Well, the Census is behind us now, unless the .gov decides that our submitted inputs were deficient or something. We got our snail mail a couple of days ago inviting us to respond on-line with a twelve-character code that identifies our address. Once signed in, we answered the questions with a minimal amount of personal information disclosure.
Just for the purposes of how this census compares with the past, I examined an old photocopy of the 1910 census taken in Los Angeles. Back then, government workers conducted the census door to door.
Even back in 1910, the questions asked exceeded the original intent of the census which was to get a head count. There were personal information questions not necessarily pertinent to the original census intent. The headings below were on the 1910 census form:
- Location (House No., etc.)
- Name
- Relationship to head of household
- Personal Description
- Sex
- Race
- Age
- Marital Status
- Place of birth
- Father’s place of birth
- Mother’s place of birth
- Citizenship (immigrants and whether naturalized)
- Language spoken
- Occupation
- Trade (job title)
- Nature of business
- Employee or employer status
- Tenure
- Education level
- Owner or renter at residence
The one glaring item in the 1910 census omitted from the 2020 census was that of citizenship. Does this mean that NON-citizens who answer the census are included in the head count for determination of congressional districts and number of representatives in government? If so, THAT IS A VERY BAD THING, and not what the founders intended!
The following link is to an image of the referenced 1910 census for a portion of a precinct of Los Angeles, CA. I intentionally left it as a very large image which you will need to scroll about to see the various entries. 1910 LA Census
