OCR Text |
Show m W0 IS OVER. Census' Takers Under Tederal Auspices Wind Up Their Fourteen Days of Labor. THE TRIBULATIONS OF THE MEK. Supervisor Wood Is Confident That a Thorough Canvas Was Made and But Few Were Missed The allotted t imo of fourteen days for the taking of the census of Salt Lake Cilv under federal auspicci closed last niglit, and today the enumerators are busy preparing their reports to be submitted sub-mitted to the local supervisor, A, M. Wood, who in turn will forward iheni to the chief of enumerators for this district dis-trict at Ugdeu. There were twenty-four twenty-four canvassers employed on the work, and thev worked on an average of ten hours a ' 'day,' though sonio of them put in more hours in their zeal and ambition, to get as complete a census as possible. "Every man employed on the work," said Mr. Wood this morning, "was bright, intellectual and industrious, and if every city had as ardent enumerators it is safe to' predict that the work has been thoroughly done. 1 am satisfied that under exisiing circiunstauees the work has been faithfully and extremely well done in (salt Lake City. It has been a bad city to work, owing to the lloiiting population and the scattered coiidiuoa of the people. Of course 1 do not feel justilicd in saying that our enumerators have succeeded in getting everybody living in the city, us that would beau niter impossibility, and I feci that the chief of the census bureau at Washington should be appealed to by the chamber i of commerce to allow us at least three I or four more days to revise the work done aud rounil the city up. I cannot begin to describe the anuoyam cs and trilmlatious my canvassers have had to undergo. They had u hard time of it working the rooming houses, and in many instances had to go over the same, territory a half doen times and at all hoi. i s of the day and night to catch t he occupants of the rooms at home. This is also true of private residences, and in many instances the enumerator enumer-ator was compelled to lake his information from neighbors Avium the real parties sought could uot bo found. Again the heads of families happened to bo absent when called upon, and the required questions were answered by members of the family, who either not understanding the object of the questioning ques-tioning or through oversight, failed to make the enumerators visit known. It was such experiences as these that has caused the kick that the census wns not properly taken, aiid 1 know from proofs and observations that the very men who are shouting and howling the loudest loud-est are with their families enrolled on our books. A prominent butcher in the Eighth ward had the laugh put upon him in great shape. He was fuming and bellowing about the loose manner in which the census was being taken, and it happened hap-pened he was overheard by one of the enumerators, who staggered him by praduciug his blanks containing all that was required by law concerning the exasperated ex-asperated butcher and his family. "Where did you get it?" asked the surprised butclier. "From your - wife," responded the enumerator, and the butcher shut up. "1 could cite hundreds of similar cases," continued Mr. Wood, "and hero is the Herald, which prints the names this morning of people who say they have not seen au enumerator. enumer-ator. Among those who are quoted as not having been called upon are H. M. Wilkinson and Frauk Dun-ford. Dun-ford. They were called upon but were not to bo found, but we havo their names and those (if their families just the same, as they wero obtained from neighbors. But, as I have before stated, wo aro not infallible, and may have overlooked some. That is the reason why I would like to have tho canvassing canvass-ing extended for a few days longer. We have experienced a great deal of trouble among tho foreign classes, and I have an enumerator out this morniug hunting for an interpreter who understands under-stands the language of tho Sandwich islands. - -There are a couplo of hundred hun-dred of tho islanders living in the Nineteenth ward aud they cannot speak a word of English." Mr. Wood, upon being asked what he thought the population of the city was, replied: "I havo not the least idea, and am not prepared to make an estimate. esti-mate. Did 1 know tho population, I would not dare to make it public, nohow, no-how, as tho supervisors by law are sworn tosecresy, and there is a penally penal-ly of $.)00 attached for an infringement of tho rule." There appears to be a general kick throughout tho country on tho result of the census. Kansas City and Denver especially denouneo the totals us glaringly glar-ingly wrong, and Kansas Cily has appealed ap-pealed to Uncle Sain for a revision of the work.. The Denver News referring re-ferring to Denver says "the result was simply disgusting. There isn't any other word that begins to riso to the occasion. Tho difficulty was not to find a man who had been missed, but to find one who had been counted. The most prominent business men of the city said they had not seen or heard anything of the enumerators, and had no reason to kuow that a census was in progress were it not that they were informed in-formed of the fact in the panel's. Some of them thought that their wives or someone else at the house might have given the necessary information; others knew that no one had called at their residences; nearly everyone was quite positive that no enumerator had put in au appearance at the oflices. "There is a most bewildering degree of mystery about the plan of operation. The theory is that all the names are taken at the people's home and not at their offices. This is au excellent plan if it were carried out thoroughly. But either it is not carried out or there are a good many persons in Denvor who are very forgetful. In Denver there are hundreds if not thousands of people who sleep in their offices, and right here is where a large section of the vagueness comes iu. In a few offices offi-ces it was said that an enumerator had called and asked if auyone slept there. In the great majority 'it was declared that no one had made any inquiry upon this point." |