The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
the date indicated below. No
credit need be given.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
w
Published weekly by the
Bureau of Extension of the Uni
versity of North Carolina.
.7f
NOVEMBER 25, 1914
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. I, NO. 2
3R)ditorial Boards E. C. Branson. J. G. d(*K.
Hamiltou. L. li. Wilson. Z. V. Judfl, 8. R.
\Vijir»Ts.
EntfTerl as .=?enond-c*la®p matter NoveinlKT 14,
U)l4, atthe postofKce at Cliapel Hill, N. C'.,
und*"i- the act of Alienist 24.
LETTER SERIES OF THE
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
TlioSchool of Kdneatioii of
-sity this fall llif issuing of a s(>ri(‘s
■of letters in th(' atl(‘iii|it to be of sf'rvii’C
10 till'teachers of the Stat‘. ^rhes‘ tettc'rs
contain iiifornialioii ami ftutifieslioii alonfr
tlie\arious lines *! niodt'cn (‘(tucational
jptt'ort.
■■■ Thi' first two of these letterf', which
'»\'ore i»f an intjodiictoiv iiiiture, were sen I
«iut as separate sheets. Since, however,
the I'ni\‘isity has Vn'gun the |mblication of
■its weekly NKW'S LKTTKh’. it hass'eniecl
'^■'Jbetit to liscontinne the plan of' sericlijij;;
tliese letters sc'iiarately. and onc'w ill ajj-
|vear each week as a part of rhe.NKWS
' ] hTTKl!. The third in the s»>ries a])peaiVd
J laf.t week in this form, anil the fourth a[>-
gjears in this issue.
THK \K,WS i.ETTKR w ill be ssent to all
' iiatnes on tlie mailing list for the original
,'L/etter Series, and to all otliei\s who notify
>jhe editors that they wish to receive it.
A Use for Waste
Of course teachers of lii.story realize,
what a splendid oppHirtunity they iioAv
ii.ave to connect jiresent and pajst inter-
-Tiational events-in the nse of current news
■about the warring nations of Ktn-ope.
’Trafalgar, Sedan, pei'haps Waterloo, are
-,.. . being fought over again on diU'erent bat-
■ ; ■ ilefields and under difterent conditions to
;r‘ -S)e sure; but. as othera have said, the
' ;amotiveii, the hatrtni and the ultimate end
' . 511 view are the same.
Surely ao teacher of geography will
to have ever piv.sent a map of the
of war in Enroj«' and to follow care-
: Sully from wet'k to week the movements
■of the armies. The pictures of the eou-
fliet show only tw plainly that war de-
■ stroys the home.s of man and Ix^ast. Ge
ography is the study of the earth a.s the
2iome of man.. Do yon see the con
nection?
The inatising of troo|>s, the extended
.Jiiie of battle, the size of the guns, the
■daily and monthly cost of the war in dol
lars and in men, the va,st ainoinit of food
necessary to the sust‘nance of the force.s,
■. All these give fxj-achers ample mat'rial for
i-stimulating and intt'nwting work in arith-
-'netio.
In High School Too
^ Have the tea‘hern of Latin siH;»n theii-
-chance also? Caesar wrote, Hormn om-
niiun fortuisiirii sunt Belgae—Of all these
r.he Bt'lgian.s an> the bravest—and the
. ^tateiTient s(x-ms trtie even to-day. The
• dailies are full of stMitences easily usable
in prose composition ; and the language
-of the Roman, once believ(>d to Ix' dead,
'■f' again lives in the minds of men. It can
'i; 'be made to live in a very real way in tlie
minds of high scIkmiI pupils. Have you
tried it?
How much the |>resenl .situation in Eti-
roi>e means to th(\t‘acher of nKKiern Uu;-
■s^uages the liAe and wide-awalce t^ach(“r
■;an ttsll you. Tl»' conflict is on the soil
,.ju.id bet\v(‘en the ]«“opies whose languages
■she or he leachc's. Tlie cultun', fH.‘cu[>a-
iions, cttstonis, languages, the very life,
iiational as well as individual, of thes('
people are at stake. Such a situation
iivill not be neglected by the i-eal teachi'r.
Seize the Day
Big things are hajipening every day in’
:i*^rhi8 busy world of ours and they ought
not t.o be neglectt'd hy tlie teacliei"s who
are honestly striving to till up, graft into,
■draw out and rotuwl out the life of die
xhildreu in school.---|j('tter iN^o. 4. I’ni-
.vei-sity School of Education.
OUR IMPORTED FOOD BILL
'Out cotton crop is worth around a hil-
, ^iton dollar's a .s:*asni. I>ut ourhill in the
iT^outh for imported hread and meat in the
^?eiisu« year was $935,000,0001
In times of p*ace f>nr cotton cro]^ does
’kittle more than pay our imported fooI
bill. Add the co.st of importt^l tWd for
• our domestic animals, and the deficit is
-^staggering—even in yeai's of peace! In
'iimes of wai-, it_!n(>ans ilire calamity in
i:';he cotton counties.
ALL THEIR EGGS IN ONE
BASKET
In Hunt county, Texas, thi> money in
• 'irculatioti thi.s fall is .some twn million
'• lollai« lfts than last year.
The butclier, the haker and the can-
' "Uestick nutker are in distre.ss along with
she fanners. But also the bankers, the
traders, and the tran.spoitera are miglitily
»^)arassed by the money-famine.
OUR MEAGRE BEEF SUPPLY
I'pon the basis of total landel area,
our 'attle in .North Carolina in 1910 aver
aged only 23 per thousand acres.
Counting farnilanl alone. oui- average
was 31; for the w hole Cnited States, it
was 61; foi- the South .\tlantic .^tate.s, 41.
A\'e had 360,000 fewer cattle in North
('ai(jlina in the census year than in 1850.
While our population intiltiplied two and
a halt times ovei', our beef .stipply de-
crea.s(\d neai'ly one-third 1
Meat animals an' selling of late in the
Chicago markets at ]>rices beyond the
faniini' tigtire.s that ruUvl just after the
war between the start's.
I’ri('es to consuniei's are higher still.
'I'hc iiresideut of the -\merican Packers’
.\.s.sociatiou predicts portei'hou.se steak at
a dollai- and a half per pound. ]\leat, saj'.s
he, will .soon be prohibitive to the labor
ing man.
Our Chances
W'e have two hundred million uncul
tivated aTes in the South; twenty-tw'o
million in Noith Carolina alone!
It looks like a capital chance for .south
ern fanners.
When they can turnix't'f cattle into in
stant realy cash at a pi-ofit, they will go
int.o the production of meat, in sonie ade
quate, wholesale way—and not .sooner.
\\'hene\’er has it been otherwise?
A Problem for Alert Business People
W'e need stockbreeders as.sociations,
and big beef bulls in abtmdance. And
we need to gt't rid of the cattle tick.
The railroads need to tempt the far-
mer.s with arrangements, conveniences,
facilities and rate.s forhanilling live stock
shipments.
More live-stock markets are net^iwl,
within possible reach of the farmere.
Local butehering, packing and i-efriger-
ating are necessary. I’hey need to lie .sa.ni-
tary and modern in-every particular.
V\'ell managel city markets are indis-
jiensable.
Here ar(‘ problems for city boards of
trade—far more important than securing
another industrial enterpri.se or two.
The growth and prOvSpeiity of cities de
pend upon theii- being centres of well-
ileveloped food-producing regions.
The btisine.ss people in the cities must
help solve the problems of the farmers in
the .surrounding trade territories—and
they must .soon do it in she’r self-defen.se!
THIS YEAR’S BREAD CROPS
Our 1914 corn cr(jp in Xorth'^Carolina
is 56,700,000 bu.shels; or nearly nine mil
lion bushels more than our fi\e-year a\-
erage.
In 1850. our foi-efathers ]>roihicel 34
bu.shels of corn per inhabitant; but in
1914, our ]«?!■ -apita j'ield was only 24
bushels. That is to .say. oui- pei‘ capita
shortagi' is 10 bushels. All told our coi n
shortage is this year 23.394,000 bushels.
\Ve coii.sume in North Carolina ten anil
a half million bushels of \\lu'at pf'r year;
but since 1909 our average annual whi'at
.shortage has bwn five and a quai ter mil
lion bnsheLs.
lleroaiX' 28,500.000 bushels of corn and
corn products, wheat and Hotir to be im
ported into North Carolina during the
coming year. We are gaining year by
year, but we are still behind.-
LESS EXCITING BUT MORE
IMPORTANT THAN POLITICS
Thi-ee important Noith Carolina )>rob-
lems have been ably discu.s.sed befoi-e the
North ('ai'olinaClub at the rnivei'sity this
fall: Kood-lVoducing and Wealth-Ketain-
ing I’ower of L'arni Comnumities by Kieil
H. Yoder, of Catavvba county; Our- iJimin-
i.shing Meat Supply, by.I. .M. Daniel, .Jr.,
of Davidson county; and' Local Packing
and Refrigerating Plants, by W. H. I'ay-
lor, of Fi'anklin county.
Economic and sociitl problems are less
'.xciting tlmji politics, but far more im
portant in th(' South, just this crisis
in our affairs.
SELF-SUPPORTING FARMERS
Alone of all the .'Southern states, Okla
homa rai.ses a sntticiency of foodstufls—
and some twenty million dollai's more for
the markets.
Am) the j>er capita wealth of the Okla
homa country peo])le is the laj'gest in the
South—1829 against ¥302 in Mississippi
and S230 in .Alabama.
A CAROLINA CLUB
SENTIMENT
l!ut the glory of the present is to make
the future' frei'—
We loH' cjtir Land for what she is and
what she is to lie.
— I leniy \'an 1 >yke.
FIGURE IT OUT
Tlie average length of the rui-al high
.school year is 3(.).78, weeks; of the city
high school year 33.85 weeks; a diffei'-
ence of almosi exactly three weeks. This
was true for 1912-1913.
N(“ai-.ly 50 p('r cent of the rural high
schools Jiad only a two-year coui'ST' and
nearly 60 per cent of the city high schools
had a fnll four-yeai' cour,se.
Add two and two and it is evident
that the ptipils in the nu'al high schools
of this State ai'e now given, on an aver
age, le.ss than one-half the time and op
portunity for secondary education allowel
to the pupils in the city high .schools.
How do the nu'al and city high .s'hool.«
of your county compaiv in the.se particu
lars?
THE LUCK OF THE FOOD-
FARMERS
So far, the war in Europe has increased
the value of our foorl and fecxi crops by
*533,000,000.
The hay and forage crop is worth.$17.-
0(X),000 more in the market places; a[)-
ples |!20,000,-000 more; barley, rye and
oats, $70,000,000 mote; corn 155,000,000
mo«'; and wheat J271,000,000 moi'e.
The fanners in the Mifldle West are in
high feiither.
Bui our Southern cotton cm]) is worth
$413,000 less than lastyeai'.
However, our live-at-hona' fanners in
the.South aie not worrj-ing. Forty-four
counties in Noi-th Carolina grew no cot
ton last year or this; or le.ss than seven
thousitnfl bales, all toki.
GRAIN WAREHOUSES
.1 want to see gi’ain warehouses all i.is'er
the State with adequate arrangements for
handling grain in large quantities, says a
southern statesman.
A\’hat we need worse than this is liomo-
I'aisefl foods and feedsttiffs ior the barns,
bins and cribs w(' alieady have.
Fanti-y sup]ilies at home ai'e now more
important than warehou.ses in the nearby
market towns. We «ill neel the ware
houses when we have stirpltt.ses to .sell.
If we till otu' lai'dei’s with home-i'aised
bread and meat, we niti.st pixiduce nearly
a billion floUai'S moj'e *f fot")dstutts than
the South is producing at pre.sent.
fiur tii'gent pioblem ju.st now is i-losing
up a deficit; not fnarketing a surjilns.
THE KEYSTONE OF THE
ARCH
The farmer is the keystone of the ai'ch
of luitional prosperity, and he must Ix'
cq.usidered llrst in all of or.r jiolicic.s, .says
.lames .1. Hill.
.\nd then he adds, \vc ha\e Ikh'u busy
as a natifin helping the so-calli'1 indus
trial intejvsts of the county—in fact ev
erybody e.xcept the man on the farm.
And a great captain of industry said it—
mark that!
Washington had a statesman’s clear
vision ot this titith; but not so, any
other statesman in America since his day.
And -\dam Smith saw it a hundn'l years
ago.
UNIVERSITY MEN IN THE
SCHOOLROOM
Seveiil3'-(Jii(‘ i)u*]i v(n! at
the connnejicement in 1914. Sixteen
of these are now pursuing giadtiate or
profe.ssional woi-k, tnei\(‘ at Cha]>el Hill,
foui- at othei' univei'sities.
Of the other fifty-five men, forty are
teaching. ^I’hrei' aii‘ instructoi>i or assis
tants at the I niversity, oiie is in a jii'ivate
.school in Virginia, two are instructoi-s at
the Agricultural and Mechanical College
at Kaleigh, one is instructor' in the South
Carolina Medical Colli'ge, one in the State
School tor the Blind at Raleigh.
The other thirty-thret' men are all
teaching in the public schoils of North
Carolina, the great majoiity of them in
the State high schixjis. And the cla.ss
of 1914 is not e.x.ceptional in this respect.
Thti .Specialist in Higher Mucation in
the Bureau of Ethication at Washington
pronounces tliLs a reconi which few State
Cniver'sities can duplicate.
WOMAN’S NEW FOUND FREE-
DOM
Hamlet's world was lilk'd with 'playing,
sleeping, watching anl w('('[iing!’
Woman’s worki, her new found w'orld
of freedom, is Hik'd with all the.se, and
uioiv! Working, outside the home and
home occupations, has b('('n added; with
le.ss of playing and sk'eping perhaps, but
more-—fai' more-—of working, watching
and Hi'epiug.
.she has won her tight t’or e(juality in
the world of work---no doidjt about that!
,\nd whal does it nu'.an? This, among
oth(>r things:
Nearly one-fotu'th of all the bread-win
ners and wag('-earnei's in the United
.States in 19)0 were girls and women---
075,000 of them.
In Nonh t'arolina, 273,000. And 130,-
000 of them were white girls and women;
106,000 were le.ss than 21 years old; 53,-
000 were U>ss than 16 years old; and 30,-
KOO were less than 13 yeai's oldl
JVlore than a third of all the gills and
wi.imen, ten ye.'irs okl and older, in Xorth
Carolina, in the census year were winning
theii' hivad by the svvej*t i.if their brows,
.rhe incfx'ii.se was from 17.6 per f'ent in
1880 to 34.2, jjer cent in 1910. The per
cent nearly doubled in thii-ty years.
frills and women needs nnist work—-
work more and more as civilization pro-
grt'sseSj'tifMl save the mark!
A main thing is for the heart of the
great workI to make stu't' that their wage
is a righteous wage—-not minimum but
righteous; thiJt the hours of lahf>r Ije rea
sonable in length; and that the conditions
of toil be sanitaiv, safe and Avholesome.
Herein lies the heait of the mattei'
WHOLE-TIME HEALTH OFFI
CERS
'I'he point of view as to the w ork of the
county and city health oHicer is rapidly
chai\ging--and very decidedly for the
better. The theijry that an ounce of jire-
ventiou is worth a ])otmd of cure is being
put into (iractice.
The health ollicer’s first duty the.se
days is to see that disease is prevented
rather than to stamji it out aftt'r it has
taken its toll • in the sutfering and deatli
of the city and country popnlatim. THE
\1SWS LI'M'TEK Ix'lieves in this nioderj>
way of looking at the health officer's
work, and commends for emulation to the
S9 counties wliich do nothavf' whole-tirne
health oHic'rs tlie rei-i'ut ri'cord of Dr. B.
E. Washburn. Ix'idth oMicer of N'a.sh. aa
it a]>]«'ars in the ('ommmiity S('r\ice
Week handlxiok.
“There have Im'i'ii 3,458 itioculatious of
auti-typhiiil vaccine during the mmtli.
['p to date then'"have been 8,098 jjeople
treated with the \ accine. La.st week he
broke tlie record iVn- one day with 388 in
oculations. The record for the week was
989.
■ 'Thegood of all this activity isshow'u itv
the fact tfiat in Nash County only sixtee.ii
eases of typhoid have been repoi'ted this
simimer out of a total population of
35,000.
“.'Vlong with all this goes the commun
ity health work. Oii(' community has
been in opex'ation under the Rockefeller
Foundation for sevi'ial wt'eks. This has
been located around Red Oak. Another
will b(' establisherl in the near future at
Mount Pleasant.”
FULL CRIBS AND SMOKE
HOUSES
In the cen.sus year only four comities in
-North Carolina were .self-supi)orting; in
Tenne.sst'e, 38; in \'irginia, 39; and in
Kentucky, 71!
fnallfourofthe.se.statesthe richest coun-
try populations ai'e in the counties produc
ing the highest food and feed averages;
Alleghany i’ll .North Carolina, |^560; A^■^l-
liamson County, Tenne.ssee, $704; High
lands Cotmty, \’irginia, $990; and Fay
ette County, Kentucky, $2150.
The w'ealth-accumulating farmer is the
fool-producing fanner--in peace and war
tunes alike.
NORTH CAROLINA CLUB
NOTES
.lu.st a few le.s.s than 1,700 landholders
in the I'nited States own nine and a quar
ter million acres of land; an average of
eight and a half .sqttare miles apiece.
On the other hand, two and a third mil
lion farmers, or moi-e than a third of
them all, are tenants and renters, land
less and honii'less. .Snd the numlx'r of
them steadily increases.
Meanwhile, fann lands and buildings
increased in value more than eighteen
billion dollars dtiring the last census pe
riod! .-^nd the chance of the landless
men steadily^de'ieases.
TATTLE IN NORTH CAROLINA. 1910 CENSUS,
PER THOUSAND ACRES
.1. M. DANIEL. .Jj'.. [)a\'iison County Club.
Rank Numlx'r
1. Ashe 81
2. Alleghany 80
3. Wat.aiiga 55
4. Madi.son 50
4. Buncomlx' 50
6. flaywood 45
7. Mitehell 42
8. Yancey 40
9. Hendi'i'son 38
10. f^iitston.. 37
10. Rowan 37
10. Catitwba 37
13. .\lamance 36
13. .Mecklenburg 36
13. Guilfotxl ' 36
17. Alexander 35
17. Iredell 35-
19. For.syth 34
20. Wilkes 33
20. Cabarrus 33
22. ])a\ie.... 32
22. Pa{iipiotank 32
22. Lincoln ! 32
25. Chetokef'.; 31
26. I’nion 30
26. Yadkin 30
28. V’ance '...29
28. Warren 29
28. Periuimans 29
28. C.amden 29
32. St.anley 28
32. Rutherford 28
34. Davidson 27
34. .Jack,son 27
36. Durham 26
36. .lohnston 26
36. Northampttjii 26
36. Rockingham 26
40. Clay 25
40. Heitfonl 25
40. Macon 25
43. W.ake 24
43. Stokes 24
43. Cald'well 24
43. Chatham 24
43. Franklin 24
43. Granville .24
49. Orange 23
l^ank .\tmil)er
50. Chowan 22
50. Randolph 22
50. Sampson 22
53. Halifax 21
53. Pei-son 21
53. Duplin' 2I
56. .Anson 20
56. Bertie 20
56.- Currituck ... . 20
56. Oraham 20
56. Harnett 20
56. Martin 20
56. McDowell 20
56. Pitt 20
56. Polk 20
56. Transylvania 20
66. Burke 19
66. Lee 19
68. Gates jg
69. Caswell 17
69. Surry 17
4^9. AVa.shington 17
72. Beaufort I6
72. Swain ; i(,
72. I^'iioir _. . . 16
75. Brunswick 15
75. (’raveu» 15
75. Edgecombe 15
75. Hyde 15'
75. .Fones 15
15. Wayne 15
81. Montgomery 14
81. Moore 14
81. Nash -44
81. Pamlico ■. 14
85. Tyrell 13
86. Pender 12
86. Richmond 12
86. Cumbt'rland 12
86. Cohmibus 12
86. Carteret 12
91. t-irei'ne tj
91. Onslow 11
93. Bladen.. 9
94. RolK'son g
94. Scotland s
94. Wilson 8
97. New Hanover 7
98. IVare 5