The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1905-12-05
An UNSOUGHT HONOR
FOR The TARHEELS
LEADS IN POINT OF litter
ACY.
South Carolina Not far Behind-Com.
pared with Other Countries the
Showing Of the United
States is Favorable.

respondent of the State, writes his
paper:
The question as to which state
stands at the bottom Of the illileracy
list ought now to be settled and the
long rivalry between North and South
Carolina for position of honor at che
bottom of the column finally decided.
A bulletin issued by the department
places North. Carolina at the bottom
of all the states with 1861 illi1erates
out of every 1000. Next lowest is
Louisiana, then Alabama, then South
Carolina, with 1884 out of every 1000.
In the whole country one person in
every ten is illiterate though the bull
letin takes pains to state that if you
eliminate the negro and the foreign
element that large percentage would
be reduced one-half.
Among native white males OF native
parents the degree of illiteracy, age
Is to 81, is exceptionally high; not
only higher than in any younger age
group but higher than in the next
older age group, S. to 81. Since those
persons who were between five and
six when the Civil war began it is evi-
dent their illiteracy reflects the condl-
tions that prevailed during that con-
flict when the interests of popular ed
ucation in the south were nc doubt
seriously neglected. Even in some
parts of the north there are evidences
of an increased illiteracy among the
children of that period. Thus the rec
ord of important historic events may
be traced in the dry statistics of IL
literacy.
The Official Bulletin.
Washington, November 2o.-Ac-
cording to a bulletin issued today by
the census bureau, about 1oo persons
out of every 1000 in the United States
/ over 10 years old are unable to write
or about one in ten. OF the native
white population only 46 OUT Of every
1000, or fewer than one in 20; of the
foreign-born whites, 128 out of every
1000, and of the negroes, AS out of
everv 1000 are illiterate. Internation-
al comparisons restricted so far as
possible corresponding classes of the
population, are on the whole favor
able to this country, indicating that in
most European countries illiteracy is
much more prevalent than it is here,
although the United States is still far
behind Germany, Sweden and Norway,
Denmark and Switzerland. There is
also ground for satisfaction in the sta
ristical' evidence that illiteracy is
steadily being reduced. In 1890 ,the
number of illiterates per 1000 was
I33 for the total population, o2 for
the native. white population, I3o for
( the foreign-Ioorn white, and 568 for
negroes. Indians and Mongolians.
The female sex is shown to be more
illiterate than the male, the llliteracy
for females being 1I2 per 1000 and
for males 1oI. But the contrast is
less marked than it was in 1890, when
the illiteracy for the two sexes was
IA and I32 respectively.
In explanation of the fact that the
girls have caught up with the boys, it
is suggested that boys are less sub
ject to parental control than girls and
more prone to play truanl: and that
they are also more frequently requir-
ed to contribute to the family: income
by becoming wage-earners when they
should be in school. Commenting on
this condition the bulletin says:
Thus the changes which are in
progress point to the coming Of a
time when females Of all ages will be
less illitcrate than males. They also
point to the coming Of time in the
more remote future when illiteraCy
for all classes will have practically dis
appeared, and equality OF the sexes
in this respect will thus be restored
in millennium of literacy."
In the country the illiteracy among
children is 80; in the city, using this
term to designate collectively cities