Speech #590120135

The census of 1900 shows that .the illiteracy among the negroes of this country amounted to 44.5 per cent. thereby greatly reducing the average literacy of the nation. On the other hand. the same census report shows that the average illiteracy among the native whites was only 4.6 per cent. whereas the illiteracy among the foreign whites was 12.9 per cent. The great progress we have made in the education of our own people is shown by the fact that the illiteracy in the total population over 10 years of age in 1880 was 17 per cent and under the census of 1890 was 13.3 per cent. a great advance in the education of our children. notwithstanding the fact that millions of the ignorant of Europe have been dumped on our shores in the last two decades: At a conservative estimate at least from 25 to 30 per cent of the immigrants now coming into this country are illiterate. and by their admission we are placIng a great burden on our own people to lift the illiterates of foreign lands to the American standard of edulcational advantages. The educational test for immigrants is a protection for us in another way: Taking history as a whole. the nations that have left the greatest mark in -the worlds history in art. religion. and literature have been the homogeneous peoples and decadence has followed the mixture of races. The era of greatness of the people of Judea. Greece. and Rome was when they were homogeneous and before their blood had been contaminated by the mixture of foreign races.