Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-12-10
NATIVE AND FoREIaN IGNORANCE.

Ing the STATISTICS OF niiIefdc9 III tAe " M
ted States in 1880, out of total popula-
ton Of IS, rs, 7S9 native white persons
of ten wears and over, 2,255, 46O, or,S.7
per cent, were unable to write In tue
Southern States, exclusive OF the bor'
ders or semi Northern States of Della
ware, Maryland and Missouri, were
6,27O, 737, or about a quarter OF all the
. native whites at and above that age, but
J of those unable to write considerably
more than half, or l ,42l 1859, were at the
South, where the proportion OF illitera-
cy was &c per cent.
In New Mexico, which is the darkest
region in the Union so far rs education
goes, out of a total of 72,2l9 white ma
tives, &c, 329, or 81. 2per cent, could not
write.
In the rest of the Union besides the
distinctively Southern States and New
Mexico there were 10, 442,SSS native
whites of ten and over, aud of these all
except 7S7, 2G2, or about per cent?
could write.
We see, therefore, that our native
white population at the North contrib
uted very iittle in proportion to the
sum of illiteraey in the Union. The
percentage of those unable to write was
smaller than that in any other country.
Much smaller even than in the Ger
man States, where popular education is
general. At the South, however more
than a fifth of the native whites even
were illiterate; aud because of that la
mentable result of defective public
school system, the proportion OF Hitter
acy among native whites for the whole
country was pushed up to 81 per cent.
The foreign.bOrn population of the
Union OF ten years and over was 6,37+,-
GIL, of whom 763,62O, or II per cent,
were unable to write The distinctive
ly Southern States contained 323, 4O4 of
these foreigners, and the illiterate
among them aggregated 1885, or about
IA per cent. The number in the rest Of
the Union was therefore 6,O5l POI, o.
whom 7l7, 793, or lis per cent, were IL
literate.
These comparative figures show, first,
very forcibly, how little is the inclina-
ton of immigrants for the South; and
secondly, that those who do go there
are either somewhat less instructed
when they arrive than those who settle
at the North, or, more likely, when
they get there have fewer opportunities
to obtain free schooling. The difference
as to illiteracy, however, is so slight as
not to be significant in any respect
worth much consideration. The marked
preference Of the immigrants for the
North is the important thing. Out of
all the foreign born in the South, nearly
a third were in Texas alo1e. The two
States of Kentucky and Louisiana con-
tanned about third more. In the rest
of the South, the border States omitted
Us before, there was total foreign popu-
lation of only los, l6l, or very few
more than the single Northern and
new State of Kansas contained, and
more than twnnt,' ~ --'"'"" A''" '""u
we're found in Connecticut.
1t is surprising to discover that the
largest amount of illiteracy among the
foreign born whites was in England,
Texas and Arizona alone excepted. TIE
percentage of those unable to write was
23.7 in Maine, 26.9 in New Hampshire,
26.6in Vermont, 10 in Massachusetts,,
27.3 in Rhode Island and 1873 in Con-
necticut. In Texas il was 24.7, and in
Arizona 26.S. Vet in New York, where
nearly fifth of the whole number in
the country were, only 1875 per cent. of
the foreigners were unable to write, and
in Illinois, where there were 1924 of
them, the illiterate were merely IL per
cent.
What conclusions must he drawn
from this much greater proportion of il
literaCy in New England" Does that
region draw poorer class of immi-
grants, or does it neglect to bring them
into its schools more than is done in
New Gsrk? Whatever may be the an
swerS to these questions, the fact re-
mains that while in New England the
proportion of illiteracy among the ma
tive whites averages less than elsewhere
in the Union, the proportion among the
foreign born is much greater.
We observe, also, that in the Western
States which have been so rapidly fill
Ell up within the last ten years by I'M
migration, the proportion of illiteracy
among the foreign born population is
smaller than in the older States. In
Illinois the percentage of those unable
to write is only IL per cent; in
Iowa, 81; in Kansas, 6.7; in
Michigan, lO.7; in Minnesota,
1919; in Nebraska, Ga; in Wiscon-
sin, los. Arizona alone makes bad
showing with 26.S per cent, due very
probably, TO Mexicans settlers.
1t will be seen that the proportion of
the foreign-bOrn illiterate in all the
great grain States of the West is below
the average for the whole country,
which is l2 per cent, and much below
that Of New England. And the OBJ
vious inference is that well-instructed
class of immigrants settle in the West
and Northwest. They are chiefly Ger
mans and Scandinsvians, men who
come with money in their pockets to
buy their farms.
Those orators, clerical and others,
however, who are so fond of attributing
all the evils in New York to what they
call ian ignorant foreign population,
the OffScouring of the EARTH" must be
to find that only twelve per
cent. Of the foreign born OF ten years
and over are unable TO write. That is
NlNa