The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1920-05-17
EAGER CROWDS WAIT
FOR CENSUS RESULTS
Coumtry's Population Known
IS by October; Takes 3 Years
u to Compile All Data
By Ralph Couch

u Omitted Press Staff Correspondent
.# : Washington, May A17.-Aided by
complicated machines which perform
y miracles of automatic calculation,
5000 expert staticians and clerks In
the employ of the census bureau here
now are sorting and classifying the
greatest mass Of statistical 1nfOrma-
! ton ever collected.
- The population of the United
States will be ready for announce
:ment sometime in October under pre-
sent plans Director Sam l.. Rogers
said today. This population total,
expected to be about '106,0OO,OOO,
Il will be announced also by states.
State population announcements will
begin to issue from the bureau in
about six weeks.
p, Announcement of city populations
began February 81 and about 600
have been made. At least 1000 more
city population announcements may
he expected, bureau officials estimate.
Congressman, senator's, CIVIC Or
sganization representatives ana news
papermen appear at the census Du-
reau twice daily to receive city popu-
.latiOn announcements. Each by spe-
.cial telephone or telegraph arrange
.ments previously set up, tries to be
first to get the news to his home
town or city of it's new nose count.
=. Newspapers extra" on 1t and
crowds gather at bulletin boards. It's
, ~'big news" census bureau officials
are told. Local boosters cheer
sometimes.
= G. Complaints are flooding the bu-
:reau. They're usually from local
boosters, civic bodies and sometimes
from chambers of commerce protest.
ing the count. The enumerators
didn't get everybody in the count, is
the text of most of the complaints ~"
Thank you for calling this to- our
attention, reads q form letter which
goes out Immediately under the sig
nature of Directors: The letter prom
Uses an investigation of the count.
And the boosters wait, but
In only two cases have we found
that the complaints were justified
and that our count was incorrect"
said Rogers; in these cases the en-
~umerators skipped small groups of
people" =
i Local boosters have complained of
the results in about half of the towns
and cities so far announced. Cen
:sus bureau officials emphasize that
they welcome complaints; they are
just as anxious to correct mistakes as
are the local Inhabitants, they de-
clare = ~ "
But counting populations of cities,
counties, states and even the U. S.
is but one function of the census, Of
-ticials emphasize.
The census is intended to furnish
informationsonSw which better govern
ment may be based, according to Di-
rector Rogers This IS why the great
mass OF economic and social data is
lin cluded. IS. The bureau now IS nearly
:: half finished with the agricultural
and manufacturers census lnforn1a-
+ ton collected in these Investigations
is that Of 1nost>use;to business men,
government officials and economists.
= The agricultural census includes
count of the number Of farms in the
United States, number, Of farmers, in
GLIDING owners, managers and farm
hands. and Ethe value of all crops.
similar information is collected In the
manufacturers census.
The present census is expected to
show that there are in the United
States 100000 farms as compared
with 100000 in 1910. To be CLASH
fled as farm, a piece OF land must
include at least three acres, must
Zhave produced $500 worth of crops
, per year for the past few years or
must have required the entire time OF
at least one man to cultivate 1t.
- To complete the present census will
require at least three years, accord
ing to Director Rogers. Although
the enumerators are all done. except
500 workers on the farm census and
300 on the manufacturers census,
sorting and classifying the data they
obtained will take months. The
printing also will require long per-
iod. The results will be printed in
twelve volumes.
Approximately $4,000 enumerators
were required to collect the ordinary
population returns now all in. They
received about $6.O00.000 for their
work. =
The entire cost of this census is
placed at approximately SIS, 900.
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