The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Published weekly by tbt
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Ejitension.
MARCH 2, 1921
CHAPEL HlIJ^ N. C.
VOI . VH, NO. 15
BdilorSal Board * R. O. Branson, L, R. Wilson, E, W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt.
Rntered as second-class matter November 14. 1914 at the PostofficH at Chapel Hill N, C., under the act of August 34,1911.
FIFTY MILLIONS FOR HIGHWAYS
MILLIONS FOR VITAL CAUSES
Fifty mUlions for public highways,
by a vote of 102 to 11 in our house of
representatives on yesterday.
Almost for the first time in the his
tory of North Carolina our legislature is
thinking in big-scale figures about the
big-scale concerns of our civilization.
And they are doing it with high courage
in a time of business depression.
In the language of Captain Cuttle,
Whoroar!
We are at last investing in millions
in vital state causes and we are keeping
even step with the most progressive
j communities and states of the Union.
I The bottom has dropped out of grain
prices, but the farmers of the Middle
West gave fifteen million bushels of
corn the other day to Mr. Hoover for
the starving children of the Near East.
The farmers in the Middle West, have
nerve. But we also have nerve in North
Carolina. Our fifty millions for roads
is proof of it.
The University of Illinois is asking
for ten and a half million dollars for the
next two years, and the Rotarians of
the state are shelling the woods for the
State University. Already the Univer
sity of Illinois has a maintenance fund
that is larger than the working income
of the thirty-one colleges of North Ca
rolina all put together-larger by a half
million dollars a year.
The California Budget Commission
gave the University of that state nine
million dollars the other day for campus
expansion. It will make the University
properties of California worth twenty-
five million dollars all told, or -nearly
L twice as much as the value of all the
^ thirty-one college properties of North
Carolina, church and state.
Investing in Prosperity
And California believes in highways.
Eight counties in southern California
have four thousand miles of the best,
paved highways on the globe. Four
thousand miles in eight counties! More
than that, these same counties have
nearly two thousand miles of urban and
inter-urban railways. This little area
of eight counties is literally cobwebbed
with highways and electric railways.
They have invested in these enterprises
nearly four times the amount of money
the state of North Carolina is now vot
ing to invest in improved public roads
for the entire state. But also, this area
is irrigated By water that is brought
over a distance of more than two hun
dred miles at tremendous expense.
The result is an alkali desert trans-
- formed into a miracle of fertility, beauty,,
and prosperity. The center of this area
is Los Angeles, a city that in the last
ten years has far outstripped San Fran
cisco in population, wealth, and influence.
Some ten years ago Los Angeles had
the nerve" to vote a bonded debt of more
than one hundred dollars per inhabitant.
The proceeds were invested in a man
made municipal harbor, the finest on
the Pacific coast, and in the most won
derful water-works system in the world
—even more wonderful than the water-
supply system of New \ork.City..
Carolina Follows Suit
It pays to invest in millions in com
munity and commonwealth progress
and prosperity alike. Carolina has at
last begun to think in millions, and it
ushers in a great new era in her history.
The day of small-scale thinking is ended
in this state- That is the significance
of the legislative vote on highways on
yesterday, February 18, 1921.
Our fifty millions of highway bonds
levy a burden of $1.10 a year per inhab
itant-supposing that they are to be
thirty-six-year five-percent bonds, and
$1.10 is just about the price of a single
circus and side-show ticket.
All honor to Miss Hattie M. Berry,
who organized the public sentiment of
the people, as secretary of the State
Good Roads Association, and to Rufus
A. Doughton, T. C. Bowie, and H. G.
Connor, Jr., who organized and led the
campaign in the House of Representa
tives, and to a score or more of other
robust patriots in the cause of improved
highways—to John Sprunt -Hill, W. A.
McGirt, Bennehan Cameron, and other
invaluable public servants.
THE NERVE OF NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand has an area just about
equal to that of California, and a popu
lation of 1,800,000; which is almost ex
actly the white population of North Ca
rolina.
But ten years ago the bonded debt of
this little country was more than three
hundred fifty million dollars, or more
than three hundred dollars per white
inhabitant. It takes nerve for a hand
ful of people to get under a bonded debt
of that size. And when you stop to con
sider that this big thing was done by a
population that is barely larger than the
white population of North Carolina, it
looks like a very miracle of nerve. It
looks like a willingness to bank New
Zealand against the universe; which is
exactly the way a New Zealander feels.
The proceeds of these bonds have
been invested in productive enterprises
that not only pay the interest charges
but also create the sinking funds that
are necessary to retire the bonds in or
der on schedule time. And more, they
turn a surplus into the dominion treas
ury year by year.
The New Zealanders are not in the
least in doubt about the productive value
of investments in roads, railroads, pub
lic health departments, schools and col
leges, farm and home loan funds, com
munication facilities, hydro-e 1 e c t r i c
plants, and so on and on.
They get their prompt rewards out of
Increased community prosperity, com
fort, and safety. For instance. New
Zealand has the lowest infant death rate
in the world. It is inspiring to turn the
pages of a New Zealand Year-Book.
New Zealand’s policy of investing in
state progress and prosperity has been
developed during the last thirty years,
and the people are not bankrupt; they
are rich. The more any people invest
in progress, the richer they become.
We do not hesitate to say that the
fifty millions of roads bonds voted by
our House of Representatives on yes
terday marks the beginning of a great
new era in North Carolina.
MILLIONS FOR UNCLE SAM
Five billion four hundred million dol
lars in round numbers was the grand to
tal of taxes paid into the federal treas
ury by the people of the United States
during the year ending June 30, 1920.
More than a fourth of it was paid in
New York state alone; more than a third
of it in New York and Pennsylvania
alone; more than half of it in N^ York,
Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Massachu
setts alone. Nearly exactly three-fourths
of it, or four billion dollars, was paid
in the Great Industrial Area east of the
Mississippi and north of the Ohio and
the Potomac.
That is why they do not love our Mr.
Kitchin up that way.j
What was left for the thirty-one other
states to pay was one and a third billion
dollars.
And North Carolina paid almost one-
eighth of this one and a third billion dol
lars—twelve percent of it!
Our nearest competitor in the South
was Texas, and she fell behind us by
fifty-eight million dollars. Outside the
Great Industrial Area, California is the
only state that was ahead of us, but
with a lead of less than twenty million
dollars.
North Carolina has moved into the
ranks of the rich during the last five
years. But it is hard somehow for the
state to realize it.
Here are the direct federal taxes paid
by the eight leading states of the Union
during the year ending June 30, 1920:
1 New York $1,418,436,726
2 Pennsylvania 557,379,411
3 Illinois 443,728,892
4 Ohio 373,747,085
6 Massachusetts 852,022,233
6 Michigan 283,296,068
7 California 179,267,565
8 North Carolina 162,666,947
Total $3,770,543,927
North Carolina paid four and a third
percent of all the federal taxes in the
eight leading states of the Union,, three
percent of the total paid by all the forty-
eight states, and twelve percent of the
THE GOVERNOR'S
PROPHECY
Times are hard, but they do not
approach the severity of conditions
which we have met with courage in
the past. We are depressed and dis-
spirited now, but business is a com
plex and mysterious thing, and for
all the wisest among us may know,
we may in this depression be laying
the foundation stones for a struc
ture of business and prosperity the
like of which our country has never
known.
Prosperous times are sure to return.
The United States is richer than any
two or three countries in the world,
and we have more productive energy,
initiati'. ' "d ability than Europe
co^nbiiKd. N I 'u Carolina is one of
the truly .ric' and great states of
the union, and nothing can keep
prosperity from soon returning to
us except our own cowardice and
pessimism. In this hour of trial and
depression I appeal to all the people
of the state to go toward with cour
age and determination in every
direction in which Christians and
patriots are looking.
total paid outside of the Great Indus
trial Area.
There is no indication here that North
Carolina is a poor state—not in 1920.
The Total in Carolina
Nearly one hundred and sixty-three
million dollars—exactly $162,666,947—is
the total of taxes paid by North Caro
lina into the federal treasury during the
year ending with June of 1920.
Barely six millions—exactly $5,648,572
—is what we paid into the state treas
ury in 1920.
In a single year we paid more money
into the federal treasury than we have
spent on public schools, schools for the
deaf and blind, technical training schools,
and the State University during the en
tire history of the state—more by thirty
million dollars I See the exhibit of Dr.
P. P. Claxton, U. S. Commissioner of
Education, News and Observer, Nov.
21, 1920.
A state that is able to pay one hun
dred sixty-three million dollars in taxes
in a single year is rich—rich enough to
rank with the seven foremost states of
the Union. With these seven rich states.
North Carolina helped to pay seven-
tenths of all the taxes paid by all the
forty-eight states put together.
One hundred and eight millions of our
total were paid directly by our tobacco
factories in stamp taxes. Indirectly it
was paid, of course, by consumers the
world over. Consumers in North Caro
lina paid their share of this total, but
nobody knows how large or small this
share was. And so with other millions
paid directly by our various corporations
and passed on to consumers the world
around. But these millions of stamp,
income and excess profit taxes—around
160 millions all told—were paid out of
hand by North Carolina corporations,
and they signify large corporation wealth
in this state. This wealth must be cred
ited to the state, altho the taxes our
corporations pay are finally paid in the
main by the people of other states and
countries. If not, then the wealth of
New York state or any other rich state
can be reduced to a bagatelle by the
same kind of logic—if it be logic.
We are proud of the great businesses
of North Carolina. One of them is the
greatest of its sort on the globe. An
other leads the South and places North
Carolina second to Massachusetts alone.
Enormous wealth is piled up in the pro
ducing businesses of this state. It is a
monument to the genius of our captains
of industry. But it lends no argument
to the man who would reduce the wealth
of North Carolina to mole-hill propor
tions.
An Exhibit of Details
Our millions of federal taxes were as
follows for the year ending June 30,
1920:
Tobacco, stamps $108,457,166
Taxes on income and profits 44,962,869
Inheritance taxes 3,174,019
Public utilities, taxes on travel,
telephone and telegraph
messages 2,416,861
Excise taxes, on sales, paid by
COUNTRY HOME CONVENIENCES
LETTER SERIES No. 42
EXPERIENCES IN THE FIELD—11
Last week we told you about the
trouble Mr. Smith and his neighbors
had with their power plant. The story
of how the installation was made is very
interesting. Mr. Smith told the story
as follows:
“Well it was this way. After having
decided to put in a small hydro-electric
plant L began to look around for equip
ment. My knowledge of such matters
was limited to the fact that I knew a
generator, , switchboard and turbine
were necessary for the generation and
control of the power developed. I did
not know how much power my stream
would give or anything about the man
ner of installation. Neither was I at
the time aware of the services that
could be gotten from your division. ’’
Choice of Equipment
“It became generally known about
the neighborhood that I was in the mar
ket for the equipment I have just men
tioned. One day a saw mill man came
to see me and said he had a 12-in. ver
tical turbine he wanted to dispose of.
He stated that he had been using it on
a stream smaller than mine in the lum
ber woods with entire satisfaction, but
that now he was moving his camp and
would have no further use for the tur
bine. He assured me that his turbine
was just the thing for me and offered
it at a price that I considered a bar
gain, so I bought it. A few days later
I got a letter from a man offering an
attractive price on a 30-kilowatt gene
rator and switchboard which, while
second hand, was in good condition. I
bought this also. The pole line mater
ial and meters were secured -from one
of the large electrical manufacturers.
“Now came the question of getting
this machinery put in. The only^man I
could find in the neighborhood who pro
fessed any knowledge of such things
was a carpenter. I hired him to do the
job and he made the installation as you
see it. You now have the whole story,
can you tell me why the plant is not
right?”
The Solution
The representative of the Division of
Country Home Comforts and Conveni
ences at the University summed up the
trouble briefly as being a case of im
proper equipment and installation with
the exception of the generator which
was all right. He pointed out that one
of the most vital troubles was that the
water wheel had no governor and in the
absence of a man to control it, its speed
varied over a wide range as the load
changed causing the lights to vary in
brightness. In like manner other faults
too many to mention were criticized
and suggestions made to remedy the
trouble. Mr. Smith was very glad to
find out these things and today has a
new power plant, relocated and remod
eled, with a pipe carrying water to
a horizontal steel-incased turbine
equipped with a speed governor. The
turbine drives the old generator by belt
from a pulley on its shaft, replacing the
old quarter-twist drive. A twelve-foot
dam capable of storing the twelve-hour
flow of the stream replaces the log for
merly used to divert water to the old
open flume. The lights are steady and
bright even when the picture show is
going on; and the home lover can now'
read to his heart’s content without fear
of periods of semi-darkness.
It is gratifying to the Division to
have been of assistance to Mr. Smith
and it is hoped that other citizens of the
state will avail themselves of a like
service which is given without any cost.
—W. C. W.
manufacturers, dealers,
and consumers 1,676,760
Taxes on occupations, acts,
and privileges 1,118,856
Stamp taxes on legal and busi
ness transactions and docu
ments 718,482
Insurance taxes 123,657
Taxes on distilled spirits.... 112,826
Taxes on oleomargarine 6,435
Miscellaneous 32
Total $162,666,947
As already noted, one hundred and
eight millions of this grand total went
as taxes on floor sales and for stamps
on manufactured tobacco products, at
the rate of three hundred and forty-six
thousand dollars a day throughout the
working year. A whale of a business—
that! Our forty-eight factories con
sumed 158 million pounds of raw tobac
co—which is nearly exactly equal to half
the total crop of the state in 1920. The
tobacco taxes they paid were more than
double the total of New York, our near
est competitor. But unlike New York,
the business in North Carolina is dis
tinctly native. The raw material for
the most part is native, and our. farmers
get money out of it—in good years, mil
lions of money. Our warehousemen
and factory operatives are native, and
they spend at home their millions of
wages and profits. The capital invested
is mainly native, and the dividends ac
cumulate in large totals in North Ca
rolina. Tobacco gives us a long lead in
the South in federal tax-paying power—
a lead that our cotton mills and furni
ture factories have helped to establish
and maintain during the last five years.
And it means wealth, great wealth, in
North Carolina. What else could it
mean?
Income Taxes in 1920
Nearly forty-five million dollars was
the total of federal taxes paid on incomes
and profits by individuals, partnerships,
and corporations in North Carolina dur
ing the year ending June 30, 1920. These
millions were paid on taxable incomes
and business profits, after all legal re
ductions, exemptions, and allowances
were written off. Few wage earners
and very few farmers have ever paid
any direct federal income taxes in North
Carolina. In 1917 only one farmer in
every four hundred paid any such taxes
in this state—not because our farmers
are poor, but because the reductions
and exceptions allowed by law are so
many that it is not easily possible to
figure any taxable surplus above the
exemption limit.
But other people and other businesses
in North Carolina were rich enough to
pay into the federal treasury around
forty-five millions of taxes on incomes
and profits in 1920. They paid seven
times as much into the federal treasury
as two and a half million people paid in
to the state treasury the same year.
It proves one thing, to wit — that
wealth isnotequally distributed in North
Carolina; which is only saying that
North Carolina is measurably like every
other country in Christendom. But it
does not prove that North Carolina is a
poor state—not when twenty-two thous
and persons and forty-two hundred cor
porations within her borders enjoy a
net taxable income of a hundred ninety-
seven million dollars, and a gross income
of nine hundred eighty-two millions!
New York state is teeming with farm
ers and small wage-earners who pay no
federal income taxes, but it would be
childish to say that New York is there
fore a poor state. The great fnajority
of our people pay no federal income
taxes, but it is absurd to say that JNiorUi
Carolina is therefore a poor state.
Millions by the Mass s
Nearly two and a half millions—ex
actly $2,415,861—is what we paid into
the federal treasury last year in taxes
on railway and steamboat tickets, sleep
ing car berths, freight and express
charges, telephone and telegrnph mes
sages. But we paid it willingly, a few
cents at a time, and hardly felt it. The
total is almost exactly what we paid in
to the state treasury in 1919 on the ad
valorem taxables of the state. But we
paid this tax into the state treasury in
lump sums at particular times, with
something like the feeling we have when
we surrender an eye-tooth to a dentist.
And a proposal to increase the rate a
mill or two throws the state into con
vulsions from end to end.
We surrender nearly six millions a
year in federal taxes on travel, freight,
and communication, on legal and busi
ness documents, on soda fountain drinks,
perfumes, cosmetics, patent medicines,
carpets, jewelry and fine clothing, on
picture shows, circus, theatre, and car
nival tickets, and the like. We do it
eagerly, a few dimes at a time, and
never feel it, but all together we spent
in these ways in 1920 four times as much
as we spent to keep our thirty-one col
leges alive.
If these facts from the last rep irt of
the Commissioner of Internal Rjvanue
prove anything, they prove that wc are
rich and do not know it—that we spend
lavishly in private indulgences and
grudgingly in public enterprises. Ih.'y
prove that we have money in abundance
to spend upon anything w ; re.ii.y .vaiu,
but they convey no hint wnats .e, e, .
poverty in this state. E. Bim isju.
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