TABLE XLVII.-CONCLUDED.-Percentage of native and foreign to total persons of

school age, cities.

In Table XLVII is shown the percentage of native and foreign born to total persons of school age in the incorporated cities of the State.

R

TABLE XLVIII.-Percentage of persons of school age to total population of each, incor

Incorporated cities.

All cities......

porated cities.

TABLE XLVIII.-CONCLUDED.-Percentage of persons of school age to total population of each, incorporated cities.

A distribution of the males and females of school age, with percentages of same to total population of each for the incorporated cities of the State, is given in the above table.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

A detailed presentation of the number of persons of primary school age attending school in the State during the year of 1904, is made in Tables XLII and XLIII (pages 672-675) of general tables. These statistics show the whole number of persons in the State for whom school attendance is reported, to be 497,299 persons, or 64.2 per cent, of the total population of school age. Of this number reported in attendance, 248,742 are males and 248,557 females. These figures compared with the tabulations of the U. S. Census of 1900, 232,881 males and 231,845 females, an aggregate of 464,726, mark an increase of 32,573, or 7 per cent, in the past four years; while compared with the school attendance shown by the State census of 1894 reporting 474,672 persons, exhibit an increase of only 22,627 or 4.8 per cent in the past decade. Comparisons, however, with the results of preceding censuses should not be made unreservedly; lack of uniformity in age limits, and omission from the present compilations of private and parochial schools, should be taken into consideration.

TABLE XLIX.-Number of persons of primary school age, school attendance and per cent of same to total number of persons of primary school age.

From the above table we find 176,815, or 35.5 per cent, of the total school attendance reported in Michigan is centered in the incorporated cities, leaving 320,484, or 64.5 per cent, the greater proportion, enrolled in the village and rural school districts of the State.

The school attendance in the State and incorporated institutions of Michigan reported for the academic year 1903-1904, in Table XLIV of general tables, numbers 19,725 persons. Of this number 7,941 are students in the State educational institutions; 9,593 are classified in the incorporated schools of the State, and 2,191 are enrolled in the charitable or industrial institutions maintained by the State.

TABLE L.-School attendance in State and incorporated institutions, 1904.

The school attendance in the State and incorporated schools of Michigan, classified as to character of institution is given in Table L.

LITERACY AND ILLITERACY.

The literacy of the population of the State is determined upon the ability of all persons ten years of age and over to read and write, not necessarily the English language, but any language. The injury with respect to literacy, made by each census enumerator called for a definite answer (Yes or No) as to whether or not a person could read or write, and the tabulations derived from these returns presenting the literate and illiterate in the State June 1, 1904, are given in Tables XLV and XLVI of general tables. The illiterates are subdivided into two classes, namely, persons who can neither read nor write and persons who can read but cannot write; a presentation of which, classified by sex, general and parent-nativity, follows in general Tables XLVII, XLVIII, XLIX and L.

In reviewing the statistics of illiterates presented in these tables, the degree of illiteracy is ignored in figuring the proportions in the State; the designation "illiterate," comprehends all persons who can neither read nor write, or who can read but cannot write.

The population ten years of age and over returned for the entire area of enumeration in 1904, numbers 1,997,171, or 78.9 per cent, of the total population of the State. The literate comprise 1,927,781, or 96.5 per cent, of the entire population considered; the illiterate 69,390, or 3.5 per cent. The latter figures compared with the 80,482 illiterates reported in Michigan in the census of 1900, show a decrease of 11,092, or 13.8 per cent, in the past four years.