The census of 1850, while asking all the questions of the census of 1840 as to colleges, academies, and schools, went still further, and made inquiry as to the character, rank, or kind of schools; number of teachers; amount annually realized from endowment; amount raised by taxation; amount received from public funds, and the amount received from all other sources. The schedule under which these inquiries were made was designated "social statistics," and on it were borne questions relating to the name and kind of annual taxes; the amount and how paid; the valuation of estates, real and personal; whether crops were short, and to what extent, and the usual average crop. The same schedule also made inquiry as to the number of libraries in the country and the kind and number of volumes contained in each library; the name, character, frequency of publication, and circulation of all newspapers and periodicals. An attempt was made also to secure the number of churches of each denomination and of all denominations, the number which each church would accommodate, and the value of church property.
The industrial schedules of 1850 related to the productions of agriculture, and they covered most important elements, such as the number of acres of land in each farm, the cash value of the farm, the value of farm implements and machinery, the value of live stock and of each particular product of any importance. The schedule relating to the products of mechanical industry resulted in giving the capital invested, in real and personal estate, in the business under consideration; the quantity, kind, and value of raw material used; the kind of motive power, machinery, structure, or resource; the average number of hands employed; the wages paid, and the quantity, kind, and value of the product.
This brief description of the census of 1850 shows the wonderful expansion and growth of our census system. The germ contained in the constitution, watered by the work of Alexander Hamilton, constantly fertilized by the memorials of scientific societies, cultivated and encouraged in its growth by all the
