i. X' ■. The .Library, Chapel Hill The news in this publica tion is released for the press on I receipt. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER Published weekly by the University of North Carolina for its Bureau of Extension. AUGUST 7,1918 CHAPEL HELL, N. G. VOL. IV, NO. 37 ^di«oriul Board i F. G. Brausoii, J? G. deB. Hamilton, L. R. Wilson, R. H. Thornton, G. M. MoKie. Entered as 3econd-olas3 matter November 14,1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N.IG., under the act of August 34,1912. ANEW GOVERNMENT POLICY President E. K. Graham One of tlie most important and e#light- ened policies ever adopted by a nation at war is embodied in the plan recently an nounced by our war department in refer ence to young men between tbe ages of 18 and 21. Because its great advantages appear not to be understood, publicity is needed to give to tlie plan a real public value. Ill brief, this plan provides that the goveriiiwent shall furnish military instruc tion to every institution of collegiate grade that enrolls 100 or more students in its training corps; that the government shall {irovide uniforms and military equipment; that voluntary enlistment in this train ing corps will constitute a student a mem ber of the United States army and liable •to active duty, but that he shall not be called before he is 21 unless he is urgent ly needed. Young men who become 21 and sub ject to draft after enlistment in these col legiate training corps will probably be given furloughs until the end of the col- j lege year, and allowed to complete their 'year of military and collegiate training. ! Thi.s new policy aims to accomplish a twofold object: (1) to develop as a great military asset the large body of young men in the colleges; (2) to prevent un necessary and wasteful depletion of edu- tional resources through needless volun teering. Enlist and Go to College It also makes clear to young men be tween 18 and 21 what service the govern ment asks of them as the selective draft does to young men between 21 and 31 what service the government asks of theiii. It puts in practical form the gov ernment’s emphatically and repeatedly expressed deiSire to men under the draft age to stay in school, and so render them selves fit for the exacting requirements of modern warfare; and attempts to inten sify and hasten, eftective mobilization by providing resourceful lines of defense be hind the emergency training camps. It as sures every young man the military train ing that reason and patriotism urge him to acquire before he reaches the draft age, and in addition it gives him college train ing that is equally essential and service able in the performance of both his war duties and the privileges of citizenship. Ixjaving out of consideration every thing but the immediate practical advan tages to be derived, the plan means that tor tlie $250 or $300 that a year in college will cost, a young man can get a year of military instruction, (with eiuipment) a year of collegiate instruction, and be in a position to win a commission that will quadruple his investment in one year, and multiply his future earning ca- Xiacity in any sort of work he chooses. Thus, while for the government this plan has the obvious advantage of pro viding men trained for leadership, for the individual it provides the military train ing tliat he needs for immediate use, to gether with the general or special educa tion that he should have as a permanent asset. some of the phases of this work I have in duced the president of the University to have prepared the account which is here with transmitted for publication as a bul letin of the Bureau of Education.” • The extension work of the University, as its name signifies, is thedepartment of the University activities aimed to take the advantages of the University directly to the people. The beneficent influences of the institution are carried indirectly'^to the people through the graduates and other students, but six years ago the idea was conceived and promptly put into ex ecution of reaching the people directly as well as' indirectly. Broadcasting Benefits It is unnecessary to go into the details of how that undertaking was accomplish ed. It is enough to say that through speakers and through printed matter the good and helpful things that the Univer sity has for the receptive minds ofj the Htate have been put before them in a way and to a degree which necessarily has had a most beneficial effect. In some in stances the beneficiaries of this eft'ort of the central educational institution to throw its advantages broadcast over the State have gone to the University for con ferences of various sorts and in a greater number of instances members of the fac ulty have gone out among the people. Much of the informative work’, too, has been done by correspondence. A few of the activities which have>.been developed by the tireless workers behind the extension movement are the social and economic surveys by county clubs, annual debates of teams from high schools, publication of a weekly journal of uplift and information, the "Weekly Xews Letter, holding of conferences and institutes on country life, good roads and other subjects of general interest and im portance and so on, It is a work of great importance that the Extension Bureau of the University is doing and the recognition given it by the national educational department was well deserved.—News and Observer. A NEW FEDERAL BULLETIN -Tl>e ?»ureau of Extension of the Uni- ■vcrsity of North Carolina is the subject of an exhaustive article prepared by Or. L. II. Wilson and Ur. L, A. M illiams, of :the University faculty, at the request of Dr. I’. 1*. Glaxton, United States Commis sioner of Education. The article is pub lished as one of the bulletins of the United • States Bureau of Education, and Oiat • means that its circulation is made nation- ■wide. In lii.s letter of transmittal to the Secre- ^ tary of the Interior, Commissioner Claxton pays a tribute to the extension work of the University which every one acquaint ed with the facts knows to be fully justi fied. lie says: “For five years this oflice has watched with increasing inteicst the development of the extension work of the University of North Carolina, some of which, though as yet jieculiar to this State, is, with nec essary adaptations to the varying condi tions in other States, capable of general -adoption. Because of the importance of FARMS FOR OUR SOLDIERS Every American soldier who returns from France would be given his choice of a return to the life he led prior to enter ing the army or a farm, planned out of the fifteep million .acres of land owned and untouched by the United States gov ernment, if plans of the Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane are adopted. The Secretary, in an address before the Pittsburgh, Pa , chamber of commerce, outlined his plan and said it would be possible if the government would appro priate $2,000 per farm to carry out the project. The soldier-farmers would have 40 years in which to pay whatever financing might be necessary, the Secretary said.—Ex change. WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME Secretary of State Grimes has done the State a good service by his letter to Sen ator Simmons asking him to try to inter est the Department of the Interior in giv ing careful investigation of Southern lands, and particularly North Carolina lands, for returning soldiers. Of course no one can ^ay when the war will end. But it will not do to wait for tbe war to terminate before beginning preparation for after-the-war undertak ings.- Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane has written a very comprehen sive and suggestive letter to the President on the matter of land for returning sol diers and it is conceded that his plans for the future of the soldier are evidences of his sound statesmanship. Secretary Lane and Secretary Grimes both are agreed on the proposition that many of the soldiers who are spared to return to the United States will want a farm. In fact many of them were farmers before they became fighters. Many, who were not farmers before they went forth on the modern crusade, will, as Secretary Grimes says, in all probability become so enamored of outdoor life that they will chfxiSe farming for an occupation on their return. And for farming there is no better land WHEN THEY COME BACK They will come back, America’s brave sons, From war torn fields, when victory and peace Have stilled the angry thunder of the guns. And brought to suffering heart.s a quiok release. They will come back from anguish deep, and strife. From sights and sounds that only they could know. Back to the fullness of a richer life.— The great reward because they chose to go. They will have felt the flames of cleansing ttres. Have passed the tests that try the hearts of men, ^ Have learned in sacrifice of dear de sires, That souls can rise to splendid heights again. They will have proved that wrong can not hold sway, .Have seen the darkness change to radiant light. Have felt the presence, “Lo, —with you always,” And heard His voice in silences at night. And we who wait and pray for them at home, May one great prayer in soul and spirit burn; That we may keep the faith until they come. Be not unworthy of a bright re turn,— A prayer expressed in every deed and thought. In every task of willing heart and hand, A purpose out of pure desire eii- wrought,— To learn of them and some day un derstand. —Allison Brown, of the Vigilantes. UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION LETTER SERIES NO. 154 KEEP THE SCHOOLS OPEN Every public officer intrusted with the support of public schools should know that Europe’s lesson to the United States as a result of the war is to keep the schools going, to make education during and after the war better and more efi’ec- tive than it has ever been. There are be- tore us now just two matters of supreme importance: To win the war for freedom, democracy, and peace, and to fit our schools and our children for life and citi zenship in the new era which the war is bringing in.—P. P. Claxton, U. S. Com missioner of Education. The Message of France Do not let the needs of the hour, how ever demanding, or its burdens, however heavy, or its perils, however threatening, or its sorrows, however heartbreaking, make you unmindful of the defense of to morrow, of those disciplines through which the individual may have freedom, through whicli an efficient democracy is possible, through which the institutions of civilization can be perpetuated and strengthed. Conserve, endure taxation and privation, suffer and sacrifice, to as sure to those whom you have brought into the world that it shall be not only j a safe but a happy place for them.— France’s message, reported by .John H. Finley, Commissioner of Education of New York State, in his Report on French Schools in "War Time. The Message of England At the beginning of the war, when the first shortage of labor became apparent, a raid was made upon the schools, a great raid, a successful raid, a raid started by a large body of unreflecting' opinion. The result of that raid upon the schools has been that hundreds of thousands of chil dren in this country have been perma nently withdrawn from school, and have suflered an irreparable damage, a damage which it will be quite impossible for us hereafter adequately to repair. That is a very grave and distressing symptom.—H. A. L. Fisher, President of the English Board of Education. X The Issues of Fate Any inquiry into education at the, pres ent juncture is big with issues of National fate. In the great work of reconstruction which lies ahead there are aims to be set before us which will try, no less search- ingly than war itself, the temper and en during qualities of our race; and in the realization of each and all of these, edu cation with its stimulus and discipline, must be our stand-by. "We have to per fect the civilization for which our men have shed their blood and our women their tears; to establish new standards of value In our judgment of what makes life worth living, more wholesome and more restrained ideals of behavior and recrea tion, finer traditions of cooperation and kindly fellowship between class and class and between man and man. These are tasks for a nation of trained character and robust physique, a nation alert to the things of the spirit, reveren tial of knowledge, reverential of its teach ers, and generous in its estimate of what the production and maintenance of good teachers inevitably cost.—Report of the English committee on juvenile education in relation to employment after the war. than in the South, while in the South there are better agricultural advantages nowhere than here in North Carolina. Mr. Grimes says North Carolina could furnish farms to more than 200,000 sol diers and could assimilate this increased number of farmers easily and advantage ously. Hardly any one is more familiar with conditions in the State than Colonel Grimes and his estimate as to the num ber of additional farmers the State could use to advantage is none too high. Production of foodstuffs had not ap proached consumption needs when army demands began to interfere with the farm labor supply or even when the war strain on European nations first began to attect the world’s food supply! The additional farmers will be needed in North Carolina and the returning soldiers who want to farm will find no more inviting oppor tunities than in this State.—News and Observer. SOCIAL HEALTH BULLETINS The North Carolina Health Board now has in process ot printing fourteen special bulletins on various phases of social hygiene for distribution in the State as a part of the educational campaign against the prevalence of venereal diseases. These bulletins will be ready for distri bution within th'e next two weeks, and copies of any or all may be b^d free upon application to the State Board of Health. The numbers and titles are as follows: Public Health .Measures in Relation to Venereal Diseases. ^ A Reasonable Sex Life for Men. Venereal Diseases—A Sociologic Study Smash the line. (The case against the Restricted District.) The Need of Sex Education. A Statewide Programme for Sex Educa tion. Sexual Hygiene for Young Men. Vigorous Manhood. (Especially for boys twelve years of age and over.) When and How to Tell the Children. Your Country Needs You. (A Talk With Girls.) A Nation’s Call to Young Women. The School Teacher and Sex Education. Sex Education in the Home and High School. • List of Reliable Pamphlets. WAR STAMP RECORDS The War-Saving map kept at .State Headquarters to show tlie progress the State has made thus far in the War- Saving Campaign, shows that ten counties •have pledged their quotas in full,seventeen have gone three-fourths over, eleven two- thirds, seventeen are half, and ten only k fourth over, while thirty-seven have not been heard from at all. From the counties which have made reports, $38,000,000 is known to have been sold and iiledged to gether. The counties which pledged their full quotas are: Wilson, Martin, Forsyth, Pitt, Perquimans, Greene, Jones, Cabar rus, Lenoir and Edgecombe. The counties that have raised three- fourths of their pledges are: Chowan, Northampton, Wayne, Onslow, New Han over, Franklin, Granville, Durham, Wake, Rockingham, Guilford, Stokes, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Union, Burke, and Henderson. Counties that have raised two thirds of their pledges are: Pasquotank, Washing ton, Bertie, Pamlico, Johnston, Vance. Orange., Alamance, Davidson, Gaston, and Haywood. The counties tiial have reported half of (:heir pledges raised are: Craven, Warren, Harnett, Moore, Scotland, Anson, Montgomery, Randolph, Rowan, Davie, Yadkinj, Surry, Cleveland, Bun combe, Jackson, and Cherokee. Those which have raised only one- fourth their quotas are: Tyrrell, Halifax, Hoke, Richmond, Avery, Mitchell, Polk, Transylvania, Clay and Swain. —War Stamp News. WAR BOOKS ON RELIGION One of the stimulating war books is a b^ezy little volume for church folk, called As Tommy Sees Us, by Rev. A. Herbert Gray, a Scottish chaplain. Confessing that he never heard of a battalion where a numerical majority of the men were willing to profess faith, Chaplin Gray bears glowing testimony to the Christian soldiers who have the kind of religion that expresses itself in efficiency, in courage, in helpfulness, in abstinence from boasting, and in good comradeship. They seldom spoke about their religion but it spoke through their lives daily. These men have such splendid virtues— all the more splendid because when they do.‘|rouse’ they go on to do their duty. They are brave with that high courage thatmeans self-forgetfulness. They swear at each other like troopers, and yet treat each other with the gentleness of women when suffering comes. They share their comforts after the pattern of early Chris- tains. Good Samaritan Religion They stick to their pals, and play the game with a fine sense of honor. Because their country asked it of them, they have offered their ajl, and they give it without fuss or bombast. They hate their life, be cause in plain speech it is hateful, and yet they stick to it because it is their duty. Drab and weary, soaked in mud, and ach ing in every muscle, they go on week after week enduring the fate which has come upon them through muddles and intrigues in which they played no part. It is hard to say about them in the mass that they are just sinners defying God. It is indeed flatly impossible. In many ways they are near to Christ al though they do not know it. They beareaqh 'other’s burdens. They rejoice evermore —or nearly so. They endure hardness, they practice charity,' and love mercy. They are without hypocrisy, or any false pretense, and even when they sin, they sin like children of nature—going astray like sheep. They. are innocent of the subtle artificial and deceitful forms of sin that are so common among church mem bers. It is strange indeed that they have not understood Christ. The Fiery Furnace of War That sort of language prepares one for the statement by a chaplin in another book. The Church in the Furnace. I have heard men praying in the line when I wished they would swear instead, because their prayers were purely selfish, expressed nothing but a broken ,;will and and the horror of death. It is a'dreadful sight to see a man whimpering out prayers for personal protection in a time of stress. The hard-bitten man beside him, still unbroken and unbeaten,'swearing through Ifis set teeth puts such a man to shame. Christianity is not the gos; el of the bowed head, but the gospel of the set teeth, says the same writer. It is a priest of the Anglican church who makes the reader gasp, by declaring boldly: Traditional Christianity is on its trial. The next few years, I believe, will give the decisipu whether it will or will not be the world’s religion. More and more men are turning away unsatisfied ■ from what we have been accustomed to set be fore them. More and more they are com ing to see the meaning of what we have forgotten or obscured. The new religion they think they are discovering is really bound up in the Christian gospel.—Wil liam T. Ellis.