Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/313

 LAWS FOR PROTECTION OF CHILDREN 301

finishing the work of the first, second, third, and fourth years, as appears to be common in many large manufacturing centers, Chicago among the number (where only a minority of the pupils complete the work of the first five years of the public schools), there the laws for the protection of the children appear to need further amendment.

Let us apply these two objective tests to the laws of Illinois. It is by no means ancient history that between 1890 and 1900 Illinois fell from the sixth to the fifteenth position in the scale of the states, when they are graded according to the ability of their children between the ages of ten and fourteen years to read and write. This means that up to the year 1900 fourteen states had proceeded more effectively with the task of abolishing illiteracy than Illinois. These states are Nebraska, Iowa, Oregon, Ohio, Kansas, Indiana, Connecticut, Utah, Massachusetts, Michigan, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York. In 1910 this test will be applied again. It will be a matter of the highest interest to observe whether Illinois will then have regained the points in the scale of the states which were lost in 1890-1900. If the statement is correct that the laws for the protection of her children are the best in the country, it is reasonable to suppose that the fact will then manifest itself in the total abolition of illiteracy among children of sound mind who have been in the country as much as one school year.

The following tables show both the actual number of illiterate children in each state in 1900, and the percentage of illiterates compared with the whole number of children of the age men- tioned, for both 1890 and 1900. In the first table the second column shows the number of illiterate children in each state in 1900, those states standing nearest the top which have the least number of illiterates, and those states nearest the bottom which have the largest number of illiterates.

CENSUS 1900. (Population, Vol. II, Part II, Table 65, p. 422.)

ILLITERATE CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OP TEN AND FOURTEEN YEARS IN EACH

STATE.

Alabama 66,072 i. Wyoming 72

Alaska 1,903 2. Oregon 175

Arizona 2,592 3. Idaho 209