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Show nUTEKACY COSTS -TIIK NATION FIFTEEN DIVISIONS "re thun four hundred thousand thous-and Americans have boon rejoctod bv tiio "nii' bonulso of lllitorncy and Jolm NV- stm,ol,nker' of fh, U S Office of Education, estimates es-timates that 250,000 of these men u-ore physically fit. Thus, it appears that illiteracy has cost the nation some fifteen divisions and that the burden of defending the country has rested that much heavier on the shoulders of the literate. We are also a bit surprised at I figures from the 1940 census which ! reveal that out of a population of j 74 775.S36 persons of 25 years or older, 10,10-1,612 persons had com-! com-! picted only four years of public schooling. Startling indeed is the revelation that 2,799,923 had not gone to school at all. Of the persons who had not passed the fourth grade, 4,200,000 are native-born whites, 3,100,000 are alien whites, and 2,700,000 are ; Negroes. The state of New York led with 1,020,197 persons who had not completed four years in school. |