334 GEOGRAPHIC WORK OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT 



THE CENSUS 



The Census Office is a temporary organization created for the 

 purpose of taking the decennial census. The census obtains sta- 

 tistics regarding population, including age, sex, race, nativity, 

 and, in the case of native-born, the state of birth and the occu- 

 pations of the people ; it obtains statistics of illiteracy and edu- 

 cation, of mortality, of the insane, deaf, dumb, and blind, and 

 other social statistics ; it obtains statistics of industries, includ- 

 ing under the head of agriculture the number, size, and value 

 of farms, the amount of cultivated land, the magnitude of all 

 principal crops, amount of live stock, etc. ; under the head of 

 manufactures the number of each kind of establishments, with 

 their capital, material used, product, and emplo}^es ; under the 

 head of mining it obtains statistics of the number of mines and 

 their character and product ; under the head of transportation 

 it obtains statistics concerning the operations of railroads (includ- 

 ing street railroads), canals and navigation, coastwise and on our 

 lakes and rivers. The results are published in a series of quarto 

 volumes, and are summarized in a compendium and in an ab- 

 stract. They are further summarized, mainly in pictorial form, 

 in a statistical atlas. All these publications can be obtained 

 on application to the Secretary of the Interior. 



HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE 



This is a branch of the Navy Department and is in charge of 

 a naval officer, known as the hydrographer. The function of 

 this office is to prepare from the best available sources and to 

 publish charts of foreign coasts for the use of our navy and the 

 merchant marine. 



Besides this work, the office is engaged in a study of terres- 

 trial magnetism and its distribution over the earth, as an aid to 

 the navigator, and in the study of marine meteorology and 

 ocean currents. 



The navy has charted great extents of coast of barbarous na- 

 tions, and the results have been published by this office. It has 

 also made valuable contributions to our knowledge of the sea 

 bottom, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean sea, 

 by deep-sea soundings. 



The charts published by this office are sold at prices differing 

 with the size of the chart. 



