V
The .Library,
Chapel Hill.
The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
NOVEMBER L4, 1917
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. IV, NO. 1
I'EdHorial Board : ®. C. Branson, J. G. (ieJ-i. Hamilton
, L. R,. Wilson, ,T. H. .Toimston, R. H. Thornton, G. M. McKie. Entered as second-class matter November U, 1914, at the Postofflce at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24, 1912.
EVERY READER CAN HELP
Fifteen thonsand copies a week! That’s
the I uuib(.‘r of University News letters
goinfj into the malls these days.
Keai each one of our War-Time
Specials, or pass' it along to your
neighbor. We earnestly hope you will
do both these things.
Or post it fl-eek by week in some
public place.
e are mailing extra copies to the
•county and city superintendents of
schools. A\’e beg these otlicers to send
them out promptly to their schools, to be
read by teachers and pupils.
Tlie\ arc full of suggestions for short
talks about tlie War to school children
and to asbeinblies of the lolks at the
.school houses.
Use tlie information in the News Let
ter for Friday afternoon exercises by the
children.
Here’s a chance to inform your people
about the most perilous event in the his
tory ot men since the worhl began to be.
H you are a county oliicer, please dis
play the News hotter on the court house
.bullotih board.
It is ii\e. Anybody can have it mailed
-direct, ..-y scnan.g us a post card—or so,
■until our publishing fund is exhausted.
signed the cards. A million a day, so
far! Indiana lead with 110,000 cards,
Virginia came next with 107,000, and
New York City stood third with 104,000.
In .4uglaizie county Oliio—a county half
(iernian in poimlation—nine-tenths of
the homes have already signed the’ food
pledge cards.
That’s the answer of American women
to the cry of our soldiers and our allies.
And the campaign is hardly yet begun.
We have not yet learned the results in
North Carolina, but wo do not\ioubt the
patriotism of our women.
When the figures are all in, it will be
seen that the Old North State stands high
in the Food Fledge column—or so we
have the faith to believe.
There are 600,000 households in North
Carolina and the signed pledges ought to
'nuniher 500,000, at the least. Surely we
can do as well in North Carolina as any
half-German county in Ohio. .We have
boasted our pure Anglo-Saxon blood for
many long years. We can now see what
it’s worth in a pinch and crisis.
FOOD MEANS VICTORY
More than a century ago Napoleon said
that an army travels on its belly. To
day the^iiireme question of war is that
of food, lor food has become the chief
munition of war. Its abundance with
us means our victory; its failure in Ger
many means her defeat. Every' ounce
:saved in the United States is worth a bul-
•let firi.d at the‘enemy, and he who today
makes two blades ol grass grow wheie
only one grew Irefore is more than a
-statesman—he is doubly a patriot.
LIBERTY’S BLAST
Laura E. Richards
Blow your horn. Liberty,
Liberty, liberty,
Blow your horn. Liberty,
Over the hill!
Rise up and answer it.
Answer it, answer it,
Sons of America,
Now with a will!
FOOD WILL WIN. SAVE IT
Henry A. Page
To wage successful warfare, every
government must have the active co
operation of all it citizens.
Those of military age and condition
constitute merely the first tine of de
fense. behind these every man and
woman must servo
The war service nearest to your
hand is your job. Have you found
your place?
‘ Food will win the war; don’t
waste it.”
In this important sphere of war .ser
vice every one may and should serve
daily.
Inform yourself about the needs of
your country; set yourself earnestly
at your own task, and thus become a
‘‘soldier of liberty.”
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 140
TEACHERS CAN HELP
Peculiarly fitted by temperament and
TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP
The other day our boys in France wait
into the front line trenches singing
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp—the Boys are
Marching. And they firgd a shot heard
round the wOrld, like that of the embat
tled fanners at Concord bridge in Revo
lutionary days.
Within the next twelve months mil
lions of our hoys wilt he on the battle
fronts abroad. They mast be fed and
clothed, armed and oqniiiped, cheered
and comforted by the faith and self-de
nial of the folks at home. They cannot
be left to starve and rot,' forgotten and
neglected, in far-away lands while fight
ing oiir light for democratic, freedom in
Ihe world.
The Stay-at-Homes Can Help
V’e can buy Liberty Bonds almost
witlmut limit. We are not giving the
government anything; we are lending the
governnient money. And we are getting
four per cent for it, which is as much as
the savings hanks pay.
Dit costs 125,000 a day to run our 50,000
-mo'tur ears in North Carolina. If we run
our cars one day less each week, we save
enough to buy J.1,300,000 worth of bonds
in a single year. And this is only one
way -of saving-there are scores of otlu rs.
; And Yhis nation of scandalous wasters
needs to get the habit. It will be worth
'billions in' the years that follow tie war.
Stop the Household LeaKs
They run up to .5700,00^,000 a year in
America, say the authorities in Wash
ington. If each of the 22 million homes
in this country saves daily a pat ot but
ter, an ounce of meat, a slice o iriai,
a table poonful of sngar-if we keep
these, small wastes out of the garbage can
j^ily_w'c’ll have seven million bushels
of-whaet, one and a half million cattle,
three and a half milUoii hogs, a luillion
and a (juarter pounds of butter, and fifty-
live million pounds of sugar more to send
■ to , nr 1,-ys in the trenches this year; ant
this Muu-.il more from this single source of
"SAVUlg. ,
The more we save in our homes, tlie
less the local merchaiitswill need to Ship in
and the greater will be the supplies in the
big market centers for the government to
send abroad to our men m the battle
lines.
The Women are Doing It
The first ttiree days of the Food Pledge
^Campaign, three million housewives
Off with the bonds of indulgence
and avarice;
Shake them and break them and
fling them away!
On vvith the bonds of devotion and
sacrifice;
Firm be tlicy riveted, strong be
their sway!
Take our liafids. Liberty
Liberty, L berty, (
Take our hearts, Liberty,
Now with our gold!
So as your bondsmen we ^
Yours to the death will be.
Bond to the right, and free,
Faithful and bold.
Blow your horn, Liberty,
Liberty, Liberty,
Blow your horn, Liberty,
Over the hill!
Rise up and answer it,
Answer it, answer it.
Sons of America,
Now with a will!
FOOD AND PATRIOTISM
Patriotism and food! 11 inning a
world war by eating poultry and corn
products instead'!^ wheat and beef! It
will take wholesale education to get this
point of view in America. An army of
food savf-rs docs not appeal to the im
agination Uke an army with giins and
banners. But remember the large words
of M. filoch: That is the future of war
—not fighting, hut famine!
Germany’s Way
I had some opportunity during the two
years from May 191-’’, to May 1917, of
seeing embattled Germany at close range.
And I saw Germany lighting, not only
with armies of men in field gray, but
with greater armies of un-uiiiforined men
women and children—the civilian ar
mies of workers and food-savers, (mr-
many is figliting a.s d whole people, a
whole nation mobilized. Germany is
fighting to win a war that was to have
been all conquest and glory, and is now
all Uurchhaiten (holding fast). In this
fighting and Durchlialten, Germany has
lifted food to all the importance that Dl.
Bloch prophesied for it. She is strug
gling to hold off famine from herself and
to impose famine upon her enemies.
Germany controls food, saves food,
stretches food, as no nation has ever done
before'. That she has not already been
beaten is due no less to her food organ
ization than to her fighting organization.
She lias put patriotism and food togeth
er. So must we.—Vernon Kellogg, No
vember Atlantic Monthly.
with us in war falls for the present upon
the American people, and the drain upon
supplies on such a scale necessarily allect-s
the prices of the necessaries of life.
If our people will economize in their
use of food, providently confining them
selves to the (luantities required for the,
maintenance of health and siren,gth; if
they will eliminate waste; and if they
wi 1 make use of those commodities of
which wo have a surplus and thus free
for export a larger proportion of those
required by the world now dependent
upon ns, we shad be able not only to ac
complish our obligations to them, but we
shall obtain and establish reasonable
prices at home.
Sacrifice and Devotion Needed
To provide an adequate supply of food
both for our own soldiers on the other
side of the seas and for the civil popula
tions and the armies of the allies is one of
bur first and foreiuoSt obligation^; for if
we are to maintain tlicir constancy in
this struggle for the independence of all
nations, we must first maintain their
health and strength. The solution of
our food problems, therefore is depend
ent upon the individual service of every
man, woman, and child in the United
States. The great voluntary effort in
this direction, which has been initiated
and organized by tlie Food .-Idniiiiistra-
tion under niy direction, offers an oppor
tunity of service in the war which is open
to every individual, and by which every
individual may .^erve both his own peo
ple aud the people of the world.
IVe cannot accomplish our objects in
this great war without sacr lice and devo
tion, and in no direction can that sacri-
tice and devotion be better shown than
by each home and public eating place
in the country pledging its support to
the Food Administration and complying
with its requests.
by training for service, and interested in
the conservation of all resourjies the
teacher has a most unusual oppbrtunity
in the months to come. If we are to win
this war we must win it with food and
feed as much as by guns and men. We
need food for our people here at
home, for our hoys over there, and for the
armies of our allies and their families.
Our people do not yet realize how vital
ly necessary fooil is to the winning of war.
They seem to have a notion tliat there is
a great deal of talk about something
which is not so very important. They
may perliaps recognize the need for great
numbers of men, for ships, for ammuni
tion, for guns, for steel and iron, but
that we must provide great stores of food
stuffs and feedstuff's Seems too far removed
from warfare to apiie.ar a real necessity.
The teachers can talk such matters over
I with the cliildren in-school and make
j clear to them how necessary food is for an
I army and successful warfare.
Teach the Sin of Waste
I The first great lesson the teacher can
drive lioine is the' necessity for saving
j what we have, using certain foods and
feeds not easily transported across seas
and thus setting free for transportation
the wheat, meat, sugar and fats so easily
carried and so necessary to a well-
rounded ration for fighting men.
Some parents feel they are being asked
to live on a shortened ration. Teachers
can correct the error and impress upon
the childi'en the idea that we can still live
A
as. well and l etter by using certain ar
ticles of diet more and using others less.
Teach Production
The second lesson is to begin prepara
tion now for producing more food and
feed next year than ever in our history.
As time goes on the waste of war will in
crease and the need for us who have great
untilled areas to make them produce will
he ever greater and greater. Not less
cotton and toliacco but more corn, w heat,
hogs, cattle, vegetables, ami fruits must
be produced.
Geography, language, arithmetic, all
lend themselves as convenient media
through which the teacher can do this
w'ork. Here is a chance for the teacher
to do.her bit. The Bureau of Extension
will furnish specific information about
such work if the teachers who are inter
ested will send a postcard reijnest for
such help.
] you cut down quantities, merely that you
' substitute different varieties,
j AVLcat, meat, fats and sugar are the
! most etiicient foods and the most easily
j shipped. No one in the world has them
to give but America. They can be sup
plied only by the individual savings of
our homes.
I do not mean of course, that we should
waste foods other than these. Every
housewife in America has a personal
reason for not doing that.
Please do not understand me as accus
ing America’s housewives of being w’aste-
fuh The vast majority—about 70 per
cent of them—could not live more closelj
to the margin of true economy than they
dOj,, That is splendid. It is among the
remaining 30 per cent that great w'.iste is
found.
Food Will Win the War.
i\ly plea, therefore, is that each of us
take this food conservation program se
riously. It is my profound hope, that the
women of America will begin that serious
consideration by signing the Food Pledge
card and that they will then patriotically
and faithfully live up to it.
For it is not a mere phrase, that of
“Food will win the war.”
Food is the first and most vital of all
our ammunitions.—Herbert Hoover.
Second, Machinery by which county
and munidpal activities could be com
bined whenever the people desire it.
Third, Uniformity in keeping all rec
ords of accouiiG, their periodic auditlng,-
and the full publication of all information
in convenient form for circulation. *
Fourth, Changing the tax laws prefer
ably in line with recommendation made
by the State Tax Commission.
Mr. Willard’s address was rich with the
wisdom of life-long activity in county af
fairs.
THE PRESIDENT’S APPEAL
The chief part of the burden of finding
food supplies for tlie peoples associated , to eat differently
IT IS SUCH A VITAL THING.
I wish I could talk personally to every
home in America about the Food Pledge
Campaign. It is such a vital thing, and
such a simple thing. It means so much
to our success in tlie war, and it asks so
little of individual homes.
It means, briefly, that if our 22,000,000
homes will follow the course laid down in
the food pledge cards and will make the
few simple changes asked in our eating
habits, cur allies will be fed aud their
hearts kept high for'victory. It means
that if our homes do not do this, our al
lies will go hungry and fall into discour
agement.
While this service is a major service
from our women, we are not asking them
alone to bear the burden of conservation.
We are asking that the men support it
and that every hotel, restaurant and fac
tory practice it.
That ounce of meat, that slice of bread,
that third of an ounce of fat, that ounce
of sugar we ask each person to conserve
each day, will weigh heavily in the scales
against the kaiser. Please think of that
when you go into your kitchen to prepare
your meals.
Only America Can
It looks small, it seems trifling, I know.
But so does the acorn. Yet in a basket
of acorns is a mighty forest. So, also, in
our ounces of savings is the germ of an
allied victory. .
We do not ask you to eat less, merely
We do not askj_that
COUNTY OFFICE CHAOS
The North Carolina Club at the Univer
sity, at its third meeting of the year, was
addressed by Mr. M. S. Willard of Wil
mington on County Finances, and by
Mr. George G. Scott of Charlotte on
County Book-keejiing and Pmiform
County Accounting.
I am fully pe'-suaded, said Dir. AVil-
lard, that onr present county financial
system, with all its failures to accomplish
what is desired, is not so terribly ' bad if
the laws as they exist were really en
forced. For instance, taxes are not levied
and collected as prescribed by law in a
single county in the state.
Diligent ett'orts to collect all flaxes are
seldom made, said he, and there is no
similarity in the methods employed in
handling delinquent tax payers. Should
the sheriff enforce the law be would lose
his office. Mr. Willard asserts that he
has never seen an annual balance sheet
that accurately showed the amount of un
collected taxes due a county.
The Way to End Chaos
The shortcomings and looseness that
prevail in county offices can be charged
to the people themselves, and will not
cease until taxpayers and voters take a
lively interest in county affairs.
Mr. Willard is satisfied that we would
come very much nearer to attaining the
goal if we should change our laws so as
to provide:
First, A small board of commissioners
with complete authority over all county
business. ,
Sorry Public Accounting
Mr. Scott, speaking on Uniform Coun
ty Accounting, said, It is a fundamental
principle that efficiency and economy of
administration cannot be any higher than
the information produced by an adequate
system of accounts. Our la'.vs governing
county accounting are not adequate in
their scope.
Limited knowledge of practical ac
counting by county officers causes vast
discrepancies in the methods employed,
and numerous errors in the balance
sheets. The commissioners’ books in one
county were examined and a deficit of
$200 000 disclosed. There was no dishon
esty liere, but the case is cited as typical
of general ignorance in handling finances
and preparing e.xhibits. Money is col
lected and paid out without note being
made of it. It is a common practice in
county offices. The state is in need of
county officers who understand the keep
ing of accurate books. The counties are
sadly in need of a uniform system of ac
counting.
Legislation Necessary
Mr. Scott suggests that necessary laws
be enacted for the creation of a State
Commission of Public Accounts to deal
with the matter, with the following
powers:
First,- To devise, chart, and establish a
uniform system of accounting procedures
for the counties of the state; to prepare
an accounting manual therefor, and to re
quire the adoption of a budget system.
Second, To require all counties to in
stall and maintain such ilevised systems
aud accounting procedures.
Third, To require an annual audit and
examination of the books and accounts
by qualified accountants.
Fourth, To require all counties of the
state to publish an annual Year-Book
containing uniform statements of opera
tions and financial conditions together
with uniform statistical data.
Dir. Scott is chairman of the State
Board of Accountancy, whose business it
is to examine and license Certified Public
Accountants.
His address with Dir. Willard’s ought
to be read by every legislator and the in
telligent people of the state in every
county.
Both addresses will appear in full in the
1917-18 Year-Book of the North Carolina
Club.
s