Show FEWER BABIES ARE BEING BORN 7 according to frank wilson director of the census the annual birth rate is declining Bruc Bru karts charts washington digest 1940 census most Compre comprehensive comprehend hen S ve ever made since the first survey it Is a complete self examination of uncle sam by uncle sam it deals in facts and we cannot have too many fa facts acts about ourselves by WILLIAM IVILLIA 31 BRUCKART service national press washington D C washington what were you doing five years ago and nd where did you live at that time what caused you to move if you did change your residence while congress is working itself v into a dither of flying arms and legs and heads and heels and while new dealers are straining at every shirt button in an eff effort ort to show president roosevelt is the greatest peace advocate in 19 centuries I 1 want to talk about something that happens only once in 10 years I 1 refer to the decennial census the counting of noses of americans and the gathering of information about them their lives and living upon which the federal government has launched A good many folks have been in inclined to regard the census as something about which to joke there there was and is a certain number pt people who think the whole thing is silly it is not silly taking it on a long term basis considering it from the standpoint of its permanent value it is so much more important than the passing show of political shadowboxing shadow boxing that we can well afford to forget about much of that bunk the census deals in facts and surely we cannot have too many aap facts ts about ourselves so borrowing boi rowing from the expression of frank wilson of the census bureau let me insist again that there is news of lasting value in this c census en and the job of census taking it is accurately stated a complete self examination of uncle sam by uncle sam and when it is done we all will know much more about ourselves individually and collectively than we have ever known before the current census is the most comprehensive of all of the 16 decennial canvasses that have been made since the first survey in 1790 counting of noses Is not just human noses actual work in this counting of noses has already started and when I 1 say counting noses the term is rather broader than just human noses for as an example the first nose counting is directed at enumerating businesses and manufacturing fac turing establishments and mines and quarries census representatives will visit something like business concerns including about manufacturing plants and establishments these figures of course are an approximation the census will show exactly how many there are what they did in the way of retailing distributing shipping sl servicing er manufacturing all through the list to the single gasoline station and the dry cleaning shop on the corner then along about april 1 there cwill be a large army of real nose counters stait to work they will visit your house and mine and every other one and it is expected they will find at the end of the month that there are more than dwelling units where people live and further it is believed they will have counted upwards of folks in the united states to do th this Is job and the other phases of counting roughly men and women are required results will show what progress has been made it seems tome then that we can look forward to the results of the current census as s showing howing what progress has been made what human natu nature re has done in the way of changes simultaneously it will show that many theories of what government can do or has done have failed or have succeeded by revealing just how much human nature can be influenced by man made rules it can be said therefore that a new set of guide books are on them the way to completion on the way to being filled in by the records of the people who constitute the united states there is a thought in frank wil sons mind and I 1 believe mr wilson has a better concept of the census program and its ultimate value than any other person I 1 ever have met that our nation is facing a much more serious problem in the matter of old age than is apparent to most of us it comes about this way mr wilson pointed out that there are fewer babies being born annually among each one thousand of our population than was the case 10 or 20 years ago the birth rate is declining at the same time through the development of medi cal science through improved living conditions through elimination of hazards reduction of accidents and so forth the life span of each of us is getting longer and longer people P le actually are living longer S seemingly st silly questions are really important at the outset I 1 asked the questions about what you were doing five years ago and where you lived then that was not facetious those questions are a part of the regular forms which the no nose se counters will 11 carry and which you as a citizen must answer there is a good reason I 1 have just written about birth and life and death if your uncle sam knows something about how erml firmly y you are rooted to a particular farm or town or county or state he can arrive at conclusions rather remote from the questions for example it if you are the son of a farmer and are continuing to farm it is is reasonable to assume that you are a normally happy and reasonably successful farmer uncle sam will not have to worry about that kind he does have to worry as a matter 0 of national policy however when the census taker reports so many from one place who have moved to the city especially it if those who moved have no training in any field of industry there arises quickly the question of unemployment or this business of moving about may have come from drouth or floods or pestilence matters of health are reflected as well information will help As guide to the future I 1 suspect that the current census will produce a lot of information that will be classifiable merely as information that is there is bound to be a chunk of the facts and statistics which will serve no immediate use that is the way of things done by the government but individuals business and government each will find things of value information to help as a guide to the future we can look back to the census of 1790 and see where our population averaged 45 persons per square mile of the then united states and we can then see how in 1930 it was persons per square mile that is the average for the nation one area will be very much less another will be very much more and it is vital tor for a manufacturer or a wholesaler or a retailer to know how many prospective customers there are in a given area and this information extends on down the line to baby buggies the stork had been flying into homes at the rate of about a day in the ten years prior to 1930 death with his scythe had been taking his toll at the rate of about a day from 1920 to 1930 what has happened since the census will tell us sometime next fall and it will tell in addition whether a great many factors that influence our lives are subjects to be dealt with by politicians or must remain in the hands of mother nature |