The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-30
Advise Acceptance of the Census Preliminary Report
 Giving Birmingham 17S,27O
Continued from Page Five)

! sonal pride in getting every person in the city,
 i C. L. Harold, secretary manager of the | Civic Association. believes that there has been an incomplete count of the actual population of the city" he says and I had this in view when I gave ss !, my estimate fthe figures, 1S3,000 people. l T further believe that if we could take certain section of the city and enum- crate the people in that district. putting that task in the hands of pc iple who would take an interest in get.'ng every one, the results when compared with the figures for that section at Washington would show a 1T aterial difference and would furnish us grounds for s deman1 fer a recount
 Even as it is, we have beaten our rival city, Atlanta, in the actual percent age of gain, and have shown the people of the country that we deserve the name of the Magic City"
 In the opinion of Dr. Courtney ". 1 Shropshire, president of the Civitan Club the figure for Birminghams population is obviously too small. And the gov err ment is in no way to blame I know it is the fault of the people. for they re- fused to cooperate with the government officials, in many cases making efforts to dodge the enumerator. When the Civitan Club, in company with the other civic clubs, appointed committees to aid the taking of the census, they found that the people were entirely indifferent as to whether the correct figures were ob- tained or not"
 q believe we are very much shy in numbers says pr. Percy H. Woodall, president of the Rotary Club. However, it is matter of common knowledge that other cities suffered from this complaint also more or less, and believe we should accept the figures with resolve to do better next time.
 q base my belief that we were mis- counted on the directory, which gives a larger population and is generally av- cepted as an authority
 BUILD HOUSES
 Claude Estes, president of the Reai Estate Exchange. says:
 While I am sure that every one in- terested in our city had hoped that the census would show a greater increase tr population, I feel that we should be de. lighted with the wonderful growth during the past ten years. When we consider the fact that so much of our develop ment has been just outside of our city limits, and that such a great number of our population is composed of foreign CTS who of course, were hard to get in the count, I think we can all feel satis- fled that the city is a great deal larger than the census actually shows.
 Our percentage of increase shows that we have gained materially our cont petitive cities and we should bend every effort to pass them in actual numbers during the next ten years. Speaking from a real estate mans point of view, l think we should make every endeavor to de- velop vacant property and provide houses and apartments in which the people com ing into Birmingham may live. The work is here and we have the natural advan- tages: now it is up to us to provide the shelter If this is done, I think we can rest assured that when the next census is reported we will have come up notch or two in our endeavor to be the largest city in the south
 Jeff Bailey, state organizer for the Re tail Merchants Association. stated: "Bir- mingham didn't have as large popula- tion as we expected but has more than she has houses for. If there had been any more we would have had to pars them out somewhere in tents and this wouldn't have been exactly pleasant in the winter, However. I am well pleased with the showing made, although I re- gret the fact that it did not come up to Atianta's population
 T was disappointed at the figures showing the popula tion of Birmingham said Solicitor Joseph R. Tate, for had expected us to have at least 100000. How I increase and if we will continue to grow during the next ten years as we have during the past few we will surpass At lanta.
 "Birmin gham is not as large as had expected it to be-" said Dr. N. R. Baker county superintendent of education, flor thought we had at least l9o0Oo. How ever, I notice that our gain was little larger than Atlanta's and 1 believe by the next census we will beat her,
 .sEver since there was talk that
 the census enumerotOrs were lenv-
 ins; out Il number of people. have
 instituted n strict watch," says
 George Cruikshnnk. census super
 visor for Birmingham.
 ssThe census figures are accurate
 as possible. and recount would
 prove this fact. I have been care
 full to cheek uD because l foresaw
 these charges and know that
 there were few people missed. or
 course. there were n few who made
 ii a point to dodge the census
 taker. hut that class Is small nnd F would make no material differ
 ence."