What to Do? Thoughts Evoked by the Census of Moscow

An essay contends that a population census is a sociological investigation distinct from natural sciences because it studies living people and aims at improving their welfare. It critiques sterile statistics that record suffering without prompting relief and urges census-takers and the better-off to treat enumeration as a moral occasion, combining measurement with direct aid. The census is framed as a mirror reflecting poverty, vice, and social disorder, and as a rare chance for organized, compassionate intervention to alleviate want and to reconnect affluent and impoverished classes. Practical recommendations emphasize sympathetic conduct by enumerators and institutional responsibility to translate knowledge into assistance.