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The news in this publica-
a is released for the press on
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University o( North Carolina
for its Bureau of Elxtension.
ss: 28, 1920
CHAPEL HILL, N. G.
VOL VI, NO. 36
Irial Eoai’d i
K, C. Branson, L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt.
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Nt C., under the act of August 24, 1913
BUILDING NEW RAILWAY LINES
SERVING FARM HOMES
oneer work in the extension of en-
iering service to farms and country
imunities is being carried on by the
th Carolina State Highway Commis-
: in collaboration with the Bureau of
;ension of the University of North
olina. That state is said to be the
t to provide a special fund by legis-
ve grant for such a purpose, and to
in its promotion the university or-
lized a new division of its extension
rk which has been called the “divis-
of country home comforts and con-
liences. ” The staff is made up of
mbers of the university’s engineer-
departments. In the six months
ee the work was organized, assist-
;e has been given directly to more
in 100 persons in rural communities.
Electric light and power are chief
long the conveniences that it is hoped
bring to rural sections all through
! state. North Carolina has many
all water-power sites, many streams
ittered through the state having fall
lugh to develop from 1 horsepower
10 horsepower of hydro-electricity,
model installation of this kind is to
made at the site of the university
Chapel Hill, where waterwheels,
lerators and auxiliary apparatus will
shown and explained. Farm-light-
; sets have also been carefully studied
;h a view to aiding the farmers in
dr choice of apparatus. The exten-
n of rural telephones is to be pro
ved. P. H. Daggett is the director
the division staff of the university.—
e Electrical World.
acquainted” meeting. It is important
that you be here in time to attend this
meeting.
Address all communications to L. A.
WILLIAMS, EXECUTIVE SECRE
TARY, Chapel Hill, N.'C.
Come directly to Peabody Building,
Room 6, as soon as you arrive.
NEW RAILROAD TRACKAGE
SCHOOL FOR COMMERCIAL
SECRETARIES
fniversity of North Carolina,
August 9-14,1920
Someone suggested last winter that
immercial Secretaries in this section
mid welcome a chance to put in a
w days studying their problems under
pert leadership.
The School of Commerce at the Uni-
rsity of North Carolina offers this
ance and invites you to sign and mail
e enclosed card so we can make reser-
itions for you.
The Program of Study
Colvin Brown has planned to be present period of government operation
iring the entire session and give defi
te instruction on ‘‘Building and Main
lining a Local Chamber of Commerce.” ^
Paul Bunn, C. C. Kirkpatrick, A. V.
■lell, H. E. Barlow, C. W. Roberts,
aniel N. Casey, will be present to con-
ict Round Table Conferences on such
pics as:—Secretarial Ethics; Publicity
Methods; Demonstration of a Board of
irectors’ Meeting; Office Forms; etc.
Howard W. Odum will discuss the
Industrial and Social Survey” and ‘‘The
ity-Building and Country-Serving Mu-
icipality”.
E. C. Branson will present for your
enefit Town and Country Interdepen-
The new railroad trackage laid down
in North Carolina since 1910 totals 674
miles. Which is an increase of 11.6 per
cent during this period. On this basis
of comparison, only fifteen states of the
Union made a better showing. See the
table elsewhere in this issue.
Among these are five southern states
—Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, South
Carolina, and Kentucky, with increased
trackage ranging from 12.1 percent in
Tennessee to 22.4 percent in Kentucky.
The additional railroad trackage built
in North Carolina these last ten years
was 357 miles of new lines, mainly lum
ber roads and short connecting lines of
miscellaneous^ sorts, while 217 miles
were yard tracks, sidings, second and
third tracks for increasing traffic and
better terminal facilities.
Our extended mileage of first tracks
was as follows:
Year Miles
1911 46.31
1912 93.45
1913 103.67
1914 34.00
1915 33.30
1916 23.00
1917 16.85
1918 6.30
1919 0.00
Laying down new railroads at an aver
age rate of 40 miles a year is slow enough
to warn the people of North Carolina
that if 33 remote counties get out of the
woods they will have to go hammer-and-
tongs into the building of improved
highways and adequate bridges, the
buying of passenger cars, and the es
tablishment of cross-country motor
truck freight lines. There seems to be
no other way of escape from social stag
nation in a full third of the counties of
the state.
Only 23 miles of extended trackage
in North Carolina were built during the
And
until the railway companies get safely
back on their feet once more we shall
look in vain to railroads for relief in
the matter of transportation lines.
Meantime the farmers in these 33 coun
ties are reaping a minimum advantage
from the sky-high prices that consum
ers are now paying for food, cloth
ing, fuel, building and manufacturing
materials.
MEN TO MAKE A STATE
George Washington Doane
The ipen, to make a state, must
be honest.
I do not mean men who would
never steal. I do not mean men who
would scorn to cheat, in making
change. I mean men with a single
tongue. I/ mean men that consider
always what is right, and do it at
whatever cost. I mean men whom
no king on eai;th can buy. Men that
are in the market for the highest
bidder; men that make politics their
trade, and look to office for a living;
men that will crawl where they can
not climb—these are not the men to
make a state.—Masseling’s Ideals of
Heroism and Patriotism.
SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION
Here are fifty reasons in favor of
country school consolidations.
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COUNTRY HOME CONVENIENCES
LETTER SERIES No. 20
HEALTHIER RURAL LIFE
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IDLE FARMS
encies.
J. F. Dashiell has promised a discus-
ion of some phase of Psychology in
iusiness.
Other Features
But it is not to be entirely a work and
tudy period. Ample opportunity will
>e given for tennis and baseball, hikes,
he gymnasium, showers, and swimming
3ool to the heart’s content.
We hope also to be able to amuse,
mtertainiand instruct you with movies
furnished by the North Carolina Com-
nunity Service Bureau.
Expenses
The cost to you for tuition, room in
the dormitories and board at the Uni
versity (Commons (Swain Hall) will be
$20 for the six days. No rebate will be
allowed for part time attendance.
Exhibits
If you have any exhibits of material
used to boost your town or to inform
your own citizens about local conditions
send them on at once^ We shall have
a room set apart for such exhibits and
yours.
First Meeting
Atfhree o’clock pn Monday afternoon
there'will be a ‘‘get-together” and ‘‘get-
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Almost a million and three-quarters
acres of Michigan’s fertile farm lands—
a total of 18,232 farms, will be idle this
year.
Statistics compiled by Verne' H.
Church, field agent of the United States
Bureau of Crop Estimates, show that
the remaining farm population of the
state, 230,000, will fall far short of nor
mal crop production. There are 30,300
vacant houses on Michigan farms, 10,000
of which have been vacated during the
last year.
The number of men who have left
farms of Michigan during the last three
years is three times as great as the
number of Michigan men who died or
were killed in the civil war. There are
enough vacant farm houses in Michigan
to house conveniently the population of
Qrand Rapids.
Of the farms of the state, 8.74 per
cent are wholly idle this year, an area
of approximately 1,668,000 acres, equal
to about five ordinary counties.
Of the 276,000 men on farms thred
years ago, 46,000 have since left, 20,000
of them during the last year. This un
precedented exodus from farms indi
cate? that city and industrial life has
become more profitable and satisfactory
than farm life.
With a steadily decreasing supply and
increasing demand the price of food
will continue to advance, the field agent
asserts.—Home and Progress.
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Reduces tardiness.
Better equipment.
Better salaries paid.
Eliminates truancy.
Secures larger schools.
Teachers retained longer.
Secures graded classes of pupils.
More time for recitations.
Insures better and more regular at
tendance.
Better class of work is done.
Keeps the boys on the farm.
Petty jealousies interfere less.
Better management is secured.
Better returns for money spent.
Enhances the value of real estate.
Special teachers may be employed.
Classes larger and more interest
ing.
Buildings, better heated and venti
lated.
Number of classes per teacher de
creased.
Preserves a balanced course of
study.
Keeps older iboys and girls longer
in school.
A school of character and dignity.
Eliminates waste of time, energy,
and capital.
School becomes social center in the
community.
Better and more experienced teach
ers employed.
Makes the fajm the ideal place to
bring up children.
Enables inspector not only to in
spect but to supervise.
Greater results in work accomplished
in the same time.
Popular with people, teachers, and
pupils where tried.
Healthy rivalry awakened through
•inspiration in numbers.
Principal can prevent errors from,
inexperience in assistants.
Course of study enlarged and en
riched by special subjects.
Morals of pupils protected going
from and coming to school. ,
Health of pupils better preserved
on account of transportation.
Unites and centers the interests of
a larger section of people.
Adds tone and dignity to education
and to the farm community.
Children of the farm have equal op
portunities with those of th? town.
Those at a distance have equal ad
vantages with those near at hand.
Evokes pride, interest, and support
on part of the people interested in
the school.
Saves cost of sending children away
. to school and in moving to town to
educate.
The only method of securing and
holding trained teachers for coun-
tty schools.
Makes possible the taking up any
special work of advantage to the
community.
The rich and the poor have equal
advantages in securing high school
education.
Every child in the farm community
is reached by it. All children at
tend; not a favored few.
School games are made possible on
account of larger numbers, thus ad
ding to the attractiveness of school.
Consolidation is the only method of
Too often in the development of farm
life the tendency has been toward de
veloping farrp machinery ^nd improv
ing farm methods in the fields with a
great neglect of conditions in the home.
While up-to-date barns and silos, trac
tors, and improved machinery have
been making farming easier, household
tasks are still being done under un
healthful conditions and in the old back
breaking way. Modern conveniences
are of prime importance in promoting
the health and comfort of the house
hold for it has been definitely proven
that poor sanitation and the lack of
household conveniences are largely re
sponsible for many of the diseases that
prevail in rural communities.
Typhoid fever, tuberculosis, hook
worm and many other dangerous mala
dies may be traced eventually to improp
er sanitation. Running water in the
home and a good sanitary system will
greatly lessen the prevalence of these
diseases.
Conveniences Essential
A housekeeper with no modern equip
ment not only fails to accomplish the
work demanded of her, but her health
is broken down in the struggle.
Sweeping and dusting in the old-
fashioned way establishes only an out
ward appearance of cleanliness while
dust and disease germs are stirred about
in the air to be inhaled into the lungs.
The discomfort and frequent sickness
that result from the use of unsanitary
brooms are a waste and loss which the
use of a vacuum cleaner prevents.
When an electric motor is attached
to the sewing machine a great deal more
work can be done than in the old way
with the continuous, wearisome pump
ing of the treadle.
A kerosene lamp\ furnishes a dim,
flickering light that is very injurious to
the eyes. It also robs the air of oxy
gen making*it unhealthful to breathe.
Electric lights give a bright, steady
light, use no oxygen, give off no gas
and leave the air pure.
In doing the weekly washing a woman
is obliged to bend and scrub anywhere
from six hundred to a thousand times,
all the time absorbing the hot unhealthy
steam. Then there is the additional
labor of wringing the clothes. After
becoming overheated in doing this dis
agreeable work there is great danger
of cooling off too quickly. Nine out of
every ten women who spend much time
over the washtub suffer from colds,
rheumatism, back-ache, stiff joints and
kindred ailments, oftentimes with fatal
results. In an hour an electric wash
ing machine will do the day’s work of
the scrub-board and wash-tub without
drudgery or heat.
Little work can be done in the ab
sence of health and strength. It is
much easier to keep one’s health and
strength than to regain it. Overtaxing
the nerves and muscles if kept up week
after week can have but one result—a
shortening of one’s years of usefulnes
and happiness.—A. N.
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providing a true country school with
home high school privileges for
farm children.
It is at the door of the farm house,
and is more available on account of
transportation facilities than the
present one-teacher school.
It is the only way of insuring an en
rollment large enough to provide
the social and cultural contact with
companionable associates necessary
to the best development of every
child.
It is the only method whereby it is
possible to make a division of labor
by graded classes whereby teachers
may have sufficient time to do good
work and choose grades or special
subjects for which they are best
fitted.
The best known way of promoting
community-building in rural areas;
of gradually grouping country peo
ple in farm villages and thus cur
ing the fundamental defect of Amer
ican country life—social isolation
and loneliness.—Report of Depart
ment of Education, Manitoba, Can
ada.
UNIVERSITY SUPPORT
The educational program to be con
sidered by the next general assembly
ought to include appropriations which
will double the capacity of the Universi
ty of North Carolina. In the college year
1918-19 the white people alone of the
state paid to support the university on
an average 11 cents per capita, or a
total of $194,166. The university’s ex
tension service is worth that in the in
formation and free assistance it offers
to individuals and communities. This
charge is less than three cents if the
citizen has less than $100 on the tax
books.
There are half a million more white
people in North Carolina than in Ne
braska, but Nebraska gives her state
university $664,500, or 63 cents per cap
ita. Nebraska believes more than North
Carolina in ^ the value of her university,
she gives it more funds and consequent
ly receives more service—but not more
in proportion to the appropriations.
Arizona’s per capita of 80 cents for her
state university would make North Ca
rolina’s university appropriation $1, -
400,000.
'This state has got to spend more on
all its public schools; teachers of the
elementary and high schools must have
better salaries; but it must also be un
derstood that the head of the state
school system must he supplied with
the financial resources to keep it where
it has fought its way on meagre sup
port, at the very forefront of state
universities in the United States.—
Asheville Citizen.
NEW RAILROAD TRACKAGE BUILT BETWEEN 1910-20
Based on Reports of the Bureau’ of Railway Economics, Washington, D. C.
Department of Rural Social Science
University of l4orth Carolina
Rnnk State Increase
New Track
Rank State Increase
New Track
-Percent
Miles
Percent
Miles
1
Wyoming
.31.6..
461
24
Pennsylvania
.27.6..
698
26
New Jersey
.7.1.
156
Q
.24.3..
569
27
Kansas
.6.6.
570
4
Montana
.23.7..
950
28
Ohio
.6.3.
...... 540
.122.4 .
706
29
Arkansas
.6.2.
324
6
North Dakota..
..19.0..
’848
30
Louisiana
.6.6.
288
6
South Carolina
.19.0..
611
3f
Colorado
.5.6.
293
. 18.9 .
834
32
Indiana
.6.3.
378
..18.7..
381
33
South Dakota
.6.2.
;. 213
10
Washington
..16.5..
799
34
Illinois
.4.9.
11
Utah
.,16.2..
302
36
Iowa
12
Virginia
..16.0..
612
36
Rhode Isiand
4.4.
9
13
West Virginia..
..13.6..
482
37
Connecticut
14
California
..13.4.
990
37
Minnesota
.4.3.
378
16
Tennessee
..12.1.
449
39
New York
.3.8.
....... 313
. 11.6..
574
40
Nebraska
.3.5.
. 211
17
.'.10.0.
1,447
41
New Mexico ....
.3.2.
92
Ifi
.. 9.5.
649
42
Delaware
..3.1.
^ 42
18
Oklahoma
.. 9.6.
567
43
Michigan
..3.0.
298
20
Alabama
.. 9.2.
448
44
Massachusetts..
..2.2.
46
.. 9.0.
189
46
Missouri
..1.6.
122
22
Maryland
.. 8.0.
106
45
Maine
..1.5.
....... 35
23
Mississippi
.. 7.9.
328
47
New Hampshire
.. .6.
7
24
Wisconsin.’.
.. 7.7.
652
48
Vermont
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