Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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McCormick messenger. McCormick, s. c.. Thursday. December 28.1939 Unde Sam Prepares to Count His Children—and How His Family Grown Since First Census By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) T HE coming of a new year means a big job for Uncle Sam. For 1940 is “census year” and it means that once more he is faced with the task of counting all his children. And how his family has grown since he took the first census of its members 150 years ago! Then there were only 3,929,214 of them. This year it is estimated that there will be more than 132,000,000. The first census, taken in 1790, covered only population. The count was made within a year from the date of the inauguration of President Washington, and the assembling of the first congress of the United States. The enu merators took the name of the head of each family, together with the total number of persons in the family, classified as free or slave. The count began on the first Monday in August, 1790, and the law gave nine months for the completion of the work. Double this time elapsed, how ever, before all the returns were in. Communication then was slow and uncertain. The Amer icans of that day, particularly in the rural districts, regarded the census enumerators with some suspicion, and there were those who thought these agents of the federal government really aimed at getting information on which to base an increase of taxes. The report of the first census is contained in an octavo volume of 56 pages. Discolored and crum bling with age, this little book is very rare. The census bureau has two of the few copies in ex istence, and the Library of Con gress one. Adams’ Prophecy. Four years before the first cen sus was taken, John Adams, des tined to become the second Pres ident of the United States, had a vision of the potentialities of America which led him to pre dict that the population of the United States would some time exceed 20,000,000. At that time such a prophecy seemed little more than a wild flight of the imagination and was branded as utterly ridiculous. Writing from London, where he was minister to the Court of St. James, he said, “It has ever been my hobby horse to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and a prospect of 200,000,000 or 300,000,000 of freemen without one noble or king among them.” It was John Tyler, tenth Presi dent of the United States, blessed with a similar vision, who made a similar prophecy, though not so extravagant as Adams’ but at the same time doubtful of fulfillment, and missed his guess by only a few years and a relatively small number of millions of population. In a letter addressed to Col. Sam uel Gardiner of Shelter island, whose son married Tyler’s daughter, and dated from the ex- President’s country seat, Sher wood Forest, Va., November 26, 1850, Tyler said, “In a little more than half a century, a peo ple who were regarded as little better than a host of murderers or sojourners among savage tribes have attained position among the first civilized powers. “With a spirit of adventure heretofore unequaled by anything which has occurred on the map of the world, there is united a deep plodding sagacity which crowns the most daring enter prises with success. Such a peo ple, even had they attained that which is denominated a station ary condition in regard to popu lation, would not fail to attract great and absorbing attention. But, when the reverse is the fact, when our population is known to double in every period of twen ty-five years, when having now a population of 25,000,000 that number, before the child now in the nurse’s arms attains matu rity, is destined to reach nearly 50,000,000, and before that same child shall have passed the boundaries of middle age, to 100,- 000,000.” How Right Were They? Now that Uncle Sam is prepar ing again to count his children, it is interesting to check up on the predictions of these two Pres idents and see just how nearly right they were. Although Ty ler’s prophecy was a bit too op timistic, he was not far wrong. At the time his letter was writ ten the population of the country was 23,260,638. He predicted that it would double in the next 25 years and although there are no figures available for 1875, by 1880 it had reached 50,262,382. It had not reached the 100,000,- 000 mark by 1900, as his predic tion suggested, for Uncle Sam’s children then numbered 76,129,- 408, and it was not until 20 years later that it reached the mark of 105,710,620. Even though the “doubling” process which he prophesied did not continue con sistently, there did take place the amazing growth in the nation of 50,000,000 people in half a century, or an increase in population of 200 per cent. So Tyler’s prophecy was not so extravagant as it must have seemed at the time. And when there is taken into consideration the steady increase during the 153 years since John Adams made Xv Miss Mildred Keaton has one of the toughest assignments in taking the census. She “covers” the Arctic coast from Point Bar- row east to the Alaskan-Canadian line, the route over which she “mushes” to treat ailing natives as a field nurse for the Office of Indian Affairs. known his vision, even his esti mate does not now seem so fan tastic. The 1930 census gave a total of 122,775,046 people under the Stars and Stripes. On June 27, 1936, the population was estimated at 128,403,000, an increase of 5,627,- 954 in six years or nearly 938,000 a year. The census bureau’s last preliminary estimate of the na tion’s population, as of July 1, 1938, was 130,215,000, an increase of 1,812,000 in the two years since the estimate of 1936. That meant approximately 906,000 each year. 200,000,000 in 2000 A. D.? Even though the increase seems to be growing smaller, there is still a large enough gain each year to justify the predic tion that John Adams’ estimate of 200,000,000 may eventually be reached. On the basis of the in crease since 1930, it will take nearly 70 years and we will prob ably reach the year 2000 A. D. before we reach a population of 200,000,000 in the U. S. A.! Officials of the census bureau regard the 1940 census as prob ably the most important and far- reaching since that first one 150 years ago. For this one will be much more than a mere counting of noses. As in past years, the census will cover population, oc cupations, irrigation, drainage, manufactures, business, mines and quarries, vital statistics, cot ton production and consumption, and financial statistics of states and cities. In addition, the census takers will also assemble data never sought before and these data will bear upon the new so cial and economic situations which have arisen in the last few years, bringing with them prob lems that are yet unsolved. For this census will also be con cerned with such questions as un employment, migrations from one state to another and addition al vital statistics bearing on pub lic health and facilities for treat ment of disease. Much of the health data may prove to have a decided bearing upon the vital problem of national defense. For instance, the census authorities hope to learn how many men would be incapacitated for mili< tary service by disease. Problem of Migration. The problem of migration is one to which President Roosevelt submitted a report to congress, setting forth that population shifts from state to state were not of concern only to the one state into which the great influx had taken place (California being the out standing example) but that they affected the whole nation. Mi gration from state to state is a new social movement in the Unit ed States directly traceable to unemployment. In addition to asking his chil dren the usual questions about age, sex, color, marital status, homes and education, Uncle Sam will also want to know about their present economic condition, their profession or occupation and whether they are employed or un employed. Each person will also be asked where he lived 10 years ago so that some measure of mi gration may be obtained. The most significant data, how ever, in the opinion of the census authorities, will be the figures indicating the trend of population growth, which has been steadily declining, and the distribution, according to age groups. A con tinuing decline in population will have a decided bearing on the future economic and social life of the nation. A smaller population foreshad ows a reduction in future markets at home and abroad. Fewer pu pils in the public schools will in dicate a lesser need for school- houses and other plant equip’ment and a greater surplus of teach ers. An increase in the higher age groups will have important economic effects, in the form of a more persistent demand by the higher age groups for a redistri bution of the profits of industry, such as the various old age pen sion schemes that have caused so much disturbance in the last few years. That, combined with a decrease in the lower age groups will mean lower incomes for the younger Americans. The job of securing all this in formation will require the serv ices of approximately 150,000 per sons, of whom 8,000 will be em ployed in Washington compiling the data gathered by the 142,000 enumerators in the field. The cost of this task is estimated at $20. 000,000. History tells us that the first census ever made ,.as taken by Moses. “Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names every male by their polls; from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel.” Thus spoke the Lord to Moses, and Moses, with Aaron’s assist ance, collected the figures for the first census report, which may be found in practically every home and hotel room. It is appropri ately entitled “Numbers,” the fourth book of the Bible. By its breadth of scope the cen sus William of Normandy ordered for his new kingdom of England, resembles modern surveys. He commanded his people in 1085 A. 'D. to record every lord and peas ant, every acre, every ox, every mill, every manor, every weir and every plow the value there of and—this is forward looking— the natural resources, woods, fields and streams capable of de velopment and revenue. The re port to William the Conqueror be came the Domesday Book, un readable today except by schol ars, yet protected in the public record office at London as one of the most precious possessions of England. Uncle Sam was one of the pio neers in this business of counting his children scientifically. Swe den took the lead before our first census in 1790, but England, France, and Prussia did not see the necessity of regular counting of noses until 10 or 20 years later. Russia took no census until 1897. The first American census, tak en in 1790, was very limited in scope and was directed by the United States marshals. They were allowed 13 months for the job, and when the totals were added up our population was less than 4,000,000. That census related solely to population. The name of the head of the family was taken, together with the number of persons in each family, classified as free or slave. The whites, who were free, were classified as “free whites,” as male or female, and the free whites males as over or under 16 years of age. That was about all there was to it. The marshals who supervised the 1790 count numbered only 17 and the enumerators 650. The cost was $44,000. The deeply religious settlers of America nearly upset our first census when they harked back to another less fortunate Bible cen- tm Taking information from a census schedule by means of a card puncher. Facts are trans lated into figures on this ma chine. sus. “Satan stood up against Is rael,” they pointed out to the mar shals, “and provoked David to number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan.” What happened? “God was displeased; therefore he smote Israel. The Lord sent pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel 70,000 men.” Fears that our first census would bring similar destruction upon the nation did not materi alize, so the marshals delivered their reports to President Wash ington within nine months for all the original states, except Ver mont, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Vermont and Rhode Is land entered the Union later. The marshal of South Carolina found workers scarce at $1 per 150 heads counted. With the exception of a compar atively few, when the vast total is considered, the original records of every family enumerated in the 1790 and subsequent census are on file in the census bureau. The missing records have been lost or destroyed by accident. However, the file on John Han cock has been preserved and his family was reported as being made up of “two white males over sixteen years of age, three white females and seven other free persons, not white.” In the taking of the 1860 cen sus, each person was for the first time asked to give the value of his or her real and personal prop erty. The records for Illinois show that Abraham Lincoln’s family comprised Mr. Lincoln, his wife, his three sons and a boy, fourteen years old, named Philip Dinkell. Mr. Lincoln said he was worth $17,000 of which $5,000 was the value of his real estate, the remainder being personal proper ty. In the same census James Buchanan listed his household as consisting of himself, his niece. Miss Harriet Lane, and 11 em ployees and servants, all of the latter being of foreign birth. The system of individual enu meration was adopted at the cen sus of 1850, and at the same time a number of new classifications were added—illiteracy, school at tendance, occupation, place of birth, ajse, etc. ATTERN h | AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAJi BARTH ENT and supple at the waist. Mate rials like faille, moire, flat crepe and velveteen are excellent choices for this. If you’ve done scarcely any sew ing, this design is heartily recom mended as a good one to begin on, because it’s so easy. A step-by T step sew chart is included to help you. Pattern No. 8576 is designed for sizes 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 40. Size 14 requires 4% yards of 39-inch material without nap; % yard con trasting for each collar and cuffs. % yard ribbon. For a pattern of this attractive model send 15 cents in coins, your name, address, style, number and size to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1324, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, 111. Strange Facts I *BlacJt-Out y Lights Street Car Diners Immortal Trees \/I AKE yourself this pretty prin- cess (8576) for town wear, business and general runabout, in a dark shade or your favorite bright color. The double collar and cuffs give you a chance to work out daring and delightful contrasts, in a season when ad venturous color combinations are so extremely smart. And you can trust this dress to make your fig ure look slim and youthful, small For “black-outs” during air raids, England has perfected high way and traffic lights, headlights and police uniforms that can be seen only by those on the ground. Geneva, Switzerland, has street cars whose entire space is given over to restaurants in which the passengers eat and drink as they travel through the city. » =5^5= Many navies now use a torpedo that appears to be aimed at a point far ahead or far behind its target but, after going some distance, suddenly makes a right or left swing and strikes before its ob jective can turn away. A study of marital tendencies reveals that a much larger num ber of widowed and divorced men marry spinsters than widowed and divorced women marry bachelors. The giant redwood trees in Cali fornia and Oregon have never been known to die a natural death. —Collier’s. ASK ME ANOTHER A Quiz With Answers Offering Information on Various Subjects The Questions 1. Can you write 600 in Roman numerals? 2. Is the income of the Presi dent taxable? 3. Who cut the Gordian Knot? 4. Which of our wars was known as Mr. Madison’s war? 5. Which is the middle verse of the Bible? 6. Which woman has had more statues erected to her memory than any other woman? 7. Which race is increasing its population the fastest? 8. Do plants grow more at night than during the day? 9. Which is the correct quota tion: “Far from the maddening crowd,” or “Far from the mad ding crowd”? 10. What per cent of the world’s population is still governed by monarchs? The Answers 1. DC. 2. His salary as President is not. Any other income he may have, is. 3. Alexander the Great. 4. The War of 1812. 5. The eighth verse of the 118th Psalm. 6. Joan of Arc. 7. The white races of the world are doubling their populations ev ery 80 years, the yellow and brown races every 60 years and the black races every 40 years. 8. Although trees and other green plants require light to devel op, virtually all of their growth takes place at night. Those in dark or shaded places grow faster than those exposed to brighter light. 9. “Far from the madding crowd,” from Gray’s Elegy. 10. Despite the widespread change in the governments since the World war, eight hundred million persons, or 40 per cent of the en tire population of the globe, still are governed by kings, queens, emperors and other monarchs. \ 35* per bottfe^J ^ientholatedj^Creosoted^ Consenting to 111 All is distress and misery when we act against our nature and consent to ill.—Sophocles. A GREAT BARGAIN VESPER TEA PURE GRANGE PEKOE 50 Cups for lO Cents Ask Your Grocer r Use Limitations One’s limitations are also his opportunities. f f 000 s LIQUID-TABLETS */ SALVE-NOSE DROPS’ • • fire Women Better O Shoppers than Men ■ GRANTING a woman’s reputation for wise buying, let s trace the methods by which she has earned it. Where does she find out about the advantages and details of electrical refrigeration? What tells her how to keep the whole household clean — rugs, floors, bathroom tiling — and have energy left over for golf and parties? How does she learn about new and delicious entrees and desserts that surprise and delight her family? Where does she discover those subtleties of dress and make-up that a man appreciates but never understands? Why, she reads the advertisements. She is a consistent, thought ful reader of advertisements, because she has found that she can believe them —and profit thereby. Overlooking the advertisements would be depriving herself of data continuously useful in her job of Purchasing Agent to the Family. For that matter, watch a wise man buy a car or a suit or an insur ance policy. Not a bad shopper himself! He reads advertisements,too!