Newspapers / The University of North … / April 15, 1925, edition 1 / Page 1
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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 the University Ex tension Division. APRIL 15, 1925 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS VOL. XI, NO. 22 fl. C. Branaon, S. H. Hobbs. Jr., L. R. Wilson. iS. W. Kalarbt. D D. CarroJl, J. B.Ballltt, H. W. Odain. Eot,r«d SI .scsnd-clsH mattsr Nsysmbsi 11.1911. at tha Poitafflcaat Chaotl Bill. N. C., andar tha act ef AuKoat 91. I FOKIY-SEVEN MAGAZINES Does North Carolina read? The first answer to this question appears below. The next few issues of the News Let ter will present additional studies showing the reading habits of the various states, and of the counties 6i this state, from different angles. The reader might be interested in preserv ing the series. We feel that the accompanying table is an accurate cross-section of the reading interests and habits of each state. Forty-seven prominent maga zines, having a combined circulation of 26,628,797, or one magazine for every 3.97 persons in the United States, were considered. This table includes twenty-one general monthly maga zines, eight national weeklies, eleven women’s magazines, and seven trades or technical publications. Perhaps only farm papers and the more “popu lar” types of fiction were omitted, and these will be considered in a succeeding article. All of these magazines have a national circulation, and, although most of them are published in the Civil War that development in North Carplina became an approach to democ racy as an approach to society itself; and the approach is not now free from its barriers. The shadows of tradition still enshroud the mountains, and un consciousness to contemporary social change is evident. In a survey;of home libraries in certain parts of the state the author has conversed with people who express the , opinion that the reading craze of the present era is a deviation from the pathsjof our fore fathers and a disrespect for the Good Book. From these personal contacts one is justified in saying that in cer tain sections of the state there is an antipathy to reading. Wealth and Reading Perhaps another cause underlying North Carolina’s rank in reading is economic. There is unquestionably a correlation between wealth and read ing. City Markets and Curtis Circula tions, a statistical study of the circula tion of Curtis publications in the seven largest cities of the United: States, 'shows that the best residential sections North, relative to population they , nearly twice as much as the mid have a greater circulation in the West' than they have in their home states, and can be considered representative. Covers All Types In these forty-seven magazines we have almost all types of reading repre sented. For the so-called more liter ary types of fiction, there are the At- ] lantic Monthly, Scribner’s Magazine, ' and several others. For current com-' ment there are the Literary Digest, ; Collier’s Weekly, and the like. For dle-class Americans, and more than four times as much as unskilled labor. From a table on Estimated True Wealth recently carried in the News Letter of the University of North Ca rolina, we find that North Carolina ranks forty-second in estimated true wealth per inhabitant. So evidently the economic factor is a contributing one. But yet we can hardly feel that the state that in 1923 ranked first in the Union in the production of tobacco, OUR WATER RESOURCES The water power resources of the state, while not unlimited are ex ceeded only by New York, with Niag ara Falls, of all of the states east of the Rockies. At the present time the developed water power of the state totals around 640,500 horse power, and in developed power only three states in the Union rank ahead of North Carolina. It is estimated that under present conditions North Carolina can economically pro duce 1,250,000 horse power from her streams, and that with jwell-de- velopea storage facilities, from two million to three million horse power can be developed within the state. Probably of greatest importance is the fact that Western North Caro lina is located in the center of the vast water power resources of the South, and with the maturity of the Super-Power plans this area logical ly should increase its present mar gin of industrial leadership in the South. ^ 1.^ i second m the production of cotton, pure fiction we have the Cosmopolitan « ^ • ^.u £ l. ^ ^ first in the manufacture of tobacco, and its associates. For trade publica tions we have System. For aesthetic art there are Motion Picture and Pho toplay. I'’or humor there are Life and Judge. This by no means exhausts the types of interest represented. The number of inhabitants per maga zine for each state was obtained by di viding the population of each state, based upon the 1920 census, by the combined 1924 circulation of the forty- seven magazines in each state. A glance at the table shows that tbere is a wide variation in the read ing tendencies of different states. The people of California seem to be read ing more than those of any other state, receiving one magazine for every 1.84 people in the state; in fact, reading nearly seven times as much as the people of Mississippi and nearly five times as much as the people of North Carolina. Excluding the District of Columbia, Oregon and Washington rank next. Following these come three other western states, Wyoming, Nevada, and Colorado, and then some of the New England states follow next. North Carolina ranks forty- third, with one magazine for every 8.77 persons in the state. Only Arkan sas, Georgia, Alabama, South Caroli na, and Mississippi rank below her. This is a very significant fact. Why Such Low Rank Why is it that North Carolina ranks forty-third as a reading state? We would hesitate to give her such a rank in other things, for instance, in natural resources and production. Of course, no one can say that this or that factor is responsible for North Carolina's rank in reading, and the following remarks are made more to stimulate thought and reflective think ing than to give information. Certainly North Carolina's low rank in reading is not climatic. We have a varied and favorable climate. Neither is it topographic. The greater part of the state is made up of piedmont and coastal plains. Geologists recognize that mountainous regions are less fa vorable to contact and that the inhabi tants of such regions perhaps may be more backward. Only a small part of North Carolina is mountainous. How ever, we notice that West Virginia, a mountainous state, ranks ahead of North Carolina and that the mountain ous states of the West rank high, reading more than twice as much per inhabitant as North Carolina. Tradition Perhaps one factor contributing to the reading situation in North Carolina is tradition. It was not until after the second in the manufacture of textiles, and fifth in all crops produced, should rank forty-third in reading. Racial Factor The racial element may come in as a factor. But this is not altogether ex planatory. Because thirty percent of our population is negro does not ex plain why California reads five times as much as we do. From the Truth about True Story we learn that True Story in California is read by one white literate family in every seven; in Illinois by one in eight; in Connecticut, nine; New York, eight; whereas in North Carolina it is read by one white literate family in every twenty. Also the foreign element in the North part ly offsets the negro element in the South. Statistics show that the for eign element reads only one-tenth as much as the native element. This does not include the publications in their own languages. Rural and Urban Ratios Perhaps another cause of North Carolina’s rank in reading is isola tion and lack of contact. Urban peo ple read more than country people. ' Out of a circulation of daily newspa pers totaling 29,902,053 in 1924, 24,527,- 457 went to urban dwellers. From these figures we learn that people in cities read more than 4.5 times as much newspaper matter per capita as those in the country. But, on the other hand, we notice that Iowa, a farming state, ranks fifteenth, and that Nebraska ranks eighteenth, where as North Carolina ranks forty-third. Undoubtedly another cause of our non-reading habit is lack of reading facilities. Does reading follow facili ties as trade follows the flag? Is this the key to the situation? Reading and Efficiency To what extent doj reading and community efficiency go hand in hand? There is a very high correlation be tween the ranks of the states in read ing and other so-called measures of intelligence and progress. The states that have efficient school systems read extensively, and vice versa. Also the states that read more are proportional ly the states that produce leaders. The correlation with the birth-state of the persons whose names are in Who’s Who in America is 86. Again the states that rank high in inventive ge nius, as shown by the number of pat ents taken out, rank high in reading. North Carolina’s rank in the number of patents per 1,000 people in 1924 was forty-fourth. In considering all these possible causes and effects one wonders which is the cause and which is the effect. Are people hampered by tradition, be set with poverty, denied contacts, be cause they lack the facilities for read ing and do not read; or do they not read because of the tyranny of tradi tion, the pangs of poverty, and the lack of contacts? At least we know the facts.' For the first set of facts seethe accompanying table. —Orlando Stone, Institute for Research in Social Science, University of North Carolina. 4. WATER POWER SURVEYS Last week there was described the reasons for, and results of 1 than can be obtained in any other way the large power companies when connection with the lines of these com panies is possible. When this is done it results in two things, abandonment of a large investment in power plant, and non-utilization of an important natural resource which exists right at the plant. How Remedied How chn these matters be remedied? The answer is by having made a thorough investigation of the entire stream and carrying out the recom- j mendations for development of the stream as a power entity. The chief purpose of the investigation is to de termine three prime facts: (1) dis cover storage sites on the upper part of the stream which can be developed so as to hold flood waters and deliver them as needed in the dry seasons, (2) discover undeveloped power sites on the river where relatively large amounts of power may be generated, and (3) plan for the interconnection of present and new plants for transmis sion lines. Under this scheme the river would be completely developed for all of its fall, the flood waters would be in large part conserved to useful work, and power wherever gen erated would be fed into a transmis sion line and carried to wherever it was needed. An existing mill develop ment could continue to produce power for sale even though local conditions caused the mill to shut flown. By building stora,ge reservoirs existing power plants are often able to double their output, through having water during dry periods. Cheaper Power If t,he water powers on our smaller streams are developed in the manner outlined, cheaper power can be pro duced for local use in many instances ests, and the smaller apparatus needed is often cheaper per unit of power in stalled. Second, the distances which power has to be transmitted for use are short, and the losses in transmis sion are less than in the case of the large companies where power is sent a hundred miles or more. Third, the voltage at which power is transmitted is relatively low, from 1,100 to 22,000 volts, whereas the large companies have to transmit at voltages from 66,000 to 100,000. The cost of trans forming tile power from the high vol tage of 100,000 volts to a voltage of say 6,600 volts for use in machinery is very great and falls usually upon the power purchaser. The cost of transforming the lower voltages is much less, and often power can be transmitted at the voltage used. Fourth, the supply of power is known and there is no need to go long dis tances to new sources for power. . Ih the case of all the streams mentioned, and numerous others, there is ample power available to meet demands for a long period in the future, and no in crease in power rates will be neces sary. The large power companies are having constantly to go farther awav for new power, which increases its cost, and hence the tendency for in crease m power rates. In regions where there IS no local power of anv magnitude, or where local power can not be economically developed the seryices rendered by the large power bScTaT •'igWy methods, water power investigations on the I even by purchasing from large power streams of the state which have not 1 companies. The reasons are^ obvious, yet been developed to any considerable ; First, the unit costs for development extent. It might be thought that a) of new storage and power plants are water power survey on a stream which | often less than for the large plants of was pretty well covered by small wa- j the big companies, because no railroads ter power developments would be a waste of time. This is not the case. An analysis of the situation which ex ists on streams like the Deep River, Haw River, Henry’s Fork, Little Ca tawba, and others presents the follow ing outline: There are from ten to twenty water power developments scattered along the length of the stream. The dams range from ten to twenty feet in height. The installations vary from 150 to 600 horsepower in water wheels. At nearly every development there is also a steam power station of about the same size as the water power in stallation, because the flow of the stream gets so low in the summer ^s to produce no power, and the steam plant has to be put into service. Near ly all the ponds above the dams are or highways have to be relocated, land can be purchased cheaper by local inter- Where conditions exist such as described above, municipalities and indmitnes „i|i well to consider thoroughly the latent possibilities in herent in nearby streams before be ing dazzled by proponents of “suner power.” ^ In the next issue there will be des along the lines described, which was made lfl?t State Department of Conservation and Development (then the Geological Survey) in cooperation with the mill interests on the river. The economica development of the valuable water rt sources m the smaller streams is a dis- fanct concern of the state, and the Deep River investigation has provided a striking illustration of methods by SlelooaS / atteam may be efficiently developed far beyond its present can- acity and greatly benefit existing plants.—Thorndike Saville. ^ does north CAROLINA READ The Circulation of 47 Magazines in 1924 The following table shows how the states of the Union rank as readers of the forty-seven leading magazines of the United States, covering all type of magazines. The table is derived by dividing the population of Lch state b ' the combined circulation in each state of the forty-seven leading magazines With nation-wide circulation, covering the year 1924 ^ California leads with one magazine for every 1.84 inhabitants upon an aver age. Mississippi comes last with one magazine for every 12 ! North Carolina ranks 43rd as a reader of magazines with on; ™ '?'• every 8.77 inhabitants. The total circulation in the’ United States^”” thfse forty-seven magazines was one copy for every 3.97 inhabitants The forty-seven magazines are as follows: Ladies' Home' Journal Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Home Companion, Delineator, Pictorial Review De signer and Woman’s Magazine, People’s Popular Monthly, McCall’s Magazine' Peop e s Home Journal, Modern Priscilla, Vogue, Saturday Evening Post Liter ary Digest, Collier s Weekly, American Legion, Outlook Life Judire Ch’rl.H filled with silt, so that very little of Herald, System, Scientific American, Popular Science’ Forest * d St the night flow of the stream can be Physical Culture, Field and Stream, House Beautiful c’osmoDolit A Review of Revmws American, Harper’s Magazine, 6hild Life, WoM'^wlTk Metropolitan. Scribner’s Magazine, American Boy, Atlantic MonthL R d Book, Century Blue Book, Hearst’s. Everybody’s, SL Nicholas! M^thly - Photoplay, Motion Picture, Munsey’s, Current Opinion. Orlando Stone, Research Fellow Institute for Research in Social Science, University of North Carolina stored, to be used in the day time. None of the developments are connected by transmission lines, each being indepen dent, and taking just what water comes to it. Great Economic Loss In the aggregate, on a givenstream, there is a great loss in economy of op eration of the power plants under the conditions described above. Duplicate water power and steam power stations are required at nearly every plant, re sulting in only partial use of either and high depreciation costs. A plant having excess of water power has to let it go to waste over the dam, be cause it cannot send surplus power to another plant as no power lines exist interconnecting the various plants. Flood waters cannot be used, because they, cannot be stored. At most plants on streams of this character there is more power wasted over the dams each year than is used to produce power. Coal for the auxiliary steam plants has often to be hauled long distances, and the steam plants themselves are usually inefficient, making the cost of steam power high. The power which these plants produce is therefore always costly and usually unreliable. It is no wonder that there is a tendency for such plants to purchase power from I Rank States Inhabitants per Magazine 1 California l,84 2 Oregon 2.17 3 Washington 2.40 4 Wyoming 2.42 6 Nevada 2.79 6 Colorado 2.92 7 New Hampshire 2.96 8 Massachusetts 3.02 9 Connecticut 3.07 9 Michigan 3.07 11 Ohio 3.09 12 Vermont 3.14 13 Maine 3.31 14 Iowa 3.32 16 Montana 3.37 16 Florida 3.43 17 Nebraska 3.45 18 New York 3,51 19 New Jersey 3.64 20 Minnesota 3.60 21 Illinois 3.61 22 Idaho 3,66 23 Indiana 3.70 23 Rhode Island 3.70 Rank States Inhabitants 25 Pennsylvania 26 South Dakota 3,94 27 Arizona o qc 28 Kansas ‘'‘'V, 29 Utah 29 Wisconsin 4 93 31 Delaware 4 32 Missouri 4 20 33 Maryland.’ 4 55 34 North Dakota 4,30 35 West Virginia 6.08 36 Oklahoma 5 rq 37 Texas 4.01 4.03 .. 0.82 38 New Mexico q 39 Virginia g'gg 40 Kentucky y gg 41 Tennessee 42 Louisiana 43 North Carolina 44 Arkansas 46 Georgia 46 Alabama 47 South Carolina 48 Mississippi 12 7.89 7.94 8.77 9.07 10.28 10.76 10.81 49
The University of North Carolina News Letter (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 15, 1925, edition 1
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