Summary of estimated field costs for seventeenth decennial census of population, agriculture, and housing, fiscal years 1950 and 1951

Landlord-tenant questionnaire_

.35

Hourly rates: For enumeration in certain areas, institutions, T-nite, clean-
up work, quality check, mortgage survey, etc.
Mileage payments: Reimbursement for use of automobile in rural areas,
per mile..

.30

1.00

05

RATES OF PAY FOR ENUMERATORS.

Mr. ROONEY. I note on the last page, Dr. Hauser, "piece price payments: Each person 7 cents." I had been given to understand that the price was to be 8 cents per name.

Mr. HAUSER. That is the figure we had been talking about up to when the final rates were set. What we did was to adjust the rate paid for the name and make a separate mileage payment. There is only so much cloth out of which we can make payments and we determined after a considerable amount of research and investigation into the matter that by setting these rates and in rural areas paying a separate mileage figure we could get a more equitable rate structure. Mr. ROONEY. What will be the rate per person in a large metropolitan city?

Mr. HAUSER. The rates are indicated here; 7 cents a person.

Mr. GRIEVES. It actually averages 8 cents a person when the additional payment for the sample person is included.

Mr. HAUSER. If you take a look at the first line, each person is 7 cents, but there is a sample line which applies to one in each five persons. For instance, on a sample line a man is asked additional questions and for those additional questions he gets another 7 cents. So that for every person on a sample line he gets 14 cents. For every baby he gets a separate baby-card allowance of 7 cents. So the average is a little better than 8 cents.

Mr. ROONEY. Very well.

PERSONNEL

Mr. ROONEY. Is this average employment figure correct, 7744.3, at page 142?

Mr. HAUSER. There is a mistake on that page, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. ROONEY. What should the figure be?

Mr. HAUSER. That figure should be 8,171.6 and should be substituted each time where 7744.3 appears.

Mr. ROONEY. Then the mistake is also carried into page 23 of the committee print?

Mr. HAUSER. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROONEY. That figure should be 8,171.6, is that correct?

Mr. HAUSER. That is correct.

Mr. ROONEY. Where is that difference reflected?

Mr. HAUSER. The difference of which we just spoke?

Mr. ROONEY. Yes.

We asked the

Mr. ALEXANDER. There is no difference in money. Bureau of the Budget for funds to carry us through fiscal year 1953 for the completion of the census. They suggested we propose money only for fiscal year 1951. In allotting the distribution between fiscal year 1951 and the later fiscal years, we put too few man-years into the green sheet schedules prepared for the Bureau of the Budget. We did not discover the error until we were computing again on our detailed work load for fiscal year 1951 exactly how many man-years would be required for the money which is proposed.

Mr. ROONEY. Is this all reflected in the census of housing?

Mr. ALEXANDER. That is all in the Census of Housing. The figure at page 147 would change from 1,089.1 to 1,516.4.

Mr. ROONEY. Are there any questions on the 17th Decennial Census?

CENSUS OF IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE

Mr. FLOOD. What is the purpose and to what extent do you include in your agricultural census this matter of irrigation and draining projects?

Mr. HAUSER. The schedules relating to irrigation and draining, Mr. Chairman, are required by law. The purpose is to obtain information about the lands in the United States that are cultivated under irrigation and to obtain information about the drainage projects in the country. These data are particularly important to the Department of Agriculture.

Mr. FLOOD. Do you take information from the agricultural people first, as to what exists in the nature of irrigation and drainage and secondly as to what they think should be added, or what?

Mr. HAUSER. No, we are not interested in this case at all in their judgment to what should be added. What we do is provide facts as to what there is in the way of irrigation and drainage projects.

Mr. FLOOD. You do not sample opinion, you are a factual outfit; is that it?

Mr. HAUSER. That is right. After we get the facts, there will undoubtedly be a lot of discussion and debate about some of them, particularly in the West where there are various claimants to the waters of the Colorado River, for example.

Mr. FLOOD. You do not conduct a poll of any kind?

Mr. HAUSER. That is right.

COMPARATIVE QUALITY OF UNITED STATES CENSUS METHODS AND

RESULTS

Mr. FLOOD. How good are you compared to any other country that does this kind of thing?

Mr. HAUSER. I think, Mr. Chairman, I can say with justifiable pride that the United States Bureau of the Census need bow its head to nobody, any place, in terms of the professional competence and efficiency with which it does its job.

Mr. FLOOD. Do any of the other countries go into this?

Mr. HAUSER. Some of the western countries do. The United Kingdom and Canada have excellent organizations, but we are in a position to be able to say that developments we have had in our census workstatistical techniques, machine developments and administrative procedures are continually being used and adopted by other countries of the world. We have become a very large training center for many nations of the world who are studying and adapting our techniques to improve the efficiency of their own methods. The Assistant Director for Statistical Standards has spearheaded much of our research activity which has made us a leader in the field. He recently returned from India where he was teaching census methods, under provisions of the United Nations, to officials of oriental countries who wished to take censuses.

STATISTICAL STANDARDS

Mr. FLOOD. What is Statistical Standards?

Mr. HAUSER. That is the language we use to describe Mr. Hansen's job. It is the criteria we set up for determining whether or not statistics are reliable, valid, accurate and can be safely used by American business or agencies of the Government for the uses for which they are intended. We have a continuous operation of trying to evaluate and check the accuracy of our statistics. We are always on guard to improve their quality and we have a number of devices designed to measure the accuracy of our statistics. We feel anybody who uses census statistics is entitled to know how accurate or inaccurate they are.

PUBLIC RELATIONS USED TO SECURE COOPERATION

Mr. FLOOD. What means do you use of public relations in asking for the cooperation of the public in continuing their interest, if any? Mr. HAUSER. Well, we have quite an extensive public relations campaign.

Mr. FLOOD. I do not see much of it going on any place, right now. Mr. HAUSER. We have an awful lot of newspaper clippings. The press of the Nation is alerted to the fact that the census is coming. There are stories by the bushel.

Mr. FLOOD. Do the stories indicate an attitude of cooperation? Mr. HAUSER. Yes. The Advertising Council, as a public service, has undertaken a publicity campaign on behalf of the census. They have arranged for the services of Benton and Bowles and have sent out copy which is being circulated among newspapers in order to get large institutional advertisers to buy space, saying that "Our company was founded in the year of the third census. Since the third census our company has done so and so and the country has done so and so.'

Mr. FLOOD. Does this extend beyond the large metropolitan dailies? Mr. HAUSER. Yes, each of our supervisors has a kit for public relations. In that kit are literally dozens of planned news releases which each supervisor announces to the local press, the radio, and so forth.

COOPERATION RECEIVED FROM NEWSPAPERS

Mr. FLOOD. I am sure of that, but do they get any space?
Mr. HAUSER. They get good space.

Mr. FLOOD. Do they get cooperation?

Mr. HAUSER. The attitude is one of cooperation and interest.

far back as we can trace, they have always shown a great interest in this vast and important undertaking. We have no complaint to make whatsoever on the score of public relations.

MOVIES, RADIO, AND TELEVISION

Mr. FLOOD. How about the movie people, radio and television? Mr. HAUSER. Radio and television are cooperating beautifully. We are conducting, incidentally, as part of our program this time, a training program through television, which may be the way we train all our enumerators in 1960. There has already been a newsreel. I myself have participated in a number of television and radio shows.