EDUCATION Education is backward, though the percentage of illiteracy, if about 60 as is said, may be less than in some of the other Republics. With the scattered population, chiefly in the country and in small towns, to provide educational facilities for all is impossible. There is a University in Asunción with five Faculties; secondary schools in Asunción, Pilar, and Villa Rica; and six Normal Schools. A School of Commerce with night and day classes does good work in the capital, where the _Instituto Paraguayo_ is of important cultural value, recently receiving a library of 2000 volumes in English from the Carnegie Peace Foundation. The _Banco Agricola_ has done much for the diffusion of general education as well as more specifically in agriculture. As in other countries, some young men go abroad to study, either on Government scholarships or with private means. PRESS, RELIGION, ETC. =Press.= The capital is well supplied with newspapers and periodicals; little journalism exists elsewhere. =Religion.= The religion is Roman Catholic, but there is complete toleration for other creeds. An important work has been carried on in the Chaco by W. Barbrooke Grubb and others of the English Church. Schools have been established, with an industrial and intellectual as well as a religious centre. Civil marriage alone is legal. Telegraphic communication with the outside world is carried on by way of Posadas and Corrientes, but frequent interruptions in service have made it unsatisfactory. There are over 2000 miles of wire in the interior. Wireless is used by the Government to communicate with the garrison towns. There are stations at the Capital, Concepción, and Encarnación. In 1919 there was no Telephone service in Asunción, as the station had been destroyed by fire; but such service existed in Concepción, Villa Rica, and Paraguarí. =Money.= The Money in use is paper, the standard, a gold peso equal to the Argentine, 96.5 cents. The paper peso varies in value, in 1920 being worth five cents. The value of exports and imports is declared in gold, an Exchange Bureau supplying local money at the actual rate. Thus fluctuations affecting commerce have ceased and business has improved. =The Metric System= of weights and measures is usual. CHAPTER XXXIX PARAGUAY: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS