Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1853-12-09
Educational Statistics.

/
! The National Era complies from the census sta
tisties, number of interesting tables under this
head. We extract from the Era's article, as fol.
lows
Education, it will be observed, is very lin
tied among the foreign population-the pro-
portion Of those who can neither read nor
write, over twenty, being as / to 10 of the
whole number; while that of the native pop
ulation, even including 10000 free colored
people, who are chiefly uneducated, is as l to
"a of the whole number. These people are
properly classed with the natives in these ia
bles, for the State is as responsible for their
ignorance as for the Ignorance Of the whites.
A comparison between the free and slave
States shows, that while the proportion of per-
sons over twenty who can neither read nor
write is as / to 80 Of the entire white 2opu-
lation in the former, it is as one to l to 10
in the latter. But this does not tell the truth
fairly, or indeed halfthe story against Slavery
for the proportion Of four-htths OF The foreign
population with its great mass of ignorance,
hes i'll the free States, and is included in the
comparison Just made. To obtain a clear
view of the ruinous influences of the Slave
System on the cause of Education, we must
compare the native populations of the free
and slave States, over twenty, that can nei-
ther read nor write, and then we find the
proportion i'll the free States as l to 80 Of
the entire native free population, and in the
slave States as l to IL
The most extensively educated population
in New England is that of Vermont; in the
Middle ice States, that of New York; in the
Western free States, that of Wisconsin; in
the slave States, that of Mississippi. The least
extensively educated in New England is that
Of Rhode Island; in the Middle free States,
that of New Jersey; in the Western free States,
that of Indiana; in the slave States, that of
North Carolina. And IN this connection we
may remark, that the Independent Democrat
lc Party has cast smaller proportionatc vote
i'll Rhode Island, New jersey, and Indiana,
than i'll any other free State. 1t will found,
too, that Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, have
had a larger proportionate amount of immi
grants from the slave States, than has been
the case with the other Western free States
Thus, in every way we trace the mischicyous
influences of Slavery on Education, and the
tendency Of Ignorance to check the growth
of Antl-SlNery Sentiment.
These tables should be held up constantly
in the flee Of the South, not with a view to
its humiliation, but to demonstrate the abom-
Unable workings of system which has COW
cred it with Egyptian darkness. 1t is not
too much to assume, that one in every six Of
the white adult population of the South can
neither read nor write Are they deficient
in natural capacity Dothey love Ignorance I!
Nothing Of the sort; but Slavery denies them
the blessing of a common school system-it
makes such a system an impossibihty. The
children Of a wealthy planter may be educa-
ted at the well-endowed academy, at college,
or by the private tutor; but the non-slNe-
holding masses in the slave States cannot at
ford, generally, the necessary expenditure.
They need the common school, but Slavery
requires large plantations, scatters the popu-
latlon, plants slaves where the free laborer
ought to be, and renders impossible that con-
centration Of the masses necessary to sustain
such a school
We have no disposition to glorify the free
States, but we are devoted to Freedom, and
Free Labor Institutions, and can neglect no
opportunity of "magnifying them and max
ing them honorable