I
The news in this publi
cation is released for the
t
I press on receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
NOVEMBER 26, 1924
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XI, NO. 4
E iitoj-ia! fl, C. BraasoQ. S. H. Hobbs, Jr.. L R. Wilaon, E. W. Knlifbt, D. D. Carroll. J, B. BalJltS, H. W. Odum.
Eaterod aa Becond-clasa matter NoTomber 14, 1914, atthoPoatofflcoat Ch^pol Hill. N. C.. nader the act of Aaffuat 24. 1912
WE LAG IN BANKS AND COMMERCE
BANK CAPITAL IK CAROLINA
The table accompanying this study
shows how the one hundred counties of
North Carolina rank on a per-inhabit-
ant basis in aggregate capital stock,
surplus, and undivided profits, both
state and national banks combined in
1923. The data from which the table
was derived were assembled by coun
ties from the Reports (1) of the State
Corporation Commission, Dec. 31, 1923,
and (2) the Comptroller of the Cur
rency, Sept. 14, 1928. In order to
obtain the per-inhabitant rating, the
aggregate cs^pital stock, surplus, and
undivided profits of the banks in each
county was divided by the population
as reported by tbe Census Bureau.
Bulk Totals
The total operating capital was $64,
477,848 or an average of $24.04 per in
habitant. Mecklenburg, ranking first
with an aggregate of $8,241,476, pos
sesses alone one-eighth of the operat
ing capital of all the banks of the
state. Guilford ranks second with
$4,869,150 while Forsyth comes third
with $4,160,306. Three counties—-Cam
den, Graham, and Tyrrell—have no
banks.
Of all the counties having banks,
Clay ranks last, with a total capital
stock, surplus, and undivided profits of
only $9,418.
Nineteen counties have each a total
of less than $100,000. They are Polk,
Avery, Lee, Swain, Pferquimans, Mit
chell, Alleghany, Pamlico, Jackson.
Hoke, Hyde, Jones, Pender, Yadkin,
Currituck, Dare, Clay, Brunswick, and
Caswell.
Only fourteen counties in the state
show a total bank operating capital
in excess of $1,000,000, Ranked from
high t» low they are: Mecklenburg,
Guilford, Forsyth, New Hanover, Dur
ham, Gaston, Wake, Edgecombe,
Wayne, Wilson, Buncombe, Vance,
Cleveland, and Pitt. Over three-fifths
of the capital stock, surplus, and un
divided profits of the banks of North
Carolina is concentrated in these 14
counties. As banking is always the
result of a demand for credit this high
concentration is readily explained by
the fact that the fourteen leading
counties are either large commercial or
industrial centers containing cities, or
they are counties in which agriculture
• is highly developed. Frequently all
three of these factors contribute.
Capital Per Inhabitant
Mecklenburg ranks first in bank
operating capital per inhabitant with an
average of $96.27, which is four limes
the state average. New Hanover which
long ranked first now ranks second
with $73.39 per inhabitant, while Dur
ham comes ibird with $67.69.
Only nineteen counties rank above
the state average of $24.04 per inhabit
ant. ®f these five are in the tide
water country, while the remaining
fourteen are in the central part of the
state. Not a single one of the moun
tain counties ranks above the state
average.
Of the counties reporting banks
Caswell ranks the lowest in total bank
operating capital with only $1.32 per
inhabitant. Two other counties—Clay
and Brunswick—have less than $2 per
inhabitant. Besides the three just
mentioned there are thirty-five other
counties which have less than $10 of
bank operating capital per inhabitant,
while thirty-eight others have between
$10 and $23. The counties that rank
below the state average are scattered
throughout the state with a tendency
for the extremely low ones to con
centrate in tbe tidewater and the moun
tain regions.
In these areas, due to the retarded
development of industry and an agricul
ture of a self-sufficing type, a 'few
small banks serve the relatively simple
needs of the people. The table shows
that meat of the counties ranking
above the average are located in the
central part of the state where the
large manufacturing and distributing
centers are, or where agriculture is
highly developed and the great cash
crops cotton and tobacco are grown.
In the counties where industry, com
merce, and agriculture are progressive,
banking is well develoiied as a result,,
The business of banks is to furnish'
credit through loans and discounts;
consequently, in those rural counties
where agriculture tends to be self-suf
ficing banks are not needed to any
great extent, and the capital stock,
surplus, and undivided profits of the
banks are very small per inhabitant.
Growth of Carolina BanKs
The growth of banking in North Ca
rolina duringthe last decade has been
almost phenomenal. The ttal bank
resources of the state have grown from
$153,114,000 in 1914 to $474,117,000 in
1923, but the comparatively sm^ll in
crease in the number of banks is the
most favorable aspect of this growth.
During this ten-year period the number
of banks has increased only one-fifth
while the average volume of business
done by each ban)c has increased three
fold.
When the capital stock, surplus,
and undivided profits of $64,477,000 is
compared with the total bank resources
of $474,117,000 in 1923 it seems that the
average bank capitalization of the state
is still too small. The capitalization of
the majority of the banks in the state
averages between $5,000 and $25,000.
Compared on another basis, the aver
age total bank resources per inhabi
tant in North Carolina in 1923 was $176.-
49, and the average total bank capital
stock, surplus, and undivided profits
was $24.04 or about one-seventh
much. Which is to say, on an average
a dollar of capital did a bank business
of only seven dollars in loans and dis
counts. The ratio is too small and it
indicates too small a margin of bank
prosperity in North Carolina.
In comparison with the Nation during
the ten-year period 1914-1923, the rate of
growth for the Nation was 100 percent
while that for North Carolina was 209
percent. This has not been the result
of any outside influence, for North Ca
rolina is distinctly not a financial center
neither does she possess any great com
mercial or jobbing center; so naturally
the character of her banking is predomi
nantly domestic. 'North Carolinians have
awaked during this period, for regard
less of the fact that her banking is
largely domestic the rate of her growth
more than doubled the average for the
whole United States. Then too all of
this was accomplished on an unusually
small amount of operating capital.
Where We Lag Behind
The size of North Carolina banking is
by no means its significant characteris
tic, as the state still ranks very low
when compared with the leading states.
It is the rapidity of growth, twice that
of the country at large, which reveals
its true significance. This fact cannot
be accounted for by any external
influence, increase in the number of
banks, or growth of population, but
by purely domestic factors. The banks
have followed in the wake of the vast
internal economic expansion of the
state. It is both a stimulating cause
and a splendid result. As our econom
ic development has increased in mo
mentum it has given added impetus to
banking because an increasingly great
er amount of capital is required to
meet the demands on the banks.
As an example, the aggregate wealth
produced in agriculture and manu
facturing in North Carolina in 1914 was
about a half billion dollars, while
1923 it bad increased to a grand total
of one billion two hundred and fifty
million dollars, entailing the need of a
correspondingly greater number of the
loans and discounts on which banking
depends.
We are strong in manufacture, but
we are weak in banking. What is true
of the state as a whole is true of For
syth, our leading industrial county. Her
factory products are more than 200
million dollars a year but her bank
capital is less than 5 million dollars and
her rank in banking is below that of
both Mecklenburg and Guilford. Her
total bank capital accumulated in sixty
years is less than the checks she issues
for tobacco stamps alone every two
weeks.
The LooK Ahead
Because of the self-sufficing charac
ter of agriculture in large portions of
tbe state, the absence of any outside
influence such as a District Reserve
Bank, and the slow development of
A RICHER RURAL CULTURE
The Danish farmers, says Dr. E.
0. Branson, live together, play to
gether, work together. The conse
quence is that their look on life is
social and cooperative instead of in
dividual and competitive.
That is the spirit we must develop
in America and in the South these
next twenty-five years. The devel
opment of social units in the coun
try, cemented together by a spirit
of comradeship, is a vital necessity.
And there must also be on the farms
a genuine rural culture not a mere
imitation or second-hand city culture.
Poets, novelists, dramatists must
write from the viewpoint of country
people as well as that of city people.
Country boys and girls must learn
and take pride in the things of the
country—the wonders of plant and
animal life, the beauties of nature,
the history of agricultural leaders
and agricultural movements, tfce
literature of nature and country
life. Rural sports and rural recrea
tion must be encouraged instead of
having country people look to the
town or city for such pleasures. The
land must be tilled by those who love
it and who make farming an art and
science. Farmsteads must be hand
ed down from sire to son, each en
deavoring to leave the place more
beautiful and more fertile than he
found it.—Clarence Poe.
of last January the total was $240,000,-
000 against $106,000,000 in North Caro
lina. The total is so large in our home
state that many people are genuinely
alarmed*.
In Denmark, as in North Carolina,
the bonded debt of the state represents
productive investments and the Danes
dq not seem to bother in the least about
bond issues, however large, if they rep
resent public money invested in public
progress and prosperity—railway prop
erties, telephone and telegraph systems,
cultivated forests, elementary school
buildings, agricultural high schools, |
college plants, and university proper- '
ties. More than four-fifths of the
WEEVIL HELPS GEORGIA
Georgia has been handicapped for the
last four years by ravages of the boll
weevil. Our cotton crop, whicb once
totaled more than 2,000,000 bales,
was reduced in 1923 to less than 600,000
bales. Second, this has, had its direct
effect not only in the s|iowing of the
state from an income-tax-paying stand
point, but in the revenues derived by
the state from its own taxation.
But the cotton crop shortage has
been a blessing in disguise. It has
drawn our farmers away from the one-
crop system, and as a result Georgia
sold last year mor^ than $3,000,000
state, municipal, and county bonds of | chickens and five times as
North Carolina represent public high- j were sold in the state
ways and other public utilities; benevo-1 years ago. Then Georgia did not
lent institutions; elementary, high i outside
school, college and university buildings i last year we sold more than
and equipments. 13,000,000 pounds. F’our years ago
The capital investments of Denmark j two creameries, now it
in 1922—in public utilities and forest I Georgia did not
industry until recent years, banking as
compared with the Nation at large is
not very highly developed in North
Carolina yet. In fact, North Carolina
produces more wealth annually in pro
portion to her commerce and banking
facilities than any other state in the
Union. It is apparent from this fact
that banking is not developed in pro
portion to the volume of wealth pro
duced in the state in recent years; con
sequently there is a great opjiortunity
for further development even if the
growth has been rapid during the last
decade.
North Carolina has been experiencing
a great transition in her industrial and
economic life in the last ten years, a
growth which is reflected in the life of
her people and that has attracted the
attention and the confidence of the
whole country. At present she is
compelled to depend largely on outside
credit for this development, the home
banks acting only in a supplementary
capacity. As more wealth accumu
lates in the state from rapidly grow
ing industries, the state will be able to
draw more on home capital, thus obviat
ing the necessity of paying so much in
terest to outside creditors. At present
more than two hqndred .of the largest
accounts in North Carolina are carried
in Richmond banks. The great demand
for credit in North Carolina and the
stable character of these demands indi
cate a wholesome and unabated growth
for banking in this state for many
years to come. In fact, there is plenty
of room for more bank capital at the
present time, for more outside credit
is flowing into the ^ate every day.—
A. K. King, Henderson County.
properties—earned a net profit of
half million dollars, some $300,000 of
this total coming from the state forests
alone.
Meantime this little kingdom expiort-
ed farm and industrial products amout-
ing to $237,000,000 which was an aver
age of right around $1,000 per farm
or $360 per family. Denmark is the
best illustration I know of the ancient
Chinese proverb: “Those who have a
good trade do not wrangle over taxes.”
The last two years in Denmark have
been years of trade decline, decreased
revenues, and increased costs of living,
and the state treasury ran behind
nearly $12,000,000 in 1922. But the
Danes are not panic-stricken. They
are not developing wild impulses or
side-stepping any proposition that
means progres.s and prosperity.—Based
on the report of the British Consul
in Copenhagen on Th6 Economic Situa
tion of Denmark, March, 1923.
have a single cheese factory; now there
are nine in the state and they have aft
annual output of more than 500,000
pounds. The number of milch cows in
Georgia from 1919 to 1924 has increased
33.6 percent, the highest increase of any
state in the Union. This year Georgia
marketed$7,000,000, worth of bright to
bacco, shipped 14,384 cars of water
melons, taking first rank, and 13,600
cars of peaches, standing second only
to California in peach shipments in the
United States.
During the past six months three or
four big New England cotton mills
have located in Georgia and are in
vesting millions of dollars. And sev
eral other large plants, including roof
ing, pipe plants and structural-steel
plants, have come to the state.
Conditions in Georgia, in short, are
by no means as bad as they have been
painted by some persona, and they are
improving all the time.—E. S. Barker
in the Manufacturers Record.
BANK CAPITAL IN NORTH CAROLINA
Per Inhabitant in 1923
In the following table the counties are ranked according to the aggregate cap
ital Stock, surplus, and undivided profits in the State and National Banks, per
inhabitant in 1923. The operating capital of the branch banks is credited to the
home county. The table is based on the Report of the Comptroller of the
Currency, Sept. 14, 1923, and the Report of the State Corporation Commission
Dec. 31, 1923.
The aggregate capital stock, surplus, and undivided profits for 1923 were
$64,477,848, which is a state average of $24.04 per inhabitant.
A. K. King, Henderson County
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
Rank County
DENMARK AND CAROLINA
Denmark is almost entirely an agri
cultural state. It is now and has been
for twenty-five years tbe richest agri
cultural state in the world. That is to
say, man for man, the Danish farmers
are the richest farmers on earth.
When Denmark is compared yith
North Carolina (1) in cost of govern
ment and (2) in bonded debt, you run
upon startling figures.
1. For instance, the cost of state
government in Denmark for 1922 was
exactly 100 million dollars. In North
Carolina it was right around 26 mil
lion dollars for all purposes whatsoever,
including both operating expenses and
outlays in public highways and bridges,
public buildings and so on. If the
annual expenditures of North Carolina
were anything like 100 million dollars a
year, most of us would think that our
state taxes meant irretrievable bank
ruptcy. The Danes growl about taxes
but, with a tax burden nearly four
times heavier than ours, they are far
from considering Denmark bankrupt.
2. But when it comes to the state bond
ed indebtedness of little Denmark the j
figures look impossible. On the first
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
16.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
26.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
Total Per Inhab.
Mecklenburg... .$8,241,475
New Hanover,... 3,202,464
Durham 3,029,637
Guilford 4,869,160
Pasquotank 949,666
Vance 1,179,080
Edgecombe 1,969,199
Gaston 2,696,088
Forsyth 4,160,305
Wilson 1,509,977
Wayne 1,677,676
Cleveland 1,136,428
Scotland 482,843
Catawba 976,826
Chowan 288,926
Moore 606,541
Hertford 426,262
Wake 1,988,789
Beaufort 762,794
Anson 687,989
Cabarraus 868,196
Lenoir '761,356
Granville....;... 613,554
Richmond 616,246
Pitt 1,076,315
Montgomery.... 317,162
Lincoln...-. 381,631
Person 409,694
Union 724,914
Rockinham 897,863
Surry 626,881
Halifax 850,926
Bunconbe 1,202,827
Iredeir 664,754
Craven 603,867
Bertie 393,036
McDowell 287,188
620,836
917,866
Rutherford.
Robeson.
Martin 344,106
Transylvania...
Gates
Johnston...
Davidson...
Alamance..
Randolph ..
Caldwell,,,
Rowan
Northampton....
165,906
163,417
792,788
556,692
489,712
440,668
281,967
688,922
297,809
Cumberland 459,709
$96.27
73.30
67.69
56.56
62.66
49.06
48.80
47.86
47.20
37.84
33.91
33.42
30.78
27.19
27.13
26.40
26.61
26.02
24.54
23.62
23.62
23.46
22.31
22.22
22.00
21.72
21.06
20.94
19.57
19.21
18.70
18.62
17.34
16.66
16.62
16.16
16.04
16.02
16.96:
15.70'
16.48
16.46
15.34
14.96
14.32
14.06
13.76
12.68
12.67
12.48
Rank County
61.
62.
68.
54.
66.
66.
57.
58.
69.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
64.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
76.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
98.
98..
Total Per Inhab.
Franklin $326,367
Haywood; 289,680
Henderson 314,616
Watauga 168,016
Davie 152,835
Orange 206,117
Polk 96,047
Duplin 325,430
Carteret 168,330
Durke..... ' 226,333
Macon .
123,832
Stanly 291,939
Chatham.
Greene ..
Washington..
227,349
160,011
106,638
Alexander 114,209
197,076
267,064
Warren.
Harnett.
Yancey 138,199
Onslow 126,003
Wilkes 266,733
Madison...
156,946
Nash 318,336
141,399
72,234
139,672
Stokes ,
Avery..
Bladen.
Cherokee 106,586
Columbus 200,864
L^e
Swain
Perquimans.
Mitchell ....
Ashe........
Sampson ...,
Alleghany...
Pamlico
91,263
89,677
66,822
67,149
126,691
216,483
39,144
47,199
Jackson 70,427
Hoke 63,011
Hyde , 41,770
Jones 44 144
57,046
Pender.
Yadkin • ^7,8
Currituck..
Dare
Clay
Bumawick..
Caswell...
Camden..,.
Graham....
Tyrrell....
21,801
12,209
9,418
27,221
21,177
none
none
none
$11.93
11.87
11.56
11.46
11.20
10.86
10.38
10.18
9.82
9.81
9.44
9.40
9.38
9.22
9.22
9.19
8.92
8.74
8.64
8.45
7.93
7.76
7.26
6.86
6.83
6.82
6.75
6.60
6.46
6.30
5.90
5.86
6.84
5.64
6.28
6.24
5.20
6.12
4.98
4.27
3.86
3.46
3.00
2.34
1.92
1.81
1.32