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.
JULY 14, 1926
CHAPEL HILL, N C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XII, NO. 35
Editorial Board* E. C. Branson, S. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilaon, E. W. Knight. D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt. H. W. Odum.
Entered aa aecond-claaa matter November 14. 1914, at the Poatoffice at Chapel Hill, N. C.. under the act of Auguat 24. 1912
SICK IN MIND JN CAROLINA
The table which appears elsewhere
shows how the states rank in inmates
in hospitals for mental disease per
100,000 inhabitants. New Mexico ranks
best—that is, she has fewer inmates
per 100,000 inhabitants than any other
state. Massachusetts ranks last, hav
ing 399 mentally diseased in hospitals
per 100,000 inhabitants. There is this
point to remember in studying the
ranks of the states in the table, namely,
that the inmate rate is more nearly
an index of facilities for the care of
the mentally ill than it is an index of
insanity or mental illness itself. Thus
Massachusetts, which has the highest
rate of mentally diseased in hospitals,
undoubtedly leads the states in facili
ties for the care of her mentally ill. In
both New York and Massachusetts the
care of the insane was early established
and consequently their hospitals have
accumulation of patients.
It will be noted that the Southern
states are all found in the first column
with a low rate of mentally diseased in
hopitals. This does not necessarily
mean that our insanity rate is low.
Rather it means that our facilities for
the care and treatment of mentally ill
are meagre. As a rule in the South
hospitals for the care of the insane are
new and comparatively few.
The North Carolina institutions are
all overcrowded. The only way to get
a patient in at Goldsboro is to release
an inmate who is relatively saner than
the one to be admitted. The waiting
list at Caswell Training School, we are
told, is larger than the total capacity
of the school. A recent report of the
State Department of Public Welfare
states that more than six hundred in
mates of county homes are mentally
diseased. These persons should be
cared for in a state institution more
suitable to care for them than the
county home for the poor. Even the
jails of North Carolina are often used
for the detention of the insane. We
recently saw two insane inmates in a
mid-state country county jail. There
was no room in the state institution for
them, so they were lodged in jail.
North Carolina ranks seventh in
mentally diseased inmates in institu
tions per 100,000 innabitants, not be
cause we have a low mentally diseased
rate, but rather because our facilities
for the care of such unfortunates are
very inadequate.
Interesting Data
The bulletin recently published by
the Department of Commerce on
Patients in Hospitals for Mental Dis
ease is full of interesting data. The
following are a few of the points
brought out.
During the 43-year period from 1880
to 1923 the number of patients in hos
pitals for mental disease increased
from 40,942 to 267,617, an increase
of 226,676, or 663.6 percent, and
during this same period the number of
patients per 100,000 of the total popu
lation increased from 81.6 to 246. The
number of patients per 100,000 of the
total population was thus three times as
large in 1923 as in 1880. The summary
also shows that between 1904 (the first
date for which this figure is available)
and 1923 there was a striking increase
in the number of patients admitted to
the hospitals in each census year.
The increase in the number of patients
in hospitals for mental disease, or in
the number committed to such hospitals
each year, must not be taken, how
ever, as indicating a corresponding
increase in the occurrence of mental dis
ease, since it is in part to be accounted
for by the more general use of hospital
care in recent years.
Race, Nativity, and Parentage
A marked increase, both in the total
number of patients and in the number
per 100,000 population of the same race
is shown for each of the three racial
groups, whites, negroes, and Indians.
The rates per 100,000 population, how
ever, cannot be taken as indicating the
relative frequency of mental disease
among the several races. The com
paratively. low rate for negroes is
doubtless explained largely by the lack
of adequate hospitals for negroes in the
South. In the parts of the country
where negro patients are admitted to
state hospitals without discrimination
the rates for negroes generally exceed
those for whites.
Of the 244,968 resident white patients
in 1923, 169,296, or 69.1 percent, were
native; 69,984, or 28.6 percent, were
foreign born; and the nativity of 6,688,
or 2.3 percent, was unknown. Of the
total white population at the census of
1920, 86.6 percent were native and 14.6
percent were foreign born. It is ap
parent, therefore, that the foreign
born have disproportionate representa
tion in nospitals for mental disease. In
the United States as a whole in 1923
the number of resident patients per
100,000 population of the same nativity
was 209.9 for native whites and 613.9
for foreign-born whites. In fact in
every state in the Union the rate was
higher for foreign-born whites than for
native whites. The higher rate for the
foreign-born whites is partly explained
by tbe larger proportion of this nativ
ity group in the higher age-periods
considered in connection with the in
crease in mental disease with advancing
age. Taking the several age-periods
separately, however, the rate was far
higher for foreign-born whites in each
age-group than for native whites.
Marital Condition
More significant than the percentage
distribution of patients by marital con
dition is the ratio of patients to total
population. The number of male patients
per 100,000 males of the same marital
condition in the total population was
lowest for the married (170.9) and
highest for the divorced (1,112.5). For
single males the number was 292.7 and
for widowed males 428.2. The number
of female patients per 100,000 females
of the same marital condition in the
total population was 189.3 for the single,
255.9 for the married, 423 for the
widowed, and 1,120.3 for the divorced.
Duration of Hospital Life
Of the patients in hospitals for mental
disease on January 1, 1923, 17.4 percent
had been in the institutions less than
3 year; 9.3 percent, 1 year but less than
2; 7.6 percent, 2 years but less than 3;
6.2 percent, 3 years but less 4; 6.3 per
cent, 4 years but less then 6; 19.8 per
cent, 6 years but • less than 10; 12.8 per
cent, 10 years but less than 16; 8.4
percent, 15 years but less than 20; and
; 13 percent, 20 years or over. Over one-
third (34.2 percent) of the resident
patients bad spent 10 years or more in
the hospitals. The figures indicate that,
as a rule, the female patients remain
in the hospitals longer than the male
patients.
Sex, Age, and Environment
The number of first admissions to
hospitals for mental disease during 1922
is shown by age, sex, and environment.
In tabulating the data with respect to
environment, or residence prior to ad
mission, incorporated cities or towns
having a population of 2,500 or over
were .considered as urban and all other
territory as rural. The table shows
considerably higher rates of first ad
missions for urban than for rural dis
tricts. The rate per 100,000 of the
population in urban districts was 78.8
and in rural districts 41.1; for males, the
rate in urban districts was 46.4; for fe-
raales, the rate in urban districts was
76.8 and in rural districts 36.6. These
rates show clearly the fallacy of the
oft-quoted statement that a high rate
of insanity is found among women in
rural districts. For both males and
females the rate is higher in every age-
group in urban than in rural districts.
In the age-group 66 to 69 years, dnd in
the group 70 years and over, the rate
for females is about twice as high in
urban as in rural districts.
Death Rate
That the death rate in hospitals for
mental disease is very high is indicated
when the death rate of 74.3 per 1,000
patients under treatment in 1922 is com'
pared with the death rate of 11.8 per
1,000 of the population in tbe registra
tion area of the United States for the
same year. Even were liberal allowance
made for the larger percentage of young
people in the general population, the
death rate doubtless would still be far
higher in the hospital population than
in the general population.
The number of patients in hospitals
for mental disease on January 1, 1923,
per 100,000 of the total population was
HAYWOODLEADSTHEWAY
The most important election in
any county in North Carolina this
year was not one in which candidates
were selected or even where bonds
or taxes were voted for better roads
or for better schools. It was the
election in Haywood county, where
the people voted $100,000 to build a
county hospital and an annual tax
sufficient to maintain the county
hospital. Haywood is, therefore, if
we mistake not the first county with
out large wealth and a rich city to
take this forward step. It has long
been recognized as having a popula
tion far above the average in appre
ciation of the higher things in life
and in the duty of the citizen. It is
because of the possession of such
qualities that the Haywood voter had
the wisdom to vote to establish a
county hospital by taxation. Private
hospitals have supplied a need which
otherwise would have been lacking,
and most of them have helped some
of those needing treatment who
lacked the means to pay. But even
if the doctors and others who es
tablished these hospitals could afford
generous action, it is an obligation
that rests on the whole people.
Haywood has pointed the way
which will be followed by every
county in the state. It is as much
the duty of the taxpayers of a county
to provide a public hospital as it is to
provide public schools. Haywood
leads. Let all other counties follow,
or two or three small counties unite,
in meeting this call of humanity.—
News and Observer'
missioner of the Bureau of Reclama
tion, said in part:
“ Our appropriation will be available
July 1 and this bureau is ready to con
sider with your state the questions of
what ought to be done and the authori
ties to represent the state in this co
operative undertaking. It is the belief
of the bureau, and I believe of all
those in your state who have made a
study of this matter, that any recla
mation which the Government should
consider must deal with a considerable
area of land—one large enough to per
mit of the creation of a community which
should have an agricultural program
worked out by the state and this bu
reau, and large enough to enable the
people in that community: to cooperate
in business and community affairs. The
first problem which confronts us, there
fore, is—where can suitable areas of
land be had? My thought would be
that our limit should be a minimum (»f
10,000 acres and a maximum of 30,000
acres. Less land would hardly justify
the Government’s action, and more
might involve too great an outlay.”
COUNTY LIBRARIES
The residents of approximately 200 of
the 3,065 counties in the United States
enjoy county library service. Forty-two
of these 200 counties are in California.
Since 1911 the development of county
libraries has distinguished that state
and stimulated a great interest in the
provision of libraries in rural communi
ties throughout the country. Prior to
1911 there were a few isolated instan
ces in which counties had established
libraries, but they created no wide
spread interest. About two thirds of
the states and Hawaii now have laws
(most of them passed within the last
decade) authorizing the residents of a
county to levy a tax for library pur
poses. Some other states besides Cali
fornia in which the residents of certain
counties have taken advantage of the
provisions of their laws and established
county libraries are Indiana, Maryland,
Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New
Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Okla
homa, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Wis
consin, and Wyoming.
A county library system provides for
an extension to rural areas of the li
brary service which large cities enjoy.
outside of cities
highest in the District of Columbia
(898.4), next highest in Massachusetts
(399), and next in New York (382.6).
The high rate in the District of Columbia
was due to the large number of Govern
ment patients in St. Elizabeths Hospital.
Most of these patients did not live in
the District when committed. Both
Massachusetts and New York are large
ly urban and have many well-equipped
State hospitals. State care of the in
sane was early established in these
states, and consequently their hospitals
have an accumulation of patients. Also,
these states have a large immigrant It makes the county,
population, in which the rate of mental i and towns maintaining their own libra-
disease is comparatively high. [Ties, the unit of taxation for support
The lowest rates were in Alabama, ! and provides for the establishment of a
Arkansas, Idaho, and New Mexico. | central library, usually at the county
These states have no very large cities, seat, with branches located at various
and their hospitals for mental disease
are few and comparatively new.
The rates shown in the accompany
ing table can not be considered an index
to the prevalence of mental disease in
the several states. These rates are
more nearly an index of the facilities
for the care and treatment of the
mentally ill.
points throughout the county. For ex
ample, Monterey County, California,
with an area of 3,460 square miles, a
population of 27,980, and taxable prop
erty amounting to about 40 millions,
i a central free library at the county
seat, and 142 branches. In 1924 it had
35 employes—7 in the central office
and 28 in the branches—circulating 62,-
107 books. There is a library tax of
a little more than one-third of a mill on
the dollar,—Rural America.
CHEWING GUM
The Department of Commerce an
nounces that the factory value of
chewing gum manufactured in the
United States last year was nearly 48
million dollars. The retail value, or
rather price, was considerably in excess
of that amount. A conservative state
ment would be that the average person
spent at least sixty cents per year for
chewing gum. Assuming that North
Carolina consumed her quota, we spent
in 1926 about a million seven hundred
thousand dollars for chewing gum. We
spent about one-tenth as much for
chewing gum as we spent on teachers’
salarfes for all public schools in the
state. The aniount we spent on chew
ing gum would run the rural schools of
North Carolina for two months. In
other words, if we should stop chewing
gum and apply the money to public edu
cation we could have an eight-months
rural school term with almost no addi
tional tax. But very likely we will
keep on chewing gum, and do without
the eight-months-school for a few more
years, being too poor to afford it!
THE PEOPLE S HIRED MEN
Now we are going to work, and I am
going to work as the hired man of our
folks in this town. Let's do this thing
in a big way. There need be no signs,
nor banners, no bands for anybody’s
personal exploitation. If it is worth
while doing at all it is worth while doing
for the city itself. So let’s submerge
ourselves and let me feel that it is con
venient for you to have me say:
Come in and let’s settle this subway
situation. Let’s settle this traffic
sitution. Let’ssettle this garbage dis
posal thing and let’s go out, irre
spective of race, color, creed or politics
or any other consideration that might
enter into the mind of a man; let us go
out and find that fellow, no matter
whom he voted for, who is willing to
come in and help this community to get
in a little healthier and better condi
tion.—Mayor Walker, of New York.
SOLICITS COOPERATION
Investigation into the development
of arid, semi-arid, swamp and cut-over
lands, under au appropriation of $16,-
000 made available on July 1, 1926, in
the 1927 Interior Department Appro
priation Act, should be conducted on
a cooperative basis with the states, ac
cording to an announcement made by
Commissioner Elwood Mead of the
Bureau of Reclamation today.
The Commissioner pointed out that
four states, North and South Carolina,
Georgia and Mississippi, have already in
dicated a desire to enter this cooperative
arrangement. Other states are re
quested also to cooperate in the
investigations. The first step, as pro
posed by the Reclamation Bureau, is
to determine where tracts of land can
be found, which are suitable for re
clamation and settlement^ Colonies of
farmers can then be established upon
them under a definite agricultural pro
gram. These tracts should be large
enough to permit the settlement of 100
to 200 families and should comprise
10,000 to 30,000 acres.
Tbe $15,000 appropriated for the fiscal
year of 1927 is part of the $100,000
authorized by an act of Congress passed
in December, 1924, to enable the In
terior Department to conduct these in
vestigations. Information regarding
the location of available areas, possible
prices for land and suitability for such
development are solicited by the Bureau
PATIENTS IN HOSPITALS FOR MENTAL DISEASE
Per 100,000 Inhabitants on Jan. 1, 1923
In the following table, based on a recent bulletin issued by the federal
Department of Commerce? the states are ranked according to the number of
patients in hospitals for mental disease on Jan. 1, 1923, per 100,000 inhabitants.
New Mexico ranks best with 106.3 mentally diseased in hospitals per 100,-
000 inhabitants. Massachusettsxomes last with a rate of 399.0.
North Carolina ranks seventh in the table, with only 139.3 mentally diseased
inmates per 100,000 inhabitants. There were 3,692 such inmates in our state
hospitals on Jan. 1, 1923. However, according to the federal authorities, the rate
of mentally diseased in hospitals is more nearly an index of facilities for the
care and treatment of the mentally ill than an index'of mental illness itself.
United States rate 246.0 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants. The United
States rate in 1880 was 81.6. The increased rate is largely an index of increased
facilities for caring for the mentally ill,'in which respect the whole South lags.
Department of Rural-Social Economics, University of North Carolina.
of Reclamation. In a recent letter to
Governor McLean, Elwood Mead, Com-l^^
Mentally
diseased in
hospitals
per 100,000
inhabitants
New Mexico 106.3
Alabama 113.1
Arkansas 118.0
Idaho 132.6
Texas 136.7
Oklahoma 136.3
North Carolina 139.3
Georgia 139.7
South Carolina 139.8
West Virginia 139.8
Tennessee 143.3
Mississippi 146.2
Utah 149.3
Arizona 150.7
Louisiana 181.0
Kansas 190.1
Florida 190.4
North Dakota 190.9
Kentucky 192.2 ^
South Dakota 199.5
Wyoming 206.9
Virginia 216.1
Ohio 218.8
Colorado 220.0
Rank State
Mentally
diseased in
hospitals
per 100,000
inhabitants
Indiana 220.6
Nebraska 226.8
Delaware 226.9
Pennsylvania 230.0
Michigan 230.7
Maine 240.6
Montana 242.3
Missouri 266.6
Rhode Island 262.8
Nevada 264.8
New Jersey 267.4
Washington 270.2
Minnesota 271.2
Iowa 281.7
Illinois 284.4
New Hampshire- 313.5
Maryland 316.8
California 324.4
Oregon! 328.4
Connecticut 333.8
Wisconsin 336.6
Vermont 362.3
New York 382.6
Massachusetts 399.0
Rank State