The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-02-26
THREE BILLION
QUERIES ASKED
Census of 1920 Result of co.
900 Census Workers Who
Are on Home Stretch of
I 14th Population Count.
100 PERCENT ACCURACY AIM
Every Employee Is Working This Year
10 Reduce the Fraction Of Error
h. to Rock Bottom
49, n Minimum. g{
tBy United Press,

aim of 10000 census bureau workers
who are in the home stretch OF the
fourteenth population count Director
Sam L. Rogers said today.
This census will include the answers
to approximately three billion ques-
tions. The per cent of errors IN past
census reports has been less than l@o.
cts been found almost impossible
TO get an absolutely perfect count, =
said Director Rogers, "but every cen
sus bureau employee is working this
wear to reduce the fraction of error to
rock bottom minimum.
Former census reports have proved
that some factors which tend to cause
error may be listed like this;
A considerable portion of persons do
mot know their age.
Perversity of human nature causes a
few people to deliberately dodge the
census enumerator to boast Of the
doubtful distinction that "'you can t
find Me in the census. :"
A few criminals fear to be counted.
Thousands Of persons are always
f'outO when the enumeration calls and
data relating to them is furnished by
landladies, friends and relatives who
are forced TO guess to some extent. !.
An accurate enumeration Of all per
sons in the United States will insure
better government, according to Rog-
ers.
Stockholders, directors and officials
of big business concerns" he said,
SNOW find that they must study the
statistics of their business, to keep
abreast OF the times, They find that
shey can more intelligently direct their
business that way. BY the same token,
q study Of the census returns by the
stockholders of United States govern
ment, that is, by the people, will re.
suit in better government"
Rogers hopes to have first population
retugns Of big cities ready within q few
weeks. He Is planning to make the re-
turns public as soon as the count is
checked over FOR each city without
waiting until the entire count is com
Plete.
1t will be three years before the bulk
sf the information collected in this cen
sus count win be available in book
form. 1t will fill IA or is big volumes.
Rogers is planning to make these vol
umes more practical than ever, he said.
''TO insure this he said, 81 appoint.
cd an advisory committee Of business
men and statisticians.
Officials assisting him say this has
proved one Of the most difficult census
enumerations yet undertaken. Unrest
due to political conditions is partly re-
sponsible. This is particularly true of
she attitude of the foreign population
af many large cities. Many foreigners
feared the census enumerator. Some
thought the enumeration was sent out
10 gain information that might lead to
Wholesale deportations.
To counterfeit this, Rogers waged an
educational campaign in the foreign
districts Of the big cities to explain
the census. Tons of pamphlets explain
ing the purpose Of the census were dis
tributed through school children who
were encouraged TO write articles about
the census. 1t was hoped that the fer
eign born parents would be reached
through their children.
Census bureau officials are preparing
FOR the food of letters Of inquiry that
always follow the making public Of the
first returns. Demands of special in.
formation include many queer requests
One question has become classic in the
census bureau history. Thousands of
persons, 1t seems, are unable to sleep
we'll at night Unless they know the ex.
act spot designated as the center of
population Of continental United States
There are two such points: One is
the line at which the median lines in.
tersect. The other is called the cen
ter of gravity Of population"
The last is tie point at which the
United State could balance if 1t were
gigantic cardboard or fiat plain and
all the inhabitants were standing still
and also if every person weighed ex,
actly the same as every other person
The 1910 census placed this gravity
point at Bloomington, Ind.
The other point indicates the trend
Of population westward. The mediar
lines are drawn east and west and north
and south. Each is drawn so that il
exactly divides the population in half
The 1910 census located the intersec-
ton Of the median lines at Winchester,
Indiana.
In 1890, the first year the census was
taken, the median lines crossed % miles
east of Baltimore. The second census
taken in 1900, discovered the intersec.
ton had moved to a point is miles west
of Baltimore while in 1910 the point
was 40 miles west of Washington, D. C.