In two minor matters, strictly matters of detail, it is deemed proper to request supplemental legislation; these are

1st. The extension of the privilege of free transmission through the mails to matter directed to the Census Office, in answer to its inquiries, or in compliance with its

requests.

2d. The abandonment of the interrogatory relating to the ownership of the public debt.

The first of the proposed provisions would simply obviate the necessity of one department of the government paying to another department considerable sums in postage on the public service, involving the keeping of unnecessary accounts and an increase of the apparent cost of the census.

The second would result in removing from the course of the enumeration what is likely to prove a not inconsiderable obstacle. The inquiry respecting the public debt can possibly have no valuable result, inasmuch as the great proportion of these obligations are held by public institutions, banking and insurance corporations, charitable trusts, etc., so that were every householder to answer the question correctly, the information obtained would be partial and fragmentary, accounting for but a part of the body of the debt.

But, secondly, it should be remembered that, in spite of the scheme of "prior schedules" in any degree to which it is likely to be used by the Census Office, the questions on the census schedules will often have to be answered by the women of the family in the temporary or protracted absence of the head thereof.

Usually it may be assumed that the wife or daughter knows little or nothing respecting the investment of the family property, and, even in the cases where the knowledge existed, would hesitate to answer on such a point without the consent of the head of the family. It is a fundamental maxim of enumeration that as few matters as possible should be introduced in the house-to-house inquiry, respecting which the wife and the grown daughter cannot be assumed to be equally intelligent with the husband and father.

Thirdly, even when the head of the family is present, the inquiry respecting property in United States bonds is unlikely to secure trustworthy answers, and is certain to provoke distrust and engender animosity.

On every account, therefore, the Superintendent deems it desirable that the interrogatory should be stricken from the schedule.

COPIES OF THE SCHEDULES.

The question having been raised whether a copy of the returns provided for by the act of March 3, 1879, should not be made, I desire to present the elements of the case, and leave the matter to the decision of the department, or of Congress, the question being, after all, rather political than statistical.

By the act of 1850 it was provided that two copies of all returns should be made, the original schedule to be filed in the office of the clerk of court of the county to which the returns related; one copy to be filed in the office of the secretary of state for the state to which the returns appertained; the second copy to be forwarded to the Census Office at Washington, for its uses, both of compilation and of record. This provision was complied with in 1850 and in 1860. Prior to the census of 1870 the undersigned, as Superintendent, had the honor to recommend that one of the two copies provided for by the act of 1850 be dispensed with in the approaching enumeration.

The reason given for this recommendation was that a copy of a body of schedules so vast in extent was only to be made at a great expense, and that, in fact, the set of the returns deposited in the county clerk's office was not only useless, but mischievous, being subject, on account of proximity to the individuals and families enumerated, to curious or malicious examination. This recommendation was not followed by legislation, and at the census of 1870 two copies of the returns were made as at 1850 and

In the draft of a bill submitted with my report of 1878 upon the expediency of new legislation with reference to the approaching Tenth Census a copy of the returns was provided for, one set of the returns to be deposited with the secretary of state of the state to which the returns related; the other, either the original schedules or the copy, as the Census Office might elect, to be forwarded to Washington.

In the census act, however, as it passed Congress, and received the approval of the Executive, no copy of the returns is provided for; but the original schedules, as filled by the enumerators, are to be sent to Washington.

The question now raised is, whether it is expedient thus to dispense with all copies of the census schedules, and trust alone to the originals for all the purposes of the government respecting the enumeration.

The use of a copy of the schedules, if this were to be made, would practically be wholly in the nature of insurance. The resort to the schedules, as deposited in the offices of the secretaries of state for the several states, is likely to be, in general, for the most trivial.purposes, and, at the best, infrequent and unimportant.

In some of the states, as I have learned through the personal inspection of officers of this bureau and by correspondence, the schedules of 1850, 1860, and 1870 are not preserved in shape and place to be accessible to visitors; in others they are, in fact, seldom or never visited. (a)

So vast and cumbersome is such a body of manuscript, that any information which a citizen might desire to derive from the returns could be given by one of the trained officers of the Census Bureau at Washington with far less effort and with far greater accuracy than by a person unfamiliar with such research, looking, for himself, through the schedules at the state capitals; and it may properly be said that the Census Office cheerfully affords, upon personal application, all information which it is deemed proper to extract from the schedules.

Taking the whole country together, therefore, it does not appear to me that the great expense of making a copy of the returns would be justified by the uses which such a copy, in the several states, would serve.

Were it to be provided that every state should receive a copy of the returns on paying for the expense thereof, I do not believe that a single state would incur this expenditure.

The only use of a copy of the returns which seems to be worth much consideration is that which could be made of it in the event of the destruction or loss of the original schedules, during transmission to the Census Office at Washington, or after receipt there.

As, in the nature of the case, there is, in greater or less degree, a danger of such destruction or loss, it is perhaps worth while to state the economical relations of the subject.

The two copies of the census schedules of 1870 cost, at the rates provided by the act of 1850, $192,660, being at the rate of $96,330 for a single copy. This amount was exclusive of the additional compensation given under the provisions of the acts of March 3, 1871, April 20, 1871, and the joint resolution of June 9, 1870, which will, in the present discussion, not be taken into account. If the population, the farms, the shops, etc., of the country shall, as is probable, be found to have increased 25 per cent. in the interval between 1870 and 1880, the cost of making a copy of the returns would not be less than $120,000.

If to this we add the cost of paper, printing, and distribution, the cost of a copy would not be less than $130,000, and might easily be found to be greater, as in the

a The state of Rhode Island is the only one, so far as I have ascertained, in which the census schedules are frequently consulted. With a population small in the aggregate, and more compact than that of any other state, with a strong interest in antiquarian and statistical research diffused among its people, and with a very systematic and well-organized state census, taken in the intervals of the United States censuses, the people of this highly intelligent commonwealth are reported to make a

event of a large increase of population, etc. This, then, may be taken as the minimum cost of the insurance in question.

The danger to be apprehended from the destruction or loss of the schedules during transmission to the Census Office could not be held to justify the expense of a copy. Such destruction or loss could not be supposed to extend further than to small fractional portions of the returns.

At the census of 1870, reaching from Maine to California, and from the lakes to the Gulf, not a page of the schedules failed to come to hand, nor was the Census Office obliged to resort for a single statistical fact to the schedules deposited with county clerks or secretaries of state.

Should, however, the entire returns of twenty counties of average population be lost, the expense of a re-enumeration would not exceed one-sixth, or, more likely, one-seventh of the cost of a copy.

The only danger which appears to the Superintendent as possibly justifying the incurring of so considerable an expense for the insurance of the returns is that of their accidental destruction by fire after their receipt by the Census Office at Washington. Such a destruction, total or partial, might of course occur. That not a page of the schedules of any census, beginning with that of 1790, has yet been lost at Washington, affords no certainty of the safety of the incoming schedules. The question simply is, whether the insurance proposed is worth its cost.

The actual expense of enumeration, exclusive of the cost of organization, preparation, supervision, and the compilation of results, and excluding also the cost of the special services and expert agencies provided for by the act of 1879, may be roundly taken at $2,000,000.

Looking at the schedules simply as property representing this amount of value, $130,000 seems a very high rate of insurance for the few months at the close of which, if the plans of the Superintendent are carried out, all the purely political statistics of the census, those, that is, which contain the population of states, counties, cities, and towns, with distinction of age and sex, color, nationality, occupation, etc., will be compiled and made ready for publication. A very small fraction of this expenditure would suffice to make such exceptional and extraordinary provision against all unfavorable contingencies as would reduce the danger of destruction by fire to a minimum, except only in the event of a general conflagration of the city

But I have no interest to argue against the proposition for a copy of the schedules adversely. The law as it stands, in this regard, represents the desire of Congress to effect a large saving of expense.

The question is not so much a statistical as a political one. If it be felt that, on a matter so fundamental in our political system as the taking of the decennial census for the apportionment of representation among the states, considerations of economy should be strictly subordinate, this office has no objection whatever to interpose. On the contrary, such a provision would relieve the Superintendent of a certain degree of anxiety which, in spite of every precaution, will inevitably attend the custody of the returns if no duplicates of them anywhere exist.

In case provision be made for a copy of the returns, it should be accompanied by an appropriation of the amount necessary to be so expended, not to exceed $150,000. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. C. SCHURZ,

Secretary of the Interior.

FRANCIS A. WALKER,
Superintendent.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, CENSUS OFFICE, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1880. SIR: I have the honor to present the annual report of the operations of this bureau:

During the year closed, the Tenth Census of the United States has been taken. Although the work is substantially complete, returns having been received from all but seven small districts, (a) out of the total number of 31,265 enumeration districts formed for the purpose of the census, it will probably be two or three weeks yet before this office will be able to present the complete statistics of the population of the country; and it seems best, therefore, to postpone to a future report all mention of the results of the enumeration, and also all discussion of the methods in use, as well as any suggestions which may require to be made of changes in the census law with reference to future enumerations. I trust during the present month to be able to submit a full account of the working of the acts of March 3, 1879, and April 20, 1880, which were passed with reference to the recent enumeration, together with tables exhibiting the population of each state and county, distinguished as native or foreign, white or colored, male or female.

On the 1st of December, 1879, the force of this office consisted of 44 persons, clerks and other employés. This force was occupied partly in making preparations for the approaching June enumeration of the population, and partly in conducting certain inquiries relating to the census year (the twelve months ending May 31, 1880) then current, especially inquiries concerning the mortality of the different sections of the United States; concerning the fishing, mining, and grazing industries of the country; and concerning the social conditions of our city populations.

The following table exhibits the total number of employés of the office on the 1st of each month succeeding, including May:

The approach of the June enumeration required a considerable increase of the force of the office, and as soon as the first schedules were received, in July, from the supervisors of the several districts, the force was rapidly increased to secure the earliest possible revision of the schedules, prompt payment of the enumerators for their services, and an immediate commencement of the work of compilation in the several divisions of the office. The following table exhibits the aggregate number of employés on the 1st of each month from June to December, inclusive:

a Of these, one is in Texas, one in Wisconsin, one in Michigan, two in Maryland, one in Iowa, and

The exigencies of the service ever since the 1st of May have required a considerable clerical force to be maintained upon work at night.

It is the view of the Superintendent that the compilation and publication of the several classes of statistics should be pushed forward with the utmost expedition. While the census will always remain of value for purposes of comparison with preceding periods, the first and greatest use of the census is its immediate use, not only for determining the distribution of political power, according to the provisions of the Constitution, but also for directing state and national legislation, and for guiding individual and social effort for the promotion of public interests, and for the amelioration of the condition of the criminal, afflicted, and dependent classes.

Every year and every month, therefore, which can be saved in the compilation and publication of the census statistics adds appreciably to their value. I will not say that the country could well afford to pay largely for thus hastening the promulgation of the results of the census, but, rather, that the country could on no account afford to allow any delay therein beyond the time absolutely necessary to secure careful revision and a correct compilation of those results. In fact, however, when the saving of the general expenses of the office is taken into account, a prompt compilation and an early publication of the census statistics secure an actual economy of expenditure. In this view, the work of this office will be pressed forward with the utmost energy until it is brought to a full completion. And, in order to attain the earliest practicable publication of results, I have the honor to recommend that Congress be asked to authorize the printing, by special contract, under the supervision of the honorable Secretary of the Interior (and, if it be thought desirable, also of the Printing Committees of the two houses of Congress), of the several reports of the census as fast as prepared.

With the enormons pressure upon the Public Printer, where every government service is clamoring for early action upon its own work, and where requisitions of weeks' if not of months' standing must have priority to the census reports, a great saving of time could undoubtedly be effected by the adoption of the foregoing recommendation.

Several important reports will be ready for publication during the course of this winter, and I cannot but think that it would afford much gratification to the country if they could be pushed through the press with all the expedition which belongs to private enterprise when time is made of the essence of the contract, as in this case it should be.

In addition to the several special investigations set on foot during the year 1879, 28 mentioned in the last annual report of this office, the following important departments have also been assigned to special agents for investigation, under the provisions of the eighteenth section of the act of March 3, 1879, and the eighth section of the act of April 20, 1880:

Robt. P. Porter, esq., Statistics of Wealth, Debt, and Taxation.

Dr. Henry Randall Waite, Statistics of Churches, Schools, and Libraries.

Major John W. Powell, Social and Industrial Statistics of the Indian Tribes.

Ivan Petroff, esq., Population, Industry, and Resources of Alaska.

S. N. D. North, Statistics of Newspapers and Periodicals, and of the Book-Publish

ing Interest.

Colonel J. B. Killebrew, Statistics of the Tobacco Culture.

Wm. L. Rowland, esq., The Chemical Manufacturing Industries.

Henry Hall, esq., Shipbuilding.

Professor S. F. Peckham, Statistics of Petroleum Production.

George W. Hawes, Ph. D., Statistics of the Quarrying Industry.

Colonel Carroll D. Wright, The Factory System.

With the exception of the last four investigations, which have but recently been set on foot, the work has in each progressed so far as to give assurance of a very marked degree of success to result from the use of the appropriate agencies authorized by the enlightened provisions of the sections referred to.