EDITORIAL: Countdown to the count (03/23/97)

EDITORIAL

Countdown to the count

Preparations are now being made for the U.S. Census of the year 2000. As the long form of the Census, sent to one out of every six households, costs an additional $300 million, there is some concern that it could be eliminated due to budgetary concerns. It is the long form that includes ancestry questions - the only source of accurate information about the ethnic make-up of this country.

As noted by supporters of the ancestry questions, the information collected is used by myriad government bodies and organizations, among them municipal, county and state agencies, providers of educational and other services, federal programs, politicians and political leaders, ethnic communities, researchers and the business world. In conjunction with other Census questions, the ancestry questions provide useful information, not only on ethnic composition, but on patterns of assimilation, mobility and achievement.

By April 1 the U.S. Census Bureau must submit to Congress the subject matters it intends to include on the 2000 Census. At this point, the Census Bureau says it intends to retain the questions regarding ancestry on the long form, but between now and April 1998, when the Census 2000 questions are finalized, there can be changes. Some members of Congress have suggested eliminating the long form of the Census, while others have suggested reducing the number of questions it contains.

An organization called the Working Group on Ancestry in the U.S. Census - an ad hoc coalition of more than 80 ethnic leaders - is focusing its efforts on preserving the ancestry questions. Their efforts are supported by Rep. Constance Morella and Sen. Robert Torricelli, who have introduced a concurrent resolution in both houses of Congress.

Rep. Morella commented: "The ancestry question provides important insights into who we are as a people, how we build our communities and neighborhoods, and how we change demographically. This kind of information will help us move toward a society that is more inclusive and that best serves the diverse needs of our American family." Sen. Torricelli added: "It seems to me tragically shortsighted to deny our government and citizens, here in this nation of immigrants, basic information regarding the ethnic make-up of the United States."

Their concurrent resolution states: "... the Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the information requested in the 2000 decennial census of the population with respect to ancestry shall at least be as comprehensive as was requested in the 1990 decennial census." The 1990 Census, it should be recalled, contained two questions dealing with ancestry. The first asked: "In what U.S. state or foreign country was this person born?"; the second: "What is this person's ancestry or ethnic origin?" That Census told us there were 742,000 Ukrainians in the U.S.

[For background, we hasten to add that the 1980 Census - the first to cover the specific issue of ancestry - had three questions related to that topic: birthplace, language other than English spoken at home and the respondent's ancestry. It was that Census which told us for the first time with any accuracy that there were at least 730,000 persons in the U.S. who had identified themselves as Ukrainians. Prior to that, as a result of a question on the 1970 census - "What language, other than English, was spoken in this person's home when he was a child?" - we had known only that 249,000 persons had listed Ukrainian as their mother tongue. If Ukrainian was not spoken in the home, these persons were not identified as Ukrainians.]

With each decennial Census we have learned valuable data about our country and its residents. The 2000 Census, which marks the beginning of a new millennium, should continue that trend and provide the information needed to take the United States into the future.

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