t-
1 the UNIV£RSItY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
The neWs-fiii''ihis' publica
tion is released jor .the press on
the date indicated below.
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau ol Extension.
• •
MARCH 22,1916
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. n, NO. 17
Kditorial Boardi K. C. Braiiaon, J. O. deK. Hamilton, L. K. Wilson I A Wiin u u ^ ——
TTimams. K. H. Ihorntou, } M. M iS irtrMi aa soooud-claSB matter Novembw 14, 19U, at the piwtofBoe at Ohapel Hill, N.C., aiider thBant of Aasfust 24,1918
MORE AUTOMOBILE FACTS
Jvearly 900,000 Qjotor (.'aw Wfi'f luanu-
liictured ill the United States in 1915, or
more than lour times liie iminber turned
out in 1911-.
0£ tliis irtiiuher, only 50,369 were com-
inercial veliicleM. The rest were passenger
cars. These .statements occur in The
Mol or Age, Feb. 17.
Motor Car Horsepowers Still
Ahead
Estimating the horsepowers of our 21,- '
084 motors in North Carolina, on Jan. 1, i
1916, at 25 each, which i.s the power of |
the five-passenger Ford, we have 527,100 i
horsepowers in our automobiles.
The 1915 Keport of our Labor Connnis- j
sioner shows that the total horsepowers |
U8el in our textile mills, furniture facto-'
rie^, and miscellanefms plants wen' on- j
iy 459,307.
ottier diseases leaves a larger proi)ortion
of weak or defective hearts to give way in
iiiiildle tile and (>ld ag(‘. But it is in
greater ineaeiire due to the over-eating,
ov('r-drinking. over-playing, and over
working in general the faster living of
niivdern society.
DURHAM QUINT CHAMPIONS
The Durliani high .school basketball
™^.am won the championship of North
XJarolina in a final game played in the
gymnasium of the State University on
Friday, March 10, their opponents being
the \\’inston-S;i.lem high school team,
•and the score standintr: Durham 21,
AVinston-Saleni 20.
Previp.ns to .'this the Durham team had
won the l?§3teni cllailipionship and the
AV'inston-Salem team ,l(ad woirthe West-
ern-chai»pionsliip... A £!ii_p will be award-
fed ^he ■ V I'innef^ to c'onnfiejiiorate their
lyinuing-theciiAniplbughip. ’ -
. This contest ,\va94he.§econd aunual“on£
, ;v t4:> be staged' by the' University committee
’ on high school’athletics. Winston-Salem
-von the championship last year.
HIGH SCHOOL DEBATES
The High School Debating I'nion con
tinues to gather interest and momentum
aa the dates for tho mammoth contests
pproach. In all sections of the State
students are busy getting their arguments
'in final form and rounding up their
speeches in j)roper shape.
The people of more than 300 North
"'arolina communities on March 31 will
’have the opportunity of hearing the re
sults of several months concentrated ef
fort on the part of more than 1200 young
students. Largo and enthusiastic audi
ences will, no doubt, greet the sjieakers
when they clash upon tlie subject of the
"nlargement of the Navy. The debates,
too, will have a decided educational value
as the youthful debaters have left no stone
unturned in their efi'orts to gather nil the
facts in the case.
THE SCOURGE OF MALARtA
The Medical- Department of the Uni
versity of Missouri has recently prepared
for distribution Medical Bulletin No. 28
on the I’revention of Malaria.
It is estimated that in the I'nited
States there are 1,500,000 cases of this
disease annually with 12,000 deaths.
'With each life valued at §i5,000 this im
mediate loss becomes $60,000,000 a year,
without considering the value of the time
lost by each patient nor the money spent
for treatment by those who do not die.
It half of this amount were spent an-
mually for prevention, this disease would
[become almost unknown within a decade.
LOWER AND HIGHER DEATH
RATES
Bome interesting figures appear in a
recent Bulletin of the Federal Census Bu
reau.
Between 1904 and 1914 the death rat«
from tuberculosis in the United States
fell from 200.7 to 146.8 per hundred
' thousand. - From 1900 to 1914 the death
rate from infantile diarrhoea fell from
1133.2 to 79.4, while typhoid deaths in the
' same period dropped from 35.9 to 15.4,
I and diphtheria deaths from 43.3 to 17.9,
On the other hand deaths from heart
disease have increased from 123.1 per
I hundred thousand in 1900 to 158.8 in
1914. This places heart disea.se highest
J in the list of all causes of death, the un
enviable position held from time imme
morial by tuberculosis.
This result is partly due to the fact that
the saving of many younger lives from
A STRANGE RELIGION
The other Sunday night in the Chapel
Hill MethodLsf Church Hev. Walter Pat
ten, the pastor, laid upon the Christian
conscience of hus people the subject of
Public Health. Dr. L. H. Webb also
spoke upon Preventable Diseast>,s and
Po.stponahle Deaths. Two stanzas of
Rescue the Perishing of>ened the services
and two stanzas of the same .song w'e.re
sung in conclusion.
On our way home, a good old brother
said, “That wius a strange sort of religion
we heard about tonight. I’ve been going
to church for 50 years, and I never heard
anything like thatlx’fore—not in a church
anyway. And I’ve sung Rescue the
Perishing many a time, hut 1 never
thought it had anything to do with 75 lit
tle graves in our Orange[county cemetc'ries
filled witli little children who died mainly
from fly-borne diseases last summer. I
didn’t know before that ntost of them
died becau.se we were ignorant and stupid
and careless. I reckon Rescue the I'erish-
ing does mean sick children as well as
dying sotils.” • ' '
“Whyltlien,’’ aaid we, ‘‘do you call it
a.stranjje religion?’'
^ lli^,answer was ilhnninating. ‘‘Well,V
^id..|ie,:'.'“J“'ne\'er Could gefha'ppy and
slloiit under that kind, of.preaching. I
just got mad - and made up my^mind to
start.cleaning, up Mondaj^uiDrning; and
if 'fny^ieighbpjs ^don^t (.1 the jam e» tl li n
I’m going to raise Cain. That sort of re
ligion doiTt~make”Ihe Te^ good, but I
want to hear more about such things;
and in the church, too.”
All of which is worth thinking about.
What do you think about it? Is it the
business of the church to be concerned
about saving lives as well as saving souls?
HOME-SEEKERS FLOCK
SOUTHWARD
Florida and four southwestern states,
Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tex
as, have increased in population 1,558,-
000 since 1910. North Carolina needs
these ,A_mericanized farmers from the
Middle West, but they arc settling ii\
largest numbers elsewhere in the South.
And it is mainly because the resources
and advantages of these five .-.tates are a
familiar story in the north central states.
Everybody in this region knows about
Florida, Oklahoma, I.ouisiana, .Vrkansas,
and Pan Handle Texas. No stat‘s have
teen better advertised, not even Califor
nia; but these home-seekers hardly
know that North Carolina is on the map.
Mr. Forrester, secretary of the State
Publicity Bureau, is busy putting North
Carolina on the map; but he needs $50,-
000 instead of irS.OOO for this large pur
pose.
But They Go Elsewhere
Ranked in the order of increase in pop
ulation since 1910, the Southern states
stand as follows, as shown by a recent
Census Bureau estimate;
om NEXT GREAT
EFFORT
I verily U>lieve tliat the next great
organized etlbrt for the advancement
of agriculture and the preservation of
a thriving and contented country
)>opulation must Ik* (iirected toward
the upbuilding of the cotintry school.
Work of this sort is in line with the
highest purpose ob government, and
upon its successful accomplishment
must re.st the continuel success of our
wonderful experiment in democracy.
—Senator .1, W. Wadswortli, New
York.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 66
State banks was oflly $35,998,000 and
their total a.ssets wer|> only $128,572,000.
Well Developed Farm States
The prosp(>rity of Kansas is based di
rectly on her agriculture. Aside from
the smelting and refining of zinc, her in
dustries are mainly agricultural. She
ranks second in the I'nion in slaughter
ing and meat packing, and in Hour and
grist mill products. The Kansas farmers
are not crop farmers mainly; 55 per cent
of their farm income is derived from the
sale of livestock and livestock ))roducts.
Her per capita wealth in 1912, all
property whatsoever considered, was
$2,652. She is richer than New York
State by $26 per inhabitant, ami richer
than Massachusetts'.by $847 per inhabit
ant.
Safe Agriculture and General
Prosperity
Next to the riclie-St state in the Union
is Iowa-,, anotliefe, 1\'ell-developed farm
state' Her per ca|>j& wealth in 1912 was
■$3,539.
‘In NortlrCarolina\ve are crop farmers
merely or mainly. Two-thirds of our
farm income arises from the sale of crops
alone; and our per c.ai.iita wealth in 1912
was only $794, all property conjjidered.
Mississippi alone ranked lower.
well-balanced agriculture, embracing
crops, livestock, and livestock industries,
is the safest basis for general prosperity.
Kansas and Iowa are good illustrations of
this fundamental fact.
OUR CITY SCHOOLS
A Delayed Recognition
We have been slow in North Carolina
in recognizing tw(.» facts of first import
ance for the welfare of our eity r-'cbi-xtl.s.
There has been too tittle realization of
the true funi^tion of the superintendent,
and there has f>eeii' t/io little stress on the
need of proper professional qualificatioiis
for teachers.
The Superintendent
The prof>erly eipiipped city superintend
ent is a professional man. He is an ex
pert, and should fiave both adefpiate pow
er and definite n“-ponsibility.
The shaping of the educational nolicies
of the schools should Ix' in his hands. He
i.s a l>otterjnilgeof pro[ier courses of study,
the pro|ier iiualifications and distribu
tion ol teachiuL' tVirce. and so on. than
any laymen or group of laymen can be.
To make him the plaything of petty pol
itics is fundamentally immoral, a betray
al of trust. If there isme element of our ^
civilization that must be kept free from '
[lolitical influences, it is th(> school.
The School Board
A inore insidious, but a more common
danger to our schools is that which arises
when the school board assumes functions
which )irop.erly belong to the superin-
; tendent. A man prominent in >du(^a-
: tional work in the staf^ voiced this
; thought when he .uaid “1 ho[>f' the time
I is going to conje when a .superintendent
' can stop thinking about how he is going
; to work his school board arul l>egin t^^
I think about running his schools.” The
I statement of is course too general. .Many
; of our superintendents are not in such a
false position. But too many of them are.
An Illustration
Ref^ently, for examjile, the superintend
ent of one of our city systems rec«ived a
letter from a teacher inqiriring what qual
ifications were nece.ssary fora place in his
S' hool system. He replied, briefly and
truly, ‘' Fottr votes at a school board meet
ing." His school board, we may add, is
composecl of seven members. Is there
any c.onceivabie I'eason why a scho')i
board shoulr! be considered a better judge
of the iualifications of tea;hers than the
sufH'rinte-ndent? If lie knows his busi
ness, the boarrl should rtigard its function
in the .selection of teachers as simply to
ratify or veto nominations made by the
superinh'ndent himself. He should fix
their (lualifications, and make all nomina
tions. If the scl ool board has not conli-
(lence enough in the ability of the 8u[>er-
intendent to trsist his judgment in these
matters, it is their business to engage
someone whom they can trust.
PER CAPITA WEALTH OF THE STATES, 1912
1915 Federal Census Bulletin; Per Capita Wealth in
The United States, $1965
Rank StaU'
Per Ct. Inc.
1
Oklahoma
32.8
2
Florida
18.7
3
Texas
14
4
Arkansa.s
10.5
5
Louisiana
10.4
6
Georgia
9.4
7
Alabama
9.1
8
North Carolina
8.9
9
Mississippi
'8.6
10
South Carolina
7.3
11
Virginia
6.3
12
Tennessee
4.7
13
Kentucky
4.
A RICH FARM STATE
The cash on deposit in. the Kansas
banks, says the Kansas state treasurer,
amounts to $223,205,000, or $132 per in
habitant, counting men, women, and
children.
At this rate North Carolina would have
$317,000,000 in cash in her banks. As it
was, on June 30, 1914, the volume of
cash in our 75 national banks and 355
SOUTH CAROLINA MOVES UP
In the census year, more than two-
thirds of the total crop values in South
Carolina w(‘re pnxluced by cotton alone,
and her bill for imported food supplies
was $95,000,000. The same year her cot
ton and cotton seed were vvorth $96,380,-
000—or just a little more than her pan
try and farm supply bill,
j For long years the state has been buy-
j ing staple food supplies with cotton mon-
j ey; but in 1910 the per capita farm wealth
j of her country population was only $337;
against $995 in the United States, $829 in
Oklahoma and $3539 in Iowa, both of
: which are food producing sta*'0s. with sur-
^ pluses to market abroad.
A Twenty-Seven Million
Increase
But last year wa.s epoch-making in
South Carolina. Recent reports of the
Federal Agricultural Department show
that the state has gained $5,574,000 in
livestock and $21,848,000 in food crops
since the census year—a total gain of
$27,000,000 in five years.
On January 1, 1916, the farmers owned
14,000 more milk cow’s and other cattle
than in 1910, nearly 20,000 more horses
and mules, and 252,000 more swinel
The six-year increases in food crops
were as follows; hay and forage, 99,000
tons or 54 per cent; potatoes, 2,600,000
bushels or 51 per cent; oats, 4,229,000
bushels or 74 percent; corn 14,686,000
bushels or 70 per cent; wheat 2,119,000
bushels or 683 per cent. These figures
were worked^x>ut by Mr. E. Watson,
one of the score or more South Carolina
students in the University of North
Carolina.
It is a great record! South Carolina
has gone a long way toward establishing
a self-feeding farm system.
North Carolina and Virginia
Do Still Better
North Carolina with a $49,000,000 in
crease in food crops and livestock did
Hank
States
Per Capita
Rank
States
Per Capita
1
Nevada
.$5,038
25
Ohio
$1,817
2
Iowa
3,539
26
Massachusetts
1.805
3
North Dakota
3,374
27
West Virginia
1,800
4
California
3,2.S4
28
Missouri
1,752
5
Nebraska
H,110
29
Rhode Island
1,709
6
■Montana
2,834
30
Idaho
1,680
7
Colorado
2,785
31
Texas
1,679
8
Oregon
2,661
32
Maryland
1,651
9
Illinois
2,660
33
New Hampshire
1,493
10
Kansas
2,652
33
Delaware
1,493
11
New York
2,626
35
Vermont
1,470
12
Minnesota
2,582
36
New Mexico
1,440
13
Washington
2,511
37
Maine
1,420
14
Oklahoma
2,475
38
Florida
1,307
15
Arizona
2,255
39
Louisiana
1,260
16
Wyoming
2,241
40
Arkansas
1,120
17
vSouth Dakota
2,239
41
Virginia
1.086
18
New .lersey
2,140
42
Kentucky
977
19
r tall
1,979
43
Alabama
964
20
Connecticut
1,969
44
Georgia
883
21
Pennsylvania
1,939
45
South C’arolina
869
22
Indiana
1,894
46
Tennessee
864
23
AVisconsin
1,875
47
North Carolina
794
24
Michigan
1,8731 48
Mississippi
726
better; and \lrginia claims that she has
outstripped both states.
In 1915, says the Kichmond-Times Dis
patch, Virginia for the first time in many
years raised enough wheat, corn, oats,
and hay to supply her own citizens, and
had a surplus valned easily at $20,000,000.
SIGNIFICANT COMPARISONS
In the next six issues of The Universi
ty News Letter will appear a series of.
tables ranking North Carolina among the
states of the Union in (1) Per Capita
Fanu Wealth of Country Populations, (2)
Production of Crop Values Per Farm
Worker, (3) Livestock Products Per Farm
Worker, (4) Crop Values Per Acre,
(5) Per Cent of Farm Incomes From Crops
and Livestock Products and (6) Savings
Bank Depo8its-*-Totals,^^umber of Depos
itors and Per Capita Deposits.
Our Rank in Per Capita Wealth
The table in today's issue is re-arrang
ed from a 1915 Bulletin of the Census
Bureau, Estimated Valuation of National
Wealth in 1912.
Our estimated true wealth in North
Carolina in 1912, all property considered,
was $1,807, 573, 780, and our per capita
wealth was $794. Only Mississippi rank
ed below us in per capita wealth.
It is worth noting that in per capita
wealth neither New York nor Massachu
setts nor Pennsylvania nor any other
state in the great industrial region is the
richest in the Union. Iowa, which stands
next to the top in this particular, is rich
er than New York by $913 per inhabit
ant ; richer than Massachusetts by $1600
per inhabitant; and richer than Pennsyl
vania by $1734 per inhabitant.
The Importance of Farm
Prosperity
I Like North (Carolina, Iowa is a rural
civilization; but Iowa is a well-developed
farm state. And a safely balanced, well-
developed agriculture is the surest foun
dation for general prosperity—prosperity
for farmers and city dwellers, traders and
bankers alike, as Iowa proves.
The Iowa farmers are crop farmers and
sometWng more; they are also livestock
farmers whose business is capped and
crowned by livestock industries—butcher
ing andjneat packing, dairy and poultry
production.
Just before Henry Wallace died, he
published the crops and livestock pro
ducts in Iowa in 1914 as worth $953,972,-
000. No wonder the savings deposits in
Iowa in 1914 were $217,000,000. In
North Carolina they were .$10,338,000.
The savings of Iowa alone were nearly
twice the total for 13 southern states.
THE PROFESSOR SAYS
I wonder why so many fathers always
make their boys pass them the hammer
and never let them drive the nail.
I knew a man once who refused to vote
for a school tax because if the district had
a better school his property would increase
in value. He had children of school
age too. It always seemed a strange ar
gument to me.