David Bush, age 12, of Houston, Texas, forhis question:

When was the first U.S. census taken?

The first U.S. census was taken in the year 1790 and young America was the first modern nation to arrange for this people counting on a regular basis. Census taking was common in the Roman Empire, but it went out of style after Rome fell. The American Constitution adopted in 1789 says that the people shall be counted every ten years.

Seats in the House of Representatives are based on population. Hence, the result of the census tells how many Congressmen we shall have. There are other factors which help those in government to estimate trends in population. The census taker asks a few questions of each person and, of one person in five, he asks a number of extra questions, Naturally, as good citizens, we do everything we can to help him.