On this date in 1910, the Devils Lake Inter-Ocean wanted to make sure that all North Dakotans were counted in the census. There was a great deal riding on it. A sufficient increase in the population would mean North Dakota would get an additional seat in Congress. That would raise the number of representatives in the House from two to three.
Even though the date of the census had passed, the newspaper urged citizens to contact the census enumerator if there was a chance they were missed. There was still time to make a correction and be sure that every North Dakotan was accounted for.
Congress introduced legislation providing for the 1910 census in 1907, but it was held up until 1909. There was a conflict between President Teddy Roosevelt and Congress over how to hire enumerators to oversee the process. Roosevelt said they should be hired through the Civil Service system. Congress insisted they should be patronage positions, as was traditional. To no one’s surprise, Roosevelt won the argument.
There were some changes for 1910. “Census Day” was changed from June 1 to April 15. The Census Bureau was afraid that too many city dwellers would be away on vacation in June. The legislation also authorized funds for a permanent Census Bureau. New positions included an assistant director, a geographer, and a chief statistician.
The 1910 census faced significant challenges. Automatic equipment to tabulate the results actually slowed the process. Eventually bulletins were released with information that was still incomplete. Some results, such as the population of cities, were put out in brief press releases. It was a year before the final results were published.
The results of the census did, indeed, show a population increase for North Dakota. The population in 1900 was just under 320,000. In 1910 the population had increased to more than 577,000.
As hoped, the increase was enough to gain a third seat in Congress. But, in 1930, the state lost a representative. And in 1970 it lost another. Today the state continues to have just one lone representative.
Dakota Datebook written by Carole Butcher.
Sources:
Devils Lake Inter-Ocean. “Are You Counted.” 29 April 1910. Devils Lake ND. Page 1.
Devils Lake Inter-Ocean. “Gain New Seat in Congress.” 29 April 1910. Devils Lake ND. Page 1.
North Dakota State University. “North Dakota Historical Population.” https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~sainieid/north-dakota-historical-population.html Accessed 3/26/2019.
United States Census Bureau. “1910 Overview.” https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/overview/1910.html Accessed 3/26/2019.
