7 2 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the several manufacturing establishments and manufactories 

 within their several districts, territories, and divisions " ; but no 

 schedule was incorporated into the law, the whole matter being 

 left to the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury as to con- 

 struction. No very valuable results were obtained under this 

 provision ; yet the experiment was repeated in 1820, under the law 

 of March 14th of that year, which made it the duty of the " sev- 

 eral marshals and their assistants, at the time for taking the said 

 census, to take, under the direction of the Secretary of State, and 

 according to such instructions as he shall give, and such forms as 

 he shall prescribe, an account of the several manufacturing estab- 

 lishments and their manufactures, within their several districts, 

 territories, and divisions." These attempts to enlarge the census 

 so as to include statistics of manufactures were so barren of valu- 

 able results that in taking the census of 1830 the attempt was 

 wholly abandoned. The manufacturers' schedule was, however, 

 introduced again in 1840 ; but still the effort was of little account, 

 and it was not until the census taken under the broader law of 

 1850 that any valuable results were reached. So the census grew, 

 from the simple enumeration of the people in 1790, under the 

 very brief schedule which has been given, not only through 

 various additions to the population schedule, but by the in- 

 troduction of inquiries relating to production, until nearly all 

 the material conditions surrounding the people, their indus- 

 tries, their wealth, their taxation, their carrying trade, fish- 

 eries, schools, health nearly everything, in fact, that the social 

 scientist wishes to know concerning the people and their con- 

 ditions are embodied in the census. With the changes in the 

 scope of the census there have been changes in the methods of 

 enumeration. Until 1880 the United States marshals for the 

 several districts were authorized, under the first census law, ap- 

 proved May 1, 1790, to make the enumeration, the marshals having 

 power to appoint as many assistants within their respective dis- 

 tricts as should appear necessary. The enumeration was to com- 

 mence on the first Monday in August, 1790, and it was provided by 

 law that it should close within nine calendar months thereafter. 

 The marshals were required to file the returns with the clerks of 

 their respective district courts for careful preservation, and to 

 forward the aggregate amount of each description of persons 

 within their respective districts to the President of the United 

 States. Each assistant marshal was required, previous to making 

 his return to the marshal, to cause a correct copy of the schedule, 

 signed by himself, to be set up at two of the most public places 

 within his division, there to remain for public inspection. The 

 use of United States marshals in taking the censuses was con- 

 tinued until the tenth census, that of 1880, although an effort was 



