Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/205

 CENSUS 197 lution of this board the control of the census, which had been previously in the department of state, was transferred to the department of the interior, under the provisions of the act of May 23, 1850, and the office of superin- tendent of census was created. The census of the United States has continued to be taken under the law of 1850, though this is regarded as very defective. In order to facilitate com- parisons, the general forms and moulds of preceding census publications were retained in that of 1870, there being for the first time no return of slaves. But the important improve- ments made in existing schedules, and the ad- dition of new tables, together with the superin- tendence of the eminent statistician, Gen. Fran- cis A. Walker, give to the ninth census a com- pleteness of detail and accuracy of result not presented by any previous one ; while as a com- prehensive exhibit of the social and industrial condition of a people, it surpasses the censuses of all other countries. The constitution con- tains no requirement for any enumeration of persons outside the several states ; but the cen- sus law of 1850 makes provision for enumera- ting the inhabitants of the territories upon the same terms as those of the states; and even prior to the adoption of that law the ter- ritories were included in the census. There is no provision for an enumeration of tribal Indians, but the statistics concerning this class of the population in the census of 1870 were obtained by extensive inquiries conducted through the agents of the Indian office. Statis- tics relating to commerce and navigation and immigration are not within the province of the census, but are reported regularly by the bureau of statistics. In the United States the legal and not the actual population are enume- rated. In the census of 1870 the general ta- bles of population give the number of families and dwellings, with the average number of per- sons to each, the number of white, colored (dis- tinguished as black and mulattoes), Chinese, and Indians, showing the age, sex, and nationality, and whether either or both parents were of foreign birth. The classification of ages adopt- ed for the first time gives the number under one year, by years up to 5, from 5 to 10, 10 to 15, 15 to 18, 18 to 20, 21, 21 to 25, by quin- quennial periods from 25 to 80, and by single years from 80 upward; thus exhibiting the number of the school, the military, and the voting age. Dr. Edward Jarvis of Dorchester, Mass., the highest American authority on vital statistics, maintains that the population should be exhibited by states in each year of age, as necessary to determine many anthropological questions, and as having an important agency in the development of political and social sci- ence. This is done in many European coun- tries, with valuable results. Another most im- portant feature which appears for the first time in the ninth census is the distinction be- tween native and foreign-born in the tables of age and sex ; this will indicate how foreigners, as distinguished from natives, are affected by the climate and the other conditions of life in the United States. Next to the enumeration of inhabitants, the occupations of the people, as illustrating their industrial and social character, form the most important features of the census. In preparing for the ninth census special atten- tion was given to this class of statistics, which show the number of persons of each sex from 10 to 15 years of age, from 15 to 60, and 60 and over, with nativity, in each occupation, arranged un- der the general heads of agriculture, profession- al and personal services, trade and transporta- tion, and manufactures and mining. The tables of school attendance and illiteracy show the total number that attended school, distinguish- ed as native and foreign, together with the white, colored, Chinese, and Indians of each sex ; the number over 10 years of age who cannot read, and those unable to write, distinguished as native and foreign, with classifications of color and sex, distinguishing also Indians and Chinese, for three periods of life : 10 to 15, 15 to 21, and 21 and over. Previous tables of illiteracy gave only the number over 21 years of age who could not read and write. The blind, the deaf and dumb, the insane, the idiotic, and those appearing in two, three, or four classes of these unfortunates, are classified by race, place of birth, age, and sex. It was also sought in the census to show, for each month in the year, the number of births, of marriages, and of deaths, thus making the vital statistics of the United States comparable in these particulars with those of many European countries which give the month for the three capital events of life. The returns of marriages, however, were found to be so far imperfect as not to justify publication. In the opinion of Superintendent Walker, the experience of this census, as well as of the censuses of 1850 and 1860, " has shown that the statistics of this subject are only to be collected through a permanent registration, and under a system of penalties." The same authority claims that statistics showing the month of birth for all children born within the census year are of a high degree of value for nine months, as they exhibit with accura- cy the varying influence of the seasons upon human reproduction in each section of the country; but in the 10th month, counting backward from the date of enumeration, a very perceptible disturbance is introduced, while in the llth and 12th months the number of births diminishes with extraordinary rapidity almost to zero. Thus the number of births reported in Massachusetts in May, 1870, was 3,771 ; in April, 3,430; in March, 3,287; in February, 3,139; in January, 3,117; in December (1869), 3,229 ; in November, 2,705 ; in October, 2,899 ; in September, 2,830 ; in August, 2,429 ; in July, 1,584 ; in June, 567. This significant peculiari- ty is attributed by Superintendent Walker to the tendency of families to speak of infants of between 11 and 12 months of age, and even be- tween 10 and 11 months, as a year old. Dr.