The entire absence of geographical and statistical data, and the impossibility of immediately securing the same, rendered the task of subdivision into enumeration districts an extremely difficult one; but the work was carried forward, use being made of such information as was at the time obtainable, and on September 14, 1899, the preliminary or tentative subdivision was completed, the result being the creation of 1,315 enumeration districts, divided among the six provinces of Cuba as follows: Pinar del Rio, 143; Habana, 356; Matanzas, 201; Santa Clara, 295; Puerto Principe, 84; Santiago de Cuba, 236. Upon the completion of the tentative subdivision of each province, the supervisor therefor at once repaired to the capital city thereof, where his headquarters were established, and, acting under detailed and definite instructions, carried forward the preparatory work of the census. The temporary office at Habana was closed September 14, 1899, and permanent headquarters were established on the following day at Santa Clara, the capital city of the province of Santa Clara. From there, supplies for taking the Census were sent to each supervisor, packed, wrapped, and labeled in such a way as to enable him immediately to distribute them to enumerators. By the 16th of October this work had been completed, the enumerators had been appointed and qualified, and each one had received the necessary blanks, materials, and instructions, so that on the date mentioned the work of enumeration was commenced throughout the entire island, except in a very few cases in which short delays were unavoidable. In many cases as the work of the Census progressed it was found necessary to create new enumeration districts by subdividing such of those already created as were found to contain so large a population or to cover so great an extent of territory as to disable a single enumerator from completing his work within the required period, which expired on November 30, 1899. In a few instances, also, it was found necessary to consolidate certain districts because of population or geographical conditions. From time to time during the progress of the enumeration these changes were effected, with the result that on November 30, 1899, on which date the field work was completed, there were 1,607 enumeration districts, an increase of 292 over the number originally created prior to the commencement of the enumeration. These districts were divided among the six provinces of Cuba as follows: Pinar del Rio, 160; Havana, 366; Matanzas, 239; Santa Clara, 374; Puerto Principe, 135; Santiago de Cuba, 333. The enumeration of a considerable number of these districts was finished before November 1. Every day during the month witnessed the conclusion of the labors of many of the enumerators, and by the close of the month a large majority had finished. Had proper geographical and statistical information been obtainable prior to the commencement of the field work, such a subdivision of the island into districts could have been made as would have enabled the entire work of enumeration to be easily completed within thirty days from its beginning. But within the time prescribed by the orders of the President it was entirely completed, and so well and so thoroughly as to reflect great credit both upon the enumerators and upon the supervisors under whose direction they were employed. The returns of the Cuban Census are fully and accurately made in a legible and intelligent manner, and compare favorably with those of any American Census, National or State. As rapidly as the enumerators delivered their work to their respective supervisors, it was scrutinized by the latter for the purpose of correcting errors or supplying omissions. The work was then forwarded by the supervisors to me at Santa Clara, where it was packed in ironbound cases for shipment to Washington. On January 7, 1900, the complete returns of the Census, together with myself, the supervisors, and the employees who accompanied me to Cuba, were taken on board the U. S. transport McPherson, at Cienfuegos, Cuba, en route for Washington, and on January 15 the Census personnel and property reached their destination. There were 142 women employed as enumerators in the Cuban Census, mostly in the provinces of Habana, Matanzas, and Santa Clara, and, without exception, they demonstrated the fact that Cuban women are as capable and reliable as the men. They all took great pride in their employment, and displayed a degree of skill and enthusiasm that was highly commendable. The success of the census, while primarily due to the industry and intelligence of the persons employed in taking it, has been largely promoted by the careful manner in which it was organized, the interest manifested in it by the people of Cuba, and their cordial cooperation and support from the beginning to the end. Very respectfully, Lieut. Col. J. P. SANGER, VICTOR H. OLMSTED, Assistant Director Cuban Census. Inspector-General, Director of Cuban Census, Washington, D. C. APPENDIX IV. CENSUS OF CUBA, OFFICE OF THE SUPERVISOR, SIR: Upon the conclusion of the labors of the census of this province intrusted to me by the honorable Secretary of War of the United States, I take pleasure in complying with your request for a brief and concise report on said work, as well as a statement of all that I have observed during the period thereof. Believing that previous censuses had only served as a basis for increased taxation and new imposts, thus arousing as a natural consequence the passive resistance of the people and the consequent concealment of facts, I feared that I would encounter insurmountable difficulties in taking the census, but my fears disappeared in time, and I soon could see that the work undertaken would be crowned with success, as was the case. The prejudices of the people, from a political standpoint, with regard to the census were also great, but in a short time they were convinced of their error when the supervisor repeated to them the statements made by the Federal authorities at Washington and communicated to them the impressions brought from there. As a natural consequence there was a reaction, and with it came the unconditional support of the entire press and the decided cooperation of the people, who now saw in the census nothing but a fundamental basis for the establishment in Cuba of the government which President McKinley intends to establish for the good of all. Upon my arrival at Habana, and in order to gain time and have this work in an advanced form when called upon, I devoted myself to securing the maps and data I required for the purpose. I was disappointed to find that neither the military authorities nor the civil authorities of Habana could give me any maps or data whatsoever, except a map of the department of Habana, which was of no use at all to me, and a memorandum of the judicial districts of the city of Habana, with the respective wards and inhabitants, according to the last Spanish census of 1897. I was also able to secure from an employee of the department of state and of the interior an appendix to a work which it was publishing and which contained the civil division of this province; that is, the judicial and municipal districts, with their respective wards (barrios). But as the said appendix did not give the names and number of the wards composing the six judicial districts of the city of Habana, nor their limits, I was obliged to request this information of the audiencia and of the supreme court, but was unsuccessful, as these two bodies could only give me the names of the wards and of portions of others which composed each judicial district, without giving me the bounds of said portions of wards. This rendered the work incomplete, and I was obliged to recommend to every enumerator that in enumerating his respective district he should ask the judge of first instance to what judicial district it belonged, in order thus to enter it properly in the schedules. * * As it was not possible for me, with the few data at my command, to do anything practical, * I wrote to all the mayors in the province, requesting them to send me such maps of their respective municipal districts as they might have, informing me at the same time of the towns and wards which composed them, stating the number of inhabitants, in their opinion, in order to facilitate the work of subdivision. Said mayors gladly furnished me the data requested. The maps I could not make use of, but I did make use of the other data, which were of service for the subdivision of the province into enumeration districts. With these data in my possession, which were all I could obtain, I devoted myself to dividing the city of Habana into enumeration districts, the limits of which were fixed and marked on the map I had for the purpose, always considering so far as possible the instructions to the effect that the city districts should not exceed 1,500 inhabitants. Habana never having been divided in this manner, there was no basis for an exact subdivision, and there being a great disparity between the number of inhabitants in each block, there was a difference between the districts, as you may have observed. For the districts in the suburbs, where there are no streets which can serve as limits, the subdivision was made by taking as a basis the probable number of inhabitants, giving to each enumerator a small plan of Habana, on which his district was marked with red ink, in order to avoid confusion. For the subdivision of the municipal districts of the province I took the data given me by the respective mayors as a basis, making said subdivision in relation to the number of wards and inhabitants, and in the absence of maps I took care that the enumeration districts should always embrace entire wards, whose limits were known, being able in some towns to do something similar to what I did in the city of Habana. * * * In view of the short time remaining in which to begin the census, and considering what we still had to do and the large number of enumerators to instruct, I requested and obtained authority to appoint one instructing enumerator for every municipal district, who was to be instructed by me, and who in turn was to instruct the other enumerators. * * * * * In order to secure better results in the enumeration, I decided to go over the province in order to correct the division into districts and to appoint enumerators, selecting persons who should be not only intelligent but should also be acquainted with their respective districts. As the time at my disposal was short and it was impossible for me to go over the entire ground in person, I sent my secretary to visit a portion thereof, and do what was proper. The province, as you will recollect, was divided into 357 enumeration districts, two special districts having been created in Habana, one for the prison and penitentiary and another for the convents and religious associations, a woman being appointed for the latter. As a consequence of our visit to the province, 9 districts were abolished and 18 new ones were created, making a total of 366, according to the new corrected pamphlet I had the honor to send you. In order that the enumerators should not forget the limits of their respective districts, nor the data required by the population schedules, I ordered some slips printed which contained all this and which were delivered to each of them. |
