Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1924-08-13
SMILE, DON'T KICK.
When Census Man Holds Up Your
Car, Look Pleasant.

lLGWlSlOli JOul uul.
Very few motorists in Maine have
the census takers on our
since June so. If you have
not been took" don't be alarmed
If you spy big sign beside the road
on which you may catch the word
and observe a red flag in the
middle of the road, and about a hun
dred feet further encounter a young
man who asks questions that may
seem impertinent, but that is his job
and he is only doing his duty Out
beside the road will be another
young man writing the answers that
young man. !
To obtain correct data on the
travel on our highways the federal
bureau of public roads in cooper
alton with our own highway depart
ment are taking census of the
travel on our highways. They are
recording the state in which the
automobile is owned, the make of the
car, number of passengers, where it
came from and its destination,
whether on business or pleasure, and
whether city or farm owned In the
case of trucks, they also record the
capacity and load, kind of tires, and
other data
Five crews are out on the high
ways taking the census in the above
manner, While there are two crews
who are weighing trucks and taking
the impression of their tires. All of
these crews have new station each
day for about two weeks, then they
go over the same station again. In
this way the average amount of
travel will be obtained and the data
thus secured used in determining the
type of road needed in certain places.
The job of these young men is no
cinch, for standing ten hours in the
highway asking questions and re-
peating answers may sound easy, but
think again. Many of these stations
are not on the hard-surfaced roads,
and if not, the census takers literally
eat their peck of dirt or dust every
day. Then again they encounter
some motorists who do not add to
the pleasure of their work. Some
motorists take it as joke, Others are
peeved, and some through lack of
care. have endangered the lives of
these census takers by running them
down.
The reporter found a crew over in
Edgecomb the other day. This crew
was in charge of Edward r. Davis,
who had one assistant. Travel hap
pened to be light just at that time SO
Mr.. Davis chatted a few minutes,
breaking the conversation often to
hold up a car and ask the routine
questions that he has been asking for
the past thirty days.
This job is no cinch," said Nh,
Davis, "Why, | have been hit three
times since l have been on the job.
He went on to say that on the whole
the motorists were cooperating and
making the job as easy as they could.
At this time along came a car. The
driver slowed up and called out,
"Rockland to Portland, owned in
Belfast, on business" and away he
went in a cloud of dust. This driver
had met the boys before and knew
what was coming and so helped them
out by giving the information with
out being questioned.
Mr.. Davis who is a senior at the
University of New Hampshire, is very
emphatic about the benefit this cen
sus will be to the State. The same
idea had been carried out in Con-
necticut, Pennsylvania, and several
other states. The result was the i'm
provement of the road where the CEN
sus show the travel needs it.
what is the highest number of
cars you have taken in Il day." was
asked of Mr.. Davis. "A little over
twenty-eight hundred in ten hours
over on the road between Augusta
and Winthrop was the reply. I'VE
didn't loaf much that day, believe
me-" he added. About 60 per cent,
he said, were out-of-state cars and
over third of the cars stopped were
Massachusetts cars.
where do you go from here?" was
asked At eight o'clock they moved
their signs and tent over beyond
Brunswick and had to be ready to be-
gin work there at six next morning.
Sometimes they are called upon to
make jumps of over a hundred miles
between eight at night and six the
next morning.
When you meet one Of these crews
on the road, give them smile and
don't think they are impertinent for
they are but part of a system that
is functioning to the end that one and
all may have better roads and of the
type that the travel requires.