Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-14

n92O'SCENSUS Jobs
!! | STIR POLITICIANS
Prospect Of 100000 Posi-
-, tons Keeps Politics
'Unadjourned."
LAST COUNT AID IN DRAFT
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
copyright, 1918, By n. Y. Evening Pest. Inc,
Taking q census of the United
States is an undramatic and long
drawn-out affair, but the federal Con-
stitution requires that 1t be done
every ten years, so even the exigen-
cies Of war will not interfere with
preparations for the counting Of pop
ulation. Without the figures from the
previous decennial canvass Provost Mar
shall General Crovder would not have
been able to execute the draft law 20
smoothly. Many acts Of the govern
ment affecting industry are based
upon official estimates made every
time the census Is taken. Reappor-
tionment Of Congress itself depends
on new figures of population.
So, while some members Of Congress
objected to the taking of a census. ex-
cept to count the number of people In
the country. the House decided that
the usual comprehensive survey OF in
dustry and agriculture should be made.
Scent 100, 600 Jobs.
And those who are interested In
seeing 100000 new political Jobs ere
ated to feed out in promises between
now and the autumn elections were
particularly against any modihcatlon
of previous plans.
Thus the bill passed the House. but
It has not yet gone through the Sem
ate, and the question is whether, on
account OF the intense interest of the
country in war measures, nearly lo0.-
900 new jobs can be created outside
the civil service or the merit system
OF appointment.
It is a little early, one might think,
TO begin discussing the 1920 census
The census. however. is one OF those
things which, like Christmas or the
Income tax return. comes just every
30 often, and then is forgotten by
most of US until next time.
But just as some people-like toy
makers and magazine poets-have to
begin thinking of Christmas in
August. SO Congress and the census
bureau have to begin thinking in this
though it is not strictly a war meas
iire- 1t takes many months to set up
the machinery.
Thrills of the Census.
We all get our thrills out of the de-
cennial census. We learn that our
town is some thousands smaller than
the latest police estimate, and we ex-
perience the satisfaction of knowing
that the exact center of population is
in the northwest corner Of an Illinois
farmers cornfield, and has been
marked with a suitable granite slab.
But the census has other uses. It
ouirement for count of the popula-
ton every ten years to determine rep
Fesentation in Congress-: it serves the
came purpose for representation in
many state legislatures. and 1t gives
opportunity for numerous volumes Of
ture, manufacture. forestry. mines
and quarries.
About 1922 It will be possible to say
that there were precisely so many
so many hardware stores in the United
States "as or the LIST Of January, 1890.
This information is not so futile as 1t
sounds. For instance, the War Depart
ment, by a careful study of census
figures, none of which was less than
eight years old, was able to predict
with surprising closeness just how
many men Of each age would register
under each OF the drafts. And So a
statistfcian can approximate the
growth in industry II he has compare.
tive figures from a succession of CEN
6uses.
Has Permanent Force.
The bureau of the census is a per-
nanent institution with q force of
over 500 trained men and women. It
Is constantly called on by the govern
ment departments and by Congress
for figures on which to base estimates.
When revenue bill is drafted it is
largely with census data as founda-
ton that the Congress committees and
the Treasury are able to foretell fairly
closely just how much will be realized
by each of the taxes imposed. Run
ming the government without the CEN
sus bureau would be much like run
ming. a. train without q watch--it
would be guesswork, and pretty risky,
too.
Every ten years the census bureau
10 enlarged for a three-year period to
really enormous proportions by the
employment Of thousands Of extra
clerks and statisticians and scores of
thousands OF census takers or emu
merators. This emergency force col
1ects and tabulates the basic facts on
which all calculations are founded.
Every home in the United States is
visited and the name, age, sex, color
and a score Of other items about each
inhabitant recorded. Every industry
Is visited and inventoried. Stock is
taken of agricultural and mineral re-
sources by actual first-hand observa-
ton.
After the war we shall be in great
need Of statistics in the revival Of
business that seems bound to occur,
will want a sort of birds-eye view Of
wars effect on the social fabric.
Watched by Politicians.
Politicians watch anxiously for the