and the day of the month when made, and the assistants were required by the instructions to sign each page of each schedule filled by them. The scope of the census was thus extended materially, and, so far as the return of population was concerned, the method of enumeration underwent an important change. At the seventh census, the several inquiries with respect to the free population were made concerning each person enumerated, while for the slave population a detailed statement of the color, sex, and age of each slave enumerated, in connection with other numerical data, was obtained for the first time, instead of, as in the preceding censuses, a return being made of the number of each of the various classes of persons in each family, in connection with the name of the head of the family only. The schedules relating to these two classes of the population contained fortytwo lines to each page, and one family of free persons or body of slaves followed another in the order of their enumeration, the inquiries being printed at the head of the columns and the entries being made on separate lines for each free person or slave enumerated. The returns related to the individual, therefore, and were, for the first time in the census, susceptible of detailed treatment and classification. The preparation of the returns for publication was no longer made a part of the duties of the marshals, and this provision applied equally to the inquiries made, for the first time, concerning persons who had died during the year and with respect, also, to the products of agriculture and industry. All the returns relating to the various subjects investigated were made by the marshals in the form as enumerated by the assistant marshals, and the classification and compilation of the results preparatory to their publication was made in the central office at Washington. These radical changes in the method and scope of the census, therefore, constituted an epoch in the history of census taking in this country, and mark the real beginning of the conduct of the census work in accordance with plans requiring the individual enumeration of persons and establishments, and conforming, in these respects, more nearly to the requirements of the present day.

In the work of enumeration 45 marshals and 3,231 assistant marshals were employed, and the first returns were received at the census office in Washington August 29, 1850. The last returns, those of California, were not received, however, until February 17, 1852, but this was due to the fact that a portion of the California returns was destroyed by fire, and new copies from the originals had to be prepared. The marshals and assistants, with few exceptions, discharged their duties in a prompt and efficient manner, and, as stated in the report of the Superintendent of the Census, December 1, 1851, (a) to them is due the credit of the returns being made "in time to admit of placing the aggregate

a Abstract of Seventh Census, p. 126.

enumeration of population before the Congress succeeding that which enacted the law, and on the first day of the session." The report further states (a) that the utmost care was exercised to insure correct returns, and in all cases where error or inconsistency could be detected, real or imaginary, effort was made by correspondence to have the discrepancy corrected, and, furthermore, that it had been necessary, "in only three cases, to call the attention of a United States district attorto require enforcement of the act of Congress for refusal to reply to interrogations of the assistants;" in two of these cases returns were eventually made without the necessity of making costs to the parties, and in the other case costs were paid before appearance and a satisfactory return made to the office.

ney

The schedules of the census of 1850, originals and copies, weighed over 100 tons, and required 3,000 reams of medium-size paper to print them. They were sent by express to the marshals, and were returned, when completed, to the census office by mail. The data contained on the schedules were then taken off upon blank forms (6) prepared for the purpose of condensing the information, so as to secure the results for the various civil divisions, for each of the States, and for the United States as a whole. The average number of persons employed in the census office during the last months of 1850 was 23; during the years 1852 and 1853, 128; first three months of 1853, 160, and from March 20 to November 15, 1853, 35.

The first results of the census in printed form were given in an abstract report to Congress December 1, 1851, containing a statement of the population of the States, except California, with other information, and this was followed by a second abstract report to Congress, a year later, containing much more detailed information derived from the census returns. These reports were published together in a small volume of 160 pages, known as the "Abstract of the Seventh Census, and of which an edition of 100,000 copies was printed by order of the House of Representatives.

The printing of the large quarto volume containing the general results of the census was begun about the middle of June, 1853, and was completed and published during the latter part of the same year. This volume is made up of 1,022 quarto pages of tabular matter, covering the various statistics presented in a series of fourteen tables, with explanatory notes, for each State and Territory, arranged in their geographical order, and 136 pages of analytical and introductory matter, or 1,158 pages in all. This preliminary text, which appears for the first time in the reports of the census, contains summaries, by States and Territories, for each of the subjects considered and com

a Abstract of Seventh Census, p. 128.

b Seventh Census of the United States, p. xiii.

parisons of the results of the seventh census with those of preceding censuses and with data derived from European sources; and, in addition, much valuable information as to the cost of the first seven censuses; the administrative features of the census of 1850; an abstract of the census legislation from 1790 to 1850, inclusive; copies of the schedules adopted at each census to 1850; copies of the instructions to marshals and assistants at the censuses of 1840 and 1850, including a detailed explanation of the schedule inquiries at the latter census; remarks upon the schedules of 1850, etc.; copies of the blank forms used in the census office for condensing information in 1850, and a brief synopsis of the European census systems. By direction of Congress, the returns of the population and industry of California, as shown by the State census of 1852, are appended to the census tables of 1850 for that State.

The statistics contained in this quarto report related to population, agriculture, illiteracy, school attendance, schools, libraries, churches, and newspapers and periodicals, but did not comprehend the statistics of mortality or manufactures. The report (a) on mortality was published late in 1855, in accordance with a resolution of the House of Representatives passed December 13, 1854. The report on manufactures was published in March, 1859, as a Senate document, (b) being condensed from the digest prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in conformity with the first section of the act of June 12, 1858, by which the sum of $3,500 was appropriated for the purpose. A compendium of the seventh census was also published late in 1854, having been ordered by a resolution of the House of Representatives passed January 12, 1854, and this publication was in the main a condensation of the large quarto report published in 1853, with the addition of partial data relating to mortality and manufactures.

For the supervision of the work of enumeration and the compilation of the results, Mr. Joseph C. G. Kennedy, of Pennsylvania, who had served as secretary of the Census Board from May 1, 1849, to May 31, 1850, was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with the provisions of the census act, as superintending clerk, or, as more commonly known, Superintendent of the Census. Mr. Kennedy was succeeded by Mr. James D. B. De Bow, of Louisiana, who was appointed superintending clerk March 18, 1853, and under whose direction the compilation of the census returns was completed. When the work of compiling the compendium was brought to a close, late in 1854, Mr. De Bow resigned his office as Superintendent of the Census, to take effect December 31, 1854, and the census office was disbanded. It was revived early in 1855 in order to prepare the report

a House Ex. Doc., Thirty-third Congress, second session, No. 98.

b Senate Ex. Doc., Thirty-fifth Congress, second session, No. 39. S. Doc. 194- 4

on mortality, for which purpose Mr. De Bow was reappointed, and upon the completion of this work, in November, 1855, the office was again disbanded. In the preparation of the digest of the statistics of manufactures, ordered by the act of June 12, 1858, the services of Mr. Joseph C. G. Kennedy were utilized, and upon its completion, in December, 1859, he remained as superintending clerk from January 1 to May 31, 1860, when he was appointed Superintendent of the Eighth Census.

The total population returned at the census of 1850 was 23,191,876. The total cost of the seventh census was $1,423,350.75, distributed as follows: For preparing forms and schedules (by census board), $9,496.52; for transmitting papers relating to census through the postoffice, $12,000; for payment to marshals and assistants for enumerating inhabitants, etc., $952,401.18; for paper and printing of returns, $43,016.61; for binding schedules of seventh and preceding censuses, $2,328.87; for all other expenses, including clerk hire, etc., for compilation of census returns, $404,107.57.

CENSUS OF MINNESOTA: 1857.

A census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the Territory of Minnesota was taken by the marshal thereof, prior to its admission as a State, in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of the act of February 26, 1857, in order to determine the number of representatives in Congress to which it would be entitled, and an appropriation of $20,000 was made for the purpose. This census was taken by direction of Congress, under the supervision of the Department of the Interior, but the results were not finally reported until July 23, 1858.

THE EIGHTH CENSUS: 1860.

The census of 1860 was taken under the act of May 23, 1850, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior that the provisions of that act should be adhered to, following the requirement for the taking of the eighth or any subsequent census under its provisions, if no law therefor was passed before January 1 of the year in which the census was required to be taken, under the Constitution. By act of May 5, 1860, a classified clerical force was provided for the census office, consisting of a chief clerk, six clerks of class 4, nine clerks of class 3, ten clerks of class 2, and such number of clerks of class 1 as might be necessary, and the Secretary of the Interior on June 1, 1860, appointed Mr. Joseph C. G. Kennedy as Superintendent of the Eighth Census.

The same schedules of inquiry were used as in 1850, with a few additions and extensions, the most important being those on the schedule for free inhabitants, which required that the "profession, occupation,

or trade of each person, male and female, over 15 years of age" should be returned, instead of only that of males over 15 years of age, and that under the value of estate owned a separate return was made of the value of real estate and of personal estate, instead of the value of real estate only. An inquiry was also added on the schedule for slave inhabitants, calling for the number of slave houses, while on the schedule relating to the productions of agriculture a return was required as to the quantity of beeswax and honey separately, instead of combined, as in 1850. The detailed instructions were also modified, to overcome the difficulties which arose in the course of the enumeration in 1850 · and to avoid all misapprehension as to the intent of the inquiries. With the exception of these slight changes, however, the eighth census was carried on under the same plans and in accordance with the same methods which governed the seventh census; nor did the census of 1860 suffer particularly from the effects of the civil war, which developed soon after the completion of the enumeration, in the way of a detention or loss of any of the returns, and the only delay arising therefrom came from the interruption of communication with many of the marshals, necessary to insure, through correspondence, completeness in the arrangement of some of the minor details. (a)

There were employed in the fieldwork the 64 marshals of the judicial districts of the country, a few special agents in the unorganized territory, and 4,417 assistants. In November, 1860, there were 127 clerks employed in the census office, 168 clerks and 16 messengers, laborers, and watchmen in May, 1862, and a total of 110 persons, including clerks, laborers, messengers, and watchmen, in November, 1862. The census office was practically abolished May 31, 1865, the services of the superintending clerk being dispensed with on that date, and a portion of the clerks engaged on the census work were transferred to the General Land Office, where the work was completed, including the publication of two volumes of the census report, under the direction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

The first published results of the eighth census were contained in a preliminary Report of the Eighth Census, consisting of 310 octavo pages, which was transmitted to Congress early in May, 1862, and of which 105,000 copies were ordered printed by a resolution of the House of Representatives passed May 21, 1862.

The final Report of the Eighth Census was contained in four quarto volumes, one relating to population, one to agriculture, one to manufactures, and one to mortality and miscellaneous statistics. These volumes contain in each case many pages devoted to a careful analysis of the statistics contained therein, besides much descriptive and historical data concerning the several classes and industrial interests considered.

a Population of the United States in 1860, pp. iii, iv.