The news in fh« pubbca-
hon is released for the press oo
the date indicated below.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Pubhshed weekly by the
University of North Carolmii
tor its Bureau of Extensioo.
FEBRUARY 16,1916
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. H, NO. 12
Editorial B. C. Branaoa, -J. W. d«Bt Hajniltoii, i.. B. Wilson, U. A. Williams, K. H. Thornton, W M, NoTemb«r 14. HIU, at the postofflce ot Chapel Hill, N.C., nnder them r. of A\iKn-t 34, 13IJ
NORTH CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES
MORE LOYAL ALUMNI
A check ror $60 CDnies from two gener
ous alumni to swell the «ma!l piibliHhing
l^und of The University Xews [,ett-r.
Our mailhif; list is near the 8,000 mark,
[t can 15,000 bv ,lune, if only we can
find the funds to foot the bills.
GENEROUS BANKS
Merchantii Bank in !
The Farmers and
Henderson and tlie Bank of Warren in
Warrenton are investing alx)ut $500 a-
piece in pure-bred pip» for the Pig Club
boys of V^auce and Warren counriej*.
The boys give tlieir note« for these pigs
and raLse them on grazing crops planted
in rotation under the direction of the
^enionatratioi) agents. The boys raising
tlie be.st pigs at the lowest cost will be
awarded prize* next Di>cenil>er.
I
This investment in boys is even inore >
0v.-»lua5>lp than the inve.'itment in pigs
HELPING THE TENANT
FARMER
The McRae t!n>dit linion Bill pro\ndes j
for the farmen- a small Credit Tnion in j
proajierous country district;« by bringing i
together and pooling the int/erest« of from j
twenty-five to one hunilred farmers, ■
Some of these farmers have land and i
some have personal pro))orty, and some
have nothing hut good charact*?r. I
The Credit Union Iend.« money at 6 per;
C4*nt to the individual meml)er on the ae- j
onrity of property, just as others lend I
money on tJie .security of property, eJL-1
cept that the Credit Union will charge |
only 6 ()t‘r cent for this money without
commission, while outside money lenders
will charge all the way from 8 to 70 p^r
c«‘nt for this money.
The Tenant Needs Friends
, In ca«e the tenant farmer has no prop-
WESTERN BREEZE
Tiiere are no misfit children. Thei-e
an- mistit Hchwiljt. ntisfit texl« and
studies, mi.sfit dogmas and traditions
of (H*dant.“ ami pwiantry. There are
misfit, homes, misfit occupations and
diversions. Jn fact, there ar‘ all
kinds and conditions of misfit cloth
ing for cViiklren, biil' in tin* natute of
things tliere can no inistit childnm.
—Monograph !^aJi Francisco State
Normal School.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO, 61
IT PAYS
S.eno8ha, Wisconsin, has a whole-time
health offia^r. Between 1912 and 1914
he (Kiarlet fever oases fell from 200 to 1
aind deiiths from 47 to 0; diphtheria cases
ifell from 13 to 9 and deatlis from 2 to 0.
iTyphoid'deaths decreased from 17 to 1,
:and the death of infants tmder two years
■of age fell from 111 to 54.
The per capita annual cost of thia
liiealtli ofBc.eT is only 17 cents—the price
of a moving picture ticket or two. In-
vvestment in community health pays.
in 1915, X(unting commissions, was 7.7
per cent ; and this average was lower than
in all other southern stAt«s, Virginia and
Kentucky alone excepted.
Twenty-one Millions in Per
sonal Loans
STATE AID
The amount of operative t^pital in the
United States derived from state tax or
approj)riation, and the per cent which
this amount is of tlie total, varies no less
widely than the total investment in the
school husine,ss throughout the several
.states.
The tfjtal amoiml of operative capital
derived from state, tax or appropriation
varies from $57,000 in New Mexico to
nearly $10,000,000 in New.Iersey, The
state wWch raises the largest percentage
by thus means is Alabama with $2,000,000,
rej)reseDting 74 per cent of its operative
: capitJil. (ieorgia appropriates out of her
! statf treaatiry $2,500,000 for common
i schools, which is 65 per cent of the total
common school fund. Massachusetts re-
The personal security loans by banks j the smaUest percentage through
to our farmers in 1915 amoant«l to $21,- jjouree, 1 per cent whicth is less than
his mule and cow, he j 280,000. Seventy-lwo of our national: quarter million of dollars.
ertyataU, ex«'pt his mule and cow, he j 280,000. Seventy-lwo of our
will need to have his note at tl)e Credit j banks carried about two-fifths of thisj From state sources North Carolina re-
t^nion endorsed by his landlord or by two i junount, and 400 otxjer banks carried the | (^iveg $284,684 which is 7 per cent of her
or more of his neighbors who have | rest. The average interest rate, cotmting; (^,(.3! school revenue and in both absohitt'
sufficient property to allow them a line | commissions, was 10.2 per cent..
of credit. The tenant farmer will also lie
expected to give a lien on his crop a« a
further security.
He Needs Cheaper Credit
This crop lien given to hia Credit Union
will bear interest at the rate of 6 per cent
and he will buy his supplies on a cash
SAFE-GUARDING THE
CHILDREN
Drauge county joins Alamance, North-
:ampton, Wilson, and Iredell in the med
ical inspection of schools and school chil-
■dren, under the direcMon of the State
Board of Health.
The work will be done by Dr. T. M.
Jordan who is now busy with this work
in the Alamance schools.
The purpose is to advise parents of the
curable discomforts their children suffer
because of defective teeth, eye-sight, ade-
poids, diseased tonsils, hookworms, and
similar parasites. Upon notice of such
:ailments the family physicians are apt to
ibe called into assistance by the home
folks. Theae counties are making the
best possible investment of some $500
■each
The
average varied from S.3 per cf“nt in 6
nn)Untain counties t> 14 per cent in the
10 counties in the Pamlico isnd lowf^r
Cape Fear regions.
A little figuring '^ill show that the far
mers’ interest bill in North (Jaroliiia in
1915 was around three and three-quarter
miUion dollars. What they paid in inter
est and prolits on time-accomits with the
supply-merchantK nobody,
knows much aVtout.
of c.onrse,
BEFORE THE WAR
In 1860 the farmers of Pasquotank had
their barns and bins, pantries, cribs and
■smoke houses filled to bursting with
home-raifled supplies. In 1910 the coun-
.ty still ran ahead of local needs in meat
production, but far behind in food and
feed crops. Then the stock of farm ani
mals averagetl 530 lbs. of dressed meat
per inhabitant; in 1910 the acreage was
210 lbs. Then they raised 70,000 bushels
of wheat, 575,000 bushels of corn, 39.000
bushels of rye, and 7,000 buBhels of oats
—690,000 bushels of grain or 77 bushels
for every man, woman and child in the
«ouiity.
In 1910 the total wheat crop was only
142 bushels and the corn crop fell to 15
bushels per person. In potatoes alone of
all the standard food crops was there a
per capita increase during these 55 years.
Then the county raised no cotton; in 1910
•cotton alone produced 46 per cent of the
itotal crop wealth of the season.
When^ a million dollars in ready cash
'slips ttirough the fingers of a farm com-
anunity year by year the accumulation of
'Wealth will be slow’ and the totals saved
will be small. In 1910 per capita coun-
rtry.wealth in the county was only $351 as
has beeti said, and the per capita taxable
■wealth of the whites, all property what-
sioejiea’ considered, was only 478
basis, whereas the crop lien he has bef n
accustomed to give to the supply-merch
ant and individuals in nearby cities has
been costing him for his credit all the
way from 40 to 60 per cent; by reason of _ «« « t cpuAflf lltf
the fact that be is to pay 25 per centmore ^ LOCAL SCMUUL W m ^
for his supplies on credit than for cash j WUKin ]
and is only using his credit on an aver-] \ . W. McGhee, Buncomlw C-ounty.
age of about six months. In addition to { In the table which foltews, the coun-
this high price on time, he is also chargeii ties are ranked according to the rate of
with 6 per cent on his contract. It is local school taxes paid by each county;
clear, therefore, that by giving a crop to ! that is, the taxes known as special taxes
his own Credit Union he will save at voted hy various districts for schools,
least 50 per cent in the cost of credit for plus the twenty cent school tax uniform-
running his farm.—Mr. John Sprunt ly levied and locally used in all the coun-
yjjl I ties of the State.
j The figures are based on the 1914 Re-
' ' port of our State Tax Commission, the
CHEAPER INTEREST RATES
1913-14 Report of our State Snperintend-
The insurance companies are rapidly' ent of Public Instruction, and the 1914
increasing their loans on farm lands in' Report of the U. S. Commiss.oner of
North Carolina. In 1913 they had loan-, Education.
ed to our farmers $828,000; in 1915 their Albemarle Leads, Hertford
loans amounted to $2,267,000. or nearly Excepted
three time^i as much. So Dr. C. W.
Thompson, representing the Federal of-' The counties
flee of Markets and Rural Organization hear local tax
said to the Congressional Joint Commit- ranking high^t, as a rule, are counties
: which have been settled a long time
amount and percentage of the whole she
ranks 32nd among the states of the nation.
Local Support
As reported by the U. S. Commissioner
of Education this item is misleading. Lo
cal tax in this Report means the sum to
tal of county tax and the tax from local
tax districts.
Thus considered it is evident that the
great bulk of ojierative capital for the
various states is derived from local tax,
Few of the states getMess than 50 per cent
of their school revenue from this source,
in fact 7 only of' the 49.
With local tax thus interpreted Nortli
Carohna securas 91 per cent from local
tax, though wc all know that st^ores of
districtf* do not vote, one cent over the re
quired county appropriation. Thi.x 91
per cent for North C»rt>lina represents a
total amount of $3,595,743, and in tliis
absolute amount .she ranks 25th among
the states of the Unit^Hi States.
Totab
In all. the nation as a wiiole has an
operative capital of $507,227,455 of which
amount $18,155,653 is derived from the
returns on permanent school fonda and
school lands, $78,375,830 from state tax
or appropriation, $375,582,354 from lotyil
tax, $35,113,618 from mlsc'ellan«H>us sour
ces.
This makes the per capita cost for pub
lic schools for the nation as a whole$5.37.
On this same basis it costs North Carolina
$1.76 per head of her total population to
provide public education for her children.
In this respect she ranks 47th. that is to
say, 46 states do b«;tter.
The grand total of the capital, invest
ment and operative, upon which the
United States docs business i»$2,513,520,-
922. It sounds like a big trust or corpo
ration. Does the business pay?
LOCAL SCHOOL SUPPORT IN NORTH CAROLINA, 19ia.l4
V. W. McGHEE, Buncombe County, University of North (ilaroLina
Rate for the $1,000 of Taxable Property
State Average $5.04
vary in willingness to
school burdens. Those
They are the pioneer counties. The fer-
tee on Rural Credits the other day.
It is significant. It means that our grouping of the
agriculture is getting better balaiK*d and _ the long
» *, . : J . i-fir>rugu(^ r r ^
period of adjustment to social conditions
have shown the inhabitants that good
schools are indispensable.
better organized; that our increase in
food crops and livestock guarantees the
farm income and protects the collateral
from deterioration. It means decreasing
risk and therefore lower rates of interest.
The low rates on loans made by the in
surance companies on farm land force
down rates on loans from other sources.
They therefore confer a large benefit on
farm Iwrrowers.
Seven Hundred Millions in
Farm Mortgages.
I How the Highlands Rank
i Among the mountain counties, Jackson,
Yancey, Macon, Transylvania, Bun
I combe, and McDowell lead in the order
named.
1 Watauga county is omitted in this
j study, because the revenues from local
school tax levies were not separately
! accounted for in the 1913-14 report. How-
Two hundred and twenty insurance ever, at that time Watauga had two local
companies owning 99 per cent of the in-1 school tax districts.
surance assets of the United .States have ^ North Carolina Stands
loaned American farmers on land mort-, 5^913^ total amount of public
gages nearly $700,000,000; and banks ! raised by local taxation was
other than national have loaned them j ^3^595^743, and our rank in this particu-
about the same amount. Nearly a fourth ; jSth. Ninety-one cents of every
of the insurance loan money has gone to , (joUaj. gp^nt for public schools in the
Iowa alone; and seven-eighths of, it to , raised by local taxation; and
the 12 North Central states, a region de- jjj ^^,,3 particular we ranked 5th.
voted to food and feed crops, livestock, j jg ^ jn willingness to bear
and livestock industries. Here farm | burdens for schools we stand
lands are high priced, but agriculture is j every state in the Union except
well balanced, stable, and safe. As a | Rhode Island, Kansas, and Mas-
result interest rates on farm | gachusetts. Other States lean heavily
low, ranging from 5.8 per cent in Wis- large, lump appropriations by the
THE PROFESSOR SAYS
It’s little wonder that we fear death, if
we must be buried in the avera^ coun
try graveyard.
Happiness in the next world is a beau
tiful thing to contemplate, but why not
make the most of the everyday world
uround us now?
Heaven is my home, sings the poeU
Very well, but at present my address is
Earth; and I am working on a big job.
consin to 8.7 per cent in North Dakota.
Twenty-one Millions in North
Carolina
The farm mortgage loans in North Car
olina in 1915 were around $21,000,000.
About a tenth of this amount was carried j burden in 1913 was only $1.76 per
Legislatures. North Carolina derives on
ly 9 per cent of her
money in this way, bu
65 per cent of her school fund from this
source, and Alabama 74 per cent.
All told, however, our public school
Eiank
County
Rate
Rank
County
Rate
1
Pamlico
$8.98
50
Wayne
5.11
2
Dare
8.80
51
Mecklenburg
5.07
Perquimans
8.51
52
Montgomery
5.06
4
Currituck
7.15
53
Surry
4.99
5
Hyde
7.14
54
Avery
4.90
6
Jackson
6.93
55
Burke
4.89
7
Lenoir
6 91
55
Richmond
4.89
8
Carteret
6.79
57
Bladen
4.86
9
Yancey
6.78
57
Johnston
4.86
10
Camden
6.71
59
Yadkin
4.85
11
Nash
6.59
60
Craven
4.83
12
Macon
6.42
61
Lincoln
4.81
12
Transylvania
6.42
62
Durham
4.80
14
Buncombe
6.35
■62,
Gaston
4.80
15
Columbns
6.10
62
Cabarnis
4.77
16
Bertie
6.09
65
Northampton
4.76
17
McDowell
6.06
65
Sampson
4.76
18
Orange
6.05
67
Cumberland
4.74
19
Franklin
6.02
68
Davidson
4.69
20
Wilkes
5.99
69
Jones
4.66
21
Wake
5.97
70
Haywood
4.58
22
Person
5.92
70
Henderson
4.58
23
Union
5.90
72
Randolph
4.55
24
Pender
5 89
73
Vance
4.53
35
Chowan
5.88
74
Rockingham
4.49
26
Guilford
5.87
75
Warren
4.47
26
Tyrrell
5.87
76
Brunswick
4.46
28
Caldwell
5.81
77
Edgecombe
4.44
29
Pasquotank
5.80
78
Washington
4.34
30
Granville
5.69
79
Robeson
4.30
31
Alamance
5.67
79
Duplin
4.80
32
Stokes
5.63
81
Now Hanover
4.26
33
Forsyth
5.60
82
Hoke
4.20
34
Alexander
5.55
82
Rowan
4.20
35
Beaufort
5.54
84
Polk
4.13
36'
Cherokee
5.49
84
Martin
4,13
37
Mitchell
5.48
86
Davie
4.11
38
Catawba
5.47
87
Cleveland
4.10
39
Pitt
5.43
88
Halifax
4.06
40
Clay ■
5.41
88
Caswell
4.06
41
Ashe
5.40
90
Chiatham
4.04
42
Wilson
5.38
91
Greene
3.99
43
Iredell
5.37
92
Madison
.3.95
44
Henderson
5.34
93
Onslow
3.86
45
Lee
5.30
93
Swain
3.86
46
Gates
5.28
95
Stanly
3.80
47
Alleghany
5.18
96
Graham
3.73
47
Anson
5.18
97
Rutherford
3.68
49
Moore
5.12
98
1
Hertford
3.45
INTEREST INCREASES
the
time spent by my
students on the
46
child of
and it was
more in 47 states. 1 neae are small sums
individuals. I for large purposes; too small wIen we
The average rate on fann mortgage ^ consider what other States are doing for
loans from all sources in North Carolina ^ their children.
bv the insurance companies, a third by inhabitant, and it was heavier in
J„ta„.ber.h.n .nd th. b.1-1
ance by mortgage loan companies and States. These are small
Medical school inspection work is on
the increase in interest and popularity in
Alamance and Northampton counties, ac
cording to reports from medical inspectors
of these counties, as a whole.
One of the Alamance teachers writing
on tlie subject of Health Day, says:
‘ ‘Speaking as one who has already had
Health Day, I wish to say that I consider
work the most valuable they have ever
put on any subject. Not only have they
learned something abotit conserving their
own health, but it paid from a literary
standpoint. The work on their health
compositions was of a much higher order
than that of the ordinary composition be
cause the interest was greater—N C-
State Board of Health.”