SCOPE OF

I.

N my two preceding articles incidental reference has been made to the fact that the American republic not only was the first among the nations to undertake a periodical and systematic enumeration of inhabitants, but may justly be regarded as the leader in modern census-taking, whether in scope of inquiry and combinations of facts obtained, or in expenditure for statistical research.

SCOPE OF THE CENSUS

THERE is a wide difference between the scope of the word "census" in the United States and in other countries. The American census is an invaluable national "account of stock," costing the American people, in 1900, $11,854,817.91, and embracing extended inquiries concerning population, mortality, agriculture, and manufactures. Each of these topics is considered a legitimate part of census investigation, and receives equal care and consideration. In most other census-taking countries the census is much less comprehensive, being generally confined to an enumeration of population by sex, age, nativity, conjugal condition, occupation, etc., together with, in some cases, details concerning number and kind of dwellings.

In Europe, up to 1901, only five countries- France, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, and Belgium—had taken industrial censuses; and these, although including some valuable data not secured in the United States, were much less comprehensive than our census of manufactures. In France and Hungary nothing more was

undertaken than the collection of information relating to the occupation and personal condition of employers and employees. The German industrial census paid but little attention to the personal condition of employees, but called for a detailed statement of the kind of establishment, and the motive power and machinery used. The Danish census was, in the main, similar to the German, but omitted machinery, and asked for the wages paid to employees, classified by kind of work done. The most detailed and comprehensive of European industrial censuses is the one taken by Belgium in 1896. This, like the French and Hungarian censuses, comprised detailed information regarding the occupation and personal condition of employees, and in addition called for the hours of labor and periods of rest, the wages and method of payment, the kind of products, and the motive power.

CENSUS QUESTIONS

WITHIN the field of population, to which, as already remarked, foreign censuses are mostly confined, there is a wide range in the scope of inquiry. Sex, age, nativity, conjugal condition, and relation to the head of the family are items common to all. The age question varies a little in form, some countries asking for date of birth, others for years of age, and two-France and the United States-for both. In asking place of birth, European censuses generally require, for the native population, the exact locality, that is, the township, parish, or commune, while the United States census calls for the State only. The question rel

ative to conjugal condition, also, shows some diversity. The United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain do not include divorce in the specifications. The Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway make a distinction between divorce and legal separation.

The subject of occupation appears to be treated with greater detail in Europe than in the United States. The following are some of the additional questions relating to this subject found on the schedules of different European countries: subsidiary occupation; industrial statuswhether employer, employee, or working on own account; whether working at home or in a fixed workshop, or traveling; name, address, and occupation of employer; reason for non-employment. The United States schedule comprises only two questions under this head, namely, principal occupation and number of months unemployed; but the description of the occupation, if made in conformity with the instructions, would seem to include some of the data which on European schedules are called for by separate questions or specifications.

The relation of population to locality forms another subject of census inquiry which is treated with rather greater detail in Europe. The United States enumerates the population in their usual place of abode, without regard to the place in which they are present when the census is taken. Most European countries, on the other hand, ascertain the population actually present, or the de facto population, making this the basis of the census inquiry; but many of them go farther, introducing questions designed to distinguish the persons temporarily present and also those ordinarily residing in the place but temporarily absent. This makes it possible to determine both the de facto and the residential population. Austria distinguishes the legal population, also, by asking for the legal domicile, which in that country is very commonly distinct from the place of residence.

Many foreign censuses ask for the nationality of the person enumerated, that is, for the country of which he is a citizen or subject. While the United States does not include this question, it distinguishes aliens from naturalized citizens, and asks for the country of birth, which in the majority of cases is indicative of the nationality of the

alien population. Moreover, the United States asks for the birthplace of each parent. This question, which is not found on the schedules of any European country, makes it possible to classify by country of origin the foreign or semi-foreign elements of our composite population.

The only physically defective classes of which account is ordinarily taken in, census inquiry are the blind and the deafmutes. Some countries, however, enumerate also the mentally defective, designated as insane or imbecile.

PAY FOR ENUMERATION

THE Compensation which the enumerator receives is at best an inadequate return for the services he is expected to render. The American enumerator has a deep-seated conviction that if the United States government desires his important services it can afford to pay for them, and in this country he receives a fair remuneration, although even here his wages-averaging about three dollars a day-cannot be regarded as munificent. In Great Britain, also, he appears to be fairly well paid. But in other parts of the world he is not always so fortunate or so independent. The French government apparently makes no provision for the direct payment of enumerators, but contents itself with offering medals and letters of commendation for the best records of efficiency, leaving to the communes and municipalities the burden of compensation. A similar system prevails in Italy; but there the enumerator, instead of being encouraged by an offer of a medal or letter, is intimidated by the prospect of having a part of his meager pay withheld if his work should prove faulty. Germany relies mainly upon volunteer enumerators; the office is regarded as an honorary one, and the petty officials, houseagents, schoolmasters, students, soldiers, police, and obliging citizens who are pressed into service receive no pecuniary compensation. In Austrian cities the house-owners or their representatives are virtually compelled to act as enumerators, being required to assist the mayor by distributing the schedules among their tenants or occupiers, and collecting and verifying them after they have been filled out. Russia, encountering difficulty in securing the 135,000 enumerators required for the cen

sus of 1897, hit upon the device of a medal. The result was highly gratifying. The way in which the people manifested their appreciation of the precious privilege of earning this keepsake is thus described in an official document:

a

The offer, by order of his Majesty the Emperor, of a medal for persons of both sexes who fulfil the functions of enumerator gratuitously, has dissipated all the well-founded apprehensions which could have been conceived in this respect. The population has received this news of his Majesty's condescension as precious token, granted by the throne, of the great importance of the task to which it was called, and has responded in such manner that, with hardly any addition to the number of paid enumerators who had already been appointed, the local census authorities now have at their disposal as many as 135,000 persons, and thus the need of enumerators, which was felt almost throughout the empire, will be satisfied without difficulty.

European countries have, in theory, a one-night enumeration, and undertake to make the census data relate to the conditions existing at a particular moment. The moment generally selected is midnight.

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Infants born before the clock strikes twelve are included in the census; those born afterward are omitted. Conversely, persons dying before midnight are omitted; those dying later are included. The next morning the record is supposed to have been made; and at noon the collection of the schedules begins. If we include, however, the time consumed in the preliminary distribution of the schedules and in their subsequent collection and verification, the period of enumeration is prolonged to a week or ten days at least. In the United States it is expected that the census data will all relate to the conditions existing on June 1, the day on which the enumeration begins; but the enumerator is allowed two weeks in cities, and a month in rural areas, in which to collect the required information and fill out the schedules for his district.

CENSUS MACHINERY

THIS Comparison of census methods would. be incomplete without some description of what may be termed census machinery. The topic is, however, somewhat technical, and I shall not undertake to do more than

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give a brief outline of the organization of census work in a few of the more important census-taking countries.

In the United States over fifty thousand enumerators, working in enumeration districts under the immediate direction of three hundred supervisors, are controlled from the Census Office at Washington. These employees fill in the desired information upon the schedules, and the portfolios are then transmitted to the Census Office, where all the work of examination and tabulation is performed.

In England and Wales the permanent organization for the registration of births and deaths is utilized for taking the census, and the work is accordingly under the charge of the Registrar-General. The country is divided into permanent registration districts, each in charge of a superintendent registrar, and these districts are divided, in turn, into subdistricts, for each of which there is a registrar of births and deaths. The registrar acts as census supervisor. It is his duty to divide his district into enumeration districts and to appoint the enumerators. During the week preceding the census day-for which a Sunday is always selected - the enumerator distributes the schedules, to be filled out as of midnight of that date. The following Monday he collects the schedules, copies the data into his enumeration-book, and foots up the totals. The material is then forwarded to the registrar, who compiles, for the registration district, summaries by enumeration districts and by civil divisions. The schedules are then sent direct to the central office, but the summaries are forwarded to the superintendent registrar, who revises them and sends them as rapidly as possible to the central office, where the results are tabulated and published. In Scotland the system is virtually the same. In Ireland the methods are similar, although differing considerably in minor details; the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police form the enumerating staff, and the constabulary district becomes the enumeration district.

In France supervisors and enumerators are appointed by the mayor of the commune or municipality. The mayor acts under the direction of the prefect of the department, who, in turn, is subject to the control of the Ministry of the Interior. When the schedules have been collected

and verified by the enumerator, they are turned over to the communal authorities to be classified, and by them forwarded to the prefect of the department after the data required for the preparation of certain local lists and summaries have been compiled.

The German census is ordered by a decree of the Imperial Federal Council, which prescribes certain questions to be asked and lays down the general rules and principles to be followed. The execution of the work devolves upon the individual states composing the empire, which determine the forms and schedules to be used and regulate the details of the enumeration, adding, if they see fit, to the questions prescribed by the Federal Council. In most of the larger towns or communes of Germany there are local census commissions, which divide the territory into enumeration districts, appoint enumerators, and supervise the work. The several state governments are required to compile from the census data a series of tables in the form prescribed by the decree of the Federal Council. These tables are then transmitted to the statistical office at Berlin, which publishes the results for the entire empire. The individual states are at liberty to make further tabulations, and usually publish independent census reports.

In Italy the census is taken under the direction of the Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Manufactures. In each province the work is under the control of a permanent statistical board of eight members. The mayor of each commune is assisted by a communal commission in dividing the commune into "fractions" and then into "sections," appointing the enumerators, and supervising the enumeration. The commune prepares summaries of population, which are sent to the provincial government, and also copies from the schedules such information as is desired for local records. The schedules are sent direct to the general statistical bureau at Rome for detailed tabulation.

In Russia, above the enumerator are, in order, the district commission, the provincial commission, and the General Census Commission. The schedules are made in duplicate, those for the peasant population. registered in rural communities by the enumerators, and those for the rest of the rural population and for the urban popula