then in vogue, called for the entry against the name of the head of the family of the number in each family who were so employed. A similar inquiry was made in 1840, but the number of classes under which the members of each family were to be reported was increased to seven, as follows:-mining; agriculture; commerce; manufactures and trades; navigation of the ocean; navigation of canals, lakes, and rivers; and learned professions and engineers. There was no specific reference in the instructions as to the manner in which the number of persons in each class was to be determined, but the results of the inquiry clearly indicate that the returns comprehended, as in 1820, all the members of the family (including slaves) who were so occupied. The entries on the schedule were made in the same manner as in 1820, so that at each of these enumerations the primary assignment to the different classes by the census-takers was necessarily final, and no further classification was possible, the printed results representing merely the aggregations of the numbers reported for each individual family. At the Seventh Census, in 1850, a specific return was required of the profession, occupation, or trade followed by each free male over fifteen years of age, and detailed instructions were given concerning the manner in which it was to be made. Under the requirements of the system of individual enumeration then inaugurated there were separate schedules for the free and the slave inhabitants, and, as the return of occupations was called for on that for free inhabitants only, and was further limited to males, it did not apply, as in 1820 and 1840, to females or to slaves. The results of the inquiry were presented in two ways: first, in an alphabetical list comprising 323 occupation designations and, second, in summarized form under ten general heads, as follows:-commerce, trade, manufactures, mechanic arts and mining; agricluture; labor, not agricultural; army; sea and river navigation; law, medicine, and divinity; other pursuits requiring education; government, civil service; domestic servants; and other occupations. The census of 1860 was taken under the same provisions of law as that of 1850, and with practically the same schedules and instructions, but the inquiry as to occupations applied to all free persons of both sexes over fifteen years of age instead of, as in 1850, to free males only. No attempt was made to group the results under main classes, as in the preceding census, and the statement of persons occupied was made, without distinction of sex, in the form of an alphabetical list comprising 584 different occupation designations. The results of the inquiry at both of these censuses were reported under a large number of designations, as just shown; but there were, admittedly, many deficiencies in the returns for 1850, and the grouping under general heads was not very successful; while, with respect to the returns for 1860, which were printed without comment in the report for that census, it is evident from statements by the Superintendent of the Ninth Census† that, like the returns of 1850, they were far from satisfactory, both as to their completeness and the detail in which the occupations were stated. There was opportunity, too, at the census of 1850, for the first time, to provide at a central office for a uniform basis of classification, but this was not possible because of the inadequacy of the returns themselves in many particulars; nor could there be any comparisons made at either census with the results of the earlier enumerations because of the changes in the population groups for which the later returns were required. The Ninth Census, in 1870, was taken under the old law of 1850, although an unsuccessful effort was made to provide new legislation more nearly in keeping with the changed conditions under which it would have to be conducted. General Walker was made Superintendent, Feb. 7, 1870, and proceeded with great skill and expedition to take the best census possible under the existing conditions of law. The inquiry as to occupations was modified by striking from the schedule the age limitation of fifteen years and introducing in the instructions to marshals the limitation of ten years, in the belief, as stated in the report for 1870, that "this inquiry ought to extend as nearly as *Seventh Census, pp. lxvi and 1015. † Ninth Census, Report on Population, p. xxxiii. possible to the whole body of persons of both sexes and all ages pursuing gainful occupations in the United States." The presentation of the tabulated results of the inquiry comprised 338 specifications, classified under four main heads, as follows: agriculture, professional and personal services, trade and transportation, and manufactures and mechanical and mining industries. The reasons for adopting this general classification, and the assignment thereunder of the various occupation designations, were also fully explained, thereby furnishing, for the first time, a definite basis for the enumeration and presentation of occupation data, to which, in the main, the work of succeeding censuses has conformed. The census of 1880, of which General Walker was also the Superintendent, was taken under a new act, approved March 3, 1879, which entirely reorganized the census machinery, introducing the system employed at the present time. By this change the enumeration, which previously had been intrusted to the United States marshals and their assistants, was placed under the charge of supervisors, specially appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, and the returns were collected by enumerators selected by the supervisors, with the approval of the Superintendent of the Census. With respect to occupations there was practically no change in either the inquiry or the instructions from those used in the census of 1870, and the same methods were observed in the presentation of the results, but the number of occupation designations was reduced, mainly by consolidation, to 265. The census of 1890 was taken under the provisions of a new act, approved March 1, 1889, but modelled upon that which governed the work in 1880. The instructions concerning the return of occupations were considerably elaborated, with the intention of having the enumerator describe, as accurately as possible, the occupation of each and every person at work, irrespective of age; but the tabulations, following the precedent of the two preceding censuses, did not include, in any case, persons under ten years of age. The general plan of grouping the occupations under main class heads was maintained, but the arrangement of the various occupation designations with respect to classes differed somewhat from that of 1880, principally in the grouping of fisheries and mining with agriculture and in providing a class for persons engaged in professional pursuits separate from those engaged in purely domestic and personal service, thus making five main classes instead of four, as formerly, and with a still further reduction in the number of occupation designations to 218. The passage of the act, approved March 3, 1899, which governed the taking of the Twelfth Census, marked an important departure in census-taking in this country. By this act the work at the decennial period was limited to four subjects,population, mortality, agriculture, and manufactures; but provision was made after the completion of the decennial work for the collection of the statistics relating to many special subjects. This step became necessary because of the encyclopedic character of the work of the two preceding censuses, at which the attempt was made to carry on a host of special work substantially coincident with that required for the general enumeration of population and the collection of the statistics of industry; and, therefore, in these respects the census of 1900 was a marked improvement over its immediate predecessors. It did not appreciably reduce, however, the work attending the general enumeration of population, and the requirements with respect to the return of occupations by the census enumerators were substantially the same as in 1890. In the presentation of the statistics there were 303 designations of occupations, arranged under 140 occupation groups, and conforming, as nearly as possible, to the general classification used at the preceding census. These are, in brief, the facts of the enumeration and presentation of occupations in the Federal census; but what of the conditions under which the work has been conducted? There need be no consideration in this regard concerning the first two groups, comprising the earlier efforts to secure occupation data, because in each case the basis differed and the returns were not inclusive of all the gainful workers. For the third group, com prising the last four censuses, the basis for the return and presentation of occupations established by General Walker in 1870 has been, in the main, observed, although the effectiveness of many of the occupation designations, as describing the groups of workers therein included, has been very much lessened on account of the increasing degree to which labor has been subdivided. The results have been presented in varying detail as to the number of occupation designations used, but covering for each census substantially all the gainful workers of both sexes and of all ages. There has been at each of these censuses forced conditions of work, arising out of a wholly temporary organization and with entirely too short a time to prepare for so great an undertaking. And thus it would seem to have been a well-nigh impossible task, particularly since 1880, to bring together suddenly a large clerical force; to provide for their housing in widely scattered quarters; to map out a complete plan of work to govern the operations of both the office and field force; to prepare and print the necessary schedules and instructions, amounting in 1900 to very nearly 26,000,000 copies; to provide for the appointment of several hundred supervisors, and through them for the selection and equipment of a small army of enumerators,-more than 53,000 in 1900; and in time to begin work, under the law, on June 1, barely one year after the passage of the main census act, to say nothing of supplemental legislation at a much later date by which the plan of work was considerably modified. It is evident, therefore, that under this stress of work there could be, even at the Twelfth Census, but little, if any, provision made, except through the printed instructions, for training the field force or for the close supervision of their work during the course of the enumeration; nor was there, indeed, much opportunity for the detailed examination of the completed schedules before they were required to be sent to the central office at Washington. The supervisors, it is true, were furnished with instructions concerning the manner in which the schedules in general were to be scrutinized for omissions and possible error, but, aside from establishing the completeness of the canvass in |