The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
the date mdicated below.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
AUGUST 18,1915
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. I, NO. 39
Editorial Boardi E.G. Branson, J. G. deR. Hamilton, L. B. Wilson, L. A. WiUiams.
Entered'as second-class matter November 14. 1914, at the postoffif^e at Chapel Hil', N. C., tinder the
ftot of 24,1919,
OUR CHATHAM COUNTY
SPECIAL
This week’s issue of the University News
Letter is filled with Chatham (V>unty:
EcomoBiic and Social.
So, not because we expect our readers
everywhere to be as interested in this is-
j5ue as ttie Cliathaiu peoiile will be, but
because the University talces tliis metliod
of indicating to the state just what infor
mation is here in the Carolina Clnb files
iready to Ix^ a.sseniblcd for every cf)unty.
A hundred similar speciak'ditions could
!be issued—just as many as there-arecomi-
ties in Xortli Carolina.
Chatham County the Day
Before Yesterday
Wliat Chatham was the day before yes
terday, in wealth and culture, leadershiji
and acliievcment, challenges the pride of
every loyal sou and daughiier of tlie coun
ty. The {jrey-coats of Chatham, men and
orticers, wrote with their bayonet points
a noble chapter in the liistory of I^ee’s
Tagged heroes. Not a syllabic of the story
■ought ever to l)c forgotten.
Chatham the Day After
Tomorrov/
VVbat Cliatliam is today and will be to-
jnorrow; how she ranks iunong the coun
ties of the state, which way she is mov
ing, and how fast; what her puzzles and
problems of life and business are in these
piping times of peace, is now the special
concern of her people.
Tlie men in Chatham who lead in
thought and action, who can turn a keen,
untroubled eye home upon the instant
.need of things, to use a phrase of Kip
ling's, may find many things to tliink
:about hard and long in this study of their
county.
This round-about and forward look into
(economic^ and social condition.s is needed
(everywhere today in every county iu
North-Carolina.
Studying North Carolina at
the University
In the work-sho]) of the North Caro
lina C'lub lit the University during
the last year, a vast accumulation of defi
nite, (comparative information aboutevery
"ounty in tlie state has gradually been
iilling our tile cases.
The studies are mainly economic and so
cial, because they have been directed by
live head of the new department of Rural
'jconoiiiics and Sociology. The files of
lie department of History liere are just
s full of the stories of our noble pa.st;
liave long been full of the records of lead-
«rshi[> and achievement in North Carolina.
The University is properly busy with
the past, as well as the jiresent and the
iuture of the state.
A Home-Study Column in
the Home Paper
How does your county rank? Which
•W'ay is it headed? Is it dropping to the
Tear, marking tinje, or moving forward in
amportaut | >a rticulars?
You can know [iromptly by dropping a
Setter of incjuiry to the editor of your local
^aper, daily or weekly.
If lie doi's not have the.'information at
liand, he can get it upon short notice by
•writing to students from the county who
are at work in the lTni\-ersity here.
The studeiits cau quickly assemble from
our laboratory tiles a vast amount of eco-
nouuc and social information al)out the
home-county.
The home paper can be filled with it
froni week to week ; that is to say. if there
is any real demand for it.
The editors will carry a cohunn of
Home County Studies if their rearlcrs call
for it. If you are interested write the
editor of your home paper about it.
A Home-Study Club in
Every County •
Why not havcin every county a Home-
I'ounty Study-Club of thoughtful people?
They could be related with mutual hel])-
fulness to the County Clubs at the Uni
versity, and till the tIome-('ounty Column
of the local ]iaper week by week.
Write the North Carolina Club at the
University if the suggestion meets your
approval.
FolKs, Facts, and Forces
Everybody is interested in folks. That
is why our papers are so full of purely
]K'rsonaI news items.
Some i>eo])le are interested in facts; but
fewer, unless they be sensational facts.
And still fewer are interested in forces;
in principles, influences, drifts, move
ments, tendencies, and consequences in
community or national life.
It is a i>ity, because economic and so
cial forces have .something like the steady,
fateful pull and power of gravitation or
■any other natural law. They present op
portunities or create obstacles; they make
■or mar the destinies of individuals and
and connnuiiities every minute of every
‘lay.
We ought never to be less interested in
folks, or in facts of real significance; but
-more of us ought to be interested in forces.
The column of Home-County -Studies
in the local paper is intenided for the
thinkers of a county, the cud-chewing hu
mans, the f)eople who are minded to sweat
the rind of their brains somewhat.
The hope of democracy everywhere lie-s
in an immen.se increase in the number of
such people.
The information about Chatham county
was assembled by Misses Johnson and
Noa, students in the University Summer
School, no teachers from Chathaui being
at work in our economic laboratories at
the time. The concluding chapter w as
written in the editorial room of the Uni
versity News Letter.
WHERE CHATHAM STOOD IN THE CENSUS YEAR
Home-County Studies at the University of North Carolina
I. FACTS ABOUT THE FOLKS
In the census year Chatham county with 445,440 acres was 15th in size, iu North
Carolina; 44th in population, with 22,635 inhabitants; 64th in density of rural pop
ulation, with 32.5 people to the square mile; Chatham, Moore and Lee together rank
63rd in rural population-increase during the census jieriod, 7.3 per cent. The whites
in Chatham outnumbered the negroes a little less than two to one. The negroes
are a decreasing ratio of i>opulation in this group of counties, the ten-year decrease
being 1 per cent.
Parts of Chatham and Moore were taken to form Lee county, 1908. All ten-year
increases or decreases for Chatham must be reckoned upon Chatham with Moore in
1900; and Chatham with Moore and Lee in 1910.
RanK in Important Particulars
. Rank indicates the number of counties that make a belter showing.
39th in Native white illih'rates, 10 years olil and over, per cent
White illiterates, 2,920. State average 12.3 per cent; U. S. 3 per'et.
42nd in Native white illiterate vote'rs, 497 in number, per cent
State average 14 per cent. U. S. 4.2 per cent.
13th iu White school attendance, 6 to 14 years of age, per cent
White children of these ages not in school 614.
State iH’erage 75.7 per cent.
17th in Negro school attendance, 6 to 14 years of age, per cent 70
Negro children of these ages not in school 5S5.
State average 64 per cent.
65th in Average salary paid white country teachers, 1914
State average $235.
96th in School expenditures, per |1,000 worth of property
McDowell averages 120.85; State average $8.03.
Boom for better salaries and better schools.
80th in Marriage rate per 1000 of population, 15 years old and over, 1913
State average 16; Pasquotank 37.5.
Population of marriageable age, 15,090. Marriages, 186.
64th in Death rate (last four months of 1913) per 1000 population
U. S. rate 15. N. C. rate 17.3 in 1912.
56th in Birth rate, per 1000 inhabitants,
Average for U. S. 26.6.
14th in Church membership, per cent
5,550 people, 10 years of age and older, outside the church; 30 per
cent of them all. State average of church membership 40 per cent
II. FACTS ABOUT WEALTH AND TAXATION
37th in Total Farm AVealtli, 1910 census ... $5,621,153
73rd in Farm wealth increase, 1900-1900, per cent. ’ 96.
Figures cover Chatham, Moore, and Lee in 1910, o\;er Chatham,
and IMoore in 1900. State increase 130 per cent.
79th in Increase in value of domestic animals, 11100-1910, per cent 72.
State increase, 109 per cent. Hobeson, 208 per cent.
47th in Total taxable property in 1913, $6,613,156
« Increase in taxable property, 1903-1913, was 82 per cent- Figures
cover Chatham, IMoore, anl I.ee. State increase, 81 per cent.
State average increase, white, 69 per cent; negroes, 137 percent.
62nd in Per capita country wealth, $248.00
Alleghany $560; State $322; U. S. $994; Iowa $3,386. Per capita
taxable wealth all property in 1910 was $239. White per capita
taxable wealth. 1910, $282. Negro per capita taxable wealth, 1910,
$35.64. Thre> years later the per capita negro wealth was $47.
59th in Negro farm owners; per cent of all negro farmers, 37.
State average 33 per cent. Negro farm owners in Chatham, 397.
White farm owners in Cliatham are-71 per of all white fanners; in
N. C. 66 per cent.
26th in Tax rate. State and County, on the $100 in 1913, 85^^ cents
Seventy-four counties have a higher rate. Yancey county highest,
$1.6S^;j. Abundant room in the tax rate for general progress and
improvement.
21st in Tax value of farm land; compareit with census value, per cent.... 51.
State average 38 per cent.
61st in Income taxes paid, 1913, $25.00
33 counties ]>aid no income tax.
HSth in Professional taxes paid; - $155.00
31 lawyers, doctors, dentists, photographers, architects, etc., in
Chatham. Only 10 in (Cumberland; none at all in Harnett, Dup
lin, Caswell, and Avery in 1913 on the tax list.
29th in ^Miite' farm mortgages, per cent, 12.
State average for whites, 17 per cent.
32nd in Negro farm mortgages, per cent, ■ 22.
State average for negroes, 26 percent. For both races IS. 5 per
cent iu N. C.
Improved roads in 1913, None reported
11.1
13.7
80.9
$213.00
$5.43
. 12.3
12.6
20.9
52.
III. FACTS ABOUT FARM CONDITIONS
63rd in Land under cultivation; per cent of total area,
State average 2‘) per cent. Land under cultivation 121,588 acres.
Idle, wilderness acres 323,852 or of the total area. Reserving
50,000 acres for wood-lot uses, and allowing 75 acres to each fam
ily, there is room for 3,650 new families.
33rd in Number of farflis,
Average cultivated acres per farm 33.3 acres. Size of cultivated
farms larger in 49 counties. Al)oul one-third are less than 50 acres
in size, botii cultivated and uncultivated land considered.
74th in Poultry increase, 1900-1910, per cent,
Increase covers Chatham, Moore, and Lc'e. 71,134 fowls of all
kinds in Chatham in 1910. .Rank iu number of fowls on hand, 22d.
43 rd in Cattle per 1000 acres,
State average 23; U. S. 61.
88th in Cattle decrease, 1900-1910, per cent,
Decrease co\ers Chatham, ^loore, and Lee. Caldwell increase 62
per cent; State av erage increase 12 per cent. Only 7 counties suf
fered heavier decreases than Chatham, Moore, and Lee.
52nd iu Hogs per 1000 acres
State average 39; I'. S. average 66; Iowa 263.
9S in Swine decrease, 1900-1910, per cent,
Decrease covers Chatham, Moore, and Lee. 69 counties decreased;
only 28 increased.
67th in Sheep losses, 1900-1910, per cent
Decrease covers Chatham, Moore, and I^ee. Total number lost 13,-
398; worth $48,000. I^ee had no dog hcense tax in 1913; Chatham
derived $1,439 from this source and Moore $1,205.
49th iu Investment in farm'implements, per acre
State average $2.10; U. .S. $2.52.
lOtli in Horse power; one ^^■ork animal for an average of, acres
State average 25.85 acres; U. S. 19.81 acres.
55th in Farm tenancy, per cent
State average 42.3 per cent. Increase in Chatlumi, 1900-1910 was
2.4 per cent. Forty-seven counties decreased in farm tenancy.
White tenants in ('hatham, 775, negro tenants, 659. The landless,
homeless white tenants and their families number nearly 4,000 souls.
Three-fourths of all the tenants are croppers, 1081 in number. 334
are cash or standing-rent tenants. Tenants raise cotton and to
bacco mainly and neglect food and feed crops.
IV. FACTS ABOUT FARM PRACTICES
40th in Cotton production, total crop 1914, bales. •
Robeson 1st, with 74,000 bales. Five-year increase 19 per cent.
Forty-three counties increased at a greater rate; eight counties de
creased in cotton production.
38th in Tobacdo production in 1910, pounds, .
49th in Non-food crops produced, cotton, tobacco, etc., .. .. .. ■
fotton and tobacco produce annually 46 per cent of the total crop
- wealth. Food and feed crops produce 54 per cent ot total crop values.
State average of non-food croi)S 53 per cent.
31st in Annual farm wealth produced, V ' V '' '■i’''aVV Vrpart
This total covers both crops and ammal products. E\ery 3 years
the farmers produce more wealth than they have been able to ac-
c mullte in 140 years! And yet more than half or 54 per cent ^the
crr^flth was produced by. food and feed crops. The need is
more live-stock and live-stock industries.
62nd in ' Compares well with Missouri, $13.96;
Minnesota, $13.19; N. Dakota, $11.10; S. Dakota, $10.79 in 1914.
27.3
3,646
5.
24
13.
30.
42.
62.
$2.18
21.53
39.3
8,437
543.404
$732,491
.,111,272
$13.16
556,224
25.
5.32
3,068
27.
30,900
270
$23.00
39th in Production of annual farm wealth per person $93.30
State average $85; average of French farmers, $122.
21st ill Food anl feeil production per person, fgo 00
Needed $84 per person; deficit, $24 per person; total'deficit $1,-
013,000.
40th in Food and feed crops; per cent of total croj» \'alues, 54
Alleghany 89 percent; State average 47 per cent. Alleghany’the
richest county in [ler capita country wealth.. Clratham ranks 62nd
lu this particular.
V. FACTS ABOUT FOOD AND FEED PRODUCTION
12th in Corn production, total crop, bushels,
Robeson ranked first with 1,142,060 bushels.
6th in Corn produced per person, bushels
Needed per person 31 bushels; deficit per person 6 i)'u’shels; to'tai
deficit 145,461 bnshels. State average 15 bushels per person iu 1910.
9th in W'heat produt-tion per person, bushels,
Needed 4 bushels per ])erson; surplus per person II3 bushels; total
surplus 29,894 bushels. Only 15 counties in 1910 raised wheat siir-
jiluses. Loss in wheat jirodiiction 1900-1910, was 2 per cent.
10th in Oats production, total crop, bushels, 85 610
The oats raised amounted to 2K pints per day per work animal.
The gam 111 oats i^roduction, 1900-1910, was 69 per cent.
42nd in Hay and Forage production, total crop, tons,
Teu-year increase, 1900-1910, was 46 per cent in Chatham’.’Moore
and bee. I’he hay and forage produced amounted to three pounds
per day per work animal.
23rd in Per cent of farms buying farm feed
993 farms or more than X of them bought feed’;' averaging $31 70
per farm.
22nd in Beef production per person, pounds 41.
State average 33.8 pounds.
15th in Pork production j)er person, pounds igg
State average 93 lbs. State average of hogs sold and slaughtered
.47 hog; U. S. .57; Chatham .83; Iowa 2.72 hogs per person.
3rd in Poultry production [>er person, fowls 12.2
Nec>ded 13 fowls per person per year; deficit .7 of a fowl per person
or only about a second joint apiece to buy.
14th in I'^gg deficit, doz
Needed 17,^ doz. per person; produced 16 doz.; deficit per person
doz.
17th in Increase in farm sak>s of dairy pcQilucts, per cent
Increase covers Chatham, Moore and Ixe. Total sales in 1910 were
$50,070. State increase was 146 per cent. Chatham produced 22
lbs. of butter i>er person; the average amount needed was 48 lbs.;
- the total butter deficit was 587,192 lbs. Chatham in 1910 undoubt
edly produced meat enough and a surplus to sell, and nearly enough
poultry and'eggs; but the county fell behind in fann dairy and
creamery products.
14th in Livestock products per jxirsou
Alleghany $65; State average $17. Per capita crop production iu
Chatham was $70; total farm wealth produced $93 per person.
50th in Bill for imported food and feed supplies $1,013,000
In five years it nearly equals the farm wealth accumulated in 140
years.
28th in Boys’ Corn Club enroihuent in 1914, boys 54
Average per-acre yield 52.5 bu. or more than 4 times the average
for the county. At this rate the grown-ups might have produced
enough corn and 1,200,000 bu. to sell. Instead they bought 145,461
bushels.
30th in Girls’ Canning Club enrollment, girls 2
Tins and glass jars filled, 500; rank 30th. Clear profits,' $77.10;
rank 29th.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
1. Chatham is a county of 3mall-fai;n owners. More than seven-teniths of the
white farmers own the farms they culti\-ate; and nearly two-fifths of the negro far
mers are landlords, not tenants. During the last census period, the negro farm
owners in Chatham, IMoore, and Lee increased 33 per cent in number, while the
white farm owners increased only 3 per ceiit in number.
-2. The cropping system is sensible; that is to say, it is the half-and-half sys
tem that the Federal Departnient of Agriculture is now campaigning in the South;
half money crops and half food and feed crops. -
In Chatham 54 per cent of the crop wealth in 1910 was produced by food and
feed crops, and 46 per cent by cotton and tobacco. This fact explains the small per-
acre crop yield. The soils are good, but the farmers are not depending mainly on
cotton and tobacco which yield large average crop values per acre.
3. But evidently in the census year the farmers were not raising a sutticiency
of corn, oats, hay and forage for home consum[)tion. In 1910, more than a fourth
of the farmers bought feed for their farm animals. All told, 993 farmers spent an
average of $31.70 apiece for this purpose. Th^js’heat surplus of the county was
nearly 30,000 busiiels, and doubtless potatoes, vegetables and fruits were raised in
sufficient quantities.
4. But in 1910 the bill for imported food and feed stufis was beyond all-reason
—$1,013,000! Here is a King’s ransom and it went out of the county to pay for
supplies that might have been raised at home. If this vast sum, or even a reasona
ble portion of it, could be held down in the county by a system of live-at-home
farming, the farm wealtli of the county would be doubled in the next five years.
The per capita countiy wealth of the county is too small. It was only $248
in the census year, agaiust $322 for the state-at-large; $560 for Alleghany county;
$994 for the United States; and $3386 for towa.
5. The larger per capita country wealth elsewhere hesmainly in the greater at
tention to livestock and in the better development of livestock industries; to high
bred beef and dairy cattle; to pure bred-swine; to the i>roduction of hams, bacon,
and shoulders; to dairy farming; to creameries, condenseries, cheese factories and
such like agricultural industries.
There is minimum chance to pile uj) wealth in farm communities from the. sale
ot crops alone, no matter how large the yield or how high the market prices. Around
two-thirds of the yearly income of the western farmer is produced by the sale of an
imal products; iu Chatham, nearly seven-ninths of it is produced by crops alone.
6. In 1910, Chatham made a good showing in the production of beef, pork,
poultry and eggs. Undoubtedly the county produced enough meat for home con
sumption, and nearly enough poultry and eggs.
The county fell behind in dairy farming and in the production of milk, butter
and cream. The milk produced was 60-gallons less and the butter 26 pounds less
per person than the average amounts required for consumption in the run of a year.
There is no hope for the development of beef cattle and dairy farming in any
county without stock-laws and tick-eradication.
7. In 1910, Chatham fell below tlie state average in the number of ])igs per
1000 acres. But what is worse, Chatham, JNIoore, and Lee sufi'ered heavy losses in
cattle, swine and sheep during the last census period. The loss in sheep alone in
this group of counties amounted to 13,398 in number and $48,000 in value.
It is critically important for this group of counties, the future considered, to
to move ahead instead of falling behind in livestock, dairy farming, and animal
products of all sorts.
8. Chatham makes a better showing than the average county in North Caro
lina in church membership, school attendance and literacy; but falls far below the
average for the State in expenditures for school purposes and in salaries paid to
white country teachers.
The combined state and county tax rate was higher in 1913 in 74-otber counties;
and there is room here for larger revenues for better schools, better roads, and other
similar agencies of community progress.
9. Chatham county, like all the rest in North (’arolina, needs more folks; not
more tenants, but more home-ow'iiing, small-farmers. Allowing 75 acres to each
family there is room in Chatham for 3,550 new farm families, with 50,000 acres
still left over for wood-lot purposes.
This number would almost exactly double the present number of farmers. But
what a ditference they would create! There would be more business for the trading
centres, greater taxable wealth, larger revenues for school and church support,
more social life' and liveliness, and larger stores of hope and high courage.
At present the uncultivated wilderness area in Chatham amounts to nearly
324,000 acres. Three-fourths of the county is now abandoned to calmness and
solitude. - .
- And as everyone knows, said Colonel Mulberry Sellers, there ain’t no money
calmness and solitude.