The Wilmington morning star., 1940-11-27
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
BY JACK STINNETT

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26.-What's your ma
tionality? Now, stop and think. Can you prove
it?
What's your age? Stop and think again.
Can you prove that? With ladies of indeter-
inmate age, that has been a question that has
provided more Joe Millers than has the
mother-in-law or the travelling salesman. But
as strange as it may seem, there are thou
sands Of Americans who can't prove their
nationality and hundreds of thousands who
it they know how old they are-can't prove it.
In spite of the fact that this is probably
the most statistical era of all time, this great
void in the American knowledge of facts and
figgers might never have come to light if it
weren't for the Census Bureau. That division
OF the government, which is charged with
enumerating the peoples of our nation, is dis
covering that if it takes an army to enumer-
ate, it takes at least a sizeable battalion to
answer the questions: How old am I? Where
was I born?
At the rate of 1900 to 1000 a day, letters
have been pouring into the Census Bureau
for weeks asking verification of these two
facts. The flood has been such that there
has been no chance yet to analyze ito
separate the queries into classifications that
might define just what is going on. But on
the basis of superficial observation, there are
some things that can be said right now
I
JOBS THREATENED
Not only in the government, but in private
industry, there is a house-clea aiming move to
purge all aliens. Of the thousands of letters
the census Bureau is receiving, asking proof
Ol ClLlZenCn1n n ~ f0r fho
explain that the writer MUST have this in
formation Immediately to hold his lob. For
one reason or another (accent or appearance
TO name only tWo) the author writes. he is
suspected OF being an alien. He knows that
tne census Bureau can clear this up, Will
tney please do so at once, SO he won't get
fired? SCI
Just what percentages of these requests
come from private industry or from the gov
eminent, where laws already passed forbid
employment of undeclared aliens in many de-
partments, has not yet been determined, but
it is certain that lots of private employers
are scanning their payrolls and wedding out
the foreign-born who have not taken out
papers.
An even greater number of letters fall into
the Census Bureau mail baskets from persons
trying to find out how old they are. Most of
these came originally from persons seeking
old age pensions. But the draft swamped the
bureau. The compulsory filing of birth certiti-
Gates is comparatively recent and even where
it has been a practice for years, hundreds
of communities have seen their records lost
through carelessness and Indifference or de-
stroyed by fire, floods or winds.
VALIDITY ESTABLISHED
Through the courts, validity of the Census
Bureau statistics has been established. It has
been proved that army papers, passports, civil
service records and other official papers filed
under oath sometimes lie, but Census Bureau
records, checked and double-checked over the
years. rarely fail to disclose the truth. Private
employers, the government and the courts all
have come to recognize the authenticity of
Census Bureau reports, accounting for the de-
mand.
To meet this demand, the Census Bureau
has prepared regular forms for answering
these questions-but don't try to get one Of
these just by writing in for it.
Census Bureau on individuals
is available only to those individuals. T h
bureau already has had its round and around
about the secrecy of it's information on indi-
viduals, and not even J. Edgar Hoover and
his G-boys could get it without the permits
sion of the person involved which is
sort of tops in hush-hushing. 4 .