The iiews 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 the University Ex
tension Division.
FEBRUARY 18, 1925
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
SHE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XI, NO. 14
K.iitorlal Bi>artli £3. C. Branaoa. S. H, Hobbs, Jr.. L. R. Wilson, B. W. EDi?bt. D. O. Carroll, J. B.Ballitt. H, W. Odum.
Entered as aecend-clasa matter November 14, 1914, at tbePoBtofflce at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of Auffust 24. 1912
HOW RICH IS NORTH CAROLINA?
WHAT IS OUR TRUE WEALTH
The answer is four and a half billion
dollars, or so it was on December 31,
1922, according to a Census Bureau re
port (Estimated National Wealth) re
cently mailed out to the public—a thin
little bulletin of thirty-four pages, the
preface of which is the best brief
chapter in print on the true wealth of
the states of the Union.
Bulk totals alone considered. North
Carolina stands somewhere near the
middle of the column with twenty
states making a better and twenty-
seven states a poorer showing.
The Census Bureau bulletin on Esti
mated National Wealth goes to the
public once every ten years. It takes
all of ten years to assemble, properly
appraise and check over the details of
the tangible or material wealth of the
United States. The intangible wealth
of stocks, bonds, trust deeds, mort
gages, liens, notes of hand and solvent
credits in general are omitted in these
estimates of true national wealth; for
reasons that need not now be de
tailed.
Since the states of the Union differ
so widely in size and density of popu
lation, their relative rank is best exhib
ited on a per-inhabitant basis. On
this basis of comparison North Caro
lina drops toward the bottom of the
column with a per capita true wealth
of $1,703. Seven southern states out
rank North Carolina in true wealth
per inhabitant, with averages ranging
from $1,773 in Tennessee to $2,368 in
Florida. Only six states made a poor
er showing. All of them were south
ern, with per-capita true wealth rang
ing from $l,469in Kentucky to $1,216 in
Mississippi which foots the column.
On the whole the Southern states oc
cupy the lowest fourth of the column,
largely because of negro populations,
but southern states both above and
below North Carolina have heavy ne
gro populations with relatively little
wealth. Counting the negroes out
would make little or no change in the
rank of North Carolina.
StocK-TaKing in Carolina
The estimated true wealth of North
Carolina in detail at the close of 1922
was as follows:
Rank True Values
23rd Real or landed prop
erty and improvements
thereon $2,371,365,000
31st Railroads and their
equipments 261,694,000
14th Manufacturing ma
chinery, tools, and im
plements 238,327,000
34th Street railways,
shipping, water works,
etc 81,257,000
19th Motor vehicles 67,779,000
15th Manufactured prod
ucts 429,185,000
1st Agricultural products 340,815,000
20th Clothing, personal
adornments, furniture,
horse-drawn vehicles, and /
, kindred property 6()0,665,000
17th Imported merchan
dise 21,541,000
31st Mining products ' 3,232,0.00
19th Livestock 103,397,000
Because ten states are bracketed in
couples, it is impossible to show the
rank of North Carolina in the details
that follow. However, it is possible to
give the estimated true wealth of these
properties as per the bulletin quoted:
Privately owned central elec
tric light and power sta
tions ' $39,656,000
Street railways 13,649,000
Telephone systems 12,042,000
Pullman and other cars not
owned by railroads 6,911,(>00
Shipping and canals 6,040,000
Telegraph systems 3,969,000
Trae Values vs. Tax Values
These details of estimated true
wealth in North Carolina provoke
comparisons, in particular with tax
values as these appeared on our tax
lists, state and county, in 1922. For
instance, we know that real or landed
property subject to taxation in North
Carolina had a true value of $2,371,-
000,000, but that landed property and
improvements thereon were returned
for taxation at only $1,659,000,000 in
round numbers. In short our real
estate values were listed for taxation
at almost exactly seventy cents in the
dollar of true values. That is to say,
upon an average the" whole state over,
the rates ranging in the different
counties from one-third to three-
fourths.
Also we know that our $103,000,000
worth of livestock was listed for tax
ation at $63,000,000 upon an average
the state over, which is right
around fifty cents in the dollar of true
values. The variation of tax values
for livestock in the different counties
of the state shows a startling range
of values. These tax inequalities
are almost as startling in the town
ships of a single county, or so in many
counties.
Horses for instance range in average
tax value from $44.68 each in one
county, to $101.34 in another county.
Mules range in average tax value from
$37.50 to $118.70 each. Hogs have an
average tax value of $.96 in one county
and $10.19 in another county. Sheep
range in average tax value from $1.00
to $5.00. Dogs are cheap in Martin
county being worth upon an average
67 cents each upon the tax books, but in
Lenoir county they have an average
tax value of $60 each.
If is interesting to note that the es
timated true wealth of personal proper
ties in North Carolina, town and coun
try, were $600,665,000 and that these
properties were returned for taxation
at $599,000,000 in round numbers. And
yet we were told in pne county the
other day that not one-fourth of the
personal property of the county was on
the tax book.
Pertinent Tax Studies
However, we cannot in a brief space
contrast true values with tax values in
all the classes of property listed for.
taxation in North Carolina. The con
trasts, of course, can be exhibited in
deadly parallel columns, but it would
call for painstaking, prolonged study
of the 1928 Report of the State Com
missioner of Revenues. The chances
are that our State Department of Pub
lic Revenues already has these con
trasts detailed in a table showing in
one column estimated true wealth side
by side with the total tax values in
another column. What it . would take
many weeks for a student to do out
side the State Revenue Office, could be
done by our revenue officials in Raleigh
in a very few hours. Such an exhibit
given to the public at this time would
be of immense value to the people who
are responsible for the Revenue Act
soon to be proposed to the Legislature
now in session.
FREE SHEETS OF VALUE
The true university of these days,
said Carlyle, is a collection of books.
For up-to-date universities it is also a
steady outpouring of bulletins, pamph
lets, news sheets and the like. Books
must usually be purchased; but this
extension service literature generally
goes free for the asking. Yet it is
none the less valuable for all that.
This university-in-print covers a large
campus reaching out into the remotest
hamlet of the state. It knows noth
ing of tuition fees, breakage fees,
or registration fees. It enlists all ap
plicants; none are rejected. Its ser
vice is open to both sexes, all creeds,
all races, and all classes. It is abso
lutely democratic. None of its stu
dents are ever expelled, none ever put
on probation, and none are ever lost
through graduation. It bestows no
degrees, holds no examinations, calls
no roll. But its value is unquestioned
for it is educating its large student
body is competent citizenship and is
bettering human relations everywhere.
The University of North Carolina
News Letter goes weekly, fifty times
a year, to some 20,000 readers. It has
served the state for ten years preach
ing the gospel of thrift and industry,
cooperation and community enterprise,
better marketing, better schools, bet
ter churches, and better homes. It
has carried intimate, vital facts- per
taining to everyday living throughout
the length and breadth of the state.
But it is only one agency.
The Health Bulletin, published
monthly by the North Carolina State
EDUCATION PAYS
The youth trying to find himself.
The young worker seeking to in
crease his powers.
The professional man ambitious to
serve better.
The statesman wishing to improve
democratic government.
The farmer eager to make the most
of the land.
The manufacturer needing reliable
workmen.
The merchant searching for intelli
gent buyers.
The person of leisure pursuing the
enduring satisfactions.
The religionist who wants right con
duct from high motives.
Any one who cherishes the full, rich
er life of continued growth and
improvement.—Home, School
and Community.
Board of Health at Raleigh goes into
about 60,000 homes. If man is the
sickest beast alive, as some writer
says he is, then there is something
radically wrong with his boasted civi
lization. When he comes to realize
that his real enemy is disease and not
other men, then he will have gone a
long way toward establishing a more
satisfying social order. The Health
Bulletin cannot be too well circulated
among the people of our state. ,
Natural Resources is a bi-weekly pub
lication of the North Carolina Geolo
gical and Economic Survey at Raleigh
and is now in the second year of its
existence. The recent oil scandal at
Washington stands as a symbol of
America’s ruthless exploitation of
natural gifts that can never be re
placed. Conservation and sane devel
opment are words whose full meaning
should be drilled deep into our con
sciousness and this sheet is doing it.
Public Service, issued by North and
South Carolina Public Utility Informa
tion Bureau, 506 Lawyers Building,
Raleigh, N. C., is in the first year of
its organization. It addresses itself
to the business and civic affairs of the
two Carolinas.
State School facts is published
monthly by the State Superintendent
of Public Instruction at Raleigh.
School finances, school attendance,
school consolidation and school pro
blems all loom large in North Carolina
affairs and intelligent citizenship de
mands lay interest and knowledge
about the educational facts of our state.
North Carolina Rural Life is pub
lished monthly by the Department of
Agricultural Economics at the North
Carolina State College at Raleigh.
With about 70 percent of our total
population rural it is good that this pa
per devotes itself exclusively to rural
life and problems. It suggests much
to be translated into action liy teach
ers, ministers, and leaders whose field
is rural.
North Carolina Agriculture and In
dustry is another State College news
sheet. It is published weekly and
carries tables and analyses of interest
to farmers and business men. North
Carolina Commerce and Industry, is
sued monthly from the University of
North Carolina Press at Chapel Hill,
is a companion sheet treating affairs
of trade, transportation, and industrial
opportunities and problems.
The free news publications men
tioned hqre are only a few. Wide
awake inhabitants of.this fast moving
state are already acquainted with
these and others. He who would keep
abreast of the times cannot afford to
be without them.—Edgar T. Thomp
son.
FREE TB. CLINICS
The Extension Department of the
North Carolina Sanatorium is trying
to make it possible for every person
in North Carolina with tuberculosis to
find it out and to find it out in time to
get well. To do this it employs two
whole time traveling specialist to hold
diagnostic clinics free of charge in any
part of the state. Dr. S. E. Lee and
Dr. D. R. Perry, the clinicians em
ployed for this work, are experienced
physicans in^’tuberculosis.
A special bulletin, “Tuberculosis, Its
Symptoms, Cure and Prevention,”
that gives in detail the symptons of
tuberculosis and what one who has tu
berculosis should do to get well, is is
sued by the Extension Department.
It is sent free of charge to any one re
questing it.
Every morning from 8 to 11 diagnos
tic clinics, also free of charge if the
patient writes for an appointment, are
held at the North Carolina Sanato
rium. An appointment for examination
can be made by writing the superin
tendent, Dr. P. P. McCain.
Many far advanced cases of tuber
culosis say: “If I had only known the
early symptoms of tuberculosis!” Ear
ly diagnosis means tuberculosis cures,
lives saved and money saved for the
state and for its citizens.
Traveling Clinics
The free traveling tuberculosis clinics
in North Carolina were first begun in
1920. At that time the work was un
der the supervision of and was financed
by the North Carolina Tuberculosis
Association. Since February 1924 it
has been carried on under the direct
ion of the Extension Department of
the North Carolina Sanatorium and'
has been supported by state appropria-;
tion. Thousands of persons have been
examined and hundreds of cases have
been diagnosed and treated since these
clinics were begun. :
The clinics away from the Sanato- ■
rium are held under the auspices of the !
city or county health officer, the local j
physicians, the public health nurse,
the superintendent of public welfare,
Civic League or local health organiza
tions, interested individuals, and the
county medical society. If you would
like for your county or community to
get the benefit of a free clinic, take
the matter up with one of these offi
cers or organizations or write to the
Extension Department, Sanatorium,
N. C.
Every person in North Carolina
should have a thorough physical exam
ination. But it vis almost imperative
that the following classes of people be
examined: (1) Those who have any of
the symptoms of tuberculosis. (2)
Those who have been closely exposed
to infection by an open active case in
the family, especially children. (3)
Any one who is ill in any way and has
not obtained a positive diagnosis of
another disease.
By writing the Extension Depart
ment, Sanatorium, N. C., any citizen
of North Carolina whose health isn’t
what it ought to be may receive free
of charge information that may keep
the citizen from filling an untimely
grave, a victim' of tuberculosis that
might have been cured. —State Sana
torium Bulletin.
BEAUTIFYING CAROLINA
The citizens of North Carolina are
taking an ever-increasing interest in
the beautification of their surroundings
—home, school, and church grounds,
streets, roads, and parks—and during
the last few years the University has
received a great many requests for gen
eral information regarding our trees
and also their utilization for decorative
purposes. It is in response to such de
mand that the University Extension
Division announces the publication,
through its bureau of Design and Im
provement of School Grounds, of the
bulletin, How to Know and Use Trees,
by Dr. W. C. Coker and Mrs. W. J.
Matherly.
North Carolina has been particularly
blessed in the rich variety of its trees;
as the only states with a greater num
ber are Florida and Texas. The bulletin
therefore stresses the trees native to
the State, especially their use for shade
and ornament, and contains a key to
all these species “in the hope that it
may encourage a real botanical interest
in our arborescent flora and be a help
to teachers in determining species in a
community.” There are also descrip
tions of decorative trees and large num
ber of full-page illustrations, which in
clude not only photographs of grounds
and trees but more than sixty drawings
of their leaves with fruit and flowers.
The species described, while by no
means all that grow in North Carolina,
include along with the native trees a
few that have been introduced and
have become almost naturalized.
For Tree Lovers
In addition, the bulletin outlines the
simple principles of design and plant
ing, transplanting, pruning, etc., and
makes practical suggestions for school
ground, street, and roadside planting
so that it will be helpful to those inter
ested in town improvement as well as
to school officials. It contains also
lists of trees and shrubs suitable for
use in different sections of the State
and a number of cuts showing practi
cable planting designs made for
schools and churches.
It is hoped, furthermore, that the
bulletin may be found useful in con
nection with courses in nature study
that are already being given in the
schools and may serve to stimulate the
introduction of others with trees as
the subject. It is believed that the
children would be interested in such a
course, and certainly through their
better acquaintance with one of its
most wonderful and valuable assets
they would be enabled to appreciate
more fully the great natural beauty of
our State.
How to Obtain Bulletin
Due to the large number of illustra
tions, the expense of publication has
been so great that it will not be possi
ble to distribute the bulletin without
charge, but it may be procured at cost
price, $1.00 a copy, from the Universi
ty Extension Division, Chapel Hill.
N. C.
THE WOMAN VOTER
It is my honest and convinced belief
that there are some questions, vital
and international, that women see with
a more unclouded vision than men,
questions that only women will fight
for. That is why 1 am so keen about
helping women voters, not only in
England and America, but in all coun
tries. There are things bigger than
parties, even bigger than countries,
though neither party nor country likes
to think that anything is bigger than
itself.
If only we, the newcomers of politi
cal life, can keep that greater vision of
bigger things before us, then the world
will become more the sort of place one
dreams of and less the kind of night
mare one dreams in.—Lady Astor.
ESTIMATED TRUE WEALTH
Per Inhabitant In 1922
Based on a Census Bureau bulletin entitled Estimated National Wealth in
1922.
Forty-one states have a higher per capita true wealth than North Carolina
whose figure is $1,703. Seven southern states outrank us ranging from $1,733
in Tennessee to $2,358 in Florida. Only six made a poorer showing and all of
them were Southern.
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina.
Rank State
Per Inhab.
Rank State
PerInhab.
1
Nevada
$6,998
25
Ohio
$3,048
2
Wyoming
4,663
26
West Virginia
3,040
3
South Dakota
4,482
27
Indiana
2,942
4
Iowa
4,274
28
Missouri
2,903
6
Oregon
4,182
1-29
Michigan
2,899
6
California
4,007
30
Wisconsin
2,887
7
Nebraska
4,004
31
Delaware
2.728
8
North Dakota
3,692
32
Maryland
2,665
9
Montana
3,691
33
Maine
2,686
10
Connecticut
3,614
34
Vermont
2,389
11
Washington
3,600
35
Florida
2,358
12
New Jersey
3,524
36
New Mexico
2,299
13
Arizona
3,612
37
Virginia
2,050
14
Kansas
3,493
38
Texas......
15
Minnesota
3,442
39
Oklahnmft .
16
New York
3,436
40
Louisiana
1,866
17
Idaho
3,301
41
Tennessee
1,773
18
Illinois
3,295
42
North Carolina
1,703
19
Colorado :..
3,286
43
Kentucky
1,459
20
Utah
3,247
44
Arkansas
1,439
21
Massachusetts
3,243
45
South Carolina ....
1,385
22
Pennsylvania
2,187
46
Georgia
1,306
23
Rhode Island
3,086
47
Alabama
24
New Hampshire ...
3,074
48
Mississippi
1.216