LESSONS FROM THE CENSUS. 79 



cents a name miglit not induce him to enter all the dens of the 

 slums of a great city for the sake of accuracy. In sparsely settled 

 localities even three cents a name (the per capita rate, it must be 

 borne in mind, covers all the multitude of facts called for on the 

 population schedule) will not enable an enumerator to earn a 

 living for the time employed, and he is often inclined to take the 

 statements of neighbors rather than to travel a mile or two to 

 secure accurate statements relative to half a dozen persons. In 

 enumerating establishments of productive industry, the compen- 

 sation allowed by law will not enable an enumerator, either hon- 

 estly or dishonestly inclined, to secure any very valuable results. 

 It is quite impossible to fill out a manufactures schedule com- 

 pletely and with fair accuracy for twenty cents. A man could 

 not earn one dollar a day if he did his duty, and on the enumera- 

 tion of farms he could not earn seventy-five cents a day. The 

 complete agricultural statistics under the census of Massachusetts 

 in 1885 cost about one dollar per farm, instead of fifteen or twenty 

 cents. 



The difficulty which Congress would have to meet in adjusting 

 this matter of compensation is twofold. If a very large body of 

 enumerators, like that employed under the elventh census, nearly 

 fifty thousand, should be enlisted on a per diem compensation, the 

 fear would be that there would be men enough in that vast army 

 who would delay their work for the purpose of increasing their 

 earnings to swell the cost of enumeration to enormous propor- 

 tions^ although reasonable accuracy would thereby be secured in 

 every direction. On the per capita basis the question would be 

 whether accuracy should be sacrificed for the sake of a lower cost. 

 The evils of the present system are so great, however, so far as 

 compensation is concerned, and the results of the census vitiated 

 to so large a degree, that it would seem to be wise to adopt a sys- 

 tem of compensation which should secure fair accuracy in the 

 results^ even at an increase in the expense The country grows 

 so rapidly, and the wealth and business increase so largely, that 

 the total expense of a census should not be considered when the 

 accuracy of the same is at stake. 



Another fault of the present system, to my mind, lies in the 

 organization of the field forces. It is perfectly natural that the 

 Census Office, and that Congress, even, should seek a speedy 

 enumeration of the people ; but it is submitted that if an instan- 

 taneous enumeration can not be had — and it is clearly demonstra- 

 ble that it can not in this country — then whether it take a week or 

 two weeks, or even three or four, to complete the enumeration be- 

 comes a matter of lesser consideration. It might, therefore, be 

 wise to make larger districts aiid use a less number of enumerators 

 rather than to extend the method by decreasing the size of the 



