shall be deducted from the fund and added to the regular amount allotted to each university and institute. Faculty of physics and mathematics 100 20 Faculty of higher mathematics and school of application for civil engineers. Faculty of philosophy and literature. Courses for the "laurea" in chemistry and pharmacy. Courses for license in chemistry.. Courses for solicitors and notary public. Courses for veterinary medicine Courses for agricultural science Courses for gynecology Higher normal schools for women students.. For license to teach in all the female schools of the Kingdom and in the higher normal schools for women 100 10 60 20 Fee for admission to competitive examinations for ordinary professors Fee for private teaching... III. CHAPTER XVIII. ILLITERACY OF THE VOTING POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES. PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF CHARLES W. DABNEY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, FOR THE SOUTHERN EDUCATION BOARD. The census shows that in June, 1900, there were in the United States 2,326,000 men of voting age, 21 years and upward, who were unable to read and write. This was nearly 11 per cent of the total number, which was 21,330,000. In a country whose government is determined by popular suffrage, these figures can hardly be regarded with satisfaction. The voter ought to be intelligent. He should have some understanding of the Government whose policy he is to shape, and of the men whom he is to assist in elevating to office. Who will argue that the man who has never read a line of American history or familiarized himself with any great question of statesmanship, or even spelled out the headlines of a newspaper, is competent to cast a ballot? Yet one ballot in every ten is probably cast by such a voter. At the last Presidential election the total vote was 13,961,566, and the plurality of the successful candidate, 849,790. Suppose in such a case that the ignorant voters should all be on one side; or suppose that the 2,000,000 men of this class should come under the control of unscrupulous leaders who should use them for unworthy purposes. What would become of the stability of the Republic? Who are these illiterates and where are they? Many are of the negro race, 977,000; but more are white, 1,254,000. In 1870 the greater number were negroes, 838,000 to 748,000 white, an excess of 90,000. Thirty years have changed this and now the white illiterates outnumber the negro by 277,000. Of the white illiterates a large proportion are foreign born, 565,000, but the number of native born is 688,000, or 113,000 more than the foreign-born illiterates. It appears also that the per cent of illiterates among the native-born sons of native parents is nearly three times as great as among the native born of foreign parents. With the former it is 5.8 per cent, with the latter 2 per cent, indicating that our schools are accomplishing their purpose better for the children of immigrants than for our own American families. Two sources of danger are often spoken of as threatening our national life—one from the negroes, the other from foreign immigration. But these two are not all. Wherever there is incapacity for the duties of citizenship there is danger, and the illiteracy of 688,000 native-born white Americans of voting age is no more to be disregarded than that of immigrants and negroes. The tables given at the end of this chapter are designed to show how the people of different races are distributed throughout the country and what are the conditions of illiteracy among them in the several States and Territories. Table I presents five different race elements of the population in separate columns-1, total white; 2, native white of native parents; 3, white of foreign parents, which includes the native white of foreign parents and the foreign born; 4, negroes; 5. Indians. In each column the State having the smallest per cent of the specified race element stands first, and the other States are arranged in order beneath, with the one having the greatest per cent at the bottom. Thus in column 1, Mississippi stands first, having the smallest per cent of white population, 41.3 per cent of the whole, and New Hampshire is last in the list, having the greatest per cent, 99.8 per cent of the whole. A study of this table will enable one to see how different are the constituent elements of the population in different States and Territories. In a few the white element is hardly half and the negro element is correspondingly large. In many others the negro element is so small as to be hardly appreciable and the whites constitute almost the whole. So also with reference to the relative proportions of the native and foreign white elements, the latter including the native white of foreign parents. In a number of the Southern States the foreign element is insignificant, the white population being almost entirely native American, while in other States, especially in the North and West, this element is large and sometimes preponderant. In Minnesota and Wisconsin it is nearly three-fourths of the population, while in North Dakota it is even more than this. The Indian element is small, except in Alaska and Arizona. Mention should be made perhaps of the oriental element from China and Japan, which attracts considerable attention on the Pacific coast; but this is relatively very small and is not treated separately in the Census Bulletins. Table II shows the proportion of men of voting age who are unable to read and write, by States and Territories. The arrangement is in five columns, giving the per cent of the illiterate-1, in the aggregate number of men of voting age of every race; 2, among the native white of native parents; 3, among the white of foreign parents; 4, among negroes; 5, among Indians. The States having the smallest per cent are first, as in Table I, and the other States are arranged in order beneath, with those having the greatest per cent last. It will be seen that the illiteracy among the Indians greatly exceeds that among the negroes, and that it varies from 1.3 per cent in Pennsylvania to 91.7 per cent in New Mexico. The variation is also marked among the negroes, though not to the same extent. It seems to be generally true that where there are few they are the most intelligent, and where they are numerous the illiteracy is greatest. Hence the comparatively small per cent in Alaska, Utah, and Minnesota, and the large per cent in the Gulf States. In the column of aggregates, 1, the region of the Northwest is seen to have fewer illiterates in proportion to population than any other part of the country. Nebraska and Iowa have less than 3 per cent, while the older States of the East, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, have 6, 7, 8, and 9 per cent. The proportion is much the greatest in the South, due in no small degree to the large number of negroes. In columns 2 and 3 the illiteracy of the white population is shown in the two separate elements, those of native parents and those of foreign parents. The former, column 2, is especially significant, as relates to the South, for only in the Southern States do we find a large proportion of illiterates among the native white people of native parents. This will be considered more in detail when we come to Table V. Column 3 is especially significant for the North and West, as dealing with the foreign element. A glance will be sufficient to convince one that the foreign element is very different in different parts of the country. In the Northwest the per cent of illiterates is smallest, in the more densely populated States of the East, with their numerous manufactories, it is considerably greater, while the greatest per cent appears in regions as widely separated as Maine, New Hampshire, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Hawaii. Under such circumstances the foreign illiteracy of any particular State or Territory ought to be considered by itself. Table III presents a further analysis, with fuller details of the conditions of illiteracy in the white population of voting age. Three elements are given in three separate groups, viz, native white of native parents, native white of foreign parents, and foreign white. In each case the total number of men of voting age is given, with the number of illiterates, and the per cent of the latter to the former. In this latter table, and in others which follow, States and Territories are arranged by groups as the North Atlantic division, the South Atlantic, the South Central, the North Central, and the Western. Alaska and Hawaii are omitted. It will be interesting to notice first the figures for the United States as a whole, next, those for each division, and, finally, the figures for separate States. The United States has 10,569,743 white men of voting age of native parentage. Of these 2,760,103 are in the North Atlantic division, 1,466,826 in the South Atlantic, 2.055,858 in the South Central, 3,656,293 in the North Central, and 630,663 in the Western. The number of these who can not read and write is, for the whole country 618,606 or 5.9 per cent, for the North Atlantic division 57,767 or 2.1 per cent, for the South Atlantic 178,564 or 12.2 per cent, for the South Central 237,239 or 11.5 per cent, for the North Central 127,480 or 3.5 per cent, and for the Western 17,556 or 2.8 per cent. If now the two Southern divisions are combined, it will be found that they contain together 3,522,684 men of voting age of the class named, or about one-third of the whole, and 415,803 who can not read and write, which is nearly two thirds of the illiteracy of the whole country. In other words, it will be found that the per cent of such illiterates in the North and West is 2.9, and in the South 11.8, four times as great in the South as in the rest of the country. The other two columns of this table, however, tell a different story. The foreign element is small in the South and the problem of foreign illiteracy belongs especially to the North and West. Nevertheless, it will be seen farther on that the question of handling our immigrant population has a direct connection with the other question of just treatment for the people of native parentage. Column 2 shows the number of native white of foreign parentage in the United States to be 3.444,684, of whom 68,975 are unable to read and write. If we combine the two Southern divisions, it appears that the South has 281,170 of this class, of whom 12,501 are illiterate. Again, column 3 shows the number of foreign white in the United States to be 4,904,270, of whom 562,316 are unable to read and write. Of these the two Southern divisions together contain 282,559 with 45,334 illiterate. Compare this showing with that of some single States in the North. Massachusetts has 343,522 of this foreign clement and 47,436 illiterate, more in each particular than the whole 18 States of the two Southern divisions. New York has 829,474 with 100,776 illiterate, more than twice as many in each particular as these 18 States. New York City alone contains 539,746 with 61,086 illiterate. Now compare the three classes of males of voting age and observe one fact: The per cent of illiterates among the foreign born is large, but among the native born of foreign parents it is much smaller than among those of native parents. This is so in the figures for the United States as a whole and for every one of the divisions. For the whole country the per cent of illiterates among the native born of native parents is 5.85, while among the native born of foreign parents it is only 2.0. In the two southern divisions together the percentages are 11.8 and 4.4, and in the aggregate, North and West, 2.9 and 1.8. This seems to indicate that the nation is doing more for the education of the children of immigrants than for those of its own people. |