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.
JANUARY 19, 1927
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
the university of north CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIII, No, 10
Bditorlul Board, E. C. Branson, S. H. Hobbs, Jr. L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll. ,T. B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum,
Entered as second-class matter November 14. 1914. at the Postofhoe at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24, 1912.
LANDLESSNESS ANB CRIME
If tbe founders of the Republic
could have looked forward to a time
when the owners and tillers of the soil
should form an ever-dwindling percent
age of the population, they would prob
ably have given up the nation for lost.
In our early days the landowner was the
foundation of society. His property
made him a defender of law and order;
and since he stayed in one community,
he was subject to the beneficent effect
of a continuous public opinion. Even
the tenant or laborer rarely moved, so
that he too was subject to social pres
sure. f
But with transportation easy, jobs
plentiful, and places to live rentable
nearly everywhere, we can go through
life without really belonging anywhere
or being subject to any community's
opinion. The economic revolution
through which we have been passing,
which has added so much well-being to
the general mass of the population, has
at the same time produced flat-bred
floaters in the cities and wanderers in
the country. These men are free from
most of the restraints of organized
society except penalties of the law—
and fairly oblivious of them. The good
in this economic revolution has vastly
outweighed tbe evil, but the evil is
nevertheless large and worth most care
ful study.
Dr. E. C. Branson, whose article on
The Forgotten Women appears else
where in this magazine, has made a
study of tbe relation of the landless
man to crime, a part of which he reports
in these words:
“The owmershipof land tethers a man
to law and order better than all the laws
on the statute books. It breeds in him
a sense of personal worth and family
pride. It identifies him with the com
munity he lives in and gives him a pro
prietary interest in the church, the
school, and other organizations and
enterprises of his home town or home
community. It enables him to hold his,
family together, makes him a better
father, a better neighbor, and a better
citizen, mainly because it makes him a
stable, responsible member of society.
Landless men, white or black, in town
or country, tend to be restless, roving,
and irresponsible; and the restless, rov
ing, irresponsible multitudes of America
are a fundamental menace to society.
“These are, some of the things we had
in mind the other day as we journeyed
into a mid-state county of Noi'th Caro
lina to study the criminal dockets of the
two court sessions of the last twelve
months Of the eightv criminals
convicted in Chatham, the county we
studiGKl, sixty-six were tenants, owning
'not an inch of the soil they cultivated
essential social significance of land-
ownership.”
In our agricultural days few men
owned property who did not own land,
so that practically speaking the term
landowner embraced all thbse who had
a financial stake in the country’s suc
cess. A man now, however, may have
a very large stake in the country and
not be, directly at least, an owner of
land. It may be that landowning has
not the same significance it used to have.
But a family that has no fixed position
and no obligations to any particular
community is not likely to contribute
its share to the social and political
activities which are necessary to civil
ization, even if it does not actually be
come a burden by its lawlessness or dis
regard of the rights of others.—World’s
Work, December- 1926.
THE NEW FACILITY
The Divisio^i of Markets of the North
Carolina Department of Agriculture is
rendering a fine service to the farmers,
dealers, and consumers of the state.
Through the efforts of the rparketing
specialists of this division, cooperating
with dealers, and with the cooperation
also of the county agricultural agents,
literally hundreds of car loads of poultry
and eggs have been sold by the farmers
of remote sections at prices very con
siderably above prices that could have
been secured on purely local markets.
Invaluable assistance has been given by
the marketing specialists in the handling
of truck, fruit, timber, and other prod
ucts of the soil. The result is, although
this work is even yet in its early stages,
that the agricultural section of our
population is not only receiving tens of
thousands of dollars a year above what
they could have secured for products
sold v/ithout this assistance, but new
markets and new channels of distribu
tion are constantly being opened for a
greater volume of products from our
land. ■
Mr. V. W. Lewis, senior marketing
specialist of tbe Division of Markets,
is urging, as the next step in the develop
ment of the marketing system which is
so badly needed by both our agricultural
classes and our food-consuming classes
in cities, towns, and industrial com
munities, the establishment of cold stor
age plants at. strategic points in the
state, these plants to be owned and
operated either cooperatively or by
private enterprise and not only per
forming the functions of preserving
eggs, poultry, fruit and vegetables and
other products, but the same organiza
tion heting as the middleman between
the producer on the one side and the
WHAT EDUCATION DOES
“1 have listened with great interest
to the men from Alabama and other
Southern States who have told of
the vastness of their mineral and
timber and agricultural possibilities.
I enjoyed tbe enthusiastic story about
Colorado, its wonderful mountains,
its great mineral wealth and its
superb climate. I listened with rapt
attention to what the spokesman
from California had to say about that
fortunate land. And yet, my friends,
I have to tell you that in New
England we have none of these nat
ural advantages. We are without a
fertile .soil, we are without coal, and
iron ore; we are without the many
natural advantages which all other
States outside of New England have
claimed. But we have taken ^he
coal from Alabama and the Virginias,
the pig-iron from Pittsburgh and
Birmingham and cotton from the
whole South down to Texas; we
have taken the lumber and the
timber from the South with which
to build our factories; we have
equipped them v^ith machinery made
out of the steel from other states;
we have imported our foodstuffs from
the West with which to feed our
people. And yet on this artificial
foundation we have developed a busi
ness interest which in proportion to
population surpasses that of any
other section of America. We have
no natural advantages, but we have
taken our brains and our brawn and
we have technically trained them and
made our man-power greater than
the power of natural resources.” —
Manufacturers Record.
I scientific and nationalistic at the expense
I of the spirtual values of life.
We can get along witho.uta literature
that finds its material in the garbage
can and without a theatre that ministers
to the obscene snickerings of the
audience. We have seen some of the
effects of these things on the modern
mind and we want to avoid them.
We need to know what critical scholar-,
ship and scientific hypothesis have done
to make necessary, a restatement of
religious beliefs, but we do not wish to
swing to the opposite extreme and
exalt rationalism and sientific certain
ties above a reasonable and vital faith
in the eternal virtues.
We of the South are too apt to in
dulge in a superficial optimism when a
resolute facing of stubborn facts would
be better.—Dr. Edwin Mims.
University has not the mpney with
which to compete with many of those
state institutions with which it, in its
position as the state university of one
of the leading states of the Union, is
forced to compete. —Alumni Review.
ernor Morrison.
The Observer cannot help but believe
that the providing of such facilities
would afford a profitable'field for such
capital and human endeavor as would
be requirea. The economics of the
situation demands it and the develop
ment must come. It is going to come,
and it will come the quicker if our busi
ness men and bankers will cooperate
with our marketing specialists and
agricultural leaders. As a mattefi of
fact our business-men and' bankers
should take the lead, because they are
better trained, by experience for tbe
promotion and conduct of such estab
lishments as are needed.—The Charlotte
Observer.
or a single shingle m the roof over their ex-Governor Cameron
heads. The tenants are nearly one-third Morrison has been advocating for'Meck-
of the population, but they committed i^nburg and adjacent territury. The
more than tour-fifths ol the crimes. I ,^^5^ j^e proposition is cleat and con-
URGED TO ORGANIZE
For years the farmers have been told
what they need in organization op a
large scale to bring about cooperative
marketing of their products. Secretary
retail dealers in these food products I J^^rdine again urges such organization
on the other side. This sort of a project i annual report. ' _
It is true this remedy would cure many
of the ills now besetting the farmer.
But it is exceedingly difficult to obtain.
By the very nature of their occupa-
“AH assaults with deadly weapons | One department of such an j ^ion, the farmers are Hampered in efforts
were made by tenants^ allsecond-degree I ggjjjblishmeni as is advocated would be at organizing. They do not form, a com-
murders, all illegal disposals of mort- | ^ abattoir for the proper . group, as do the workers in a par-
gaged property, all crimes of false pre j butchering of hogs, sheep, cattle, and ; ticular branch of industry,
tense, all injuries to property, ail forni- j 1 Then, many farmers are specialists,
cation and adultery, all prostitution, all i were not for cold storage ” They raise com, or wheat, or cotton, j really lead in the United States in state-construction of highways,
cruelty to animals, all moonshining, and | Mr. Lewis, “eggs would hardly ’ or fruit, or some other crop, often not | The Southern states rank better in this table than in any other table that
all reckless driving of cars. The ten. ' i ....... .
RANKS LOW IN SALARIES
In June of 1926 tbe United States
Bureau of Education made a survey of
the expenditures of the colleges and
universities. Some of the results of
this survey with regard to state insti
tutions were recently published in
School and Society. ^
The report shows that the composite
expenditures of these schools were di
vided in the following fields: salaries
and wages, 61 percent; materials and
supplies, 23 percent; buildings and
land, 14 percent; equipment, 4 per
cent; trust funds, 2 percent; not de
tailed in reports, 6 percent.
The University of California spent
more for salaries aud wages than any
other Slate college or university, name
ly, oVer $5,UUO,OOU in a single year. The
University ol Michigan was second
with expenditures in cnis field totaling
more than four and a half million dol
lars. Three and a half milliorf dollars
were spent t?ach by the University of
Illinois, the University of Minnesota,
and the University of Wisconsin. Iowa
State College of Agriculture and* Me
chanic Arcs, the State University of
Iowa, the University of Missouri, and
Ohio State Universit.y, each spent more
than $2,000,UC0 for salaries and wages.
Each of the following spent more than
$1,000,000 on .salaries and wages: Indi
ana University, Purdue University
(Indiana), University of Kansas, Kan
sas State Agricultural College, Uni
versity of Kentucky, University of
Maryland, Michigan' State College of
Agriculture and Applied Science, Uni
versity of Nebraska, Oregon State
Agricultural College, Pennsylvania State
College, University of Texas, Agricul
tural and Mechanical College of Texas,
and University of Washington.
The report of the President to the ! centage was 10.6.
Board of Trustees of the University of | Funds raised by the sale of bonds
North Carolina for the school year [ were also a smaller percentage of the
1924-26 records that for salaries and i total in 1926 than in 1921, being 21.3
wages thesum of $782,866.27 wasspent. i percent in 1926 as compared with 27.8
It is apparent from this report that the ' percent in 1921.
HIGHWAY EXPENDITURES
North Carolina stands at the top
in the construction of state highways.
She ranks fifth in total expenditures
by state highway departments for the
year 1926. The states that rank ahead
of her are Pennsylvania, New York,
Illinois, and Michigan-, all of which are
far wealthier and more populous than
North Carolina. In proportion to popu
lation, wealth, and area North Carolina
leads in the United States in state
construction and maintenance of high
ways.
The entire South shows up splendidly
in state highway expenditures; better,
in fact, in state highway expenditures
than in any other matter in which the
states have been ranked by this pub
lication. A glance at the table which
appears below shows that eleven
.southern states fall in the first column,
and the other four near the top of the
second column. The Southern states
spent approximately two hundred million
dollars on state highway construction
and maintenance in 1926.
A significant fact revealed by the
federal Department of Agriculture’s
report on state highway expenditures
is the remarkable Increase in percentage
of total highway income derived from
motor vehicle and gasoline taxes, and
the falling off in the percentage repre
senting real and personal property taxa
tion. There has been a steady tendency
in this direction syice 1921. In that
year the combined income from motor
vehicle licenses and gasoline taxes
amounted to 25.9 percent, the gas tax
revenue amounting to less than one
percent. In 1926 the income produced
from these sources was 43.6 percent of
the year’s total, and the gas taxes alone
amounted to 13.6 percent.
In the same period taxes on property
specifically for road purposes have
dropped from 11.2 percent to 3.3 per
cent of the year’s total income. Includ
ing the income from appropriations and
miscellaneous sources, most of which is
raised by property taxation, the 1921
percentage was 20.7 and the 1926 per-
EXPENDITURES BY STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTS
The following table, based on data compiled by tbe U. S. Department of
Agriculture, ranks the states according to total expenditures by state highway •
departments for the year 1926.
North Carolina ranks fifth in total expenditures by state highway depart-,
ments for the year. However, our area, population, and wealth considered, we
ants furnished three-foujtbs of the con
victions for larceny and illegal receiv-
,ing, four-fifths of the convictions for
operating cars while intoxicated, four-
fifths of the abandonment, and four-
fifths of the bootlegging
“But landlessness is not merely a coun
try problem. In towns of ten thousand
inhabitants or more in North-Carolina,
from two-thirds to three-fourths of all
the people live in rented homes; and
they are forever moving from house to
house, from city to city, under the pinch
of necessity or the lure of opportunity.
...The mor^ populous and prosperous an
area becomes, the fewer are the people
who live in homes of their own. It is a
penalty we pay for what we are pleased
to call progress. And it is the crudest
paradox of Christendom. Eighty-nine
percent of all the persons in greater
New York live in rented homes—in the
tenements, apartment houses, and fam
ily hotels of a cliff'-dwelling civilizafion.
Sooner or later America will have to
reckon with her landless, homeless mul
titudes. Our landless are already nearly
half the population of the nation—more
than fifty million persons in the United
States.
“Civilization is rooted and grounded in
the home-owning, home-loving, home-
defending instincts. Herein lies the
have a market value in the spring ' merely because they choose bi^t because i has ever appeared in this publication. During the year 1925 the South spent
months, and only the most wealthy ! other crops do not thrive in their local-j approximately two hundred million dollars on state-constructed and state-main-
could afford them in tbe winter. Butter, ' ^ty. So they need organizations of wheat' tailed highways. All Southern states fall in the first column, or near the top
meats, and vegetables are offered the | growers, corn growers, fruitgrowers, j of the second column,
consuming public as needed, cold stor-■ ^he like, since the different farm^
age being the great stabilizing factor ' products present different problems.
affecting prices.” Further, Mr. Lewis
points out that many cars of hogs, poul
try,-'and cattle are being sent out of
North Carolina, while more than this
amount is se^t back into the state from
other sections to feed North Carolinians.
The advocacy of marketing establish
ments with cold storage facilities by
Mr. Lewis, Governor Morrison an*^
others, is also, as The Observer happens
to know, in line with the ideas of Dr.
E. C. Branson, head of the Department
of Rural Economics at tbe State Uni
versity. Dpetor Branson has pointed
out the fact that North Carolina is
importing approximately $232,000,000
worth of food and feed products, most
of which could be produced at homej.if
facilities for the handling and distribu
tion of these products were available.
Doctor Branson declared in a conversa
tion a few days ago that North (Caro
lina will continue to import huge, ridic
ulous amounts of food and feed stuffs
until just such facilities are provided at
home as are being advocated by Mr.
Lewis and as have been proposed fca-
Mecklenburg and this section by Gov-
But the farmers are organizing in
spite of the difficulties. Cooperative
associations reporting to the department
of agriculture at the end of 1926 had a
total membership of 2,700,000—more
than three times, as many as in 1916.
Some of these memberships were dupli
cated. But almost a third of the farmers
are now engaged in cooperative market
ing.
If these organizations continue the
present rate of increase in members,
they may soon stabilize agriculture.
Then the farmers won’t need aid.—
Hillsboro Record.
SOUTH S NEEDS
Frankly the South needs industrial
prosperity, but not at the expense of
the grace and charms of life. We need
education for the masses and expert
training for those who are to be leaders,
but ^ve should not like to have voca
tional and technical traning entirely
take the place of liberal culture.
We want all that mo^rn science can
bring us, but we do not want to become
These figures do not include expenditures by county and local authorities.
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
State
Rank State highway
expenditures
1 Pennsylvania $62,294,366
2 New Yerk 49,368,770
3 Illinois 36,376,983
4 Michigan 36,138,649
5 North Carolina 32,588,514
6 Missouri 31,593,937
7 Ohio 24,086,289
8 New Jerseyrr 23,939,464
9 Texas 19,986,007
10 California ' 18,090,728
11 Minnesota 17,962,667
12 West Virgii^ia 216,138,729
13 Oregon 16,663,463
14 Kentucky 14,916,316
16 Indiana 14,617,794
16 Tennessee 14,379,189
17 Iowa 14,107,798
18 Virginia 14,071,566
19 Oklahoma 12,937,673
20 Massachusetts 12,880,700
21 Maryland 12,024,781
22 Arkansas 11,200,000
23 Alabama 10,917,204
24 South Carolina 9,132,963
State
Rank State highway
expenditures
25 Connecticut $8,611,936
26 Louisiana 8,610,624
27 Florida 8,483,762
28 Georgia. 7,902,428
29 Washington 7,846,666
30 Wisconsin 7,784,733
31 Kansas 7,407,369
32 Maine 7,i06,389
33 South Dakota 6,378,176
34 Colorado 6,664,690
36 Nebraska 6,563,762
36 Mississippi 4,795,192
37 Utah 4,123,798
38 New Hampshire 4,027,242
39 Wyoming 3,973,494
40 Idaho 3,636.681
41 Vermont 3,618,327
42 Delaware 3,492,841
43 New Mexico 3,322,648
44 Nevada ! 3,066,969
46 Rhode Island 3,046,869
46 Arizona 2,442,947
47 North Dakota 1,862,348
48 Monta-*a 1,267,242