The news in this publi
cation is released for the
I 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.
FEBRUARY 8,1922
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. Vm, NO. 12
Editorial Board t E. 0. Branson, 8. H. Hobbs. Jr,, L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll,^. B. Bullitt, H. \V. Odum. Entered as second-olasa matter November 14 1914, at the Postofflne at Chapel HIU, N. 0., under the act of August 24, 1913.
SELF-HELP AT THE UNIVERSITY
EARNING A DIPLOMA
Probably at no other institution in the
state do the students more nearly ap
proach the idea of v^orking their way
through college than at the State Uni
versity. It is a revelation made in a
recent issue of The Alumni Review of
the amount and variety of work done by
students at the University. And the
beauty of it is that most of these work
ing students are honored on the campus
for their prowess on the athletic field
or in the classroom or debating society.
It is a fact, too, that most of the edi
tors of the University Magazine have
worked their way through college. When
commencement rolls around and vaca
tion begins, it means for about 85 per
cent of the students in the University
no migration to the seaside, or the moun
tains, no touring this continent, or any
other, except to sell books, or to book
chautauquas. Home they go, not to rest,
but to work. The only student who
went abroad last summer went as a
sailor before the mast, and representa
tives at Atlantic City sold advertise
ments for a paper and lectured to tour
ists on the wonders of the shark. Some
went to the mountains and worked on
the State Park on Mt. Mitchell, or in
logging camps.
How They Do It
It is surprising to read of the various
things the working student finds to do
in a college town. For instance, we
read in The Review that they are “de
livering milk at your boardinghouse be
fore you arise, they wait on your table,
wash dishes, sweep out classrooms, cut
wood and make gardens during the after
noon, clean houses, wash windows,
sweep the streets. If you go to church
it is heated and cleaned by a student;
if you go to the movies, you buy your
ticket from a student, one operates the
machine and another plays the piano.
Much of the mail is handled by them.
They do a large part of the laundry
work. If you want candy, belt buckles,
ties, clothes, shoes, or peanuts, there
will be half a dozen students to supply
you. Socks can be bought from a man
whose father is in the wholesale mill
business. You call central and a stu
dent gives you your number. Your
town paper has a student linotype op
erator. Another student ill make early
delivery of the morning paper from
Durham. If you want to advertise some
thing, its merits can be blazoned ^on
enough blotters to equip the Recording
Angel till the Day of Judgment-just
call a student. These tireless men type
write and mimeograph, paint signs, sell
. megaphones, programs, , colors on
Thanksgiving Day-well this is enough
to illustrate the futility of a complete
catalogue of their activities. They
work hard, earning on an average $260
a year. They study hard, contributing
much to give the campus solidity and
seriousness of purpose. They gain much
in maturity of personality, integrity of
character, and knowledge of life.” —
Gastonia Gazette.
SELF-HELP STUDENTS
During the fall term, 1921, of the
University of North Carolina, many of
the students worked their way through,
paying most if not all their expenses.
Students do almost everything, from
janitorial work to housekeeping.
An idea of the opportunities offered
the right sort of studentmay be gleaned
from the following announcement re-
centlymade public through the secre
tary of the Y. M. C. A.
There was probably never a time in
the history of the university, says he,
when so large a percentage of her stu
dents were working their way through,
for a part or all of their expenses.
Many are making their entire expenses.
You may even find the exceptional case
where a fellow works his own way and
sends a sister or kid brother through.
What chance have the powers of dark
ness against the light of such Carolina
manhood as this?
The pessimistic view of this situation
would be to say that it reflects the fi
nancial stress under which we are liv
ing. But the opposite, or optimistic
view, is a message filled with the rich
est inspiration, for it reflects the kind
of stuff Carolina men are made of, and
the magnanimous spirit of this old in
stitution.
They RanK First
Don’t you worry one minute about
the social standards at Carolina. The
praises of that type of man known as
the Self-Help student are being sung
louder and longer than of any other
type of man. The social standard based
on wealth, the ability to dress and to
idle, is passing. The aristocracy of
service is the spirit of The Hill. If a
fellow wants an education and is willing
to work, it makes little difference what
his bank account is, he can become a
son of Carolina.
There are jobs slated now sufficient
to take care of every case of need in
the student body. One of the most in
teresting advances in the self-help line,
was when the electrical department of
the school of engineering took the con
tract to wire all the new buildings,
at a figure a thousand dollars or more
under any other bid, and the work is to
be done with student labor.
Self-Help Jobs
The following is a list‘of specific
things students are doing to wxrk their
way through the university:
Waiting on tables, washing dishes,
scrubbing floors, washing windows, rak
ing leaves, splitting wood, shoveling
coal, firing furnaces, ditching, tilling
gardens, electrical wiring, janitoring
school buildings, janitoring boarding
houses, keeping athletic grounds, sten
ography, typewriting, type-setting,
clerical work, clerking, working in res
taurants, making candy, surveying,
agents for various firms, coaching un
der classmen, operating picture show,
book exchange, instructing, job work
for university, pressing clothes, barber-
ing, shining shoes, numerous independ
ent enterprises, keeping house for ab
sent families, laundry agents, carpen
tering, painting, selling insurance, man
aging boarding houses, clearing ground
for building, acting as time keepers,
and so on.—Louis Graves.
DIABOLICAL SUCCESS
The examination system now em
ployed in American universities is a
symptom of dead formalism and me
chanical externality. If we have been
searching for a method of killing intel
lectual curiosity and a genuine spirit of
inquiry we have been diabolically suc
cessful. If our aim is to convince the
student that knowledge comes in chunks,
and consists of separate fields bearing
no relationship to the fascinating reality
of life, then our methods justify the
procedure. If to become educated is to
center one’s interests on acquiring
enough credits to receive a diploma,
then we have succeeded in quantity pro
duction beyond even the experts of the
industrial world. —M. L. Burton, Presi
dent University of Michigan, quoted in
What the Colleges are Doing.
(Released for week beginning Feb. 6)
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
Just Keep on Doing It
“North Carolina in 1921 stands
with the leaders agriculturally, with
a rank of fourth in the 22 leading
crops, and fifth in the value of all
crops. So says Statistician Frank
Parker.
“With a total value of $228,900,000
for the field crops, North Carolina
has only Texas, Illinois, and Iowa
surpassing her, while in the aggre
gate value of all crops we surpass
Iowa, but let C^ifornia and New
York ahead. The fruit crops are re
sponsible for theseitwo states get
ting up front.
“North Carolina produced last
year more than four percent of the
value of all crops] in the United
States, yet she has only 1.6 percent
of the improved farraj/area of the
Urik>n.”
The state crop values for 1921 were
as follows:
1 $74,212,000
2 T-^bacco 67,600,000
3 Corn 38,416,000
4 Hay 14,077,000
5 Sweet potatoes 9,992,000
6 Irish potatoes 5,788,000
7 Soybeans 4,169,000
8 Sorghum 2,364,000
9 Oats 2,142,000
10 Cowpeas 1,983,000
11 Peaches 1,513,000
12 Apples 1,482,000
No wonder Commissioner W. A.
Graham on contemplating this grati
fying result declares: North Caro
lina is in the same position as the
young negro who thought the Ku
Klux were af^ter him and was fleeing
from them. In his flight he met
Uncle Ephraim and said, while still
gasping for breath. Uncle Ephraim,
the Ku Klux are after me! What
shall I do? Uncle Ephraim said, You
are doing all right; just keep on do
ing it!—Clarence Pee.
Now the plan is spreading like wild
fire. It has spread from the Pacific
Coast across the continent to Maine,
and north and south from the Canadian
line to the Gulf. The separate organi
zations take in potatoes, sweet pota
toes, eggs, cotton, many fruits, various
truck-garden products, and the like.
The farmer joining makes an agree-
meiit, which he cannot legally break,
to pool all of a certain product through
the association for a term of years. The
association markets the product in the
pool. The returns are divided pro rata.
The association does not consider it can
fix prices, but it sells to the highest
bidder and tries to stabilize the mar
kets. In cotton, for instance, it hopes
to eliminate six or seven leaks, to grade
accurately and to get the benefit of skill
and knowledge exerted in the farmer’s
favor.
It looks now as if these single-com
modity cooperatives, in which the pro
ducer and the association are bound to
gether by strong and continuing con
tracts, would do much good. Their
greatest opportunities lie in quality pro
ducts, tastefully packed, skilfully ad
vertised and well sold. Such coopera
tion has its dangers, however. The
! building up of so many new coopera
tives in a short time makes it difficult
to get good, efficient men to carry on
these enterprises, some of which are
already enormous. Some failures may
be expected, but the whole movement
cannot fail, we believe, to bring great
benefits to the farrrier. —The Country
Gentleman.
SMALL-SCALE FARMING
When I asked Luther Burbank how
much land is really necessary for the
average man to use, he replied:
“A thousand acres for an Indian, a
hundred acres for a farmer, ten acres
for an orchardist, one acre for a good
market gardener, half an acre for a
flower or seed man, and for an experi
menter like myself, a graveyard lot
will do.”
In the scientific and intensive use of
the soil, we have not touched the hem
of the garment of this country as yet.
We have run to broad acres of specula
tion, to machinery and hired men. We
are just now at the dawn of a new and
infinitely finer day. Not broad acres,
but little lands; not speculation, but
home building; not the grudging labor
of hirelings, but the loving labor of self-
employing proprietors—these are the
signs and tokens of the new day. Of
that day Luther Burkank is the prophet
beyond anything we have realized here
tofore.—Wm. E. Smythe, in City Homes
on Country Lanes.
live or die without further help from
him. But the city is never thus entirely
! separated from its builders. It remains
I tied to us by the invisible cord of nour-
, ishing passions. It grows with us or it
dies with us. It is in a real and per-
! sonal sense a part of us, as we are of
I it. It becomes then the reflex of the
I liv6s and aspirations of the people who
j dwell in it. So that a city—its streets,
: its highways, its buildings, its public
places, as well as its business and life—
is an embodiment of ourselves. It is
this living spirit that may hearten and
inspire us; that may delight and en
chant us, and that may also break and
destroy us.—Temple Scott.
CITY BUILDERS
The picture once painted or the poem
sung, it stands henceforth by itself; the
artist can do no more for it. It must
THE FARMERS* CHANCE
The farmers of America represent
the greatest single force in the nation,
economically speaking, but it never has
been exerted unitedly in any one direc
tion.
Just now an economic movement is
gathering way which is more promising
than anything we have ever seen. It
is the tendency of farmers to cooperate
along what one may call single-commod
ity lines. Under this system the farm
ers of Denmark have done wonders for
themselves. The system calls for co
operatives to handle every commodity
separately. The farmer belongs to as
many different cooperative organizations
as he has products. As an egg producer
he belongs to the egg association. As
a hog raiser he is a member of the ba
con association, which met the Ameri
can packers in the British market—and
met them with success.
The most typical cooperatives in this
line in America for a long time were
the fruit growers of the Pacific Coast.
The first extension on a great scale
from these industries w'as the cotton
growers’ association, first organized in
Oklahoma. ^
TOO NEAR BOTTOM
It should be constantly borne in mind
that any and all information relative to
adult illiteracy reported by the census
of 1920 is based only on the oral Yes or
No in answer to the censustaker’s ques
tion, Can you write?
Of course, this information is reliable
relative to comparisons with previous
census reports, or relative to compar
isons of states or sections, but I do not
think the census figures give anything
like a correct estimate of the actual
number of illiterates in North Carolina
or any other state.
It has been the common experience
of our workers who have made surveys
in this field that the number of illiter
ates reported by the census is not more
than one-third of the actual number.
Of course, if to the actual number of
illiterates should be added the near
illiterates, the number would be much
larger still. ^
You, of course, know that North
Carolina is now eighth place from the
bottom in the illiteracy list of states.
This sounds hopeful and good compared
with the 1910 census, but it does not
sound so hopeful wffien we consider the
fact that this eighth place is based
upon total illiteracy, and not upon
native white illiteracy.
Here is the fact that hurts: Only two
other states are lower on the list when
native white illiteracy is considered.
These two states are Louisiana and
New Mexico. May not Mexico’s 11.6
percent native white illiteracy be placed
at the door of the Mexican' element,
and Louisiana’s 10.5 percent to the
Creole?
But what of North Carolina’s 8.2
percent? This is our boasted pure
Anglo-Saxon blood?
Isn’t it time for educators and other
leaders of civilization in North Caro
lina to stop assuming a tolerant attitude
toward the work of teaching adult illit
erates, and to get busy in actually help
ing put across some sort of program
that will give to our illiterates a chance
to have at least a working knowledge
of the tools of learning—reading, writ
ing, and arithmetic?—Elizabeth Kelly,
Director of North Carolina Community
Schools for Adults.
A HIGH CRIME
If I were the Czar of North Carolina
instead of the Governor, I would issue
an edict declaring that from and after
five years from date any man who
imported into North Carolina any corn
or meal, wheat or flour, beef or bacon,
should be forthwith hanged and with
out benefit of clergy. Of course, in the
beginning I should be denounced as an
infamous tyrant, but after the law had
been in effect for ten years the richest
state in the union would build a monu
ment to me as the financial redeemer
of my people.— Ex-Governor T. W.
Bickett.
GOOD ROADS IN CAROLINA
North Carolina has at the present
time under actual construction or con
tracted for 591 miles of road of the top
soil, sandclay, or gravel type, costing
$5,100,000; approximately 300 miles of
the various hard surface types costing
$8,750,000; bridge work costing approxi
mately $400,000.
During the year there has been com
pleted approximately 380 miles of the
topsoil, sandclay, or gravel type costing
in round figures $4,000,000; 85 miles of
the various hard surface types which
cost approximately $3,000,000; and
bridge work costing approximately $250, -
000.
These figures include both Federal
Aid and state work but do not include
work that is being done by counties, of
which we have no record. It is expect
ed that during the coming year approxi
mately 400 miles of paving work and
600 miles of other types of roads will be
let to contract. —H. K, Witherspoon,
Manufacturers Record.
CROP WEALTH PRODUCED IN 1921
Covering the hypothetical value on the farm of all farm crops'. Based on
the Federal Monthly Crop Reporter, December 1923.
If only the 22 standard farm crops be considered. North Carolina ranked 4th, *
with only Texas, Iowa, and Illinois ahead. But with all crops considered, our
rank was 5th, with Texas, California, Illinois, and New York ahead.
The total value of all farm crops in North Carolina in 1921 was $262,880,000,
against $142,890,000, the values reported in the 1910 census.
Tobacco produced 29 percent and cotton 25 percent of our total crop values
in 1921. More than half our crop wealth was produced by these two non-food
crops alone.
The food and feed crops amounted to $120,000,000, while the pantry bill
of the state is reckoned at $452,000,000, stock feed not counted.
Department of Rural Social Science, University of North Carolina
Rank
State
Crop values i Rank
State
Crop values
1
Texas
....$424,471,000,25
North Dakota
...$138,905,000
2
California
350,519,000 26
Virginia
... 131,093,000
3
Illinois
.... 294,914,000'27
South Dakota
... 112,717,000
4
New York
.... 269,717,000 28
Louisiana
... 103,279,000
5
North Carolina....
.. 262,880,000'29
Oregon
... 85,221,000
6
Iowa
.... 258,643,000 30
Colorado
,. 83,472,000
7
Kansas
... 228,108,000! 31
Idaho
.... 68,385,000
8
Pennsylvania....
.... 227,133,000,32
Montana
...' 67,829,000
9
Wisconsin
.... 220,615,000'33
Maine
.65,968,000
10
Ohio
.... 212,466,000 ! 34
West Virginia
. . 68,023,000
11
Minnesota
.... 196,572,000-35
New Jersey
.... 53,571,000
12
Missouri
.... 194,474,000 1 36
Florida
... 50,176,000
13
Michigan
.... 184,004,000'37
Massachusetts....
... 48,684,000
14
Georgia
.... 177,986,000; 38
Maryland
... 48,025,000
15
Oklahoma
.... 171,061,000.39
Connecticut
... 47,767,000
16
Nebraska
. ... 171,037,000'40
Vermont
... 40,904,000
17
Indiana
. .. 164,022,000'41
New Mexico
.28,097,000
18
Arkansas
... 169,764,000 42
Utah
... 26,390,000
19
Tennessee
.... 159,525,000 43
New Hampshire..
... 22,592,000
20
Alabama
... 156,778,000 44
Wyoming ..
... 20,817,000
21
Washington
.... 155,685,000 45
Arizona
... 19,738,000
22
Kentucky
... 150,291,000 46
Delaware
... 10,631,000
23
Mississippi
.... 149,494,000 47
Nevada
... 8,053,000
24
South Carolina...
.... 146,185,000 48
Rhode Island
... 4,061,000