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.
MARCH 2, 1927
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIII, No. 16
Editorial Uoard: E. 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 PostofTice at Chapel Hill. Nl C.. under the act of August 24. 1912.
MUNICIPAL BONDED DEBT
In a recent issue of this publication,
volume XIII, No II, was , presented a
table showing the essential facts about
the bonded debt of our counties. Else
where in this issue appears a table in
which the cities and ^owns of North
Carolina are ranked according to the
percent the municipal bonded debt is
01 all wealth listed for taxation within
the municipality. A p^irallel column
gives the amount of the municipal
bonded debt on June 30, 1926, as report
ed by the State Auditor. The taxable
wealthdata are for the yearl926 forsorae
towns and for 1926 for others, due to
differences in the fiscal year of various
towns. Thus the debt ratio to wealth in
some instances will be subject to a
slight correction. The change will not
be material, however.
The table covers one hundred and
fifty-six cities and towns with a bonded
debt of as much as fifty thousand dol
lars each. Four towns with a debt of
more than fifty thousand dollars each are
not ranked, due to the lack of taxable
wealth data. Seventy-nine towns have
a bonded debt of less than fifty thou
sand dollars each. There are approxi
mately two hundred and fifty towns in
the state which report no bonded debt.
The great majority of such towns are
very small places, generally without
improved streets, sidewalks, sewer, or
lights, and whose schools are ineluded
ic the county system.
Andrews Leads
Andrews has the largest debt in
proportion to wealth listed for taxa
tion. The debt amounts to 43.3 percent
of listed property, according to official
data. In eleven towns the debt is more
than thirty percent of the wealth listed
for taxation. In nineteen towns the
bonded debt ranges frpm thirty to
twenty percent of the wealth listed for
taxation. JBelmont has the smallest
debt in proportion to wealth, of the
tovns included in the table.
Winston-Salem had the largest total
bonded debt of the cities^f the state,
$13,806,000, followed by Greensboro
with $11,348,000, Charlotte with $9,-
990,000, and Asheville with $8,942,700.
The state total municipal bonded debt
on June 30, last, was nearly one hun
dred and thirty-nine million dollars, or
approximately two hundred dollars per
inhabitant residing in municipalities
having bonded debt. The bonded debt of
the cities and towns has been incurred
for the following purposes: Lights, wa
ter, sewer, istreets, and fire department
$100,883,418; for schools $16,567,600;
other public improvements $13,986,100;
funding debt $7,112,600; and for rail
roads $231,700.
In other words the debt has been in
curred in order to provide essential
permanent improvements without which
the cities and towi?s could not exist.
Debt Average Not High
The per inhabitant municipal debt in
North Carolina is about the average
for all of the municipalities ' of the
United States having more than thirty
thousand inhabitants. There are several
towns in the state which appear to
have a rather heavy debt, but in a big
majority of our towns the debt is
conservative. It is possible that a few
towns have been imprudent in issuing
bunds for permanent improvements.
Undoubtedly a few towns have invested
too heavily in streets, water, lights,
sewers and other improvements. How
ever, in the great majority of cases the
bond issues have been voted by the tax
payers and the improvements have beeB-
received with a hearty welcome.
The rapid increase in the municipal
ahd other bonded debt shows that the
people of the state are growing more
liberal in their views about government
debt. We often hear warnings issued
when the county or municipal debt
amounts to as much as five or ten per
cent of the taxable wealth. But why
should they be alarmed? What success
ful individual or corporation would
hesitate to go heavily in debt for
necessary improvements? Yet states,
counties and cities are often warned not
to do just what successful individuals
and corporations find it necessary and
profitable to do, namely, to make long-
' time investment in necessary perma
nent improvements. The town that
fails to equip itself properly with
streets, water, lights, sewers and schools
will pay dearly for its frugality. The
town that invests reasonably in these
essenti’als is the town that will grow
and prosper.
Statutory Limit
The municipal finance act sets the limit
that a municipality may bond itself at
eight percent of wealth listed for taxa
tion. But there are exceptions to the
statutory limit, and it seems to be easy
enough for a town to have a higher
limit incorporated in its charter, or to
get the legislature to authorize bond
issues beyond the statutory limit, and
to validate bond issues where towns by
choice or compulsion have gone beyond
the limit. In fact practiclly all the
towns and cities of the state are now
beyond the statutory limit, many of
them far beyond it. Which is not nec
essarily evidence that they are headed
for bankruptcy. In fact the limit seems
to be ridiculously low, judging by the
number of towns and cities that have
not found it a workable maximum.—
S. H. H , Jr.
INCOMES COMPARED
In comparing purchasing power of
farmers and city-dwellers, one im
portant fact is generally overlooked,
contends Advertising and Selling (New
York),namely,that “to live on the same
standard as the farmer, the city family
must have an income that is two-thirds
larger than that of the farmers.” As
the basis for this assertion it is noted
that the United States Department of
Agriculture recently made a survey
“the results of which proved that an
$1,860 cash income on the farm is as
good as a $3,000 income in the city.”
As the editor of the advertising fort
nightly reminds us:
“A study of the living expenses of
2,886 typical farm families in several
widely separated states was made. It
was found that these expenses averaged
about $1,600 per family. This $),6U0
included $684 worth of goods raised on
the farfti, or provided by the farm,
such as food, fuel, and housing. In
other words, about two-fifths of the
expenses of each farm family are
secured from the farm in the form of
goods. To pay their expenses, thpse
typical farm families bad to have a
cash income of only about $900.
“This is a fact about the farm market
that is steadily overlooked. We are
always comparing city incomes with
farm incomes, to the disadvantage of
the latter. We forget_that the urban
family with an income of $3,000, which
is a typical city income, is no better off
than the farmer whose cash income is
only three-fifths of that figure. The
city man’s income is gross. From it
must be deducted food, rent, fuel and
other items, for a large part of which
the farmer does not have to make a
cash outlay.
“It may, therefore, be inferred from
the Department of Agriculture’s figures
that if a farmer has a cash Income of
$1,800, It gives him the same buying
power that the city man has with a
?)3,U0u income. With his elemental
necessities largely provided directly
from the farm, the farmer’s family can
use most of its cash income to buy con
veniences, comforts, and luxuries.”—
Literary Digest.
THE LEGISLATURE PRAYS
Almighty God, Lord of all Govern
ments, help us, in the opening hours
of this legislative session, to realize
the sanctity of politics.
Give us the insight and grant lis
the power to lift this business of
Government into an adventure that
we may with reverence call the
politics of God, because by it we
shall seek to fashion the life of this
commonwealth in the likeness of
that City of God v/hich has been the
dream of saints and seers for un
numbered centuries.
Save us from the sins to which we
shall be subtly, tempted as the calls
of parties and the cries of interests
beat upon this seat of government.
Save us from thinking about the
next election when we - should be
thinking about the next generation.
Save us from dealing in personali
ties when we should be dealing in
principles.
Save us from thinking too much
about the vote of majorities when
we should Jbe thinking about the
virtue of measures.
Save us, in crucial hours of debate,
from saying the things that will
take when “we should be saying the
things that are true.
Save us from indulging in catch
words when we should be searching
for facts.
Save us from making party an end
in itself when we should be making
it a means to an end.
May we have greater reverence
for the truth than for the past.
Help us to make party our servant
rather than our master.
May we know that it profits us
nothing to win elections if we lose
our courage.
May we be worthy of the high
calling of government. Amen. —Dr.
Glenn Frank, Chaplain Wisconsin
Legislature.
FARMERS MUST ORGANIZE
We hear the-~cry of “back to the
land” continually, but for one who goes
back a thousand go away. . . . The
miracle to be wrought is the creation
of rural civilization. Civilization im
plies some measure of luxury and com
fort. It can only be attained when the
community is organized and has
strength to retain some surplus of
wealth beyond what is required for the
bare-aeces8i(ies of life. The organized
industries, the organized communities
are always wresting any surplus from
the unorganized, 'fhe business mind of
the country must be organizecito counter
the business mind of the towB-—George
W. Russell (A. E.) in yXbe Scoop
Shovel.”
the University of Southern California,
and as director of farm management F.
O. Clark, former head of the Vocational
Department of Berea College, Berea,
Kentucky. No salesmen were employed,
no advertising done. It was not pri
marily a commercial proposition. Farms
were to be built and farmers trained in
the profession of agriculture.
The first work was to rehabilitate
the old farm buildings on the property;
then to build good roads to make
marketing of farm crops easy. The
next step^was to select carefully the
future owners of the farms. This was
done through the 745 department
stores. Families known and recom
mended by the managers of these
stores were put on the preferred list.
Each farmer is given the opportunity,
after he has lived on the farm one
year, of purchasing and ownipg it in
full, provided he is satisfied and pro
vided he conforms to the high standards
of character and industry set up by
the Penney Farm management. No
down payment is made, but the farms
are paid for out of the profits made
from the soil.
To insure the success of the indivi
dual farmer the J. 0. Penney-Gwinn
Institute of Applied Agriculture has
\ been established at Penney Farms,
! eight miles from Green Cove Springs
! (near the land where the corporation
rnT ntav ! bas its headquarters). This institute is
SAtin. LUI.UI11 jin charge of Albert A. Johnson, for-
In twenty-four years James C. Pun- mer head of the Farmingdale School
ney has risen from a clerk in a little ' of Agriculture of New York. Both
country store, living witn his family m' the students at the school and the
an attic, to the creation of over 7UU | farmers on the land are given the.oreti-
deparlrnent stores m what is known as ' cal and practical training in Florida soil
the Penney Chain, extending through ^ and crop conditions. The students are
forty-six states, and now doing a busi-1 given sufficient employment to enable
ness of over $116,660,600 a year. Every them to pay their wayl and after
employee has been given the opportuu- graduation they can take up farms of
ity to become a partner in tbdse chain their own. Before thp farms are
stores. Having achieved signal success | opened to settlement there is a careful
. MUNICIPAL bonded DEBT IN NORTH CAROLINA
Ratio of Debt to Taxable Wealth, June 30,1926
In the following table the towns and cities of the state are ranked accord
ing to the percent the bonded debt on June 30, 1926, was of wealth listed for
taxation. The parallel column gives the bonded debt of each municipality as
reported by the State Auditor. Data on taxable wealth for 1926-26 were sup
plied by Mr. Dan Terry, of the State Tax Commission, from tabulations not yet
published. In some cases the taxable wealth as returned to the Tax Commis
sion refers to 1925, in others to 1926. The debt ratio to wealth, therefore, is sub
ject to some very slight corrections in several cases.
The bonded debt of Andrews amounts to 43.3 percent of all wealth listed for
taxation. The debt of Belmont is 1.3 percent of the taxed wealth.
State total municipal debt June 30, 1926, was $138,781,318. Seventy-nine
towns with a debt of less than fifty thousand dollars each are not included in
the table below. Approximately two hundred and fifty incorporated towns in
the state have no bonded debt.
S. H.' Hobbs, Jr.
Department of Rural Social-Economics. University of North Carolina
with bis department stores, Mr. Penney
has decided to extend the same princi
ples to farming.
In December, 1924, he purchased 120,-
0.00 acres of land in Clay county,
Florida, with the idea of developing the
tract into 6,000 small farms. While 20,-
000 acres of land were being put under
the plow, he gathered about him men
of exceptional ability and placed them
in positions of responsibility. For his
personal representative he selected D.
Walter Morton, former dean of „the
School of Commerce and Accounting of
chemical and bacteriological soil anal
ysis. Every process known to'science
will be utilized to build the soil up to its
highest state of productivity.
Though the farm development ^has
been called paternalism, and^even
socialism, the department-store founder
declares it contains the soundness of
purely American business principles.
Helping others to help themselves is
good business, he firmly believes, and
he points to the great chain of stores to
prove it.—Adajlted from Manufacturers
Record. v
Percent
Bonded
bonded
Rank Town
Rank Town
debt
debt is of
debt
assessed
value
assessed
value
1 Andrews
$ 648,000
43.3
79 Gastonia
$ 3,167,600
12.6
2 Bryson City
420,000
39,0
80 Elkin
354,000.
....12.5
3 Plymouth
391,000
37.7
80 Eincolnton
673,000
12.6
4 Walnut Cove....
274,000
36.4
80 Maxton
241,000.
....12.6
6 Morehead City
921,600
34.6
83 Washington
962,000.
....12.3
6 Rutherfordton..
704,000
34 1
83 Southport
86 Star
121,000
12.3
7 Kernersville ....
422, (too
33.6
86,000.
....12.2
8 Franklin
374,000.
33.2
86 Graham
364,000.
....12.1
9 Taylorsville
289,000
33.1
86 Mocksville
205,600.
....12.1
10‘Scotland Neck.
637,600.
32.7
86 N. Wlikesboro
442,000.
....12.1
11 Boone
238,000.
31.6
89 Lenoir
638,000.
....12.0
12 Wake Forest...
364,600.
....SI0.3
90 Pinetops
73,000.
....11.9
13 Hendersonville.
2,269,000.
....28.8
90 Roseboro
86,000.
....11.9
14 Troy
6i3,000.
....2r.2
90 Wilson
2.311,600.
....11.9
16 Tbomasville
1,396,600.
....27.1
93 \sheviUe
8,942,700.
....11.6
16 Beaufort*
627,000.
26.9
93 Henderson
913,000
11.6
17 Snow Hill
220,000.
26.8
98 Hickory
1,174,000
H‘.6
18 Southern Pines
689,000
26.8
93 Huntersville ....
89,000.
....n.6
19 Forest City
761,000.
....23.6
97 LaGrange
129,000.
....11.6
20 Lexington
1,913,000.
....23.0
98 Aberdeen
147,600.
....11.3
21 Davidson
242,000.
....22.6
98 Statesville
1,627,000.
....11,3
22 Saluda
148,000.
....21.4
98 Weldon
218, oeo.
....11.3
,23 Burnsviije
217.000.
....20.9
98 Whiteville
193,600.
....11.3
24 Elizabeth City.
2,470,000.
....20.8^
98 Elm City
106,000.
11.3
26 Brevard
423,000.
....20.5
1Q3 Jacksonville....
66,000.
....11.1
25 Windsor
206,000
....20.6
104 Concord
1,472,600.
',...11.0
27 Enfield
376,000.
....20.3
104 Marion
286,000.
....11.0
27 Murphy
296,000.
....20.3
104 Littleton
132,000.
....11.0
29 Ahoskle
302,000.
....20.0
107 Farmville
306,700.
....10.9
29 Blowing Rock..
100,000.
....20.0
107 Robersonville..
137,000.
....10.9
31 Madison
302,600.
....19.9
109 Ashboro
318,000.
....10.8
32 Louisburg
306,500.
....19.8
110 Reidsville
862,000.
....10.7
33 Lumberton
839,000.
....19.6
110 Warsaw
136,600.
....10.7
34 Tryon
223,600.
....19.4
112 Biltmore
123,000.
....10.5
36 Sylva
343,000.
....19.0
112 Winston-Salem
13,806,000.
....10.5
36 Franklinton
266,000.
....18.4
114 China Grove
140,000.
....10.3
36 Zebulon
221,000
....18.4
114 Durham
7,293,000.
....10.3
38 Mebane
491,000.
....17.9
114 Mount Holly ....
381.000.
....10.3
‘38 Spencer
652,000.
....17.9
114 Siler City
160,000.
...,10.3
40 Benson
472,600.
....17.8
118 Tabor
76,000.
....10.2
40 Wendell
178,000.
....17.8
119 Conover
91,000.
....10.1
42 Apex
192,000.
....17.7
119 Norwood
132,000.
....10.1
42 Spring Hope
182,000..
...17.7
119 Raleigh
4,861,922.
....10.1
44 Red Springs
210,600..
...17.6
122 Rockingham....
477,600.
....10.0
46 Waynesville
464,000..
...17.3
123 Kinston
993,800.
.... 9.7
46 Belhaven
225,000..
...17.2
124 Bessemer City
261,000..
.... 9.6
47 Albemarle
929,000..
...17.1
124 Goldsboro
1,623,600.
.... 9.6
48 Black M\5untain
176,000..
....16.9
126 Smithfield
306,000.
.... 9.6
49 Cherryville
471,600..
...16.4
127 Morganton
655,300.
.... 9.3
60 Laurinburg
610,000..
...16.1 •
127 Mooresville
576,446..
.... 9.3
51 Hertford
249, too..
...16.0
127 Rocky Mount..
1,866,000.
.... 9.3
52 Canton
704,000.
....16.8
130 Newton
343,000 .
9.1
62 Salisbury
3,440,000.
....16.8
130 West Hickory..
136,000..
.... 9.1
64 Fairmont
208,000..
...15.7
132 Mt. Gilead
160,000.
.... 8.9
54 Sanford
791,000,.
...16.7
133 Leaksville
283,000..
... 8.6
66 Roxboro.....
475,000..
...15.3
134 Charlotte
9,990,000..
.... 8.4
57 Wadesboro
628,000..
...16.2
136 Saint Pauls ...
129,000..
.... 8.1
58- Nashville
165,000..
...16.1
136 Hazelwood
74,000..
... 7.8
68 Williamston
240^600 .
...16.1
136 Wilmington
3,119,000..
... 7.8
60 Dunn
638,000..
...16.0
138 Spindale
195.000..
... 7.6
60 Oxford
685,000..
...15.0
138 Spruce Pines...
94,000..
... 7.6
62 Maiden
221,600..
...14.9
138 Weaverville....
65.600..
... 7.6
63 Cary
142,000..
...14.8
141 Hillsboro
64,000..
... 7.2
63 Mount Olive
387,000..
...14.8
142 Granite Falls...
157,000..
... 7.1
65 "Shelby
1,234,600..
...14.7
142 Kings Mt’n
376,000..
... 7.1
66 Burlington
1,448,500..
...14.4
144 Marsbville
67,000 .
... 7.0
66 WUkesboro
66,000..
...14.4
144 Mount Airy
483,600..
... 7.0
68 Monroe
676,000..
...14.3
144 New Bern
994,000..
... 7.0
69 High Point
4,393,000..
...13.6
147 Warrentdn
114,000..
... 6.3
70 Bethel
113,000..
...13.5
148 Chapel Hill
236,760..
... 6.1
70 Clinton
270,600..
...13.6
148 Old Fort
67,000:.
... 6.1
70 Rowland
127,600..
...13.6
160 Raeford
112,000..
... 6.3
73 Greensboro
11,348,000..
...13.4
160 Wallace
75,000..
... 6.3
74 Tarboro
721,000..
...12.8
152 Edenton
175,100..
... 4.8
74 Hamlet
606,000..
...12.8
153 Clayton
71,000..
.. 3.8
76 Ellerbe
74,000..
...12.7
163 Fremont
71,000..
... 3.8
76 Fayetteville
1,594,000 .
...12.7
164 Greenville
300,000..
... 3.4
76 Stantonsburg....
67,000..
...12.7
166 Belmont ..S
80,000..
... 1.3
♦Using 1924 taxable wealth.
Bonded debt for Aurora was $374,800; for Hamilton Lakes $200,000; for
Kenilworth $203,009; and for Laurel Park $160,000; Taxable wealth data were
not available. -