New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-01-16
Our National! Danger.
Ignorance Ina the tntttd states.

ana may hold Office, rive testimony in courts
ana SIT on juyics. AccorIin. Ia the census.
therc are in the several States. - 1 ,9GI to-
,aHy iihterate male adults. Ii We follow
, MT Mann : rule of adding onc-hali ui those
VINO report themselves able to read, but not
sufficiently to enable To understand common
En:'l>il, We have l,o73,2il practically Hit
crate.
The relation of the adult illitcracv in the
country to the civil affairs OF the several
States and of the United states. The whole
number Of male adults in all the state. cam
not yet be precisely given, but enough is
known OF the proportion borne by the Hit
crate to the whole number of voters To be
profoundly suggestive TO those who believe
that the intelligence and virtue of the Ico.
pie constitute the only security for the nor
manence of our institutions and the prosncr-
ity of the nation. twill be reColeCted that
300. 900 is large majority in any election Of
President. The determination of the cleo
ton thus far is practically i'll the control of
less than SOC, goo votes. But this is less
than one-siXth of the voters in the country
who are ilhterate. How often we are told
that brain power or Intelligence directs the
multitude. n mass OF ignorance is always
a temptation Ia the designing and evil. They
appeal to the passions and the prcjudiccs Of
/ the ignorant. The more intelligent and viz
]
/ Themselves and the less are they subject To
| leadership.
Had We the total voting male population,
as we shall have when the census is com
| pletc, it would enable us tn inquire how large
4 share of the House of Representatives
would be subject to an election by nom
| reading constitUcncy-what share of the
State officers would be subject to control.
! But the computations of the census already
| np a lp FOL g., -, ~
States. and we will do it by obtaining the
| illiterate voting males to the whole number
| OF votes in these States as the means we will
use.
In Alabama this is - per cent. Therefore
they have the power, by voting together, to
elect more than half the Legislature of their
State, and over half the members of Con-
oress, and constitute over one-half of any
jury or member of the Legislature ormcmber
OF Congress. the percentage of the entire
State be held good.
And the same is true in Mississippi, where
) per cent. of the voters are illiteratc, and
in Georgia and in Florida. In Kentucky %
per cent. are iiliterate; Maryland ~, and
Delaware 2i. In these States the llitpratcs
are one fifth and more of the voting power
jury power, and witness power. Should these
ignorant voters in these cases determine IL
elect only persons as ignorant as themselves
! as legislators, Jurors, Governors of State, or
members al Congress what evils could not be
con ecturcd rs possible? Verify we have
| reason as Americans to be thankful that we
have passed so far these possible evils, while
so few of them have become actual; but we
| should improve the years of their delay or abb
sence to make ourselves as a people, in every
section of the country, absolutely secure
against them by making intelligence and vir-
| tue universal.
THE RELATION OF TIE ADULT MALE IL
| LITEItACY IN THE COUNTRY TO TIE PRO-
| DUCTION or WEALTH IN THE SEVERAL
| STATES.
| Before proceeding with these inlercnccs we
need not recall a most extensive inquiry
which we made in the United States Bureau
of Education into the opinions of the three
| classes of persons scattered over The country
VIZ: working people, employers, and obscry-
ers, lii regard to the relation of education to
industry. We found them all agrccin" that
on the average the ability to read and write
adds one quarter to the productivcncss of the
| rudest manual labOr-that is, man who
| cannot read and write would earn 81 per ,lay
at the rudcst manual labor, adding the ability
| to read and write would, on the average. en-
able him to do or earn one-fourth more, or
Sl.2j. If thus the ,.,5i, 93l adult males, re-
! gardcd by the census us lliteratc, should add
! to their intelligence only sufficient to read
and write, they would, according to these
opinions, add annually to the productions OF
the country 3llG,G ,42j, or nearly twice Il,
much as is paid out annually for all the pub
| lie school instruction in the United States /:
| or in Alabama, 81, 1873, $50, or nearly sixteen
times what is now paid for education in that
State; or in Arkansas, g., 100 ,92j, or more
than four times what is paid out for educa-
ton; or in Florida, 81 ,j43, 900, or more than
forty times what is now paid for education
and nearly Goth part of the present total
wealth of the state or in Connecticut, s7l2,-
30, or little more than one-half of the pres
ent expenditure for education; or in Della
ware, $5i2 ,32j, or nearly five times what is
now expended for education on in Massa-
chusctts, g., $50 800, or about two-tlirds OF
the present expenditure for education or in
New Hampshire, 1858, 92j, or more than
three-tOurths Of what is now expended for
education.
Consider that the same opinions with regard
to the relation of education to industry,
agreed that an advance beyond reading and
writing, which gave man intelligence to do
business by himself with facility, or to super
wise the business Of others, added from 6 to
- per ccnt.-say, for convenience, - per
cent.-and for the country il would add to
the product of the iliterate adult males
$3ll ,2SG 200, or nearly live times the total
, amount expended for education in the entire
. country.
We do not enter upon the consideration o
the relation Of education to the increase o
;; invention among people. The more gen
. eral the intelligence OF the people - sule
other things being equal, the greater viii be
the number Of inventions, the more improve
ments will be made in machinery, in the va
riOus arts Of living. in the means of shelter
in wearing apparel, i'll food, in the instru-
ments Of industry, in the kitchen, in the shop
in the farm, and in the facilities Of trlnspOr.
. ia ion These results Of the increase Of in.
2 tcliigence at the present time are beyond Oui
present means OF computation.
The numerous and very valuable private
I efforts to bring to bear statistic Tor the
r quickening Of different interest. IN the coHn.
: try, especially those of eIucati"n ii is mo-
: NV purpose here 10 describe. | can onl,
; notice, further, the efforts made in the va
i riOus schools and Office OF committees, d.
q rectors, superintendent Of cities, counties
K States, and in the United States Bureau o
: Education, 10 work these problems.
7 Great and effective a. the summary Of ia.
}, experience OF the country a. presented IN ih'
: census once in ten years may be. il was iel
n BY educators not u be sufficient The
a work must be done every wear: il must hay,