The news m 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 Narth Carolina
iot its Bureau of Extension.
OCTOBER 11,1916
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. II, NO. 46
Editorial Boardi B. C. Braasoa, J. O. deRi Hamilton, L. B. Wilson, -T. H.
Johnston, B. H. Thornton, &. M. MoKie. Entered as seoond-olass matter November U, 1914, at the,DOstoffloe at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,191J.
NORTH CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES
ou:
I
wa
fpri
FIRE PROTECTION
As the cool nights come on and the
cloudy days call for fires to iireserve our
jcomfort, it is well to stop a bit and con
sider how we may protect ourselves and
our children from the fire hazard.
The Insurance Commissioner of this
ate is trying to teach us how to save our
property and our lives. He is sending
out pamphlets and circulars all the time
Jelling us how we can be safer and hap
pier.
Send him your name and ask for his
literature. It is interesting and startling
as well as instructive. Ask especially for
is Safety Don’ts for Mothers.
HOUSEHOLD HELPS
^ Not all the aids and helps coming from
the U. 8. Department of Agriculture are
for the men on the farms, and justly so.
j In the News Letter of this Department
for September 20th are descriptions of
fcveral household devices which may be
Msily and quickly made by any man or
P>oy in the country home with the least
,bit of mechanical skill.
The devices are a scrubbing chariot to
aid housewives in wiping the floors; a
ombined china closet, serving table, and
oiler tray; and a folding ironing board.
This bulletin is important to demon
stration agents, women field agents, de-
lestic science teachers in the country
districts, farmers and farm wives.
ANOTHER SCHOOL PAPER
We are in receipt of The Bulletin from
Superintendent L. R. Crawford of the
lertford schools. As the first number
ays, it is a journal devoted to education
al news and i:onmiunity progress.
Like the other work directed by Sujier-
“itendent Crawford it is peat, thorough,
"lid live with breadth as well as depth
and length of view.
We welcome this newcomer in the field
f journalism and hope it may serve to
stimulate school interest in Perquimans,
'o teach the pupils forceful English and
o let the people of the county know how
uch power education cau be made to
exert when properly directed.
A TOMATO CLUB BULLETIN
There is a new bulletin from the
nited States Department of Agriculture
~iving a series of ten most valuable les-
ons on tomatoes.
In addition to giving worth while in
formation about tomatoes and tomato
aising, there is specific help about dub
organization, community and fair ex-
ibits.
With the suggestions given here, there
’s no good reason why any rural school
in the state can not do as much as the
school with a special helper in this work.
The bulletin is No. 392, Lessons ou To
matoes for Rural Schools, IT. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture, AVashington, D. C.
CAROLINA CLUB OFFICERS
The officers of the North Carolina Club
for 1916-17 were elected on Monday even
ing September 25, as follows:
President, J. A. Capps, GaSton county.
Secretary, S. H. Hobbs, Jr., Sampson
county.
vSteering committe, E. C. Branson,
Wake county; D. E. Eagle, Iredell coun
ty; W. E. Price, Rockingham county;
C. C. Miller, Watauga county; .J. A.
Capps, Gaston county; E. R. Rankin,
Gaston county; R. E. Price, Rutherford
coimty.
The Year’s Program
The nineteen studies and discussions
this year cover (1) The Production of
Primary Wealth in North Carolina, (2)
Wealth-Retention, and (3) Taxation and
the Common AVeal.
The first meeting of the year occura on
'Monday evenimg in Room No. 8 Peabody
building, and the program is—
The Wealth Created in North Carolina
by Agricultuw, by S. H. Hobbs, Jr.,
Sampson county.
The Wealth Created by Manufacture
in North Carolina, by W. E. Price, Rock
ingham county.
examinaticwi for physical defects and de-
ficiences. The work was done by Dr. T.
M. Jordan of the State Board of^Health
in Raleigh.
The physical condition of the children
was found to be far above the average,
the most serious defects being bad |teeth
and defective eyesight. Fortunately, the
people of Chapel Hill are enlightened
enough to know the full significance of
these defects. Toxin in the blood, from
blind abscesses, usually at the roots of
bad teeth, means anemia, rheumatism in
some form, digestive troubles and lowered
vitality and energy. The parents will
promptly have the teeth and eyes of rheir
children attended to.
The schools of Washington also under
went medical inspection, beginning Mon
day, October 2. Dr. A. C. Bulla, under
the direction of the State Board of Health,
did the work.
On finishing the task in Washing
ton, Doctor Bulla then examined the
school children of Beaufort county. This
town and county made provision for this
edvicational-health work last spring.
UP-TO-DATE SCHOOLS
Last week the school children of the
Chapel Hill Public School went under
STRIKES A HIGH NOTE
In last week’s issue we featured an ex
tract from the address of Mr. J. E. Ed-
gerton to the National Manufacturers’
Association at the recent session in New
York City.
Mr. Edgerton is a native North Caro
linian, by birth a Johnston county man.
He is president of the Tennessee Manu
facturers Association and a director of the
National Association.
This address was published in full in
The Raleigh News and Observer, Septem
ber the 24th. It is an important mes
sage to the entire nation, and it is worth
reading and re-reading again and again.
The rare charm of the English of this
address is of a sort with its high moral
standards. It is readable, and signifi
cant in the highest degree.
In brief, -Air. Edgerton’s message runs
as follows;
Capital has obligations as well as rights.
It concern humanity as well as dividends
—the making of men as well as making
cf money. It is not a son of Mammon,
but a servant of man. It is bottomed
upon strict integrity and spotless fair
dealing. It is righteously self-defensive,
but also it is just and humane in its deal
ings with labor. It is properly involved
in social problems and civic life. Its ac
tivities ought generously to lift the level
of national well-being, and to clarify the
atmosphere of practical politics. These
are the things that are or ought to be
fundamentally true of industrial capital
in America. The best way to protect
rights is to discharge duties faithfully.
But send for tljis address and read it.
£t is well worth while.
UNFAVORABLE TO FREE
DOM
Tenantry is unfavorable to freedom.
It lays the foundation for separate or
ders in society, annihilates the love of
country, and weakens the spirit of in
dependence.
The tenant ha-s in fact no country,
no hearth, no domestic altar, no
household god.
The homeowner, on the contrary,
is the natural supporter of a free gov
ernment, and it should be the policy
rtf republics to multiply their free
holders, as it is the policy of monarchs
to multiply t leir tenants,—Thomas
Hart Benton.
A Rarely Fine Record
We take pleasure in adding that Wil
mington and New Hanover have been
celebrated in the public prints by Dr. C.
W. Stiles, of the U. S. Public Health
Service, for the superior quality of at
tention given to puljlic health and hy
giene, and to remarkable achieve
ments in this field of public ser\'ice. All
told, no community in this country makes
any better showing in this important
matter.
MILL PLAY GROUNDS
The other night in Durham we looked
upon a beautiful spectacle—some 2500
happy people, children, young boys and
girls, fathens and mothers all enjoying
themselves to the utmost on the play
grounds of the Carr mills. The crowd
was impressively well dressed, well set
up, self-respecting and well behaved.
The music of the band in the pavilion,
the twinkling electric lights in the trees
and shrubbery, the grassy open spaces,
the perpetual motion of eager tot* and
kiddies in the ]>layground enclosures
were altogether a charming introduction
to Wonderland
VVe found a dear old soul sitting alone
I with a quiet smile on her face. We
' stopped to ask her what she was thinking
about.
' “I wasn’t thinking,” she said, “I was
just a-wonderin if Heaven would be as
purty as this.”
She had just moved into this mill
* group. All her life she had been a mill
hand, but never before had she ever
found anything beautiful in the world—
nothing at least that charmed her senses
like this fairyland scene.
Investing in Humanity
The Carrs are using for playgrounds a
fifteen acre lot in front of their mills,
worth perhaps 5’40,000 for mill sites. But
instead they have converted it into a well
kept park devoted to recreation and beau
ty. The playground outfit cost some JillOO,
and it is the best that money can buy.
i There is a baseball diamond for the boys
and basketball grounds for the girls. A
similar playground has been planned for
HIGH STANDARDS
We are indebted to Dr. Charles T.
Nesbitt, the County Health Ofticer of New the mill people in Carrboro. The apparatus
Hanover, for calling our attention to the has already been ordered, and will be in
fact that no serious epidemics exist among stalled in the early Spring,
the meat animals of that immediate sec- These investments in fresh air, exer
tion, that tuberculosis in cattle is rare, cise and happiness for their operatives is
and that under local regulations no tuber- quite of a sort with the loan fund, the
cular meat animal or any part of the hospital service, and trained nurses of
same is allowed to be sold—a standard the Carr mills.
that is even higher than that of the Fed
eral meat inspectors. Not a single ani
mal presented for slaughter at the Wil
mington abattoir during the month of
We have spent six weeks in trying to
get accurate information about similar
investments by other textile mills in
North Carolina. We know of other mill
July was found to be unfit for slaughter playgrounds in Raleigh and Charlotte,
for any reason. j We should be glad have full accounts of
these and any others.
Good Milk
THE SECOND OPEN LETTER
UNIVERSITYJSCHOOL OF EDUCATION
L£TTER;SERIES no. 94 .
THE RURAL SCHOOL TERM
The lack of equal school privileges the for
farm boy and farm girl as compared with
the school privileges provided for the city
boy and the city girl, in length of school
term, in equipment, m professional su
pervision, and in the qualification |of
teachers, are injustices that might have
to be tolerated in a despotism but are dis
criminations that should have no place in
a government of the people, by the people,
and for the people. But we are not
through yet with the length of fhe school
term as one of the rankest discrimina
tions against the farm boy and the farm
girl in our public school policy.
Maryland Lowest
The per cent of daily attendance of ev
ery 100 pupili enrolled in the rural
schols of Maryland, according to the
Bulletin of the Bureau of Education,
1913, No. 8, entitled “The Status of Ru
ral Education in the United States,” by
A. C. Monahan, is only 51 per cent, the
lowest percentage of attendance in the
rural schools of all States in the Union.
Delaware comes next with 51.4 per cent.
Colorado ranks third with 53.6 per cent.
The three States ranking highest in per
centage of daily attendance in the rural
schools are as follovvs: Oregon, 90.6;
Connecticut, 88.4; Massachusetts, 86. It
It is evident, therefore, that Maryland,
with the lowest percentage of rural school
attendance, is 39.6 per cent below Ore
gon with the highest percentage of rural
school attendance.
Oregon Leads
If the rural school attendance were
raised from 67.6 per cent—the average
daily attendance in the rural public
schools of the United States—to 90.6 per
cent, the average daily attendance in the
rural public schools of Oregon J it would
mean an increase of the rural school term
in effect and in the aggregate for the
country at large of 23 per cent. It would
seem that 9.4 per cent of the actual en
rollment, as in the case of Oregon, is a
sufficient allowance for all reasonable ab
sences—such as sickness, necesity of pu
pils being absent as wage earners in or
der to properly support the family, and
all other reasonable excuses. Oregon has
found it so. What Oregon has done ev
ery other State in the Union can do if it
only will. Who is ready to say that ev
ery State should not do this for the farm
boy and the farm girl?—J. L. McBrien,
; School Extension Agent, Federal Educa-
: tion Bureau.
Every city in America, says he, mar-;
kets milk with a much greater bacteria
count than a hundred thousand per cu- In its open letter to college men of the
bic centimeter. The health practice of South, issued at the beginning of the
Massachusetts is probably the most per- present year, the University Commission
feet we have in America, and the maxi- urged them to unite their efforts with
mum fixed for Boston is five hundred those of the press, the pulpit, the bar, the
thousand bacteria per cubic centimeter, officers of the law, and all other agencies
The milk counts published by various laboring for the elimination of the mon-
cities, including Wilmington, are de- ster evil of mob violenoe. These agencies
signed to show especially the extent to have labored diligently and with substan-
which improvement in dairy practice has tial results as is indicated by the decrease
progressed in a given section. of the average annual number of lynch-
The last report shows only one dairy ings from 171 for the decade 1886-1895 to
with a bacteria count of more than a 70 for the decade 1906-1915. Neverthe-
hundred thousand per cubic centimeter; less the Commission wishes to reiterate
twelve with fifty thousand or less; and its appeal with renewed emphasis, know-
seven with ten thousand or less. Nine ing that the eradication of so virulent a
' dairies submitted no samples. social disease as the lynching mania can
)
be effected only by the prolonged and
•igorous efforts of sane and patriotic cit
izens.
Rightly Directed Education
In this letter the Conunission wishes to
direct the attention of the college men to
the educational aspect of the race ques
tion, inasmuch as the solution of all hu
man problems ultimately rests upon right
ly directed education. In its last analy
sis education simply means bringing forth
all the native capacities of tiie individual
for/the benefit both of himself and of so
ciety. It is axiomatic that a developed
plant, animal, or man is far more valua
ble to society than the undeveloped. It
is likewise obvious that ignorance is the
most fruitful source of human ills. Fur
thermore it is as true in a social as in a
physical sense that a chain is no stronger i
chan its weakest link. The good results |
chus far obtained, as shown by the Ne-:
'ro’s progress in recent years, prompt |
die Commission to urge the extension of
bis educational opportunities. |
4 Larger Share for the Negro!
The inadequate provision for the edu-1
cation of thenegro is more than an injustice I
CO him ;it is an injury to the white man.The
South cannot realize its destiny if one-
third of its population is undeveloped
and inefficient. For our common welfare
we must strive to cure disease wherever
we find it, strengthen w-hatever is weak,
and develop all that is undeveloped. The
initial steps for increasing the efficiency
and usefulness of the Negro race must
necessarily be taken in the school room.
There can be no denying that more and
better schools with better trained and
better paid teachers, more adequate su
pervision and longer terms are needed for
the blacks as well as the whites. The
Negro schools are, of course, parts of the
school systems of their respective States,
and as such share in the progress and
prosperity of their State systems. Our
appeal is for a larger share for the Negro,
ou the ground of the common welfare
and common justice. He is the weakest
link in our civilization and our welfare is
indissolubly bound up with his.
Many means are open to the college
men of the South for arousing greater
public interest in this matter and for pro
moting a more vigorous public effort to
this end. A right attitude in this as in
other public questions is a condition
precedent to success. For this reason the
Commission addresses to Southern college
men this special appeal.—Signed by J. J.
Doster, University of Alabama; D. Y.
Thomas, University of Arkansas; James
M. Farr, Florida; R. J. H. DeLoach,
Georgia; Wm. O. Scroggs, Louisiana;
W. L. Kennon, Mississippi; E. C. Bran
son, North Carolina; Josiah Morse, South
■ Carolina; James D. Hoskins, Tennessee;
' William S. Sutton, Texas; W. M. Hun-
' ley, Virginia.
OUR WEALTH POSSIBILITIES
The September 14 number of the Man
ufacturers Record is devoted to the Chem->
ical Potentialities of the South.
Thiti particular issue was inspired by
Dr. Charles H. Herty, President of the
American Chemical Society, and Smith
Professor of (Jeneral and Industrial
Chemistry in the University of Xorth
Carolina.
Dr. John E. Teeple of Eastun, Pa.,
pays tribute to Dr. Herty in his article
and gives an interesting account of the
Herty tur|ientiiie cup system whereby ten
million dollars a year is saved to the
South.
Two other Carolina men also contribute
to this special issue of the Record—-Dr.
Francis P. \'enable and Dr. Joseph Hyde
Pratt. -No other University in the coun
try is represented by so large a number of
contributors.
Dazzling Opportunities
The story is so fascinating that it has
laken us two weeks or more to go through
die Record’s account of the mineral,
umber, and w'ater power resources and
possibilities of the South. The fifty or
inore articles sweep the entire field of
southern industrial activities, enterprises,
and opportunities.
And this account of the Soudi is writ
ten not by Southerners in a fever of
provincial pride, but by eminent indus
trial engineers at work in colleges and
corporations the whole country qver.
What the South is doing is creditable.
What remains to be done and the re
wards for doing it are dazzling.'
This copy of the Manufacturers Record
ought to be well thumbed by college stu
dents, faculty members, and capitalists
everywhere.
The Southerner who leaves the South
today to seek larger opportunities and
rewards elsewhere lacks intimate acquaint
ance with the land of his birth. He is
pitifully unimformed if he thinks the pot
of gold lies at the other end of the rain-
bow.
A Critical Deficiency
In every Southern school, the South
is a proper curriculum concern, along
with the achievements of other lands
in other times and climes. We need
to teach chemistry and electricity
and physics, and we need to train re
search workers in these fields of inquiry;
but also we need to train students for
skilled industrial engineering of every
sort.
In the United States in 1914, in 46
teaching institutions for graduate work
619 degrees of Ph. D. were conferred,
says Dr. W. R. Whitney of Schenectady;
but only six of these were in the South.
^ Aside from medical research, there
are 28 grants for scientific research in
the United States in 1916; but none in
the Southern states. There were 32 grants
for medical research but only one in the
South.
The South lacks a sufficient number of
industrial leaders, says Dr. Charles E.
Coates of the Louisiana State University.
We have raw materials in abundance.
We have cheap fuel and water power,
suitable and reliable labor. We need
capital, business initiative and skil^, and
technical leadership. Without these our
resources and advantages will mock ua
for another half century.