Population Of U.S. Now 195 Million

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30841, 28 August 1965, Page 15

Population Of U.S. Now 195 Million

(N.Z. Press ASsn. —Copyright) WASHINGTON, August 27. The United States has become a nation of 195 million people, the Associated Press reported. The time was 3 a.m. (N.Z. time) today, Friday, give or take a few minutes, when the “official people counter,” which looks like an oversized

cash register, rolled toward the round figure.

The big machine kept on counting as the Under-Secre-tary of Commerce, Mr Leroy Collins, stood up to speak about the country’s “pride in its people." At that point, the director of the census, Mr Ross Eckler, ordered the counting clock stopped—not because the stork had stopped deliveries, but to accommodate the photographers. Except for the purposes of such ceremonies—the last was on September 27, 1963, to observe passage of the 190 million population mark—the device keeps up its ceaseless recording night and day. A light flashes every 7j seconds to symbolise a birth and every 17i seconds to mark a death.

Other coloured lights blink every 1J minutes to mark the arrival of an immigrant and every 23 minutes to show one’s, departure. The net population gain, says the big computer. Is one person every 12 seconds.