ILLITERACY IN THE SOUTH.

The following is taken from Publication 8, Twelfth United States Census:

“The illiteracy of the native white population of the Southern States ranges from 8.6 per cent. in Florida, 8 per cent. in Mississippi, and 6.1 per cent. in Texas, to 17.3 per cent. in Louisiana, and 19.5 per cent. in North Carolina, as contrasted with 0.8 per cent. in Nebraska, 1.3 per cent. in Kansas, 2.1 per cent. in Illinois, 1.2 per cent. in New York, and 0.8 per cent. in Massachusetts. A far juster comparison, however, is that which indicates the contrast, not between the South and the rest of the country in 1900, but between the South of 1880 and the South of to-day.’

TABLE SHOWING THE RANK OF EACH STATE IN PERCENTAGE OF ILLITERACY OF THE NATIVE WHITE POPULATION TEN YEARS OF AGE AND OVER:

1900.

1	Washington	0.5	26	Ohio	2.4
2	South Dakota	0.6	27	Maine	2.4
3	Montana	0.6	28	Oklahoma	2.5
4	Nevada	0.6	29	Colorado	2.7
5	Wyoming	0.7	30	Vermont	2.9
6	Massachusetts	0.8	31	Indiana	3.6
7	Minnesota	0.8	32	Maryland	4.1
8	Nebraska	0.8	33	Missouri	4.8
9	Connecticut	0.8	34	Delaware	5.6
10	Oregon	0.8	35	Texas	6.1
11	Utah	0.8	36	Arizona	6.2
12	Dist. of Columbia	0.8	37	Mississippi	8.0
13	North Dakota	0.9	38	Florida	8.6
14	Idaho	0.9	39	West Virginia	10.0
15	California	1.0	40	Virginia	11.1
16	New York	1.2	41	Arkansas	11.6
17	Iowa	1.2	42	Georgia	11.9
18	Wisconsin	1.3	43	Kentucky	12.8
19	Kansas	1.3	44	South Carolina	13.6
20	New Hampshire	1.5	45	Indian Territory	14.0
21	Michigan	1.7	46	Tennessee	14.2
22	New Jersey	1.7	47	Alabama	14.8
23	Rhode Island	1.8	48	Louisiana	17.3
24	Illinois	2.1	49	North Carolina	19.5
25	Pennsylvania	2.3	50	New Mexico	29.4

POPULATION AT LEAST TEN YEARS OF AGE AND NUMBER AND PER CENT. ILLITERATE FOR THE NEGRO AND WHITE RACES: 1900 AND 1890.

	POPULATION AT LEAST TEN YEARS OF AGE.
RACE.			Number Illiterate.		Per Cent.
					Illiterate.
	1900	1890	1900	1890	1900	1890
Continental U. S.:
Negro population.	6,415,581	5,328,972	2,853,194	3,042,668	44.5	57.1
White population.	51,250,918	41,931,074	3,200,746	3,212,574	6.2	7.7
South Atlantic and
South Central
divisions:
Negro population.	5,664,975	4,751,763	2,717,606	2,883,216	48.0	60.7
White population.	12,020,539	9,456,368	1,401,273	1,412,983	11.7	14.9

“There are 352 counties in the United States in which one-half the Negro population at least 10 years of age was illiterate in 1900. With the exception of New Madrid County, Mo., all these counties are in the South.

“If the educational facilities of the country should remain up to their present standards, but not improve, and should impart the elements of education to as large a proportion of the rising generation as they have done to those between 10 and 14 years in 1900, then, at the end of the generation, illiteracy among the Negroes in the country will have sunk from 44.5 to 30.1 per cent.; that is, nearly one-third of it will have disappeared. At the same time, illiteracy among the whites in the country will have sunk, immigration aside, from 6.2 to 3.5 per cent.; that is, about three-sevenths of the illiteracy among the whites will have disappeared.

“At the present time, nearly one-half of the Negroes in the Southern States are unable to write, but if educational facilities for that race remain about as they are at present for another generation, and be availed of to the same extent, the proportion would sink to one-third. The illiteracy of the Negro at the present time is about four times that of the white in both the North and the South; in the North a little less, in the South a little more.”

COST OF VIRGINIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Total amount of State and Local Taxes expended in Virginia on Public Schools from 1870-71 to 1890-91—20 years	$22,759,249.38
Amount received from Peabody Fund	296,134.00
Private contributions	324,926.59
Total	$23,380,309.97
Cost of Negro education in Public Schools, including total Current Expenses	$4,792,290.06
Amounts appropriated by the State to Hampton and Virginia Normal Institutes	471,708.72
Cost of permanent improvements, sites, buildings, etc., for Colored Schools	588,223.05
Total cost of Colored Public Schools and Normal Institutes for 20 years	$5,852,222.57
Total cost of White Schools for same period	17,528,087.60
Total of all Public Schools same period	$23,380,310.17

Percentage of whole fund expended on White Schools	$75.00
Percentage of whole fund expended on Colored Schools	25.00
	$100.00

Actual statistics for 1891 show the following facts:

	Total taxes.	Per cent. of whole.
White	$1,769,576.06	91.7
Colored	163,175.67	8.3
Total	$1,959,751.73	100.0

The U. S. Census for 1890 shows the population of Virginia to be as follows:

White	1,015,123	=	61.3%
Colored	640,857	=	38.7%
Total	1,655,980	=	100.0%

Thus showing that while the Negroes comprise nearly four-tenths of the population, they furnish less than one-tenth of the amount expended on public schools.

The number of Public Schools for the year 1898-90 was

White	5,358
Colored	2,153
	7,511

The total cost of Public Schools for the year 1889-90 was	$1,604,508.80
The cost of Negro Schools for the same year was about	420,000.00

Now, if we use the percentages on preceding pages and allow all the taxes paid by Negroes (on both personal and real property) to go into the School Fund, we will see that there was a deficit of $256,824.33 to be made up from the taxes paid by white people, or, in other words, the total amount of taxes on personal and real property paid by the Negroes will cover less than half the expense of their schools alone.

By THOMAS NELSON PAGE

BRED IN THE BONE

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BOOKS BY MR. PAGE

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A Chronicle of Reconstruction

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