| Show uncle sam prepares to count his H children and how his family fa rn ily ras has first census 1790 ea grown since in 1 l M by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released Rele nied by western newspaper union THE HE com coming ing of a new i T year means a big job for uncle sam for 1940 is ae census year and it means mean s that once more he is faced with the task of counting all his children and how his family has grown since he took the first census of its members years ago then there were only of them this year it is estimated that there will be more than the first census taken in 1790 covered only pop population ula tion the count was made within a year from the date of the inauguration of president washington and the assembling of the first congress of the united states the enumerators mera tors took the name of the head of each family together with the total number of persons in the family classified as ag free or slave the count began on the first monday in august 1790 and the law gave nine months for the completion of the work double this time elapsed however before all the re returns turris were in communication then was slow and uncertain ain the americans of that day particularly in the rural districts regarded the census enumerators with some suspicion and there ivere were those who thought these agents of the federal government really aimed at getting information on which to base an increase of taxes the report of 01 the first census is contal contained ped in an octavo volume of 56 pages discolored and crumbling with age this little book is very rare the census bureau has two of the few copies in hi existence and the library ol of congress one adams prophecy four years before the first census was taken john adams destined to become the second president of the united states had a vision of the potentialities of america which led him to predict that the population of the united states would some time exceed at that time such a prophecy seemed little more than a wild flight of the imagination and was branded as utterly ridiculous writing from london where he was minister to the court of st james he said it has hap ever bez been my hobby horse to see rising in america an empire of liberty and a prospect ot of or of freemen without one noble or king among them it was john tyler tenth president of the united states blessed with a similar vision who ma made d e a similar prophecy though not s so 0 extravagant as adams but at the same time doubtful of fulfillment and missed his guess by only a few years and a relatively small number of millions of population in a letter addressed to col samuel gardiner of shelter island whose son married tyler s daughter and dated from the ex presidents country seat sherwood forest va november 28 26 1850 tyler said in a little more than half a century a people who were regarded as little better than st a host of murderers or sojourners among savage tribes have attained position among the first civilized powers with a spirit of adventure heretofore unequaled by anything which has occurred on the ma map p of the world there is united a deep plodding sagacity which h crowns crowns the most daring enterprises with success such a people aven had they attained that which js is denominated a stationary condition in regard tolopu I 1 lation would not fail to attract great and absorbing attention but when the reverse is the fact when our population is known to double in every period of awen ty five years when having now a population of that tha t number before the child now in the nurses arms attains maturity is destined to reach nearly and before that same child shall have passed the boundaries of middle age to how right bight were they now that uncle sam is preparing again to count his children it is interesting to check up on the predictions of these two presidents and see just how nearly right they were although ty lers prophecy was a bit too optimistic ti he was not tar far wrong at the time his letter was written the population of the country was he predicted that jt it would double in the next 25 yea years rs and although there are no figures available for 1875 by 1880 it had reached it had not reached the mark barkby by 1900 as his fredic ja S s r N T I 1 S H 0 ON ca 10 11 k tj 0 A 0 ap ft 4 64 to alj 94 46 W wr 0 4 0 0 7 ar X 0 distribution population 01 THE UNITED I 1 FIRST 1700 4 j tion suggested for uncle sams sama children then numbered and it was not until 20 years later that it reached the mark of bf even though the doubling process which he prophesied did not continue consistently there did take place the amazing growth in the nation of people in halt half a century or an increase in population of per cent so tylers eylers prophecy was not so extravagant as it must have seemed at the time and when there is taken into consideration the steady increase during the years since john adams made p 1 I m 4 V miss mildred keaton has one of the toughest assignments in taking the census she covers the arctic coast from point barrow east to the alaskan canadian line the route over which she to treat ailing natives as a field nurse tor for the office of indian affairs known his vision even his estimate does not now seem so fantastic the 1930 census gave a total of people under the stars and stripes on june 27 1936 the population was estimated at an increase of in six years or nearly a year the census bureaus last preliminary estimate of the nations population as of july 1 1938 was was an increase of in the two years since the estimate of 1936 that meant approximately each year in 2000 A 6 DT even though the increase seems to be growing smaller there is still a large enough gain each year to justify the prediction that john adams estimate of may eventually be reached on the basis of the increase i since 1930 it will tike take nearly 70 years and we will probably reach the year 2000 A D before we reach a population of in the U S al A I 1 officials Official of the census bureau regard the 1840 1940 census censuses as probably the most important and far reaching since that first one years year sago ago for this onswill one will be much more than a mire mere counting of noses As in past years the census wib cover population occupations cupat ions irrigation drainage manufactures business mines and quarries vital statistics cotton production and consumption and financial statistics of states and cities in addition the census takers will also assemble data never sought before and these data will bear upon the new social and economic situations which have arisen in the last few years bringing with them problems that are yet unsolved for this census will also be concerned with such questions as unemployment migrations from one state to another and additional vital statistics bearing on public health and facilities for treatment of disease much of the health data may prove to have a decided bearing upon the vital problem of national defense for instance the census authorities hope to learn how many men would be incapacitated for military service by disease problem of migration the problem of migration is one to which president roosevelt submitted a report to congress setting forth that population shifts from state to state were not of concern only to the one state into which the great influx had taken place california being the outstanding example but that they affected the whole nation migration from state to state is a new social movement in the united states directly traceable to unemployment in addition to asking his children the usual questions about age sex color marital status homes and education uncle sam will also want to know about their present economic condition their profession or occupation and whether they are employed or unemployed each person will also be asked where he lived 10 years ago so that some measure of migration may be obtained the most significant data however in the opinion of the census authorities will be the figures indicating the trend of population growth which has been steadily declining and the distribution according to age groups A continuing decline in population will have a decided bearing on an the future economic and social life of the nation A smaller population foreshaw aws a reduction in future markets at home and abroad fewer pupils in the public schools will indicate a lesser need for schoolhouses and other plant equipment and a greater surplus of teachers an increase in the higher age groups will have important economic effects in the form of a more persistent demand by the higher highe rage age groups for a redistribution of the profits of industry such as the various old age pension schemes that have caused so much disturbance in the last few years that combined with a decrease in the lower age groups group swill will mean lower incomes tor for the younger americans the job of securing all this information will require the services of approximately persons of whom will be arri employed in washington compiling the data gathered by the enumerators in the field the cost of this task is estimated at M 1 history tells us that thi the farsi aisi cens census useve icher r made was taken by moses T take e ye the sum of all the cengr congregation eltion of the children of israel after their fa families milles by t the h house of f their fathers with th the humbert of their names every male by their polls from twenty years old and upward al all that are able to so go forth to war in israel srael thus spoke sooke the lord to mo moses ses and moses with aarons assistance collected collect edthe the figures for the first census deport which may anay be found in practically every home hoffie and hotel room it is appropriately entitled numbers the fourth book of the bible by its breadth of scope the census william of normandy ordered for his new kingdom of england resembles modern surveys he commanded his people in 1085 A D to td record every lord and peasant every acre every ox every mill every manor eve every weir and every plow the value thereof and andthil thesis this is forward looking the natural resources woods fields and streams capable of development elop ment and revenue the report bof william the conqueror became the book unreadable today except by scholars yet protected in the public record office ceat at london as one of the most precious possessions of england uncle sam was one of the pioneers in this business of counting his children scientifically sweden took th the elead lead before our first census in 1790 but england france and prussia did not see the necessity of regular counting of noses until 10 or 20 years later russia took no census unto 1897 the first american census taken in 1790 was very limited in scope and wai was directed by the tha united states marshals they were allowed 13 months for the job and when the totals were added up our population was less than that census related solely to population the name of the head of the family was taken together with the number of persons in each family classified as free or slave lave 1 the whites who were tree ee were classified as iree free whites as male or female and the free whites males as over or under 16 years of age that was about all there was to it the marshals who supervised the 1790 count numbered only 17 and the enumerators the cost was the deeply religious settlers of america nearly upset our first census when they harked back to another less fortunate bible cond 4 i M A f I 1 taking information from a census schedule by means of a card puncher facts are translated into figures on this machine sus satan stood up against israel rae they pointed out to the marshals and provoked david to number israel from beersheba even to dan what happened god was displeased therefore he smote israel the lord sent pestilence upon israel and there fell of israel men fears that our first census would bring similar destruction upon the nation did not materialize so the marshals delivered their reports to president washington within nine months tor for all the original states except vermont rhode island and south carolina vermont and rhode island entered the union later the marshal of south carolina found workers scarce at 1 per heads counted with the exception of a comparatively few when the vast total is is considered the original records of every family enumerated in the 1790 and subsequent census are on file in the census bureau the missing records have been lost or de destroyed stroye d by accident however H however the file on john hancock has been preserved and his family was reported as being made up of two white males over sixteen years of age three white females and seven other free persons not white in the taking ot of the 1860 cen sus each person persen was for the first time asked to give ve the value of his or her real ad and personal property the records for illinois show that abraham Lincol ns family comprised mr lincoln his wife his three sons and a boy fourteen years sold old named philip dingell Din kell mr lincoln said he was worth of which was the value of his real estate the remainder being personal proper ty in the same census 3 james buchanan listed his household as consisting of himself hit his niece miss harriet lane and 11 em and servants all of the latter being bof of foreign birth the system sy stern of india en 4 aeration me ration was adopted vibe f the census of 1850 1859 angat and at the same tinie time a number of new classifications were added adde d Illi illiteracy teia cy school attendance occupation 0 oto ot birth age etc |
