The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-08-18
NEBRASKA.
Some Facts About a Representative
Western Commonwealth.

W. f. Curtis in the Chicago Record.
1t alwavs excites surprise and often
contradiction when it is asserted that
the average intelligence of the people
of Nebraska is higher than those of
Nwe York or Massachusetts or any
other of the eastern states, but it is
nevertheless true. By the latest CEN
sus taken in all the states named with
in the last few years Nebraska shows
only thirty-one people who cannot
read and write to 1000 of her popula-
tion; Connecticut shows fifty-three;
New York state fifty-five and Massa-
Chusetts siXty-two The average
amount of money invested in school
property and expended for education
is in about the same proportion.
Between 1880 and 1890 the value of
school buildings in Nebraska multi
piled three times, and by the present
census the increase will be much lar
ger, because during the last ten years
the people have been engaged in ma
turing and making permanent their
educational system while during the
previous decade they rushed up school
houses without much regard to per-
manenCe.
The education of future generations
is secured by the dedication of two
sections of land in each township as a
basis for a school fund. and that prop
erty already is valued at many mill
lions of dollars. The percentage of
pupils enrolled in the public schools
of Nebraska and the average attend
ance, according to the population, is
much higher than that of the cOuntr''
| at large or of any of the New England
states or New York or the northern
| central states east of the Mississippi
river. At the same time the average
| length of the school term exceeds that
| in the eastern states by two weeks
and in the northern central states by
| from four to twent"-eight days.
The same value has been placed up.
on religious privileges by the good pc
| pie of Nebraska. 1t Is asserted that
| the value of the church editices in
this state, representing every variety
of theological opinion, the membership
and the attendance are greater in pro-
portion than in any other state except
| Kansas. The Methodists are the
| strongest. They have twice as many
| organizations and church edifices as
any other denomination. The Presby'
terians are second, and then the Cath
olics, the Lutherans, the Congregation
alists and the Episcopalians in order
These facts account for the empty
jails and the small number of convict!
in the penitentiaries. While the ratio
of convicts to the population in thu
country at large has been increased
during recent years, it has fallen near
ly 40 per cent. in Nebraska. Through
out the interior of the state, in tn,
| INIT bn iai ~.
empty and the office of sheriff is al
most a sinecure. A man I quoted a
Aurora the other day explained thi
by saying that the people We're to,
busy to quarrel and too prosperous t,
steal, but those are only temporar!
reasons. Everywhere throughout tn
world the more children you find in tn
schoolhouses the fewer criminals yol
find in the jails. In Nebraska tn
number of convicts is only 1863 per mil
lion inhabitants as compared with 1876
in New York, 6S3 in Massachusetts,, As
in Ohio 53S in Illinois and 722 in tn
United States.
The ratio of prisoners in the count
jails is only 207 per million of popula
tion in Nebraska as compared wit
1713 in New York, 2,Ol5 in Ohio an
1,4l0 in Illinois.
The intellectual activity of the peo
pie finds its field in reading circles, de
batting societies, lecture courses and /
the books and periodicals that can b
brought to the homes. If you will eX
anime the newsstands and bookstore
in the villages and towns of Nebrask
you will find a different class of liter
ature from that which is spread out c
the elevated railway stations in tn
> larger cities of the east and furnishe
. by the ton to the depraved appetite
of the working population IN the fac
I, tory towns of New England and tn
smaller cities of the middle states.