h..
The aewt 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 Elxtension.
JUNE 4,1919
CHAPEL HHX, N. C.
VOL. V, NO. 28
BdUorial Board i B. C. Branson, J. (J, deK. Hamilton, L. R. Wilson, D. D CarroU, G. M. MoKie.
Entered as second-class matter November 11,1911, at the Postoflttoe at Chapel Hill, N, C., under the act of August 24,1912.
THE OLD ARGUMENT DEAD
The Covenant for a League of Nations
has been acceptedliy the Peace Conference;
its fate now rests with the people of the
United States. Wtiile the Senate has
power to ratify or reject, no Senator
will flout the wishes of his constituents
unmistakably and emphatically expressed.
Responsibility for the success or failure of
the proposition lies with the citizen voter.
As amended, the Covenant should
satisfy all except those who oppose any
League whatever. It is now a thorough
ly American instrument—thoroughly A-
merican and thoroughly non-partisan.
The amendments accepted at Paris in
clude the more important changes pro
posed by Messrs. Taft, T.odge, Hughes
nnd Root. The purpose of the Paris com
mission in adopting these amendments
was not primarily to make the Covenant
more workable, but to produce an instru
ment which a majority of the people of
tlie United States would accept. In the
history of tlie world there liave been few
more telling proofs of the power of popu
lar opinion.
The Covenant asks the American peo
ple to surrender neither honor, nor in
dependence, nor their preeminence among
the nations of tl-.e world, nothing, in fact,
that they should not be ready to give up
to lessen the danger of new wars.
Opposition to the League still lacks or
ganization. It is groping for new weap
ons to lake the place of those snatched
away by the Covenant amendments. The
old argument, We are for a League but
not the League, will no longer serve.
The issue now is, The Treaty League or
none.—The League Bulletin.
A B C’S OF THE TREATY
The Paris Treaty of Peace embodying a
Constitution for the Leagiie of Nations is
80,003-words long—too long for tlie aver
age citizen to read.
Therefore the simple A B C’s ot the
matter are important. A brief pamphlet
of this sort can be liad fiee of charge by
applying to the editor in charge of the
University News Letter.
Congress was cade 1 into extra session
on May 19 to ratify or leject this treaty.
It is by far the most important issue that
Congrets has had to consider in a century
or so.
It is stupid for any citizen on tmy level
of intelligence not to be thoroughly and
competently informed about the proposed
Treaty and Covenant of Nations.
Send for ttie pamphlet at once.
than now, and in safety against the dev
astating terrors of modern warfare.
/The alternative to a League of Nations,
democratic in its foundations, and power
ful by the undersfanding and faith of
peoples—machinery from above will be
of no avail—is Bolshevism. For Bolshev
ism is the revolt of the mob against lead
ers wlio have betrayed it. It is the mad
ness of mobs, driven to insanity by dis-
pair and fear. I have heard the mutter-
ings of that menace in Europe, not only
in Germany where the dragon has raised
its head, but also in England where it is
beginning to stir.
America has the supreme chance among
the powers of the world to-day, because
she is looked upon as a fair, unselfish,
and democratic arbitrator, aloof from
their rivalries, and untainted by the
disease which infected their civilization.
American people that I have met do
not realize this immense power of their
mission, nor do tliey understand that to
tlie European masses, when President
Wilson speaks, bespeaks, in their belief,
for America herself. Over here, in New
York, many people repudiate the assertion
that the President speaks for America,
and say that he has no authority behind
him.
If that is so and Mr. Wilson fails and '
falls, America may lose this great chance |
in the history of mankind; and, in any!
case, if, witli President Wilson or with-1
out him, the League of Nations fails, then
the world will, in my belief, crash into
gulfs of wide-spread anarchy.—Philip
Gibbs.
STUDY THE COVENANT
A thorough knowledge of the League
Covenant is indispensable to those
who work for the establishment of a
League of Nations. Answers to ninety
percent of the arguments against it
can be found in the text of the docu
ment itself. More than half the op
position is based upon misunderstand
ing of what the Covenant really
provides.
Fundamentally the Covenant is un
changed by the amendments adopted
at Paris, but it is undoubtedly clearer
and more specific. In its technicali-
tieSj liowever, the people have little
interest. Chiefly they want to know
three things; Will it make abetter and
happier world? Will it reduce the
chances of war? Will it interfere with
the independence and power of the
United States?
If they can be satisfied on tliese
points they will be for it.—The League
Bulletin.
Pamphlet copies of tlie revised Cov
enant of the League of Nations will
be mailed upon application to the ed
itor of the University News letter.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 170
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
Three cases of the increasing interest
of business men in school teachers and
school work are almost beyond belief.
Up North, in a city of over a hundred
thousand inhabitants, the president of
one of the most important banks in the
city has recently made a public state
ment in which he advocates a salary of
15,000 for school principals. To get
five thousand dollar men as educational
leaders looks to him like a good business
investment.
Worth It
In that same cij;y one of tlie banks paid
tlie twenty-five dollar membership fee of
an elementary school principal in the
Chamber of Commerce. Tliere was no
catch in it and the only reason for doing
it was liecause tiiese business men felt the
need of a school man in their delibera
tions.
1 n another city of much smaller size in
another section of the country, the ex
penses of five elementary school princi
pals to the Chicago meeting of the De
partment of Superintendence were paid,
not as a sop to poor salaries but because
the business men saw clearly how fine a
businesa investment this would be for
the city.
Imitate It
Such examples of good business sense
are worthy of imitation. It is good busi
ness for business men to encourage large
investments in school work. The better
the schools the bigger will be their busi
ness. The more worth while they make
their schools, the better the quality of
school men whom they can induce to
take charge of their schools.
I.et’8 stop thinking about our public
schools as an expense and a public
charity. I-et’s look on the money used
in the support of schools as a permanent
investment, bound to yield rich returns.
FARMERS FOR THE LEAGUE
A recent report indicates tiiat an over
whelming majority of the 12,000,000
farmers of the country favor, not only
the idea of a League, but the League
Covenant as it now stands. More than
two hundred agricultural organizations—
national, state and local—have adopted
resolutions favoring the entrance of the
United States into a league. Ninety per
cent of tBese resolutions were adopted
since tl.e publication of the Covenant.
Copies were sent to Prtsident Wilson and
to the Senators representing the states in
wliich these organizations are located.
The list includes most of the leading
national agricultural bodies, among them
the American Agricultural Association,
Eartuers’ Educational and Co operative
Union of America, Farmers’ Equity
Union, Farmers’ National Council, Farm
ers’ National Reconstruction Conference,
National Board of Farm Organizations,
National Federation of Gleaners, National
Grange, and the Non-Partisan League.
—The League Bulletin.
THE LEAGUE OR BOLSHEVISM
It cannot be too strongly strest that
failure to adopt the proposed plan for a
League of Nation will mean Bolshevik
uprisings in England, France, and Italy,
as well as in other countries. When I
was in Europe last summer this was th,e
conviction I gathered from conversations
with working-class leaders everywhere I
went.
One of the ablest men in England—a
labor-leader and member of Parliament
of long experience—said to me: “If we
get a fairly satisfactory, workable League
of Nations, things will move along the
lines of evolution. It we don’t get ttiat \^e
shall be rushed into the hell of violent
Bolshevism, and our Bolshevism will be
more terrible than the Russian original.
—John Spargo.
court judges. Some 60 county school
superintendents suddenly become public
welfare officials and probation officers for
the juvenile courts. Suddenly these civic
officials become social servants in a new
and vital sense. Many or most of them are
' splendid men but what special training
" ' have they had for their new duties?
need to stand on tried and proven ground \\'hat chance have they had at such
every inch of the way. They must not! training in any college of the state? They
THE MADNESS OF MOBS
What will happen if the League is not
■establLshed with the impulse of tlie world’s
democracy behind it is as clear as sun
light to discerning minds who are in
toucfi with popular passion born out of
the sufl'erings of the war. What will
happen is tlie wild revolt of many peoples
against their established forms of govern
ment in tlie mad hope that by anarchy
they may gain fieedom of their souls and
bodies and of their unborn children to
«njoy the fruits of labor in larger measure
READS THE RIOT ACT
“If any iuatitution of liightr learning
or technical training in North Carolina
does not now offer or is not getting ready
to offer to the people of this state strong
qourses in general social science, along
with well developed special courses in
applied sociology, then it is failing in
vision, initiative, and leadership or its
treasury is empty—most likely the form
er.” It was a civic-minded citizen of
North Carolina who said it, and said it
with flushed cheeks and a clinched fist
on the train the other day.
“Oil yes,” he went on to say, “Imean
our church schools, our normal schools,
the A. and E. College, and the Univer
sity, all.
“Here we are with some 600 new pub
lic ofliciais suddenly created by law, and
charged with specific social duties—300
members of county public welfare boards,
100 county juvenile court judges, perhaps
25 more judges for juvenile courts in our
cities of 5,000 inhabitants or more, 100
county welfare supierintendents, who,
among othei; duties, are to be probation
and school attendance officers, perhaps
25 more such officers for our larger towns
and cities, 50 officers—at least tliat
many—specially charged by our state and
federal goverimients with defending tlie
homes of North Carolina against the
ravages of social vice and disease.
Public Welfare Wisdom
“These 600 public welfare agents need
to be steeped to tlieir very tliroat-latches
in the vast literature of social science.
They need to be saturated with the wis
dom of the race in vital social concerns.
They need to be wise as a serpent and
gentle as a dove. They need knowledge,
skill, and deftness in social work. They
commit useless mistakes of manner or
method, because of sheer ignorance.
We hav'e too much at stake and mistakes
are too costly. Their work fundamental
ly concerns the homes and the children
of the state. They are charged with lay
ing safe foundations for our civilization
in North Carolina.
“They must face social situations with
clear visions of final spiritual values.
What Carlyle called the immensities and
verities of existence must be kneaded
into their daily tasks. If at any moment
they cannot lift up their eyes unto the
hills they will soon wallow in the mire
and misery of broken lives. Their natures
will either be softened and mellowed or
cruelly hardened by their jobs. Already
I’ve heard it said that one of our juvenile
court judges in North Carolina is a pesti
lential, crime-breeding influence in his
town. I wont call his name, but he il
lustrates what is easily possible to every
one of our 600 newly created public wel
fare agents.
Great Social Problems
“Take our social disease law. Within
the last ten years constructive effort
against social vice has gotten upon legal
and social grounds of assured progress.
Full success is far ahead of us, but we
are at last started along the right road.
And, I am ashamed to say, our young
men had to get out of our colleges and
get into the army in order to receive the
instruction that young people sensibly
ought to have-if their children are to
escape the sins of the fatliers.
“Take our newly established juvenile
courts. Such courts are 20 years old.
The principles, procedures, and methods
make a compact body of wisdom litera
ture. Every syllable of it ought to be
familiar to our two hundred or more
juvenile court judges, probation officers,
and volunteer social allies.
“Take the question of divorce. Our
University News Letter says that Caro
lina homes are being wrecked at the rate
of some 700 a year, and that the rate of
wreckage has more tlian doubled in the
last quarter century. Our wretched
homes are a thousand times the homes
that are wrecked by law. The children
in such homes are in deadly perii.
Wretched homes must be righted as far
as possiole; the children in such homes
must be safeguarded, and conditioned
for happy useful citizenship.
‘T)ur new laws make the state the
foster fatlier of neglected, wayward, de^
fective, and dependent children, and the
authoritative defender and mender of
broken homes. They create some 600
public servants specially charged with
these sacred duties. And yet not a col
lege in the state lias a well developed
school of social science—not one.
“Onr clerks of the court in 100 counties
have become, under the law,
sorely need it, but what institution in
North Carolina is now offering it?
Graham’s Goal
“Hasn’t the time come for a great
school of social science at the University?
Can’t the University offer(1) full-term in
struction in social problems for all stu-
1 dents, as general culture courses, (2) short
term special courses for our new public
welfare agents, and (3) summer school
courses in Red Cross Home Service, in
social hygiene and public health, in the
home-making arts and similar other
courses related to the human nature
needs of our civilization? And cannot
all our colleges enter the same fields of
self-defensive culture? The job is big
enough for them all.
“If they cannot or will not come into
swift adjustment to imperious social de«
mauds, I shall conclude that they are
hopelessly befogged, bewildered, and be
lated.”
“Such are the thoughts that seethe in
my soul upon reading Beasley’s last two
Public Welfare Bulletins,” said he as he
stopped to catch a breath.
We said, It’s a riot act you’re reading
to North Carolina schools. Shall we pass
it on to the folks in the University News
Letter?
“Sure,” said he.
And, as we do so, we are wondering if
the public response is to be Selah, and
nothing more.
We may say in conclusion that the
University is already breaking ground in
the rural social sciences, that our sum
mer school is calling a sociai-work con
ference July 13-20, and offering six weeks
courses in Red Cross Home Service, pub
lic liealth and sanitation, the home-mak«
ing arts and crafts, and so on and on,
The University has made a creditable be
ginning. It is not asleep, it is awake,
and moving in the right direction, but it
has yet a long way to go before it reaches
the goal set for it by President Graham ,
CAROLINA DIVORCES IN 1916
Based on the 1919 Census Bureau Bulletin on Marriage and Divorce.
Counties ranked from low to high, according to rates per 100,000 inhabitants.
Rate for the United States 112; for North Carolina 31. Not counting South
Carolina, and the District of Columbia, it is the smallest rate in the Union.
Miss Ernestine Noa, Department Rural Social Science
University of North Carolina
Rank Counties
Rate
1 Alexander 0
1 Davie 0
1 Gates 0
1 Jones 0
1 Pender 0
1 Tyrrell 0
7 Duplin 3.9
8 Person.. 5.6
9 Columbus 6.1
10 Sampson 6.2
11 Onslow 6.4
12 Orange 6.5
12 Montgomery 6.5
14 Caswell 6.7
15 Chowan !...._ 8.3
16 Burke 8.4
17 Granville 11.4
18 Harnett 11.5
19 Polk 12.4
20 Iredell 13.0
20 Northampton 13.0
22 Stokes 14.7
23 Macon 16.3
24 Randolph 16,5
25 Cleveland 18.5
26 Union 18.8
27 Warren 19.0
27 Catawba 19.0
29 Brunswick » 19.3
30 Alamance 19.5
31 Rutherford..... 19.7
32 Franklin 20.2
33 Bertie 20.3
34 Nash 20.5
35 Ashe 20,9
36 Johnston 21.1
37 McDowell 21.2
38 Jackson 21.8
39 Lincoln 22.0
40 Scotland 23.1
41 Rowan 24.0
Rank
42
43
Counties
Rate
Yadkin 24.6
Surry 24.7
44 Gastou 25.6
45 Rockingham 25.9
46 Halifax 26.2
46 Wake 26.2
48 Vance 28.3
49 Haywood 28.7
50 Anson 28.8
51 Davidson 30.1
52 Stanly 30.6
53 Cabarrus 30.7
54 Wayne 33.6
55 AVilkes 33.9
56 Richmond 36.2
57 Aleckleuburg 36.4
58 Craven 37.7
59 Cherokee 38.5
60 Alleghany 38.7
61 Henderson 39.7
62 Guilford 40.5
63 Edgecombe 42.0
64 Perquimans 42.9
65 Hertford 43.3
66 AVashington 44.0
67 Pamlico 44.7
68 Yancey 48.2
69 Pasquotank 53.7
70 Madison 54.6
71 New Hanover 55.6
72 Pitt 57.5
73 Greene 58.2
74 Carteret 66.6
75 Hyde 67.8
76 Durham 70.7
77 Camdem 77,7
78 Buncombe 80.7
79 Swain 94,3
80 AA’ilson 96,1
81 Transylvania 119.2
Eleven counties are omitted because 11 clerks of court neglected to report as
follows: Beaufort, Bladen, Clay, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Forsyth, Graham,
Lenoir, ilartin, Moore.
, Ten counties are omitted for lack of authoritative population figures: Avery,
juvenile' Caldwell, Chatham, Cumberland, Hoke, Lee, Mitchell, Moore, Robeson, AVatauga.