mation for scientific study is well illustrated by this account of the decennial censuses. Without further contributions the government has established its claim as the chief promoter of the study of social science. It has not been content, however, to rest on the census. It has established other and various avenues for investigation. The census illustrates only one form of inquiry, that of enumeration. The census takes cognizance, as a rule, of those things which can be counted and summarized into aggregations. It does not seek to make investigation relative to conditions not ascertainable in this manner, nor does it seek to furnish the results of constant actions, or a record of the business transactions of any governmental office. It counts the people, and while counting them it ascertains all the characteristics as to age, sex, conjugal condition, nativity, occupation, and physical and mental conditions. For this purpose it has expanded the population schedules from six inquiries made at the first census to twenty-six made at the last. It counts the number of manufactories of all kinds and grades; it aggregates the capital employed in all industries, and, in fact, enumerates, by counting, the instrumentalities by which the various enterprises of the country are carried on; but it is emphatically a system of counting, and the census gives the results of the count. It is an account of stock in the true sense.
treasury department.
Closely allied to this method of ascertaining facts is another illustrated by the operations of the Treasury Department. This department has the execution of laws relating to commerce and the finances. Its transactions therefore become important, and the results are most valuable contributions to social science. Through this department we learn the course of immigration; the character, quantity and value of imports and exports; the financial condition of the country; all facts relative to the currency, including the operation of the mints, the condition of coinage, and the value of foreign coins in American money; the revenues and expenditures of the government; how the revenues
