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UNITED STATES Confucianism, Islam and others as well as Christianity. In 1911 there were 35,836,190 communicants in the different churches; 221,197 organizations; and 172,431 ministers, the Catholics (of all bodies) numbered 13,004,012 communicants. (The Roman church numbered 12,575,085). The Methodists were the largest Evangelical body, all their branches together numbering 6,819,660 communicants. The Baptists came next (5,634,565), and Lutherans (2,289,897) and Presbyterians (1,944,181) contested the third place. Protestant churches are 14 times as numerous as Roman Catholic ones; their ministers 8 times as numerous; and their communicants more than double those of the latter. The Evangelical (q. v.) numbered over 192,700; their teachers 1,746,000; and their pupils 15,337,000. The Roman Catholic clergy estimate their Sunday-school scholars as 1,000,000. The (q. v.) have 143,000 communicants; 1,769 churches; and 1,084 ministers.

Education is the business of the states, not of the nation, and every state has by law established free, public schools. These are largely supplemented by private and parochial schools. In 1910 only 7.7% of the 71,000,000 Americans ten years old and more were unable to read or write. These illiterates numbered 5,517,608. Only 3% of the native white population ten years old and more was illiterate; but 12.8% of the same class foreign-born whites and 30% of that class of the colored population were illiterate. That is, among the 50,989,343 of the first division there were only 1,535,530 illiterates; but among the 12,944,215 of the second class there were 1,650,519 illiterates and among the 7,646,712 of the third, group there were 2,331,559 illiterates. Illiteracy in the United States is almost wholly due to immigrants and negroes. The percentage of illiteracy in 1900 was 10.7% and in 1910 7.7%. The United States leads the world in many industries, but in none more successfully than in the making of citizens in its public schools. Though the national government administers no system of education nor appropriates money directly for schools, it has ever since 1787 indirectly assisted education more generously than any other government that ever existed. In each new state it has set two square miles of each township six miles square aside as endowments for schools, agricultural colleges or universities. The total has been 75,000,000 acres for schools and universities, including 8,000,000 for colleges of agriculture. It also maintains a bureau of education (see ), which collects statistics and publishes reports. The state systems of education are so similar that in effect they make a national system of American education.

In 1909-10 there were 17,813,852 children in the public schools, which cost $426,250,434. The total number of pupils in all institutions was 19,811,922. Universities and colleges numbered 581, of which 339 were coeducational and 145 for men only. There also were 97 colleges for women. The colleges and universities had 183,572 students and and an aggregate of 55,000,000 volumes in their libraries.

As for schools of music or art, almost every city has at least one. See, , , and ; articles on other educational topics; and articles on the states and on single universities or colleges.

See, and.

The population of Continental United States in 1910 was 91,972,266. Including Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico and Philippine Islands, and adding estimates for the islands of Guam and Samoa and the Canal Zone, the total population of the United States and possessions is about 101,100,000. The original inhabitants were (q. v.),of whom there are 291,581. The (q. v.) were brought into this country in 1619 as slaves (see ), and number over 10,000,000. Their progress since 1865 has been noteworthy. The native population of the continental United States in 1900 was 65,729,150, and the foreign-born 10,356,644. There were 160 cities of 25,000 or more inhabitants, their combined population being 19,718,312. The urban population (1910) was 42,623,383, or 46.3% of the total. In 1910 there were 50 cities with a population of 100,000 a more and 179 with 25,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. Among these chief cities are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston, Cleveland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh (including Allegheny), Detroit, Buffalo, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Newark, New Orleans, Washington, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Jersey City, Kansas City, Seattle, Indianapolis, Providence, Louisville, Rochester, St. Paul, Denver and Portland, Oreg., all but six east of the Mississippi and having from 4,766,883 down to 207,212 inhabitants. (See articles on cities of the United States as or .) The foreign-born population in 1900 was 10,460,085, representing almost every nationality, 26,918,107 immigrants having come between 1787 and July 1st of 1908. (Canadian and Mexican immigrants are not included.) Before 1775 the English and Scotch-Irish were the prevailing race, though New York had a considerable Dutch and Pennsylvania a large German population, while South Carolina had many citizens of French descent. (The Louisiana of 1803 and Texas