INQUIRIES INCLUDED IN EACH POPULATION CENSUS, 1790 To 19601 CENSUS OF 1960 Address; name; relationship to head of household; sex; race; month and year of birth; marital status; whether residence is on farm; place of birth-in which State, U.S. Possession, or foreign country; if born outside U.S., language spoken in home before coming to U.S.; country of birth of parents; length of residence at present address, where resided five years earlier; educational attainment: school or college attendance, and whether public or private school; times married and date of first marriage; of women ever married, how many children ever borne; employment status; hours worked in week preceding enumeration; date last worked; occupation, industry, and class of worker; place of work-which city or town (and whether in city limits or outside), county, State; means of transportation to work; weeks worked in 1959; earnings in 1959; other income in 1959; veteran status-which war and present service. CENSUS OF 1950 Address: whether house is on farm; name, relationship to head of household; race; sex; age; marital status; State (or foreign country) of birth; if foreign born, whether naturalized; employment status during week preceding enumeration; hours worked; occupation, industry, and class of worker; whether living in same house a year ago; whether living on farm a year ago; if not in same house, county and State of residence a year ago; country of birth of parents; educational attainment; school attendance; if looking for work, how many weeks has he been looking; number of weeks worked in 1949; earnings in 1949; other income in 1949; veteran status-which war and present service; for persons who worked last year but not in current labor force, occupation, industry, and class of worker on last job; if ever married, whether married more than once; duration of present marital status; if female and ever married, number of children ever borne. CENSUS OF 1940 Address; home owned or rented; value or monthly rental; whether on a farm; name, relationship to head of household; sex; race; age; marital status; school or college attendance; educational attainment: place of birth-if U.S., State, Territory, or Possession-if foreign born, country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937; citizenship of foreign born; county and State of residence five years earlier and whether on farm or in place of 2500 or more inhabitants; employment status during week of March 24-30, 1940; if at work, whether in private or nonemergency government work, or in public emergency work (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.); if in private or nonemergency government work, number of hours worked during week of March 24-30; if seeking work or on public emergency work, duration of unemployment up to March 30; occupation, industry, and class of worker; number of weeks worked in 1939; wage or salary income in 1939 and whether received other income of $50 or more; place of birth (State, Territory, possession, or foreign country) of father and mother; language spoken in home in earliest childhood; veteran status, or whether wife, widow or under18 child of veteran; whether has Social Security number, and if so whether deductions were made from all or part of wages or salary; usual occupation, industry, and class of worker; of women ever married-whether married more than once, age at first marriage, and number of children ever borne. CENSUS OF 1930 Name: address; relationship to head of family; home owned or rented; value or monthly rental; radio set; whether family lives on a farm; sex; race; age; marital status; age at first marriage; school attendance; ability to read and write place of birth of person, father, and mother; if foreign born, language spoken in home before coming to U.S.; year of immigration; naturalization; ability to speak English; occupation, industry, and class of worker; whether actually at work previous day (or last regular working day); whether a veteran of U.S. military or naval forces, which war. Special schedule used for further detail on unemployment. 1 See pp. 78-85 for a statement of planned 1970 census inquiries. CENSUS OF 1920 Address; name; relationship to head of family; home owned or rented; if owned, free or mortgaged; sex; race; age; marital status; year of immigration to the U.S.; naturalized or alien; if naturalized, year of naturalization; school attendance; place of birth of person, father, and mother; for each of these reporting foreign birth, what was mother tongue (native language); ability to speak English; occupation, industry, and class of worker. CENSUS OF 1910 Address; name; relationship to head of family; sex; race; age; marital status; number of years of present marriage; mother of how many children and number now living; place of birth of person, father, and mother; for foreign born persons, years of immigration to U.S.; whether naturalized or alien; ability to speak English; if not, language spoken; occupation, industry, and class of worker; if an employee, number of weeks out of work during year; ability to read and write; school attendance; home owned or rented; if owned, is it free or mortgaged; whether a survivor of Union or Confederate Army or Navy ; whether blind or deaf and dumb. CENSUS OF 1900 Address; name; relationship to head of family; sex; race; age; marital status; number of years married; mother of how many children and number now living; place of birth of person, father, and mother; if person is foreign born, year of immigration to the U.S.; number of years in the U.S.; whether naturalized; occupation, trade, or profession of persons 10 years old and over; months not employed; months attended school; ability to write or read; ability to speak English; home owned or rented; if owned, whether free of mortgage. CENSUS OF 1890 Address; number of families in house; number of persons in house; number of persons in family; name; whether a soldier, sailor or marine during Civil War (Union or Confederate) or widow of such person; relationship to head of family; white, black, mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, Chinese, Japanese, or Indian; sex; age; marital status; whether married during year; mother of how many children, and number now living; place of birth of person, father, and mother; if person is foreign born, number of years in the U.S.; whether naturalized; whether papers have been taken out; profession, trade, or occupation; months unemployed during census year; ability to read and write; ability to speak English; if not, language or dialect spoken; whether suffering from acute or chronic disease, with name of disease and length of time afflicted; whether defective in mind, sight, hearing, or speech, or whether crippled, maimed, or deformed, with name of defect; whether a prisoner, convict, homeless child, or pauper; home rented, or owned by head or member of family; if owned by head or member, is it free from mortgage; if head of family is a farmer, is farm rented or owned by him or member of his family; if owned, is it free of mortgage; if mortgaged, give post office address of owner. CENSUS OF 1880 Address; name; relationship to head of family; sex; race; age; marital status; born within the year; married within the year; profession, occupation, or trade; number of months unemployed during census year; whether person is sick or temporarily disabled so as to be unable to attend to ordinary business or duties; if so, what is the sickness or disability; whether blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, insane maimed, crippled or bedridden; attended school within the year; ability to read and write; place of birth of person, father, and mother. CENSUS OF 1870 Address; name; age; sex; color (including Chinese and Indian); citizenship for males over 21; profession, occupation, or trade; value of real estate; value of personal estate; place of birth; whether father and mother were foreign born; born within the year; married within the year; attended school within the year; for persons 10 years old and over whether able to read and write; whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic. CENSUS OF 1860 Name; address; age; sex; color (white, black, or mulatto) for each person; whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic; all free persons required to give value of real estate and of personal estate owned; profession, occupation, or trade for each male and female over 15; place of birth (State, Territory, or country); whether married within the year, whether attended school within the year; whether unable to read and write for persons over 20; whether a pauper or convict. CENSUS OF 1850 Name; address; age; sex; sex; color (white, black, or mulatto) for each person; whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane or idiotic; all free persons required to give value of real estate owned; profession, occupation, or trade for each male person over 15; place of birth; whether married within the year; whether attended school within the year; whether unable to read and write for persons over 20; whether a pauper or convict. CENSUS OF 1840 Name of head of family; address; number of free white males and females in 5-year age groups to 20, 10-year age groups from 20 to 100, and 100 years old and over; number of slaves and free colored persons in six broad age groups; number of deaf and dumb; number of blind; number of insane and idiotic in public or private charge; number of persons in each family employed in each of seven classes of occupations; number of schools and number of scholars; number of white persons over 20 who could not read and write; number of pensioners for Revolutionary or military service. CENSUS OF 1830 Name of head of family; address; number of free white males and females in 5-year age groups to 20, 10-year age groups from 20 to 100, and 100 years old and over; number of slaves and free colored persons in six broad age groups; number of deaf and dumb under 14, 14 to 24, and 25 years and upward; number of blind; foreigners not naturalized. CENSUS OF 1820 Name of head of family; address; number of free white males and females under 10 years of age, 10 and under 16, 16 and under 26, 26 and under 45, and 45 years and upward; number of free white males between 16 and 18 years; foreigners not naturalized; males and female slaves and free colored persons under 14 years, 14 and under 26, 26 and under 45, and 45 and upward; all other free persons, except Indians not taxed; number of persons (including slaves) engaged in agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. CENSUS OF 1810 Name of head of family; address; number of free white males and females under 10 years of age, 10 and under 16, 16 and under 26, 26 and under 45, and 45 years and upward; all other free persons, except Indians not taxed; number of slaves. CENSUS OF 1800 Name of head of family; address; number of free white males and females under 10 years of age, 10 and under 16, 16 and under 26, 26 and under 45, and 45 years and upward; all other free persons, except Indians not taxed; number of slaves. CENSUS OF 1790 Name of head of family; address; number of free white males of 16 years and up, including heads; free white males under 16; free white females, including heads; all other free persons; number of slaves. Hon. WILLIAM J. GREEN, FEDERAL STATISTICS USERS' CONFERENCE, Chairman, Subcommittee on Census and Statistics, DEAR CONGRESSMAN GREEN: Regarding your Subcommittee's recent hearings on H.R. 10952, we respectfully request that the enclosed statement prepared for presentation at the October 24th hearings be included in the printed record. The position we have taken with regard to H.R. 10952 is representative of the views of the majority of the members of the Conference, which have been developed and determined through: (1) our Long Range Program for the Improvement of Federal Statistics; (1) the work and recommendations of FSUC Committees; and (3) expressed interests by members at various meetings and in response to questionnaires. More specifically, with regard to H.R. 10952, we surveyed a representative sample of our membership (45 percent) which included members of our Board of Trustees, members of our Demographic Statistics Committee and association and research organizations who have the greatest interest in Census statistics. We received a 46 percent response. All of the respondents use Census data for research and analysis purposes. It is interesting to note that 71 percent of the respondents conduct research through the use of surveys. Only one-fifth of these are in the business of market research. The others are engaged in nonprofit economic research, manufacturing, retail trade, finance and banking, and printing and publishing. Two respondent groups that use Census data in their research work are railroads and labor unions. The principal use of Census data by those who conduct research through the use of surveys is for: (1) benchmark purposes; (2) sampling purposes; and (3) evaluation of results of surveys. Other uses mentioned include: store location research; inter-metropolitan area studies and many local studies; all kinds of research; in some instances to define the universe and geographical distribution; and projection bases for small sample surveys. The responses to this special survey overwhelmingly support the position taken in our statement to the Subcommittee. The survey revealed some additional views regarding the affect of the proposals by Congressman Betts that were not pointed out in our statement: Every question proposed for omission from the 1970 Census by Congressman Betts is of value and use to certain of our members in their research work. Of extreme importance to most of our members are questions relating to occupation and employment, education, income, and housing characteristics. They believe these questions should be retained. Furthermore, our members believe that some questions proposed for omission should be retained because of their importance and use by government and other decision-makers, even though they are not essential for their particular purposes. It is the opinion of the respondents that private research firms do not have the resources, facilities, and experience to conduct surveys, on certain aspects covered in the decennial census, on the same scale, as efficiently as the Bureau of the Census. They further believe that if part of the decennial census were conducted on a mandatory basis and part on a voluntary basis that there would be serious gaps in the data and that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to relate or correlate data collected by these two means. We wish to commend your Subcommittee on the intense interest and scrutiny it is giving to the 1970 Census of Population. Unemployment and Housing. There seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding about the operation of our statistical system and the changing and increasing needs for essential statistical information. It is our hope that intelligent public discussion can lead to an increased knowledge and understanding of the complexities involved. Sincerely, JOHN H. AIKEN, Executive Director. STATEMENT OF THE FEDERAL STATISTICS USERS' CONFERENCE My name is John H. Aiken. I am Executive Director of the Federal Statistics Users' Conference. My apearance here today is to present the views of the Conference on H.R. 10952, a bill to amend Title 13, United States Code, to limit the cate gories of questions required to be answered under penalty of the law in the decennial census of population, unemployment, and housing. The Federal Statistics Users' Conference is an association comprising 167 organizations generally classified as business firms, labor unions and nonprofit research groups who have a common interest in obtaining adequate, timely, and reliable information from Federal statistical programs. Its membership is highly diversified and it is unique in that almost every segment of the economy that uses Federal statistics is represented in the Conference. The principal activity of some of our member firms is economic and market research. Most of the other members engage in economic and market research, although this is not the principal purpose of their firm or organization. In both instances, a number of them conduct research through the use of surveys, both local and national in scope. A national census is a recognized need of all nations, and mandatory reporting is accepted as a basic requirement. The decennial census of population is our most important statistical activity, having its origins in the Constitution of the United States and having been conducted in each decennium beginning with the Census of 1790 conducted under the direction of Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State. As our nation has grown, there has been a great increase in the magnitude and complexity of economic and social problems. A great deal of additional and new information is now required to assist and guide decision-makers in finding solutions to these problems. Despite a greatly enlarged statistical base, a regular reading of the Congressional Record reveals many instances where Senators and Representatives have pointed up the lack of adequate or sufficient statistical information to guide the Congress and the Administration in making important policy decisions. Congressional Committee hearings on various social, economic, health, welfare and other legislative programs draw extensively on census statistics to define problems and to guide legislators in making decisions. These hearings often indicate our statistical gaps and needs. The Federal government is recognized as the principal user of our statistical output that is essential for determining and carrying out public policy and programs. For this reason, the Federal Government's needs enjoy first priority so far as changes, improvements or expansion of our statistical base is concerned. In our opinion, the Bureau of the Census has scrupulously adhered to this principle in carrying out its many programs. Just as governmental needs have increased, so have those of an expanding number of statistics users outside of government. The needs of the latter are receiving greater attention in the shaping of satistical programs, but even more consideration could and should be given to certain of these needs for the following reasons: Census data provide a foundation for the making of many vital economic and policy decisions by private enterprise that have an impact on the total economy and thereby affect the general welfare. The myriad of decisions made daily affect the level and direction of change in our economy. It is in the public and national interest that the information upon which these decisions are based be adequate, reliable and complete. Those acquainted with census history know that for many years it was the Congress that had the responsibility for determining census inquiries. Then, some decades ago, Congress transferred that responsibility to the Executive Branch, We believe this was a wise decision because the planning and conducting of a census is an executive, administrative function involving many technical details. Experience has shown that the nation is best served when the censuses are devised by those who are experienced in census taking and in survey techniques; by those who devote full time to studying and determining which questions are most important and most feasible, and by those who are skilled in knowing the types of inquiries which are acceptable and those which are not. The Congress, however, and properly so, has the responsibility for overviewing our statistical programs and making recommendations. When the responsibility for determining census inquiries was first transferred to the Executive Branch there was an obvious invitation and potential for an increase in respondent burden and for "bureaucratic prying" into private affairs. However, this did not come about. Current censuses are less burdensome in many respects and numerous unnecessary, prying questions are no longer included in the census. The census does not ask, as it did in the past, such questions as |