118 



History of the New York Ceusus. 



lation by birth? Is there any truth in the theories of 

 some physiologists, that war has an influence in determin- 

 ing males as the prevailing sex of children born? Are 

 the theories of the economists who have written upon the 

 laws of population as observed in Europe applicable with 

 us ? 



I propose to suggest, that the age of each child be re- 

 ported fractionally up to four years, thus -f| — f §, &c. 

 This can easily be done, and will cover the whole period 

 of the war, showiug how many have been born of each 

 sex by months, and what influence if any, the war may 

 have had upon the actual and relative increase or decrease 

 of each of the sexes. Happily with our state, the great 

 leading check upon population, viz. want of subsistence, 

 which Mai thus places at the head of the list, as the great- 

 est of all causes, — has not been sensibly felt, and we may 

 reasonably expect, that the returns of the coming census, 

 will show a full average natural increase of our popula- 

 tion. 



7th. Sex. It has hitherto been customary to classify 

 the ages separately by sex, and the returns will be ar- 

 ranged comparable with all former enumerations. 



8th. Color. This is incidentally required by the con- 

 stitution, which excludes from representation, colored 

 persons not taxed. The number by sex, in each town 

 will be separately reported, but in tabulating ages, profes- 

 sions, nativities, &c, no separate arrangement will be 

 made. 



9th. Eelation to the head of the family. This entry serves 

 chiefly to aid in the classification, and presents no subject 

 for tabular deduction, unless incidentally to show, the num- 

 ber of male and female heads of families, number of child- 

 ren in families, &c. 



10th. Place of Birth. This, if in ]\ T ew York, is to be 

 entered by counties ; if in another state, by the name of 



