Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

■ Schedule No. 4 - Production of Agriculture. This schedule collected data on agricultural production for the year ending June 1, 1850.

Schedule No. 5 Products of Industry. This schedule collected data on the products of industry for the year ending June 1, 1850, and applied to all forms of productive industry, including manufactures (except household manufactures), mining, fisheries, and all kinds of mercantile, commercial, and trading businesses.

■ Schedule No. 6 Social Statistics. This schedule collected aggregate statistics for each subdivision enumerated on the following topics: valuation of real estate; annual taxes; colleges, academies, and schools; seasons and crops; libraries; newspapers and periodicals; religion; pauperism; crime; and wages.

Each of these schedules was supplemented by printed instructions in which the intention of each inquiry was explained. In addition, each assistant was supplied with a "sample" schedule that had been completed the way the Census Board had intended. Each schedule included a space at the head for the entry of the name of the civil division for which the enumeration was made and the date on which the inquiries were completed. Assistants were required to sign each completed schedule.

Joseph C.G. Kennedy supervised the enumeration and compilation of census data at the end of the 1850 Census. He served as "Secretary" of the Census Board from May 1, 1849 to May 31, 1850, before being appointed Superintendent Clerk, by the Secretary of the Interior. Kennedy was succeeded as Superintendent Clerk by James D. B. De Bow, on March 18, 1853. Upon completing the compilation of census results, De Bow resigned the office on December 31, 1854, and the census office was disbanded.

The Eighth Census: 1860

The Eighth Census of the United States was authorized by the previous census May 23, 1850 act. On the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, the provisions of this act were to be "adhered to, following the requirement for the taking of the eighth, or any subsequent census under its provisions, if no law, therefore, was passed before January 1 of the year in which the census was required.11" By an act of May 5, 1860, a clerical force was provided for the census office and on June 1, 1860, and Joseph C. G. Kennedy was appointed Superintendent.

The census office, and the position of Superintending Clerk were (for all practical purpose) abolished in May 1862. A portion of the clerks engaged in census work were transferred to the General Land Office, where the work of the 1860 census was completed, including the publication of a two-volume census report, under the direction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

The Ninth Census: 1870

The 1870 census commenced on June 1, 1870, and was taken under the provisions of the census act of May 23, 1850.12

The Secretary of Interior appointed General Francis A. Walker Superintendent of the Ninth Census on February 7, 1870.13 Although the 1870 Census was under the 1850 act, a new bill approved on May 6, 1870, made the following changes:

The marshals were to submit the returns from "schedule 1" (free inhabitants) to the Census Office by September 10, 1870. All other schedules were to be submitted by October 1, 1870.

The 1850 law authorizing penalties for refusing to reply to the inquiries was expanded to apply to all inquiries made by enumerators.

Redesigned schedules used for 1870 and the omission of a "slave" schedule made possible several additional inquiries as follows:

Schedule No. 1 - General Population Schedule. This schedule collected data from the entire population of the United States.

Schedule No. 2 Mortality. This schedule collected data on persons who died during the year. In addition to the 1860 inquiries, inquiries were modified to include Schedule 1's additions to collect data on parentage and to differentiate between Chinese and American Indians. Inquiries concerning "free or slave" status and "number of days ill" were discontinued. Schedule No. 3 - Agriculture. The 1860 inquiries were used with additional requests for (1) acreage of woodland, (2) production of Spring and Winter wheat, (3) livestock sold for slaughter, (4) total tons of hemp produced, (5) total wages paid, (6) gallons of milk sold, (7) value of forest products, and (8) estimated value of all farm productions.

Schedule No. 4 - Products of Industry. Using the 1860 schedule as a basis, additional information was requested on (1) motive power and machinery, (2)

12 Although a Congressional committee stated that the 1860 Census had been "the most complete census that any Nation has ever had," it was recognized that the 1850 act was inadequate to meet the changing conditions in which the 1870 Census would need to be conducted. A special committee of the U.S. House of Representatives (Second Session, Forty-First Congress) investigated and reported on the need for a new census act. The committee's report was submitted as a bill on January 18, 1870. This bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, but defeated in the Senate, compelling the use of the 1850 Census act.

13 General Walker was one of several "experts" participating in the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee deliberations on the 1870 Census. Prior to being appointed Superintendent of the Ninth Census, Walker was Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, which then was an agency within the Treasury Department.

Wright and Hunt, p. 50.

Measuring America

131

hands employed by sex and specified age groups, (3) total annual salaries paid, and (4) time of full- and part-time operation.

Schedule No. 5 - Social Statistics. The 1860 schedule was modified to incorporate the questions on (1) bonded and other debt of counties, cities, towns, and townships, parishes, and boroughs, (2) pauperism and crime by race (“native black" and "native white"); (3) number of church organizations and church buildings; (4) number of teachers and students; (5) kinds of schools, libraries, and taxes, by type.

The 1870 enumeration was completed on August 23, 1871. The work of compiling the census data, a portion of which was tallied using a machine invented by Charles W. Seaton, was completed in 1872.

The Tenth Census: 1880

The 1880 census was carried out under a law enacted March 3, 1879. Additional amendments to the law were made on April 20, 1880, and appropriations made on June 16, 1880-16 days after the actual enumeration had begun.

The new census law specifically handed over the supervision of the enumeration to a body of officers, known as supervisors of the census, specifically chosen for the work of the census, and appointed in each state or territory, of which they should be residents before March 1, 1880. Each supervisor was responsible for recommending the organization of his district for enumeration, choosing enumerators for the district and supervising their work, reviewing and transmitting the returns from the enumerators to the central census office, and overseeing the compensation for enumerators in each district.

Each enumerator was required by law "to visit personally each dwelling house in his subdivision, and each family therein, and each individual living out of a family in any place of abode, and by inquiry made of the head of such family, or of the member thereof deemed most credible and worthy of trust, or of such individual living out of a family, to obtain each and every item of information and all the particulars." In case no one was available at a family's usual place of abode, the enumerator was directed by the law "to obtain the required information, as nearly as may be practicable, from the family or families, or person or persons, living nearest to such place of abode."

The 1879 census act also provided for the collection of detailed data on the condition and operation of railroad corporations, incorporated express companies, and telegraph companies, and of life, fire, and marine insurance companies (using Schedule No. 4 - Social Statistics). In addition, the Superintendent of Census was required to collect and publish statistics of the population, industries, and

132

resources of Alaska, with as much detail as was practical. An enumeration was made of all untaxed Indians within the jurisdiction of the United States to collect as much information about their condition as possible.

The following five schedules were authorized by the 1880 census act:

Schedule No. 1 - Population. The 1880 schedule was similar to that used previously, with a few exceptions. Schedule No. 2 - Mortality. The schedule used the same inquiries as in 1870, and added inquiries to record marital status, birthplace of parents, length of residence in the United States or territory, and name of place where the disease was contracted, if other than place of death.

The Superintendent of Census was authorized to withdraw the mortality schedule in those areas where an official registration of death was maintained, and the required statistics were then collected from these administrative records.

Schedule No. 3 - Agriculture. In addition to greatly expanded inquiries concerning various crops (including acreage for principal crop), questions were added to collect data on farm tenure, weeks of hired labor, annual cost for fence building and repair, fertilizer purchases, and the number of livestock as of June 1, 1880.

Schedule No. 4 - Social Statistics. Section 18 of the March 3, 1879, census act made the collection of social statistics the responsibility of experts and special agents, not the enumerators. Although some data were collected by enumerators using the general population schedule (Schedule No. 1), the majority of the data were collected through correspondence with officials of institutions providing care and treatment of certain members of the population. Experts and special agents also were employed to collect data on valuation, taxation, and indebtedness; religion; libraries; colleges, academies, and schools; newspapers and periodicals, and wages.

Schedule No. 5 - Relating to Manufactures. In addition to the inquiries made in 1870, this schedule contained new inquiries as to the greatest number of hands employed at any time during the year, the number of hours in the ordinary work day from May to November and November to May, the average daily wages paid to skilled mechanics and laborers, months of full- and part-time operation, and machinery used.

Special agents were charged with collecting data on specific industries throughout the country, and included the manufactures of iron and steel; cotton, woolen, and worsted goods; silk and silk goods;

Measuring America

chemical products and salt; coke and glass; shipbuilding; and all aspects of fisheries and mining, including the production of coal and petroleum.

Interdecennial Censuses of States and Territories:

1885

In addition to the 1880 Census, the 1879 census act also provided for interdecennial censuses by any state or territory, through their duly appointed officers, during the 2 months beginning with the first Monday of June 1885 (State Censuses: An Annotated Bibliography of Census of Population Taken After the Year 1790 by States and Territories of the United States, Prepared by Henry J. Dubester). The schedules used were to be similar in all respects to those used by the federal census. Upon completion of a state or territorial census, certified copies of the returns were to be forwarded to the Secretary of the Interior by September 1 of the interdecennial year. States or territories opting to conduct these censuses were provided 50 percent of the total cost to cover census operations. As a result, the states of Florida, Nebraska, and Colorado, and the territories of New Mexico and Dakota conducted censuses in 1885. Copies of the returns were sent to the Department of the Interior, but the data were not published.

The Eleventh Census: 1890

The census of 1890 was taken, under the supervision of Robert P. Porter, 14 according to an act of March 1, 1889, and modeled after that used for the 1880 Census.

The enumeration began on June 2, 1890, because June 1 was a Sunday. The census employed 175 supervisors, with one or more appointed to each state or territory, exclusive of Alaska and Indian territory. Each subdivision assigned to an enumerator was not to exceed 4,000 inhabitants. Enumeration was to be completed in cities with populations under 10,000 (according to the 1880 Census results) was to be completed within 2 weeks. Enumerators were required to collect all the information required by the act by a personal visit to each dwelling and family.

As in 1880, experts and special agents were hired to make special enumerations of manufactures, 15 Indians living within the jurisdiction of the United States, and a separate enumeration of Alaska. Furthermore, the schedule collecting social statistics was withdrawn from enumerators; the work of obtaining statistics concerning mines and mining, fisheries, churches, education, insurance, transportation, and wealth, debt, and taxation, also was conducted by experts and special agents.

14 Robert P. Porter was appointed as Superintendent of Census by the President on April 17, 1889. He resigned the position on July 31, 1893.

15In 1890, the manufactures schedules were withdrawn from the general enumeration for 1,042 "important" manufacturing centers (opposed to 279 in 1880). Special agents were responsible for collecting the detailed data in these areas.

Measuring America

Robert B. Porter served as Superintendant of Census until his resignation on July 31, 1893. On October 3, 1893, Congress enacted a law that directed census-related work to continue under the direction of the Commissioner of Labor. On March 2, 1895, a further act of Congress closed the census office and transferred the unfinished work to the office of the Secretary of the Interior, where it continued until July 1, 1897.16

The results of the 1890 Census are contained in 25 volumes, plus a three-part compendium, statistical atlas, and an abstract. The complete results from the special enumeration of survivors of the Civil War were not published (the schedules of which were turned over to the Bureau of Pensions); however, the special inquiry on Schedule 1 (general population schedule) regarding Union and Confederate veterans were published in the report on population.

The Twelfth Census: 1900

The twelfth census of the United States was conducted under the terms of the census act of March 3, 1899, and supervised by the Director of the Census, William R. Merriam. The enumeration was conducted in each state and organized territory, including Washington, DC, Alaska, Hawaii, and "Indian Territory."17 The census was taken as of June 1, 1900, and was to be completed in 2 weeks in places of 8,000 inhabitants or more (as of the 1890 Census) and 1 month in rural districts. The United States and its territories were divided into 297 supervisors' districts, which were subdivided into 52,726 enumeration districts.

The enumeration of military and naval personnel (within the country and abroad) was conducted through the Departments of War and the Navy. Similarly, the enumeration of the "Indian Territory" was carried out in cooperation with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Large institutions (prisons, hospitals, etc.) were enumerated through the appointment of special "institution" enumerators.

Enumerators were much more closely supervised during the 1900 Census. In large cities, special agents were appointed to assist the census supervisor. Enumerators used "street books," in which a record of each enumerator's work was made on a daily basis. Enumerators used individual census slips for obtaining a correct return for any person (particularly lodgers and boarders) absent at the time of the enumerator's visit. Additionally, "absent family" schedules were used for securing a complete record for any person residing within the enumeration district, but temporarily absent.

16The Commissioner of Labor continued his supervisory role of census-related work until October 5, 1897 (serving since October 1, 1865 without compensation), when upon his request, he was relieved by the Secretary of Interior.

17Censuses were not conducted until 1890 of Indian Territory. Alaska's first census was conducted in 1880. Hawaii was annexed by the United States on August 12, 1898. Therefore, the 1900 Census was the first census of the islands taken under the supervision of the United States. The Hawaiian Government, however, did conduct censuses every 6 years, from 1866 to 1896.

133

The Thirteenth Census: 1910

Under the provisions of the census act of July 2, 1909, the thirteenth census was administered. In accordance with the provisions of the act, general population and Indian population schedules were prepared. The schedules used for Hawaii and Puerto Rico, although similar to the general population schedule, differed slightly from those used within the United States.

Census enumerators began canvassing the Nation on April 15, 1910.18 The law gave census takers 2 weeks to complete their work in cities of 5,000 inhabitants or more, while enumerators in smaller and rural areas were allotted 30 days to complete their task.

The Fourteenth Census: 1920

The Fourteenth Census Act of July 2, 1909, provided for the 1920 and subsequent censuses; however, numerous minor changes were sought prior to the census, so a new law was enacted on March 3, 1919. This act designated a 3-year decennial census period, beginning July 1, 1919. During this 3-year period, the act provided for an increased work force at the Census Bureau's headquarters in Washington, DC, and for the creation of a special field force to collect census data.

Section 20, of the Fourteenth Census Act, provided that the enumeration of the population should be made as of January 1, 1920.19 Under the direction of the Director of the Census, Samuel L. Rogers, the work of actual enumeration began on January 2, 1920. The census covered the United States, the outlying possessions (excluding the Philippines and the Virgin Islands, the military, Red Cross, consular services abroad, and the naval service abroad or in American waters, but not on a fixed station.)20

For the country as a whole and for states and political subdivisions within the country, the population enumerated was the resident population. The enumerators (according to the census law), were instructed to enumerate persons at their "usual place of abode"-i.e., their permanent home or

18The change of "census day" from June 1 to April 15 was made upon the suggestion of the Census Bureau. It was believed that the April 15 date would be more desirable, since a large number of people are away from their homes in June.

19The date was changed upon the request of the Department of Agriculture and users of agricultural statistics. The new date had advantages for the agricultural census-the past years work on all farms had been finished, and the new years work had not yet begun. The majority of farmers would have been occupying the farms they had the previous year, whereas, a few months later, many renters would have moved to other farms. Furthermore, the birth of livestock increases greatly during the Spring and early Summer. Therefore, a livestock census referring to January 1, 1920, would be far more valuable than one taken several months later.

20No provision was made by the Fourteenth Census Act for the enumeration of the Philippines. Censuses of the Philippines were conducted by the Philippine Commission in 1903. A second was conducted by the Philippines Government on December 31, 1918 (but called the "1919 Census"). A special census of the Virgin Islands was conducted by the United States, November 1, 1917.

134

regular lodging place. Persons were not always counted in the places where they happened to be found by the enumerators or where they transacted their daily business. Persons temporarily absent from their usual places of abode (i.e., on business, traveling, attending school, or in hospitals) were enumerated at the places where they habitually resided and the information for these people was obtained from relatives or acquaintances. Persons having no fixed place of abode were required by the census law to be enumerated where they slept on the night of January 1, 1920. The Fifteenth Census: 1930

Under the direction of William M. Steuart, Director of the Census, and in accordance with the Fifteenth Census Act, approved June 18, 1929, "a census of population, agriculture, irrigation, drainage, distribution, unemployment, and mines [was] taken by the Director of the Census" on April 1, 1930. The census encompassed each state and Washington, DC, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. A census of Guam, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands was taken in the same year by the islands' respective governors, and a census of the Panama Canal Zone was taken by the governor of that area. In addition to population data, the 1930 census also collected the following statistics:

■ Agriculture. Acreage of farm; value of land and buildings; mortgage debt; expenditures for labor, feed, and fertilizer; farm machinery and facilities; acreage, yield, and value of crops; quantity and value of livestock. Manufacturing (with similar data collected from mines and quarries). Quantity and value of products; the number of salaried employees and wage earners; aggregate payments for salaries and wages; the cost of materials and fuel.

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

1930 Census of Unemployment

A Census of Unemployment was conducted, in conjunction with the 1930 census, by an act of May 3, 1928. This special enumeration collected data on persons who usually worked for wages or a salary, but were not working at the time the census was taken.

William M. Steuart, Director of the Census, said "the results of the [unemployment] census will furnish a picture of the unemployment situation as indicated not only by the number of unemployed but by the attendant circumstance of unemployment. It will bring the answer to certain fundamental questions about which nothing definite is known at present. Obviously, something more than a mere knowledge of the number of persons out of work is needed, if we are to measure fairly and accurately, without exaggeration and without understatement, the gravity of the unemployment situation. We need the census to know the facts.23"

Enumerators were instructed to complete an unemployment schedule for every person responding "No" in column 25 of the general population schedule. The "unemployed" were grouped into two classes-those having a job but temporarily laid-off on account of a lack of orders, weather, sickness, etc.; and those who were unemployed but want to work.

The unemployment census provided data concerning the number of men and women unemployed, the average age of the unemployed, how many of the unemployed were married and single, how long they had been out of work, and the leading reasons for unemployment in the United States. Data were made available for the Nation, individual segments of the population (i.e., by age, race, marital status, etc.), and for the foreign-born and native populations.

The Sixteenth Census: 1940

The Sixteenth Census of the United States covered the continental United States, Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, the Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, the military and consular services abroad, and naval services abroad or in American waters, but not at a fixed station.24 Persons in the military services were enumerated as residents of the states, counties, and minor civil divisions in which their posts of duty were located (members of their families were enumerated at the place in which they resided). The crews of American merchant marine vessels were enumerated as part of the population of the port from which the vessel operated.

3-4.

23Undated memorandum, "The Census of Unemployment." Pp.

24 Again, the Philippine Islands were not included in the United States decennial census. The commonwealth of the Philippines conducted a census in 1939. The statistics from this census were then included in the data from the 1940 Census.

Measuring America

No apportionment had been done after the 1920 Censusthe 1910 apportionment remained in effect. Consequently, the 1929 act included provisions that, for the 1930 and subsequent censuses, (unless the Congress, within a specified time enacted legislation providing for apportionment on a different basis) the apportionment should automatically be made by the method last used. In accordance with this act, a report was submitted by the President to the Congress on December 4, 1930, showing the apportionment computations both by the method of major fractions (which was used in 1910) and by the method of equal proportions. In 1931, in the absence of additional legislation, the method of major fractions was automatically followed.25

In the application of this method, the Representatives are so assigned that the average population per Representative has the least possible variation as between one state and any other. As a result, California gained three Representatives between 1930 and 1940 and six other states

Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Tennessee each gained one. To balance these gains (since the number of Representatives in the House was not changed), nine states lost one Representative each-Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.

Four notable changes were made to the 1940 Census, including the addition of the housing schedule, the sampling procedure (both discussed in further detail below), the incorporation of the questions on employment and unemployment onto the general population26 schedule, and inquiries into migration.27

1940 Census of Housing

On August 11, 1939, a national census of housing was approved by the Congress, "to provide information concerning the number, characteristics (including utilities and equipment), and geographic distribution of dwelling structures and dwelling units in the United States. The Director of the Census shall take a census of housing in each state, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Alaska, in the year 1940 in conjunction with, and at the same time, and as part of the population inquiry of the sixteenth decennial census."

The housing inquiries were collected via a separate census, partly because they were added by legislation late in the census planning, and partly because the nature of the questions so differed from those of the census of population.

25 In 1941, this law was amended to the effect that apportionment based on the 1940 and subsequent censuses should be made by the method of equal proportions.

26These inquiries had been made by special Census of Unemployment in 1930 (See 1930 Unemployment Census).

27A question was added asking, for each person 5 years old and above, the residence on April 1, 1935. These data were coded and compared to the place of residence in 1940, thus providing, for the first time, statistics on population movement.

135

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »