Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/371

NEBRASKA. the western half of the State contains but few people. The foreign-born population in 1900 numbered 177,347, the Germans exceeding any other nationality. In the same year there were 6269 negroes and 3322 taxed Indians. There are 13.9 inhabitants to the square mile. Nebraska is one of the two States which suffered an actual decrease in urban population during the last decade of the past century. In 1900 there were eleven cities which exceeded 4000 inhabitants each, and together constituted 20.8 per cent. of the total population. The largest three cities in 1900 were: Omaha, 102,555; Lincoln, 40,169; South Omaha, 26,001.

. The Governor, Commissioner of Public Lands and Buildings, and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction constitute a Board of Charities and Correction. The State institutions are as follows: Asylums for the insane at Lincoln and at Norfolk, Asylum for Incurable Insane at Hastings, Soldiers and Sailors' Home at Grand Island, Soldiers and Sailors' Home at Milford, Home for Friendless at Lincoln, State Industrial School at Kearney, Girls' Industrial School at Geneva, Industrial Home at Milford, State Penitentiary at Lincoln, Institution for Feeble-Minded at Beatrice, Institution for Deaf and Dumb at Omaha, Institution for Blind at Nebraska City. About one-half of the counties have poor farms (1902), the inmates at these aggregating about 800, while half as many other persons receive continuous aid from the counties, and as many more receive partial aid.

. Nebraska bears the distinction of having the lowest proportion of illiteracy in the United States (2.3 in 1900). In 1902 the State had 6813 public schools (465 graded), with 9629 teachers, of whom 1862 were males. The school population (five to twenty-one years of age) amounted, in 1902, to 375,340, the enrollment to 290,543, and the average daily attendance to 185,755. The average length of the school term in the same year was 138 days. The average monthly salary for male teachers increased from $39.24 in 1871 to $49.15 in 1902; of female teachers, from $36.64 to $38.51. The expenditures on education in 1902 amounted to $4,435,338, or about $23.90 per pupil in average attendance. It is reported that only about 5.5 per cent. of the teachers of the State are graduates of a college or a university, about 40 per cent. have a high-school education or its equivalent, 29 per cent. are without high-school training, and less than 16 per cent. have any professional training. To improve the professional standing of the teachers, a number of union normal institutes have been organized, giving a four weeks' summer course for teachers. The only normal school of the State (at Peru) has an attendance of about 400.

In 1900 there were in the State for purposes of secondary education 250 public high schools, with 15,208 secondary scholars, and 19 private high schools and academies, with 684 students. The chief institutions for higher education are the (q.v.), at Lincoln; the University of Omaha (Presbyterian), at Bellevue; Cotner University (Christian), at Bethany; Doane College (Congregational), at Crete; Nebraska Wesleyan University (Methodist Episcopal), at University Place.

. The church members or communicants in the State form only about 20 per cent. of the total population. The principal denominations, in order of their importance, are the Methodist, comprising over one-fourth of the church members, the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, the Presbyterian, the Baptist, and the Congregational.

. In 1900 the State had a population of militia age amounting to 235,572. The aggregate strength of the militia in 1901 was 1595 men.

. The territory now constituting the State was originally a part of the Louisiana Purchase, and afterwards a part of Missouri Territory. (q.v.), setting out from Mexico in search of the seven cities of Cibola and of Quivira, claimed that in 1541 he journeyed on the great plain as far as latitude 40° N., the southern boundary of the State. There are stories of other Spanish explorations, but little is known of them. In 1673 Marquette passed the mouth of the Missouri and marked the Platte from Indian stories. Pierre and August Choteau, brothers engaged in the fur trade, went beyond the forks of the Platte in 1762. Lewis and Clark, in 1804-06, skirted the boundary of the present State. The first known settlement was a trading post founded at Bellevue by Manuel Lisa in 1805. The American Fur Company placed a post here in 1810, and posts were established at Omaha in 1825 and at Nebraska City in 1826. Fort Atkinson was established in 1821, but abandoned in 1827. With the admission of Missouri as a State in 1821, the territory was left practically without government. In 1834 part of the region was attached to Arkansas, the jurisdiction of the district court of Missouri was extended over another part, and a third portion was joined to Michigan Territory. The next year Col. Henry Dodge, with a force of dragoons, encamped at what is now Fort McPherson, and commenced negotiations with the Indians looking toward their removal to reservations. Many tribes of the Eastern Indians were then being transferred to this ‘Indian country.’ The Mormons in 1845-46 wintered within the territory, and the next year troops destined for service in New Mexico spent the winter at old Fort Kearney. New Fort Kearney was established on the Oregon trail in 1848. Thousands of gold seekers passed through the territory in 1849-50, and some stopped on the way in defiance of the law which forbade settlement among the Indians. In 1844 Stephen A. Douglas, then a member of the House of Representatives, introduced a bill to organize a Territory, but the bill was never reported from the committee. Another unsuccessful attempt was made in April, 1848, and still another in December. The Indians, who foresaw the inevitable extension of white settlement, wished for a Territorial government in order to sell lands to better advantage. The Wyandots, led by their half and quarter bloods, in 1851-52 petitioned Congress to establish a Territory, with no success. A Territorial Delegate, Abelard Guthrie, was chosen in October, 1852. A bill to organize Nebraska Territory passed the House February 2, 1853, but did not reach a vote in the Senate. In order to force action, a Provisional Government was organized by the residents, and William Walker was elected Governor July 25, 1853. Senator Douglas reported a bill in January, 1854, providing for the erection of a