South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-02-24
TAKE DECENNIAL
INVENTORY Of j. s.
For First Time Electric Ma
chimes Will Be Used to
Take the Census.

WASHlNGTD.- reb. 24.-with
hosiIies at ar end. the government
is now laying sne basis for o4e ot
the greater OF its oeace time tasks
the decennial inventory OF the
United States. IT'S people, lands, in
dustry. and livestock that is called
the census. Sec'y OF Commerce Red
field the other day signed the order
that transferred one Of the largest
OF the temporary war buildings put
up in Washington. that formerly
housing the army's department of
aeronautics. 70 Director OF the Cen
srs Rogers and his staff.
Actually. the government began
the Job some months ago, assemb-
ling its plans and forces. BY law, the
beginning OF the census period of
1920 is July 1. 1919. though it Will
not be until a year from April that
the enumerators will be set at work.
IL is then that every individual in
America. or some one acting for the
individual. will be asked the series OF
questions that must be answered.
There will be % Of these questions
i'm the 1920 census. according 70 the
present design of Director Rogers
dummy card. which now are being
given the exhaustive study of Stats
ticians. The more complex ques-
tionnaires that go TO industrial es-
adjustments. schools. farms and
every other permanent institution of
the country are likewise in the de-
velopment stage undergoing critical
examination in the light OF expert
ence the government has gained in
conducting IL inventories of the
kind
Use Electric Machines.
Chiefly the bureau is engaged in
preparing for the classification and
tabulation of the vast quantity of
material which will be assembled.
The 1920 census tabulation will be
for the first time almost completely
a machine operation, conducted by
means Of devices useful only 10 the
census bureau of the United States
which have been invented and are
now being built by men in its en-
ploy. Electric machines will first
coming in on the enumerators' sheets
TO cards. not by writing. but by
punching holes at proper points
Then the punched cards will be
handed i'm their millions to another
battery Of machines, the tabulators,
an amazing product Of human in
genuity. r. NJ. Boiteaux, who de-
vised them. has been with the census
for s years. and is now superintend-
ing the construction of % machines,
the operation of which he will di
rect.
These tabulators, working with
smooth and silent perfection, take in
400 cards a minute. count them, re-
ject ali that are imperfect or i'm
properly punched in any fashion.
and take off the totals Of punch
marks. assembling the final result in
printed figures on handy sheets. One
of them the other day in eight hours
handled ] 10000 cards. compiling in
formation that would represent the
population statistics of a very siza bic
American city Their experimental
use was commenced after the 1910
census. but Mr.. Boiteaux has since
devoted most OF his time TO their
Improvement and to the extension
of their abilities
The machines resemble In outward
aspect a piece of office furniture.
Cards go into a metallic magazine at
their top travel a few inches on
metal guides. come out neatly stack
ed with the mistakes OF the punch
ing machires-which have merely
human Operators-pointed out. The
printed records of the Is or 90 totals
that the punch marks indicate come
out from another slot, and the in
strument stands ready to repeat
With these machines there is q
practical assurance that the publ
cations Of the census. usually COM
ing out a long time after the enum-
Grafton. may be more quickly at
hand 10 guide the estimates OF gov
ernmental and industrial leaders.
and generally guide and demonstrate
the progress of national civilization.
They are being produced largely by
the work of the youthful apprentices
from Washington schools which
have vocational courses