The question of illiteracy among the peoples that come to us from foreign lands is one of great importance. The large percentage of those unable to read and write sent to us from Europe startles us. When we come, however, to compare the percentage of illiteracy in the lands represented by the larger body of immigrants with the illiteracy in our own Southern States the insignificance of the former is at once evident. The great body of illiterates are not those who come from across the ocean, but those who are born and bred in our own land—native Americans. That this is most emphatically true the following table gathered from the last census reports abundantly proves:
| Ireland, | percentage of illiteracy | 23 |
| France, | " " " | 15 |
| Netherlands, | " " " | 14 |
| England, | " " " | 9 |
| Scotland, | " " " | 6 |
| Switzerland, | " " " | 5 |
| Germany, | " " " | 4 |
| Scandinavia, | " " " | 3 |
The following tables are compiled from the United States Census of 1890, and represent the condition in our Southern States:
| Total Population. | Native White. | |||
| Alabama | 41% | 18-4/10% | ||
| Florida | 27-8/10% | 11-3/10% | ||
| Georgia | 39-8/10% | 16-3/10% | ||
| Kentucky | 21-6/10% | 16-1/10% | ||
| Mississippi | 40% | 11-9/10% | ||
| South Carolina | 45% | 18-1/10% | ||
| North Carolina | 35-7/10% | 23-1/10% | ||
| Tennessee | 26-6/10% | 18% | ||
| Virginia | 30% | 14% | ||
| Louisiana | 45-8/10% | 20-1/10% | ||
From this table it will be seen that no foreign country of all the list given above equals in illiteracy any one of these Southern states with the exception of Tennessee.
It will be also noted that eliminating the Negro factor from the South and taking simply our native white population the percentage of illiteracy in North Carolina of this class is one-tenth of one per cent, greater than the percentage of illiteracy in Ireland, the most illiterate of all these given.
This is an amazing fact and ought to startle us all into more earnest efforts to lift up out of the darkness of ignorance and illiteracy this great mass of people, black and white, in our Southern states. It absolutely destroys the weight of the argument so often heard in presenting the dangers threatening our country on account of the ignorance of foreign immigrants. This alarm bell is muffled when we hear the alarm echo from Southern lowlands and mountains.
Another startling fact revealed by careful study of the census tables of 1890 concerning illiteracy is this: In every case the percentage of illiteracy of the native white population in these states is greater than that of the foreign white population in the same states. To illustrate: In Alabama the native white population is 18-4/10 per cent. The foreign white population show an illiteracy of 7-3/10 per cent. In Louisiana the native white population has 20-3/10 per cent. illiteracy, the foreign white 18-7/10 per cent. This principle holds good throughout. It is becoming in those of us who are patriotic not to boast too much concerning the education of our own people, or to urge the ignorance of those who come from abroad. The greatest problem before our Christian patriotism of to-day is the removal of this dark cloud of illiteracy in our own Southern states and the bringing in of the light of an intelligent Christianity.