Cleveland County herald., 1921-05-26

SOuSluSr lU6 pllSuI IHe Sldu Ol lHo army would have been in during the war;. as well as the rest of the coun- try, if it could not estimate either the source of human or material supplies. All the statistics of the government, Of labor and of business; all figures nsed by insurance companies, banking and agricultural statistics would be vague guesses without the comprehen- s1ye and approximately accurate ten year tally made by the government as basis from which to compute.
 When the government started com piling census figures in 1790 the work of enumerating the populace was in- trusted to IT United States marshals, and the actual enumeration was done by $50 marshals' assistants. The fig ures compiled were sent to the Pres ident who turned them over to the secretary of state. In turn they were transmitted to the printer and printed in an octave volume Of 56 pages. There Is a striking contrast between the first census report in a book of 56 pages 8 by 5 inches in size and the hundred or more volumes in quar- to (12 by 9 inches) of approximately 10000 pages published as a result of the 1910 census.
 The first census taking was fraught with hardshipS, the enumerators mak- ing journeys over unimproved roads In stages and on horseback. In fact, some smaller communities were con sidered too isolated to visit Among these were Detroit, and Yincennes, Ind Western New York was a will derness at that time, Elmira and Bing hamton being only detached hamlets.
 The chief data taken for the first census related to the heads of fam flies and other data were considered as related to these family heads. Phil adelphia was the capital at the time. This census showed the great metrop- olis of New York with a population in those days of 33,000 inhabitants. Even then 1t was the largest city in the United States But the state of New York ranked a poor fourth in population in comparison with Vir- ginia, Pennsylvania and Massachu- sets.
 U. s. Had 3,8o3, ,635. In 17eo.
 The total population of the United States in 179a was registered as $685. 635 persons. For 1920 the census fig ures show total population of 1o5,- 708,771, or percentage increase in 13O years of $500 per cent To ex- pect the same relative increase in the next 130 years would give us popu- lation in the year 2050 of something in excess of three and half billions.
 But getting down to earth, 1t is rather easy to calculate from past his tory what the population mark will be in normal or similar conditions in ten, twenty or thirty years The big difficulty is that the last decade has been too abnormal to use 1t as basis for calculation.
 In 1900 our population was 75,994,- 575. In 1910 it jumped 15,977,691, or 21 per cent, over this figure to 91,972,- 266, and in 1920 it had jumped 13,736,- sos more, or 14.9 per cent to a total of more than 10000O,O00. Among other things the period from 1900 to 1919 WAS a good one for immigration The 1910 to 1920 decade was decidedly otherwise, and it's percentage of in crease was the lowest in history
 The coming decade, from now until 1880, is expected to be an unusual i'm migration period. With our natives increasing by births in addition to prospective immigration, if congress puts no bar in the way, the increase in the next decade should approach between 20 and 25 per cent of our present, and a total of 130,00O,0N people in 1880 Is not considered by statisticians of the census bureau to be too wide.
 From the growth of the country in the last hundred years 1t &s easy to appreciate the growth in the size of the job undertaken each ten years by the census bureau. Gradually the work of enumerating the population and the facts concerning them has been reduced to mechanical processes
 From the days of horseback travel in 179O the census taking has gone through an evolution in respect to size methods and matter. At first only individuals were counted and later information concerning the fam fly was gathered. It was not until 1850 that information concerning agrt culture, industry, religion, literacy, schooling. occupations, Quarries and mines and the like were noted.
 The census of 1850 was called the modern census" for number of years following In 1870 machine tabukation was introduced and later came the more rapid electrical ma chine tabulation. By 1880 15O super visors and 31 -3S2 enunerators were engaged in taking the census. Today there are almost three times that nun. Der of enumerators.
 In addition, the census bureau takes various special censuses, such as census of the fisheries central electric