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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 University Ex
tension Division.
OCOTBER 19,1921
CHAPEL HHX, N. C.
VOL. vn, NO. 48
Kdi'torial Board j B. O. Bratiaon, S. H. Hobbs, Jr,, L. R. Wilson, E, W. Knicht, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum. Entered a.s second-class matter November 14.1914, at the Postofflce at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,1912.
BROOKS ON COUNTY GOVERNMENT
PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN PERIL
The State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Dr. E. C. Brooks, spoke
to the Town and County Conference at
the University the other day on County
Government and County Affairs in
North Carolina. What he said was
amply reinforced by the State Auditor
in his address the following day. Has
not the time come for the self-respect
ing people of this state to take effective
action in every county?
Dr. Brooks’s address follows:
The continued growth of our public
school system depends upon efficient
county government- It is a fact easily
demonstrated that in those counties
which have had the benefits of good,
progressive government for several
years the public school system, as a
rule, is better organized and more ef
ficiently administered than in counties
poorly governed. The cause is not hard
to discover.
The county is the unit of self-govern
ment. The relation of the state to it is
one of supervision and assistance. The
county is likewise the unit of educa
tional administration and the relation
of the state to the public school sys
tem is one of supervision and assist
ance. The board of county commis
sioners is the governing body of the
county and to this body the public
schools must likewise look for support.
Therefore, since the unit of govern
ment and of educational administration
are one and the same whatever affects
general county government will also af
fect the public school system, and fre
quently defects in the latter are easily
traceable jto the same defects that run
through the whole county government.
The counties are not able to govern
expenditure of large and still larger
sums for public improvement, and hold
the confidence and support of the peo
ple in the progressive program that is
now remaking the state. These de
fects are—
Indicted On Six Counts
1. The county officials in many coun
ties do not know the cost of county gov
ernment. They do not know the size
of the bonded indebtedness nor the cost
of the several departments. As a re
sult, they do not know what tax rates
to levy to meet the full legitimate ex
penses of the county. As a rule, they
are pledged to keep taxes down. There
fore, the authorities try to curtail ex
penses without really knowing the fi
nancial condition of the county or how
to economize.
2. The number of delinquent taxpay
ers in many counties is entirely too
large. The leakage here is great, and
it is almost entirely attributable to
poor government. As a result, it be
comes necessary for the officials to in
crease the tax rates in order to pro
vide for a shortage that is partly inex
cusable. Good government in this re
spect would result in a saving of pub
lic funds, and at the same time it would
increase the rate of progress.
3. The fines imposed by magistrates
and the fines, forfeitures, and penalties
of the towns and counties are not always
properly accounted for and applied in
accordance with law.
4. The funds collected are not segre
gated in accordance with law. Some
departments, as a result, run far short
of their legitimate needs, while others
receive more than their share of the
funds. Therefore, it becomes neces
sary to borrow for some departments
themselves and promote the progress | because of extravagance or liberal ex
of the people without state supervision j pgnditures in other departments. Such
and assistance. However, the state | unbusiness-like methods will cause an
through a failure to exercise proper , increase in the bonded indebtedness or
supervision encourages carelessness | taxes for the succeeding year must
and waste in the collection and expen- ^jg raised to meet the deficit,
diture of public funds. Such defects
L
inevitably breed discontent and suspi
cion among the people. This is true
whether this neglect relates to the ad
ministration of justice, the building of
roads, the development of our natural
resources, or the education of the youth.
Studying County Affairs
It is my purpose to specify wherein
county government is defective and
suggest certain remedies.
The State Department of Education
has made a study of county govern
ment in several counties with special
reference to collecting and expanding
public funds. - We were led to this
study by observing certain facts while
administering the state public school
fund for the year 1919-20.
One county reported that all but 2
percent of the gross amount of the
taxes were collected. It was easy to
see that the law was observed strictly
in the expenditure of the funds. This
county is well governed. Another
county not many miles away showed
a loss of about 15 percent and it was
difficult to tell whether the public
schools had to their credit a surplus or
a deficit. However, it was certain
that this county was each year running
behind, and many of its accounts were
unpaid. If these two counties receive
support from the state according to
their apparent needs, the county that
is least efficient in government would
be benefited most from state support.
You will please keep in mind that
this study was made not at the close of
the school year 1920-21, but at the close
of the year 1919-20, the most prosper
ous year in our history, and a year in
which it was comparatively easy to col
lect taxes.
We examined the records of a num
ber of counties for the purpose of dis
covering the cause of this difference in
the number of delinquent tax payers.
While making this study we discovered
defects, almost wholly the result of ig
norance and carelessness, that^ought to
be corrected. Therefore, what I'shall
report here is not said in a spirit of
general criticism and fault finding, but
for the purpose of calling the attention
of patriotic citizens to glaring defects
that can be corrected in every county,
and must be corrected if we expect to
5. The special local taxes in many
counties are not properly levied, col
lected, and disbursed. The people have
a fine enthusiasm for voting local taxes
for the improvement of roads and
schools. This enthusiasin should not be
destroyed because of carelessness and
inefficiency in handling local funds. In
some counties it was impossible for us
to find any record of the local taxes
levied, the amount of money collected,
and how it was expended, ifloreover,
we have positive evidence that some of
the larger taxpayers escaped this tax
altogether. For example: in one local
tax district the Postal Telegraph com
pany, the Pullman Car company, the
American Telephone company, the
Southern Bell Telephone company, and
the Western Union Telegraph company,
all were entitled to pay taxes but
neither had paid a cent of taxes in some
years. They were not even on the tax
books. This, of course, was pure care
lessness. But the rate of taxes had to
be increased because of this careless
ness.
6. Finally it is very evident that in
most counties there is not enough unity
of management to fix responsibility
and insure efficiency. In certain coun
ties the officials begged us to show
them how to organize the business so
that the people’s money might be safe
guarded. This is an example of igno
rance pathetically calling for expert
state supervision.
In pointing out these defects we are
not giving many people of the state
anything new or sensational. The num
ber of letters received and the news
paper comments since I first called at
tention publicly to them are sufficient
evidence that these defects have been
known for vme time by numbers of
people in counties where they exist.
Therefore, we should be seriously con
sidering effective remedies and should
act vigorously and promptly.
Three Needed Reforms
1. The first step to take, it seems to
me, is to arouse the public conscience
through a publicity that will cause the
people to demand better government.
What do you suppose would be the ef
fect on the people of many counties if
the exact condition of the business were
published in detail in this week’s papers
A TRINITY OF FORCES
Dr. Walter N. Johnson
I am convinced that the great
trinity of dynamic forces in our
Western civilization is Christianity,
Education, Industry, including ex
change as well as production of com
modities. Th^y answer to soul, in
tellect, and body.
The sad fact is we have been try
ing to operate each of them apart
from the other two. We have
vaguely tried to give two of them a
chance to work together, always
being sure to leave out the third
one. For instance Christianity and
Education, at College,
with Industry left out. Or Educa
tion and Industry, at Col
lege for example, with Christianity
left out. ,
One combination gives helpless
idealism; the other dark material
ism. The world still waits to-know
what will happen when Christianity,
Education, and Industry are all
coupled up vitally together.
What is good government among
students, and how can they be taught
to govern themselves properly? How
can they be led to detect weakness and
defects in the government they live
under?
What is a well governed town or
county and where can it be found? Is
the county or city government in which
th^ institution is located well governed?
What are its defects? Are the public
funds safeguarded and wisely spent? If
our colleges and university would give
special attention to local government
and 15,000 students were taught annu
ally to know what is good county or
city government they would be, within
cial service, such as town and city plan
ning, school grounds and school im
provements, public health and recrea
tion.
a few years, the strongest factors in ;
could understand? Perhaps it would be
better not to go into details until the
officials have had time to get. their af
fairs straight. But they must be made
straight or the people will become dis
gusted and cease to support the pro
gressive measures that are now regis
tering a new era in the state. The
people should know who are excused i
from paying taxes and how every dollar
of the money has been spent. The best
government is now found in those
counties whose accounts are well au
dited and published periodically. Coun
ty auditors have given business-like
methods to many counties and have saved
the people thousands of dollars and
created confidence in the business man
agement.
2. In the second place state supervi
sion should be sufficient to protect the
public, and to unify county manage
ment so as to avoid the multiplication
of independent officials. The state
bank examiner closes a bank as soon
as it reaches the danger line. County
officials should be required to meet a
similar standard of safety. A system
of audits that will exhibit these defects
should be uniform and niade under
some responsible head like the state
auditor. Moreover, whenever it is
made to appear that county officials are
incompetent and are failing to meet a
given standard of efficiency, they should
be removed and temporary appoint
ments should be made by some respon
sible county authority until the people
have a chance again to elect their suc
cessors. New and inexperienced offi
cials should be given a reasonable time
in which to qualify for their duties and
the state should give them all the help
possible. But they should qualify. It
is unfair to a sheriff, for example, for
the commissioners to allow his books to
run from year to year without a com
plete settlement, as is sometimes the
case, and then, after he becomes hope
lessly involved due to a failure to settle
annually, his whole career is destroyed
and his personal fortunes wrecked as a
result. In one county a sheriff, owing
to poor bookkeeping, overpaid his ac
counts by more than $1,000 and he was
wholly ignorant of the mistake until
his attention was called to it. He had
settled for the dog tax twice. The
state owes it to the individual and to
the public to see that both are protected
from incompetent officials.
The Schools Indicted
3. Finally, our high schools, colleges,
and university should give specific in
struction in local self-government.
They do teach the history and the
forms of government^ but students re
ceive too little instruction in local self-
government. There will be perhaps
40,000 pupils enrolled in the high schools
and 15,000 enrolled in our higher insti
tutions this year. These within a few
years will be the state’s leaders, and
yet they receive too little instruction
in the greatest lesson that an individ
ual or a group of individuals ever
learned-namely, how to govern' prop
preserving local self-government and in
checking the drift toward centraliza
tion of power in the state and the na
tion.
The very first word in education
should be. government — self-govern
ment, respect for law and order, and
how to cooperate in producing a self-
governing people. We have groups of
people organizing into quasi governmen
tal bodies—manufacturers, commercial
institutions, laborers, farmers, profes
sional men and women. This tendency
to organize for local self-government
is a natural social instinct. But the
inclination of some is to elevate the
rule of their organization above the law
of the county or the state. This is
perilously near sovietism. The county
and the state should rise above all,
and all should cooperate to this end.
The spirit of democracy cannot thrive
in any other way. —Greensboro Daily
News.
The next topic is a study of county
government, its organization and finan
ces, with special emphasis on county af
fairs.
The chapter on state government
covers the greater part of the program,
with emphasis on the social services
rendered by the state, such as public
health, sanitation, the State Board of
Health, play and recreation, public
welfare, and public education.
The twelfth meeting is given to a
study of voting and the holding of elec
tions, followed by a study of the aids
to government, such as community or
ganization, business clubs, and organi
zations influencing government.
Citizens who are not familiar with the
machinery of our government will find
this program a convenient study out
line.
For further information address the
University Extension Division, Chapel
Hill, N. C.
EXTENSION SERVICE.
WRITE TO THE COMMITTEE
A committee to promote improved
county government in North Carolina
was appointed by the Town and County
Conference at the University the other
day. This committee consists of Hon.
B. A. Patton, President of the State
Association of County Commissioners,
Chairman, Asheville; *W. C. Jones,
county commissioner. High Point;
Senator Lindsay C. Warren, Washing
ton; Lionel Weil, merchant, Goldsboro;
Henry R. Dwire, Editor Twin-City
Sentinel, Winston-Salem; and E. C.
Branson, University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, Secretary.
It is the business of this committee
to ascertain the status of county gov
ernment and county affairs in North
Carolina, to receive and digest the
opinions of the people of the state on
this subject, to organize the informa
tion and the opinions secured, and to
brief these up as a program of improved
county government. This summary
is to be prepared for the consideration
of the State Association of County
Commissioners. It will be presented to
them by President Patton at the next
meeting of this body, for discussion,
neccessary amendment, and adoption.
Meanwhile this committee will be
counseling with Dr. H. W. Dodds,
Chairman of the Committee on County
Government of the National Municipal
League.
It is proposed to make a state-wide
appeal to the readers, thinkers, and
leaders of North Carolina, to arouse
public opinion for improved county gov
ernment in this state, and to create the
popular sentiment necessary to secure
such legislative action as may he neces
sary.
This committee will be grateful for
authoritative information about county
affairs and for the opinions that any
body may have about better forms of
county government in North Carolina.
Communications in regard to improved
county government can be sent to
E. C. Branson, Committee Secretary,
Chapel Hill, or to any member of the
committee.
University Extension Service is the
title of the first bulletin of a new series
just begun by the University Extension
Division called the University of North
Carolina Extension Bulletin. It will
be published twice a month in Septem
ber, October, November, December,
and once a month in January, Febru
ary, March, April, May, and June.
During the coming year it will deal
with such subjects as: Pageantry,
State-wide High School Debate, North
Carolina Club Year-Book, Public Dis
cussion, Recreation, Correspondence
Courses, Extension Lecture Service,
Play Production in High Schools, etc.
If you wish to be placed on the mailing
list to receive this new series of bul
letins, send your name to the Ext#Bsion
Division, Chapel Hill, N. C.
Vrhe first bulletin, Vol. 1. No. 1.,
University Extension Service, is illus
trated with pictures, diagrams, and
maps, and presents in detail, the various
liinds of service offered by the following
bureaus of the University Extension Di
vision: Correspondence and Class In-
truction. Lectures, Short Courses and
Institutes, Public Discussion, Commun
ity Drarq^, Commercial and Industrial
Relations, Community Music, Municipal
and County Information, Economic
and Social Surveys, Community Devel-
opmenfe-4Iigh School Debating and Ath
letics,'^Design and Improvement of
School Grounds, Educational Informa
tion and Assistance.
The University through its Exten
sion Division desires to serve you.
Write to the Division today for this
new bulletin and throughout the'year
call upon its services.
STUDY COURSE FOR WOMEN
The University Extension Division
has a new study course in citizenship
for women’s clubs, under the title
Problems of Citizenship for Women. It
has been prepared for those who want
to become familiar with town, county,
state, and national affairs.
The first two programs outline a
study of the general service rendered
to the citizen by the government and
the part that women may play in gov
ernment.
Following this introduction is a spe
cial study of town and city govern-
COMMUNITY MUSIC
An Extension Leaflet, called Com
munity Music Methods and Materials,
by Paul John Weaver, professor of music
in the University, has recently been sent
out free to North Carolina people.
It is the purpose of this bulletin
to offer helpful suggestions for the
organization and initial development
of music along community lines in local
ities where this phase of musical life
has not previously been developed.
Some of the subjects dealt with are as
follows: The Community Sing; The
Song-Leaders’ Class; The Community
Chorus, Orchestra, and Band; Commu
nity Music Festivals and Contests;
School Music.
If you have not already received
one of these pamphlets, write to the
University Extension Division, Chapel
Hill, N. C.
secure the greatest
CU li. WC 1 '
benefits from the ' and published in terms that the people erly.
ment, with emphasis on municipal so
COMMUNITY COOPERATION
The Daniels community complying
with a request to meet together Mon
day morning for the purpose of clean
ing off the grave yardwas surprised to
find that the task was accomplished in|two
hours and a half. This was made possi
ble by the community as a whole re
sponding to the invitation and by each
and all taking hold of the work in band
it was as fine a body of workers as one
wouhLwant to see. There were no
loaf errand no idlers. Men too old to
take an active part in the use of the
mattock, the shovel, the fork, favored
I the occasion with their presence and
! such service as they could render. Some
1 of the good women also came in with a
helping hand. Others whose business
; engagements called them to town were
' thoughtful enough to make generous
I contributions to the repair fund. It was
‘ a striking illustration of what a com
munity can do when it has the cona-
munity spirit, and when it is not afraid
‘ to use it.—Lincolnton News.