GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA -47 



Between 1900 and 19T0 the percentages of illiteracy declined 

 in every region, as they did nearly everywhere else in the United 

 States, but there were apparently some increases between 19 10 

 and 191 5, perhaps due to different methods of federal and State 

 censuses, or even to typographical errors (for the 191 5 figures for 

 negro illiteracy in Lake County are so incredibly high that they 

 have been rejected). 



The distribution of illiteracy is not altogether fortuitous, but 

 is governed by several different factors. First, it is usually more 

 prevalent in sparsely settled regions, where school-houses are ne':- 

 essarily few and far apart, than in populous communities and es- 

 pecially in cities. Second, it depends on the racial composition of 

 the population, for in a given community there is always less edu- 

 cation among the negroes than among the whites, and where they 

 are the most numerous there is likely to be the greatest contrast be- 

 tween them and the whites in education, wealth, etc. (This is 

 more evident in Georgia and Alabama than in Florida, though.) 

 Foreigners are usually inferior to native whites in this respect in 

 cities and in mining districts (such as the phosphate regions), but 

 often a little superior in the purely agricultural districts of the 

 South. (This is doubtless because the farmer type of foreigner 

 comes mostly from northern Europe and the laborer type from 

 Latin countries.) 



Another important factor is the distance of birthplace from 

 residence. An illiterate cannot read the advertisements of op- 

 portunities in distant states, or the time-tables used on railroad 

 journeys, so that he is not likely to travel far unless he goes with 

 a crowd (as many immigrants from foreign countries do). Prob- 

 ably nearly half the adults in central Florida were born in other 

 states (though the census gives us no adecjuate information on this 

 point), and must have learned to read before coming here. Flor- 

 ida has a considerably lower illiteracy percentage among native 

 whites than other southeastern states, and central Florida is su- 

 perior to the rest of the State in that respect, doubtless largely for 



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