The problem of illiteracy in Chile is a serious one, the estimated
figures for 1917 showing 959,061 illiterates out of a total
population of 3,249,279. Since the year 1900 the struggle against it
has grown in vigor. The National Educational Association has shown
especial efficiency, and has worked through committees having the
following phases in charge: Compulsory school attendance, the legal
requirements, condition of the schools and the teaching force, school
revenues, school buildings and sanitation, and special education.
This steady pressure prepared public sentiment for the leadership
of the most influential agency ever invoked in the fight against
illiteracy, viz. the conferences organized by the powerful newspaper El
Mercurio. Under its auspices these conferences were held in a 3-days’
series in July, 1917, and were attended and participated in by men and
women identified with every phase of national education. The following
topics were the salient ones of those discussed: