The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-02-06

Again, we lind, according to the status
| les of the Bureau of Education in Tho
/ Interior Department, that there has beer
a steady decrease in the proportion o.
pupils to population in the North Atlantic
States for fully twenty years. This ma,
seem a surprising statement, hut the
official figures show that this ratio, which
was % per cent in 1870, had fallen to ahou,
20 per cent in 1880 and thence to only "
little more than Is per cent to-day. In
what is sometimes called the North Cen
trail Division of States the same decline
is found, the ratio of "a % in 1870. com
ing down to % ) ten years later, and tc
y +t-5 at the last reckoning.
Not less remarkable and suggestive is
the compensation for this decline III the
growth Of public school education at the
South. There we find that the ratio OF
pupils to population, which was 6.3 III
$50. had become 1874 in 1850 and ISL ten
years attcrward; or, in other words, the
ratio had trcblcd in twenty years. The
South Central States show nearly the
same gains, a ratio of 10 in 1870, in
creasing to l5.i in 1850, and to III last
! year.
1t will therefore be seen that the great
rcaltive gain in the South was from l01O
to 1850. That was the period when the
building up of the schools there, pariicu-
larly OF the colorcd schools, was going on.
The more than doubling of the ratio be-
tween pupils and population became COM
paratiyely easy. when the basis started
from was so low. During the succeeding
decade, even with vigorous absolute
growth in the schools, the relative gain
vas less apparent because so different a
basis had been reached in 1850. The
coming decade, for the same reason cam
not show anything like the relative results
already secured at the South, especially
between 1870 and 1880 and, indeed, what
may he called the normal proportion OF
pupils TO population has already been
almost reached there.
What this proportion is may be judged
from taking the United States as Il whole,
and observing that the percentage OF en-
rolled pupils to total population is W.
As has already been seen, the South At
lantic States have reached percentage
of ISL, ana the South Central of III.
Thus their probable gains in ratio for the
next ten years are quite limited. hat
is very striking, also, is that the South
Atlantic States today exceed the North
Atlantic in the ratio of population en-
rolled in the public schools, the difference
being us 1871 to 1873. Comparing this
with the figures OF 1870 which were 6.3
against - the great change will be bet
ter appreciated But at the South there
is an excess of children Of school age
compared with the usual proportion OF
such children to the total population.
The Atlantic and Central States having
been spoken of, the Western only remain
to be considered There WAS growth
there in the ratio of pupils to the popula-
ton from 1875 in 1910 to lG.3 in 1850 But
then change occurred. There was no
actual rctrograde i'll ratio during the de-
cadc following, but an advance only from
G.3 to l6.5, although this latter WAS still
far below The average. Taking all the
States together. the growth in the South
was so enormous from 1910 TO leSO as to
carr the ratio Of pupils to population III
the United States as a whole from us to
1911. But it is most singular result that
exactly the same ratio, 1871. was found in
the reckoning for last year. In other
words, the STATIONARY ratio Of the Western
States and the exact offset OF the North
crn decrease and Southern increase has
left the ratio OF the whole country unds-
turhed for ten years. We may, therefore,
assume that one in FIVE is the normal pro-
portion OF public school enrolment.
1t is admitted that some slight changes
may be made in these figures with more
complete and revised returns: but typi-
cal bulletin compiled il few days ago from
the late census substantiates the general
results already dcdnccd. In al extreme
Southern State, Louisiana, the gain OF
pupils to population from 1850 to 1880
was 2SS per cent; in All extreme Northern
State, New Hampshire, the loss was lo.9
per cent; in Il Northwestern State, Wis
consn. the loss was 81 per cent. Yet tn
absolute percentage to population wac
higher in New Hampshire than i'll Louiss
lana, being lJ.S7 against ll.ll, while in
Wisconsin it was 1913. In general, the
highest existing ratio OF pupils to popua-
ton is among the North Central States
and the lowest among the Western.
Why is it that these strange changes
particularly at the North, have occurred
during the twenty years? The first thought
might be that they were largely due to
immi gration, especially Of people whose
children are put to work AT as early an age
as possible. But the statistics of the Bn-
reau of Education Indicate that the two
main causes are different The first i
the great increase of private and paro-
chal schools, which steadily draw upon
those who twenty or thirty years a%o
| would have been brought up in public
schools. The second reason, i'll the opln-
ion of the Commissioner, is that education
now begins at Il later aye than it used to-
1t is found that in some States which have
been famous for their public schools yeal
after wear ever since 1880 the number OF
children under five wears of age has been
steadily falling Off Parcuts are less anx-
ious to begin public education of THEN
children in infancy: or perhaps the rcgu-
laiions have been so altered that the pub
lie schools can be used less than OF old
for the purpose Of keeping very Young
children out OF harms way, while kinder
gartens and day nurseries have multi
piled.
SAD AND IMPRESSIVE.
The sObsequies Over the Remains of the
| Mr.. Window