The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
the date indicated below.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
AUGUST 25,1915
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
Editorial Boardi K. C. Branson, J. G. deR. Hamilton, L. R. Wilson, L,. A. Williams.
VOL. I, NO. 40
Bntered'as second-olaas matter November 14, 1914, at the postoffioe at Chape! Hil', N. C.
undpr the act of Anp-nst 3!, 191".
NORTH CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES
i A CALL FOR HELP
The edition of tbe University News Let
ter is now 7,000. The mails liave brongiit
*13 1,500 names since the first of last May,
: and new requests come daily.
We must keep within our small budget
'allowance for ijrinter’s ink, paper, press
work and postage. We are therefore un
der the necessity of revising our mailing
list.
Just now we are concerned about know
ing who on our list has time to read
the News I^etter. Please drop us a card
about it.
REFRESHING
A paper without a word in, it from
W'eek to week about crime and criminals,
Oharles Becker, or Harry Thaw. Think
on that,-Miy lords and ladies!
Instead, every issue is full and running
over with items about community oppor
tunities, possibilities and enterprises,
■with pointers for the townspeople, and
suggestions about crops and profits for
the farmers in Wake.
Tt is The Wendell Times. Our bonnet
j'oes ofl' to Editor Evans.
Just now he is preaching the gospel of
shade, beauty, and free bounty in fruit
and nut-bearing trees along the streets,
instead of elms, Carolina poplars and the
Hike.
Pecans and English walnuts are in very
Ifact as beautiful and as hardy as any
■■shade trees we can plant.
Why not plant them in our yards and
“long our streets? The idea is well worth
ampaigning.
THE UNIVERSITIES AND
PUBLIC SERVICE
tiovernor Walsh of Massachusetts has
just called together in Boston Aug. 24-7
he second National Conference on Uni-
’versities and Pulilic Service.
The subjects named for discussion are
jsuggestive. For instance
! 1. University Training and Community
Keeds.
2. Law Schools aud Social Justice.
3. Medical Schools aud Public Health.
4. Engineering Courses and Public
[Works.
.5. Lilieral Arts aud Civic Service.
Governor Walsh evidently has tiie no
tion that universities ha\'e, or ought to
jliave, a direct, definite relation to tlie
common weal; that academic culture as
an isolated, insulated, dainty something
is.an out-of-date, musty, fusty something.
'Ways and means of makiiig' universi
ties directly serviceable to the public is th«
liurden of discussion in these conferences.
t)UR FARM-HOME SURVEY
The survey of farm homes in Cliapel
Hill and Bingham townships is finished.
Mr. l^ugene Sugg, a University student
from Bin_gham township, representing
the Office of Markets and Rural C)rgani-
zation in Washington City, is now mov
ing over into Hillsboro and Cedar Grove
townships.
The intelligence and uniform courtesy
■W'ith which Mr. Sugg has been received
in our farm homes speak volumes of
praise for Orange county.
Not everybody has understood fully what
these surveys mean and some few people
have been' suspicious; but all told the
people of the county are seeing a new
iight and catching the spirit of this cam
paign for jirogress.
Nobody means anything whatsoever
but good for Orange county—just that
and nothing less.
OUR SOIL SURVEY
The Federal Government has been gen
erously interested in Orange county. Our
Senators and Major Steadman, our repre
sentative, have lost no chance in Wash-
iugton City to serve our people in all the
survey work that is now going on in the
county.
I*r. W. S. Rankin of the State Health
Board, and Dr. J. Y. Joyner, our State
Superintendent of Public Instruction,
have been actively sympathetic and help
ful- Dr. B. W. Kilgore, Director of the
State Agricultural Experiment Station in
Raleigh, promises us a Soil Surv'ey at the
earliest possible moment—not later, we
hope, than the early fall.
Soil surveys are now being made in
three North Carolina counties. Twenty-
nine such surveys have been finished to
date.
We are hoping that Major W. A. Gra
ham, our Commissioner of Agriculture,
and Dr. Kilgore will see fit to give
us a soil survey in Orange, at some
early date.
OUR FARM PRACTICES
SURVEY
A third survey in Orange county is be
ing conducted for the Federal Depart
ment of Agriculture by Mr. Fred R.
Yoder, a University graduate from Ca
tawba county.
He is investigating farming as a busi
ness ill Orange. In general he is trying
to find answers to the questions; Does
farming pay in Orange county? What
kind of farming pays best and why?
What kind of farming pays least and
why?
His inquiries cover investment, equip
ment, cropping systems, livestock, live
stock products, markets, credit, and so on.
It is a long, complicated study for each
farm, and for this reason he cannot hope
to interview more than 200 farmers all
told.
Mr. Yoder reports that the farmers as
a rule are keenly interested in this sur
vey; more so possibly than in the other
surveys.
RUNNING WATER IN
COUNTRY HOMES
So far in our survey of farm homes
we have found only two country homes
in Orange county equipped with water
works, both in Bingliam township; the
homes of Mr. Milton Smith, Teer, Route
1, and Mr. Nerius Cates, Hillsboro,
Route 2.
The U. S. Public Health Service Sur
vey reports nine such country homes in
the county. We should be glad to have
the addresses of them all, with accounts
of how they solved this important prob
lem.
Carrying water from a spring or draw
ing water from a well is a back-breaking
business, especially hard on the farm
wives.
The Federal Department of Agriculture
estimates that water for drinking, cook
ing, washing, house cleaning, and bath
ing in a country home averages 30 gal
lons a day for each person, from 10 to 13
gallons for each horse or mule, from 10
to 14 gallons for each cow and from 1 to
3 gallons for each hog.
OUR HEALTH SURVEY IN
ORANGE
The t)range county homes, town and
country, visited by the doctors of the U.
S. Public Health Service number nearly
3300.
The first round in our Camiiaign for
better health is finished. The second
round of visitation lias begun.
The doctors are now trying to get the
people of Orange county to do the few
simjile things that are necessary to put
an end to home-bred typhoid fever, and
at the same time to free the county from
the scourge of similar intestinal diseases,
dysentery, diarrhea, cholera infantum
and the like.
Sanitary surface closets, a proper dis
posal of human body-waste, and screens
for the homes are the main matters.
In our 3300 homes, tlie doctors found
histories of more than a thousand cases
of typhoid fever; and Orange in this par
ticular shows no worse than other coun
ties in the United States.
But surely a known state of affairs like
this will nerve even the most careless
father and mother to prompt action in
behalf of the loved ones in the home.
The cost? Less than a twentieth of
what it costs to put up a lightning rod.
Lightning killed only 179 people in all
this big country last year; but typhoid
fever slew 30,000.
DEVELOPING DAIRY IN
DUSTRIES
The total amount received from farm
sales of dairy products in North
THE FARMER’S BEST
ASSET
A little, ill-equipped, one-teacher
country school is much better than no
school at all; but it remains today in
many a rural comnuniity where it has
no more business than an oxcart would
have as a pleasure vehicle.
A string of little, old-fasliioned one-
teacher country schools, with a course
of studies not at all related to country
life, in a rural district where many
farmers own automobiles is a scandal
ous fraud on country youth.
The consolidated country school,
graded, well-housed, well-equipped,
with adequately paid teachers and a
course of study Icnit up with country
life, is the farmer’s best a.ssest.—The
Saturday Evening Post.
Carolina in 1910 was only $1,787,000. It
is a small total, barely more than half
the farm sales of jioultry and eggs; but it
was nearly exactly two and a half times
as much as similar sales ten years before.
In sixty-five counties the sums received
from the sale of dairy products on the farm
were more than doubled; in 26 of these
counties, the cash receipts were more
than trebled; in five of them, more than
quadrupled.
In three of them there was a five-fold
increase; in three others, a six-fold in
crease ; in Alexander, a ten-fold increase.
In Pender the total farm sales amount
ed to only $5,405 ; but it was more than
a twenty-fold increase.
Mainly these 65 counties were middle
and western Nortli Carolina counties,—
all but 2.4. Nine counties, all but three
in eastern Carolina, suffered decreases,
ranging from 7 per cent in Bertie to 99
per cent in Dare.
The tide-water counties outstripped the
rest of the state during the last census
period in swine increases; but middle and
western North Carolina counties far out-
strippcHi the coastal plain counties in cat
tle increases.
Creamery routes, cream separators,
butter and cheese factories, cattle breed
ing associations and beef cattle industries
are multiplying rapidly in Western North
Carolina, and a brand new chapter in
agriculture is here being written for the
state.
PROGRESS IN COLLEGE
EDUCATION -
The were 216,493 students in the col
leges, universities and technological
schools of the United States in 1914, or
14,262 more than in 1913.
College students have more than treb
led in nunilier in the country-at-large
since 1890.
In the University of North Carolina
during this interval, the numlser of stu
dents has increased more than five fold.
More Students and Fewer
Colleges
The colleges, universities, and techno
logical schools of the United States in
1914 numbered 569, or 29 fewer than in
1913.
Their receipts from all sources during
the year reached a total of $120,579,257,
or an average of 5'557 per student en
rolled.
In the University of North Carolina in
1914-15, there were 1019 students and the
total receipts from all sources averaged
only ?178 per student enrolled; or less
than a third the average for the Unit
ed States.
Twenty«Six Million Dollars
in Benefactions
Private gifts to the colleges, universi
ties, and - technological schools of the
country reached the enOrmous sum of
5)26,670,017, or two million dollars more
than in 1913.
The Emerson Stadium is the notable
gift of the year to the University of
North Carolina.
It is safe to say that 4i»erica believes
in education as an instrument of social
safety and civic security.
THE FAMILY DOLLAR
Federal Government experts hav^been
studying the cost of living for 13,643 per
sons in 2,567 average homes in different
parts of the United States.
The average yearly income for a family
of five was found to be $827.19; the av-
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 40
OUR COUNTRY SCHOOLS
The report for 1914-15 of the State
Agent for Rural Schools gives a most
gratifying account of splendid and ef
fective work
Along Practical Lines
A summary of the v\ork done by the
seven rural school supervisors under the
direction of the State Agent contains
much that compels the reader’s approval.
The WorR of the Rural Super
visors
In these seven counties, in each ■ of
which there is a lady school supervisor,
there are
66 Demonstration Schools
to which the supervisors give special at
tention. From a summary of the State
Agent’s Report the following is interesting
as showing just what work tliese super
visors afe"doiiigin these seven counties
Along Industrial Lines
Total number in the Boys’ Corn
Clubs 416
Total number of boys in the Pig
Clubs, 253
Total number of girls in cooking
classes, 289
Total number of girls in sewing
classes, 572
Total number of girls and women
in canning clubs, 648
Along Cultural and Recreation
al Lines
A great work has been done by these
supervisors in the way of stirring up the
children for culture and recreation.
Twenty-three schools have music clubs;
615 boys and girls belong to the music
clubs.
Thirty-seven schools have literary
clubs; 1080 boys and girls, men and
women are members of the literary clul)s,
and better still these various clubs have
held 502 meetings during the year.
A Splendid Showing
is made in the facts and figures of this
report and our schools are sure to grow
in popular favor the more they reach out
tov\ard the delightful and the practical
in education.
erage expenditures 3i768.54; and the av
erage surplus §58.65.
It is a Dwindling Dollar
Among other interesting details it ap
pears that a dollar in 1915 will buy no
more food than 80 cents would buy in
1907. That is to say, fifteen leading ar
ticles of food have increased in price an
average of 25 per cent in eight years.
Pantry supplies considered, a thousand
dollar salary today is just what an $800
salary was in 1907.
What the Family Dollar
Pays for
In the homes under investigation, av
erage typical American homes, the family
dollar was spent as follows:
Food 35.5 cents
Rent and payment on homes.. .14.2 cents
Clothing 13 0 cents
Miscellaneous 5.4 cents
Fuel and light 4.8 cents
Furniture and utensils 3.1 cents
Liquor and tobacco 2.8 cents
Insurance 2.5 cents
Sickness and death 2.4 cents
Church, lodge, etc 2.3 cents
Amusements 1.5 cents
Newspapers, magazines, etc 1.0 cents
.Surplus 7.0 cents
It is interesting to note that in 2,567
average American homes more money
went for amusements, newspapers and
magazines than went to support both the
church and the lodge. Liquor and to
bacco were also a larger detail.
Also that this little margin of 7 surplus
cents in the dollar explains the seven
billion dollars on savings account in
banks of all sorts in the United States.
GETTING CLOSER TO THE
PEOPLE
The students in the colleges and uni
versities of America are a little more than
two to every 1000 of population. In North
Carolina, they are less than 5000 all told.
At the University they numbered last
year 1019; but in various forms of Exten
sion Service we were able to reach some
thing like 200,000 people. We are trying
to put the men and the resources of the
University freely at the ser\'ice of the
State; trying to make our campus reach
to the borders of North (Carolina in every
direction.
Whatever benefit the University may
have conferred in these efforts, the bene
fit it has received is unmistable. It is far
more important for the University to
know about the peoj^le of North Carolina,
their puzzles and problems, than for the
people of North Carolina to know about
the University. We have learned that
the University is called to minister and not
to be ministered unto.
Forms of Extension Service
1. The Information Bureau has an
swered more than 2,000 inquiries about
every conceivable subject.
2. The Loan Library has sent out 1600
books and pamphlets.
3. The High School Debating Union of
the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies
here involved 250 high schools all over
the state, 1000 debaters, and audiences
mmil)ering all told between 50,000 and
75,000 people. Twenty-five hundred cop
ies of the Del >ate Bulletin were sent out
along with 1500 pamphlets and docu
ments on debate subjects.
4. The Summer School, the Good Roads
Institute, the Rural Life and the High
School Conferences reached 1000 teach
ers, county officials, ministt^rs and school
officers.
5. The Correspondence Courses and
Suumier studies for college credits served
240 aspiring students.
6. The new department of Rural Eco
nomics and Sociology is subjecting the
state to close scrutinity and analysis,
county by county. During the year just
closed, 117 important economic and so
cial subjects have been threshed out and
the information is in the flies of the
North Carolina Club at the University
ready for the press and the people of the
state.
These studies vere listed in The Uni
versity News Letter May 26 and August
11. They follow the lines of thought in
dicated in the Syllabus of Home-County
Club Studies and the Community Service
Week Bulletin, both of which were edited
and compiled by members of the Univer
sity Extension Bureau.
7. The University News Letter goes
weekly to 7,0U0 readers; to people in ev
ery county and almost every community
in North Carolina. It goes without charge
to anybody that writes for it. This little
sheet is not yet a year old, but already it
evidences the fact that the University is
thinking not first and most about itself,
but first and most about North Carolina.
8. The Extension Ijecture Bureau has
reached 40,000 people with 140 lectures
and addresses by various members of the
faculty during the year.
From every window on the campus of the
University hangs out a kindly lamp of
learning for the millions in North Caro
lina who cannot enter college walls.
THE STATE PRESS
One hundred ninety-six North Carolina
dailies, weeklies and semi-weeklies come
regularly into the office of the University
News Letter.
And they are read, every one of them,
in our hunt for signs of progress, for sto
ries of initiative, achievement, and devel
opment in the state.
lU no state of the Union do the papers
of all sorts give more space to Education,
Agriculture, and Public Health.
Once upon a time Education was a
subject left to the school journals. Agri
culture to the farm weeklies, and Public
Health to a little corner in the medical
magazines.
Now our North Carohna papers are
filled with these subjects in every issue.
The editors of the general public press
give liberal time, attention and space to
schools, farming and sanitation.
The part our editors are playing in
state development along these lines is the
best comment possible ujron the ability
and generous citizenship of the newspa
per fraternity in North Carolina.