UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



5951 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



strength of the different creeds appeal 1 in the 

 table on the preceding page. 



The above list represents fewer than one-half 

 of the recognized religious bodies in the coun- 

 try, but includes three-fourths of the number 

 of communicants. A most interesting table is 

 the following, which records the net gains of 

 the leading Churches in the number of com- 

 municants between 1890 and 1915, a period of 

 twenty-five years: 



DENOMINATION GAIN 



Roman Catholic 7.817,646 



odist Episcopal 1.417.240 



Southern Baptist 1,425,055 



Methodist Episcopal, South 862,059 



Baptist (Colored) 669,879 



Presbyterian (Northern) 706.933 



Disciples of Christ 722.112 



Baptist, North 452,183 



Protestant Episcopal 508,842 



Lutheran Synodical Conference 464,233 



Congregational ists 258.591 



African M. E 167 



African M. E. Zion 218,820 



Lutheran General Council 145,925 



Lutheran General Synod 191,432 



Tnlted Brethren 136,741 



i.yterian (South) 152,618 



r-Day Saints. Utah 185,648 



Reformed (German) 116,441 



Education. Originally free public schools 

 were established only for the elementary 

 branches, because it was thought that a person 

 desiring a more advanced education could af- 

 ford to pay for it. This practice, however, was 

 inconsistent with the doctrine of democracy, 

 since it meant that many children of ability 

 would be denied opportunities for education 

 because their parents could not afford the ex- 

 pense. Such a plan would result in society 

 becoming divided into a series of classes more 

 or less hereditary, based on the possession of 

 property. In order to give an equal chance to 

 all, it was necessary to extend the system of 

 free public schools through the high school and 



miversity, and this has now been done in 

 all parts of the country. In spite of this t 

 it i- -till true that the proportion of persons 



ten years of age who are unable to read 

 and write is much larger in the United States 



in the countries of Northwestern Europe. 



condition is partly due to the enormous 



<>n from Southern and Eastern Eu- 



ic standard of education is very 



in part, to the negro population, which 

 <> a great extent remained illiterate; and 

 i certain sections, wli 



.: n.ler. .1 tip progress of effective education 



whites as well as of the negroes. 1 



proportion of illiterates, however, is in process 

 of reduction, except as recruited by immigra- 

 tion. A table for illiteracy not only for states 

 of the American Union but for the principal 

 nations of the world is given in the article 

 ILLITERACY. 



Compared to the most advanced countries of 

 Europe, the greatest defects in the schools of 

 tlio United States are chiefly two: (1) the 

 general elementary course covers eight years 

 instead of six, which involves much repetition 

 and waste of time; (2) technical and trade 

 schools are not yet adequately developed, with 

 the result that skilled artisans are mostly of 

 foreign birth and training. (See the articles 

 EDUCATION and SCHOOL, and allied articles there 

 referred to.) 



Summary of Educational Progress. The edu- 

 cational history of the United States may be 

 roughly divided into the colonial period, tin 

 period from the Revolution to the War of Se- 

 cession and the period since the War of Seces- 

 sion. The policies of the colonies toward edu- 

 cation differed radically. In Virginia and South 

 Carolina it was entirely a private matter; 

 unfortunates who could not have a tutor or go 

 to Europe for their education simply went 

 without it. Among the Quakers and German? 

 in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York 

 the school was frequently under the auspices 

 of the Church. Farthest from Virginia's prac- 

 tice was Massachusetts, where three funda- 

 mental principles were laid down: (1) the 

 right of the state to require that its citizens 

 shall be educated; (2) the right of the state to 

 compel local governmental divisions to estab- 

 lish schools; (3) the right of the local divisions 

 to support these schools by taxation. Of the 

 higher institutions of learning founded during 

 the colonial period, private enterprise in every 

 case gave the initiative. The ei^ht colonial 

 colleges, in the order of their foundation, were 

 Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton. 

 Columbia, Pennsylvania, Dartmouth and Rut- 

 gers. 



At the end of the colonial period there was 

 already apparent a change in the attitude of 

 the states toward education, a desire to make 

 system fit the opportunity I'nnl the War 

 of Secession, however, the private academy 

 and the private or endowed college were tin 

 outstanding features. The public school system 

 was being developed ; there was a growing feel- 

 ing that the state was responsible for the pre- 

 liminary education of its cititens. But not 

 until iftc r the War of Secession did the states 



