E-
f
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.
JUNE 23, 1926
CHAPEL HILL, N C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XII, NO. 32
diforia! Boardi RJ. 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 the PoatofTice at Chapel Hill. N. C.. under the act of August 24, 1918
COUNTY GOVERNMENT iN N. C.
II. A TYPICAL COUNTY
(The following is the second of a
series of {hree articles on county
government by Paul W. Wager, recent-
)y published by Southern Agriculturist.
Mr. Wager is a research assistant, Insti
tute for Research in Social Science,
University of North Carolina. The first
article appeared last week. The third
will appear next week.)
Blank County is a typical North Caro
lina county. It contains almost exactly
one per cent of the state’s area and
slightly more than one per cent of the
population. Tnere are 100 counties in
the state. It is a good agricultural
county and has two brisk manufactur
ing towns.
The total value of all property listed
for taxes in 1924 was $27,169,307. This
probably represents about two-thirds of
the county’s wealth. On the whole,
farm land is assessed more nearly at
its true value than town property. This
is largely because there has been no
reassessment since 1921 and town
values have enhanced more than farm
values. Even farm land is not assessed
at any uniform percentage of its true
value. Careless methods of assessing
and of keeping the tax records also
result in the loss of much property
from the tax books. For instance there
were 2,734 town lots listed for taxation
in 1922, 2,471 in 1923, and 2,823 in 1924.
The county-wide tax rate for the past
four years has fluctuated from $1.06 to
$1.22 per $100 of taxables. In addition,
there are a few special township levies
for roads and schools. The -following
table shows the levy and amount raised
for each purpose for the years 1921 to
1924 inclusive. At the time this study
was made the 1926 figures were not
available.
constant borrowing and the paying
of interest. For instance, at the close
of the school year the sheriff still owed
the school fund $73,679. The school
board bad to borrow the money or mbke
the teachers wait several months for
their pay. Directly and indirectly, this
looseness in collecting taxes is costing
the taxpayers several thousand dollars
a year.
The people elect a treasurer as cus
todian of county funds. The last treas
urer’s books were so tangled that it
cost hundreds of dollars to get them
audited. The audit revealed that he
owed the county about $22,000, lie was
totaly incompetent, failed to keep his
own money separate from county
money, and it is quite possible that he
was the innocent victim of fraud on the
part of another. The treasurer pre
ceding him also defaulted, and there is
no doubt about his guilt. He still owes
the county $18,000. These instances
illustrate the failure of popular election
to secure competent and trustworthy
officials. While dishonesty is the ex
ception rather than the rule, incompe
tence is almost universal.
There is very little bookkeeping done
in connection with the expenditure of
county funds. There is no ledger or
voucher record. In fact, there is no
record of expenditures at all except the
voucher stubs and a list in the Minute
Docket of claims audited by the com
missioners. Furthermore, these records
are only of those expenditures made
from the general fund or the bridge
fund. The highway board has its own
secretary and treasurer and pays its
own bills. The same is true of the
school board. Interest on bonds is paid
directly by the treasurer. The clerk
of superior court pays witness fees.
The register of deeds pays out poor
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The case, indeed, for a strong
system of local government in any
State is clear almost beyond the needs
of discussion. We cannot realize
the full benefit of democratic govern
ment, unless we begin by the ad
mission that all problems are not cen
tral problems, and that the results of
problems not central in their incidence
require decision at the place, and by
the persons, where and by whom the
incident is most deeply felt.—Harold
J. Laski.
County welfare 994
Pension board 14
Jury tickets 2,654
Interest on bonds 19,275
Roads and bridges 18,896
Auditing books 1,869
Veterinarian inspection 1,912
Miscellaneous 9,031
Total $94,841
It is impossible to give the parallel
expenditures from the school fund for
the fiscal years were different. The
school expenditures from July 1, 1923,
to June 30, 1924, were as follows:
County superintendent $ 3,000
County board ; 348
Teachers’ salaries 94,419
Teacher training 830
Welfare officer 862
office. In the vast majority of the
cases the age reported is the guess of
of the clerk. Some of the ages are as
given by the offenders. This inexact
ness in reporting ages will tend to make
the median age higher than it really
is for offenses showing a low median
age, and at the same time it will tend
to make the median age lower than it
really is for offenses showing a high
median age. Assuming that the judg
ment of the clerk of court will be as
One wonders if it is by chance that
accurate for those charged with one carrying a concealed weapon, robbery,
type of offense as it is for those charged
with any other, the accompanying table
may be considered quite reliable and
authoritative.
Number of Cases
A total of 14,929 indictments were re
ported as disposed of by the Superior
Courts of North Carolina during the
fiscal year indicated above. The age
was reported in only 13,464 of those
cases. The median age of those re
ported was 28.34 years. In othgr
words, half of the indictments in North
Carolina Superior Courts during that
year were 28 years and 4 months of
age or older. L'his may come as a
surprise ^because we have heard so
mucn about the extreme youtnfulness
of modern criminals. However, it must
be remembered that they were several
months younger'than this when appre-
; bended, if the usual rate of judicial pro-
Transportation of pupils cedure be taken into ^consideration
Furthermore, the lower courts handle
a majority of first offenses, and would
no doubt show a much lower median
age for their offenders.
Fuel and janitors 3,932
School supplies 324
Insurance 1,073
Repairs 1,657
New buildings and sites 33,197
Furniture and apparatus 4,874
Libraries 200
Interest 2,112
Miscellaneous 9,459
V 1921 1922 1923 1924
Purpose Levy Amount Levy Amount Levy Amount Levy Amount
County Schools $0.46 $123,078 $0.44 $119,841 $0.66 $166,911 $0.63 $164,466
Special Schools' 6,053
County Roads _ -40 107,089
Township Road Debt^ 3,796
Gen. County Purposes^ .15 40,399
Bonds and Interest 10 26,772
.40
6,867
106,966
. 3,730
39,987
18,644
5
8,660 13,432
127,237 .39 111,339
4,146 4,117
42,666 .10 29,739
19,192 .08 21,727
22 $368,801 $1.10 $334,820
XotaP $1-10 $306,186 $1.06 $294,926 $1.
■'These special schools do not include the schools systems of the three largest
towns *
“The township road indebtedness has now been assumed by the county so that
this tax will no longer have to be borne by particular townships.
“A 16 cents levy for general county purposes is inadequate. A deficit of 11.106,-
000 had to be funded in 1924.
'Notice how the levy is reduced in election (even) years.
The present bonded indebtedness is
$1,369,000, or almost exactly 6 per
cent of the taxable wealth of the
county.
These bonds include issues for the
following purposes:
County home $ 6,000
Courthouse and jail; 100,000
Good roads 376,000
Bridges fOO.OOO
Township road debts 368,000
Funding 12Q.000
Total $1,368,000
To show for this indebtedness the
county has a large number of good steel
bridges, 400 miles of sand-clay and
gravel roads and a splendid courthouse.
The jail is a fairly good one, but the
county home is entirely inadequate. It
is a brick building but is too small and
is dark and gloomy.
There is the greatest laxity and
waste in the collection of taxes. The
sheriff and his deputy act as tax col
lectors. Although the law requires that
he shall make a complete settlement of
one year’s taxes before he receives the
tax books for another year, the sheriff
of this ‘county was serving his second
term and had never had a settlement.
In March, 1926, he had still failed to
collect 2 per cent of 1922 taxes, 4 per
cent of 1923 taxes and 38 per cent
of the 1924 taxes. In other words,
uncollected taxes amounted to $147,868.
Since taxes do not become delinquent
until May 1, a large volume of 1924
taxes would still be collected; but most
of the 1922 and 1923 taxes would be de
clared insolvent. Most of them would
not have been insolvent if collected on
time. This dilatoriness in collecting
taxes means the loss of considerable
revenue, and also deprives the county of
the use of tax money and necessitates
relief after the dependent has been
placed on the pauper list. He has the
welfare officer review the list monthly
so as not to make the mistake some
counties have made of continuing pay
ments after the beneficiary was dead.
There is no attempt at classification of
Youth and Housebreahing
The accompanying table shows that
housebreaking is the type of offense
indulged in by the most youthful group
of offenders. Approximately 40 per^
cent of those charged with housebreak'
Qf I ing were white, and the median age of
the whites is somewhat lower than
that of the negroes, although the tabu
lation does not show how much lower.
Next in order comes burglary and then
larceny and receiving, all of which are
crimes against property and crimes
which occur more frequently in the
city than in the country. At the same
time, the three types of offenses show
ing the highest median age are those
more often committed by country peo
ple.
It is interesting to notice the order
of median ages for the various offenses.
and homicide follow one another in one,
two, three order; or that prostitution,
seduction, and rape likewise follow in
close order. (See Table.) Queer, too,
that abduction, adultery, and bigamy
follow in close order. These are per
haps coincidences, but the main sequence
is significant at any rate. ’
Prohibition
It is of interest to note that those
apprehended for violation of the pro
hibition law are, on the average, nearly
three years older than those apprehended
for other offenses. Although this is
true for the state as a whole, it is not
true for some counties—those counties
in which violation of this law is most
fashionable; among the chief of which
is Mecklenburg.
Another interesting fact not indicated
in the table is that, in general, those
crimes which are on the increase show
a lowering of the median age and vice’
versa. Among those crimes on the in
crease are burglary, robbery, house
breaking, larceny, and driving while
drunk, all of which show a lowering of
the median age from 1924 to 1926.
It is on those crimes which show either
a numerical increase or a lowering of
the median age in those committing
them, that those interested in reducing
crime should especially concentrate
their attention. It is in indicating these
trends in crime that such facta as are
given in the accompanying table have
their practical value. —F. S. Wilder.
Total $160,870
A highway commission was estab
lished in April, 1919. By the end
1924 this board had raised and spent
$1,327,616. Of this $623,026 represented
bond issues, $213,762 represented short-
time loans, and $580,818 had been raised
from taxation or from miscellaneous
sources. Nearly 400 miles of road had The following table lists the main types of offenses dealt with by the
been improved, several good bridges , Superior Courts of North Carolina in the order of the median ages of those
built, and the county had acquired a charged with the offense during the year ending June 30, 1926. In a parallel
MEDIAN AGES OF OFFENDERS IN NORTH CAROLINA
large outfit of road machinery. The
road board is a bi-partisan board, has
had a good business man for chairman,
employed a capable road superintendent
and has s'erved the county faithfully.
There has been a minimum of ‘politics’
in the highway work and that largely
explains the splendid results.
All of the officers of the county are
paid salaries, except the deputy sheriff
and the jailer. The sheriff receives
$6,000. The register of deeds $3,000,'
and the clerk of • court $4,000. The
sheriff also retains his fees. The.fees
in the register of deed's office amounted
in 1924 to $4,347 and in the clerk of
court’s office to $3,784. Each official
pays his own clercial assistants. It
! will be noticed that these two offices
' are practically self-supporting. The
$1,200 a year, the
welfare officer $1,‘600, the superinten-
column is the median age for the preceding court year. The information was
obtained from the reports of the clerks of the courts to the office of the At
torney General. Out of 14,929 cases reported in 1924-5, 13,464 ages were given,
and in the preceding year ages were reported in 12,899 of the 14,484 cases.
F. S. Wilder
Institute for Research in Social Science, University of North Carolina
Charge
disbursements. There are no control
accounts. There is no accounting worthy , t"aso7er receives
of the name. It is a loose, careless
system which insures waste and invites | |,eith ’$3,600, the county
corruption. nurse, $1,800, and the superintendent of
Each officer buys his own supplies, j ^g^QQQ ^he commissioners re-
The jailer buys supplies for the jail,
the janitor for the courthouse, the
superintendeut of the county home for
that institution, and the superintendent
of highways buys road and bridge ma
terial. Usually, the bills have the o.k.
of some other official before being pre
sented to the commissioners for their
approval. All paid vouchers eventually
come back to the county and are filed
in the register’s office, but without any
control accounts there is no way of
knowing where the county stands at a
particular time, and it is difficult to
locate an error.
The disbursements of the general
fund (which in this county includes
bridge repairs and highway mainte
nance) were as follows for the years
1923-1924: (Fiscal year begins Dec. 1.)
Jail and and jail fees $ 2,916
Courthouse expense 3,017
Election expense 1,759
Court and court costs 4,836
County home '• 3,048
County officers 12,492
Outside poor 2,828
Tax refunds 619
Burial Confederate veterans 360
Capturing stills '^60
Listing property 2,616
Board of hea|th 4,782
Conveying lunatics 376
ceive a small per diem.
There is much to be commended in
this county, the highway administration,
the public health service, the welfare
work, the elimination of the fee sys
tem, and a rather exceptionally aggres
sive board of commissioners. The great
est weakness is the manner in which
taxes are levied and collected and in the
lack of proper accounting. It may be
reported, however, that within another
year the county is to abolish the treas-
urership as an elective office, appoint
a combined bookkeeper and treasurer,
and install a thorough system of account
ing. This official will also serve as tax
supervisor, and efforts will be made to
correct the abuses in that field. The
county ought to go a step further and
take tax-collecting out of the sheriff’s
office.
Rape-
Crime against Nature..
Cases re-
Median
Cases re-
Median
Dortins:
age
porting
age
ages
1924-6
1924-6
ages
1923-4
1923-4
610
23.1
478
23.4
43
23.7
62
23.4
1,848
24.6
1,619
24.6
85
25.2
107
24.0
31
26.2
24
26.8
139
26.8
121
27.9
263
25.6
158
26.7
66
25.8
69
26.9
. 23
26.1
27
26.9
. 291
26.3
198
26.5
78
26.8
47
24.5
. 368
27.2
480
26.8
38
27.2
16
, 705
27.3
726
27.6
87
27.3
68
• 27.4
. 295
28.2
$41
30.3
. 203
28.3
202
28.3
All Offenses 13,464
12,899
29.23
Slander
Assult to Rape..
CRIME AND AGE GROUPS
Elsewhere in'this issue is a table giv
ing the median age of the offenders
charged with the more common types of
crime in the Superior Courts of North
Carolina for the year ending June 30,
1926. The information was tabulated
from the reports of the clerk of the
court in each of the hundred counties
of the state to the Attorney-General’s
Nuisance..
2Assault(and Battery)..
^False Pretense .
Doing Business without License .
■‘Failure to List, etc
29
28.7
21
30.6
70
28.7
44
26,3
26
28.8
43
31.6
270
28.8
162
27.9
1,107
29.1
1,071
30.7
117
29.3
69
30.0
87 -
29.3
87
29.3
97
29.4
102
29.7
23
29.6
15
67
29.6
74
33.4
62
29.7
67
30,6
117
30.4
163
27.8
3,472
30.5
3,270
31.8
. 609
30.6
741
29.2
26
30.9
39
31.2
, 242
31.1
219
31.7
64
31.3
42
33.0
. 266
31.3
255
33.7
. 195
31.7
170
33.2
61
31.7
16
. 266
33.4
264
36.8
. 68
36.6
83
39.7
....101
37.6
111
37.9
' Includes drunkenness.
2 Includes assault on female, but not assault to rape.
3 Includes giving worthless check but not forgery.
' Includes failure to list property, failure to pay taxes or other bills, failure to
work roads, failure to dip cattle, and failure tojstop at railroad crossing.