he census office. Hence the
protests of those who believed that the figures for population were too
small swelled into a general chorus of dissatisfaction. But the census
was probably more correct than the critics. Most of the motives
influencing popular estimates of population in the United States tend to
exaggeration. The convention which drafted the Constitution of the
United States attempted to secure a balance of interests by apportioning
both representatives in Congress and direct taxes according to
population. A passage in _The Federalist_ suggests the motives of the
convention as follows:--

"As the accuracy of the census to be obtained by Congress will
necessarily depend in a considerable degree on the disposition if not
co-operation of the states, it is of great importance that the states
should feel as little bias as possible to swell or reduce the amount
of their numbers. Were their share of representation alone to be
governed by this rule, they would have an interest in exaggerating
their inhabitants. Were the rule to decide their share of taxation
alone, a contrary temptation would prevail. By extending the rule to
both objects the states will have opposite interests, which will
control and balance each other, and produce a requisite impartiality."

With the disappearance of direct taxation as a source of federal
revenue, the motive mentioned for understating the population
disappeared. On the other hand, the desire for many representatives in
Congress has been reinforced by the more influential feelings of local
pride and of rivalry with other cities of somewhat similar size. Hence a
complaint that the population is overstated is seldom heard, and hence,
also, popular charges of an under-count afford little evidence that the
population was really larger than stated by the census.

After the detailed tabulation had been completed, it was shown that the
number of persons under ten years of age in 1890 was surprisingly small,
and that this deficiency in children was a leading cause of the slow
growth in population. Before the tabulation had been made Francis A.
Walker wrote:--"If the birth-rate among the previously existing
population did not suffer a sharp decline ... the census of 1890 cannot
be vindicated. To ascertain the facts we must await the tabulation of
the population by periods of life, and ascertain how many of the
inhabitants of the United States of 1890 were under ten year