints were made such tangible evidence could not be pro. duced In several cases where lists of supposedly omitted names were submitted the schedules showed that all or most of them had been duly enumerated. Expert employees of the Census Bureau were sent to investl. gate wherever it seemed likely that material error had occurred. In Sev- eral cases rechecking or re-enu- neration of all or parts or city was deemed necessary, and in eight Of these cases the result was to show that there had actually been an un- dercount, and the figures were ac~ cordingly corrected. Ihese cases were as follows:
 Alabama, Montgomery, Talladega; Georgia. Augusta: New Jersey Atian- tic City; New York, Newburgh, Port .Tervis: Oklahoma, Woodward Clty, and Tennessee, Memphis.
 In only four of these cities-Au- eusta, Atlantic City, Newburgh, and Woodward-did the addition to the original figures exceed per cent. There is absolutely no reason to be- Iieye that the margin of error shown in these four cases would be in any degree approximated in the great ma iority of cities and towns through out the United States.
 It is not contended, however, that inc four cities named are the only ones in which undercounts may have occurred. Numerous complaints were received bv the Census Bureau after the announcement of the popu- Iation of the United States, which were not investigated because 1t would have been impossible in any ease to correct the figures. While the great majority of these com nIaints were almost certainly with out foundation, 1t is quite possible that in some few cases undercounts occurred.
 It would be futile, the Director as- serts, to attempt to make any general estimate as to how near the census of population for the country as a whole arrives at the correct number of inhabitants, and still more with re- snAnt to individual states. cities or loe