Evening Star Newspaper, April 17, 1937, Page 15

FEATURES The Foening Staf WASHINGTON, Books—Art—Music D. C, SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1937 PAGE B—1 - CENSUS OFFICE WIZARDRY TOUCHES PULSE OF NATION . Amazing Results Obtained* “Bureau Once Provided for by Mechanical Means Turn Human Agency of Historic Character Into Process of Robot Nature. By Lucy Salamanca. HEY can tell you the most astonishing things—backed up by facts and figures—over at the United States Bureau of the Census. For instance, we have just learned, with something of a | shock, we admit, that tne world does not, after all, belong to youth. The world, it seems, belongs more and more to people between the ages of | Moreover, it belongs to | 60 and 75. them so definitely that manufacturers are beginning to take their statistical measurements as a gauge for the kind of commodities they had better be | turning their attention to producing in the years ahead. Less youth, less fancy haberdashery and fewer shift- | ing styles. More middle-aged, more radios and comfortable armchairs. Increased expectancy of life has al- tered the whole horizon of the com- modity market. It's down in black end white over at the Census! Many other intriguing facts with regard to ourselves as a Nation are down in black and white at this same bureau, too! For example, we learn that somewhere around 1960—when the United States has become a sort of middle-aged heaven—something definitely will have happened to our birth rate. In fact, tiat same birth rate, while still holding its own against our death rate, is steadily and surely decreasing in its rate of increase. That sound a little complicated at first blush. What it really means is that, as a Nation, we have maintained & preponderant ratio of births to | deaths, but that ratio has been struction, etc. At top: A group of clerks sorting census of business reports by branches of business—retail, wholesale, con- Below: An employe of the Census Bureau taking in- formation from a schedule by means of a card-puncher; facts are translated into figures with this machine. regular inquiries. Just the highlights of a humming era of activity. One big reason, of course, for this record of accomplish- ment is the director of the census. William L. Austin is a career civil gradually narrowing until it is pos- sible to compute the day—not so far | distant—when birth rate will pretty | nearly have caught up with death rate—and then, for heaven's sake, | where will we be? It is our guess | they could tell you at the Census | Bureau. Their wizardry with facts and figures that you can't dispute s breathtaking and appallingly ir- refutable. “How many people are born and how many die every year, every week, every day, every hour, and every min- ute in the United States?” we fling out, trying to catch them unaware. Instead of catching them unaware we get the most explicit, nicely tabu- g lated reply any statistician could ask for. “In the United States of America,” it runs, “there were 1,392,752 deaths in 1935. There were 2,155,105 births. Every week of 1935, 26,784 people died and 41444 were born; in every day there were 3,816 deaths and 5904 births. Every hour of 1935 ushered out 159 mortals and ushered in 246. Every three minutes three people died; every three minutes four were born.” You just can't argue with people like that. T IS no exaggeration to say that never in the history of the United Btates has the United States Bureau of the Census of the Department of Commerce been so important or ac- complished so much that is vital to American citizens as it has during the present administration. The reasons for this are apparent. New deal leg- islation, emphasizing social security, business stability, manufacturing and * agriculture, has brought to bear a con- centrated interest upon such matters as the birth dates of individuals, the economic condition of the country, and what may be expected for the fu- ture with respect to plans of today. All this, in turn, means records— plenty of records. Birth records, business records, financial records, manufacturing records, agricultural records. Where do records come from? From censuses, of course. And if you don’t think the present administration has been busy at the Bureau of the Census, under its director, William L. Austin, take a brief look at a few of the accomplishments of the last three gears! Expansion of the business census, real property inventory, tax delin- quency study, criminal judicial sta- tistics, completion of registration areas, improvement of the agricultural cen- sus, allocation of births and deaths by residence, birth registration campaigns in various States, with encouragement of backward States and new registra- tion tests; reorganization of the Divi- sion of Vital Statistics, organization of & special advisory committee for vital statistics, card index project in St. Louis, expansion of accident statistics summary, special reports, publication of life tables covering the entire United States for the first time, studies in intra-city trade areas, de- velopment of new method for estimat- | passes without | ing censuses. | service man and has gone all the way from clerk to director through every official grade in the bureau. Coming to the Census Bureau in 1900 he has served in turn as clerk, chief clark, statistician, chief statistician, assistant director and, since April 8, 1933, director of the census. THROUGHOUT his career Austin has constantly kept in mind building the Census Bureau into what it is today, conceded to be the greatest statistical organization in the world. As a matter of fact, no day visitors from other countries consulting with bureau offi- cials with respect to methods of tak- At one time or another practically every civilized country has had representatives looking into the way Mr. Austin conducts his bureau in Washington. The director, too, has realized the importance of hav- ing the right men around him. His assistant director, Dr. Vergil D. Reed, is proof of that. He is a specialist in business administration, with many vears of experience in marketing re- search. Answers to such nebulous inquiries as “Is business improving or is it all talk?” emerge clear-cut and unequivocal from his compilations and mounds of data. At the present time about 5,000 in- dividuals are busy helping Director Austin develop the many ramifications of his duties. In years when special censuses are to be taken, this staff soars skyward in numbers. For ex- ample, when the census of business covering 1935 was taken last year there were 16,000 workers in the field alone. The divisions of the bureau are shifting, of necessity, depending upon the year's activities. For in- stance, the Business Census Division decreases in personnel immediately after completion of a business cen- sus, and by the same token, the Popu- lation Census Division is reduced by thousands once a population census is out of the way. Besides the regular divisions covered by census necessities—such as popula- tion, agriculture, business, manufac- turers, vital statistics, etc., there are such divisions operating as Territorial, Insular and Foreign Statistics Di- vision; Statistics of States and Citfes Division; Cotton and Oils Division; Special Tabulations Division; Machine Tabulation Division; Statistical Re- search Division; Publications, General Information, Records and Religious Statistics Division. Then there are the Field Division, which collects the data and is in charge of the enumer- ators and the Geographer’s Division. The Geographer’s Division lays out the districts, plans the travels of the enumerators, prepares the lists of political and county subdivisions and keeps track of the numerous and fre- quent changes in division lines of counties and townships, so that enumerators will not overlap in their activities and also so that every sec- tion of the country will be covered ing national and State populations, installation of micro-film equipment | and its use in the interests of the pub- and none duplicated. There are in the United States about 110,000 enumeration districts and they re- come in from these districts during the taking of the decennial population census. In addition to the operating di- < “leveling” of census work by ataggering! ington to handle the statistics that ! visions mentioned there are, of course, | the administration divisions under Director Austin, such as Chief Clerk, Executive Assistant, Appointment and other organizational branches. all these people do?” Specifi- cally, they take special censuses. At top: William L. Austin, director of the Bureau of the Census. Below: The young lady shown above is operating an apparatus to photograph on film original records of the Bureau of the Census, resulting in greater safety and a saving in storage space. | [ cinating than that. Let's take a look | facts about the people of the United A NATURAL question is, “What do’ backward for a moment. For nearly a century and a half But | the Bureau of the Census has been States. Although the original func- tion of the Census was to count the [ population in order to form a basis for the implications are far more fas- | engaged in gathering and tabulating | apportionment of Representatives in | Film World Glimpsed Through EX-ReVie\ANer’s Melcher, Former Star-ling, Records Daily Parade of Hollywood Personages. By Edward de S. Melcher. ‘ fi 7}54\1"5 the difference be- newspaper and & writing desk in a Hollywood studio? Listen, sister, they are about as much alike as the Marx brothers. In the first place, the hours are different; in the second place, the people are dif- ferent, and in the third place, you don't scurry around like a jackrabbit every few minutes. No, you sit very calmly, and sometimes not so calmly, either looking at your desk, or your secretary, or out of the window—and it's this window business that gets you down. Imagine, for instance, that instead of being able to see the Federal Stor- age Co., the Houston Hotel, the Capi- tol dome, Eleventh street and Penn- sylvania avenue (as you do if you sit at ye drama editor’s desk on the sev- enth floor in The Star Building), you should be on the ground floor of a building which looks out on a street and the studio’s commissary. And supposing, along about noon, that as you work on your cinema yarn of the morning you lean back and peer through the tall Venetian blinds which seem to be a heritage of every Holly- wood office. And suppose that sud- denly Helen Broderick comes loping along in yellow paint with a “Missus America” badge slung clear across her, and that in another second Victor Moore rolls into view, followed by Harriet Hilliard, and then a vision in a white dress which turns out to be Ginger Rogers. Now I ask you—sup- posing this little “big parade” floats by at the hour of 12 every day, could you, would you be able to get right back to that typewriter and pound the life out of it for the rest of the afternoon? As I said before, it’s this business of 12 o'clock moon-gazing that gets the embryonic writer all. wrought up out here. In a newspeper the drama editor’s office (as Jay Carmody will tell you) is devoted to the witching entrances of witching people along about that time. But they are not always Ginger Rogerses or Helen Brod- ericks, or even roly-poly Victor Moores. You have, along about then,,the roaring press agent, who charges in with & sheaf of stories and pictures, lic; employee training program and quire about 7,000 people in Wash- | which he dumps on the desk with such L : x A o { tween a writing desk on a | At top: Census of business reports being emptied from registered mail bags at the census headquarters. Below: The card-punching operator keeps her eyes on the schedule and punches the keys with her right hand. The card automatically slides through the machine. Congress, its duties have been 50 ex- panded that it has grown to be, as we have stated, the largest statistical organization in the world. The Bureau of Census has charted the growth of the United States from the time it consisted of 3,929,214 souls to its present status as a world power with an estimated population of 128,- 429,000. Industry, business, agricul- ture and other institutions expanded with population, and the Census Bu- reau has kept pace with this expan- sion. Taking inventory of the social and material life of the Nation is the job of the Census, and the statis- Edward de S. Melcher, former dramatic critic of The Star, now writing photoplays for R-K-0, takes time off to lunch with Clark Gable in a Hollywood restaurant. violence that if you don't take most of them you know you'll never get that extra “pass” you've been waiting for. You have the charming music teacher who has been left out of last week’s notes, when she (and you) know darn well that she forgot to give you the note. YOU have the little high school girl who would give her all (or al- most all) to be given a chance at being a “critic.” ‘You have the wounded theater man- ager who storms in like a fire engine because you said his show was only fairly good last week, when actually it was rotten. You have the earnest Shakespearean student who would give her teeth to be the mistress of ceremonies at the Earle. And the crank who wants to tell you for the fiftieth time that you are the worst reviewer this side of the Pacific. And the man with the dog act, who performs the dog act until he he and you are dizzy. You have an occasional “star” who comes in with dark glasses, so as to be sure to attract more attention than he - would if he didn’t have glasses. You have some of the most beautiful girls waltzing in and some of the ugliest waltzing out. And if you are lucky, you may have had the good fortune of a visit from the headmistress of a fashionable girls’ school, whom you (by accident) have insulted by con- susing her, in print, with a fan dancer (this last is the high point of the day). You have, in other words, beauty, glamor, color, sophisticates, morons and funsters, all of whom provide you with one of life’s most interesting moments. But—you can't look out of your window and see this little, big parade that is going on outside of my window at the R-K-O Studios at this very moment. No kidding: Here comes Ginger looking like a million, even it she is tired after having worked on a dance routine with Fred Astaire for the past three hours. Here comes Victor Moore at a slow trot, looking exactly as he did in “Of Thee I Sing.” Here comes handsome Bill Brady, who got his start in a Washington night club and who was ‘“discovered” by Carter Barron and then featured at the Fox (excuse me: Loew’s Capitol). Window Trials and Tribulations of a Critic Compared to Screen Writer’s Task (?). Brady is now getting his first screen chance playing opposite Harriet Hil~ liard in “New Faces.” Here come 10 tired-out old *“colonels” of “Gone With the Wind” days, one of them, gnd the sprightliest of all, suddenly turning out to be Fred Stone. Here comes Cary Grant, with a make-up yellower than & daisy, and Ann Sothern, looking like the spirit of Spring. Here comes Joan Fontaine, the prettiest girl in pictures, who they think, one of these days, may play rings around sister Olivia (De Haviland). HERE come & gang of round old women, all of whom have been hired as ugly ducklings for scenes in “Missus America”” Here comes & director with no collar or tie on, and & lady director, who saunters along in white duck trousers, blue shirt and sable coat worn like a raincoat. Here comes the tallest man in the world (he's over 7 feet), ac- companied by a midget, and a sad- looking man from the publicity office carrying in his wake eight movie enthusiasts from Nebraska. Here comes the entire chorus of ‘“New Faces” and Writer Dudley Nichols who made “The Informer” a master- piece, and genial Bob Sisk, who rose from & press agent to a producer, and popular Max Gordon, out here to tell the films a thing or two. Here come— What'’s this coming? What in heaven’s name can it be? Cameras? Not one but two and three; and lights—a whole army of them—and then cameramen, soundmen, elec- tricians, bus boys, script girls, di- rectors, extras—they are huddled right outside of the window. “Better duck, baby,” says the sec- retary, suddenly disappearing into & corner. “What's the matter?” Nevertheless we duck. And then we wonder. But not for long. We have forgotten that the outside of the “writers’ build- ing” is designed so that it can be used as the background for an “ex- terior.” Outside the doorway a large sign says “The Shelton Arms.” We have forgotten that if we had sat at the window without pulling down the blinds that we, too, might have “been in pictures.” ‘That's only & small part of this little, big parade! (O. K., Melcher—get to work!) a 2 o~ tics it gathers are of vital concern to every individual. What is nearer to any of us than birth or death? And all our lives between are affected by such agencies as Government, in- dustry, eommerce, transportation, communications, health, education and other phases of collective life— all of concern to the Bureau of Cen- sus. Census records are continually being consulted by manufacturers, whole- salers, retailers, agricultural co-oper- atives and associations, publishers, advertisers, educators, State, county and city officials and health agencies in an effort to expand their trade activities or in the interests of social or economic advancement. Such ex- pansion, as Census officials point out, “naturally results in the distribution of gains all along the line in human contentment, social security and more effective individual endeavor.” The Bureau of the Census has in- creased its powers and efficiency since the days when it first operated. The first census in 1790 took 18 months to count a population of 3,929,214 people. In 1930 122,775,046 souls were enu- merated in 1 month. Likewise, that first census taker'’s job was no soft berth. In addition to physical hard- ships, early census takers were faced with sectional jealousy and distrust of the new National Government. Early settlers feared an increase in taxation and some even believed that this was an act contrary to Divine Will and would call down the wrath of Heaven upon the inhabitants of the land. How our ancestors did toss about that Divine Will to their own advantage! HILE we do not use the same alibi today, there are still individuals the length and breadth of the land who hesitate to answer the straight- forward questions of the census taker for fear the information will in some obscure way be used against them. Little do such reluctant individuals realize how well guarded is this ex- pensively-attained information! If any one in or outside of the Bureau of the Census—outside of the proper official—can decipher those punched cards he is assuredly s better man at hieroglyphics than your reporter. You have to be a career civil service man, and consult a chart to boot, to wring information from those cards to the effect that John Jones was even born in the first place. Anybody Jooking for racy reading or a bit of neighborly gossip from a perusal of census records—provided you could peruse them, which you can’t—would have to make something out of a lot of digits with round holes punched next to them. We can state with personal positiveness that your information is safe with Uncle S8am. In fact Uncle Sam isn’t even permitted to let his right hand know what his left is doing, when it comes to census in- formation. Even Department of Jus- tice agents get turned down cold if they dare to inquire about your most recent murder. And if the Income Tax Division wants you to settle up to the tune of a hundred thousand in back taxes, the Bureau of the Census never lifts an eyelash. To any and all inquiries Mr. Austin’s helpmates retort frigidly, “What John Jones?” The way they tell you this offi- cially, in red ink, on all letterheads is: “Your census reports are confl- dential. Acts of Congress make it unlawful to disclose any facts, in- cluding names or identity, from your ” Records of Population Reaches All Forms of Hu- man Life in Great Period of Humming Speed. census reports. These laws are strictly enforced. Only sworn census employes can see your statements. Data collected are used solely for preparing statistical information con- cerning the Nation's population, re- sources and business activities. | Your census reports cannot be used for purposes of taxation, regulation, or investigation.” And the last sen- tence is in capital letters. ‘This is the major reason why the United States Government has been able to compile such reliable statis- tics with regard to its own state. In the year just passed the bureau has completed a census of agricul- ture that is of vital importance to us nationally; they have completed a census of manufacturers and a very comprehensive census of business, The census of agriculture is taken every five years. This last one is re- ported in three volumes. ’I‘HE census of manufacturers is taken every two years, so that another will be due in 1937. Another census of business has been author- ized for 1940. This business census, unlike the others, is not scheduled on a permanent basis. One was taken in 1929, another in 1933 and the last in 1935. The population cen- sus is taken every 10 years. Since the last was taken in 1930, another is due in 1940, All manner of interesting data are disclosed by these censuses. They do, in very truth, record the pulse of the Nation. The latest agriculture census, for example, indicated that great changes had taken place in American agriculture since the 1930 farm census. Among these changes are noted such things as the actual movement of farm population; the material increase in the number of farms, arising partly from a change in in- dustrial conditions and the resump- tion of farming by townsfolk formerly engaged in agriculture; the contrib- uting growth of suburban and part- time farming; the change in the proportion of farm crops grown, particularly the increase in vegetables and fruit as a result of new knowledge of dietary needs and development of good roads and automobiles. Other interesting changes have to do with tenancy, particularly in cash-crop areas; the frequent movement from farm to farm; the inevitable advance in farm mechanization, with the con- tinued recession in the numbers of work stock: the changes in the utili- zation of land and increased use of pasturage; the advance in the num- ber of cattle, notably in cows milked, and the readjustment of crop acreage due to acreage control and unprece= dented drought. The importance and significance of new crops was another fact brought to light by the recent agri- cultural census. Soy beans and tung nuts were shown to be offering fields for co-operative effort. When first introduced in 1804 the soy bean was used primarily as a forage crop for hogs and by 1909 there were 1,_623 acres of it under cultivation. During the last 5-year period, the census shows, it has grown to the status of a major crop, with 5692236 acres grown alone in 1934 and 885243 acres grown with other crops. Similarly, only 144 farms reported 350,000 trees of tung nuts in 193C. Ten times this number were reported in 1935. Other interesting facts the census has disclosed have to do with the in creased industrial uses being found for various crops and by-products in the manufacture of alcohol as a fuel for internal combustion engines and ir the manufacture of plastics. In such ways is greater co-operation be- tween agriculture and business estab- lished. NOTHER fleld of statistical in- formation that can be turned to the benefit of the farmer who has always had to face the hazards of nature is the data having to do with accurate records of the net total de= struction of crops due to drought, flood, wind, hail, fire, insects, crop diseases and similar natural misfor tunes. Such destruction ran in ex= cess of 60,000,000 acres, or about one= sixth of the total crop area, for 1934. Damage in the primary drought area was far in excess of this. In the words of Census Bureau officials, “It is our conviction that the census data on crop failure and crop yields furnish two of the essential bases upon which a system of crop insurance must rest, as there is no other place where the total net crop loss is obtainable.” ‘The manufacturing census brought out equally as interesting facts ime (Continued on Page B-3.)