The Dayton forum. [volume] (Dayton, Ohio) 1913-1949, 1919-04-11
MACHINES TO DO
WORK IN CENSUS
Wonderful Devices to TahuIate
and Record Figures on Pop
llIation and Industry.
QUIZ BEGINS IN APRIL, 1920
Government Already Has Hsuun the
job Of Assembling its Plans and
Forces--one Machine Handles
10000 Cards In Eight
Hours.

Washington. With llostilifies at an
end, the government Il now laying the
basis for one Of the greatest or Its
peace-tinie tasks---the deeenniaI inven.
tory OF the United States, It's people
lands, industry and live stock that Is
called the census. Secretary OF Com
naerce Reiiieia the other day signed
the order that transferred one of the
largest of the temporary war build.
ings put up In Washington, TINT FOR
merly housing the army's department
OF neronautics, to Director OF the Cen
sns Rogers and his star.
Actually, the government began tile
Job some time ago. assembling It's
plans and forces. by lnw the begin
ning Of the census period OF 1920 ii
July 1, 1910. though II will not be iii.
I'll q year from April thut the enuner-
ators Will BIZ. set at work.
There will he fwenty-nIne questions
In the 1920 census. according To the
present design Of Director Rogers
dummy cards. which now are being
given the exhaustive study of statsti-
Z
naires that 80 To Industrial establish
ments, schools, farms and every other
permanent institution of the country
are likewise In the development stnge,
undergoing critical examination In the
light Of experience the government Inns
gained In conducting thirteen Inven-
tories OF the kind.
VIII He Machine Operation.
Chiefly the bureau Ii engaged In pre-.
pairing for the classification and fabit.
lation af the vast quantity Of mnferlnl
which will be assembled. The 1890
census tabmlatlon viii be for the first
time almost completely 4 machine on.
erution, conducted by means Of deyices
useful only 10 the census bureau of the
United States which have been inyen{-
ed aud nre now being built by men In
It's employ. Electric machines will
first transfer the written information
coming In on the enumerators' sheets
TO cards, not by writing, but by punch
Ing holes ut proper points. Then the
punched cards Will be handed In their
millions to another battery of ma
chimes, the tabulators, an amnzIng
| product of human ingenuity. E. Nj.
Bolteauy, who devised them. hns been
with the census bureau for eighteen
yenrs and III now experimenting the
construction of twenty-five machines,
the operation of which he will direct.
These tahuiators, working with
smooth and silent perfection. take In
400 cards a minute, count them, reject
all that are imperfect or imnronerly
punched in any fashion and take OF
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.
Look Like Office Furniture.
The machines resemble In outward
aspect piece OF office furniture.
Cards go into d metallic magazine at
their top, travel a few inches on metal
guides, come out neatly stacked with
the mistakes of the punching machines
which have merely human operators
pointed out. The printed records OF
the eighteen or twenty totals that the
punch marks indicate come ont from
another slot. and the instrument stands
ready 70 repeat.
With these machines, there is prac-
tical assurance that the publications
OF the census, usually coming out a
long time after the enumeration. may
be more quickly st hand to guide and
demonstrate the progress OF national
civilization. They are being produced
largely by the work OF youthful ap-
prentices from Washington schools
which have vocational courses.
! AaK En2 9~Ass @Pa FaEsssrY