Carroll Davidson Wright

“ The education of the masses in the elementary facts of political and economic science is one of the greatest educational ends of the day. The whole effort of government, therefore, to put the people in the possession of facts concerning all their conditions in life, so far as the same may be subject to official inquiry, belongs to the educational work of the people. It is the mission of government to secure that information which is essential for the proper understanding of industrial and social conditions. ”

“ He is the friend, therefore, of the historical school, and welcomes every endeavor of societies and of organized government to secure accurate and sufficient data bearing on the questions which interest him. So the efforts of governments everywhere to report the facts relative to the conditions of the people, their numbers, their habits, their business interests, their moral, economic, and social relations—everything, in fact, which grows out of the relations of men to each other and to society—are welcomed with enthusiasm. ”

“ The general welfare and the blessings of liberty can neither be secured nor promoted without an intelligent understanding of all the conditions surrounding life.
In obedience to this lofty sentiment, the framers of the constitution further provided for a decennial census, and that organic provision for a periodical census was the first of its kind in any country. The framers of the constitution led the way in all civilized countries for the systematic collection of facts from which the study of the relations of men could be intelligently made. ”

“ While, however, the constitution contained the germ of the census in its modern proportions, the men who framed it and who were first called upon to carry its provisions into effect comprehended the necessity of immediately expanding the germ, and they at once set the pace for official inquiry, which pace not only has not slackened during the present century, but has been accelerated even to a speed which has sometimes been criticised. ”

“ Most of the work of this institution is of a purely scientific nature, but in its publications much information of value to social science is to be found.
No more important contributions to social science have been made under government auspices than those of the Bureau of Ethnology. Striking at the very roots of social science itself by reporting upon the conditions of tribes and peoples, it must take first rank in the estimation of social scientists. ”

“ Notwithstanding desultory enumerations and the unsystematic collection of information by foreign countries and by the home government through our colonial period, the credit of the first regularly organized periodical census is due to the United States, and our government has, commencing with 1790, made regular enumerations of the population, and, beginning with the year 1850, has conducted what may be properly called a national census, comprehending many features beyond the mere enumeration of the inhabitants. ”

“ He may advocate reforms, he may insist upon changes in legislation, upon the adoption of new systems of finance or commerce, but he does all this because to his mind the ascertained facts lead to his conclusions, and until they are completely overturned he will adhere and must adhere to his position ; yet he knows well that statistical statements are open to much criticism, and that the results of any governmental inquiry are open to the charge of inadequacy, even when the integrity of the inquiry cannot be questioned in the least. ”

“ They thought that truth would result very satisfactorily to our citizens from such data; that under the joint influence of soil, climate and occupation the duration of human life would be found at least equal to what it was in any other climate or country, and that the population of the United States increased with a rapidity unequaled in any other land. ”

“ In studying the nature, the value and the extent of the contributions of the Federal Government to social science, one turns naturally to the efforts of the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. ”

“ Care is taken to secure only that information which has a positive bearing upon the current problems of the times, and the men engaged in the collection of the information are almost invariably so thoroughly interested in the ascertainment of the truth that their work is free from bias and may be accepted by the scientist as worthy of his use.
From the categorical statements that have been made it must be concluded that the Federal Government has been most generous in its contributions to social science, and that its study could not be carried on without such contributions. ”

“ The efforts of private individuals, the results of personal observation, and the collection of facts by travelers and students, all valuable as they are, are entirely inadequate for the discussion of the great social problems of the day. ”

“ It was part of the vast machinery of government established for the purpose of enabling the nation to know more of itself. "Know thyself" is an injunction which should be applied to communities as well as to individuals, and it was recognized by the founders of our own government that it is only through rigid, impartial, and fearless investigation that any community can know itself in the many directions in which knowledge is to be obtained. ”

“ He is ready at all times to recast his opinions, modify his reasoning, and even to turn his mind into new channels of thought, whenever the facts indicate that such changes should be made. His face is always turned to the light. ”

“ The memorialists also urged, for the purpose of more exactly distinguishing the increase of population by birth and immigration, that facts be collected showing the respective numbers of native citizens, citizens of foreign birth, and aliens; and, in order to ascertain more completely the causes which influence life and health, and to furnish a curious and useful document relating to the distribution of society and the conditions and vocations of the people, they urged that facts be collected specifying the number of free male inhabitants, of all ages, engaged in business of various kinds. ”

“ He uses the results of statistical inquiry because the method of obtaining and presenting them is scientific, and because he recognizes with the German Schlosser, that "statistics is history ever advancing," and that if he wishes to grow with advancing history and keep himself fully and thoroughly informed of progress in every direction, he must use the statistical or historical method ”

“ The fourth annual report relates to working women in twenty-two of the larger cities of the United States. Besides giving the statistics as to wages, expenditures, health, moral and sanitary surroundings and conditions, and results of work in shops, the report also comprehended what is being done in the cities canvassed in the way of clubs, homes, etc., to assist working women when out of employment or when otherwise requiring temporary encouragement. ”

“ Population; manufactures; products of agriculture; agencies of transportation; cotton product; valuation, taxation, and public indebtedness; newspaper and periodical press; Alaska, its population, industries, and products; seal islands of Alaska; ship-building industry; forests of North America; petroleum and its products; manufactures of coke; building stone; mortality and vital statistics; precious metals; United States mining laws; mining industry, power and machinery employed in manufactures; the factory system; social statistics of cities; statistics of wages in manufacturing industries ”

“ They comprehend reports on population; manufactures, agriculture, and irrigation; wealth, debt, and taxation; farms, homes, and mortgages; mineral resources; transportation; insurance; vital statistics; crime, pauperism, and benevolence; fish and fisheries; educational and church statistics; social statistics; Alaska, and the Indians. The chief subject covered in this vast collection of facts not comprehended in the tenth census is the report on farms, homes, and mortgages. ”

“ The census of 1850, while asking all the questions of the census of 1840 as to colleges, academies, and schools, went still further, and made inquiry as to the character, rank, or kind of schools; number of teachers; amount annually realized from endowment; amount raised by taxation; amount received from public funds, and the amount received from all other sources. The schedule under which these inquiries were made was designated "social statistics," and on it were borne questions relating to the name and kind of annual taxes; the amount and how paid ”

“ It took three years and a half of the most laborious efforts to collect and tabulate the information. While the primary object of securing the information was the cost of production, the wages of those working in the industries comprehended by the investigation and the cost of living of the workers themselves were considered, and the bulk of these two reports (sixth and seventh) relates to wages and the cost of living, the latter feature covering the accounts of more than 16,000 families.
The eighth annual report relates to industrial education in this and other countries. ”

“ I believe that no census ever taken in this country has given the full amount of production, for instance. If more than the full amount was given the results might be damaging, but statements of less than the full amount, while disappointing, have little or no disastrous effect. The contributions of the census of 1850 must be considered as positive and valuable. ”

“ They considered it as important to determine the effect of the soil and climate of the United States on the inhabitants as simply to ascertain their number, and they urged that in the coming census a most important division of life into certain epochs be made, so that one could ascertain the existing numbers within each epoch, from whence might be calculated the ordinary duration of life, the changes of life for every epoch, the ratio of the increase of population, etc. ”

“ February 10, 1893, a committee of the Senate made a report on labor troubles and the employment of detectives. The committee of the House on Agriculture and Forestry made a report February 23, 1895, on the condition of the cotton growers in the United States, the present prices of cotton and the remedy, and on cotton consumption and production. Congress has also published a very elaborate report on the growth of industrial art, being an illustrated report prepared in the Patent Office. ”

“ Still another series of publications of the State Department contains a vast deal of information which the student of social science finds valuable. As this department is the medium through which the United States is represented at foreign expositions, conventions, etc., there are published under its auspices many valuable reports of such gatherings in which this country has participated. Chief among these may be mentioned the reports of the American commissioners at the Paris expositions of 1867, 1878, and 1889, and the exposition at Vienna in 1873 ”

“ CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TO SOCIAL SCIENCE.
The student of social science depends for his data upon two general sources—first, the results of personal observation, whether made by himself or others ”

“ The industrial schedules of 1850 related to the productions of agriculture, and they covered most important elements, such as the number of acres of land in each farm, the cash value of the farm, the value of farm implements and machinery, the value of live stock and of each particular product of any importance. ”