The Irish standard., 1898-08-13
A REPLY TO THE CHRONICLE.


A REPLY TO THE CHRONICLE.
Our amiable, anti-Spanish contempo-
rary. the Northwestern Chronicle, is in
high glee over some imaginary victory
won against the Western Waterman.
the Boston Republic and the Irish Stand
ard In the matter Of Spanish illiteracy.
A few weeks ago the Chronicle sagely
observed: An axiom has grown into
the language of all nations. 1t is that
knowledge is power Spain has SO per
cent OF her population absolutely illit-
crate Only one other country OF Europe
rivals her in that bad cmlnencc, and
that is Italy"
Such a statement as that by Catholic
paper Was sure to provoke criticism.
The Waterman quoted from Mulhalrs
dictionary of Statistics for 1892 CIV
ing the average attendance for every
1000 inhabitants in various countries as
folows United States, 100; United
Kingdom, 1913; France. 10; Germany,
llO; Belgium, 1856; Austria, 1870: Spain,
LOG. The Republic expressed surprise at
the Chronicle for giving currency to the
protestant calumny that GS per cent Of
the people of Spain are illiterate, and
the Irish Standard politely asked it for
its authority, without questioning the
accuracy of its figures. Instead of grace
fully giving the information desired, the
Chronicle gets into tantrum and peev-
ishly says:
Now. to see the easy satisfaction our
contemporaries take in non seuuitur
statements, is something to make us
grleve. They seem to he such ready
gudgeCns for any bait that is thrown out
to them that one despairs of their con-
version. But. without argument, without
putting forth any opinion OF our own,
we will at once show the dishonesty and
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES of the quotation made
by the Western Watchman which has
been so eagerly swallowed by some of
our friends. On the very same page of
Mllhall. in the very next and adjoining
table to that which the Western Watch
man quotes, the following is found:
Percentage of adults able to write in
Spain. 2S, leaving " per cent illitarate.'
These are the figures of the census OF
1889. When we said that 6S per cent of
Spain's population was illiterate, did we
lie: Our contemporaries have appealed
to Mllhall. Let them stand or fall by
their own Witness
| Why 1noc
such irascible temper" Did we le?"
shricks the Chronicle. Well, you did
not give your authority for saying that
Spain has GS per cent of her population
absolutely lllitcrate,' but YOU give Null
hall for - per cent. and then cxclaim:
They have appealed to Mulhall; let
them stand or fall by their own Witness"
AS the Chronicle quotes the same au-
thorlty. 1t must stand Or fall With them.
| The figures given by the Waterman
and Republic were correc, at the time.
nearly ten years ago. but the Chroni-
cle,s Us per cent was not right then or
now. Where did it get it? lad the
Chronicle examined Mulnalls statistics
carefully, it would have learned that
Spain. in common with the other coun-
tries enumerated, has been making
rapid strides in education aud has not
been retrogradng or standing still While
the other countries have been advancing.
1t has doubled its percentage of ed,,-
Gated folk in the past fifty years, How
is 1t today? The Spanish official returns
Will answer. Out of a population round
ly set down at 1S,000.U00 the total num-
Der OF persons unable to read or write is
estimated at G,l94.47O, Of whom 3.4l7,S55
are men. The schools of the country are
attended by l,72S+7O pupils of both
sexes. for whose instruction there are
1852 teachers, 2i,624 of whom are men.
Comparing the degree of iliteracy With
the opportunities offered by such large
corps OF instructors, the fact argues that
the country should show higher degree
OF education. but it is twice a better
showing than the Chronicle is willing to
give it. Instead of u per cent being il
iterlte at this time. there is less than S5.
Our contemporary appealed to Mulhal,
'''i' Nv ~ Lutl ny NiNtIlldIl until lne next
edition Of his statistical compilation is
published.
We will say nothing OF Spain's univer-
stiles. in which higher education is i'm
parted. Sufficient to say that it has as
many higher institutions of learning as
Great Britain and ireland combined.
with twice the number of students at
tending them. though the population is
about onc-half that of the United King
dom.
The Chronicle seems to think tina, H.
literacy is synonymous with ignorance
but such is not the case. Reading and
writing are very good as far as they co.
but they are not the only means of cult
waiting the intelligence, of purifying and
exating the moral character, or of re-