CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



the portion of the public school-fund of the state 

 allotted to a district is not sufficient, the inhabit- 

 ants assess themselves to meet the deficiency; 

 more than half the expense of the primary schools 

 is thus raised. These common schools are man- 

 aged by local committees, and are entirely un- 

 sectarian. 



According to the census of 1870, the total 

 number of schools of all classes in the United 

 States was 141,629; of pupils, 7,209,938; of 

 teachers, 221,044 > of whom 127,713, or consider- 

 ably more than one-half, were females. The 

 number of public schools was 125,059, or six- 

 sevenths of the whole ; and their total income 

 from all sources, endowment, public funds, taxa- 

 tion, and tuition, was $64,030,673, or rather more 

 than $500 for each school. In these figures are 

 not embraced the Military Academy at West Point 

 in New York ; or the Naval Academy at Anna- 

 polis in Maryland. In 1880, there were 272,686 

 teachers, and, 9,424,000 pupils. 



The proportion of illiterate persons in the 

 United States is by no means so small as might 

 be supposed from the elaborate educational 

 machinery of the country. In 1880, the number 

 of persons above 10 years of age who could not 

 read was 4,923,451 ; of course, the majority of 

 these were the recently emancipated slaves of the 

 southern states, or the Irish immigrants in New 

 York and Pennsylvania, but even Massachusetts 

 had 75,650 illiterates. 



In 1880, the total number of newspapers of all 

 kinds published in the United States was 11,403, 

 of which 980 were dailies, 8718 weeklies, and 1167 

 monthlies. There were besides 10,560 periodicals. 



Minerals. 



The United States are rich in mineral pro- 

 ductions. Coal is very widely diffused. Its area 

 is estimated at 250,000 square miles, and has 

 been divided into four tracts : i. The great 

 central Appalachian coal-field, extending from 

 Tuscaloosa in Alabama, to Pennsylvania on both 

 sides of the Alleghanies, and covering about 

 40,000 workable square miles. 2. The coal-field 

 occupying the greater part of Illinois and Indi- 

 ana. 3. The coal-field of Missouri and Iowa. 

 4. The coal-field of Michigan, comprising almost 

 the whole state. At Pittsburg in Pennsylvania, 

 there is a hill principally composed of coal, and 

 in this district it is found at many places within 

 a few feet of the surface. In 1880, the total yield 

 was 71,067,500 tons, of which two-thirds was 

 obtained from Pennsylvania. Iron is found every- 

 where, from the richest ores in mountain masses 

 to bog-ore. According to the census of 1880, 

 it was worked in twenty-four states, the total 

 production of pig-iron amounting to 4,295,414 

 tons, of which Pennsylvania furnished one-third. 

 The states next in order were Ohio, New York, 

 New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois. As, in 1874, 

 the produce was only 2,690,000 tons, it will be 

 seen that during the decade 1870-80, the de- 

 velopment of the iron industry has been very 

 rapid. Michigan, on the shores of Lake Supe- 

 rior, possesses perhaps the richest copper mines 

 in the world. Masses of almost pure metal (as 

 much as 90. per cent) are found weighing 

 thousands of pounds. Four-fifths of the whole 

 produce come from this state; but it is worked 

 818 



in eight others, of which the most productive 

 are Vermont, Tennessee, North Carolina, and 

 Maryland. At the census of 1870, 181,263,502 

 gallons of petroleum were obtained from the four 

 states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and 

 Kentucky, of which the first yielded 171,250,000 

 gallons. Lead exists in rich deposits in Missouri, 

 Arkansas, Illinois, and Iowa ; zinc, in consider- 

 able quantities in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and 

 Pennsylvania. Tin has been found in Maine and 

 California. Silver and gold are scattered over 

 a pretty large area. The former is abundant in 

 New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, and 

 Utah. Gold is found in small quantities in the 

 eastern states ; in larger deposits in Virginia, 

 North and South Carolina, and Georgia ; and in 

 great quantities in California, Oregon, Nevada, 

 Colorado, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, 

 Idaho, and Montana. The total yield of both, in 

 1881, was estimated at $77,700,000, of which Colo- 

 rado produced the greatest amount, $20,500,000. 

 and California the next greatest, $19,000,000. 



Agriculture and Crops. 



In point of productive industry, the United 

 States is yet more an agricultural than a manu- 

 facturing country, though of late years an immense 

 impetus has been given to the latter department 

 Oats, rye, and barley are raised in all the northern 

 states, and also in the hilly districts of the south. 

 Maize is common to every part of the Union ; 

 it is indigenous, and adapted to a greater variety 

 of soil and climate than wheat, and yields a much 

 larger produce. Wheat is also cultivated through 

 the whole Union, but especially in the middle 

 and western states. 



The cultivation of tobacco begins in Maryland, 

 in latitude 39 ; it is raised to a greater extent in 

 that state and in Virginia and Kentucky than 

 in any others of the Union ; but it thrives also in 

 all the western states. Cotton does not succeed 

 well further north than the latitude of 37, though 

 some of the districts raise it for domestic use ; it 

 forms the staple of all the districts south of the 

 river Roanoke. The best kinds grow in South 

 Carolina and Georgia, in dry situations, upon the 

 sea-coast The cultivation of rice occupies nearly 

 the same region as that of cotton. The climate 

 which is favourable to sugar does not extend 

 beyond the latitude of 32 ; it is raised in the 

 States chiefly for domestic use, and is not an 

 I article of export to any extent. The crop is rather 

 : precarious, from the frosts which sometimes occur 

 even in the most southerly districts. The vine 

 1 grows spontaneously in most of the southern and 

 I western states, and is cultivated as a fruit about 

 i Philadelphia, The mulberry- tree, hops, and hemp, 

 all succeed well in the middle and western states. 

 The timber-trees of the States are of numerous 

 kinds, and many of them of the best quality. The 

 country east of the Mississippi, except the prairies 

 of Illinois and Indiana, was at its settlement 

 heavily wooded ; and there are still vast forests 

 of valuable timber beech, birch, maple, oak, pine, 

 hemlock, spruce, walnut, hickory, ash, elm, c. ; 

 and in the south, live-oak, water-oak, magnolia, 

 palmetto, tulip-tree, cypress, cotton-wood, cane, 

 &c. Forests also occur in the Rocky Mountains ; 

 and California, Oregon, and Washington Territory 

 have the largest timber in the world. 





