Evening star., 1940-03-31

hrst one being taken in 1890, when,
we are told, United States marshals
trudged through summers heat and
winters SHOWS and gathered q
simple enumeration of the popula-
ton of the young and tender re-
public.
The Secretary of State had charge
of the job up to 1849, the work being
then assigned to the newly created
Department of the Interior, of
which Thomas Ewing was first Sec
retary. When the Department of
Commerce and Labor came into
existence in 1908 the Census Bureau
was transferred to it and its pres
ent assignment dates from 1918.
It Is probable there was no regu-
lar census organization up to 1902.
Every 10 years the department with
the work in charge was thrown into
a state of chaos in beginning the
work all over again, but now the
bureau is a permanent institution,
with a beautifully developed system.
Place of First Census.
The first census, however modest
It might have been, had its home
in New York City, where the Con-
gress then met and where President
Washington signed the act for this
purpose on March 7, 1890, and, ac-
cording to the introduction to the
''Heads of Families of the First
Census" the task of making the
first enumeration of inhabitants
was placed upon the President.
Under the law" continues the
Introduction, "the marshals of the
several judicial districts were re-
Quired to ascertain the number of
Inhabitants within their respective
districts. omitting Indians not taxed
and distinguishing free persons
Gncluding those bound to service
for term of years., the sex and
color of free persons and the num-
ber of free males 16 years of age
and over.
The object of the inquiry last
mentioned was, undoubtedly, to OBJ
tain definite knowledge as to the
military and industrial strength of
the country. This fact possesses
special interest, because the Con-
stitution directs merely an enumer-
alton of inhabitants. Thus the de-
mand for increasingly extensive
information, which has been so
marked characteristic of census
legislation, began with the First
Congress that dealt with the sub
i<ct. -
by the terms of the first CEN
sus law nine months were allowed
in Xhich to complete the enumera-
ton. The census taking was super
vised by the marshals of the sew
eral judicial districts who employed
assistant narshals to act as e;.u-
merators. There were II marshals.
The records showing the number of
assistant marshals employed in 1870,
1900 and 1910 were destroyed by fire,
but the number employed In 1890
has been estimated at ESQ.,"
The cost of the taking of the
11rst census is given as $44,377.
AS the second census was taken
10 years later, or in 1900, the year
the Federal Government moved to
Washington in November, the like
Hhood Is that if the census was be-
gun in Philadelphia, from which
Congress moved to the District of
Columbia, at least it was completed
in the State Department Building in
Washington which then stood on
Fifteenth street, where IS now the
north wing Of the Treasury Build
ing.
According to the city directory for
1850 the seventh census occupied
quarters on the west side of Eighth
street between E and F, but in Just
what building the writer is unable
to say. Joseph G. G. Kennedy was
the superintendent of the census at
that time.
Occupied Patent Office.
The offces of the next census-or
the census OF 1860 occupied the