CENSUS 60

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening, gentlemen. Who is it? I'm the official census taker. You mind? Mind? What? Mind if I ask some questions? Yeah, we mind. Now, beat it. Gentlemen, the law requires that every person be enumerated at least once every 10 years for population count. The law? Uh look, Jack, we don't want no census or nothing else. Now, beat it. What is all the fuss about? You know how I hate to have my meals disturbed. I'll get rid of him. Beat it, Jack. I'm warning you. Look, I'm just a census taker. All we do is count people. Really, it's confidential. I don't All we do is count people. I've got my credentials right here. My dear sir, please forgive my friend Charles. Won't you come in? Please be seated, sir. Now, as I understand your mission, you are a census taker. Yes. There just seven basic questions I have to ask. Now, your name, sir. This is a fire cry from our first census. Article one of the Constitution of the United States sets forth that every 10 years there should be a census of the population to determine the number of seats to be held in proportion to population by each state in Congress. When George Washington, less than a year in office, authorized the first director of the census, young Thomas Jefferson, to count noses, the most difficult part of the assignment was not the count, but finding the population. They were scattered through the hills of Virginia, along the coastlines of the Carolinas, deep in the pines of Georgia. Even though there were 32,000 in New York City, most of the people were in the backwoods. Sometimes it took several days of hard riding to count just one family. Still, a fairly accurate count was made of nearly 4 million souls. Statistically, little else was accomplished. Oh yes, they did distinguish males from females and slaves, if any. Also, how many of the males were over 16 in case of renewal of war. This was an important census, for it established for the first time equal representation based not on wealth or prestige, but on numerical proportion. But more information was needed. Where a man lived, his relationship to his household, his actual age, and his occupation. For after all, mountain men make better fighters than city men. Is that all you're going to ask? Yes, sir. Your name, age, address, sex, relationship to the head of the household, your color Sir, I am the head of the household. Your color, the day and the month of your birth, and your marital status. [Music] I feel somewhat cheated, sir. I have a feeling there are many more questions there. Well, there are others, but they're not applicable to persons in your uh position. You see, every household in the United States was mailed an advance questionnaire which they were to fill out and hold for the census taker. And why are these questions not applicable to us? Well, in addition to the questions that I've asked you, uh we ask what kind of a house you live in, uh how many rooms it has, what sort of cooking facilities, and whether or not you own it or rent it. Mhm. Yes, I see your point, although I hate to admit it. It's just because we are a minority that they won't set up a mail service for transients like us. If I had received a questionnaire, I'm sure I could have come up with some of the answers. Now, what else do you ask respectable people? Oh, please, sir. I didn't mean to intimate that you weren't respectable. I know, I know. It's just my own little private joke. Go on. Well, there's what we call a sample questionnaire which we uh drop off at every fourth house, and the people fill that out and return it to us by mail. Why every fourth house? Sounds like discrimination to me. No, it's it's called sampling. Uh we ask the same questions about every single person in the country, Mhm. but we get additional information by sampling. It's It's proven very reliable. Well, ask them. Oh, I'm afraid it isn't necessary. Well, ask them anyway. Let's see what sort of sample I am. All right, if you insist. Where were you born? The USA, sir. The USA. What is your mother tongue? Have you ever heard better English, sir? In what year did you move into this house? Last night. Do you have running water? Mhm. I presume you mean in my house. The answer is yes. Air conditioning? Ah, the largest unit in the world, sir. Heat? One year California, the next Florida. But why questions like these? Why questions like these? The Bureau of Census in Washington, D.C. has been aptly called the fact finder of the nation. How many people of college age do we have? If everyone who was eligible voted, how many voters do we have? Is the population growing? What is the percentage of old people, of children? In other words, what is this country? And what about the other questions? The plumbing, air conditioning, heating. [Music] Well, there's a good reason for these, too. They are used to gauge the standard of living, which you can't get from a nose count. The condition of people's houses and how many own their own. How many people have cars, things that are considered luxuries, like television sets and air conditioners. These facts determine the standard of living, and from these facts can be determined the buying potential of a given area. [Music] To see if it would be a good market for a luxury item or a staple item. For the first time this census will ask, "Where do you live? Where do you work? How do you get from one to the other?" This question will be asked to help the road planners of the future and to help explain some of the odd traffic patterns that trouble us today. [Music] I am duly impressed, young man. Duly impressed. Think of the tremendous undertaking. It captures my imagination, and yet it is beyond it. Think of it, Charles. Think of the tremendous undertaking of which we here tonight are an infinitesimal part. Fantastic. Charles, how many people are in this country? Gee, I don't know. Of course you don't. Nobody knows until a census has been taken. Oh, a lot can change in 10 years. Think of the mountain of paperwork. Think of the columns of figures. Charles, how many wanderers like us do you suppose there are? A million? A hundred thousand? Fifty thousand? Ten? Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero. You did it again. Three times this week you made the cafeteria in 3 minutes. How do you do it? Just a matter of statistics. It could be a blast off, for the Bureau of Census has until December 1st, 1960 to deliver to the President of the United States a completed population count. Not much time, and what a mountain of work. Even though each census form has, when completed, data for 15 people, it's still a lot of forms. After checking for accuracy, the first step is to condense these forms onto a smaller medium as possible. This is accomplished by microfilming. 1,200 forms can be placed on one roll of film that will fit into a box 1 in thick and 4 in square. All the microfilm is shipped to Washington, D.C. where FOSDIC takes over. FOSDIC Film Optical Sensing Device for input to computers was developed by the Bureau of Standards and the Bureau of Census and built by the Bureau of Census. The microfilm is fed into FOSDIC and the machine records every piece of information placed there by the census taker onto magnetic tape with one omission. Names. From this point on, statistics are just that. There are no names involved. Now, these tapes are ready to be placed in the UNIVAC 1105 computer. The UNIVAC 1105 computer is the result of cooperation between two organizations. The Bureau of Census, realizing the need for a more rapid system of compiling their figures, began to look around for an electronic computing system capable of doing the quick, efficient work of tabulating they required. They wanted a system that could handle their big job, the decennial census, but they also wanted a system they could use on other things, import and export transactions, monthly trade and industrial reports, annual surveys of manufacturers. Experts from the Bureau of Census finally found what they wanted in Remington Rand's UNIVAC 1105 computer. Months of research went into it, but they ended up with one of the most versatile of all the computers. The UNIVAC 1105 is well suited for its big job. The tapes from FOSDIC are fed into the computer. The computer is told what information is needed. Every item needed is transferred from the FOSDIC tapes and placed on memory tapes or memory drums. Once this memory process is completed, you have everything you need for a modern census. How many men are there over 65? The UNIVAC system will remember. All the information in all categories is at hand. The UNIVAC high-speed printer will print it up at the rate of 600 lines per minute. It will telescope years into months. There's one other thing. The use of this system plays an important part in saving the taxpayer about $15 million. Fantastic, my man. Fantastic. The magnitude of this undertaking leaves me breathless. And to think that Charles and I are included in this. Just two wandering men. And yet you people have taken the trouble to hunt us out. I am indeed humbled, sir. I sincerely hope, sir, that you have not had as much trouble enumerating the facts concerning other people as you have with us. [Music] It makes one realize that as in life, one must stand up and be counted. And be proud of it. Everyone's been most cooperative. Come on, Charles. Time to follow further the paths of our lives. Mhm. Thank Charles. Oh, by the way, sir. Are we counted as residents of this state? I mean, do we count towards the population here? Yes, that's right. Oh. That means that we count towards how many representatives this state will have. Yes. Mhm. Stop packing, Charles. I think we'll stay and make sure we get the right man in before we leave. Goodbye, my friend. Goodbye. [Music]