Xhe news in thia publica tion is released for the press on the date indicated below. _ UNIVERSITY of NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER Published weekly by the University of North Carolina for its 3ureau o( Elxtension. UGUST 23,1916 — CHAPEL HIUU N. C. VOL. n, NO. 39 aitorial Board! B. C. Branson, J. a. daB. Hamilton, U K. Wilson, L,. A. Williams, B. H. Thornton, (,. m. McKie. Eiieered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the.postoffloe at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,1913. NORTH CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES WOMEN’S CLUBS Xhe women’s Clubs of North CaroUna re planning a busy season this next •inter. The literary sections in particu- • are trying to do some real work. Al- aily registration has begun in the Olub tudy Courses offered by the University irough its Correspondence Study Di- iaion. These courses are oflfered at a nominal price and. cover a period of work on rowning, or Nineteenth Century Litera ture, and on Latin America. Outlines nd study suggestions go with the course, •hile the work is carefully supervised by irection from the faculty. Further in formation can be secured by writing to liss Nellie Roberson, Chapel Hill, N. ~1., who is the Secretary of this work. The work is indorsed by both Mrs. ingle and by Miss Windley, and has een enthusiastically received by club embers throughout the state. PROMOTING LIVESTOCK FARMING Mississippi proposes to move out of »rop farming merely or mainly and to ecupy the next higher level of farm ivilization, that of livestock farming. Diversified cropping in a region under- toeked with farm animals is a sentimen- notan economic proposition. And arketing feed crops on four legs is far head of marketing such crops on four vbeels. lu the census year North Carolina was " 7 ]>er cent below the level of even lightly tocked farms, which is one animal unit 0 every five acres; and Mississippi was still further behind. But in 1916 the increases in Mississippi farm animals over the numbers of the -ensus year were as follows: dairy cows 4 ’ cent, sheep 6 per cent, horses 12 per -ent, mules 14 per cent, and awine 25 per ent. Strange to say the neat cattle de- reased during this period. But the gain of 325,000 swine in five years is won- ‘erful. But the gain iu livestock grades was ven more wonderful than the gain in numbers; and in this particular Mr. Davis and Point Comfort 14 have made Mississippi famous. Every where we found he papers commenting upon the impor tation of high-bred sires. Indeed, Mississippi impressed us as awake and alert about this matter of livestock farming. The bankers-are fi nancing the Pig Club boys and the Baby- Beef Clubs, They evidently believe that livestock is a safe bet. Nearly half the counties are already tick- free, and in 1917 Mississippi like Louisiana under a state-wide tick eradication law. In the month of May nearly 600,000 cattle were dipped. That is to say, more than half the cattle in the state were dipped in a single month. The state has not done so well iu agri cultural industries—creameries, conden- ■series, cheese factories, and the like. We located only 11 butter factories iu the state, and only one of these was a cooper ative concern. This particular creamery is located on the A. &. M. campus. The college is campaigning livestock farming, dairy in dustries, and cooperative enterprises with rare vigor and w'isdom. LOCAL PACKING PLANTS The papers of late are discussing local jiacking plants in vaiious southern centera. This newspai)er discussion grows out of popular disquietude due to the increas ing demand for meat in world-wide mar kets, and the enormous increase in the prices that consumers are paying. Also, to the belief on part of thoughtful peo ple that it is important for growing cities to stimulate the production of meat and tnilk supplies in surrounding trade terri tories. Meanwhile the livestock farmers of the Middle West are fiercely demanding that Congress find out why the farm price of •neat animals is so low and the farmer’s profits so small, when the demand is greater and the prices to consumers higher. The farmers lose out in spite of these circumstances, and they want this mystery unraveled. Two facts are fundaraental in tlie outh; First, almost half of the meat con sumed m tlie country at large is locally produced. In the South the beef ani mals are generally small and below grade in quality. The are clumsily butchered in ill-equipped slaughter houses. The price our farmers get for their meat ani mals is small; but the price consumers pay for inferior meat is high because the venders’ prices are boosted by the high prices of the packers’ products. And second, our local farmers have little in terest in producing meat animals because they must take whatever the local butch ers offer, and the prices and profits the producers receive are discouragingly small. Our farms in the South can produce all the meat required for local consumption, but they are not likely to do it until their livestock enterprises are amply rewarded With profits in the nearby markets. The Obstacles At present the obstacles are, (1) the lack of well-organized stockyard mar kets in the South. For instance, hogs on the hoof demand nearby markets. Unlike cattle they cannot be safely hauled long distances to far away stockyard cen ters. (2) The extended area of tick in festation. (3) The lack of railway arrangement, conveniences, facilities, and advantageous rates. (4) The lack of muni cipal abattoirs as in Paris, Texas. (5) The lack of packing facilities in connec tion with our local abattoirs. (6) The local supply of meat animal Ls small and inferior in size and quality. (7) The un willingness of our farmers to attend to meat animals four times a day for 365 days in the year. (8) The lack of organ ized, widespread interest in livestock breeds, cooperative shipping, and cooper ative creameries and cheese factories. These—to say nothing of the obstacles that lies in the competition of the big packing concerns. The South will grow into livestock farm ing slowly under the most tempting cir- cum.«tances. A farm civilization must be bred to the business of livestock farming, and it takes a generation or two. Beef production and abundant home-raised feed usually precede dairying in a farm region. But livestock farming is a superior type of farming. It requires and supports di versified cropping, crop rotations, and home-raised food and feed stuffs. But it is a forward movement that somehow th South must make—first of all, as a side line on every farm. Centers of Interest Paris, Texas, owns and operates its own abattoir. Thirteen other cities have invested in such municipal enterprises. Paris is about tt> add a packing business to its abattoir. [ Moultrie, Georgia, has established a joint stock butchering and packing busi ness, Recently some six thousand peo- ^ pie gathered in Moultrie to attend the cattle show and to organize a great tick eradication campaign in soutli Georgia. , A similar meeting was held in Tampa, Florida, Jacksonville is establishing a' stockyard and packing business. The Armours are also netting up a packing plant in that city. ' ^ Memphis already has such establish ments owned by the Big Packers; but a movement has been started there for a livestock enterprise locally owned and operated. Atlanta has a privately owned stock yard and packing business. Raleigh has a municipal and Charlotte a joint-stock abattoir. Wilmington, Greensboro and Washington are discussing the mat- ter. And Augusta, Georgia, has already organized a *100,000 packing business. Orangeburg is getting ready for busi- ness, and Greenville is considering it. . Encouraging LivestocK Farming ' So much for the unrest and the eflorn to stimulate and encourage the local pro duction of beef, pork, and mutton. 'There are 200,000,000 idle, wilderness i acres in the South; and as the business of i raising meat animals in wholesale way ' moves out of range conditions m he ' West, this immense unused acreage in the 'South can be turned to profit m meat i production under fann conditions. The business is changing from big-sca e, range production back to small-scale. the NATIOII’S seed-bed Henry W. Grady A contented rural population is not only the measure of our nation’s strength, an assurance of its peace when there should be peace, and a re source of courage when peace >vould be cowardice, but it is the nursery of the great leaders who have made this country what it is. Washington w^as born and lived in the country. Jeffer son was a farmer. Henry Clay rode his horse to the mill through the slashes. Webster dreamed amid the solitude of Marshfield. Lincoln was a rail spliter. Our own Ben Hill walked between the handles of the plow. Brown ped dled barefoot the product of his patch. Stephens found immortality under the trees of his country home. Toombs and Cobb and Calhoun were country gentlemen, and, afar from cities’ mad dening strife, established that great ness that is the heritage of their peo ple. The cities produce very few leaders. Almost'every great man in our history formed his character in the leisure and deliberation of our village or country life, and drew his strength from the drugs of the earth even as a child draws his from his mothei’s breasts. by at its UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION LETTER SERIES NO. 87 BETTER RURAL SCHOOLS Probably the most effective work yet done in the campaign for better rural schools has been the impetus given by the National Conference for Better Rural Schools held at Nashville, Tennessee, November 17, 1915 Delegates were in attendance from over 30 states. Com missioner Claxton delivered the principal address at this Conference, taking for his subject, “A More Efficient School >Sys- tem.” He stated that the purpose of this campaign for better schools is to bring equal opportunity of education to every boy and girl in America, in the country as well as in the town. As a means to this end the Commissioner pointed out the necessary agencies as follow's: What the Country Needs 1. A school tprm of not less than 160 days for each child. 2. A sufiicient number of teachers ade quately prepared for their w’ork. 3. Consolidation of rural schools w'ith an average area of about 12 square miles for each school. 4. A teacher’s home and a demonstra tion farm from five to fifty acres as a part of the school property. 5. An all-year session adapted to local conditions. 6. A county library with branch, libraries at the centers of population, with the schools used as distributing centers. 7. Community organization with the school as the intellectual, industrial, edu cational and social center. 8. A modern high school education for every boy and girl in America, in the country as well as in the town. The Bureau of Education issues a series of news letters in which the eight subjects named above will be thoroughly discussed for the purpose of giving the rural schools a square deal. The University News Letter will re print them for its reading public. The rural school problem is the biggest problem in American education. It de mands the best thought and effort of educators, business and professional men if it is to be rightly solved. farm production; and in this transition period the South occupies a position of distinct advantage. We have unused acres in abundance—22,000,000 iu North Carolina—mild winters, unlimited hay and forage possibilities, and water every where. However, the prol)lem is complicated. The best exhibit of the situation is by Tait Butler in The Progressive Farmer, Dec. 4, 1915. People here and there who are interested in local meat and milk production will do well to read it. It seems clear that municipal abattoirs and packing plants have the best chance to survive, because they can operate on receipts that cover bare running expenses and interest on the investment. Private concerns must have profits as well or they go quickly out of existence. The Raleigl abattoir shows a clean balance sheet from year to year, but no profits. It is falling howev'er to stimulate meat production in the surrounding farm regions. And this matter ought to be looked into and remedied, if possible, the city authorities. Wilmington Industries Wilmington has long been sitting the seat of custom. Like Duluth, business for long years has been the toll ing of passing trade, the swapping of dollars, and, in no invidious sense, the clipping of coins. An export trade in naval stores and cotton, a big banking business, and merchandising on a large scale have long been the main supports of city enterprise. And they are insufficient for large growth and great prosperity. The city needs (1) a tremendous expansion in manufacturing enterprises, and (2) it stands in urgent need of being the center of a well-developed food-producing region. The 1914 Federal Census shows 71 manufacturing establishments in Wil mington with $3,699,000 invested in cap ital stock, employing an average of 1,733 wage earners, paying an annual wage bill of $857,000, turning out products worth *5,026,000. The five-year increase in establishments was only 7, but the increase in wage earners was 42.9 per cent, in capital 82.9 per cent, in wages 82.2 per cent, and in the value of products 67.2 per cent. These are creditable increases. VVilmiug- j ranks beyond Raleigh, Asheville and Uiefiicburo, but lags behind High Point, Charlotte, Durham, and Winston-Salem in the value of manufactured products. : There is great wealth in Wilmington, but lending money on safe security and merchandising for profits do not furnish a basis for community expansion like in vesting in productive industries. New Bern, Raleigh, and Wilmington illustrate the first idea, while High Point, Greens boro, Charlotte, Durham, and Winston- Salem illustrate the second. MAROONED Wilmington is not the center of a well- developed food producing area. Its im mediate trade territory consists of ten counties into which the railway lines of the city spread out like the ribs of a fan. There are4,911,000 square miles in these ten counties. The soils and seasons are the best in the state for farming in gen eral, and trucking and livestock farming in particular. And yet less than a fifth -of this valuable farm area is under culti vation. More than four million of these acres are an idle wilderness area. Seven of these counties are in the tick infested re gion . Some of them are free range areas without stock laws. These two condi tions'mean an understocked farm region, with small, scrub meat and milk ani mals for the most part. It is a sparsely settled farm area, Robe son excepted, the counties are all below the state average in rural population per square mile, Four have fewer tlian 20 country people to the square mile; in five more the averages range from 20.U to 32.5. Deficient in Meat Animals The farm area immediately surround ing Wilmington is an undeveloped farm region, particularly in meat animals. In 1610, the cattle per 1,000 acres were only 14, the hogs only 54, and the sheep only 6. In Iowa where the packing business is well developed the meat animals are; cattle 90 per 1,000 acres, hogs 153, and sheep 23. The cattle on hand when the census was taken taken in 1910 in the nearby trade territory of AV'ilmington were 65,- 213. But only 16,973 calves and cattle were sold and slaughtered during the census year for a population of 237,777. They were only 26 per cent of the cattle on hand. The beef produced amounted to about one-fourteenth of a carcass or only about 14 pounds per inhabitant. In other words here is a minimum beef ration at present. There could not be therefore any large number of cattle available for a pack ing plant in Wilmington. The cattle in this area must be greatly in creased in number, size, and quality, or shipped in over long distances, if a local packing plant turns out beef products in amounts large enough to yield any profits, a As for the sheep there were only 28,685 in all these ten counties; only 188 each in New Hanover and Robeson! Only 5,774 sheep and goats were sold and slaughtered. A person must live forty years in this territory to have a chance af a whole carcass of mutton! We do not know about dogs in this area, but roving hound dogs everywhere make the devel opment of a sheep industry impossible. Lines of Progress This territory as a whole needs a larger farm population. It needs the drainage of wet areas and the general lowering of ■ ground water by tiling and ditches. The land needs to be cleared and made ready for crops by new farm families. Com fortable farm houses must be ready for occupancy; and liome-ownership made possible on the basis of reasonable prices, interest rates, and periods of payments. It needs stock laws, dog laws, and tick eradication. It needs livestock associa tions interested in breeds; high grade bulls, boars, and rams; cattle shows and tempting prizes. It needs the active assault of the busi ness men of Wilmington upon the local market problem. A City Enterprise The development of the farm civihza- tion in Wilmington’s trade territory de pends first of all upon fair prices and profits to the farmers. They will raise food and feed crops, meat and milk ani mals, if they can turn bread and oneat products, milk and butter, poultry and eggs, into ready cash and reasonable profits in Wilmington; and not otherwise. This in a word is the city marketj)rob- lem, and it is a city proposition much more than a private enterprise on part of any one or any half dozen business men. Duluth as a city has undertaken to promote agricultural prosperity in its trade territory, and Wilmington needs to do the same thing A local packing plant will thrive in a region well stocked with farm .animals. Meat production and dairy farming demand home-raised feed and forage in abundance. They require and reward crop diversification. They lift it above idle sentiment and establish it upon a business basis. The future of Wilmington, depends to be sure, on in- This territory made a better showing ' in hogs in 1910. The total was 265,510, 1 prosperity in her trade and the number sold and slaughtered territory. was 181,483 or 68 per cent of the stock t ^hat Paris, Texas, or Moultrie or Au- on hand when the census was taken. Tne Wilmington can do. She ha« pork produced averaged about three-1 fourths of a carcass per inhabitant per looking business men. year. If the animals averaged a hundred pounds on the hoof the home-raised prod uct was about 75 pounds per p^on. If the hogs averaged 200 pounds the pork produced was around 150 pounds per person. In the first case the pork ration was too small; in the second case it was too large, and a surplus is indicated. A local packing plant must reckon upon surpluses. But also it must count upon superior grade and quality, and hogs from -a free range territory are apt to be below the OUT OF PRINT Our Country Church Problem, the Uni versity Extension Bureau Circular No. 1, is already out of print. A thousand cop ies were issued, and mailed out in tea days, in answer to calls for it within and beyond the state. We are therefore giving extracts from it in next week’s issue of the Uiiiversitiy News Letter. The calls for Our Carolina Highland ers, the University Bureau Circular No. grade of hams, shoulders, and bacon of- ^ 2, have been almost as many. Fewer than fered in competition by the Big Packing tw’o dozen of these Circulars are left on. Concerns. I hand at present for free distribution.