History of the Neio York Census. 



213 



to be associated in many minds with the conscription, it 

 will be better to drop its use altogether in this connection, 

 and to apply the term enumerators, as sufficiently definite, 

 and quite free from objection. 



The conductors of public journals, who can have no 

 other wish than to see the census fully and fairly taken, 

 will do the measure great service, by often and clearly 

 informing the public through their columns, of the correct 

 objects and nature of the enumeration, and by removing 

 as far a^s possible the suspicion of enrollment for mili- 

 tary purposes. 1 



In every census hitherto taken, the enumerators have 

 found men at times distrustful in regard to the question 

 asked concerning the details and profits of business. 



Every well informed person must know, and those who 

 do not should learn, that the details of individual business 

 are lost in the general aggregates of counties and towns. 

 The returns of the census should be regarded as confiden- 

 tial, and those having access to them as in honor bound, 

 not to allow the prying curiosity of a gossip, or the jealous 

 eyes of a rival, or the greedy search of a creditor, to be 

 gratified by an inspection of these records. 



Unless this confidence is felt, the answers to the inqui- 

 ries of a business character will be evasive or wilfully false, 

 according as the person wishes to be known as doing a 

 large business, by way of advertisement, or a small busi- 

 ness for the purpose of avoiding taxes or misleading a rival. 

 Many of the errors of the census of productive industry 

 arise from ignorance on the part of those rendering the 

 information. The answers must in many instances be lit- 

 tle better than vague estimates, and often widely differing 



1 A circular was prepared to be addressed to all editors throughout the 

 state, inviting them to a friendly and frequent notice of the purposes and 

 ends of the census, the better to prepare the public mind for the inquiries. 

 The return of peace rendered this circular less imperative, and it was not 

 issued. 



