New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1913-02-08
u. s. CENSUS DIRECTOR DU-
RAND'S REPORT.

Durand, of the Bureau of TIN
Census for the fiscal year ende'
June 80, 1912, has been submitte'
to the Secretary of Commerc
and Labor.
| Regarding the coat of tn
Thirteenth Decennial Census
the report states that the gran,
total expenditure from July !
1909 to June 30, 1912, wa
SIS, III ,593; of which 81, 1928, 49,
was expended for field worl
Salaries OF supervisors and emu
merators etc }: $6.27l,446 TO
compilation and publication o
statistics; and 81, $40, 762 fol
annual and other Investigations
of the permanent Bureau not con
nected with the Decennial Cen
sus. The total appropriation
receipts, etc, were $l5,1 It's, 487
The Bureau was mainly occu
pied during the fiscal year o
1912 in the compiling of the re
suits of the Thirteenth Census
but also the annual work reuuir
ed under the Permanent Census
act was carried on as usual.
The total Census force on Dec
ember 81, 1912 numbered 81;
with 7l2 special agents addition
al stationed in the southern
states 80 collect statistics of cot
ton.
On the subject Of appropria
tions the report states that the
Bureaus estimates of expendi
lures for the fiscal year 1913 was
81 ,612, 40 The total appropri
alton by Congress- for the year
was 81 ,54s, $50. Included in this
amount were $4,000 for the EN-
ploymt mt of temporary clerks to
complete the Thirteenth Census
work, and 1912, 00C for the print
ing of the reports.
The estimates for the work o.
the Bureau for the fiscal year
1914 amounted to 81 ,23S, 32O, a
net decrease as compared with
the appropriation made for the
previous year
Carriers in Census Work.
The most striking recomenda
tions in Director Durand's re
port are the plan to use United
States mail carriers i'm the future
to perform as a large part Of the
census field work as possible,
and the plan to provide for the
supervision of this field work by
trained census employees instead
of or in addition to super visors
or other directing officers chosen
locally. 1t is proposed, if Con
gress approves, to apply these
methods to the special census of
agriculture which, by authority
of a recent act, is to be taken in
1915.
In regard to the plan of using
mail carriers Director Durand
says in his report:
While greater efforts were
made at the census of 1910 than
at any previous census to secure
competent supervisors and TO
eliminate political influence in
their selection, the gensrol meth
cd of selecting, directing, and
paying them wss substantially
the same as at the three preced
ing censuses. The chief obiec-
tion to that me thod is not the fact
that politics is bound to great
er or less extent TO enter into the
appointments. II is rather that
both supervisors and enumera
tors are in the great majority of
entirely inexperienced
in census work; that there is no
way of guaranteeing that they
shall be particularly familiar
with this people and the condi
lions of their district; that the
Term of employment, II a ticularly
Of enumerators, ia so short and
,he pay SO small that it IL very |
iifiicplt to induce competent per.
IONS TO take the job; and, finally, |
hat there is no adequate means
" holding supervisors or enum-
ratnrs responsible for conscien-
ious and thorough work, Sew
MY thousand or more enumer-
tors must be secured for work
asting not over dfteep days in
he cities and not over thirty
avs in the rural districts, and
+ moderate rates of pay. The
ersons who would make most
emu merators are usu-
lily employed and can not give
leir time to the work An emu
lerator, once selected, knows
nat at most the only penalty for
unsatisfactory work will be fail +
re to receive his comparatively
nall compensation, and that in
lct it is scarcely likely that his !
competence will be discoveredI |
ntil after he has received his pay \
Incompetence and irresponsi. {
lily of enumeratOrs are by no
cans the only canse of the un G
ltisfactory character of census c
atistics. The excessive mum. Il
,rof questions on the schedules b
id the ignorance or lack of in
rest on the part of many of the {
'ople called upon to answer c
EN- are also important causes. n
lat the results are far from be- Il
g entirely satisfactory is well e
lcwn to the general public, but Il
st known by the officials Of the v
nsus Bureau. There is reason b
believe that the actual num Der q
Inhabitants is ascertained with Il
proximate accuracy, and that 81
principal interrogatories on q
: population and agricultural q,
ledDlps are answered. with d q