The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for its Bureau of Ex
tension.
MAY 18, 1921
CHAPEL mr.T., N. c.
VOL. vn, NO. 26
Editorial Board i E. C. Branson, L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt.
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the PostofB.ce at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,1912.
Reprodujed by Courtesy of Labor. Washington, D. C.
THE HEAVY COST OF WAR
Of every dollar paid in Federal in
come tax the Government will be com
pelled to spend 93 cents to cover the ex
penses of past wars and to prepare for
possible future wars.
We would like every citizen to paste
that statement inside his hat (or in case
of the ladies, inside those little hand
bags) , and ask himself, every now and
then, whether war is ten times as im
portant, enjoyable and satisfactory as
all the other business of mankind put
together. —N. Y. Evening Post.
WAR AND EDUCATION
Seven hundred sixty-two million dol-
.lars is what elementary, high school,
and junior collegeeducation—public and
private, church and state cost the peo
ple of the United States in 1918, the
date of the last authoritative informa
tion.
Seven hundred twenty-seven millioif
dollars is what Congress is now propos
ing to spend on our army and navy dur
ing the ensuing year.
Nearly four hundred millions was
voted by the House the other d^y to
the navy alone, and the advocates of
disarmament were able to muster only
twelve votes against it. The dis
armament amendments were pitch-
forked out without ceremony. Doubt
less the army appropriation of three
hundred thirty-one millions will be rail
roaded through in like fashion.
Pagan Ideals
Manifestly it is not yet possible for
peace and practical wisdom to lie down
together like the lion and the lamb of
Isaiah's dream. Not yet possible, after
two thousand years of Christian civili
zation-think of that, if you please!
What we call civilization is still a
beak-and-talon, tooth-and-ciaw struggle
for survival and supremacy among men
and nations alike.
Harmony within groups and fair-play
between groups, is still an unlearned
lesson of life.
The peace on earth announced to the
Bethlehem shepherds is still an irides
cent dream. Or so our practical states
men say.
Maybe sp. And not impossibly Chris
tendom may crumble into dust before
men and nations can learn the supreme
folly of war.
The Japanese are calmly certain that
what they are witnessing today is the
passing of Europe into the scrap heap
of history.
The burden of taxes for wars past,
present, and future is crushing the last
remains of life out of Europe and the
situation looks hopeless.
And hardly less hopeless in America.
Although we can play the game longer
than any other people on earth, the end
is not less certain at last.
The Masses Must Move
There is small comfort in the fact
that our federal taxes average $270 a
year per family; that $183 of it is on
account of past wars—interest on war
debts, pensions, vocational and health
rehabilitation for soldiers and sailors,
and the like; that $66 goes for direct
expenditures on the army and navy,
and that only $16 of it goes for govern
ment functions— salaries and public
works; and that only $2.70 of it is spent
on health, education, and agriculture!
The navy costs us more year by year
than all our churches of every name,
sect, and sort—more this year by some
fifty million dollars.
The army costs us more than all our,
colleges, technical schools, and univer
sities, church and state—more by two
hundred million dollars.
A single first-class battle-ship cost us
more than the teacher training schools
of the whole United States—from ten
to fifteen millions more.
So far in the world’s history culture
-and the curse of war have been one.
And congresses and parliaments are nev
er likely to weigh the one against the
other unless the multitudes in every
country begin to organize an intelligent
—not to say a Christian—revolt against
swords and spears, in behalf of plough
shares and pruning-hooks.
Our colleges must lea,d the way—and
abpve all, our church colleges.
PUBLIC SCHOOL MUSIC
Music in the Public Schools is the ti
tle of a very recent University Exten
sion Leaflet written by Paul John Wea
ver, Professor of Music at the Univer
sity.
The importance of music in the pub
lic schools is only beginning to be real
ized by American educators and the
American public. A great awakening
is in process and a truly remarkable
development has occurred all over the
country during the last decade.
In North Carolina this development
has been much less rapid than in most
other parts of the country. In 1917
only 23 percent of the cities in North
Carolina with a population of over 3,00(f
each had special teachers of music in
the public schools; only one other state,
Maryland, had an equally small per
centage.
Since 1917 there has been a slow but
gradual improvement of public school
music in North Carolina. It is known
that several cities in the state plan to
inaugurate* the work at an early date.
And, more hopeful still, other cities
are substituting up-to-date methods
and courses of study for antiquated and
ineffective ones.
Concerning the aims and scope of this
bulletin Professor Weaver, its author,
states: “It is not our purpose in this
bulletin to urge or justify the place of
music in the educational system; nor to
suggest specific methods or devices for
carrying out of school music work. It
is rather our - purpose to set forth the
general plan for the development of
school music as it has been worked out
in hundreds of cities 'throughout the
country; to evaluate cer^in local de
velopments in the light of this general
development; and to suggest, in a very
brief bibliography, sources of definite
information on some of the points here
made”.
By addressing requests to Bureau of
Extension, Chapel Hill, N. C., all per
sons interested in public school music
will receive a free copy.
Professor Weaver as Chief of the
Division of Community Music of the Bu
reau of Extension at the University is
available to North Carolina communities
to lead community sings, visit schools
as advisor in public school music, and
for a limited number of organ recitals.
In offering this service the Bureau will
follow the usual practice which obtains
in all its service—no charge will be
made for personal visits except that
the traveling expenses of the field
workers will be borne by the school or
organization visited.
COUNTRY HOME CONVENIENCES
LETTER SERIES No. 53
EDUCATION AND HOME IMPROVEMENTS
The relation ' between education and
home improvements is illustrated by a
study of 825 farm homes made by the
Agricultural College of the University
of Wisconsin. The proportion having
home improvements steadily increases
with education. Where the parents
had some schooling a larger number in
sisted on home improvements. But the
proportion rises far more rapidly among
those who have had a college educa
tion.
of better furniture and house furnish
A Wide-Awake County
A study of all the farm homes in
Orange Township, Blackhawk County,
Iowa, was made by the Iowa Agricul
tural College. It appeared that the
people as a whole in this county were
educated above the average. Half of
all the farm homes in this township had
furnaces, while the proportion having
water, baths, and electric or gas lights
was somewhat less. Nearly half of the
homes had such labor-saving conven
iences as vacuum cleaners, power wash
ers, and electric irons. Nearly all these
homes had telephones, over half had
pianos, and about half'of ‘them had au-
tonlobiles. This is not a picture of the
average' conditions in farm homes
throughout the United States, but it is
a picture of a condition somewhat ex
ceptional at present but which we are
rapidly approaching. Each home im
provement calls for others.
Modernizing Farm Homes
For example, it is the general ex
perience of distributors of electric light
ing plants that the purchase of a light
ing plant is followed by the purchase
ings. Better wall paper is required.
More paint and varnish are used. When
the electric lights are turned on, the
rugs, the furniture and other house
furnishings, which seemed satisfactory
when kerosene lamps were in use, are
not so attractive now. The electric
power plant makes it far easier to have
a water system in the farm home, with
indoor toilet and bath, and have the
water system 100 percent efficient.
The power washer, the electrically op
erated ironing machine, the vacuum
cleaner, the electric iron and the elec
tric fan can be utilized. The water can
be pumped, the churn can be operated,
the grindstone turned, the cream separ
ated, and a vaHety of other minor op
erations performed in and about the
farm home by electric power.
Higher Living Standards
The Installation of a water system
and a lighting plant raises the standard
of sanitation in the farm home. More
soap and cleaning compounds of all kinds
are used. More frequent baths stimu
late greater pride in personal appear
ance, leading not only to a demand for
better clothes, but for more toilet prep
arations and all the other lines that are
fopnd essential by the well-groomed
man or woman. The furnace eliminates
the necessity of running several stoves
and the resulting labor and inconven
ience. Briefly stated, the modernizing
of the farm home is an influence of tre
mendous power in promoting a taste
for more and better things on the farm.
—The Farm Market.
THE KNOCKER’S PRAYER
Lord, please don’t let this town grow.
I’ve been here for thirty years and dur
ing that time I have fought every pub
lic improvement. I’ve knocked every
thing and everybody. I have done all
I could to keep this town from growing
and never have spoken a good word for
it. I’ve knocked hard and often. I’ve
put ashes on the children’s slide and
I’ve made the policemen make the boys
stop playing ball on my vacant lot.
Whenever I saw anyone prospering or
enjoying himself, I have started a re
form to kill the business or spoil the
fun. I do not want the young folks to
stay in this town and I will do all I can
by law, rule and ordinance to drive
them away. It pains me, 0 Lord, to
see that in spite of my knocking this
town is beginning to grow. Some
day I fear I will be called on to put
down sidewalks in front of my property
and who knows but I may have to help
keep up the streets that run by my
premises? This, Lord, would be more
than I could bear. It would cost me
money, though all I have made has been
made right here in this town. Then,
too, more people might come if the
town begins to grow, which would cause
me to lose some of my pull. I ask,
therefore, to keep this town at a stand
still, that I may continue to be chief.
Amen. —Exchange,
MODERN DRAMA STUDIES
Two years ago the Women’s Clubs
Division of the Bureau of Extension
began to furnish programs for Women’s
Clubs. The latest program is one planned
and written by Miss Elizabeth A.
Lay, Secretary of the Division of Com
munity Drama, in co-operation with
Miss Nellie Roberson, Chief of the
Women’s Clubs Division. There is an
introduction by Fredrick H. Koch,
Professor of Dramatic Literature in the
University of North Carolina.
Under a title of A Study Course in
Modern Drama, the modern drama is
treated in a series of fourteen divisions
for a knowledge of the whole move
ment, beginning with Ibsen. In gener
al, the course follows the development
of the drama in different countries but
certain important movements are fol
lowed throughout and the attention of
the student is called to the influence of
one nation upon the drama of another.
Interest in the acting of plays has
been encouraged by the selection of a
scene from each play studied. This
scene is to be presented, if desired, by
members of the club as a part of the
program. A list of one-act playii is in
cluded with the suggestion that a pro
gram be given using these plays writ
ten -by authors whose work has been
i studied in the course.
For a fee of $10.00 ten copies of this
Study Course and three reference
books will be furnished to any Women’s
Club. Other books which are mentioned
in the reference and bibliography
may be borrowed from the University
Library. Individual copies may be pur
chased for $ .50. Address Women’s
Clubs Division, Bureau of Extension,
Chapel Hill, N. C.
To further stimulate interest in
drama, especially in community drama,
the Division of Community Drama of
the Bureau of Extension sends out field
representatives to North Carolina com
munities to advise in the development
of local pageants, playwriting, and play
production. It is expected that the
organization calling for this service
will pay the traveling expenses of the
field representative. No other charge
is made. Address communications to
Division of Community Drama, Bureau
of Extension, Chapel Hill, N. C.
FEWER FARM TENANTS
Wisconsin has cause to be proud. Farm
tenancy is not on the increase. A recent
compilation shows 87.7 percent of the
Badger State farms in the hands of
owners—an increase of 6 percent in ten
years.
Since the tenant question is such an
embarrassment elsewhere and since
many states count half their farm pop
ulation as nomads, it is interesting to
inquire regarding Wisconsin’s position
and what brought it about.
One thing which helped was the state’s
immigration policy. Wisconsin has
both good and bad cut-over lands. It is
settling the good lands and warning
homeseekers against the worthless kind.
The immigration division of the state
gave honest, frank advice to 13,961
homeseekers last year; it censored land
advertisements at the request of news
papers; kept watch over unscrupulous
land dealers; wrote pamphlets for the
railroad administration; prepared truths
ful articles for newspapers; actually
put 1,683 families on new lands and
kept in close touch with them. No
doubt such a policy helped beyond the
mere'numbers which the immigration
division could actually tabulate.
A lot of credit must, no doubt, be
giv6n to Wisconsin’s large foreign pop
ulation, consisting of peoples from
lands where thrift is generaljbut land
ownership is not. Thus they got what
they came after—homes.—The Country
Gentleman.
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