Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1905 — ILLITERACY DYING OUT. [ARTICLE]

ILLITERACY DYING OUT.

Comparisons with Foreign Nations Show Favorably. According to a bulletin issued by the census bureau about 100 persons out of 1,000 iu the United States over 10 years old are unable to write, which is equivalent to about one in ten. Of the native white population only 40 out of every 1,000 or fewer than one in twenty, of the foreign born whites, 128 out of every 1,000, and of the negroes 445 out of every 1,000 are illiterate. International comparisons, restricted as far as possible to corresponding classes of the population, are on the whole, favorable to this country, indicating that iu most European countries illiteracy is much more prevalent than it is here, although the United States is still far behind Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland. There also is ground for satisfaction in the statistical evidence that illiteracy is being reduced steadily. In 1890 the number of illiterates in every NOOO was 133 for the total population, 62 for the native white population, 130 for the foreign-born white and 508 for negroes, Indians and Mongolians. The women are shown to be more Illiterate than the men, tho illiteracy for women being 112 in each 1,000 and for men 101. But the contrast is less marked than it was in 1890, when the illiteracy for the two sexes was 144 and 123, respectively. In explanation of the fact that the girls have caught up with the boys, it is suggested that boys are less subject to parental control than girls and more prone to play truant; and that they also are more frequently required to contribute to the family income by becoming wage earners when they should be in school. In the country the Illiteracy among children Is 89 in each 1,000; In the city, using this term to designate collectively cities of over 25,000 inli/ibitants, It is only 10 In each 1,000. The contrast is least in the North Atlantic States. In this section child illiteracy in the city is 8 to a 1,000; and In the country 5 to a 1,000. In the South tho difference Is very marked; in the South Atlantic division, 32 nnd 193 for city and country respectively, and in the South Central 45 nnd 181 a 1,000. Illiteracy Is in general greater in the, South than the North for all classes of the population. Perhaps the fairest basis of comparison between the Iwo sections is that for native white children living in cities of over 25,000 inhabitants. In the North Atlantic division the illiteracy for this class of children Is 2.1, nnd in the North Central, 1.9; In the South Atlantic division It is 8.3, and in the South Central, 13.7. There are fewer Illiterates among 'the children of foreign-bom parents than among those of natives, owing, it Is said, to the fact that a greater portion of them live in cities. J. W. Belcher, the missing government printing office employe and treasurer of one of the money lending concerns in the office at Washington, D. C., is supposed to haTe committed suicids by drowning in the Potomac river. Ha was. a brother of the misting Mayor of Paterson, N. J.