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 Press for the Univer
sity Extension Division.
MARCH 14, 1923
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. IX, NO. 17
Bditorial Boardt E. C, Branson, S. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt. H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at thePostofficeat Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24, 1912
THE NEW NORTH STATE
Once it was the Old North State—a
sweet memory, a pathetic lament—the
Rip Van Winkle state, asleep for two
full centuries.
Now it is the New North State—a-
wake at last, wide awake—refreshed
and renewed by her long sleep—vigor
ous, and aflame with the early morning
visions of youth—boastful—blatant, if
you please—chock-full of bla-bla and
blurb, after the manner of a robust,
two-fisted male youngster in the pin
feather stage of development—con
scious of his power and immodestly
boastful.
North Carolina is actually beginning
to believe in herself and to boast of
herself gracelessiy, for all the world
like Atlanta. Chicago the Atlanta of
the West, was The Constitution head
line when Cleveland reached the Windy
City in his Swing Around the Circle in
the days of his presidency.
Atlanta has been the butt of many a
merry jest. She’s shameless in her
boasting. Henry Grady began it and
the very kids keep it up. It is the
spirit of indestructible youth, and youth
wins. Atlanta proves it. California
proves it. And in particular Los Ange
les.
Los Angeles bonds herself a hundred
parochial—which are polite terms for
ignorance of what is happening in the
big wide world beyond her borders.
So here’s to the New North State.
The old-age son of Sarah the barren.
The bottle-fed boy brought up by Mur-
phey and Morehead—schooled by Wiley,
Mclver, Noble, Alderman, Graham,
Claxton, Joyner, and Brooks—and licked
into lustiness by Vance, Ay cock,
Bickett, and Morrison! Who is now
as a bridegroom coming out of his
chamber and rejoicing as a strong man
to run a race.
May he forever be rich in purse and
poor in spirit! Always abounding in
wealth and in willingness to devote it to
the common weal and the common
wealth !
THE UNIVERSITY SERVES
The University of North Carolina is
fast developing into that great servant
of the state Edward K. Graham would
have made it had he lived. The vision
of the brilliant young college president
is being fulfilled. The University is
touching every section of the state. Its
several activities are many and varied.
The student body activities are only a
part of the manifold ramifications of
the University. Its extension depart- i
ment reaches every county and nearly j
dollars per inhabitant, spends thirty 1 every community in the state, accord-!
millions on a water-supply system, and , to the report of President Chase, j
twelve millions more on a man-made j Extension service has been both i
harbor twelve miles away. She stands | freely offered and accepted in North i
right up and blows about it, pictures it; Carolina, according to the report, j
in the magazines the world around, and hundred and three communities
she doubles her population and quad- „ere reached by one or more forms of !
Tuples her wealth in a single decade. ^ the department. These contacts ranged
North Carolina multiplies her public , f^Qm sending out a book or package
school fund twenty times over in twen-, library to a teacher trying to improve
ty years, spends forty-two million dol- j herself in some particular subject,
lars in two years on public school build-1 through correspondence courses in sub-
ings, equipments and support, one : j^^ts of the regular university curric-
hundred and twenty-two millions of, uJuni, to summer session lectures and
federal, state, and local money on pub
lie highways, and pays another one; physicians,
twenty-two millions of'
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
She’s in the Public Eye
North Carolina is in the public
eye. Everywhere people are talking
about the amazing progress of the
Old North State. One of the promi
nent officials with the Rexall people
in convention at Charlotte this week
gave voice to this sentiment when
he said:
“North Carolina, as our Tar Heels
may have heard who are staying at
home instead of running away to
other states, is just now very much
in the public eye. You at home
here do not appreciate, perhaps, the
outside view of North Carolina and
the astonishing change of opinion
which the outside world has formed
of your state in the past few years.
Everywhere you hear people speak
ing of its development, its great
wealth, its potential wealth, and its
bright prospects for the future.
“You of course understand that
people at the head of big business
enterprises keep a sharp lookout to
see where progress and prosperity
is located on the business map and
there’s many a man outside of your
state who has intimate and accurate
knowledge of how North Carolina
has waked up in the past few years
and is almost leading the van of
progress, if not being entitled to
lead the procession.”—Gastonia Ga
zette.
I ities in an extension of the MacRae and
Brown ideas. Its report will unques
tionably give strength to the prospect
for the Giles bill, for that measure will
make it possible to do in each of the
one hundred counties of the state what
has been done by these enterprising
pioneers in a nest of eastern counties.
There is an abundance of idle acres/
and for these the need is not for ten
ants, but for farm-owners. The idea
of the Giles bill is to help the industri
ous to ownership of a small farm under
a plan which would establish the few
est hardships, and if the Legislature
can catch the idea from what has been
done in the vicinity of Wilmington, it
will find its way to doing the state a
service of inestimable value.—Charlotte
Observer.
CORRESPONDENCE COURSES
A study just made of the records of
the Bureau of Correspondence Instruc
tion of the University shows that this
bureau is giving formal instruction by
mail in all but twenty-one counties of
the state. Modern developments in
educational work now make it possible
for those who cannot go to college to
the money needed to improve the school
grounds, the agent visited the school.
She found a very fine up-to-date new
school building. She made notes as
usual on local conditions and these
were used in drawing up the plans which
the local authorities are now carrying
out.
Just after the town of Selma had
completed her excellent school building,
replacing th^ new one which burned
two years ago, a study and plan of the
grounds was made. This plan was sub
mitted on October 20 and thej^work of
improvement started.
The report makes it clear’ that the
rural and small-town schools were not
neglected by this Bureau, for’Jthe field
agent made visits to Gray's Creek
School located in Cumberland county
and Daniels’s Chapel School in Wayne
County. Gray’s Creek has a new school
located in a fine grove of trees
with six acres ‘ of cleared land
back of the building for play
grounds. Besides the plan°submitted
for the beautification of the school
grounds, Professor H. D. Meyer was
called upon and prepared a plan for a
playground to be laid outjiin the cleared
space. At Daniels’s Chapel, Mrs. Math-
I . . . . , erly attended a community meeting and
receive some instruction and training i . „ .. i.- 1
made a talk on the subject of Commun
ity Development. She made a study
hundred and
taxes into the federal treasury on in
comes, profits, estates and the like in
a single year.
But sh-h-h! Nobody must mention
it! It’s immodest to say a word about
it! North Carolina begins—barely be
gins—to cash-in the immense assets
that lie in her soils and seasons, forests
and water-falls, mines and factories;
and just as she begins, her fervor is
chilled by the charge that she is im
moderate and unabashed in her boast
ing.
It was a Californian who said at Long
Beach in 1921, North Carolina has got
California beat a mile, and doesn’t
know it.
But North Carolina does know it
in 1923 and she means to let the world
know it.
It has taken her two centuries to de
velop gumption, grace, and grit enough
to lay down the foundations of a great
commonwealth in public education, pub
lic health, and public highways. And she
has the courage of her convictions.
She does not mean to hide her light
under a bushel measure but to set it on
a candlestick right out in the open for
ail the world to see.
The people of North Carolina know—
at least they have been told often e-
nough to know—that we are building
good roads faster than any other state
in the Union, Pennsylvania alone ex
cepted; but also that our improved
highways do not yet reach the total
mileage of good roads in Massachusetts,
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Peimsylvania, or California.
And they know, too, that the twenty
million dollars we are spending on pub
lic schools this year is four times the
sum we were spending for this purpose
ten years ago; but also that we are
still far behind the Middle Western
states in public-school support. And
that in legislative appropriations for
college culture, thirty-five states make
a better showing than North Carolina.
The University News Letter exhibited
the facts away back yonder in July
1922.
The state has not lost her sense of
perspective. She is not swasfabuckler-
ing, but she is doing great things of
late and she’s proud of them. She can
display ker wares, but she need not do
it like Simple Simon of Uother Goose
fame. She need not be provincial and
come from the land. They are a nation
of intensive farmers who, like the good
servants in the parable of the talents,
! have taken what the Master has given
clinics out in the state for practicing | them and by brains, industry, and busi-
I ness efficiency have multiplied it many
The report gives these figures which | fold. They have thrown off .the shac-
are interesting: j kies of the nobles, reduced the gi*eat
356 enrollments were received for ■ estates to small holdings, and by scien-
; by means of the correspondence meth
od.
This bureau at the University has
one young man taking courses by mail,
who, because he is crippled, has been
confined in his bed for years. He is
studying English Composition and Busi
ness English and writes that these
courses are helping him in an advertis
ing business which he has started.
There are now 288 students taking
correspondence instruction in various
subjects. These students are distribu
ted in 79 counties of the state as fol
lows: Alamance 8, Alleghany 1, An
son 1, Ashe 2, Avery 1, Beaufort 2,
Bladen 2, Brunswick 1, Buncombe 11,
Burke 4, Cabarrus 6, Caldwell 2, Car
teret 1, Catawba 4, Chatham 2, Chero
kee 3, Chowan 1, Cleveland 1, Colum
bus 2, Craven 2, Cumberland 1, David
son 4, Davie 1, Duplin 1, Durham 13,
Edgecombe 6, Forsyth 6, Franklin 2,
Gaston 10, Granville 17, Guilford 16,
of both the school and church grounds
and later presented a plan for their
development.
Other schools for which plans for
beautifying the surroundings were
made according to Dr. Coker's report
are: Haw River, Morehead City,
Holly Springs, and Louisburg College.
In addition to the regular services,
special services, such as ^bulletins fur
nished and letters of advice written,
were rendered to a number of schools,
among them being Winston-Salem, Ivy,
Rose Hill, and Edenton.—Press Item,
University Extension Division.
FOLK PLAYS IN CAROLINA
According to the quarterly report
just made by Miss Elizabeth Taylor,
field agent for the Bureau of Commun
ity Drama, the bureau rendered field
correspondence-study courses from 262
students in 79 counties.
200 physicians took the 1922 summer
post-graduate medical course in 12
centers of the state.
166 students enrolled in extension
classes in 6 cities.
188 lectures given by University
speakers scheduled through the Exten
sion Division.
58,060 people heard at least one Uni
versity lecture.
16,000 homes received the University
News Letter every week during the
two-year period.
101,860 educational bulletins were
printed and sent out.
6,500 high schools students took part
in the State championship debating and
athletic contest organised by the Ex
tension Division.
780 people were reached by the Bu
reau of Design and Improvement of
School Grounds.
2.600 requests for educational infor
mation were taken care of by the
School of Education.
5,286 members of women’s clubs
studied programs prepared by the Ex
tension Division.
3,264 package libraries were sent up
on request.
860 people were reached by the field
work of the School of Commerce.
4,263 letters were written in answer
to requests for general information.
1,740 people were reached by the
extension service of the School of Pub
lic Welfare.
660 play-books and pageants were
sent out upon request by the Bureau
of Community Drama.
7.600 people were served by the
work of the Bureau of Community
Music.
7,800 letters requesting information
about North Carolina were given atten
tion by the Department of Rural Social-
Economics.—Gastonia Gazette.
I Halifax S. Harnett 1, Haywood 1, Hen- i to five communities, sent out
. TT . c r-r , . ^ _ nnon rarinxcf ISR nloTT
WHERE FARMERS ARE RICH
Look at the Danes of today. They
are one of the richest, healthiest, and
I believe the happiest people of the
whole world. They stand high in educa
tion and culture.
The great success of the Danes has
tific farming and stock raising have
made every one of their 260,000 farms
produce exports which average $60
month all the year through. This is so
although more than half of the farms
average only thirteen acres apiece.
The land not only supports the farmers
themselves and gives the country its
food, but it yields also exports equal to
seventeen dollars per annum for every
farm acre.
This the Danes have done by team
work in which the whole nation has
gone into the harness and labored to
gether. They have studied their land and
the markets and raised only the things
they could produce at a profit. When
Denmark found that its soil and limited
area were such that it could not com
pete with the United States and other
lands in the production of oats, wheat,
rye, barley and such crops, she did not
sit down and whine and ask other coun
tries to help her, but only buckled in
her waist belt to make her stomach the
smaller, counted her assets, and figured
out what she could do. She did not
even ask her government to help her
by protective tariffs but every one did
his part, and all worked together. She
had several great thinkers among her
people, and with them in time she
she planned out a scheme of agricultur
al production that has made the whole
country rich.—Frank G. Carpenter,
News and Observer.
THE SHALL FARM
The Observer has been inclined to fa
vor the passage of the Giles bill because
it has believed this bill would operate
to the development of farm work in
a manner so successfully demonstrated
in the systems prosecuted by Mr. Hugh
MacRae and Senator Joe Brown, in
New Hanover, Columbus and adjacent
counties, where thrifty colonization has
been established. The foundation upon
which this work has been built is the
small farm, and means provided by
which the farmer may finance himself
into ownership. It was to have been
anticipated that the legislative com
mittee sent on a mission of personal
observation of the working of this sys
tem, would return to Raleigh measur
ably impressed with the great possibil-
derson 1, Hoke 2, Hyde 1, Iredell 6,
Johnson 3, Lee 1, Lenoir 1, Lincoln 3,
Madison 2, Martin 4, McDowell 2,
Mecklenburg 12, Moore 2, Nash 2, New
Hanover 6, Northampton 2, Orange 17,
Pasquotank 2, Perquimans 1, Person 4,
Pitt 3, Polk 1, Randolph 6, Richmond
2, Robeson 2, Rockingham 5, Rowan 7,
Rutherford 4, Sampson 2, Stanly 1,
Surry 2, Swain 4, Transylvania 1, Tyr
rell 1, Union 2, Vance 1, Wake 14, War
ren 8, Washington 2, Wayne 7, Wilkes
2, Wilson 6, Yadkin 1, Yancey 1.—Press
Item, University Extension Division.
HELPING THE SCHOOLS
Eight schools scattered throughout
the state were aided during the last
ten weeks by the Extension Bureau of
Design and Improvement of School
Grounds, according to the report of
Dr. W. C. Coker, head of the Depart
ment of Botany at the State Universi
ty. The schools visited by Mrs. W. J.
Matherly, field agent for the Bureau,
were Salem, Morehead City, Gray’s
Creek, Holly Springs, Haw River,
Daniels’s Chapel, Black Creek, and
Louisburg College.
Besides his scientific research work
in Botany, for which he is widely
known, and in addition to the regular
teaching program of the department,
Dr. Coker finds time to apply some of
his expert knowledge to the needs of
the state. This he does by taking
charge of the activities of the Bureau
of Design and Improvement of School
Grounds. All designs and planting
plans are made by Dr. Coker himself
with the assistance of Mrs. Matherly,
who then inks in the designs. From
these ink sketches blue prints are made
and furnished to the schools free of
charge. Before the design can be made,
the school must be visited by the field
agent who makes notes on the size and
shape of the area, kind of soil, general
topography, position of the school
house and of all the other permanent
objects as trees, wells, other houses,
etc., and collects pictures of the cam
pus. These notes are then used when
the plans are drawn up at Chapel Hill.
The report shows that, at the re-
upon request 136 play books and 61 pack
ages, and gave direction for producing
13 home-talent plays by correspon
dence.
The report mentions five commun
ities in which Miss Taylor made visits
upon request in order to give assistance
in putting on pageants and home-talent
plays. At Henrietta and Caroleen she
taught folk plays and atthe former place
made two talks at the high school on
amateur play production.
The school teachers of Franklin
county under the direction of Profes
sor Frederick H. Koch, head of the
community drama bureau, wrote and
produced a pageant of Franklin county.
Miss Taylor took complete charge of
the production.
The reports show that Miss Taylor
was called on and took charge of pro
ducing the Christmas community pa
geant at Draper and assisted in the St.
Mary’s pageant at Raleigh. The total
number of days spent in coaching dur
ing the fall quarter in the various com
munities was 27.
The report is concluded with a state
ment that it is ^thought that a native
folk drama is gradually being produced
in North Carolina through the efforts of
the Carolina Playmakers who have just
returned to Chapel Hill from another
successful tour of cities in the eastern
part of the state,—Press Item, Univer
sity Extension Division.
YOUR HOME TOWN FIRST
Work for your own town.
Beautify it. Improve it. Make it
attractive.
The world war and the Treaty of
Peace, the Protective Tariff and all
such things, are important subjects,
but what’s the good of cleaning up the
world unless you sweep your own door
steps?
The best advertisement of your busi
ness is the town you live in.
Towns get reputations, as well as
men. Make your town talk all over the
state. It will thus draw people. And
where the people come there is pros
perity.
Rid your town of one eyesore after
another. Clean up the vacant lots and
plant them in gardens. Make a clut-
 i.u Di 1 i-. 1 i. 1 V J ; tered yard a disgrace. Make public
quest of the Black Creek school board I opinion too hot for those who will not
which indicated that it would provide help.—The Franklin Times.