The Dew« in ihsj putlica-
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 Caroliaa
(or its Bureau of Extension.
MAY 10,1916
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. II, NO. 24
ElitorUl Board. B. C. Braason, J. ». deR, Hamilton. L. R. Wilson, L. A. Wiliams, R, H. Thornton, &. M.
McKie B i5rtr«d ai seoond-olass matter Norember 14, 1914, at the.postoflioe at Clutpel Hill, N. G., ander the act of August 24,191:
NORTH CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES
EXTENSION LECTURES
University profefsors are at this season
busy deliverint: ooimneucement addresses
anl extension lectures in various sec
tions of tiie State. A list of appoint
ments recently filled or to be filled in the
near future follows:
L. A. ^^'illiam^, Sani])Sou county coin-
menceuient address, Clinton, April 27.
W. D. Toy, The German Universities,
Henderson, April 28.
W. W. Rankin, Jr., Rural Hall, May 6.
M. H. Scacy, Frajiklin, April 27; San
ford, May 3; Glen Alpine, May 6; Grid-
tou, May 12; Concortl, May 22.
Collier Cobb, Fassifern School, Hender
sonville, May 10,11, 12. Professor Cobb's
lectures at Fassifern will be the second
part of a series on nature and man. Their
titles will be, resjiectively. Race Cradles,
0^gra[)hy and History in Europe, and
Man’s Mastery of Nature.
SUMMER SCHOOL LECTURES
'Those who attend the Unix-ersity Sum-
Tiier School this year will have an op-
iportunity to hear some most valuable and
linstructive lectures. Especially ajipro-
priate and timely will be tlie series on
international Polity and Conciliation by
Dr. .1. G. deR. Hamilton, Professor of
History in the University. Those who
iheard Rabbi Geoi-ge Solomon, of S^avau-
iiah, Ga., two years ago will be delighted
ito know that this charming lecturer is to
toe back this summer. The general sub
ject of his lectures will be Representative
-Tews of the Christian Era.
Other S])ecial lecturers and their sub
jects are: Dr. Edgar J. Banks, explorer,
author, and lecturer, seven illustrated
lectures on Archaeology and Ancient
History; Mr. K. D. W. Connor, Secre
tary of the K. 0. Historical Commission,
on North "Carolina History; Dr. Joseph
;Hyde Pratt, State Geologist, on Recent
■’■Industrial iJevelopment of the State;
Dr. Ben/amiu Sledd, Professor of Eng
lish in Wake Forest College, on Ameri-
,x;an Litimature; Dr. Thos. E. Finegan,
i^eputy Commissioner of Education of
’ JJew YiSrk, on Modern Education; Misa
IJeva S. Burgess, Supervisor of Charlotte,
N. C., Municipal Playgrounds, on Play-
:.grouud!i aud t)rganized Play for Rural
■Schools^ and Dr. Herman Harrell Horne,
Profeaf^r of the History of Education and
of the History of Philosophy in New
York'University, on the History of Edu-
ation.
WHERE WEALTH IS WILLING
Sandhills used to be a term of re-
pro.ich to the dwellers therein. It is now
worn as a badge of honor, for verily this
region now blo.ssoms ars a rose.
The southern end of Moore is a land of
good sand-clay roads, berry farms, peach
orchards, vineyarls, winter cover crops,
dairy farms, handsome couiitry homes,
good schools, and a buoyant, forward-
looking people.
It is another reminder of the fact that
the last shall be first. A,s Kaufi'man says.
Prosperity rarely springs out of profusion.
Where iiature does most for man, man
usually does least for himself. Prosper
ity is most often the result of poverty and
l>luck, and the Sandhills prove it.
This laud of. scrub pines and black
jacks sprouts men withal—tail, strong,
upstanding men—which is a main mat
ter. Here is the home of our emba.ssa-
dor to the Court of St. James.
It is the land of Pages, Blues, Grahams,
Johnsons, McLeans, McKeithens, Mc-
Qtieftns, and other Highland Maes with
out number—all of them reminders of the
days of Flora MacDonald.
A Goodly Land
It is a goodly land, made so by this
hardy stock of Scotch people, and the
homeseekers and investors they have
attracted thither—the Tiifts, Roger A,
Derby, Bion H. Butler, Clyde Davis,
Faires, aud the rest. They have the
civic and social mind. They think gen
erously in terms of the community.
The Page ^Memorial Library, The Eu
reka Farm-Life School, The Derby Me
morial School, the two Cooperative Cred
it Unions, and the Sandhills Board of
Trade all witness the fact that wealth is
here almndantly willing to invest in com
munity weal, aud to lead in progressive
enter])rises that contribute to the (-om-
mon good.
No wonder the Sandhills blossom
abundantly and rejoice even with joy and
sintring. A visit to these people takes
you again into Isaiah thirty-five.
LIVING WITHOUT WORK
For an able hodied man or woai-
an to live without work is an ignobili
ty for wliose reproof some form of pil
lory or stocks or ducking stool will
have to be deviswl.
Such a one di.sgrares the mother
who bore him, the father that fired
him, anil the social system that toler
ates him. —Bouck White.
A LIBRARY IN EVERY TOWN
The last issue of the North Carolina
jbrary Bulletin has the following stirring
article:
A Public Library in every town in
Nortli Carolina! A thrill of genuine
pride and great joy runs through the
veins of every loyal North Carolinian and
true librarian at the mere suggestion of
such a possibility. But it is such a big
undertaking we are almost appalled by
its magnitude. Can it be done? That is
not the question, but rather how can
it be done? If Massachusetts can
proudly boast of a public library in
every town, why cannot North Carolina?
If a public library is a good thing for
Greensboro and Charlotte, Durham and
Raleigh, for Washington and Concord,
Aberdeen and Southport, why would it
not be just as good for High Point and
Hender.'On, Thoiiiasville aud Burlington,
Elizabeth City, and many other towns?
There are too many towns in North
Carolina without ijublic libraries. Why?
That is what we are going to try to tind
out. North Carolina has 19 towns with
a ])opulation of 2.500 or mote wliich have
no public liliraries in the true meaning of
the term. A few of this number have
■small libraries of collections belonging to
study clubs of fcivic leagues, but they
have no pu!>hc 'library iti the sense that
Charlotte and Raleigh have, or that they
are going to have before 1920.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 73
OUR COUNTY COMMENCE
MENTS
Nothing has done more to bring our
people together and make them know
each other better than our annual high
school and-county commence'iients. Our
]X?ople meet on Sundays in groups by
them.selve8, each (lenomination being
gathered together in ita own church. The
whole boly of the people in any one com
munity seldom if ever meet on Sunday or
any other day in the week in any great
community gathering.
Great Meeting in the Past
The old time court week used to bring
the men of the community together at
the county seat three or four times a
year, but the women and the children
were not there and therefore the court
week gathering was not a county-get-to-
irether affair of the kind that the county
needed. The old-time college commence
ment brought to the college once a year
the parents and friends of the graduates,
but the occasion was one of dress-parade,
senior orations, and literary addre:sses by
ambitious politicians or great church dig
nitaries. The Fourth of July celebra
tions of the ante-bellum days were great
national glorifications with brass bands,
Idghttown oratory and exceedingly hot
weather. The people were there to se- the
rowd, to hear the noise, and to shout at
CULTIVATING FARM
COMMUNITIES
Mr. Hugh McRae, Wilmington
Personally, I feel that the securing of
good land for tenants of the right (luali-
-.iications who want to become landowners
:is the easiest part of the problem.
The biggest work is drawing together
the forces which must co-Tjperate in s(^’:
'ng the ])rohlems of c.ropi)ing, marketing.
LEADING IN RURAL SCHOOLS
One of the features that attracted most
attention in the Panama-Pacific Fxposi-
tion was the Rural School exhibit of
Oregon, a state in which the C ‘nntry | operation of every library, every literary.
The Club Women Can Do It
A Public Library in every town in
North Carolina I It is a big undertak
ing, as has already been said, and
success depends upon the sincerity,
enthusiasm and intelligence of the
workers. The campaign must be well
and systematically organi^d and the co
school is receiving something like a pro- ] social and educational agency secured,
per attention, j The active interest of the teaching pro-
The Survey iti a recent issue say-: The fession and the women’s clubs must first
Improvement of rural schools in Oregon'be enlisted, for these have done more
has followed four distinct lines, {I) a plan than any others for the cause of public
of standardizing school buildings and libraries all over the United States,
grounds, (2) i>arent-teacher associations , ■' =
in the village and rural schoo’s, (3) l)oys’ | MATHEMATICS HELP
and girls’ clubs and school fairs, !i:id (4)
playgrounds and supervised play.
Familiar Plans
Under the leader.shii> of Hoii J. Y.
Joyner, our State Superintendent ( !' Pub
lic Instritction, the teachers of Nonh Car
olina are famihar with all these idi as and
The .\pril niunber of the High Sciiool
' Bulletin contains a very helpful article on
School Mathemat-
nancuig, and the doing of such things , tary rural school agent
s are necessary to coirununity growth.
In my o])inion the i)roblems must te
•orked out in one or more complete com-
unnties, where every success is encour-
ging to all of the members of the coni-
lunity, ]
The present conditions are due to in-
ividualism, and we can not expeet much
i])rogress where each unit works alone in
n effort to conqtier all the obstacles of
he universe.
Farmers and Farm
Communities
We cannot afford to give to one family,
r to a number of widely scattered fami-
ies, the thought and effort that are
arecessary to success. It is like it would
e if one tried to raise alfalfa by plant
ing the seed 50 feet apart in a field. The
weeds would take the field aud the alfalfa
would not be worth the cutting.
As a matter of fact when we arrive at
the point when we give as much thought
to the cultivation of agricultural commu
nities as has l>een given by scientists to
the [cultivation of alfalfa, we may begin
to see our way clear to decided progress.
When it comes to the problem made
"Clear in your article “Another Two-Sided
Difficulty,” where are we to turn for
scientific data and for instructions as to
just how to prepare for the success of the
individtial and the growth of the com
munity?
plans. Mr. L. C. Brogden, our elemen-
and his school
supervisors :n eighteen col^lti^^ have
long been working vigorously along every
one of these hues. And the results abim-
dantly justify the policies here in Orange j;- (j
and every other i>art of the State. j _
the Teaching of High
ics.
The difficulties encountered by univer
sity students are pointed out, their causes
analyzed, and suggestions made as to
ways and means whereby the student
may be helped'
Copies of tlie bulletin may be secured
upon request from the Bureau of Exten
sion or from Prof, N, W. Walker, Chap-
Grasshopper School Teachers COUNTRY ILLITERACY IN THE
UNITED STATES
The tables that have recently appeared
in the University News letter, ranking
the states in certain important i)articulars,
have concerned agriculture mainly, be-
' cause 1,700,000 of our people live in the
the oratory but they were not there to
have a good social time.
A Contrast
Our modern county commencements
are bringing together the people of the
entire county. Men, women and chil-
(hen are there thrilling with community
pride and meeting one another from
every nook and corner of the county.
Neighborhood isolation, for the time be
ing, is broken up, and county spirit and
a county-wide acquaintance spring up
and become vital factors in building up a
tetter county hope and a stronger (tounty
faith.
A Summary
It is .safe to say that at the many coun
ty commencements which have been held
in North Carolina this spring ten times
more men, women, and children have
met together and enjoyed themselves for
one good day than have attended all the
college commencements in the state dur
ing the same time. At these county com
mencements no church lines separate the
people into denominational groups, and
no party lines roi>e them off into political
parties, but for one good day in the year
people meet for a common purpose aud
celebrate another year’s progress in the
great forward movement for the educa
tion of all the children of the county at
public expense. The county superinten
dents are doing splendid service in work
ing up these annualconunencements.
problem of Rural ^Vealth. We have been
trying to find explanations and remedies
for the small, the pitifully small, per cap
ita farm wealth of otir country popula
tion.
North Carolina ranks high in the total
volume of farm wealth produced from
year to year and high in tlie [)er acre
yield of crop values; but low in values
produced per farm worker and almost as
low in per ca]uta country wealth.
And this fact is fundamental. It crip-
|>les, hinders and retards everything,
every business, and everyboily in the
■itate. It concerns farmers, bankers,
business ]>eople in general; and social ser
vants like teachers and preachers in very
particular, because their success or failure
largely depends upon the wealth and the
willingness of the people they serve.
These tables have been charted in
graphic ways and placed side by side, by
a group of thoughtful students at the
tJnivLrsity. When the eye takes in at a
glance tlie range of startling correspon
dences, the impulse to hunt down causes,
consequences and remedies is irresistible.
They are a standing challenge to intelli
gence and patriotic concern.
Illiteracy and Poverty Are
Twins
Perhaps the most significant fact that
ajipears is this: In general, the
j;realer the country illiteracy in a state,
the smaller the wealth-prodncing and the
wealth-retaining power of farm popula
tions.
Iowa, for instance, has the least coun
try illiteracy in thy United States; also it
produces the largest farm values ]>er farm
worker and enjoys the greatest per capita
country wealth.
On the other hand, Louisiana has the
largest ratio of country illiteracy and only
one state is poorer in per capita country
wealth. Alal:>ama stands last in rate of
country wealth and fourth from last in
the rate of coiuitry illiteracy.
Between these two extremes the line of
))ros)>erity rises, with trifling variations,
as country illiteracy decreases, lllitt‘racy
tmdoubtedly breeds poverty.
Sense and Sentiment
Evidently, illiteracy is an economic as
well as a social problem. Excessive illit-
cacy in a state rcduces to a minimuu
both the wealth-producing and the wealth-
retaining power of country peo])le; and
in this matter negro illiteracy is just as
fatal as white illiteracy. The economic
necessity for curing it appeals to aelf-de
fensive business instinct—to sense wher*.
ever sentiment is weak.
We can ill afford to have nearly a fifth,
of our country people suffer the disabling
effects of illiteracy. Our country illiter
ates in 1910 numbered 240,752, Nearly
9 of every 10 illiterates in the state were
country dwellers; only 30,745 were uriian
dwellers. Nearly a fifth of all our coun
try people were illiterate. Our rank in
this particular was 41st; our rank in
farm wealth production was 45th, and
our rank in per capita farm wealth
was 44th.
However, we tind hope in the fact tiiat
North Carolina made a more effective as
sault upon white illiteracy during tlie
last census period than any other state in
the Union, New Mexico alone excepted.
And our Moonlight School campaign is
a still further attack upon the .same itrob-
lem. In the sticcesss of this campaign,
North Carolina is a close second to
Kentucky.
One fundamental difficulty limits the
value of these and all other good things
in cotnmon-school education in North
Carolina: the plague of school teachers
who swarm into and out of the school dis
tricts of every county every year, very
like a plague of Kansas grasshoppers. , - j , j
Recently we foimd one connty in which open country outside all incorporated
two-thirds of the country schools are be- towns of any size whatsoever; because
ing tau>^ht by brand new teachers, and our civilization is as yet dominantly
another in which three-fourths of the rural; because our mvestmeut in the busi-
country schools have changed teachers ness of farming 11^910 was *537,000 OoO
1st ear : or nearly as much as we had invested in
"‘This''"kaSoscopic change of teachers railroads and manufacture combined;
is a chronic affliction in every state of the ' and because our agriculture creates great-
Union It reduces to a minimum the er wealth from year to year than any
value of every dollar silent in public edu- other single agency in the state-more
cation How can country schools of than manufacture in the census year by,
permanent and increasing influence grow , $80 000,000. The conservation of our i
out of a condition like this? Such whole-; agriculture and the culture of our coun-,
“lie chan.es would bankrupt a cotton , try people are therefore the biggest prob-,
mill anywhere in a season or two, or any lem in North Carolina; so tor both the
other business whatsoever. And it spells Church and the State,
bankruptcy for our dreams and plans of ^ Retaining Wealth, the Big
public education in this and every other ^ Problem i
is a practical problem that ought to ' These tables have alF been worked out
be Lived, aud solvel speedily. ' with special reference to the fundamental
COUNTRY ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES
1910 Census
Rank State
Per Cent
Rank State
Per Cent
1
Iowa
1.6
24
Connecticut
5.2
2
Nebraska
1.7
26
Montana
5.6
3
Kansas
2.1
27
California
5.9
4
Idaho
2.3
28
Pennsylvania
6.1
5
Oregon
2.5
29
Rhode Island
6.3
6
Washington
2.8
30
Oklahoma
6.5
7
South Dakota
3.1
31
Nevada
7.5
7
Indiana
3.1
32
West Virginia
9.4
9
North Dakota
3.2
33
Delaware
9.5
9
Illinois
3.2
34
Maryland
9.9
9
Minnesota
3.2
35
Texas
10.9
9
Wisconsin
3.2
36
Arkansas
13.6
9
Ohio
3.2
37
Kentucky
14.
9
Michigan
3,2
38
Tennessee
15.
9
New Ham|)shire
3.2
39
Florida
16.2
16
Utah
3.3
40
Virginia
17.2
16
Maine
3.3
41
North Carolina
19.6
18
Wyoming
3.5
42
New Mexico
22.4
1«
Vermont
3.6
43
Georgia
23.2
20
New York
3.9
44
Mississip|)i
23.8
21
Massachusetts
4.2
45
Alabama
25.2
22
New Jersey
5.
46
Arizona
26.1
23
Missouri
5.1
47
South Carolina
27.7
24
Colorado
5.2
48
Ijouisiana
38.