Evening journal., 1913-12-09
NEW MEMS OF YESTERDAY
The Romantic Story in Sta
tiStiCS
BY Holland.

One very warm evening in the
spring OF 1881 | met General Francis
A. Walker on Fourteenth street, near
the corner of New York avenue, in
Washington. He was walking with
no leisurely pace. He seemed not to
mind tho excessive heat of that early
summer evening. II was thinly clad,
having on a light coat OF quality
which gained great popularity thirty
years ago, and which was called seer
sucker. He recognized me and stop
] ped me- He asked me where I was
going, and when / had told him that
/ had finished my evenings work and.
was on my way to my hotel he said:
Come and have light supper
with me at Wormley's"
No urging was required for, in the
first place, Wormley's was esteemed
at that time as by far the best Of
the caterers IN Washington, and. coll
ored man though he was, Mr. Worm
ley was the proprietor OF a hotel
called by his name and patronized
by men and women Of wealth who
wanted the best service and the best
table. Furthermore, / knew that
General Walker, while in no sense a
gourmand, was a gourmet He knew
what good cooking was, where to get
il, and what delicacies were in sea-
son. Az
He said TO me- "The reed-birds
are just now fat, very delicious and
OF excellent flavor. Wormley knows
how to cook them to perfection. Come
with me and we Will have a feast
~ for Lucullus."
In due time the reed-brds of
size about equal to an English wal
nut were brought on. | knew the mo-
ment that General Walker tasted the
first Of these delicate morsels that
he was content
He then eonnded to me secret.
He said
Il shall probably be compelled 20
resign my place as superintendent OF
the census. ! have under consider
alton an ofer which Will give me
life work at handsome salary
Later this statement was confirmed.
for II was announced that General
] Walker had been offered and had ac-
! cepted the presidency OF the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology
I viii tell you" said General
Walker, why I hesitate somewhat
about a favorable consideration Of
the proposition which has been made
to me. You know, of course. that l
was superintendent of the census in
the decade following the Civil War.
Dry as It would appear to most per-
sons to be, yet the labor Of collecting
statistics of the kind which the
Census Bureau under my first admin
istration did collect was, for me, a
fascinating work.
Almost everybody thinks of figures
aud statistics as something very dry.
Well they may be dry or may be
made fascinating. When | was in
Europe ! hunted up the report of the
great speech delivered by Gladstone
when he explained his budget as
chancellor of the exchequer TO Par
lament. I was then for the first time
impressed with the fact that figures
may contain romance, history and
even poetry.
Il have been looking forward to
the census work with a great deal
of interest. ] have learned how to
read between the lines OF statistics. I
can take batch of figures for in
stance those which tell OF the growth
of farm property in the United States
and can work out from those fig
ures a great deal of the story Of our
agricultural development can see
the expansion OF railways over unin-
habited prairies. ! can picture 10
myself the onward rush OF the pio-
neers and the heroism with which
they pressed ahead.
II can read in the statistics much
Of the wonderful story OF the re-
cuperation of the United States after
the enormous total losses caused by
the expense of the Civil War. I
was expecting to find in the figures
of this eighth census the unfolding Of
some new or wonderful drama of our
American life. All that will be de-
MED me if I resign. | want to say
one thing, however. and that is that
if ! were in authority over the Amer
lean education system and had ade-
quate financial support I would make
the census reports Of the United
States one of the leading text books
in the schools. For. with a compe-
tent teacher who possessed the gift
OF imaging forth the wonderful story
that is in recent statistics, the great
est and most valuable Of object les
sons would be given TO the young
men and women OF America. Tor II
would teach them Of the growth OF
this country and the reasons for it.
Copyright. 1913. by E. J. Edwards
All rights reserved.)
Tomorrow NJ. Edwards will tell OF
"General Logan's Four-Day Speech.
Piles Cured in to "a Days.
Druggists refund money il PAIO QINI