1. Mission

CHAPTER 38

BUREAU OF THE CENSUS

The Bureau of the Census takes the decennial census of the United States, covering population, agriculture, manufactures, mines and quarries, and is continuously engaged in the compilation of other statistics covering a wide range of subjects. Statistics regarding the dependent, defective, and delinquent classes in institutions; public debt, national wealth and taxation; religious bodies or churches; and transportation by water are compiled every tenth year in the period intervening between the decennial censuses; and statistics of electric light and power plants, electric railways, telephones, and telegraphs every fifth year. A special census of agriculture is taken in the fifth year following the decennial census; and a census of manufactures is taken biennially. Statistics of births, deaths, marriages, and divorces, are compiled annually; also financial statistics of cities and states. At quarterly intervals the bureau collects and publishes statistics as to stocks of leaf tobacco in the hands of manufacturers and dealers. At monthly intervals statistics are published relating to cotton supply, consumption, and distribution; to cotton seed and its products; and at approximately semimonthly intervals during the ginning season reports are issued showing the amounts of cotton ginned to specified dates. The bureau also collects monthly or quarterly data regarding the production or supply of many other commodities, including hides, skins, leather and leather goods, clothing, and wool.

The bureau publishes the monthly Survey of Current Business compiling from various sources data regarding the movement of prices, stocks on hand, production, etc., for various lines of trade and industry, together with such other available data as may throw light upon the business situation.

2. History

The Constitution of the United States requires an enumeration once in ten years as a basis for the apportionment of Representatives in Congress. The first Census Act was passed at the second session of the First Congress. The census law was signed by President Washington March 1, 1790.1 Its provisions were extended to Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, to Vermont, and to South Carolina. Provisions for taking the Second Census altered the form of oaths of census functionaries. Provisions for the Third Census limited the time within which it should be completed, altered the form of oaths, and referred to the collection of manufacturing statistics. Characteristics of the Fourth Census

11 Stat. 101.

2 Act July 5, 1790 (1 Stat. 129).

3 Act March 2, 1791 (1 Stat. 197).

4 Act Nov. 8, 1791 (1 Stat. 226).

5 Act Feb. 28, 1800 (2 Stat. 11); Act April 12, 1800 (2 Stat. 37).

6 Act March 26, 1810 (2 Stat. 564); Act April 12, 1910 (2 Stat. 570); Act May 1, 1810 (2 Stat. 605): Act March 2, 1811 (2 Stat. 658); Act March 19, 1812 (2 Stat. 786).

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were congressional direction to the Secretary of State to distribute copies of the returns and to make a digest relating to manufactures." The Fifth Census was provided for by the Act of March 23, 1830.8 More generous distribution of the returns was provided for in connection with the Sixth Census. The Secretary of the Interior was given supervision of the Seventh Census and a Census Board was created.10 For the Ninth Census, penalties were provided for refusal to answer authorized inquiries. By the law providing for the Tenth Census12 there was created a new body of census officials, known as supervisors, of whom there were to be one or more for each state. The supervisor's district was divided into enumeration districts, each of which was assigned to an enumerator. In the Eleventh Census data in regard to farms, homes, and mortgages were provided for,13 as well as for information from express companies,14 information in regard to productive industries, 15 and sociological statistics.16 By the Act of March 6, 1902,17 the Census Office was made a permanent bureau of the governThe Census Bureau was directed to compile and promulgate statistical data gathered by the Philippines Census.18

ment.

The Census Bureau was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903.19 Vital statistics were provided for,20 and statistics of production and consumption of cotton;21 of delinquency and crime, and other social statistics.22

In connection with the Thirteenth Census an appropriation was made for experimentation in developing tabulating machinery for the large task of compiling census data.23 The scope of statistical data was considerably enlarged.24

The 1910 Census Act directed that a census of agriculture be taken in 1915 and every tenth year thereafter, and an earlier section of the same act included agriculture in the provision for the decennial census, so that the act, interpreted as

Act March 14, 1820 (3 Stat. 548); Act Feb. 4, 1822 (3 Stat. 719); Act March 30, 1822 (3 Stat. 719).

84 Stat. 383.

9 Act April 15, 1842 (5 Stat. 583).

10 Act March 3, 1849 (9 Stat. 395, 402).

11 Act May 6, 1870 (16 Stat. 118).

12 Act March 3, 1879 (20 Stat. 473).

13 Act Feb. 22, 1890 (26 Stat. 13).

14 Act Aug. 14, 1890 (26 Stat. 313).

15 Act July 6, 1892 (27 Stat. 86).
16 Act Aug. 23, 1894 (28 Stat. 439).
17 32 Stat. 51.

18 Act July 1, 1902 (32 Stat. 693).

19 Act Feb. 14, 1903 (32 Stat. 826 [Comp. St. § 857]).

20 Act April 27, 1904 (33 Stat. 362 [Comp. St. § 4390]).

21 Res. Feb. 9, 1905 (33 Stat. 1282); Res. March 2, 1909 (35 Stat. 1168).

22 Act June 7, 1906 (34 Stat. 218); Act Jan. 29, 1907 (34 Stat. 866).

23 Act March 4, 1909 (35 Stat. 927).

24 Act Feb. 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 227 [Comp. St. § 4387]); Res. March 24, 1910 (36 Stat. 877); Act April 30, 1912 (37 Stat. 106 [Comp. St. §§ 4421-4428]); Act July 22, 1912 (37 Stat. 198 [Comp. St. §§ 4429-4434); Act Aug. 7, 1916 (39 Stat. 436 [Comp. St. §§ 4434a4434d]).

25 Act July 2, 1909 (36 Stat. 10).

a whole, provided for a quinquennial census of agriculture. Congress failed, however, to appropriate for the 1915 census and repealed that portion of the Census Act of 1910.26 The quinquennial provision for agriculture was restored by the Census Act of 1920, which also provided for the collection and publication of statistics of manufactured products for the years 1921, 1923, 1925, and 1927, and for every tenth year after each of said years. The Director of the Census was directed to publish monthly statistics concerning hides, skins, and leather.28 A distinct division in the Census Bureau, to be called the Division of Cotton and Tobacco Statistics, was created in 1916.29

The first census, reported in an octavo volume of 56 pages, was begun in 1790 under the supervision of the seventeen United States marshals, who made returns direct to the President, who transmitted them to the printer without compilation, or analyses. The report of the last census filled more than one hundred quarto volumes, of over 40,000 pages.30

3. Activities

In the discharge of its duty to collect, compile, and disseminate statistics, the bureau's inquiries extend to the following subjects:31

(a) Annually.

(1) Birth Statistics.

(2) Death Statistics.

(3) Financial Statistics of Cities.

(4) General Statistics of Cities.

(5) Financial Statistics of States.

(6) Estimates of Populations.

(b) Biennially.

Official Register of the United States.

(c) Quinquennially (in years divisible by 5).

(1) Census of Manufactures.

(d) Quinquennially (in other years)-Census of Electrical Industries.

(1) Central Electric Light and Power Stations.

(2) Street and Electric Railways.

(3) Telephones.

(4) Telegraphs.

(5) Municipal Electric Fire Alarm and Police Patrol Signaling

Systems.

(e) Decennially (in years divisible by 10).

(1) Census of Population.
(1a) General Population.

(1b) Occupation Statistics.

26 Act March 4, 1915 (38 Stat. 1040).

27 Act March 3, 1919 (40 Stat. 1301).

28 Act June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 1057 [Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, §§ 4484e-4434g]).

29 Act May 10, 1916 (39 Stat. 110).

30 The Story of the Census, 1790-1916, Bureau of the Census.

31 Report on the Statistical Work of the United States Government. United States Bureau of Efficiency.

(1c) The Deaf Mutes.
(1d) The Blind.

(2) Census of Agriculture.

(3) Census of Mines and Quarries.

(f) Decennially (in other years).

(1) Census of Transportation by Water.

(2) Census of Fisheries.

(3) Report on Wealth, Debt, and Taxation.

(4) Census of Religious Bodies.

(5) Prisoners and Juvenile Delinquents.

(6) Insane and Feeble-Minded in Institutions.

(7) Paupers in Almshouses.

(8) Inmates of Other Benevolent Institutions.

(g) Other Inquiries.

(1) Report on cotton ginned (up to 10 specified dates during the ginning season).

(2) Reports on cotton consumed, imported, exported, and on hand

(monthly).

(3) Reports on cotton seed received, crushed, and on hand, and cotton seed products manufactured, shipped out, and on hand (monthly).

(4) Reports on leaf tobacco stocks held by dealers and manufacturers (quarterly).

(5) Reports on fats and oils-production, consumption, and stocks on hand (quarterly).

(6) Reports on active and idle wool machinery (monthly).

(7) Reports on quantities and classes of hides and skins on hand (monthly).

(8) Reports on number of deaths occurring in 50 cities (weekly).

4. Organization

The Census Bureau is the largest statistical organization in the world and by far the largest unit of its kind in the federal government. It may be said to have two organizations: One for handling the Decennial Census, represented by Chart 32; the other its permanent organization, represented by Chart 33.

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