At the census of 1880 a special investigation was made concerning the rates of wages paid in the principal manufacturing industries of the country, and the average retail prices of necessaries of life, for a series of years. Three schedules were used for this purpose, two relating to wages and one to prices, and the number of inquiries or details asked is shown by the following summary:

NUMBER OF INQUIRIES OR DETAILS ON SPECIAL SCHEDULES OF WAGES AND

WEALTH, DEBT, AND TAXATION.

Inquiries relating to valuation and taxation were made, for the first time, at the census of 1850 on the schedule of social statistics, and these inquiries were repeated on the same schedule in substantially the same form at the censuses of 1860 and 1870, but at the latter census the schedule comprehended additional inquiries concerning the bonded and other debt of counties and towns and cities, as shown by the following summary:

INQUIRIES RELATING TO WEALTH, DEBT, AND TAXATION: 1850 TO 1870.

Items of inquiry.

Real estate; personal estate; total; how valued; true valuation................. Annual taxes:

Valuation of estate:

State of all kinds; county-of all kinds; town, city, township, parish (civil), or borough-of all kinds; principal kinds of taxes included in the foregoing.....

Public debt:

County debt (bonded; all other).

Town, city, township, parish (civil), or borough (bonded; all other).

Total

The schedule of social statistics was withdrawn at the censuses of 1880 and 1890, under the law, and the statistics of valuation, taxation, and indebtedness collected by the use of special schedules through special agents and correspondence. Five special schedules, comprehending 105 different inquiries or details, were used in 1880, and 12 schedules, comprehending 1,970 inquiries or details, were used in 1890, as follows:

NUMBER OF INQUIRIES OR DETAILS ON SPECIAL SCHEDULES OF WEALTH, DEBT, AND TAXATION: 1880 AND 1890.

Public debt, currency, receipts, and expenditures of foreign countries, statement concerning the

Valuation and taxation of counties.............

Total number of different inquiries or details..

715

785

715

89

18

715

68

37

126

126

26

62

44

1,970

ALASKA.

By the terms of the eighth section of the amendatory act of April 20, 1880, the Superintendent of Census was required to collect and publish the statistics of the population, industries, and resources of the district of Alaska with such fullness as he deemed expedient and practicable under the appropriations made for the expenses of the tenth census. Under this provision of the census act a general report on the population and resources of Alaska was made at the census of 1880, but no printed schedules of inquiry were used.

At the census of 1890 similar provision was made for a special census of the population, industries, and resources of Alaska, and for this purpose 9 special schedules were used, as follows:

NUMBER OF INQUIRIES OR DETAILS ON SPECIAL SCHEDULES OF ALASKA: 1890.

[The special schedules in 1890 were numbered, and the number precedes in each case the name or title of the special schedule.]

The inquiries contained in the schedules numbered 1 and 2 corresponded substantially to those contained in the general population schedule, while the special schedules numbered 8 and 9 were an exact counterpart of the special schedules relating to gold and silver mines and coal mines which were used in the investigation of mines and mining for the whole country. The number of inquiries or details contained on the nine schedules which were not common to the general or other special schedules used in the census of the United States proper

was 123.

INDIANS.

Indians not taxed were made the subject of census inquiry for the first time in 1880, under a provision of the census act which called for a special enumeration of all Indians not taxed, within the jurisdiction of the United States, together with such other information as to their condition as might be obtainable. This investigation was conducted, in cooperation with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, by special agents. Four special schedules relating to population, vital statistics, industries, and education were used, but no results derived from this investigation appear in the census report for 1880. At the census of 1890 the Superintendent of Census was required to make an enumeration of all Indians living within the jurisdiction of the United States, classifying them as Indians taxed and Indians not taxed, and to secure such information as to their condition as could be obtained. Six schedules, five relating to population and one relating to schools,

were used in 1890, and the statistics called for by these schedules were collected by special agents. The number of inquiries or details not common to the general or other special schedules used in the census work proper in 1880 was 221 and in 1890 283, as shown by the following summary:

NUMBER OF INQUIRIES OR DETAILS ON SPECIAL SCHEDULES OF INDIANS: 1880 AND 1890. 1880.

[The special schedules in 1880 were numbered and the number precedes in each case the name or title of the special schedule.]

Indians in tribes or living on reservations or at posts under the jurisdiction of the United States.

Indians living away from reservations

Schools

Total number of different inquiries or details

28

3

131

ཊྛ།

59

221

216

216

12

1

54

283

SURVIVING SOLDIERS, ETC., AND INMATES OF SOLDIERS' HOMES.

At the census of 1840 an inquiry was made on the population schedule concerning pensioners for revolutionary or military services, the results being published in a separate volume giving their names, ages, and places of residence, and the names of the heads of families with whom they resided June 1, 1840. At the census of 1890 special inquiry was made as to the names, organizations, and length of service of surviving Union veterans of the civil war, and of the widows of such as had died, under the terms of the census act, but, as already stated in the historical sketch of the work of the eleventh census, the results of this special census of veterans were never compiled. At the same census supplemental inquiry was made concerning the inmates of soldiers' homes, comprehending data as to date of admission to institution, cause of admission or retention, whether able-bodied, how supported, military service, etc. The number of inquiries or details covered by these two special schedules is as follows:

S. Doc. 194 -9

NUMBER OF INQUIRIES OR DETAILS ON SPECIAL SCHEDULES OF SURVIVING SOLDIERS, ETC., AND INMATES OF SOLDIERS' HOMES: 1890.

a Including 27 inquiries or details duplicated from general population schedule.

50

As previously stated, it has been impossible, for want of space, to analyze the inquiries relating to the many special subjects of investigation undertaken at the last two censuses, but the brief synopsis which has been given, taken in connection with the schedule inquiries as reproduced in Appendix A, will enable the reader and student of statistical data to form some idea of the magnitude of the United States census as carried out under the provisions of the acts governing the censuses of 1880 and 1890.