1920 CENSUS
The census report will be taken soon. A little preparation will save you and the enumerator considerable time. After asking whether “white or negro” and other similar questions you will be asked many questions concerning crops grown, acreage of unimproved land, woodlots, improved land, the cash value of your farm, farm indebtedness and farm expenses for 1919. Your full co-operation will be appreciated by the census taker. (Walnut Bureau, Jan. 1, 1920)
COUNTY INCREASES 5,718
Pottawattamie county, Iowa, population during the past ten years has grown to 61,550, according to announcement of the census bureau today. This is an increase of 5,718 or 10.2 per cent.
Following is the census of incorporated towns in the county for 1910 and 1920.
1920 1910
Avoca ————– 1,482 1,520
Carson ————- 692 640
Council Bluffs —- 36,162 29,292
Hancock ———– 276 250
McClelland ——- 142 134
Macedonia ——– 352 357
Minden ———— 381 423
Neola ————– 896 926
Oakland ———– 1,188 1,105
Treynor ———— 204 122
Underwood ——- 260 271
Walnut ———— 1,072 950
(Walnut Bureau, Oct. 14, 1920)
It’s amusing to see how inflated with importance some people become after reading the report of the director of the U. S. Census and find he has padded the population of their town enough to give it a place on the map for the first time. (Walnut Bureau, Nov. 6, 1919)
Electricity on Farms.
Out of 6,362,502 farms in the United States, only 340,000, or 5.3 per cent, are electrically equipped, according to government census figures. More than 42,000,000 people live on these farms, indicating that farming folk constitute almost one-third of the population of the nation. (Walnut Bureau, Mar. 3, 1921)
Why is a census taken? Is it so that we may know exactly how many people there are in the United States and that municipal rivalries based entirely upon the number of human beings who live within the official boundaries may be determined? That is all a great many people see in it. Newspaper comment on figures given out is purely numerical. Perhaps that is because we have only numerical data as yet. Far more worth consideration will be the facts as to the conditions of life, the social and religious status, the matter of employment, housing, etc., etc. Any city genuinely interested in its actual growth and conditions will pay more attention to such data than to the mere matter of numbers. (Walnut Bureau, Mar. 10, 1921)
New Center of Population Shifts—Located in Indiana for the Last Thirty Years
For 30 years the center of population in the United States has remained within the borders of the state of Indiana.
The census of 1920 gives Spencer as the town nearest the center of population. The exact point is 8.3 miles southeast of Spencer, Indiana, in the extreme southeast corner of Owen county.
According to the 1910 census, the center of population was in the city of Bloomington.
Following are the locations of population centers for the various censuses, with the distance of westward movement in each decade:
1790—Twenty-three miles east of Baltimore.
1800—Eighteen miles west of Baltimore; 40.6 miles.
1810—Forty miles northwest of Washington; 36.9 miles.
1820—Sixteen miles north of Woodstock, Va.; 50.5 miles.
1830—Nineteen miles southwest of Moorefield, W. Va. (then a part of Virginia); 40.4 miles.
1840—Sixteen miles west of Clarksburg, W. Va. (then Virginia); 55.6 miles.
1850—Twenty-three miles southeast of Parkersburg, W. Va. (then Virginia); 54.8 miles.
1860—Twenty miles south of Chillicothe, Ohio, 80.6 miles.
1870—Forty-eight miles east of Cincinnati; 44.1 miles.
1880—Eight miles west of Cincinnati, 58.1 miles.
1890—Twenty miles west of Columbus, Ind.; 48.6 miles.
1900—Six miles southeast of Columbus, Ind.; 14.6 miles.
1910—In the city of Bloomington, Ind.; 39 miles.
(Walnut Bureau, Dec. 29, 1921)
Future Belongs to Small City.
It would be rash to conclude from the census figures that the problem of a better distribution of population is unsolvable. The fact that the small cities show the greatest gains is significant. These obviously permit freer living conditions than the large cities and at the same time are free from the isolation of the village or the widely scattered homesteads. The small city in these days prides itself upon its “metropolitan” aspect. It is conspicuously up-to-date and provides comfortable living. The tendency of industrial enterprises to seek locations at a distance from the centers of population has had much to do with the up building of cities of this type. (Walnut Bureau, Apr. 28, 1921)
There are according to the census only 333,000 professional cooks in this country, but this number does not include those who landed in the kitchen via matrimony. (Walnut Bureau, May 19, 1921)