amount of illiteracy in the United States in spite of the effects of the
propaganda for popular education which has been carried on now for the
last fifty years or more. In 1900 there were still 6,246,000 illiterates
above the age of ten years in the United States, which was 10.7 per cent
of the population above that age. Of these, about 3,200,000 were whites,
and of this number, again, 1,293,000 were foreign born. Nearly all of
the native white illiterates in the United States are found in the
Southern states, the white illiteracy in the Northern states being
practically confined to the foreign born. Thus, in the state of New York
5.5 per cent are illiterate, but of the native whites only 1.2 per cent
are illiterate, while 14 per cent of the foreign population can neither
read nor write. Again, in Massachusetts 5 per cent of the population are
illiterate, but of the native whites only 0.8 per cent are illiterate,
while 14.6 per cent of the foreign born are illiterate. Statistics of
illiteracy for our cities show the same results. Thus, in the city of
New York 6.8 per cent of the population are illiterate, but only 0.4 per
cent of the native whites are illiterate, while 13.9 per cent of the
foreign born are illiterate. Boston has 5.1 per cent of its total
population illiterate, but only 0.2 per cent of its native white
population are illiterate, while 11.3 per cent of its foreign-born
population are illiterate. Of the total immigration in 1907, 30 per cent
were illiterate. The number of illiterates from different countries
varies greatly. In 1907, 53 per cent of the immigrants from Southern
Italy were illiterate. In the same year 40 per cent of the Poles were
illiterate, 25 per cent of the Slovaks from Austria, 56 per cent of the
Ruthenians from Austria, 29 per cent of the Russian Jews, and 54 per
cent of the Syrians. The bulk of our immigration is now made up of these
people from Southern and Eastern Europe, among whom the illiteracy is
high. It is interesting to contrast the condition of these people with
the immigrants from Northern and Western Europe, whence our immigration