The Census of Governments : 1942 is the tenth decennial canvass of all governmental units in the Nation from which information on governmental finances and activities has been compiled and published. Prior to 1850, data on State and local government finances were collected on a State-wide basis by some States for more or less purely administrative purposes - as, for example data on assessed valuation or data on education. Statistics on governmental subjects, collected in the 1850 and succeeding decennial censuses, however, were intended as part of a general survey of the economic and sociological situation, which would make possible public financial comparisons on an interstate basis, rather than for the immediate use of any branch of the Federal administration (at least until the Federal aid programs for State and local government began to develop shortly before and during World War I).