Chapter 139. To provide for a permanent Census Office
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CHAP. 139.— An Act To provide for a permanent Census Office. March 6, 1902.[[Public, No. 27](/us/pl/57/27).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the Census Office temporarily Census Office. Permanently established. Vol. 30, p. 1014.established in the Department of the Interior in accordance with an Act entitled “An Act to provide for taking the Twelfth and subsequent censuses,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, is hereby made a permanent office.
Sec. 2. That the work pertaining to the Twelfth Census shall be Continuation of present work.carried on by the Census Office under the existing organization until the first day of July, nineteen hundred and two, when the permanent Census Office herein provided for shall be organized by the Director of the Census. Sec. 3. That the permanent Census Office shall be in charge of a Director. Salary.Director of the Census, appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive an annual salary of six thousand dollars.
It shall be his duty to superintend and direct Duties.the taking of the Thirteenth and subsequent censuses of the United States and to perform such other duties as may be imposed upon him by law. Sec. 4. That there shall be in the Census Office, to be appointed by Office force.the Director thereof, with the approval of the head of the Department to which the said Census Office is attached, four chief statisticians, who shall be persons of known and tried experience in statistical work, at an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars each; a chief clerk, at an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars, who, in the absence of the Director, shall serve as acting director; a disbursing clerk, who shall also act as appointment clerk, at an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; one stenographer, at an annual salary of one thousand five bundled dollars; four expert chiefs of division, at an annual salary of one thousand eight hundred dollars each; six clerks of class three; ten clerks of class two; and such number of clerks of class one, and of clerks, copyists, computers, and skilled laborers, with salaries at the rate of not less than six hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars per annum, messengers, assistant messengers, watchmen, and charwomen as may be necessary *Post,* p. 606.for the proper and prompt performance of the duties required by law.
The disbursing clerk herein provided for shall, before entering upon Disbursing clerk. Bond.his duties, give bond to the Secretary of the Treasury in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, which bond shall be conditioned that the said officer shall render a true and faithful account to the proper accounting officers of the Treasury quarter yearly of all moneys and properties which shall be received by him by virtue of his office, with surety, to be approved by the Solicitor of the Treasury.
Such bond shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, Jo be by him put in suit upon any breach of the conditions thereof. Sec. 5. That all employees of the Census Office, at the date of the Retention of employees.passage of this Act, except unskilled laborers, may be appointed by the Director of the Census with the approval of the head of the Department to which said Census Office is attached, and when so appointed shall be and they arc hereby placed, without further examination, under the provisions of the civil service Act approved January sixteenth, Vol. 22, p. 403.
Vol. 26, p. 236.52eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and the amendments thereto Preference.and the rules established thereunder; and persons who have served as soldiers in any war in which the United States may have been engaged, who have been honorably discharged from the service of the United States, and the widows of such soldiers, shall have preference New appointments.in the matter of employment; and all new appointments to the permanent clerical force, in the Census Office hereby created shall be made in accordance with the requirements of the civil service Act above referred to.
Former act in force. Vol. 30, p. 1014. Sec. 6. That all the provisions of the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, relating to the Twelfth Census, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, shall remain in full force and effect for the taking of the Thirteenth and subsequent censuses. Collection of special statistics decennially. Vol. 30, p. 1016, amended. Sec. 7. That section eight of the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:
That after the completion and return of the enumeration and of the work upon the schedules relating to the products of agriculture and to manufacturing and mechanical establishments provided for in section seven of this Act, the Director of the Census is hereby authorized decennially to collect statistics relating to special classes, including the insane, feeble-minded, deaf, dumb, and blind; to crime, pauperism, and benevolence, including prisoners, paupers, juvenile delinquents, and inmates of benevolent and reformatory institutions; to social statistics of cities; to public indebtedness, valuation, taxation, and expenditures; to religious bodies; to electric, light and power, telephone, and telegraph business; to transportation by water, express business, and street railways; to mines, mining, quarries and minerals, and the production and value thereof, including gold in divisions of placer and vein, and silver mines, and the number of men employed, the average daily wage, average working time, and aggregate earnings in the various branches and aforesaid divisions of the mining and quarrying industries until duly first, nineteen hundred and four.
And the Director of the Census shall prepare schedules containing such interrogatories as shall in his judgment be best adapted to elicit the information required under these subjects, with such specifications, divisions, and particulars Special reports.under each head as he shall deem necessary to that end; and all reports prepared under the provisions of this section shall be designated Special agents.as “Special reports of the Census Office.” For the purpose of securing the statistics requited by this section, the Director of the Census may appoint special agents when necessary, and such special *Proviso.* Restrictions.agents shall receive compensation as hereinafter provided: *Provided,* that the statistics of special classes, and of crime, pauperism, and benevolence specified in this section, shall be restricted to institutions containing such classes and the Director of the Census is authorized and directed to collect statistics relating to all of the deaf, dumb, and blind, notwithstanding the restrictions and limitations contained in Vol. 30, p. 1016.
Limit of inquiries.section eight of said Act entitled “An Act to provide for taking the Twelfth and subsequent censuses”: *Provided,* That in taking the census of said classes the inquiries shall be confined to the following four questions, namely : Name, age, sex, and post-office address. Yearly collection of vital statistics. Sec. 8. That there shall be a collection of the statistics of the births and deaths in registration areas for the year nineteen hundred and two, and annually thereafter, the data for which shall be obtained only from and restricted to such registration records of such States and municipalities as in the discretion of the Director possess records affording satisfactory data in necessary detail, the compensation for Compensation.the transcription of which shall not exceed two cents for each birth or death reported.
Special collection of statistics of manufactures under factory system. Sec. 9. That in the year nineteen hundred and five, and every ten years thereafter, there shall be a collection of the statistics of manufactures, 53confined to manufacturing establishments conducted under what is known as the factory system, exclusive of the so-called neighborhood and mechanical industries; and the Director is hereby authorized to prepare such schedules as in his judgment may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section; and that in addition to the Cotton production bulletins each year.statistics now provided for by law the Director of the Census shall annually collect the statistics of the cotton production of the country as returned by the ginners and bulletins giving the results of the same shall be issued weekly beginning September first of each year and continued till February first following; and that the Director of the Census shall make, from time to time, any additional special collections of Special statistics on order of Congress.statistics relating to any branch of agriculture, manufacture, mining, transportation, fisheries, or any other branch of industry that may be required of him by Congress.
Sec. 10. That section seventeen of the act of March third, eighteen Special agents. Vol. 30, p. 1019 amended. Compensation.hundred and ninety-nine, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: " “Sec. 17. That the special agents appointed under the provisions of this Act have like authority with the enumerators in respect to the subjects committed to them under this Act and shall receive compensation at rates to be fixed by the Director of the Census: *Provided,* *Provisos.* Maximum.That the same shall in no case exceed six dollars per day and actual necessary traveling expenses and an allowance in lieu of subsistence not exceeding three dollars per day during their necessary absence from their usual place of residence: *And provided further,* That Restrictions.no pay or allowance in lieu of subsistence shall be allowed special agents when employed in the Census Office on other than the special work committed to them, and no appointments of special agents shall be made for clerical work: *And provided further,* That the Director of Clerical force on field work.the Census is hereby authorized in his discretion to employ the clerical force of the Census Office for such field work as may be required to carry out the provisions of sections seven, eight, and nine, in lieu of employing special agents for that purpose; and such employees Per diem, etc.when so employed shall be allowed, in addition to their regular compensation, actual necessary traveling expenses and an allowance in lieu of subsistence not exceeding three dollars per day during their necessary absence from the Census Office.
All employees of the Census Office shall be citizens of the United States.” " Sec. 11. That the printing office established in the Census Office is Printing office abolished. Vol. 30, p. 1020.hereby abolished to take effect July first, nineteen hundred and two, and the outfit and equipment therein shall be turned over to the Public Printer; and the Director of the Census is hereby authorized and Public Printer to print bulletins, reports, etc.directed to have printed, published, and distributed, from time to time, bulletins and reports of the preliminary and other results of the various investigations authorized by law; and all of said printing and binding shall be done by the Public Printer at the Government Printing Office.
Sec. 12. That the supplemental acts amendatory of the Act of Acts repealed.March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, approved February Vol. 31,p. 3. Vol. 31, p. 174; Vol 31, p. 262.first, nineteen hundred, May tenth, nineteen hundred, June second, nineteen hundred, February twenty-third, nineteen hundred and one, are hereby repealed; and all provisions of the Act of March third, Vol. 31, p. 801. *Post,* p. 571.eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.
Approved, March 6, 1902.