m-
m
The news in this publica
tion is released Eor the press on
receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Elxtension.
NOVEMBER 27,1918
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. V, NO. 3
Editorial Board ■ B. C. Branson, J. G, deB. Hamilton, L. R. Wilson, R. H. Thornton, G. M. McKie.
Entered as second^lass matter November 14,1914, at the iPostofflce at Chapel HIU, N, C., under the act of August 24,1912.
AFTER THE WAR PLANS
Nations differ in collective personalities
as men differ in individual dispositions.
Some of them have a genius or seizing op
portunity by the forelock. Others seem
to have a fatal propensity for getting hold
•of opportunity by the fetlock; and they
are the vast majority, for hindsighted
ness lias always been commoner than
foresightedness.
The Weeks and the Overman bills in
congress are recent attempts to look
ahead into our tremendous after-the-war
problems of national re-adjustment and
reconstruction. For the most part these
bills are concerned with industry, com
merce and finance. And so far, their place
is in the tail of the public eye. Barely
more than this and hardly otherwise, be
cause we have been chiefly concerned of
late with winning the war abroad and
salting down party victories at home.
But with peace in sight, it is high time
for the nation to take a round-about and
forward look into urgent domestic prob
lems—to turn a keen, untroubled eye
home upon the instant need of things, in
Kipling’s phrase.
We are coming to our after-the-war
problems- belatedly—such problems as
the repatriation of our soldiers; the
apparently permanent loss to our coun
try civilization of a half million far
mers, a dwindling agriculture, and an
accelerated cityward drift of rural popu
lations ; the re-establishment of peace in
dustries, unemployment in over-crowded
city centres and widespread social dis
content ; the increasing multitude of land
less and homeless populations in town and
country regions alike; national programs
of health, recreation, education, voca
tional training, technical engineering,
and culture ’u the fine arts; economic
righteousness^ and the willing surrender
of wealth for the common weal; and so
on and on, in endless sort. America must
bravely determine whether or not she is
to give herself whole-heartedly to the
making of men or the making of money;
whether or not she is to be in the future
a servant of man or a servant of mam
mon.
The end of the war in full view and the
November elections over, we can now get
busy with all these great public questions.
And we must or they will descend on an
unprepared public like an avalanche.
The warring nations of Europe have
long had commissions busy with pro
grams for the safe demobilization of ar
mies, the advantageous re-absorption of
soldier populations into civic life, and the
whole round of economic, social, and
civic re-alignments that are inevitably
necessary in the peace era that is just now
beginning.
Because of such wise prevision, England
and France can hardly be taken by sur
prise by any turn of events or any social
upheaval.
Australia’s Plans '
But it is Australia that perhaps is fur
thest in the lead in sweeping organic
schemes, well ordered governmental ma
chinery, and ample provisions for recon
struction necessities.
Her Ministry of Eepatriation is already
established as a dignified, permanent
branch of national life, and her recon
struction plans concern agriculture as
well as industries, commerce and fin
ance. Every returning soldier can have
a farm as a free gift if he chooses to re
turn to the land. Fertile acres are still
abundant on her public domain of three
million square miles. But to make sure
•of enough desirable land, patriotic owners
•of large estates are freely giving broad
tracts to the government to be used as
homes and farms for the soldier boys of
Australia. Others are selling such lands
to the state at nominal figures to be used
for this purpose. Still others are giving
money to be applied to establishing the
soldiers of the country in homes and on
farms of their very own.
Australia is wise enough to know that
in these measures she is dealing with a
fundamental problem of civilization—the
problem of home and farm ownership.
And, too, she is wise enough to know
that in the ordinary course of events
soldiers do not return to the land—that
■wars have always tended to strip the coun
try of farmers and farm labor and to
crowd the cities with unskilled multi
tudes.
And so Australia is putting a premium
upon agriculture in the new era. She not
only gives the veteran soldier a farm, but
lends him equiprnent and operating capi
tal on long terms, in various amounts up
to $3,700, at 3 1-2 percent interest, along
with free instruction in agriculture at
public expense.
Secretary Lane’s Plans'
And Franklin K. I^ane, our Secretary
of the Interior, is great enough to know
the fundamental importance of this spe
cial problem. He knows, too, the whole
story of colonization schemes, public and
private—their deficiencies, their failures,
and the conditions of success. And for
tunately he has at his right hand Dr. El-
wood Mead, the genius who brought the
land colonies of California into an unde-
batable success. Dr. Mead, by the way,
gave eight years of his life to the promo
tion of home-ownership in Australia.
Congress has given Secretary Lane
$100,000 with which to spy out the op
portunities that America can offer to her
returning soldiers for the ownership of
homes and farms. And this fund is now
being expended to survey the chances in
our areas of irrigation in the West, in the
80 million acre.s of swamp lands needing
drainage along the Atlantic seaboard, and
in the unknown millions of cut-over
acres in the country at large.
We’ve 22 million wilderness acres in
North Carolina, and nearly 200 million
such acres in the South.
The South cannot afford to be left out
of the great national plan that is now
maturing. Hence the Southern Land
Congress in session in Savannah, Ga.
Nov. 11 to 13. The large land owners of
the South and the skilled social engineers
of the country were invited into it in
large numbers.
Unless the lords of vast estates in
the South can quickly come to their
senses and hammer out a plan of practi
cal, generous statesmanship, our end of
the country is likely to be left in the
lurch for long years to come.
In Georgia alone 1100 landlords own
more than 2 million idle acres, and a
large delegation of these men were in at
tendance upon the important congress
that was in session at their doors. Or
presumably so.
HE FLIES A DANGER SIGNAL
No man knows where we are going af
ter the war; what will be the nature of
our new society, how new it will be. The
imagination of the world is naturally
challenge by the largeness of the oppor
tunity to put things right.
The one danger of any period of re
construction is not the inventiveness of
the human mind—throwing into the air
for aU men to gather by wireless new
lines of thought, novel conceptions of so
ciety, and the like. The danger is in let
ting go the old before the new is tested.
The ship must not be allowed to drift.
We must make sure that we have power
to take us in the new direction before we
let go the anchor. To reject tradition, to
despise the warnings of history and to be
superior to the limitations of human na
ture, is to drive without a chart into a
Sargossa Sea of water-logged uselessness.
But the figure of steering a ship must
not be carried too far. It has its limita
tions because man is a growth, not a ma
chine. The captain of a ship knows his
point of destination as well as his point of
departure. The statesman cannot know
at what port he will arrive. His supreme
duty is to bring his ship safely into har
bor, with a crew that is not in mutiny
and with his hand on the wheel. The
state must be a “going concern.”
To adapt ourselves to the conditions
that will arise after the war will be a task
that will also demand an ability to reject
what is not needed or not fitted for utility
under man’s advanced conception of him
self. Kevolutions come, radical depart
ures of all kinds are taken, because of a
too slothful appreciation of a change in
the weather. The American people are
not dangerous. They are really, I be
lieve, the safest and sanest people on
BETTER RURAL SCHOOLS
So long as the city schools are better
than the country schools, good fath
ers and mothers in our rural districts
will have a genuine reason for desir
ing to get away from the country and
to live in town. If they did not de
sire that their children should have
the best educational advantages ob
tainable, they would not be good fath
ers and mothers.
Until we can create such conditions
as will put within the reach of every
country child as good a school as is
within the reach of any city child, we
must expect that many of the best peo
ple from the country will desire to
move to town and that they will act
ually move to town as soon as they are
financially able to do so.
Thus we will drain out of the coun
try districts many of the very best
country people. What is said of
schools .will apply equally well to
churches, public libraries, play and
recreation grounds, and all the other
civilizing agencies.—Dr. T. N. Carver,
Harvard College.
earth. There is no danger whatever of
their rushing headlong down a steep place
into the sea. Sometimes they may be a
bit too logical and hence unnatural in
their adherence to the Cromwellian phil
osophy of “thorough,” but no people
have a more perfect sense of fair play or
a keener sense of humor, and the reac
tion from these makes for steadiness, sta
bility, wisdom, not passion. This though
is true, that their judgment must be re
spected, and respected in time, if things
are not to go further than they would
wish themselves. And this lesson con
servatives must learn: The sovereign
citizen is here!
So far as plans for making over our in
dustrial and financial or economic lives
are concerned, the commonest schemes
involve too great a risk of establishing
bureaucracy. To avoid the setting up
of such machinery, however, unless it is
vitally necessary, indispensable, seems to
me the part of wisdom. The common im
pulse when in a tangle or a haze is to
cry out. Let us refer the whole business
to a body of experts, which to be sure is
the only way in which much of govern
ment can be handled. Yet experts, as
all know, have the same capacity for im
perialism, for cowardice, and for sub
serviency as other men. They come to
wish to exercise authority and have a
tendency to exercise it ruthlessly if pro
tected from public criticism. They are
also as weak-kneed as men in general are
before the hasty judgments and clamor
of the multitude or the will of those who
are politically powerful.
This nation is ripe, not so much for any
one change in its way of doing things as
for an extension and broadening of its
own old way. A little Hawaiian girl told
me in Hawaii that America was in the
war to ‘ ‘help those who need help. ’ ’
That is our spirit abroad (not pure al
truism either), and it is the sound cen ter
of our system of government at home.
We shall reconstruct, build anew for a
broader democracy, in which men will
learn more perfectly to work together,
not for the making of a great state, on
the contrary for the making of more self-
owned and growing individuals.—Frank
lin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, in
American Problems of Reconstruction,
E. P. Dutton and Co., N. Y.
WEAKER OR STRONGER MEN
Dr. John E. Mott, director general of
the United War-Work Campaign, has
prepared the following statement on the
special needs of the Young Men’s Chris
tian Association, and the other welfare
agencies during the period of demoboliza-
tion:
“Even though the war were to end
within a few months, or a few weeks, we
would stand in great need of a fund of
more than $170,(K)0,000, owing to the
fact that this work, unlike that of many
other agencies, will have to be continued
throughout the entire period of demobil
ization.
“While in Europe I was told by mili
tary authorities that it will require a pe
riod of 15 months from the time that the
conflict ceases to transport the men of
the Canadian army to their homes and
that it will requre 18 months to convey
the armies of Australia and New Zealand
homeward. Without doubt it will require
not less than 12 months tor us to bring
our American Army home.
‘ ‘During that long period they will have
virtually all of their time on their hands.
They will not have the excitement and the
incitement to stimulate their spirits and
the intense activities of the war period to
absorb their attention and utilize their
time. Their temptations will be more
numerous and persistent. There will be
a tendency to let down standards and re
lax discipline.
“It is of the utmost importance that
plans be made for the wise use of their
leisure hours. The practical and signifi
cant question is. Shall,our men and boys
come back to us weaker or stronger men?
The period of demobilization should be
made one of growth in knowledge and
working efficiency and of strengthening
of character and life purposes.
“The Young Men’s Christian Associa
tion and the other organizations are plan
ning not only to enlarge their recreation
al programs during this period, but to
launch a great educational campaign. In
popular language it may be described as
The University in Khaki. We have ap
pointed an education commission over
seas, composed of a group of the leading
educators of America. They have asked
us to select and send over about 1,000
professors and teachers of American col
leges and schools to help in launching
educational work for the coming winter
and also to be on hand for the period of
demobilization, whenever it comes. We
have entered into negotiations with the
British and French universities to help
us in this vast educational undertaking.
“One may judge of the great dimen
sions of the enterprise from the fact that
it will require at least $8,000,000 for text
books and books of reference for the com
ing winter alone. It ought to be added
that this $8,000,000 is not included in the
budget of $170,500,000, and therefore in
itself is a further reason why we must
have a large oversubscription. ”
DEMOCRACY AND DOLLARS
1. The idea of democracy now grips
the head and heart as never before. The
people of the United States are spending
their richest blood and their dollars in al
most countless numbers to make the idea
of democracy foundational in the lives of
many other peoples. We have profound
ly surprised the peoples of other nations,
as well as ourselves, into the conviction
that we can in time of war use our dol
lars for the welfare of others as enthusias
tically aqd vigorously as we can make our
dollars. We long ago convinced the world
that we can use our dollars for war pur
poses in a manner that compels the aston
ishment of our friends and foes the world
over.
No one will longer say that our dem
ocracy—at least in times of war—is a
slave to our dollars; all will freely admit
that in times of war at least we can make
our dollars absolute servants of our dem
ocratic wish to aid others. When the
war is over, will we then be able to con
tinue to say to our dollars: go forth, build
for others, as well as ourselves, a more
perfect life?
2. American democracy has made a
wonderful record with her dollars in war
uses. We have bought Liberty bonds in
a manner that satisfies our highest ideals
of patriotism. We have contributed to
the Red Cross and other forms of relief
for the war-stricken world to a degree
that surpasses our greatest conception.
We are now paying taxes and are plan
ning to pay taxes to a degree almost with
out a parallel.
Will our democracy be able to use her
dollars, when the the war is no longer,
so enthusiastically for the reclamation of
her life which is broken under the pres
sure of battle, for the creation of com
munity conditions of good health, for the
betterment of the educational forces that
give shapCj ideal, and motor power to her
boys and girls? When the war is over,
will our democracy use her dollars so
freely and vigorously to reclaim for use
ful living her soldier who is broken in
body? When the war is over, will our
democracy use her dollars so enthusiasti
cally to fight influenza or grippe as she
now uses them to fight the German and
his system of life? When the war is over,
will our democracy use her dollars to con
quer ignorance among her young, mid
dle-aged, and old as she now uses them
to conquer the German war machine and
its ideals?—Charles L. Raper.
CEMENTING NATIONS
Some one remarked that the best way
to unite all the nations on this globe
would be an attack from some other plan
et. In the face of such an alien enemy,
people would respond with a sense of their
unity of interest and purpose. ' We are
the'next thing to that at the present
time.
Before a common menace. North and
South America, the Occident and Orient
have done an unheard-of thing, a won
derful thing, a thing which, it may well
be, future history will point to as the
most significant thing in these days of
wonderful happenings. They have join
ed forces amply and intimately in a com
mon cause with one another and with the
European nations which were most di
rectly threatened.
What a few dreamers hoped might
happen in the course of some slow-com
ing century has become an accomplished
fact in a few swift years. In spite of geo
graphical distance, unlike speech, di
verse religion, and hitherto independent
aims, nations from every continent have
formed what for the time being is nothing
less than a world state, an immense co
operative action in behalf of civilization.
Against Germany’s efforts to disunite
there arose a world united in endeavor
and achievement on a scale unprecedent
ed in the history of this globe, a scale too
vast not to endure and in enduring to
make the future history of international
relationships something very different
from their past history.
In struggling by cunning and corrup
tion to separate and divide other peoples,
Germany has succeeded in drawing them
together with a rapidity and intimacy al
most beyond belief. Nations thus brought
together in community of feeling and ac
tion will not easily fall apart, even though
the occasion which brought them togeth
er passes, as, pray God, it soon will pass.
The Germany which seems finally to be
breaking up within has furnished the
rest of the world with a cement whose
uses will not easily be forgotten.—Dr.
John Dewey.
EXTENSION LECTURES
The Bureau of Extension of the Uni
versity of North Carolina offers several
courses of lectures to institutions and to
local centers. These are given by mem
bers of the University faculty on request,
their expenses being met by the local or
ganization. Arrangements for courses of
lectures will be made by a University of
ficial who will visit any center interested.
The following list of lectures has been
arranged with a special view' of meeting
the desires of women’s clubs and espe
cially of supplementing the course of
study on the war which so many of the
clubs are pursuing.
These lectures may be had separately
or in series'.'of three or more. For infor
mation address Mrs. Lingle, Chapel Hill.
1. Menace of Prussian Ambitions.
2. The Crime Against Belgium.
3. France, the Champion of Democracy
in Europe.
4. Contemporary France.
5. France and the Alsace-Loraine
(Question.
6. Transformation in Russia.
7. Re-union of English-Speaking Peo
ples.
8. America at War.
9. Women War Workers.
10. American Women and War Issues,
MORE FEDERAL MONEY
The Smith-Hughes fund for vocational
education in North Carolina is $51,191.24
for the fiscal year 1919. This is the sum
we are to receive from the treasury of the
United States, provided the State puts up
an equal amount.
The Federal Board for Vocational Edu
cation apportions the fund as follows;
1. Agriculture —salaries of teachers,
supervisors and directors, $28,600.82.
2. Trade, Home Economics, and In
dustry—salaries of teachers, $5,647.73.
3. For the salaries of teachers and
maintenance of teacher training, $16,-
852.69.
Matched by state funds, the amount in
each case is doubled and represents the
total expenditure in North Carolina, for
these several -purposes during the ensuing
year.—The Official Bulletin, Oct. 10,1918,