Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 240, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1911 — COUNTING HEADS. [ARTICLE]

COUNTING HEADS.

The First Census Was Taken by Mesee In the Wilderness. There Is n record of a census in China as far back as the year 2042 B. C. and of one in Japan In the last century before Christ. Under the constitution of Solon the citizens of Athens were divided and registered in four classes, according to the amount of tbeir taxable pro|>erty or income. The Roman census was burdened with more statistics than any of these, however. it had its origin under Servius Tullius, sixth king of Rome, and was an affair of much solemnity. Every citizen had to appear upon the Campus Martins and declare upon oath his name and dwelling and the value of his property under the penalty of having his goods confiscated. The most ancient statistical record of a census is found In the Bible. The census was taken by Moses in the wilderness, and. as showu by the first chapter of Numbers, the enumeration must have been very simple. “Take ye.” says this account, “the sum of all the congregations of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel; thou and Aaron shall number them by tbeir armies.” This census was an affair that must have been soon over, lasting no longer than one day. being merely a counting of the heatfs of tbe fighting men. The women and children and cripples and the old men were not included; “neither were the Levltes numbered among them.” Those who did ■ stand up to be numbered totaled 603,550. New York World.