Kansas

Population.

In population, Kansas ranked, in 1900 and 1910, 22nd in the Union; in 1920 and 1930 twenty-fourth; the U.S. cen sus of 1930 gave a population of 1,880,999. In the ten years from 1920 to 1930 the rural population was stationary, while the urban population increased over Ioo,000. In 1930, there were 20 cities with a population of Io,000 or more. The population of the four largest cities in 1920 and 1930 : Kansas City, 101,177, 121,857; Wichita, 72,217, I ',no; peka, 50,022, 64,120; Hutchin son, 23,298, 27,085.

The negro population, 3.5% in the year 1930, rather large for a northern and western State, is largely the result of an exodus of coloured people from the South in 1878-80 at a time when their condition was an unusually hard one ; an exodus which turned mainly toward Kansas. The white population was 91.6% Ameri can-born in 1930. The west third of the State has a comparatively scant population, because of its aridity. In the '7os, after a suc cession of wet seasons, and again in the '8os, settlement was pushed far westward, beyond the limits of safe agriculture, but hundreds of settlers—and indeed many entire communities- were literally starved out by the recurrence of droughts. Irriga tion has made a surer future for limited areas, however, and the introduction of drought-resisting crops and the substitution of dairy and livestock interests in the place of agriculture have brightened the outlook in the western counties and created addi tional possibilities of progress.

Finances.

The chief source of revenue is a general property tax. An amendment permitting the classification of property for the purpose of taxation was rejected by the people in 1914 and 1920, but finally was carried in a somewhat altered form in 1923. Under the new classification, the assessed property valuation for the year 1932 was $3,666,275,513 as compared with $2,746,900, 000 in 1912. Other important sources of revenue were the motor vehicle licence fees and a gasolene tax of two cents per gallon. Revenue receipts exceeded governmental costs of $129,550,377 by $2,973,951 in 1932. The total gross debt of the State and its sub sidiaries, less sinking-fund assets, amounted to $156,104,613. A State budget system was established by an act of the legislature in 1917.

Education.

Kansas ranks very high among the States in its small percentage of illiteracy (inability to write). In 193o only 1.2% of persons at least ten years of age were illiterate; and the percentages of illiteracy for native whites, foreign whites and negroes were respectively 0.5%, 5.9% and 5.9%. The public

school system has as its head a superintendent of public instruc tion ; the schools of each county are under a county superintend ent ; and each district has a board of directors known as a school board. In rural districts the school board consists of three mem bers; in cities it has six members.

The total population in 1932 between the ages of five and 17 years, inclusive, was 478,10o. Of this number, or 87.9%, were enrolled in the public schools. For the same year there were 30,483 pupils enrolled in private and parochial schools. The dis tribution of the public school enrolment was 322,918 in the kindergarten and elementary grades and 98,436 in secondary schools. The average number of days attended per pupil enrolled had increased from 119.5 in 1910 to 156.7 in 1932. The per capita expenditure, based on population from the ages of five to 17, in clusive, increased from $56.71 in 1920 to $69.91 in 1932. The total expenditure for the year 1931-32 was $33,426,000.

Of higher educational institutions, the State supports the Uni versity of Kansas at Lawrence (1866) ; an agricultural college at Manhattan (1863, aided by the U.S. Government), to which are attached agricultural experiment stations at Hays, Garden City, Colby and Tribune; State teachers' colleges at Emporia (1875), Hays (1902), and Pittsburg (1903) ; Western university, for ne groes, at Kansas City; and the Kansas vocational school at Tope ka. In 1899 the State university established a school of medicine in Kansas City.

In addition to the State schools, various flourishing private or denominational institutions are maintained. Those institutions recognized by the U.S. office of education as universities or col leges, in 1935, were : Kansas Wesleyan university at Salina ; Baker university at Baldwin City; Washburn college at Topeka; South western college at Winfield ; College of Emporia at Emporia ; Bethany college at Lindsborg; St. Mary college at Leavenworth; Ottawa university at Ottawa ; Sterling college at Sterling ; St. Benedict's college at Atchison; McPherson college at McPherson; Bethel college at Newton; Friends university at Wichita; and the Municipal university of Wichita at Wichita. There are also ten junior colleges, chiefly operated as parts of public school systems, and a number of small business and professional schools. Haskell institute (1884), near Lawrence, is maintained by the United States Government as a school for Indians which is very successful.