6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



On the Inaccuracy of the Eighth Census, so far as it Relates 

 to the Metallic and Mineral Statistics of the United States. 



BY J. D. WHITNEY. 



It has, for a long time, been a subject of regret, that our United States Cen- 

 sus returns are so imperfect ; and that, in all that relates to mining and 

 metallurgy, they are especially and extraordinarily unreliable. Mr. Kennedy's 

 " Preliminary Report on the Eighth Census,'' (I860), recently issued, is at hand, 

 and some remarks may here be made in reference to what appears in it, which 

 is connected with our mineral interests. It will soon appear, from an examina- 

 tion of this public document, that the same unfortunate ignorance in regard to 

 one of the most important of the sources of our national wealth, which has 

 characterized previous Census Reports, still prevails among our officials at 

 Washington ; and that all which Mr. Kennedy's Report contains must be taken 

 with many grains of allowance. It is certainly the duty of those who arc better 

 posted to give notice of the-e deficiencies, and to call public attention to them 

 again and again, in the hope that something may be done, hereafter, to make 

 this department of the Government less ridiculous in the eyes of those who are 

 acquainted with such matters, and less liable to mislead those who look on a 

 Census Report as something to be blindly quoted, and relied on as a d( cument 

 which musl necessarily be correct. 



The only metals in regard to which anything is stated in Mr. Kennedy's 

 report are iron, nickel, lead, zinc, and copper; thus omitting gold, silver, and 

 quicksilver, of each of which we are large producers. Of the mineral produc- 

 tions, coal is the only one noticed. 



The first metal mentioned in the text accompanying the tables compiled from 

 the Census returns is iron, and the quantity of pig iron produced in 1860 is 

 given at 884.474 tuns, valued at S19.4s7.790, and this is stated to be an 

 increase in the value returned by the Census of 1850, of 44-4 per cent. 



Here the question arises, how far are these figures to be relied on as accurate? 

 This can only lie decided by comparison with returns known to be approxi- 

 mately accurate, and of these we have none later than the year 1856, in which 

 year the make of pig iron was ascertained, by the Iron-Makers' Association, to 

 be 812,917 tuns. Either the Census returns of 1860 are too low, as they were 

 in 1850, or else the increase in this branch of our industry has been very slight 

 since 1849, when the make of iron was ' ascertained by the Pennsylvania 

 Iron-Masters to lie 800.000 tuns. On the other hand, assuming the Census 

 returns of 1860 to be correct, there is no ground for making the statement, as is 

 done by Mr. Kennedy, that there has been an increase of 44-4 per cent, in the 

 value of the iron produced in 1860 over that of 1850 ; it is evident that the 

 increase has been very slight, since 1846 or 1847 even, in which years the make 

 of this metal, on reliable authority, reached nearly 800,000 tuns. 



But what shall we say of Mr. Kennedy's method of arriving at the production 

 of iron, as related to the amount of population in the United States, or the 

 number of pounds produced per head? To obtain this, he adds together the 



