Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-11-17
STATISTICAL TABLE S
Some That Have Been Presented Analysed
and Others Set Forth.
The Question of uiitcracy i'm the
Voting Population I'm Several
States Discussed.

To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
A recent communication In The Evening
Star shows, statistically, that most Of the
population, wealth and intelligence OF the
country are concentrated in the twenty-five
states which were carried by the republican
candidate for the presidency. The figures,
as presented, make a very strong showing
in support of the writer's contention, and
they are quite likely to mislead the
thoughtless reader. AS a matter of fact
the statement is rotten to the core, as a
simple analysis will show.
The article under consideration states
that nearly two-thirds of the population
are tsic) in the states that repudiated free
silver Our object being to get at the
truth, this is cheerfuliy conceded 10 be cor
rect, and ii contains about all the truth 10
be found in the article.
AS to the preponderance of wealth i'm the
east, that point may toe dismissed with lhe
simple remark that there many very
able economists who would contend that
the west has been for a generation the
prey of the east, through the unjus, opera
tons OF vicious tariff legislation, whereby
the profits OF production have been trans
ferred from the pockets of the producers TO
the Golfers of the bcneficiaries of a high
protective tariff.
The particular point TO which | take ey-
ceptlon is the assumption that because a
much greater percentage of iiiiteracy exists
in the states which declared for the free.
coinage of silver than in the states which
were carried by the republicans. the refore a
like proportion of illiteracy prevails among
the supporters OF the democratic candidate.
The writer of the article in The Evening
Star, Tor the purpose of making his point
against the Bryan states as strong as hos
slble, has Included In his tables the colored
population, and by this means shows thai
= per cent of the total population OF the
twenty Bryan states is iliierate, while only
10 per cent of the total population of the
a. X = "a lie .,.1... "a
1his is manifestly unfair TO the southern
states, and particularly unjust 10 the west
ern states which east their votes for BRYAN
as II subjects them TO the oneraiion of The
general average of illiteracy for the entire
group OF Bryan states. An equitable meth
cd, and one which would put all sections of
the country on an equal footing. would be
to eliminate the colored population and
consider the white population ONLY Doing
this, we find that the illiterates in the
twenty Bryan states constitute IL per cent
OF me population, while the illiterates i'm
the twenty-five Mckinley states are Il u,r
cent OF the population. We thus get III per
cent as the measure of iliteracy in The
bryan states, instead of - per cent, as
Shown in the statement referred to- If the
writer OF the article in question in the in
terest of statistical integrity, insists upon
using this IL per cent of illiteracy which I
nave eliminated from the Bryan states by
ignoring the co.ored population, ne ought 10
charge IL against the supporters of the re-
publican candidate for The presidency,
where it properly belongs He would then
ma mat the percentages of iiliteracy in
tiie Two groups OF states under considera-
uon would 1uSt about equal each other
NOW, TO show how easy IL Is to construct
s'atistcal tables 10 bolster up ones the
cr.es, L shall make some simple compari-
sons myself L spent ten or twelve wears
OF my boyhood anG early manhood west of
the Rocky mountains, residing n year or
more, III turn, in several of the sn-ca He'd
silver states and territories. and during
my residence among the~inha bitants of that
region L became thoroughly convinced rha,
they are, In all that goes to make good
American citizens, the peers of their breth-
rem in the east. They are in very large
more intelligent and enterprising members
o1 Well-to-do families-who went west TO
grow up with the country, while their Icss
energetic brothers remained at home with
the Old folks. percharce to inherit the
bulk of the family estates and thus in
crease the per capita wealth. To say thai
they are lacking in education and moral
qualities is to charge that their parents in
the east failed in their duty to equip them
properly for the struggle of life For tn.
purpose of testing my theory. / have taken
from the population tables of the eleven h
census the figures for five typical western
states-statos in which the silver propaga.l-
dists have been most active. and which
must lie recognized 10y all as fairly repre-
sentative of conditions in the far west
These states and the percentages Of Hitter
acy in their white population are as fol-
lows: