The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-03-19
THE NEXT CENSUS.
Every Sort of Question Win Be Asked by
Those Who Take 1t.

Those Who Take 1t.
The census of 1920. the WASHINGTON
dispatches tell Us. is to be the most
complete ever gathered To take il
WI require investigation by l0a.O00
Federal employees. or one to every thou
sand OF the population. The individual
viii be asked not only to count himself
and his family-not always an easy task
IN the Tennessee mountains but to tell
all about his health, his part in the war.
and his 'honors or special achievements
Census takers viii be expected to know
what ID ). O.. means and how TO spell
. CrOiy dc Guerre't
Just what viii be included under hon
ors and special achievements" we don't
Know VIII the inquiry be in regard to
the accomplishments of dollar a wear
men and like patriots, or win special
achievements in the household also
count! Suppose woman has taught all
her neighbors how To make corn bread
that tastes like something, or landlord
has refused To take rent from the mother
Of soldier: will there be place on the
blank for them
There is another puzzling item. The
census takers are expected to write down
tliC Niidl dttti III dit0t OF the IaffliE
visited. Are they, the census takers. to
be the Judge of the character of abodes ?
/ We have known poor but honest of
opinion artist to emerge from an apart
ment of eleven rooms and five baths NUT
tering to himself What Dump" We
/ have also known an architect to saw.
upon entering house that rented for
/ Sl2 month. WONDERFUL" l. a census
7
to be allowed to condemn the owners of
the square brown pieces of wood! Char
actcr of abode" is 4 broad phrase. IF
we must know what is behind the doors
of house. the census ought not to gen
eralizc. but TO present all the facts
careful count OF the remnants of the
Victorian era, for instance, would be IN
I teresting. Much more readable than a
table of the quarries and oil wells would
be the result of putting to the owners OF
20,000,000 homes these questions:
Have YOU any pug dogs? Wax flow
crs? Haircloth furniturey Melodeons I
Gilded rolling pins! Bootiacksy Frank
lin stores Antimacassars Whatnots !
Rogers groups? Old oaken buckets !
Side bar buggiesg'
Mines and quarries we will have with
US for centuries YET What the readers
OF the census reports, porting over those
times in 1920, will miss is the intimate
things Of life We know that Chephren
build the Second Pyramid but we don I
know whether he blew soap bubbles Of
) not If the people CT today are to be
asked questions about their speeia
achievements and the character OF then
abodes. it would be well to get down t.
the real thing. Inquiries like these might
do:
What kind Of temper have you wher
! it rams1"
How much have you put in the banl
since prohibition came!"
How do you dispose of old safety
+ razor blades"
do you like raisns in bread pudding !?
Are YOU satisfied with the rcarrange
| ment of Europe. Asia and Africa ?"
What do YOU put in minee pic now &
r give it tang
: "of which sex is the self-dcterminatiol
: in this house :"
Have YOU ever cut you own hair
| With success
/, What is your favoritc superstition
5 Phonograph disk. Perfume Movie ac
/ tori"
. How old do You wish You wereg'
9 We arc disappointed in the Congress
0 1t took the framing OF questions out o
+ the hands Of the Director of the Ccnsu.
: but did not 90 far with its opportunit,
to provide for a really human census
d New York Sun.