The public school system of education in Missouri was adopted in 1839. The system consists of district schools, graded and ungraded; city schools, graded and with high school courses; five normal schools, Lincoln Institute for negroes and the Univer sity of Missouri. The University of Missouri is supported by what is designated as a per manent endowment consisting of certificates of indebtedness amounting to a total of $1,235,839, and by appropriations from the general assem bly. The total amount of the funds for the use of public schools, as given in a recent report of the state auditor, is $15,162,665.77. From the income on this amount there was paid in 1915 for teachers' wages $1,064,525 in the city, town and village schools. Free public schools are required by law for children, white and negro, between the ages of 6 and 20 years in every district in the State. Besides these State schools, there are also many private insti tutions for both sexes. Among the larger institutions of this kind are Saint Louis Uni versity, founded in 1829, under the control of the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic Church, with buildings worth approximately $1,000,000; Washington University, Saint Louis, which has an endowment fund of several mil lions of dollars; William Jewell College at Liberty, a Baptist school; Drury College, Springfield, Congregational; Central College, Fayette, Southern Methodist; Westminster Col lege, Fulton, Presbyterian; Missouri Wesleyan, Cameron, Northern Methodist; Missouri Val ley College, Marshall, Presbyterian; Hardin College, Mexico, Baptist; William Woods, Ful ton, Christian; Stephens, Baptist, and Christian, Christian, Columbia; Lindenwood, Saint Charles, Presbyterian; Christian University, Canton, and other smaller institutions. The value of buildings and grotinds of private edu cational institutions is approximately $7,000,000 and the amount of their endowments approxi mately $9,000,000. At the time of the last census there were within the State 111,116 illiterates of 10 years and over, a percentage of illiteracy of 4.3. Among native whites of native parentage the percentage was 3.4, among native whites of foreign parentage, 1.2, and among Afro-Americans, 17.4. In 1915 the total public school enrolment was 711,355, and the average daily attendance 528,153; there were in the same year 19,826 teachers. Male teachers received an average annual salary of $603 and female teachers $511. In the same year $19,700,000 were expended on education.
Religion.— Missouri's earliest settlers were Roman Catholics. The first Protestant church was the Christ Church (Protestant Episcopal) which was founded in Saint Louis in 1819. Soon after various religious bodies established themselves in various parts of the State. The Roman Catholic Church has retained its strength in the cities and towns along the great rivers, and its members are numerous through out the entire State. The Methodists (Northern and Southern), the Disciples of Christ, the Baptists, the Presbyterians and the Episcopal ians are the leading Protestant churches. Each of these churches supports a college with the exception of the Episcopalian. The Roman Catholic has one large university, a number of preparatory schools and many parochial schools located largely in the cities.
Government.— The present constitution of the State was adopted by popular vote in 1875 after it had been framed and recommended by a convention called for that purpose. The general assembly of the State, consisting of the senate and house of representatives, meets biennially on the Wednesday after the first day of January following the election of the members. The senate is composed of 34 mem bers and the house 142. The pay of the mem bers is not to exceed $5 a day for 70 days and if the session is further prolonged, an allow ance of $1 a day is made until the body adjourns. The members are also allowed mile age to and from the meetings of the assembly.
In the executive department are the governor, the lieutenant-governor, the secretary of state, the state auditor, the state treasurer, the attorney-general and the superintendent of public schools. The governor, in whom is vested supreme executive power, is chosen for four years, as are all of the other members of the executive department. The governor is given a qualified veto upon acts of the assembly. The judicial system of the State is composed of the Supreme Court, the Saint Louis, Kansas City and Springfield courts of appeals, the cir cuit courts, criminal courts, probate and j municipal courts. The judges and officers of the Supreme Court are elected for a term of 10 years; of the Saint Louis and Kansas City courts of appeals for a term of 12 years and of the circuit courts of the State for six years. The house of representatives is given the sole power of impeachment of executive and judicial officers. The senate tries all cases of impeachment. Every male citizen of the United States and every male person of foreign birth who may have declared his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States accord ing to law, not less than one year and not more than five years before he offers to vote, who is over the age of 21 years, is entitled to vote at all elections by the people if he has resided in the State one year immediately preceding the election, and has resided in the county, city or town where he shall offer to vote at least 60 days immediately preceding the election. In 1908 the initiative and referendum were adopted by constitutional amendment. Capital punish ment was abolished in 1917.
Charitable and Penal Institutions.— The State of Missouri has four hospitals for the care of the insane, a colony for the feeble minded and epileptic, a State sanitorium for the tubercular, a school for the deaf and dumb and a school for the blind as its charitable institutions maintained by appropriations and the labor of the persons within them. The penal institutions are a penitentiary, a reform school for boys, and girls' industrial school and an industrial school for negro girls. In addi- , tion to these, the State maintains a home for Federal and a home for Confederate veterans. The hospitals for the insane are located at Fulton, Saint Joseph, Nevada and Farmington, and have a total property valuation of approxi mately $2,725,000. Marshall is the home of the colony for the feeble-minded and epileptic. The State sanitorium for the tubercular was established in 1905 at Mount Vernon, Lawrence County, on the crest of the Ozark Mountains. The 48th assembly appropriated $175,700 for the use of the institution. The school for the deaf and dumb is located at Fulton and has 300 students who are given an industrial training peculiar to their needs. The school for the blind is located in Saint Louis. The peniten tiary of the State is at Jefferson City and the official manual of Missouri for 1915-16 gives the total number of its prisoners, 1 April 1915, as 2,585 males and 55 females. Its property valuation is $1,987,113.87. The reform school for boys at Boonville has 339 inmates. At Chillicothe is the industrial school for girls which has 225 girls in its care. The State industrial school for negro girls was estab lished at Tipton, 14 June 1909, by an act which appropriated $20,000 for its beginning. A total appropriation of $199,742.19 has been made for the completion of the buildings of the school and the support of the institution. The Con federate veterans home is at Higginsville. The Federal soldiers home is at Saint James and has 296 veterans who make their home there. Ac cording to the last census there were 2,388 paupers in almshouses, being 72.5 per 100,000 of population, and 3,523 prisoners in penal insti tutions, being 107 per 100,000 of population.