Evening star., 1949-12-09
Income and the 1850 Census

Income and the 1850 Census
Although there is ample precedent for
census questions of the income type, It
would be unwise of the Census Bureau to
regard all criticisms of this line Of ques-
tioning as captious or politically inspired.
It is conceivable that situations may arise
In which it would be embarrassing to
census taker and householder alike to
complete the income part of the question
naire. Many of the census takers will be
residents of the community to which they
are assigned-and citizens do not always
wish their neighbors to know how much
or how little money they make.
The Census Bureau asked similar ques-
tions during the 1910 census. There were
loud and prolonged objections then. as
result of which the bureau agreed to give
objectors the privilege of filling out a
separate form and mailing it direct to
census headquarters. Fifteen million OF
these special forms were printed, but only
~ per cent of them were used. Because
Of the relatively small number who availed
themselves of the option ten years ago,
the bureau has made no provision for
similar arrangement for the forthcoming
survey. But even If only few thousand
citizens have personal reasons for not
wanting to disclose their salaries to certain
census takers, they should have the oppor-
tunity to mail the data direct.
According to DR.. Philip M. Hauser, acting
director of the census Bureau, the decision
to include income questions in the next
census was made in response to numerous
demands from industrial sources for
marketing information. Production and
distribution must be related to potential
demand, and demand depends largely on
ability to buy It is important in industry,
especially in housing, he explained, to know
localities, as well as the race, occupation,
family size and similar characteristics
of the population. In demography, the
science of analyzing population statistics,
income provides an index to birth trends,
it having been found that as income de-
clines the birth rate goes up.
DR.. Hauser says that it is impossible to
obtain from the Internal Revenue Bureau
or any other source the information about
family income, race and the like which
marketing organizations are requesting.
Individual income tax returns are not
filed in family groupings and race questions
are not asked by revenue agents. Such
information will not be obtainable any
where unless the Census Bureau collects 1t.
The census head declares that the
validity of income questions in census
has been established by long precedent
and by the 1929 Census Act, which author
ICES inquiries relating, among other things,
to distribution" and which empowers the
director of the census to determine the
number, form and subdivision" of the
inquiries. There is no specific provision
for questions regarding wages or wealth.
However, the bureau has been asking in
come questions of farmers every five years
for the past thirty years and queries con-
cerning value of property owned also are
old stuff. The bureau has return by
Abraham Lincoln in 1860 giving the value
Of piece of property he owned.
Fewer persons will be asked the income
questions in the 1850 census than in the
one q decade ago. This time only one
in-five sampling of incomes will be taken.
Whereas the 1910 query required those with
incomes of less than five thousand a
year to tell their salaries, the 1850 question
will take In all with incomes below ten
thousand. The one in five who Is asked
about his income may have no objection
to stating it, even to some one he thinks
may long have been curious about it. But
the citizen who does not want to satisfy
such personal curiosity ought to have the
right to bypass the census taker and mail
the answer direct to the bureau. It is
still not too late to make arrangements
for this reasonable option.