826 



UNITED STATES CENSUS. 



Population. For enumeration purposes, the 

 United States and the Territories were divided 

 into 175 districts. For each of these districts a 

 supervisor was appointed by the President, on 

 the recommendation of the Secretary of the In- 

 terior. These supervisors were authorized to 

 appoint a sufficient number of enumerators in 

 their respective districts, such persons to be paid 

 at the rate of 2 cents for each name recorded, 

 and the same for each birth and death reported. 

 Fifteen cents was allowed for each farm, 20 cents 

 for each industrial establishment, and 5 cents 

 for each surviving soldier or sailor of the late 

 war. For each living inhabitant in sparsely 

 settled localities, enumerators were allowed 3 

 cents. For farms and industrial establishments 

 in similar localities, enumerators were entitled 

 to receive 20 and 30 cents respectively. It was 

 the duty of each enumerator to visit personally 

 each dwelling house in his subdivision, and each 

 family therein, and each individual living out of 

 a family in any place of abode, and by inquiry 

 made of the head of such family, or of the mem- 

 ber thereof deemed most credible and worthy of 

 trust, or of such individual living out of a fam- 

 ily, to obtain each item of information and all 

 the particulars required by the act. In case no 

 person were found at the usual place of abode 

 of such family or individual living out of a 

 family competent to answer the inquiries, it be- 

 came lawful for the enumerator to obtain the 

 required information, as nearly as might be 

 practicable, from the persons living nearest to 

 such place of abode. Provision was made that 

 every person more than twenty years of age 

 neglecting or refusing to render a true account 

 to the best of his or her knowledge of the vari- 

 ous particulars required by law should be con- 

 victed of misdemeanor and fined a sum not ex- 

 ceeding $100. Further, " every president, treas- 

 urer, secretary, agent, director, or other officer 

 of every corporation from which answers to any 



of the schedules provided for by this act are 

 herein required, who shall, if thereto requested 

 by the superintendent, supervisor, or enumerator, 

 willfully neglect or refuse to give true and com- 

 plete answers to any inquiries authorized by this 

 act, or shall willfully give false information, shall 

 be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction 

 thereof shall be fined not exceeding $10,000, to 

 which may be added imprisonment for a period 

 not exceeding one year." 



It is said in the report of the Superintendent 

 of Census, dated Dec. 31, 1890, that two months 

 and nineteen days after the beginning of the 

 enumeration, the official returns by counties and 

 precincts of the State of Washington were tele- 

 graphed from the Census Office to the Governor 

 for the use of the State Legislature, then con- 

 vening, for the purpose of apportioning repre- 

 sentation in that body. By Oct. 20 the popula- 

 tion of all the Pacific States California, Ore- 

 gon, and Washington had been announced. 

 On Nov. 10, 1890, the last returns of the 

 Eleventh Census were received from the first 

 supervisor's district of Florida. But results had 

 been telegraphed from that district on Oct. 21, 

 immediately after a count of the schedules. On 

 June 28, 1889, the population of the District of 

 Columbia was published. Twenty days later, an- 

 nouncement was made of the population of the 

 city of New York. The result of the census, as 

 taken in the city of Philadelphia, was announced 

 on Aug. 6. During the same month the first 

 count of Delaware, Idaho, Rhode Island, and 

 Washington was made known. The population 

 of Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, 

 Montana, Nevada, Vermont, and the Territories 

 of Arizona and Utah were fully ascertained and 

 made public in September, results from the re- 

 mainder of the States and Territories being an- 

 nounced during the following month. 



The population of the United States on June 

 1, 1890, as shown by the final count of persons 

 and families, exclusive of white persons in 

 Indian Territory, Indians on reservations, and 

 Alaska, was announced as 62,622,250; including 

 these persons, it was stated the population would 

 probably reach 63,000,000. In 1880 the popula- 

 tion was 50,155,783. The absolute increase of 

 the population in the ten years intervening was 

 12,466,467, and the percentage of increase was 

 24'86. In 1870 the population was stated as 

 38,558,371. According to these figures, the ab- 

 solute increase in the decade between 1870 and 

 1880 was 11,597,412, and the percentage of in- 

 crease was 30'08. 



Upon their face [says the Superintendent of 

 Census in his official bulletin on population] these 

 figures show that the population has increased be- 

 tween 1880 and 1890, 869,055 more than between 1870 

 and 1880, while the rate of increase has apparently 

 diminished from 30'08 to 24'86 per cent. If these 

 figures were derived from correct data they would be 

 disappointing. Such a reduction in the rate of in- 

 crease, in the face of the heavy immigration during 

 the past ten years, would argue a diminution in the 

 fecundity of the population or a corresponding in- 

 crease in its death rate. These figures arc, however, 

 easily explained when the character of the data used 

 is understood. It is well known, the fact having 

 been demonstrated by extensive and thorough inves- 

 tigation, that the census of 1870 was grossly deficient 

 in the Southern States, so much so as not only to give 

 an exaggerated rate of increase of the population be- 



