The news in this publica
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
V VP ■■ V MBI VBiV PM PVI
.4ui/shed weekly by the
tion is released for the press on
TVE\X/S TjETTEIc
University of North Carolina
the date indicated below.
Si W M Ufl A A iLJfX
for its Bureau of Extension.
APRIL 28, 1915
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. I, NO. 23
Editorial Hoardi
E. C. Branson, .T. G. (leK. Hamilton, L. R. Wilson, K. V. .Turtil, S K. Winters, L. A. Williiinis. Kntt-rwi hs second-class November U, liil4, at the iv>st>tlice at Chapel Hill, N. C., under tlieact of Aui.'ust 24, Ulia.
Wake County Day
At The University
\\ iiki' county day wan ubscrvcd Wcil-
iK'sday, A]>ril 14, by the ('aniliiui t'luli of
alii- 'l'iuv(M>ii(,y ol' North Carolina and
fact.'i and iirobicnis i>l' this c(MX]ity were
ipresciilcil and discussed by the I'dity-tlircc
slnlei\ts cif Wake. The delieit in hcinu'-
,raised food and feed stuti's and the cnnse-
|nent lucal market iirobleni I'enneil the
})urden (»t ihe (.liseussien. Tiie taels as
bri)Hi;lit mil and eniviliasized bytlie Wake
county students at tlie I'niversily ar(>
.tlnis snnunai'ized :
Four Million Dollar Shortage
Mr. .V. li. llarpei’ ‘xhibited tli(> bi^'
bulk total of this |)roliletn, itscau.se.s, and
sie'nili('anct'.
We consumed iii W'ake in tin* census
year, he. .‘said, pantry and farm sup]>lies
mnounth^ ti nearly four million dollare
more tlum the farms of the I'ounty pro-
duct'(h I'his sum co\'ers staple bix'ad
stuHs, not. dainties and In.Kuries; ;uid the
ti^nre.s ai‘(* l)as‘d on the thirtiM'nth cen.sus
and the avera^t's ol annual c.onsum}>tion
uiven out by the I’ederal neparlmi'ut o!
.\^ricultiire.
It iM our yearly liill lor lood and Iced
iinporte.d into' lialeigh for consumption
by man and l»'ast in \\ ake comity alone:
ainiost exactly half of it for 20.000 city
’onsuiLiers, and the other halt for 44,000
•cotuitrv dwellers in the tarm regions of
Wake.'
In detail, this sliirta”e co\crs lour and
.a iiuarter million pounds of meat, two and
.i|nart-‘r million poiintls of butter, near-
:ly half a million fowls, three-i|Uarter.s ol i
.;i milliou down eggs, wheat products rep-
le.seiiling two hundred and tifty thousand
Inishels; and corn and cirn products r“p-
.rt'.^fenling one anvi a ipiarter million
.bushels.
"Why Our Farmers Fall Behind
Our farmei'.s do not su|>ply the' lour
■ million dollar local mai'ket dcjnand. he
went on to say, because of (ll excessive
attention to c'>tton anl ti>baci*o, (2)
cessive farm-tenancy under the cropdi(>n,
riine-credit system, and ( 3 I the lack of
a ready cash market in Kaleigh for home-
raiseil pantry utid farm su|)i>lies.
Too MucK Cotton and Tobacco
Nearly seven-tenths ol the tiital crop
wealth produced in Wake year by year
is ]iroduced by cotton and tobacco alone,
.anil this ratio stt'adily increases. Our
last year’s cotton crop was 39 per cent
greater than the crop of 1900. We give
Raleigh’s Interest in the Problem
The City lOnd of tin.' Local Maiket
J'l'olilem wasdiscussed by Mr, 11. K. Woi.hI.
lialeigh, like every other city, .said he.
is interested in the local market problem,
because, in the first ])lace, it concerns
the incieasing high cost of living. The
wliole world face.s this [)rimary [irobU^n
today, becau.se i^ice more in the I'ound of
history population jiresses upon food sup
ply. Tlie cost of food-slidrs is every
where >;ieater and the pni'chasing power
of a ilollar everywhere less. One hun
dred cenis today will buy of subsistence
necessiiies barely more than 55 cents,
woulil buy in 1900. And food alone calls
for nearly half, around 45 per cent, of
the thousand-dollar family income.
Imported Bread Stuifs and Inflated
Bills
If lialeigh imist depend upon far away
jiroducers of bread and meat to the
amount of fotu' million ilollars a year,
the overhead charges of vransiiortatioii
and handling by a swarming nudtitude
of uudtiidied middle men will, of cour.si\
add enormously to the cost of [lantry
supplies.
This is actually the case. Kaleigh is
one of the half-dozen most ex|)ensive
cities to live iji in the whole I'nite^l
Slates—as i-eported some time ago by the
Federal Deiiartinent of .\gricnltiire. In
this particular we make a belter .showing
than Charlotte and Atlanta; but our ex-
trianity is sutticiinitly dire to deuiand far
greater attention than the peo|de of Ra
leigh have yet given to it.
A Self-Defensive Interest
It has now come to be critically neces
sary, said he, for every growing city to
be the center of a well-developed food-
, producing region; ain.1 at [iresi.Mit lialeigh
; is no! such a center. It has also come to
; to be nece.ssary for every city in sheer
self-defense to solve the market problems
> of the Idc.'il food su]>ply. I'ixiiensive coni-
inissions in New York and Chicago are
: Wfirking at this ])robleui. So are the
Mecklenbuig farmers and the Greater
Charlotte Club, 'I'he lialeigli (^hamber'
; of Conuuerce and the farmers ol Wake
also face the same necessity. j
Jf our nearby farmers can all'ord to
I miss their chance to su])[ily a four nullion ;
dollar local demand for food and feed I
stuft's, onr city ihvellers can ill all'ord to
increasing attention to cotton and tol>accopenalty. Wl.en our bills an
1 t .„ paid and the year’s balance sheet is struck
our left over cash is too small for inilivid- :
ual thrift antl rapid conuuunity luogre.ss.
APRIL 21st, 1915
It was an eventful, inspir
ing day; a forward-moving,
upward-looking day; a day
of noble, worthy covenant
ing on the Hill.
What the State and the
University of the State have
in the past wrought out of
hard, untoward circum
stances and conditions chal
lenges boundlessadmiration
and gratitude. Not one of
the names in the long story
of distinguished achieve
ment can ever be forgotten.
What North Carolina and
the University of North Car
olina are to be in the future
depends at last on the will
of the people. The Univer
sity is theirs. It struggles
along toward direct, state
wide helpfulness. Its
strength to serve all the peo
ple depends on the will of
the people to equip it for
service.
President Graham’s inau
gural day was inspiring
mainly because from every
nook and corner of the
State it brought from the
people overflowing assur
ances of their interest and
confidence in their Univer
sity and in its chosen head
and leader.
LETTER SERIES NO. 25
Preventable Disease
If the [)ublic school of thelhiited States
stands for anything, it stamls for the
training of the public in matters of civic
welfare. There is no need in our civic
life greater than good health. .Sonicforms
of iliseases are unavoidable. A gn^at
many of our most common diseases are
entirely |>reveiitable It is th(> duty of ;
the school to inform the public aboutpre-
ventable dist'.ases.
The Kulli^tin of our State Hoard of
1 le;dth ought to be in every schoolroom
in .\orl h Carolina. The following rules
on. How to Trevent Typhoid Fever, are
taken from the bulletin of the T'. S. ]!u-
reau of Kducation No. 4 for 191,"'. on the
Health of School Children.
For the Individual
1. K(“cp away from all known or sus
pected casi's of typhoid.
2. Wash hands thoroughly before
meals. l,)o not use "roller towels."
3. I'se drinking water only from sotir-
ces known to be pure, or if this is not
possible, use wati'r that has been purilied
.\void batliing
I'se jiastenri/.ed
in polluted water,
or boileil, inst«id
■ >.
of raw, milk.
6. Select and clean with the greatest
care vegetables and berries that are to 1h'
eaten raw .
7. Avoid eating ‘'fat'' raw oy,st*^r,s
and, in general, oysters and other shell-
I tish who.se origin is not known.
S. Be vaccinated against typhoid in all
cases in which any special ex]>osure is
known or feared.
For the Community
1. Insist oji the hearty coopei-ation
all persons with an ethcient health oflicer.
2. Keipiire notilicalion and a re.a.son-
able degree of isolation of every known or
.sus|K‘cted typhoid case.
3. Kxercise strict control over the dis
infection of known typhoid excreta.
4. hisi'st on pure or jniritieil \valir
supplies.
5. Rei|uirc pasten;izalion of im'lk sup-
i plies.
6. Roirani all human oxcrela p«>8si-
J l)y numicipal Hltration or by hy[)ochlorite j bly dangerous and control their ilLsposi-
treatnient
hold.
or by boilitig it in the hou.se
MECKLENBURG DAY AT THE
UNIVERSITY
.\pril 28th is Mecklenburg Day in thi'
North Carolina (Uiib ('alendar.
The club has elected Me.ssrs. h’. B. Mc
Call. I.. H. liansoTi, O. ('larkson and
I'aul 'McKane to discuss Mecklenburg’s
four million, six hundred and sixty
thou.saud dollar shortage in home-raised
food and feed stuffs, and the consei|Uent
Local .Market I’roblem.
It is the |iroh)lem that is now engaging
the al tent ion of the ireatei- CharlotteClul)
and the Mecklenburg farmers.
tion in such a way as to pievent contami
nation of food or drink.
ANOTHER CONVERT
.News comes that I’itt county ha.s just
chosen Hr. .M. T, Kilgerton as its whole
time county health oflicer. The county
has been considering the nuuter for some
time and has moved cautiously in their
desire to .secure the most ellicient ]>hysi-
cian possible. This is certainly one of
the times when il pays to nuike haste
slowly. .May Dr. F.dgi'rton ju’ove the
man for the [>lace is our very best wish.
maud for bread-stutl's at high prices and
the failure of nearby farmers to sup|)ly
this demand is a perplexing jiroblem in
every city center in America, said iVfr.
Holloway.
The law of uuirkets is greed for gain.
It is the tooth-aiiihclaw struggle for price
and protit. This primary law of human
nature organizes a world-wide market for
Orange County Sanitary Survey
, Washington, -\iiril 17.—('onimissioned
oflicers and sanitary exjierts will be sent
by .Surgeon-(ieneral Blue of the jmblic
health servici' ne.vt Monday to investi
gate nu'al sanitation in Anne .Arundel
cotmty, Maryland: Orangecouiity, North
Carolina; ^^'alker comity, .\lahaina, and
Wilson county. Kansas. They will in
spect all premises in those counties wliich
reptu’ted they wanted to become sanita
tion models.
Sewage disjio.sal. water sujiply tlies.
cotton and tobacco; and at the same time
and for the same reason it denies to pro- | juosquitoes and rats and prevalence of ty-
ilucers and consumers of bread-.stutls, ' jihoid and malaria and other conimuni-
llving.side by side in the same county, an j cable disea.ses will be given special atten
and decrea.sing attention to the grain
crops, hay and forage.
In 1910 our coi'n crop w.-is smaller than
in 1900; otu- oats crop 37 per ccnl less;
our w heat cro]> 50 iier cent less. During
the ten years we gained 31 per cent in
•cattle, but we lost 11 ]ier cent in hogs.
Ln 1910 we had only 24 cattle and 33
pigs to the 1,000 acres of area, and a
need for four and a ijuarti'r million
pounds of meat more than we produced.
The population of the county increa.ses
rajiidly. The sim]>le truth is, niouths
multiply faster in Wake than the w here
withal to till them.
,\nd ye.t last year 72 (_'orn Club boys in
'Wake county averaged 49 bushels to the
acre at a cost of 40 cents a bii.shel. .\1
this raU'the grown-ups could have pro
duced 2,500,000 bushels on the corn
acreage of the county; (tv i*nough lor
home ctinsumption, and half a million
.bushels for market.
this li;
Our Industrial Development at StaKe .
Fui-therniore, tlie'higli cost of living in
Kak'igh hinders our develo|unent as an
industrial center. Jl means increasing'
necessity for higher wages, and our mill
and factory owners must com|iete with .
the wide world by holding production
co.sts at the lowest possible level. It means'
I’c.ir bread-winne^ lower standards of liv- ■
ing; and in free America this means in j
the end labor imre.st and ujiheaval, labor i
organizations and strikesforliigher wages. 1
.Vtlanta ha.S'already developed these in
dustrial problems. Other mill and lac-1
tory cities in the South will (to well to .
look well aheail. j
.Neither lialeigh nor any other growing
eUy can any longer all'ord to be like a ‘
standing army—destructive of the regioti
SERVING THE STATE
In illustration of the wish and willing
ness of the rniversity to serve the State
in direct studies of home-spun problems,
we insert in this issue an account of the
Wake Counly Local ^Market rroblem, as
it appeari'd''last week in 'I'he Kaleigh
Times.
Live-at-hiiuie farming is just now the
big economic problem of N'orth Carolina
and the South. When solved it is a new
declaration of independence in the cotton
belt.
tion. The party will give public lecture-s,
illu.strated by slides from thejiublic health
service stereoptican library.
liaising corn at honii' at this iijjure -'^''“'""1-,.'' v
beats in^orting one and a .,uarter mil-| ^.1^“ " Inch i sub.si.sts It must »
,• , 1-j , irvii.,v Vniviu.l iHnuors Its trade l{‘rritory sohe tlie
hon bushels at a dollai pel bushel, ' local food sm,ply. lialeigh
The Farm-Tenancy, Crop-Lien Evil
In 1910 more than half. 54 per cent, of i
of our farms wiu'c cultivatt*d by tenants, j
And farm tenancy under the cro|)-lien :
systiMu in the South means mori ,
and tobacco and less att(*ntion to grain. ;
hay and forage, fruits, nuts and vegeta- i
bles, poultry and dairy ]>roducts, and to |
beef, nmtton and pork [iroduction. i
In Wake thi^ annual consumption of
of these jirdducts amounts to six million
ilollars, but our farms produce less than
two million dollars worth of them. And
so we .send out of the counly every year
a king's ransom for fooil and leed supplies
that we might raise at home; and by
just so much do we decrease our [lower
.to accunuilat“ wealth year by yeai'.
The Penalties We Pay
.\s a re.stdt our per ca|>ita country
wealth in Wake in the census year was
only $272, against $322 for the State;
$560. in Alleghany county; $994 in the
United States; $2,665 in Olinois; and
$3,386 in Iowa.
Althongli Wake ranks third in North
(Carolina in the production of total crop
valnes from year to year, our rank in per
•capita coiuitry wealth is only 49th. Alle
ghany which raises no cotton and almost
no tobacco heads the list.
The coinity sufl'ers a steady lo.ss of
;ready cash amounting to some four mil
lion dollars a year. This simple fact ex
plains why the food-i>roducing farmers of
tlie Middle West grow ricli and the cot
ton and toliacco farmers of Wake and the
.South remain poor.
It also explains in large i>art the high
30st of living iu Kaleigh, Charlotte, and
Atlanta and other oitie.s in the cotton belt.
And the high cost of living hinders in
dustrial development, because it ('alls for
higher wages, and higher wages add to
the labor cost of factory production a
fact that Raleigh can well afford to con
sider.
])roblenis of local food supply. Raleigh
! needs to provide marki't arrangements,
i conveniences and facilities suHicient lo
I handk' a four million dollar tradi' in
home-raised bread-stutl's. Wake county
cotton ! larmers -umsl be tempted into raising
the.se su(iplies atid amply rewarded foi-
doing it. j
Our farmers are not sluiiid. They will;
]iroduce food and feed in abundance when
they can turn lliiMii into instant ready
casii in Raleigh at a fair jirice and ]u-otit.
Our new city mar'kel is a hand.sonie start
toward the iar away end. bilt lull success
is still a far cry distant. j
The local market problem is lar bigger
than a city market house.
WaKe's Crop-Producing Power
'I'he I'^armers’ Fnd of the Docal Market
Pi'obli'Ui was discussiHl by Mr. .\. \ . .\n-
dersou.
Our farms, said he, can easily proiluce
all the standard food crops and all the
animal products needed for consumption
in Wake county. Our soils are equal to
an average of fifty bushels of corn p(»r
acre, and two and a half million btt.shels |
a year. We can raise corn_ enough and
to spare. Our 'Corn Club boys proved
that last year.
WaKe’s High Average
1 n the census year the average per ac,ix‘
crop-producing power of ake was $21.34.
It was $5.OH per acre above the average
of the country-at-large last year. Our
average was high because seven-tenths of
our crop values were produced by cotton
and tobacco alone.
i\.nd we raise ci,)tton and tobacco, in
stead of food and feed crops, because the
whole world is an organized market for
them. For these crops, the Iarmer does
not need to seek the markets. The mar
kets seek him. He can .sell them for
instant ready ca.sh without moving out of
his tra(*ks. And he'can establish credit
upon them even l>efore they are plantefl.
Poor MarKet Facilities ^
.Not so with breail and meat pi-odiicts
on the farm, lie must peddle his fruits,
nuts, and vegetabk's. butter and eggs.'
meat and |ioultry. from door to door, or
stand in the market place all the day
waiting. It is bothersome, wasteful of
time, embarrassing, and unremunej ative.
'Phe 'producers and consumers of food
products are as far apart as though they
lived on ditlerenf planets. 'Phe farmers
are shy of cultivating hou.sew ives at back
doors: and housewives are too clo.se to
telepliones to visit a market place, a Sab- .
bath day's journey distant. Raleigh is
not }’el' provided with grain and hay
warehou.ses, cold storage plants for perish
able |)rodiicts, or credit acconuiiodation
U[)OU stored food [ii'oducts; with ample
market spaces for free, open-air trading;
with convenient camping sheds, hitching
grounds and feeding stall: with rest-rooms
for the country people, ])rovidi'd with
lavatory and toilet facilities, chairs and
lounges, books, new'spapei's. and maga
zines to make the country jieople feel the
w armth of city hospitality.
Kaleigh is not ready to handle the big
I four million trade in home-raised food
i stuffs.
Doubling Our Farm Wealth
I J-iut leaving city consumers out of coh-
.1 sideration, w'e c,an and we ought to raise
j the sup](lies that we ourselves need to buy
j from year to year to feed our families and
j our farm animals. If only w'e could or
! would stop spending two milliou dollars a
year for these things, the farm wealth in
W'ake would be more than doubled in the
next six'years.
.. \Ve shall alway.s need to raise c.otton
and tobacco, but while we do it, we will
be wise to have our pantries, barns, cribs. I
and .smoke-houses tilled with our own
houte-raised supplies.
As for the two millions more of such
products that consumers in Raleigh need,
we are never likely to raise them, until]
city consumers and country dwellers, i
bankers, boards of trade, and farmers get
together to solve this market problem.
The Acid Test of Success
Ways and Means of Solving the Loi;al
o|>portiinity for direct dealing with mutu
al advantage. Kccji producers and con
sumers as far apart as jiossible; pass eco
nomic goods from the one to the other
through as many hands as possible; pay
producers as little as )iossiblc; cliarge
consumer.-^ as much as jiossible—.so runs
the story of niarkcts ihroughoul the ages.
The Solution of the Problem
(xreed .safely counts upon the dull un
concern of both consumers and prodticeis.
liiil at last con.suuiers wake up to the fact
that the cost of living is a great national
problem. I'armers discover that the
prices of food proilucts are higher than
ever; but also that they get no more, or
little more, or less than they received tif-
teen years ago. Consumers jiay too nnich ;
producers get too little; constuners and
)irodiicers are too far apart; and the cost
of marketing is too great.
Here in brief is the mai'ket problem,
the principle of solution, and the acid
test of success.
The iirobleni is getting consumers and
Jiroducers together, the principle of action
lies in co-operation, and success is achieved -
when farnuu-s get more for their products supply-mercliants to torci
and consumers get more for their money,
if farmers do not get more, and if at the
same time consumers do not pay less, ,
then the jiroblem is not .solved; no mat- :
ter how elaborate the attempt or ex pen
sive the market house.
fn the light of this principle, it is safe
to say that city markets
costly, sorry joke.
Co-operation Necessary
I’roducers aloin’can not solve the mark
el problem. .Success calls
co-operation of consumers; and hi big
scale marketing, it invariably calls forand
depends upon the. credit accommodation
of the banks. I f consumers are uncon
cerned and unorganized, or if banks and
transportation companies are neglectful
or hostile, the farmers' chance of success
is reiluced to zero. Success lies in collu
sion, not collision; in co-operation, not
contest.
Texas Leads
Before the War
,\s a rule oiu' pantries and barns, corn
cribs and .smokehouses were well tilled
before the war with home-raised food and
feed sup[)li(‘s. Usually our forefathers
produced suliicient meat and bread for
man and beast, and had surpluses foi-
sale, 'riie farmer who had to buy meat
or bread was in disgraci*.
But in 1910, the South drew breath at
home and rations from the middle West
to the amount of 936 million dollars.
Our entire cotton crop barely paid our
bill for imported supplies of bread and
meat, grain, hay and forage in the census
year. Last year we fell far behind in
the Cotton Belt. In North Carolina- our
delieit in home-raised .su[)plies in 1910
anioHTrtT'd to some 119 million dollars.
very miiiiiti.'.
They an' doing this in ordertofoi-ce the
the farmers to
raise a snfllcieucy of UK'at and bread on
every farm. It is sound sense and safe
^ business policy, they say, to keep in Tex-
' as the 155 million dollars that leave the
I state every year to pay the bills for im-
! ported food sujjplies.
; It means a food-producing, self-feeding
are commonly a ' li^rm civilization; which meansfann pros-
i perity; which also means bigger, better,
- safer business for supply-merchant.s ami
bankers.
A half dozen men in Kaleigh could do
for the direct ; more in this way' to make Wake county
a food-producing farm region than all the
farmers of the county put together—and
they could do it almost by lifting or low-
oring their eyebrows.
(3) Of course Raleigh must get ready
\yith arrangements, conveniencies antl fa
cilities for doing an immensely larger
business in home-raised food snjiplies, as
already suggested.
The Farmer’s End of the Problem
! On the other hand the fanners must not
1 suggest, said Mr. Holloway, after j only produce food and feed sufiicient for
looking about to see what various cities | fa™ c.onstimption, but some two millions
are doing (1) a free telephone market in- { nioro tor the city consumers in Raleigh;
formation exchange in charge of an offi-j evwi more tor consuniers m the
cial whose stated business it is to give i*e-1 hirger radius ot Haleigh s trade territory,
liable disinterested market news to far-! They must know more about market de-
mers and city dwellers and to bring con- j mands. W hat they offer for sale in com-
sumers and producers together in direct! petition with the big, wide world must
dealings. At present neither knows deti- ! taste as good and look just as attractive
nitely the wants, tastes, and standards of | as imported food products. They must
the other. Texas boards of trade are un-; become exj.>ert in picking, handling,
dertaking this free generous public ser-! grading, packing, and crating. They
yjpg must produce meat, grain andJiay, but-
wk Tk R b r n I ter and eggs in steady, reliable stifRcien-
What The Banns Can Do i pjgg. ^nd stand ready to supply market
(2) It may be beyond reason to ex-; demands just as western markets do upon
pect commercial banks to make long-time 1 sudden telegraphic dispatches,
loans at low rates to farmers upon the se- i The blame for the present sad and sor-
curity they have to offer; but they can ry state of affairs must lie upon farmers
. ^ refuse credit to supply-merchants who do
Market Problem was discussed by Mr. J. I a crop-lien business protected by tobacco
K.Jiolloway. | or cotton acreages alone. The Texas
flje market problem created by the de- banks are doing this very thing at this
as well as upon consumers, business men _
and bankers. But it is a four-million'
dollar proposition in Wake and it is
worth solving.