ally making calls upon the several Departments for information upon particular subjects, and the demand is hurriedly answered by throwing together, in a loose form, whatever materials may be at hand, while it is confessed, that more complete and accurate returns might be obtained, and put into a shorter compass and a more convenient shape, if time and labor could be spared for the work. Most European governments have organized statistical offices of the kind here mentioned, and the reports which they publish, from time to time, are very valuable." Congress has since acted upon this suggestion, and established a Statistical Bureau, consisting of a Superintendent and two clerks. If competent persons are appointed to these offices, much good may be effected.

It is not necessary to search far for illustrations of the errors committed in taking the last census. Many are apparent on the very face of the returns. Thus, the number of tons of hemp and flax, raised in one year in Kentucky, probably the largest hemp-growing State in the Union, is stated at 9,99214; while the quantity for Virginia, where but little com. paratively is raised, is made to be 25,5944 tons. The quantity of bituminous coal mined annually in New Hampshire is stated at 29,920 bushels; and for Connecticut, at 38,000 bushels. We never heard, that a bituminous coal-mine was worked in either of these States. The number of slaves in Connecticut is said to be 17; in New Jersey, 674; in Pennsylvania, 64; though in each of these States, slavery has long since ceased to exist. The number of commercial houses engaged in foreign trade, in Boston, is said to be 142; in New Orleans, only 8 are given; in Louisville, Ky., only 1 is put down; while in Richmond, Va., there are said to be 17, and in Troy, N. Y., 44. In Salem, Mass., according to the census, there is not a dollar of capital invested either in foreign trade or commission business; nor is there a lumber-yard or a butcher in the whole city. No inquiry is necessary to show the falsity of these

statements.

The "American Statistical Association," established in Boston, Mass., sent a memorial to Congress during the past winter, drawn up by Messrs. William Brigham, Edward Jarvis, and J. W. Thornton, in which, though they "confined their investigations to the reports respecting education and nosology," they exposed an extraordinary mass of errors in the census. We can find room only for a few extracts from this memorial.

"According to the census of 1840, there are in the United States 173 Universities, or Colleges, containing 16,233 students. There is good reason to suppose, that the number of colleges given is almost twice as large as the true number, and that the number of students is exaggerated nearly as much. Four colleges, for example, are put down to Maine, which has two. Four to Massachusetts, which has three. Four to Connecticut, which has three," &c.

"In many of the States, common schools are supported by a public

tax, or by funds provided by the public, for the education of all the children within the respective States. All the children, therefore, who are educated at these schools, are educated, so far as instruction is concerned, 'at the public charge.' In relation to Massachusetts, it is stated, that there are 160,257 scholars in common schools,' and '158,351 at public charge;' and in relation to New Hampshire, where schools are supported in a similar manner, it is stated, that there are '83,632 scholars in common schools,' and only '7,715 at public charge.' The instance of Connecticut might also be adduced, where the munificent provision of the school fund reaches every child in the State between the ages of four and sixteen, and is nearly sufficient to defray the cost of their instruction in the common schools. Yet in Connecticut, according to the census, only 10,912 children are taught at public charge, out of the 65,730 in the common schools."

"The most glaring and remarkable errors are found in the stateînents respecting nosology, the prevalence of insanity, blindness, deafness, and dumbness among the people of this nation.

"The undersigned have compared these statements with information obtained from other more reliable sources, and have found them widely varying from the truth; and, more than all, they have compared the statements in one part of the census with those in another part, and have found most extraordinary discrepances. They have also examined the original manuscript copy of the census deposited by the Marshal of the District of Massachusetts in the Clerk's office in Boston, and have compared this with the printed editions of both Blair & Rives and Thomas Allen, and found here, too, a variance of statements.

"Your memorialists are aware, that some of these errors in respect to Massachusetts, and perhaps also in respect to other States, were commit. ted by the Marshals. Mr. William H. Williams, Deputy Marshal, states that there were 133 colored pauper lunatics in the family of Samuel B. Woodward, in the town of Worcester; but on another page he states, that there are no colored persons in said Woodward's family. Mr. Benali Blood, Deputy Marshal, states, on one page, that there were 14 colored pauper lunatics and two colored lunatics who were supported at private charge, in the family of Charles E. Parker, in the town of Pepperell, while on another page he states, that there are no colored persons in the family of said Parker. Mr. William M Jackson states, on one page, that there are in the family of Jacob Cushman, in the town of Plympton, four pauper colored lunatics and one colored blind person, while on another page he states that there are no colored persons in the family of said Cushman.

"But, on comparing the manuscript copy of the census at Boston with the printed edition of Blair & Rives, the undersigned are convinced that a large portion of the errors were made by the printers, and that hardly any of the errors of the original document are left out. The original document

finds the colored insane in twenty-nine towns, while the printed edition of Blair & Rives places them in thirty-five towns, and each makes them more than tenfold greater than the State returns in regard to the paupers; and one edition has given twenty, and the other twenty-seven, self-supporting lunatics, in towns in which, according to private inquiry, none are to be found. According to the original and manuscript copy of the census, there were in Massachusetts ten deaf and dumb and eight blind colored persons, whereas the printed editions of the same document multiply them into seventeen of the former, and twenty-two of the latter class of unfortunates.

“ The printed copy of the census declares that there were, in the towns of Hingham and Scituate, nineteen colored persons who were deaf and dumb, blind or insane. On the other hand, the undersigned are informed, by the overseers of the poor and the assessors, who have cognizance of every pauper and tax-payer in the town, that in the last twelve years no such diseased persons have lived in the town of Scituate; and they have equally certain proof, that none such have lived in Hingham. Moreover, the deputy marshals neither found nor made record of such persons.

"The undersigned have carefully compared the number of colored insane and idiots, and of the deaf and dumb and blind, with the whole number of the colored population, as stated in the printed edition of the census in every city, town, and county of the United States, and have found the extraordinary contradictions and improbabilities that are shown in the following tables." [See next page.]

"The errors of the census are as certain, if not as manifest, in regard to the insanity among the whites, as among the colored people. Wherever your memorialists have been able to compare the census with the results of the investigations of the State Governments, of individuals, or societies, they have found that the national enumeration has fallen far short of the more probable amount.

According to the census, there were in Massachusetts six hundred and twenty-seven lunatics and idiots supported at public charge; according to the returns of the overseers of the poor, there were eight hundred and twenty-seven of this class of paupers.

"The superintendents of the poor of the State of New York report one thousand and fifty-eight pauper lunatics within that State; the census reports only seven hundred and thirty-nine.

"The Government of New Jersey reports seven hundred and one in that State; the census discovers only four hundred and forty-two.

"The Medical Society of Connecticut discovered twice as many lunatics as the census within that State. A similar discrepancy was found in Eastern Pennsylvania, and also in some counties of Virginia.

"Your memorialists deem it needless to go further into detail in this matter. Suffice it to say, that these are but specimens of the errors

that are to be found in the sixth census,' in regard to nosology and education, and they suspect also in regard to other matters therein reported.

"In view of these facts, the undersigned, in behalf of said Association, conceive that such documents ought not to have the sanction of Congress, nor ought they to be regarded as containing true statements relative to the condition of the people and the resources of the United States. They believe it would have been far better to have had no census at all, than such an one as has been published; and they respectfully request your honorable body to take such order thereon, and to adopt such measures for the correction of the same, or, if the same cannot be corrected, of discarding and disowning the same, as the good of the country shall require, and as justice and humanity shall demand."

We have room for the tables for only three of the States.

XIII. WHALE FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Imports from the Whale Fishery into the United States, for the year 1843.

Mr. Grinnell, of New Bedford, Mass., a Member of Congress during the last session, in a speech upon the tariff, made the following statements: "I have prepared, with great care, a table from authentic sources, to show the consumption of domestic and foreign articles by our whaling fleet, now consisting of 650 ships, barks, brigs, and schooners, tonnaging 200,000 tons; cost at the time of sailing, $20,000,000; manned by 17,500