LITERATURE AND SCHOOL FUNDS.

387

raised by tax upon school districts for support of schools, 1855, $231,215.13; public money apportioned for the year, $99,938.76. Number of districts, 3,255. Population, 1854, 511,672.

INDIANA-School Funds, 1857, are-productive, $2,822,814.65; unproductive, $2,107,051.59. Total, $4,929,866.24. Number of districts, 1856, 6,463. Number of common schools, 4,876; children attending schools, 195,176. Books in school libraries, 188,499; number added during the year, 144,880.

ILLINOIS :-Educational Fund, $1,054,365. This has been appropriated by the State to pay off its indebtedness. It pays an annual interest of 6 per cent. There are, besides, township and county funds. The value of the former is estimated at $1,952,090.51; that of the latter at $50,000; total, $2,953,594.58. This fund is at 10 per cent. interest. In 1856 there were 6,813 districts. Amount paid in 97 counties for schools was $308,385.52. Number of schools, 7,634. Population, 1855, 1,306,576.

MISSOURI:-Capital of School Fund, $575,668. Income distributed semi-annually among the different counties, according to number of children between 5 and 20. In 1857, there were 3,382 school-houses; in 1858, 4,397 teachers.

IOWA:-Capital of the School Fund, 1857, was $2,030,544, nominally. Estimated worth of unsold school lands, $2,082,998. In 1857 there were 3,265 organized school districts. In 1857 there were apportioned among the schools, from the interest of the School Fund, $111,840. Population, 1856, 509,414. WISCONSIN-Capital of School Fund, 1858, was $2,845,846.34; 7 per cent. interest gave $199,209.24. Of this fund were disbursed for schools, $150,000. The capital is constantly increased from the sale of swamp lands, and other sources. University Fund is over $300,000. In 1858 there were 3,181 districts, and 1,566 parts of districts. Number of volumes in libraries is 38,755. Population, 1855, 552,451.

CALIFORNIA:-Capital of School Fund, $466,000. The 500,000 acres of internal improvement lands granted by Congress are appropriated to Common School Fund. It is estimated that the grants of Congress for schools will amount to

6,000,000 acres. In 1857, $58,521 were apportioned for schools, 486 teachers were engaged. Estimated population, 1856, 507,067.

MINNESOTA:-Sections 16 and 36, in each township, are reserved and given to the State for school purposes, and a general law of the State prescribes that one quarter of one per cent. on all taxable property shall be levied for the support of common schools. Population, September, 1858, 150,360.

ILLITERATE WHITE ADULTS IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 389

Illiterate White Adults in the Several States-1850.

An exposition of the educational interests of the several
States is regarded as not inappropriate in a work of a political
character. These interests are not only the occasion of fre-
quent legislation, but are likewise indicative of the material
growth and prosperity of the several States.

The accompanying tables are instructive as showing the
comparative estimate placed upon education in different States.
The Eastern are distinguished for their devotion to Common

Schools. Their example is being closely imitated by the Mid-
dle and Western States. In the more Southern States school
facilities are less general: but there are some hopeful indica-
tions of improvement.

It has been estimated that the proportion of free white
children, between the ages of five and twenty, who are found
in attendance at some school or college, is, in the Northern
States, something more than three-fifths of the whole. In the
Southern States, the proportion is not quite one-fifth of the
whole number.

The concluding table will indicate the proportion of white
adults over twenty years of age, in each State, who cannot
read and write, to the whole white population:

INDEX.