The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
the date indicated below. No
credit need be given.
THE UNIvkRSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
Bureau of Extension of the Uni
versity of North Carolina.
DECEMBER 30, 1914
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. L NO. 7
^di4o«'ial Boaris IS. C. .Bvaiisoii, J. Ct.
Hainiltou, T.. U. Wilsoii. Z. V. Judrl, S. R.
WintTs-
SJntered as second 'la s matter November 14,
1014, at the posto^Hcf iic Chapel Hill, N’.C.,
iiudi.’r the act- of Au,'j:uMr ^4. UH2.
DO YOU WANT IT ?
n'lu' f'NlVKKSITV Ni:\VS LI-7]''rEI
■n'ili S” regulnrl}' In the rcailhit;' |Hihlic.
tlial wiuitts it ill Ni)i th ('anilhin. A post
will enable iim 1i. know the rc'aUer's
Advise us at sdino eaiiy ilate, aii'l
llieivby lielji U.S tc make our ]>enimnent_
iiiailiiiff Hsl. No ehai'ui' is made'.
CAROLINA CLUB NOTES
WHERE UNIVERSITY STU
DENTS ARE PREPARED
)f the eiiteriitt; class :ii 1 he Uirm'vsity
oi Xyrtb (Carolina this yi’ar, 2Sg in iiuiii-
her. ISl aie Iroiii the injblic selionls ol’
>'orth ('uioliua, 6 froni puhlie sehools.of
■other stales, 56 from ]iri\ ate si^mols of
this .State, and 19 from private schools of
other stales.while 22 come from collefres
and universities. _
(»initting' from I'onsideratioii llujse frcim
colli'gcs aiul universities, 71,1 per eem
are from public and 28.9 per cent from
(irivate schoolt>r
One hui!dre.l and foui'teeii [lublie and
tvvonty-foiir |)rivate .schools of rtrrii
Hlate, six public and thnteen |irivat'
schools (^f other states, and thirteen col
leges and universitie,s are rej)reaented in
the enteriiit); class.
GETTING READY FOR A BIG
DEBATE.
.More tliai) 1,500 boys and gii ls are now
working away in North Carolina high
schools on the preliminaries for ihe State
wide con te.st o£ the High School Debating
Union.
These students represent 225 .schools
aiul 90 counties. I’riangular debates
hetvvcen ttie schools will be held
next March, and th(> final contest for the
.Aycock >leni(irial_ (’up will be held at.
the rni\T‘rsi,y early in ..^pril.
SWAIN COUNTY MAKES
PROGRESS
Siipt. .J. M. Smiley writes Tiw
VES.S1TY JS'EWS LETTER that in 1909
there were in Swain county only 3 local
tax districts, tliere are now 16. Jii ju-ac-
tically e\’ory one of these districts decided
iinprovemeiitx have been made.
Two- and three-teacher schools with
good buildings and improved eiptipment
have supplaijted tlie old poorly ei|uippwl
buildings wdth one teacher. In these
schools the t«rm has been lenothened;
I'oriaerly it who four months, it is now-
seven and eight months. Having larger
revenues, better salaries are i>aid and
more efficient teachers have been .si'cured.
Pig Club Pigs
Boys is the (feorgia pigi-lubs rai.sedand
exhibited hogs this year, with a produc
tion cost of a cent a |ioundl
Iowa’s Wealth
Iowa's ]ier ca|)ita wealth listed for tax
ation is $1778.98. .A p(>r ca)>ita ini’rease
of 417.38 since 1912.
Iowa leads the United States in meat,
prixluctioii. That's why.
Good Roads and Good Schools
1'here are abotlt 2,000 t;'.*nsolidaTed j'u-
ral .scliools in the Tnited Stall's. The
greatest [uogress has been^Tiade in. Mas.sa-
'hiisetts, Ohio, and Indiana; audit is
signiticant that in tbe.se staK's about one-
thii'iJ of the roads ha\'e bei^n ini|iroved.
Oklahoma’s Wisdom
Oklahoma alloNvs S'2,500 toward the
Cost of building graded .schools emjiloy-
ing rhn'e teacliers in districts not less
than 25 miles si|Uare. ruler this law,
the consolidated country schools jiuu])ed
from 30 to 86 in a single year!
Carolina Farmers Get Left
Seventeen of rhe leading insurance,^
comj.iauu's of thi> I'nited States own near
ly 520 million dollars worth of fai'm lanl
mortgages.
■Almost oiie-half of this I'noi-mous sum
has been loaned to the farmers of Iowa,
Kansas, and Missouri.
The farmers of ^yorth C'arolin;t were
able to secui'e only 1795,000 of loans froin
the.-ie .sources; and from two companies
only—the 1,’nion Central Life and the
Mfitual Benefit Lifednsurancecompanies.
A Record-Breaking Cotton Crop
Our 1914 cotton crop, counting iint;ers,
is arotmd sixteen anl a half million
bales: or^sonu' (|uarter million bales
larger than the bmuper crop of 1911.
I!ased on the average price I)('c. 1, this
yeai’s crop is worth 4'326,000,000 li>ss
than the crop of last year.
(.)f cour.se this ilecrease in cotton irumey
means distre.ss in the cotton growing
regions of the South. I low could it be
otherwise?
Degrees of Distress
Financial distress \-aries in the cotton
growing states. The degrees are indi
cated by the relative importauct' of the
cotton crop.
The cro|i wealth produced' by cotton
when compared with the full crop totals
in the 1910 census was as follows:
per cent
A NEW YEAR’S PRAYER
Alfred Tennyson
I'ly. hajipy hajijiy sails and bear the
I *ri‘.ss;
My, ha'ppy with the missic.m of the
('ri iss;
Knit lau'.l tolainl, aiid lilt.iwiug haven-
w a ril
A\'itb silks, and fruits, and ,s*pices,
clear of toll.
Knrich tin' markets of the goldt'it
v(*ar.
WORK IN ALAMANCE
Supt. .1. B. Hobert.sou reports to Till-;
T'NIVf:RSTTY NEWS LKTTEK that the
donations in labor, moiK'y etc., to the
■schools of .-Mamauce last year amountwT
to more than four thou.sand dollars. It
■takes organization to secure this .s(;rt of
popular co-operation.
Half Millinn Dollars
If every county should do as well, al-
Jnost a half million dollars would be add
ed to the annual schcyfil fmid tjf North
Carolina. But not half the value of this
oo-operation'can be expre.s.sed in money.
Every one of these voliuiteer dollars is
worth two of tax money. Tiie interest,
loyalty, and moral support developed
through the activities of the |i‘ople is
jnvahiable.
1.
Kentucky
.2
2.
^'irg^^l^l
.,s
3.
Tennessee
■ 17.
4.
Louisiana
26.
5.
(iklahoma
31.
6.
.\. Carolina
35.
7.
.Vrk:^nsas
■ 53.
s.
.\labama
60.
9.
Texas /
63.
10.
jMississippi
* 65.
11.
(rci 1 rgia
. 66. ,
12.
S. Carolina
67. '
Signs of Sanity
Will the Cotton stales grow less cotton
next year? Nobtnly knows. But they
are' going to raise mon> feed and food
crops.
For instance, the winler Mdu'at already
sown in the Southern states shows in
creases in acreage, ranging from 15 per
cent in Kentucky to 200 percent in South
Carolina.
Ifow' much these st.ates are learning in
the hard school of experience appears in
the table below. arrangel from the Dec.
17 k'tter of tlie Federal t'rop Kepoiting
-Hoatxl.,
Compared with the 1913 acreages in
winter wheat, thi' acretiges this year to
De'. 1 are as follows:
INTERESTING FACTS FROM
RANDOLPH
Last session Sirpt. Bulla accomimiiied
by the county farm demonstrator \'isiti‘l
90 school^ and made talks on lietter •
school buildings, eqiiipment, libraries,-
and grounds and emphasized the imjioj--
lancp of regula.r attendance.
Evidence of Progress
The average* daily attendance for No\.
^as 81 i>er cent of the enrollment basis.
Last year 8 new' houses were built iit a
costof'ie.rOOO, all equipped with ■.^teel
desks and hylo-plate blackboards. Kau-
*lolph ranks fifth among counties in num
ber of local tax di.stricts. Regulai town-
.ship teachers' meetings are held.
Kentucky
Tenuessei'
Texas
()klahoina
,\ rkansas^
\’irgiuia
N. t^irolina
(icorgia
Mississifipi
.-Alabama
.s, Carolina
115
120
120
120
144
160
175
218
225
285
:iOi I
per cent
North Carolina and Illinois
•I. D. llogan, the tirsl ]>rize winner
among the. Orange County (!orn Clnh
boys this year, raised 97% bushels of
corn upon his acre, at a cost of 28 cents
per bushel.
Ia'o Larson who won a similar lii-st
jirize in-the rich piairie comuy of Henry
in Illiuoi.? the other day i-aised 105j^
bushels.
Hogan's )]iizes anioinU(‘d to |17.50;
Lar.son’s, to $73,00.
Carolina conipares well with Illinois;'
both in corn yield [>er acre, and iii cost
of production.
When corn can be rai.sed in (irauge at
28 cents a bttshels. it looks .strange that
we should be ini})(.>rting 90,00() hushels
into Orange County, in the census yeai’,
at a dollar a bushid.
Getting to the Home Folks
The County Club members at the I’lii-
versity are giving the folks back at home
some things to think about.
.Mr. Marion B. Fowler shows in the
Durhain Sun that the people of the coun
ty consume lU'arly thr(>e and a half mil
lion poun/ls of meat, nearly a million .and
a half pounds of butter, and some fotn-
humlred thousand dozen eggs more than
the county produc(*s.
\\'itli the ])rices of fooil stutl's .soaring
skywaril®t looks like a chance, for the
farmers of Durham to get rich.
A Four Million Dollar Market
' The bread and meat, Corn, hay, and
forage consutiieil by man and beast in
Wake county, the census year, amounted
to $3,987,000 more than the Wake
county faruK'rs raised.
The cotton and tobacco croj)s fell short
of paying this bill for imported suii|)lies,
bv mon“,than a million dollars.
PROGRESS IN WATAUGA
The valiu' of school properly has in-
creasel 500 |>er cent in ten years, says
Supt. B. D. Dougherty. The enrollmetd
last*ycitr was-80 ;f>er cent of the ceustis.
The average daily attendance was 50 ]>er
cent of the censtis. Libraru's are in 40
out nf 55 .schools.
The Apjwlachian Training .School has
helped to put trained teachers in I'very
school.,
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 9
A Meat Famine in Sight
111 the l,'ist”15 years the population of
the I nilei'States has increast'd 25 |ier
cent; but our supply oT hogs has de-
ci'i'ased 5 p(.-r c(‘nt, sheep 13 ]n‘r cent,
and cattli' 18 )ic“r cent.
>:h‘anw liile. diu-iug the tirst ten months
of this year, 216,000,000 lbs. of meat and
m'at ]iroducts w(-re ijnported iTito the
ruit(>il'Slates.
Swapping Crutches For Crosses
.Vfter llu' war between the states, we
had land and labor in abuiulance, but
nearly no cash operating cafiital in our
farm i-egions.
\\'e T-aised cotton because we had to do
it. It was Hobson's ch(iici'. Jt was a
useful crutch. Bui in the coltou-belt
counties c»lton has become our cross.
Here are some counties, that are hea'1-
ed the wnuig way. I'oi- instance, the
cro)> total of bales foi-
Harnett Sani]>son Johnslon
1909 11.820 16,160 34.760
1913 17,670 17,580 34,590
1914 20,460 20,&90 38,330
Thirty-Four Years of Corn
Growing
Oui-total corn cro]i in 18S0 was 25,019,
.'^00 bu. ; in 1914 it was 56,700,000 bush
els: increase 102 per cent.
Our po[>ulation in 1880 \-\as 1.339.750;
in 1914 it is 2.339,450: increase M per
cent. ' ^
The average per-acre yield of coin in
North Carolina in 1880 was 12 hu. ; hi
1914, it was 20 bu. ; increase 667;) per
cent.
Oui' production per inliabitaiU in l8S0
was 20 bu. : in 1914 it was 24 bn. ; in
crease 20 per cent.
In l.S5(1 our fon'fathers raised 34 bu.
per inhabitant. On this teisis our corn
deficit in 1880 was 18,756,000 bushels: in
1914, it was 23,339,000 bushels.
We can ill att'ord to send twenty rniliion
dollar,s out of the stfite tiiis year for corn
and corn products alone—not w hen j>iung
Hogan of Orange county sliows our fann
ers how to raise 97 bushels per act(' at 28
cents a bushel.
Cohesion
t'ver in oii(‘fif ourl>ig. prosperous coun
ties the other day we .saw pupilsiand jia-
rents get together and talk "river the wel
fare of their .scliool. .Sixty cliildren of
school age were mi.ssing from the roll of
the .scliool. \\':iys and means were dis
cussed for JiniUng rhe.se wanderers and
bringing them in. The community is
siillering fi'om the ch i'( mic over-prod net ion
of one crop, and an etl'oit was made to
secure more div('rsTHed fanning among
the patrons of the school. ’J'1h> ]iareiUs
and teachers do not know each other well
enough and a series of parents' meetings
will grow out of rhis-Httk' "get-together"
me(>tiug. The [Xirents, children and
teachers are just bound to work log('ther
for the liesi interests of the conuunnity.
Adhesion
The next day. in the same county, the
county teachers and tiu' nK'uibers of the
Farmers' I'nioii came together and had
a joint se.ssion to talk (,ver matters of
couuuon concern. Public health, demon
stration farms, tick eradication..illiteracy,
croji-jiiodnction and jier cajiila wealth,
were all consilered. 'I'best' were big
ipiestions. too big fi ir either to consider and
handle alone but with forces united they
_ w ill attack the.se problems and shoulik'r
to shoulder ^y.ill tinally solve them.
Why is il not a good geilt'i'al policy to
have the Farmi'is' rnion and the County
Tt'achers' .Association meet together once
or twice each year and discuss these' |)rob-
k'tns common t(j Ixilb? Here is another
chance to gel home tind .school together
and we uiu.st neglect no chances.
Unity
Out of Coimnimity Ser\ice Week in
that county seat has grown a determiiuHi
get-tog(>Hier eti'orl. The l'7dks assembled
one night and found out what jileasant
and agreeable neighbors they had. They
had such a .ijood time and be(.-atne
much betlej- acipiainted that they made
uji their minds to meet ofti'ii, and to that
end they oiganized, and (‘lecied officers
til lay s)ie('itic iilaus for further meetings.
We venture ihe-giiess -that I'hi' teacla'i’s
ami school otlicials w ill play a latge part
in h(^lping t» sliape *the.se neighborbool
meetings toward real i-onilnunity ends,
liy the way, this meeting wa.s liekl at the
school house which was where il should
have been ladd. That beautil'nl building
is destined to become a sure-enough com
munity centei'.
Looking Ahead
'I’liat .sanu' county has a whole-time
lieaTtl! oflic('r \\lio has things moving.
Small-pox hr('aks out and at once rigid
iiuaranrine is est.ablished while vaccina
tion js hegun immediately. The school
water supply is examined for impurilie.s.
I'usanitary ground,s and buildings'are se
verely frowned upon. Health clubs are
being organized in every school, and the
'iiild)-en aix' given very s)iecitic belji on
how to helj) Ibetu.selves t(jw'ard good
health. U’e venture another .truess—that
■ county will be one of the cleanest and
healthie.st sjiots in the entire State within
two years, il the teachers continue to help
as they give promise of df>ing. Such
work looks mon> than to the pn'.seut;
generations yi't tinhorn will protitbytbis
excellent work. What are you doing?
SUGGESTIONS FOR SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC
■ DISCUSSION CLUBS
'rhe ])rograins for the tour societies i.'f
the Greensboro city schools on a recent
Friday afU'rnoon indicate how' variety
and interest may be maintained in the
regular ineetings of literary ,socioti('s.
The Ionian Society
Beading, .Mozelle King.
Recitation, Barrie Pri/'lu>tt.
Current events, Lois Doilson.
b’eading. Mary Siinders.
liecitafion, Ruth X'l'riion.
.Reading, Cfiiinie Stout.
Drags, .Mary Ra.glaiid.
Recitation, Roberta Struilwick.
Story, (!ora .AbHU’e.
Debate: Atlinnative, .lessie Howard
and .\hidonna (Jranlh^un ; negative, Mar
garet (toIiI and ^Margaret Chamberlain.
R(>ading. Edith Haller.
Recitation, y,u,"cuia .\lkinson.
Reading, Mmia Lane.
l!_eeitation, Helen Mangtini.
The McNeil Society
l-'ollowing the re.uular business, mar-
sbal.s wer(“ elected, .Misses Madalene Jbin-
roe and Kli>iabeth Smith receiving the
majority of the vol(>s. The fol.kiw ing pro
gram was reudei'ed:
Recitation, Fay Martin.
Dialogue, Grace Cox^hd Kate Thomas.
Reading, Maigaret Stroud.
Recitation. Nellie'Smith.
Recitation, I'Aangeline Brown.
Reading, .lean ^lc.\llist'i. ,
Recitation, .Mary Hendrix.
Reading,- ICuniee I’earce.
Recitalion, Corinne.ltislice.
Theijuestion for debate was, ‘‘ResoUed,
'I'hat floods are more destructive than
fire,” the (itfirmativi' winning. The
.sY'eakers on the alfirmativewere .Vdelaide
N'anNoppeii. Mary Rt'cs and Celia Gokl-
stein; and on the negative were Kirk Cal-
lum, Carol Sludtou and .Magdalene .Mon
roe.
The Philomelian Society
There was no debate because l>f .several
of the nu'inbt'i's being I'ngaged in prepa-
'ration fora jila.y, thes(‘ being e.xcnsed i>y
\ ote of the society. (nly the preliminary
r>rogram was carried oiit and on this pro
gram were Charles Hunt; W. .Mitchell,
McLarity, .1. .M.c.Vli.ster :ind H. Blake.
The I’hi .society challenged the Di so-
. cietj' to a declamation C(jnt(‘St to be held
sometime after C'hristmas.
Messrs. ISlake and Bate' were ek'cteit
marshal.s’, Mr. Blake to act as chief mar
shal.
Mr. Milton .sravt' an extemi)oi'aueou.s
talk on the Fairoin'an war. Mr. Tessier
also madi' ah ('.xtemporaneoiis spm-li, his
subject being on the support of the sii-
ciety for tho.se felloAvs taking part in the
play. Other .sjx'eehes also wei(' mad(' by
members.
The Diaphesian Society
Life of .lack i^ondon, .lohn "Walki'r,
Life of Robert E. I^e, Dwight Clapp.
(•otton Conditions at I’resi'nt. Hobart
So ut hers.
The Part of England’s Na\\v in the wai",
1 lenjy .iacoijs.
Recent city improvements, Pitts Cobb.
The Jleba'te, '‘Resolved, Thatrhe Cnit-
ed States shoulil ado])t the policy of sub
sidizing its merchant marine I'ugaged in
forc'ign trade.” was unaiiimously awardt'd
to the; negative. 'Burton Oaks and El-
wood Mitt'hell reiire.sented the athriua-
tive; Hiltfui West and Lewis Schenck the
negative. As this is tIu' ([uestion to be
debatc'd in the triangular debate the boys
showed ver^' great intert'st in the debate.
Jj(icy !\lc,\li.ster and Leland Porter were
elected marshals from the society.
Headed in the Right Direction
During the last five .vc'ars. .somt' of our
large cotton producing ■counties ha\e
been growing less'and k'.ss cotton and are
ilepending k'.ss and k'ss upoii a single
crop.
They are heailed in the right direction.
F'or instaiic'o, the crop total of bale's for
Edgecombe Pitt W'ake
1909 26,800 18,000 27,450
1913 20,540 16,190 25,390
1914 18,450 12.970 22.370
SALVABLE
If a banker reads his Bible and the
Banker-Farmer faithfully, he is likely lo
be a valuable citizen.
The Pjogressive Fanner and the Bank
er-Farmer ought to be in every bank and
every farmstead hi North Carolina.
And along with these, Paul’s member-
ship-in-one-body doctrine—if onr civili
zation is to be salted unto .sah ation.
Otherwise it is salvage, not a salvable
somethiug.