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.
MARCH 29, 1922
CHAPEL HHX, N. C.
VOL, VIII, NO. 19
Eilitorial Board i B. C. Branson, 8. H. Hobbs, Jr., Ij. B. Wilson. E. W. Knieht, D. D. Carroll, J, B. Ballltt, H. W. Odum. Butyred as second-class matter November 14.1914, at the PnstofUoe at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of Aupust 24, 191~
THE CHURCH AND THE LANDLESS
THE CHURCH AND TENANCY ; church homes, resident ministers, and
t liberal salaries for country preachers.
The country church must destroy ten- - (g. Every country Sunday school an il-
ancy and illiteracy or tenancy and illit
eracy will destroy the country church,
said Mr. L. G. Wilson, of Harnett
county, to the North Carolina Club at
its last meeting in Phillips Hall at the
University.
The marked decline of the church in
excessive white farm tenancy areas
bears testimony to the fact that farm
tenancy has a direct and vital relation
to the church. Everywhere in the
United States where white farm ten
ancy is excessive the church has been
steadily dwindling in membership, pow
er, and influence. As an evidence of
this, Mr. Wilson cited the 700 abandoned
country church buildings of one denom
ination in Missouri and the 1800 aban
doned country churches of Illinois. The
decay of the country church in the 800
cotton and tobacco counties of the South
is a well known but little considered
problem.
The country church, said Mr., Wilson,
is in deadly peril (1) from the cityward
drift of rural populations and the con
sequent loss of intelligent local leader
ship, and (2) from the inseparable so
cial evils of tenancy, illiteracy, and
literacy school with classes for such
adults as need to learn reading and
writing, with organized committees to
^o out into the byways and hedges to
bring them in. He also suggested (4)
sermons in every pulpit on the question
of holding land out of productive pur
poses for speculative rises in value.
The stewardship relation of man to land
is an ethical and religious question, and
said he, we are never likely to have a
progressive land tax unless the church
gets busy with this problem; and with
out such a law, town and country ten
ancy will steadily increase.
Mr. Wilson’s paper on The Church
and the Landless is fifteen pages long
and is accompanied with a full Ipibliog-
raphy of this important subject. It
makes r. chapter in the next Year-Book
of the Club.-J. G. Gullick.
Pfk/VnirVTI A XK AVkWT'IKff'
^ a. ’I vtf
The plan of cooperative marketing
as an aid in overc'^ming farm tenancy,
was explained by J. O. Bailey, of Wake
county, at the last meeting of the North
Carolina Club at the University. We
poverty. 1 say inseparable because | giving belov/ some of the facts
they exist together; wherever you find brought out at the meeting,
high ratios of white farm tenancy you ^ Cooperative raarlccting is not a new
find high ratios of white illiteracy and m^tned scheme, it has been success-
poverty along with low ratios of church fujjy tried out in Denmark, where it
membership. For eight years the de- j^gg produced a country of prosperous,
partment of rural social-economics at- home-owning farmers, and in California
the University has been ms-king de- ^ jjgg gj^gbiQfi the fruit-growers
tailed studies of these three conditions market their crops more profitably
in the country regions of the state, and than under the old plan of individual
nothing is clearer than the fact that retailing. This system which the farm-
the church must destroy tenancy and , gpg qJ Denmark and the fruit-growers
illiteracy among the whites in country ^ California have been perfecting dur-
areas, or tenancy and illiteracy will de-: |gg.(. 25 years is now offered to
stroy the country church. This does ; North Carolina farmers. And it is being
not apply so much to the negro churches, j adopted.
for the status of colored tenants does j plan as outlined by Mr. Bailey is
not appear to interfere with church ^ gg The cooperative associations
membership or church attendance. t gj.^ divided into as many separate units
In North Carolina | as there are different crops to be mar-
' In proof of this statement, Mr. Wil- j l^eted. Each crop, such as cotton and
son continued: In twenty-one cotton I has its own distinct crgan.sa-
J a. 1 4.- ^ ' tion. If a man grows both cotton and
and tobacco counties of North Carolina: & u
, . ^ 1 tobacco he may belong to both cooper-
we have excessive farm tenancy, and | . .
; ative associations, but the organiza-
i tions are as distinct as the Baptist and
Methodist churches.
A typical example of such an Associa
tion is the cotton association. Mem
bership in the cotton association is lim
ited to the original sellers of cotton;
that is, only the actual growers may
excessive white illiteracy, along with:
very low ratios of church membership.
Here are dead and dying white country
churches, due to decreasing white pop
ulation, to lack of interest and decreas
ing financial support, all of which are
directly traceable to excessive farm
tenancy. The state over, there are , ^ 1 .i u
,f . 4. ' belong—both tenants and landlords who
more than 300 country townships that, & 0 1 ji j
! grow their own cotton and landlords
j who receive cotton in payment of rent.
[ The landlord who does not raise cotton
and who does not receive cotton in rent
cannot belong, since he has no cotton
to sell. The marketing association is a
purely business organization, the sole
aim and idea of which is to sell cotton.'
The members join the association
simply by signing a five-year contract
to sell their cotton only through the as
sociation. The contract which they
sign is legal and binding; it has gone
through the courts many times and has
been sustained. 1
The association is managed by a board |
of directors, who are experts in cotton ;
selling. The association through its;
directors employs expert graders, ware- j
housemen, and sellers. Thus the grad
ers, warehousemen, and sellers will be
experts employed by the growers, and
not, as is the case now, men em
ployed by the buyers.
There is no capital stock and the as
sociations are run without profit. What
ever the crops sell for, after the ac
tual selling expenses are paid, is divided
among the members in proportion to
the amount and quality of cotton sold
for each member. These are some of
the main features of a typical coopera
tive association; lack of space forbids
further details.
The big, outstanding advantage of
cooperative marketing is that farmers
get more for their crops when they
sell collectively in large quantities; they
control the market and have a proper
part in establishing their own price. In
short, by doing business this way, the
farmer gets a square deal; he does away
with unnecessary middlemen and spec
ulators; he gets the middleman’s profit;
for himself.
This plan of marketing is already
being adopted by North Carolina farm-
are dwindling both in population and in
church meipbership. In the twenty-
one counties just spoken of we find
more than one-fourth of all the non
church members of the entire state or
171,427 in all. These figures refer to
people ten years old or older. The ratios
of non-church membership for the coun
ties as a whole range from 28 percent
in Vance to 69 percent in Edgecombe.
In eight of these counties more than
half of all the people of responsible ages
are outside the church—in one county,
Edgecombe, nearly seven^tenths! Three-
fifths of the farmers are tenants and
seven-tenths of the population are
outside the church-that’s Edgecombe
county, North Carolina, in the year of
our Lord 1916.
Mr. Wilson gave facts and figures to
show that the city churches are not
gaining what the country churches lose
by the cityward drift, for most of the
church members leaving the country
fail for various reasons to affiliate them
selves with churches in the cities. For
instance, the 'unaffiliated church mem
bers of Greensboro were one-sixth the
total church membership of the city in
1915, in High Point one-fifth, and in
Gastonia one-fourth.
Constructive Remedies
In discussing the possible ways of
escape from this situation, Mr. Wilson
suggested among other remedies (1)
the consolidation of the weak, little
country churches of each particular de
nomination. Consolidated country schools
are the order of the new day. Consoli
dated country churches are just as ne
cessary-five strong Baptist churches in
the country regions of Orange county,
for instance, instead of the eleven weak
churches at present. Automobiles and
better roads are making both kinds of
consolidation possible. (2) Country
(Released week beginning March 27)
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
Adult Community Schools
Organized classes for the purpose
of teaching the rudiments of an edu
cation and for teaching other things
that pertain to good citizenship are
called Community Schools.
United States census sheets for
1920 give the following facts:
1. The average illiteracy in North
Carolina among native whites of
voting age is 10.6 percent.
2. The average illiteracyjn North
Carolina among native^whites from
10 to 20 years inclusive is^3.2 per
cent.
Various surveys in North Carolina
show actual illiteracy figures to be
on an average three times the num
ber given by the United States cen
sus figures. The above facts show
that native white illiteracyilis fast
disappearing among the younger gen
erations. This is attributed to long
er-term schools, better prepared
teachers, and the enforcement of a
compulsory attendance law. But the
above facts also show that more
Lhan ten of every hundred white
citizens of voting age are absolutely
illiterate.
Consider the following facts:
1. A wise enforcement of the com
pulsory school law will speedily wipe
out illiteracy among the younger
generations.
2. A special 'class should^be or
ganized in every’^school for begin
ners from 14 to 21 years.
3. County and city school boards
may appropriate funds for teaching
adult illiterates of any age just as
for teaching other public school
classes.
4. The state provides a part of the
texts for adult beginners and gives
information concerning other needed
texts.
5. A special training school is
provided for teachers of’these adult
beginners.
This year we hope to have at least
one carefully selected worker from
each county and from each large
town attend the training school in
order that they may go back and be
able to help organize the work and
conduct it in an intelligent way.
This will come to pass only as citi
zens realize the fact that North Car
olina might well boast less of her
native born citizenship and think
more of what should be expected of
such a citizenship.—Elizabeth Kelly,
Supervisor of Community Schools for
Adults.
have done a commendable work is not
enough.
Every section of C'atawBa^ounty
would do well to take notice of what
these people have done. It is an ex
ample of what can be done by any other
community in the cobnty. Already
there are some sections asking about
this work. Those who are interested
F^'Dald go to North Catawba and see
this road and talk with the men and
women who have built it. It will be
an inspiration to greater accomplish
ment.—Lenoir News-Topic.
OUH WATER RESOURCES
There has recently been issued by the
North Carolina Geolbgical and Econom
ic Survey Circular No. 2 on The Water
Power Situation in North Carolina by
Professor Thorndike Saville of the Uni
versity of North Carolina. In comment
ing upon this circular, Mr. W. V. M.
Powelson, Consulting Engineer of 61
Broadway, New York, says: I have
read Circular No. 2 from cover to cover.
The circular is a most sensible presen-
tation of economic facts, and I con
gratulate the Survey upon its grasp of
the economics of water power develop
ment and its attitude towards that de
velopment. I am sure that the spirit
of the North Carolina (^ological and
Economic Survey, as indicated in Cir
cular No. 2, to cooperate with people
earnestly interested in bringing about
the development of water powers, will
do much to benefit the best interests of
the people of the State of North Caro
lina. I congratulate you upon the is
suance of Circular No. 2, and am look
ing forward to the time when I will
have before me for study the results of
the power census upon which the Sur
vey is now engaged.
Major Warren E. Hall, Hydraulic
Engineer of the U. S. Geological Sur
vey, says in referring to this circular;
Circular No. 2 of the North Carolina
Geological and Economic Survey recent
ly issued is undoubtedly the finest thing
of its kind ever gotten out in the South.
Will you supply this office with a dozen
or more copies for distribution?
The North Carolina Geological and
Economic Survey, in cooperation with
the U. S. Geological Survey and the
State Department of Labor and Print
ing, is carrying on a power census of
the industries of the state. This census
covers the total amount of 'power used,
regardless of how developed, and when
completed the shortage of power will be
known, as well as the location of mar
kets for new power.
The circular takes up in some detail
i the present status of developed power;
j the growth in use of power; source of
I water power; the economic use of pow-
jer; and the position of North Carolina
I amongst the states in water power re-
I sources.
^ Copies of this circular can be obtained
from the Director of the North Caro-
I lina Geological and Economic Survey,
i Chapel Hill, N. C.
clothes and feed.s his wife and children,
pays the rent and supplies them with
the wherewithal to develop and become
cultured. The least a man can do in
return is to love his job. A man’s job
is grateful. It is like a little garden
that thrives on love. It will one day
flower into fruit worth while, for him
and his to enjoy. If you ask any suc
cessful man the reason for his making
good, he will tell you that first and fore
most it is because he likes his work;
indeed, he loves it. His whole heart
and soul is wrapped up in it. His whole
physical and mental energies are fo
cused on it. He walks his work, he
talks his work, he is entirely insepara
ble from his work, and that is the way
every man worth his salt ought to be if
he wants to make of his work what it
should_be and make of himself what he
wants to be.—Arthur Capper, U. S.
Senator from Kansas.
A MAN’S JOB
A man’s job is his best friend. It
A HOME AND A GARDEN
The shadow of economic reaction lies
across the path of every wage-earner.
It clouds the future of every salary-
earner.
Why not lift that shadow and get out
into the sunshine?
Why not turn the tide so that you
may float upstream instead of down?
A homecroft garden is the anchor
within and it is within every man’s
reach.
Every family seeking health and hap
piness should think for itself and realize
that it must solve its own problem, in
stead of thoughties^y marching in lock-
step with a multitude that does no
thinking, and is merely drifting toward
the point of least resistance.
The only safe course for any family
is to break away from the unthinking
mass; and, as a family anchorage, se
cure the ownership of a piece of land
from which their own efforts will pro
duce the food for the family, at a point
near to the commerce of a city. — George
H. Maxwell, quoted by Wm. E. Sm3^the,
in City Homes on Country Lanes.
BICKETT’S EPITAPH
Could former Governor Thomas Wal
ter Bickett have selected his epitaph,
he would no doubt have agreed with
Roland F. Beasley, who was his devoted
friend for 40 years, that the following
from one of his war speeches most fit
tingly expressed the highest aspiration
of his mind and heart.
“The time shall come when a woman’s
little finger shall lift more than the
mightiest fulcrum in the world, and
the cry of a little child shall be heard
farther than the loudest cannon’s roar”.
In this sentence he summed up his
argument for a League of Nations. In
the midst of bloody war, he looked be
yond to the day when there should be
peace in the world. He rightly held
that the great conflict of world forces
that came during his administration
was a war to end war.—News and Ob-
ers. A large part of the 1922 crop of
cotton and tobacco has already been
released to the associations and as the
success of the movement becomes more
and more apparent it is expected that
most of the remaining farmers will line
up with the associations.
Mr. Bailey’s report appears in full as
chapter X of the Club Year-Book that
will be given to the public in the early
fall.—J. G. Gullick.
REAL COMMUNITY WORK
The whole county can draw a lesson
from thevwork of the people of the com
munity between. Caja’s mountain and
North Catawba church. These people,
hardly more than a dozen of them, have
built a top-soil road that stands up in
comparison with any of the roads built
by the county. This is one of the most
striking examples of real community
work to be found anywhere. We be
lieve this is the first instance where
wonxen have left their homes and kitch
ens and gone out with pick and shovel
and plow co assist in the construction of
a road. This has always been considered
a man’s work, and a real man’s work,
at that. Just to say that these people
BANK ACCOUNT SAVINGS IN THE UNITED STATES
Per Inhabitant, June 30, 1920
Total in all banks, State and National, divided by total population. Based
on Report of the Comptroller of the Currency, 1920.
R. P. Marshburn, Duplin County
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
Rank
State
Per
Inhabitant
Rank
State
Per
Inhabitant
Vermont
$371.54
25
Oregon
$69.56
Massachusetts
369.00
26
Wyoming
68.72
Rhode Island
841.83
27
Missouri
. . .. 65.88
New York
250.48
28
Connecticut
60.27
South Dakota
209.15
29
South Carolina ...
... 56.60
Minnesota
184.78
30
Maine
.. - 56.45
North Dakota
184.00
31
Virginia
55.39
Nevada
179.98
32
Louisiana
53.21
Michigan
168.39
33
Florida
46.03
Delaware
158.74
34
North Carolina ....
45.39
New Hampshire...
156.80
35
Iowa
45.28
Pennsylvania
140.50
36
Georgia
40.72
Wisconsin
133.42
37
New Mexico
36.19
Ohio
132.82
38
Mississippi
34.35
Montana
132.81
39
Tennessee
34.28
New Jersey
130.04
40
Kentucky
33.36
Utah
95.09
41
Nebraska
. . .. 29.03
Indiana
92.06
42
Illinois
21.63
Maryland
92.03
43
California
.... 19.32
Oklahoma
91.46
44
Alabama
18.75
Washington
86.20
46
Arkansas
17.83
Colorado
78.40
46
Kansas
16.45
West Virginia
72.35
47
12 28
Idaho
71.83
48
Arizona
10.06