REPORT

OF THE

SUPERINTENDENT OF CENSUS.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

CENSUS OFFICE, Washington, November 6, 1889,

SIR: I have the honor to report as follows relative to the operations of this office since June 1, 1889:

The work of organizing and preparing for the forthcoming census of the population, wealth, and industry of the United States has been continued, and every effort has been made to complete the arrangements for the count of the people next June and to map out and start all the special inquiries which, under the act of March 1, 1889, are demanded of this office. The necessity of immediately providing office accommodation for a force which will continue to increase until it reaches a maximum of 2,000 persons has been met, and leases have been made for the building on the corner of Third and G streets at $6,000 per annum, and an adjoining building, to be erected under the direction of the Superintendent, and to be ready for occupancy March 1, 1890, at an annual rental of $6,500; also a building 108 feet by 38 feet and six stories high on the west side of Ninth street, between È and F, at an annual rental of $12,000, to be completed and ready for use July 1, 1890. In each instance a yearly lease has been made, at the expiration of which period the Census Office can give up any or all of these buildings or retain such portions thereof, at a pro rata rent, as may be needed to finish the work.

In this way provision has been made for the great expansion of the office force next year and early in 1891, and for the rapid decrease of the number of clerks employed which will follow the completion of the count of the population. It will also do away with the annoyance and expense arising from the occupation, as in 1880, of a number of small buildings in various parts of the city.

FINANCIAL REPORT.

The total expenditure of the office to October 31 has been as follows: For salaries of office force

For furniture and fittings

$41.031.85

6,067.51

For miscellaneous expenses, which include rent, stationery, printing, fuel,

gas, telegraphing, etc.

11,777.60

For per diem of special agents..

6,071.00

For traveling expenses of special agents

1,224. 04

For miscellaneous expenses of special agents

1,384.83

Total....

67,556.83

EMPLOYÉS AND EXAMINATIONS.

The total number of employés, including special agents and clerks not stationed in Washington, is at the present time 210. These employés have been appointed by the honorable the Secretary of the Interior on the recommendation of the Superintendent, in accordance with the rules governing appointments in the Census Office approved by the Secretary and promulgated August 3, 1889. The examinations required by these rules are not competitive, but simply a test of the qualifications of such candidates only as may be designated for examination by the Superintendent of Census. All persons who may be employed as special agents or statistical experts, and clerks transferred or detailed for service in the Census Office from existing branches of the civil service who have passed a satisfactory civil-service examination or were in the classified departmental service prior to July 16, 1883, as also applicants who have passed a satisfactory civil-service examination or were competent and trustworthy clerks or employés of the Tenth Census of the United States for a period of at least six months, are not required to submit to an examination as to qualifications prior to appointment if so recommended by the Superintendent of the Census. At the same time it is a matter which was left optional with the Superintendent as to whether or not in some cases persons who have passed civil-service examination shall be re-examined by the board of examiners of the Census Office.

Prior to the appointment of the board of examiners of this office 73 appointments, including that of the Superintendent, had been made; of this number 30 were chiefs of divisions, statistical experts, watchmen, assistant messengers, laborers, and others, who under the law and the ruling of the Department were exempt from examination. Of the remaining 43, 16 passed a civil-service examination and 5 served in the Tenth Census, leaving of those subject to examination 22, who were appointed without examination. The number of appointments since the formation of the board of examiners has been 137. Of this number 21 were special agents, 3 chiefs of division, and 20 watchmen, laborers, and others exempt from examination. Of the remaining 93 subject to examination, 69 have passed a satisfactory examination of the board of examiners, 11 passed the civil-service examination, 3 were transferred, 6 were employed in the Tenth Census, and 4 were examined by special agents. The employés may thus be recapitulated: Exempt from examination, 74; without examination, 22; civil-service examination, 27; Census-Office examination, 69; Tenth Census (except exempts), 11; examined by special agents, 4; transfers (except exempts), 3; total number of employés, 210.

WORK OF THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS.

Since the appointment of the board of examiners the total number of applicants examined has been 157, of which number 30 failed to pass. The questions are in the nature of those used in the business of the census, but are less difficult than the actual work. The examinations have proved an undoubted success, and have not only enabled the office to judge of the general fitness of the applicant for the work, but have aided the Superintendent materially in assigning clerks, after appointment, to the particular divisions where they are most likely to perform efficient work. No person is ordered for examination unless in the judgment of the Superintendent, after an examination of the formal

application, preliminary papers, and oftentimes a personal interview, it is believed some aptitude for census work exists. In recommending clerks for appointment the endeavor has been to adhere to a fair system of apportionment for the several States.

It is believed, in view of the temporary character of the employment and the necessity, as the work progresses, of appointing large numbers of clerks for terms of three and six months, that the method inaugurated by the office and approved by the Secretary of the Interior will not only bring the best work and leave the Superintendent free to act with great rapidity when the demand is greatest for clerks, but is in the line of practical civil-service reform. The aim will be to gradually create an eligible list, from which clerks, when wanted, may be drawn at a few hours' notice. The examinations have been conducted with absolute impartiality, and the grade of clerks, thus secured will compare favorably with that of any other department of the public service.

PRINTING, ENGRAVING, AND BINDING.

Section 20 of the act provides for the expenses of the Eleventh Census and for the preliminary printing, engraving, and binding. Under the ruling of the Treasury Department these expenses must be paid out of the general appropriation for printing and binding of the Interior Department. The cost of the preliminary engraving and binding of the Tenth Census was $250,000; and as the funds thus required for im mediate use can not be taken out of the amount fixed for taking the Eleventh Census, additional legislation, appropriating a sum of not less than $350,000 for this purpose, is necessary to relieve the immediate wants of this office and to furnish the necessary money to defray the cost of the preliminary printing, engraving, and binding of the Eleventh Census.

It is the intention of the Superintendent to publish census bulletins containing results of the work as rapidly as possible. The first of these bulletins has already been issued, and the second, relating to the prod ucts of the fisheries of the United States, will soon be out. The expense of this important work, together with the other printing, engraving, and binding necessary in the prosecution of the work, can not under the aforesaid ruling be defrayed from the general appropriation: bence the urgent necessity of additional legislation.

NECESSITY OF PROMPT PUBLICATION.

In referring to the delays in printing the census returns my distinguished predecessor, General Francis A. Walker, said in a report to the honorable Secretary of the Interior, December 1, 1881:

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 utinost 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.

I renew this recommendation, with the additional statement that experience in the printing and publishing of the Tenth Census makes it imperative, in order to secure prompt publication, that the Census Office exercise control over the final preparation of the reports. The pressure in the Government Printing Office is enormous; every department is clamoring for early work. Through no fault whatever of that office delays are unavoidable. The prompt publication of the census reports is of vital necessity to the country, and yet it is impossible to get them out rapidly if they are obliged to take their turn in the Government Printing Office.

Several important reports of the Eleventh Census will be ready for publication during the fall and winter of 1890, and it would afford much gratification to the country and lift the cloud of delay which has settled on this office if they could be pushed through the press with all the expedition which belongs to private enterprise.

The map work and much of the engraving for the census must be done by private contract, and if authority were granted this office either to print by private contract or to print and publish its own reports the Eleventh Census volumes would not wearily drag their way through the Government Printing Office, as did those of the Tenth, the last volumes issuing after the Eleventh Census was organized. The purchase at a small cost of the census printing establishment, now in active operation in this office, will save thousands of dollars and expedite the work to an extent that would be hardly credited. by those unacquainted with the working of a census office. In the opinion of the Superintendent, if the Census Office could control the reports until they are ready for the document-room an enormous saving of money would be effected and prompt publication insured. Such a course would settle the question of responsibility for delay, which is difficult to ascertain under the existing system.

As will be seen from the subjoined references to the various divisions of the Census Office, the work has been thoroughly mapped out, and in every branch it is not difficult to observe indications of success. Those in charge of the work this year will undoubtedly profit by the experiences of the Tenth Census. As nearly all the statistical experts and chiefs of divisions were trained in that census, it will be a comparatively easy matter to avoid many of the mistakes of ten years ago. If this question of the printing and publishing of the final reports could only be settled satisfactorily, and the Census Office be absolutely independent of other departments, there is reason to believe that both statistically and in promptness of publication the Eleventh Census will be a

success.

THE COUNT OF THE PEOPLE.

Underlying all preparations for the work of counting the people is the division of the country into suitable supervisors' districts, the apportionment of rates of compensation of the supervisors and of the enumerators, and the preparation of complete and correct lists of the counties by minor civil divisions and the municipalities of the country for the guidance of the supervisors in making districts for enumerators, and for the guidance of the office in compiling the population and other statistics. With the exception of the determination of the rates of compensation of enumerators, which is at present under discussion, all the items of work above enumerated have been completed.

In accordance with the provision of the act, a division of the country