Evening star., 1924-02-10


Nh about himself and he
v v wants to talk about his
work, what are you going
to do?
Usually, you are going to talk
about his job.
That Is why what set out to be
story Of the life of William Mott
Steuart, director Of the census, de-
veloped into a discussion of the CEN
sus. One gathered from Mr.. Steuart
that 1t Is a pretty satisfactory affair
If any one has been skipped he
doesn't know it. Now and then some
one barges into the census Office and
complains that he and his wife and
their son in college did not get into
the rolls. If he IL insistent enough
Mr.. Steuart can take him out into
q nom n-fireproof vault. which has a
delectable odor of old paper and
faded ink. and take down a bound
volume and turn to the right place
and find the names. He may not find
the wife's age. / discover that the
census is apt to be somewhat less
than complete in this. especially be-
five. But the names are there. One
hundred and ten millions OF them.
OF course, he. could not completely
evade the gcntlemanly agent. That
gives the wrong impression. He did
not try to evade. He merely seemed
not to be interested. Observation
told me that he is tall, as broad
shouldered as an office man ought to
be, has two kindly blue eyes with
black pupils, and an excellent bald
spot. He is an ardent auto camper
in the summer time between spells
of garden making, and in the winter
runs heavy bird-feeding business
on both sides Of his house. Birds are
as much the victims of caste as are
Brahams. The cardinal feeds early
in the morning and late at night, SO
that he will not be exposed to the
English sparrows. The sparrows do
not worry. They have no social
standing to Nose.
Il do not hunt any more" said Mr..
Steuart "As a man grows older he
loses his fondness for killing"
That is all that was to be discov-
cred about Mr.. Steuart, except as now
and then one caught a glimpse Of him
through the chinks in the story of
the census.
In Census Bureau FOrty-fOur Years.
He began with the bureau forty
four years ago as messenger. He
was born in Corpus Christi, Tex,
where his father owned ranch dur
ing that long -outgrown period during
which Sheridan said that il he owned
hell and Texas he'd rent Texas and
live in hell. The bitter jeer held good
SO far as the Steuart family was con-
cerned, for the father was murdered
shot in the back. Eventually the
Steuarts came back to Baltimore.
"Where did the 'e' come from in
the name, anyhow"
He did not know. There was a
story that some of the Scotch Steuarts
were exiled to France some centuries
ago and there inserted the vowel.
Anyhow, when he began to grow UP
he wanted to be a lawyer, and in
order to procure the needful cakes
got job as messenger in the census
bureau under Gen. Francis Walker.
His first business was to stand over
Gen. Walker and blot his signature
as he attached it to the letters sent
out daily Nowadays the. director of
the census could not personally sign
all his letters if he did nothing else.
The business has grown.
'T remember what stir that census
made" said he. I'VE stretched a great
canvas sign across the front of the
building the bureau then occupied On
1t was this triumphant slogan:
FIFTY MILLION PEOPLE"
Most Of US think of the census bureau