Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1900 — FACTS ABOUT THE CENSUS. [ARTICLE]

FACTS ABOUT THE CENSUS.

The most difficult task of a census enumerator is to obtain information about the ages of people. It is assumed that a woman may lie about her age and a man about the fish he catches without committing sin, but the phenomenon goes still further. Young people usually want to be considered old. middle-aged people report themselves -yopnger than they are and very old people will add a few years to their actual age. Children under 15 throw their ages forward to 16.'girls stretch a point to be'lß Mid boys 19 or more always like to be considered men. Therefore the age returns of it census are usually more incorrect than any other, and it is impossible to determine accurately whether the average duration of life is increasing or deci-casing. It is impossible, for the same reason, to ascertain the death rate, the number of men of military' age; whether negroes die earlier than whites: whether the laboring part of the population live longer than those of sedentary occupation: whether criminals are recruited from the younger or older element of society: whether the employment of children is increasing or decreasing, and many other estimates whose value is "threatened' by the inaccuracy of the age statistics. Experienced enumerators have found that the tendency of people is to represent themselves younger than they actually are. This impulse seems to be irresistible between the ages of 25 and 60. The greatest proportion of errors is at' the 60th year, but the greatest number is at the 30th year or 40th year. At this fatal Rubicon people usually falter. In 1890 there Were 618,6-11 persons reported as 39 years of age, 1.037,336 as 40 and 486.853 persons as 41. Among women 500,774 wow 1 reported to be 40. 290,977 39, 224.551 41. With a fairly steady flow of immigration and a stationary or increasing population there ought always to be fewer persons of a given age than of any single age preceding; less people 50 years old than 49 and so on. But census tables invariably show the reverse.