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 ILLINOIS

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ILLINOIS

a special article of five sections bearing on education; and on this subject these articles are now the funda- mental law of the state.

By the first article a public free school system is to be provided by the general assembly, whereljy aU children of the state may receive a good common school education; by the second, moneys donated, granted, and received must be applied to the objects for which they were made; by the third, it is pro- vided that neither the general assembly nor any county, city, town, township, school district, or other public corporation shall ever make any appropriation, or pay from any public fund wliatever, anything in aid of any church or sectarian purpose, or to help support or sustain any school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific institution controlled by any church or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any grant or do- nation of land, money, or other personal property ever te made by the state, or any such public corpora- tion, to any church or for any sectarian purpose. Section four provides that no teacher or .school officer shall be interested in the sale, proceeds, or profits of any school book or school furniture. Section five provides that there may be a superintendent in each county, whose powers, duties, and manner of election are to be prescribed by law.

Under this article of the constitution there has been much legislation, and the first section has been stretched in its meaning to permit the building of high schools. There has also been legislation per- mitting the mayor of Chicago to name school trustees to manage the schools and select a superintendent. In 1906 there were in Illinois 12,973 public free schools, in which there were 28,128 teachers, of whom 5935 were men and 22,193 were women. The male teachers received on an average $74.57 per month and the females .$57. 54. In the year 1906 the total cost of the public schools was $25,895,178.90. which is a cost of $17.58 for every pupil. This amount was derived from the income of the invested township funds, the state tax, and the district tax levies. In 1907 there were 438 high schools enrolling 52,394 pupils, from which 6311 pupils were graduated.

Unimrsity of Chicago. — The University of Chicago is not only the greatest educational institution in Illinois, but one of the most richly endowed univer- sities in the United States. John D. Rockefeller is its principal benefactor. The assets of the university are now more than $25,000,000. The present Uni- versity of Chicago was incorporated in September, 1890. The university has preparatory, under-grad- uate, graduate, post-graduate, and professional de- partments. In the schools of law, theology, educa- tion, and'medicine more than 300 additional courses are given. Unlike any other American uni\'ersity it has no vacation period. The scholastic year is divided into four quarters of twelve weeks each. Students may enter at the first of any quarter and are allowed such credits as they may have from other accredited universities. In the scholastic year 1905- 06 the number of enrolled students was 5079. The university has a library of more than 400,000 volumes.

The Xorth-Western University at Evanston is a Methodist institution, which in 1907 had 3662 en- rolled students. In 1907 there were in Illinois 55 collegiate institutions, with 1781 instructors and 29,- 818 students.

Catholic Educ.\tion.\l System. — Illinois is pre- eminent for its Catholic educational system. In recent years it is conceded that in .\merica the par- ochial schools are the life of the Church. In Chicago there are 87,040 pupils in the parochial schools. There are five high schools ^^ith an attendance of 1250 students. In the colleges and academies for boys there are 3000 students; in the academies for girls there are 5100 pupils. In Chicago the total

number of pupils in the parochial schools, academies, and colleges is 96,390.

Catholic Colleges in Illitiois. — Loyola University, Chicago, which is still in course of construction, will be, when completed, the largest Catholic edu- cational institution in Illinois. The five main build- ings will stand in a semicircle facing Lake Michigan on the north side, about the same distance from the centre of the city as the Chicago University is from the centre of Chicago on the south side. The law school, which is now established, is in the down-town dis- trict, and the other professional schools, when estal> lished, will also be there. The preparatory and col- legiate departments will be on the university grounds. The university will be, when completed, one of the finest Jesuit institutions in America. St. Ignatius College, Cliicago, was erected in 1869 and exists under a charter granted by the State of Illinois. The number of students in 1907 was 600. The coUege library contains 28,000 volumes. Only a few miles distant from St. Ignatius College is the place on the south branch of the Chicago River where Father Marquette, the great Jesuit explorer of Illinois, built the first white human habitation on the site of the metropolitan city of Chicago. De Paul Univer- sity (formerly St. Vincent's College), Chicago, is con- ducted by the Vincentian Fathers. The number of students in 1907-08 was 252.

The importance of the Catholic school system here is shown by the fact that in Illinois there are 20 col- leges and academies for boys, with an attendance of 3838; 44 academies for girls with an attendance of 8553; 1042 parochial schools with an attendance of 119,425. Figuring the cost of educating every Catho- lic pupil at S17.5S, which is the cost under the public school system, there is an annual saving to the state by the Catholic educational system of $2,097,509.08. In Illinois as in other states the Church receives no state aid and Catholics pay taxes for the support of all schools. The standard of secular education in the Catholic schools ranks higher than that in the public schools. In examinations for teachers in the public schools and in competitive examinations for the civil ser\'ice, graduates of Catholic schools have taken higher percentages than graduates of public schools. No religious training of any kind is given in the public schools.

FiR-ST Settlers. — In 1790 only 4280 persons were found l^etween the Ohio River and the Lakes, Penn- sylvania and the Mississippi. In 1791 there were only 1221 white inhabitants in Illinois. The country had been explored by the Jesuits and other Catho- lic missionaries and French traders. Some French settlers followed the missionaries. American immi- gration did not begin until the year 1779-80. The southern part was the first to be populated. The first immigrants came from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, and Kentucky. In 1810, the census returns showed the inhabitants of Illinois to number 11,501 whites, 168 slaves, and 613 of all others, an increa.se of four hundred per cent during the preceding decade. Of the early-comers from the south a large proportion were Irish republicans, who belie^'ed in Ireland as an independent nation, and who understood and sympathized thoroughly with American ideals and institutions even before their arrival in the States. Many of these Irish pioneers of Illinois had a good education, among them John Doyle, the first schoolmaster in the state; they made their impress especially on the southern part. X descendant of one of them, Stephen A. Douglas, a convert to Catholicism, was a judge, U. S. senator from Illinois, and presidential candidate against Lincoln. So important was this element in the political life of the state, that eight of the first sixteen governors were Americans of Irish descent.

The northern half of Illinois, because of its location,