Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-06-27
ILuTERACY lessons
CROP PRODUCTION
Percentage of IIIiteracy in
North-central States is
Much Less Than in
Other Sections.

Wisconsin is a state of intensified
production. It is a state where COM
p~arativeiy few are unable to read and
write. Wisconsin musters 10000
farms and 81 percent of our $4,000
foreign born farmers have come from
countries whose average Of those I'M
able to read or write is less than one
half of one per cent.
One is not casting reflection when
he points out that in the north cen
trial region including Wisconsin live a
larger proportion of adult population
able to write than in any equal num-
Der of states. IlIitefacy is a matter
IF official record and education the
great feature in the contribution of
this part Of the country to the ma
tion's treasure of food and manufac-
lures.
The amount of such illiteracy in
the twelve no~rth-central states is Is
per cent lower than in any other
twelve states; 10 per ent less than in
the thirteen original states, and
nearly 80 per cent lower than in all
the rest of the states.
North-central states
Unable
to write
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin,,
Minnesota, Iowa, Mis-
souri,, North Dakota,
South Dakota, Nebraska,
Kansas average-------------- 3.6%
Average next lowest twelve $3.50 Az
Average thirteen original states 1l.9%
Average all others-------------- l6.l%
Quite a good many persons were re-
ported as able to read tho not able to
write, but the information was not
considered sufficiently important for
separate presentation. The lowest
percentage of illiteracy is found
among native whites of foreign or
mixed parentage.
There resides in an adjoining state
a man unable to read or use the pen,
but a successful farmer. Observation
has been his teacher. A nan of good
intellect. he knows how to look into
things and has probably won
more premiums with his products
than any man in his state. His
children enjoy excellent schooling in
the little college town of Grinnell.
Left to shift for himself when a
youth, his life has been profitable and
inspirational and a distinctive factor
in Iowa crop improvement. He has
made good. So also have others
equally handicapped.
Nevertheless, if our occupation is
one requiring considerable mental IN
ergy-and there are few exceptions
these days-then, other things being
equal, the greatest intellectual activ-
ity will give the largest production.
And right here as a stimulus abili-
ty to read and write is the big ele-
ment to be taken into account. If
intelligence is some measure OF the
output of a people, then the people
that contribute the greatest amount
of intellect to their work will have
the largest and best output. In no
endeavor is this more apparent than
in agricultural pursuits. Those coun-
tries with the fewest illiterates reap
the greatest yield of crops. 1t has
not been wholly a matter of climate
or soil, but rather a combination of
reading, reflection and organization.
And the poorest returns of all the
world come from some of the most
fertile soils On the globe that is
those of Russia where an unfortunate
peasantry starve out a miserable exis-
tence. Give a people ambition and