Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 105, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1911 — HAS GOOD CENSUS SYSTEM [ARTICLE]

HAS GOOD CENSUS SYSTEM

Methods Employed by Austria Make the Work a Model for World 6tudy. The fall returns of the census of Austria, taken In December, 1910, are expected to be published about May of the present year. The population of Vienna is already computed, the city numbering, on December 31 last, 2,004,291, civilians and 28,543 military, a total of 2,039,834. This ia a gain over the census of 1900 of 355,427 civilians and a decrease of 79 mlll-

tary. In 1890 the civilian Inhabitants numbered 1,341,897. It is to be noted, however, that In 1904 the city in-' eluded as the twenty-firßt beslrk (ward) the district of Florldsdorf, 314. Deducting this figure from the total of 1900 it la evident that Vienna’s rate of increase for the same area is considerably less for the decade 19001910 than for the decade 1890-1900. The military garrison here has remained about the same for the last ten years. The method of taking the census in Austria Is Interesting. The great diversity of race and speech In this country and the influence of this diversity on political questions makes it important to have accurate statistics thereof. The census roturns therefore Include religion, race and usual language spoken In the family. The information is collected In a practical way. Sheets calling for all details as to the buildings thenuelves, such aa the ownership, rent paid, number of occupants, number of windows, exposure of same, etc., and all details as to the occupants therein and their relation to one' another, were left at every house in the middle of December to be filled in. Early In January, on a fixed day, these sheets were called for by a census reviser who certified the returns. This placed In the hands of the authorities complete and accurate returns with the minimum of labor to the collectors and the minimum of lnconvenlenoe to the Inhabitants, excepting that, as the sheets pass from hand to hand, publicity *s given to details which It might be wished to conceal. The Japanese government detailed certain of its own civil employes to study Austrian methods of - census enumeration. Teachers from the Austrian public schools were employed as census agents and the schools were cloeed for two days to permit their absence.