Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-12-22
UTAH TO THE FRONT.

Recent census figures on the liter
acy' of the population OF this country
are encouraging, although we still are
behind Germany. switzerland and the
Scandinavian countries For, as point
ed out by Colorado contemporary. II
It were not for the coored population
in this country, the percentage OF lit
eracy would be much higher than It Is.
An 'fllterate" person, in the sense
In which census authorities use that
term. is one who is over . years sf
age and Is unable to write in any lam
guage. A recent report stated that In
1900 there were 6,lSO,O6o such persons in
the United states This Is 1868 In 1000.
But since 1890 material gain was made.
for. according to the census of that
year, the. illiterates amounted to 1884
per 1000
The report gives some interesting
facts. One Is, that there Is more H.
literacy among women than among
men. and that the proportion of Hitter
ate children IL greater In the country
than IN the cities. This is, OF course,
as might be expected since the facil-
titles for attending school are so much
greater In the cities. A somewhat sur
prlsing fact brought out In the repoEt
Is that IN the country as a whole there
Is lower degree of illiteracy among
children of foreign born parents than
among those Of native parents, the
proportion In the one case being s.S per
1000 and in the other AL. This. the
report says, Is due to the concentra-
ton In the cities Of the children OF for
eign extraction. where the educational
facilities are best. Is 1t not rather due
to another fact, that the children Of
foreign-born parents feel more keenly
the necessity OF school education than
the other children. since without n
very good education they are nearly al
ways placed at disadvantage In the
modern competition for the material
things that help to make life enjoy
able.
According to the report, Utah is now
the second state IN the Union in lit
eracy, Washington being the first. In
that state only Is OF 1000 native white
children above . and under Is years of
age, Is an "illiterate." Utah comes Il
very close second, with 2,2 per 1000, be-
ing only a small fraction behind the
leading state, Other states well to the
front on this roll OF honor are; Massa-
chusetts, 49, Oregon "a. Wyoming
81 Idaho, so, and Rhode Island. 62
Illinois comes 18th on the list. with SO
and Maine is the Both with 1916 per 1000
These figures should be compared
with those of some other states IN the
Union. Texas has 81. Kentucky. aT;Ar-
kansas, ll0S;Tennessee, il6.i, and Nortl
Carolina 1861 per 1000. 1t Is high
time to discontinue the habit of refer.
ring to the wild and woolly West"
1t Is especially gratifying to us to no.
tice the high place on the educational
scale occupied by Utah. This is an
other irretutable proof OF the utter
insanity OF the wild howls the de,rac.
tors OF Utah, as so many foul fends
are uttering, as If the entire re-
gon We're cursed. Thinking and re
flectlng persons Will certainly sec thu
utter impossibIlty Of maintaining hlgf
educational standards except under "a
vorable conditions, such as Obtain
where freedom and virtue rule, as 4
eminently the fact IN Utah, in spite o
the incessant work OF the enemies.