Evening star., 1940-02-25
Hopkins Is Expected
To Defend Protested
Census Questions
Vermont Senator Gets
900 Letters a Day
AppIoudine Fight
BACKGROUND

WV eStAS'S ivy
AppIoudine Fight
BACKGROUND
Revelation seperal months ago
of questions to be asked on the
1910 census Dds tollotDed by
storm OF objection all ouer coun-
try. Many queries tDere considered
fnpdsion OF priUacy. Secretary OF
Commerce Hopkins has defended
questions as pertinent to epalud-
tion OF past decade and assured
returns Would be confidential.
By BLAIR BOLLES.
Secretary Of Commerce Hopkins,
II he is we'll enough to make the
trip to the Capitol, will appear be-
fore the Senate Commerce Com
mittee Wednesday to defend the
questions in the 1910 census, 1t was
learned yesterday. Mr.. Hopkins was
principally responsible for the. in
clusion in the census of two ques-
tions relating to individual income
In 1899, which has raised some ap-
prehension around the country lest
It constitute an invasion Of per-
sonal privacy.
Senator Tobey, Republican of Ver-
mont, the leader in the attack on
the census, said yesterday that 900
letters a day have been coming to
his office applauding his stand. He
spoke against the census in a nation
wide broadcast last Monday. The
following day he introduced Sem
ate Resolution 231, which would for
bid takers from asking the
income question. He intends to
seek Congressional ban on num-
be- of the other questions.
The population count begins April
Views Called "Absurd."
When Senator Tobey began his
anti-census campaign, Mr.. Hopkins
told the press that the Senator's
position is absurd" However,
among the letters received by SEN
ator Tobey is one from David w.
Guion, of Lehighton, Pa, the author
of the song. Home on the Range"
who expressed his opinion that the
income question is an Outrage"
The Columbia Democratic Club,
Queens County, NJ Y, voted unani-
mously at its meeting last Tuesday
to support Mr.. Tobey's stand, ac-
cording to letter from the club.
The most enthusiastic Tobey sup
porter is another Vermonter, Philip
l.. Rose, who owns farm near Wild
Apple. Mr.. Rose sent this letter
to Secretary Hopkins, and copy
to Senator Tobey:
TN as much as many local resi-
dents have avowed their determine
ton not to answer all the questions
contained in the census takers form
and as a result it will be necessary
under the law to Jail these people,
as many are too poor to pay fines;
1t would seem to me the very num-
ber of them will make necessary the
construction of prison or concentra-
ton camps.
IT therefore offer for your con-
sideration a tract of land owned by
my wife, consisting Of 80 acres, more
or less Of we'll watered timbered
upland. She would prefer to rent
the Government this land at q
nominal rental with the UNDER
standing that all buildings and fix
lures remain the property of the
owner at the expiration. Of the
lease. This property is ideally situ-
ated about 3 miles from the village
of Bradford"
The Controversial Questions.
The questions which Senator
Tooey seeks to have stricken from
the census are numbers 80 and 80:
Amount of money. wages or
salary received Gncluding commits
sions)" in 1899?
did this person receive income
Of $50 or more from sources other
than money, wages or salary" in
1899?
Besides Secretary Hopkins, the
committee will hear William L.
Austin, the director Of the census,
a Government career man who has
been part of the census mechanism
since 1900. and from Representa-
tive Reed, Republican, of New York,
a protestant in the Tobey camp.
The opponents of the census in
Its present form expect to bring
legalistic arguments as we'll as in
dignation to bear in their fight
against the income question. Sena-
tor Tobey holds in his resolution
that the census law of 1929, on
which the 1910 census rests statu-
torily, restricts the census takers to
asking questions that will throw
light on the Nations population and
employment. Questions as to income
fall In neither of these categories,
Senator Tobey holds.
Privacy Is Questioned.
The chief bone of contention be-
tween the Senator's following and
the Hopkins following concerns the
privacy of the answers which the
citizens Of the country will give to
the questions. Senator Tobey fears
that any information as to a per-
sons income soon will be bruited
about. Secretary Hopkins replies
that census taker guilty of re-
vealing information learned in the
line of duty is liable to fine and
imprisonment This reply did not
satisfy Senator Tobey.
The 1910 population census, the
sixteenth in American history. goes
farther than any previous one. It
will be supplemented by a census Of
housing-provided for in a specific
act Of Congress passed last year
and a census of agriculture. All
three will be taken simultaneously.
The census of agriculture dates from
1910. The census Of housing is an
innovation.
Seek Data on Depression.
The purpose behind the question:
Ing which alarms Senator Tobey is
q wish to discover the sociological
and economic state of American en-