ILLITERACY 



2931 



ILLITERACY 



Chicago. From this point the Illinois follows 

 a diagonal course across the state, emptying 

 into the Mississippi about fifty miles above 

 Saint Louis. Its length is 500 miles, and it 

 drains an area of 24,726 square miles, greater 

 than that of the entire state of West Virginia. 

 For long distances the stream cuts its way 

 through bed rock, exposing ledges of limestone 

 and coal layers. It was in the Illinois basin 

 that Father Hennepin, in 1698, found the first 

 coal discovered in America. 



Steamers ascend the river as far as La Salle, 

 250 miles from its mouth, and at this point the 

 Illinois and Michigan Canal (which see), ninety- 

 six miles long, connects it with the south 

 branch of the Chicago River. Eighty miles 

 southwest of Chicago the Illinois is joined by 

 the Fox River, and in the pioneer days all 

 of the old trails from the southeast to the 

 northern parts of the state crossed near their 

 junction; the site is now occupied by the city 

 of Ottawa. Peoria, the second city of Illinois 

 in population, is situated on the west bank 

 of the river, eighty miles southwest of Ottawa. 

 At this point an expansion in the Illinois forms 

 Peoria Lake. Near Beardstown, in Cass County, 

 there are valuable fisheries. Other tributaries 

 of the stream besides the Fox are the Ver- 

 milion, the Spoon, the Mackinaw and the San- 

 gamon. 



In the days of exploration and settlement 

 the Illinois formed a part of the trail followed 

 by the French explorers on their way from 

 the Great Lakes to the Mississippi. At Starved 

 Rock in La Salle County, one of the most pic- 

 turesque features of the state, was built the 

 first permanent French settlement north of the 

 Gulf region, and the first fort in the region 

 was erected by La Salle in 1680 on the south 

 end of Peoria Lake. 



Since the opening of the Chicago Drainage 

 Canal (which see) the average level of the 

 river has been raised, and in times of high 

 water the lowlands along its banks are often 

 submerged. The Illinois will be an important 

 part of the waterway which it is proposed shall 

 connect the Great Lakes with the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



ILLITERACY, Hit 'era si, a term used to 

 denote the inability of a person to read or to 

 write in his own language. Methods of com- 

 piling statistics on illiteracy vary in different 

 countries. As used in the United States cen- 

 sus the term illiterate is applied to all persons 

 ten years of age or over who cannot write. 

 In Canada those persons five years of age or 



over who cannot read are illiterates. In some 

 European countries the percentage of illiterates 

 is ascertained by examining recruits for the 

 army and navy, thus limiting the test to men 

 of certain age. Classified statistics as to il- 

 literacy have been collected by the United 

 States Census Bureau at intervals of ten years 

 since 1840, and similar statistics are published 

 by other nations. 



The percentage of illiteracy in a state or 

 nation is, to a certain degree, an indication of 

 the educational advantages provided for the 

 people by the government. It is, however, 

 difficult to obtain a fair basis of comparison 

 because of the varying standards used. The 

 most stringent laws regarding compulsory edu- 

 cation prevail in the countries showing the 

 smallest percentage. In the United States the 

 proportion of illiterates remains large on ac- 

 count of the ignorance of the colored popula- 

 tion and of some classes of immigrants. 



The following table shows the percentage of 

 illiteracy in the United States as a whole, by 

 color or race, nativity and parentage: 



CLASS POPULATION ILLITERATE PCT. 



White 63,933,870 3,184,633 5.0 



Native 50,989,341 1,534,272 3.0 



Native parentage . .37,081,278 1,378,884 3.7 

 Foreign or mixed 



parentage 13,908,063 155,388 1.1 



Foreign born 12,944,529 1,650,361 12.7 



Negro 7,317,922 2,227.731 30.4 



Indian 188,758 85,445 45.3 



Chinese 68,924 10,891 15.8 



Japanese 67,661 6,213 9.2 



All other 3,135 1,250 39.9 



United States 71,580,270 5,516,163 7.7 



The illiteracy in each state, reported in the 

 Federal census of 1910, is as follows: 



TOTAL PER CT. 



Alabama 352,710 22.9 



Arizona 32,953 20.9 



Arkansas 142,954 12.6 



California 74,902 3.7 



Colorado 23,780 3.7 



Connecticut 53,665 6.0 



Delaware 13,240 8.1 



Florida 77,816 13.8 



Georgia 389,775 20.7 



Idaho 5,453 2.2 



Illinois 168,294 3.7 



Indiana 66,213 3.1 



Iowa 29,889 1.7 



Kansas 28,968 2.2 



Kentucky 208,084 12.1 



Louisiana 352,179 29.0 



Maine 24,554 4.1 



Maryland 73,397 7.2 



Massachusetts 141,541 5.2 



Michigan 74,800 3.3 



Minnesota 49,336 3.0 



Mississippi 290,235 22.4 



Missouri 111,116 4.3 



