The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-05-29
Army of Workers Gathers
Church Statistics in
One Hour
PLANS GREAT VALUE
IS DE ONSTRATED
Incomplete ReturnsGiveRich-
mond Population of 1o4,-
2s0-Unique Movement
in City's Experience


tunity to increase the membership OF
our congregation fifty per cent
rhia was tho voluntary declaration
las; night of a chairman of one OF
the suburban districts after the com"
pietl.n OF the church census in his
territory, and that observation en-
bodies In terse English ali that the
home visitation stands for-what IL
aimed to accomplish. II illustrates
foretbiy and convincingly, after its
demonsi ration. the text Of the people
behind TIVE cannot save the peo-
Pic unless We can reach them; we
cabinet teach them unless we reacn
them.
Yesterday thew were reaehed--coa-
servativeIy speaking $4,000 OF them -
and the harvest made ready for the
teachers.
A Great Undertaking.
1t Was undoubtedly the greatest,
most unique, movement in Richmon1's
expai tence. Within the average time
Of ar hour IL is estimated 1900 homes
wers visited and the religious affilia-
ton or preferenee--or lack OF lt--of
le4fsh persons was noted in black
and white The exact figures VIII net
he tnhulated until today. but the IS
4{r.s, ei.,,n ir conservative so
perfect was the system employed
that II was known AT 2 o'clock last
night that In thu. great task OF com
piiing this church census of ths city
and Us many suburbs there was but
ons e1nission--ore- half OF a city block
Ia tie West End hy oversight ~ the
won ssts, and TWO individual Instance ~.
whsel. make II impossible for the pro-
Taat..s to say. with Il Sigh of satfsfac-
ton. that the work was aasointaiy
perfect One was the case of an itat-
ian woman who cannot understand
United States. and a crank wno de-
ciined TO answer the question asked
him.
Broom swept Clean.
The jafls. the penitentiarS. the hotels
and the boarding houses were called 10
give in their testimony, and by
o'clock last night this mass of I'M or
nation cleaned by the workers was In
the hands Of the city pastors. The
work will be rounded up today, and
complete. definite figures compiled.
But one complete report~was turned
In 10 headquarters last night OF the
nineteen into which the city was d.
vitied. This came from the sixth dis
trict. in the heart OF the city. II
showed that 4,766 names were enroiisd
ny the visitors: that 4.44t Of these
were church members or had ex-
pressed preference for "a certain de-
nomination, and that 3ls were neither
members of churches nor had any
religious preference or belief. The one
complete report In as striking an illus
tratior Of the value OF v!sitationsas the
observation Of the suburban chairman
who directed the work In his district
Army Well Organized.
Promptly on the stroke Of o'clock
Yesterday afternoon the army of work
ers. armed with the necessary printed
cards. started from the headquarters
In each of the nineteen districts to ac-
complish the task set before them.
The schools took half holiday. the
tina rsrner Of. tsuaI9fefne ana fraffSf of
the stores were closed for the after
noon, and the workers had fuh sway.
IL liz interesting to note that while
E3ss visitors were enrolled, possibly
500 of them were not needed, as fully
30 per cent of the nineteen districts
had more workers than they could
use. II was the best s.stematized,
most perfectly organised corps of
men and women ever gotten together
IN Richmond.
J. Shreve Durham. who mapped
out the plan of campaign. did his
work we'll. and save for half block
In an isolated district which wits
omitted through oversight OF the
census takers, or in their eagerness to
complete the task in record time.
there Will be no tangled skeins to
unravel today and no loose threads
of the closely-woven fabric Of the
campaign to pick up.
Many of the workers completed
fr1 "a a IN =.
hour: fully rs per cent. OF them were
through in one hour. while in some
unusual instances. in which workers
had been given, Internationally. too
much territory. two to three hours
were consumed. The average time
was better than an hour. Sixty
thousand cards were issued and 1t -
a conservative estimate that $1,000
were filled out and returned to head
quarters. on population basis
which IL very conservatiVe--of IL
to the home-164.25 names We're en-
rolled In Richmond and its Suburbs.
The directory estimates the popula-
ton ef=esty -and suburbs as Ii 600,
while more optimistic citizens give It
az 172. geo. IT is confidently believed
that the directory census at least, Will
be fulfilled when the returns are ac-
curateiy compiled and possibly the
figures of those not so conservative
in their estimates.
IAttle Trouble Encountered.
The cards furnished the census visi-
tors contained simple. direct ques-
lions. They called for names OF the
people Of the home: the ages Of those
under twenty-onc: the church afiiia-
ton, II any. and II none the church
preference OF each member Of the
household, and last night only two
ipstances Of any trouble encountered