PENNSYLVANIA 



4564 



PENNSYLVANIA 



the Middle West. Probably the most impor- 

 tant of the foreign settlers were the Scotch- 

 Irish, who were the dominant influence in 

 Pennsylvania during the Revolution. 



The state has a large foreign population to- 

 day, owing to the great mining and manufac- 

 turing establishments, many of which employ 

 a large percentage of immigrants. The Aus- 

 trians, Russians, Germans, Italians and Irish 

 are most numerous; the total number of in- 

 habitants of foreign birth and foreign parent- 

 age exceeds 3,240,000. 



Over sixty per cent of the population is ur- 

 ban, and two of the first ten cities in the United 

 States are in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia rank- 

 ing third and Pittsburgh ranking eighth in popu- 

 lation among the cities in the Union. Other 

 cities with over 50,000 inhabitants are Scranton, 

 Reading, Wilkes-Barre, Erie, Harrisburg, Johns- 

 town, Altoona and Allentown. 



Owing to the large foreign population, over 

 one-third of the inhabitants are adherents of 

 the Roman Catholic Church. The Quakers and 

 some of the German sects still exist, but the 

 largest of the Protestant denominations are the 

 Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Re- 

 formed Church, Episcopal and United Brethren. 



Education. From its earliest period, Penn- 

 sylvania made wise provision for public educa- 

 tion, for in his "Frame of Government," Wil- 

 liam Penn provided that children under twelve 

 years of age should be taught a trade. The 

 first free schools were opened in 1767, but pub- 

 lic schools were unpopular because only those 

 pupils whose parents confessed extreme pov- 

 erty could be educated without payment of 

 tuition fees. It was only after a bitter struggle 

 in the state senate that the present splendid 

 system of public schools was adopted in 1835. 



Education is compulsory, and the illiteracy, 

 averaging 5.9 per cent, is greatest among the 

 foreign born. The school system is adminis- 

 tered by the superintendent of public instruc- 

 tion, who is appointed by the governor, and by 

 a state board of education. In 1913 vocational 

 courses were established in certain schools. 



The state maintains normal schools at West 

 Chester, Millersville, Kutztown, East Strouds- 

 burg, Loch Haven, Indiana, California, Mans- 

 field, Bloomsburg, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, 

 Edinboro and Clarion; the Pennsylvania State 

 College is at State College. The great Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia is an 

 endowed institution, and receives little state 

 aid. Among the many private coeducational 

 institutions of higher learning are the Univer- 

 sity of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh ; Lafayette Col- 

 lege at Easton; Lehigh University at South 

 Bethlehem; Swarthmore College at Swarth- 

 more; Dickinson College at Carlisle; Wash- 

 ington and Jefferson College at Washington; 

 Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster; 

 Temple University at Philadelphia; Ursinus 

 College at Collegeville ; Haverford College at 

 Haverford. There are many separate colleges 

 for men and women and numerous professional 

 schools. One of the finest women's colleges in 

 America is at Bryn Mawr, and the Carnegie 

 Technical University at Pittsburgh is one of 

 the leading scientific institutions in the coun- 

 try. The United States school for the higher 

 education of Indians, at Carlisle, was abandoned 

 in 1918. 



Institutions of Charity and Correction. Penn- 

 sylvania is among the most progressive states 

 in the study of the welfare of the dependent 

 classes. In 1915 a committee on the welfare of 

 the feeble-minded was organized to work in 

 cooperation with the national committees on 

 health, hygiene and feeble-mindedness. Insti- 

 tutions for the defective and criminals are con- 

 trolled by a state board. They include a hos- 

 pital for the criminal and insane at Fairview; 

 asylums for the insane at Allentown, Danville, 

 Harrisburg, Norristown, Warren and Werners- 

 ville; an institution for deaf children at Phila- 

 delphia ; the Pennsylvania Oral School at Scran- 

 ton; an institution for the feeble-minded at 

 Polk; penitentiaries at Philadelphia and Pitts- 

 burgh; an industrial reform school at Hunting- 

 ton ; a reformatory at Morganza ; a soldiers' and 

 sailors' home at Erie. 



Physical Features 



The Land. Eastern and western Pennsyl- 

 vania are separated by the parallel, even- 

 crested ridges of the Appalachians, which sweep 

 across the state from northeast to southwest. 

 In these mountains, ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 

 feet in height, there are no lofty peaks, for 

 they are of the rolling variety, but between 



their wooded slopes there are deep, fertile val- 

 leys. Although the mountains in Pennsylvania 

 are lower than those of the same system in the 

 neighboring states, their uniform elevations are 

 broken by no continuous, open gap such as the 

 Mohawk Valley in New York. The Delaware, 

 Schuylkill, Lehigh and Susquehanna rivers have 



