Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-25
Falling Off
Of Customs,

Before the breaking out of the Euro
pean war the amount of collections in
dicated clearly, it Is said, that under
normal conditions the present tariff
will produce all the revenue 1t was es-
timated to produce at the time 1t was
drawn, and since the war. 1t Is said. the
receipts under the tariff bill have been
! all that could be expected under the
present conditions.
In some directions the activities Of
the customs service, on account OF the
falling OF of dutiable imports. have
decreased as compared with conditions
of revenue has decreased. both imports
and exports have increased In volume.
Both this increased commerce and the
maintenance OF the neutrality of the
United States have brought additional
responsibilities to the service.
The expense of collecting the revenue
! from customs for 1915 amounted to
| $9,S15,0s5, notwithstanding the increase
| in the activities Of the customs service
and the added work incident to- the en-.
forcemef1t of the seamen's act. This
indicates an actual saving, 1t is said. as
compared with the previous year of
$117,176. 1t is said by officials Of the
| service that this decrease in cost was
! made possible by improved methods
| and by the, installation of modern de-
vices of performing office work.
| Five and q half million people in the
United States over ten years of age are
illiterate, or nearly
1lliteracy eight out of every
hundred. according to
IN America. figures which have
just been complied by the bureau of
education as the result Of a study.
| recently completed. into this subject.
50 yvhn hav
learned to write. In any language. This
is the definition on which American
and most foreign statistics of illiteracy
are based, becaused the percentage of
those who can read but cannot write
| is SO small that 1t may be ignored.
This study of illiteraey in the United
States was restricted to the millions Of
adults who are absolutely illiterate.
and made no enumeration of other mill
lions of near -illiterates who can only
sign their names and decipher few
words with difficulty. nor did 1t take
| can read and write. but seldom do.
Uncle Sans experts found that in
1910 there were more illiterates in
| this country than comprised the entire
population Of the United, States in
1900. These illiterates would more
| than replace the ihha bitants Of all
towns in the United States having q
population numbering between $500
! and 5000 and, as more striking ex-
ample, they would. the experts say.
approach the entire combined popula-
| tion of Philadelphia, st. Louis. Boston.
Cleveland, Baltimore. Pittsburgh. De-
| troit and Buffalo, or total of 5.449-
| 1856.
| 1t has long been a matter for critical
| comment that nearly one-fourth OF
| the population of the southern states
| Is illiterate. It gives a different aspect
| to the situation to know, as compiled
| by the officials. that each southern
state cut Its percentage of illiteracy
more than rs per cent between 1900
| and 1910, and that in the south Atlan-
| tic, east south central and west south
central divisions. which include all the
southern states, the number of illiter-
ates was nearly million less in 1910
| than in 1900.
Effective measures to reduce adult
| iflteracy can become possible. the bu-
reau of education officials say. by
closer cooperation between industry
and education. Industry can make it
| possible by allowance of time and
| wage to enable illiterate adult work.
ers-who can earn usually but small
wages, often because of their illiteracy
| and the things that go with illiteracy
| Ito learn to read and write, and IN
| q minimum time of sixty hours enable
| them to surrnount their worst obstacles
to progress. This Is one of the cures
for the illiteracy Of the country In
| this connection 1t is suggested that