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 9, 1927
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. xni, No. 17
Editorial Board: 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 Postoffice at Chape! Hill, N. C.. under the act of August 24, 1912.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT LAWS
At the regular meeting of the North
Carolina Club, February 21, Ralph
W. Noe, of Carteret county, presented
a paper on County Government Laws
In this paper he described the relation
ship of the county to the state under
the Constitution of 1868, showing how
it had certain real powers and duties
under Section 2 of Article VII. But
under Section 14 of this Article, amend
ed to the Constitution in 1876, the
Legislature was given power to pass
any special act it saw fit for the govern
ing of counties and municipal cor
porations, except those providing that
there shall be no debt incurred without
a vote of the people except for a neces
sary expense, that all taxes shall be ad
valorem, and that debts in aid of the
rebellion shall not be paid.
The special acts passed under this
amendment have had a detrimental ef
fect on the counties for two reasons.
First, because of the large number of the
public-local laws(8,274 were passed, re
pealed, reenacted, or amended in the
period from ]yiI to 1926) and the fact
that they are scattered through the
many volumes of the session laws; this
makes it impossible to know exactly
what the law is for any one county,
and therefore impossible for the com
missioners elected therein to govern
the county as well as they might.
Second, the present practice of pass
ing public-local laws at the sug
gestion of the representatives and
without debate leaves room for evil
possibilities and has the effect of con
tusing the fiscal management of the
counties whep new officers, boards, or
other agents handling funds are es
tablisbed or abolished at almost every
biennial session.
The speaker showed how this has
resulted in taking the control of purely
local affairs away from the people in
many cases and has made it impossible
for the county commissioners to exer
cise their acknowledged duty of super
vising the other officers of the county
and regulating the finances.
The haphazard financial methods re
sulting thereoy have caused the counties
to resort almostentireiytotheuseoftbe
dilapidated cash-book systepi of book
keeping, which attempts to show nothing
more than a statement of receipts and
expenditures. This is very different
from a statement of revenues and ex
penses which will show the known in
come and expense for a certain fiscal
period, regardless of when or how col
lected and paid.
Uniform Accounting
Certain obvious advantages ,in uni
formity of accounts, which could only
be obtained by a general law applying
to all or most of the counties, were
brought out as follows:
1. Uniformity would enable a State
Board of Accountancy to render
valuable aid to the county com
missioners concerning their forms
of bookkeeping and the forms of
financial statements that they give
the public.
2. Uniformity Would permit a manual
of the duties of all county officers
and a code of county government
law lo be prepared.
3. Uniform accounts would enable
the state Auditor to keep more
accurate tab on the bonded in
debtedness of the counties, and to
see that debts are contracted only
according to law.
4. An uniform act would give the
Legislature opportunity to restore
to the commissioners final author
ity in the fiscal management of
the county, as they had under Sec-
2, Article VII, of the Constitution
of 1868, and which has been found
by practice to be the most scien
tific form of management.
Contents of the Bills
The county government bills which
are now before the legislature were
then examined to see how they pro
posed to correct the present evils in
county government. They cannot pre
vent public-local legislation but, if
adopted, there will be less need for so
much of it. They are designed prim
arily to secure sound financing.
One bill provides for either of two
forms of government,—the existing
commissioner form, or the county
manager form. It is also provided that
a continuing board of commissioners
may be elected by counties, if the
electors so decide by an election.
The county finance act and the county
fiscal act are the titles of the other two!
measures, one covering the issuance
of bonds and notes, the other placing
counties on a budget system so as to
compel tax levies sufficient to meet
appropriations. The latter two are
companion measures and provide for
clearing up all deficits of the present
year and thereafter balancing the bud
get each year, so as to avoid another
deficit.
The county finance act is modelled on
the municipal finance act and limits the
nature and amount of anticipation notes
which can be issued. Before bonds can
be issued for “necessary expenses"
there must be ten days’ notice given in
the newspapers, and a resolution spread
upon the minutes of the beard of com
missioners.
The county fiscal act would require a
budget estimate to be submitted to the
county board by the first Monday in
July, notice thereof given in the news
papers, and final action taken on the
fourth Monday of July. Provision is
made for a supplemental budget before
the annual levy of taxes which must be
made not later than the Wednesday after
the first Monday in August, the tax
levy being limited to the appropriation
which was made at the earlier meeting.
This appropriation is binding upon the
board tor the year and can not be
changed.
The act aims to prevent mingling
of current funds with sinking funds or
other entanglentent of accouftts by
placing the books in charge of an offi
cer known as the county accountant,
who may be the county auditor or any
other county officer except the sheriff,
tax collector, treasurer or county finan
cial agent. These officers are excepted
because one of the main duties of the
county accountant is to check their ac
counts.
The act would make non-negotiable
by banks all county notes that did not
contain an endorsement, signed by an
officer under penalty, that they are
within the appropriation. The same en
dorsement would be required of con
tracts.
FIFTY BOOKS FOR FARMERS
General
Book of rural life. 10 v. 1926. Bellows
Durham Co., $79.60
Soils and Fertilizers
Bear, E. Soil management. 1924. Wiley,
$2.00
Powers and Teeter. Land drainage for
farmers. 1922. Wiley, $2.75
Vivian, Alfred. First principles of soil
fertility. 1920. Judd, $1.40
Voorhees, E. B. Fertilizers. 1926. Mac
millan, $2.50
Weir, W. W. Productive soils. 1923.
Lippincott, $3.00
Crops
Harris, F.S. The sugar beet in Ameri
ca. 1919. Macmillan, $2.60
Hutcheson and Wolfe. Production of
field crops. 1924. McGraw, $3.60
Montgomery, E. G. Corn crops. 1920.
Macmillan, $2.00. Productive farm
crops. Ed. 3. 1922. Lippincott,
$3.00
Piper, C. V. Forage plants and their
culture. Rev. ed. 1924. Macmillan,
. $3.80
Fruits
Folger and Thomson. The commercial
apple industry of North America.
1921. Macmillan, $3.00
Fraser, Samuel. American fruits. 1924.
Judd, $4.76
Hedrick, U. P. Manual of American
grape growing. 1924. Macmillan, )
$3.00
Sears, F. C. Productive orcharding.
Ed. 2.1917. Lippincott, $3.00. Pro
ductive small fruit euUure. Ed. 2,
rev. 1926. Lippincott, $3.00
Vegetables
Chupp, C. Manual of vegetable garden
diseases. 1925. Macmillan, $4.00
Hand and Cockerham. Sweet potato.
1921. Macmillan, $2.60
Lloyd, J. W. Productive vegetable
growing. Ed. 6, rev. 1926. Lippin
cott, $3.00
Stuart, William. Potato. 1923. Lippin
cott, $3.00
CORPORATION VALUES
The fair value of the capital stock
of the six thousand-odd corporations
of North Carolina for the year 1924
as reported by them to the Federal
Treasury was nine hundred and
thirty-eight million dollars. Which
means that the market value of
such stocks was probably in excess
of one billion dollars.
The reported value of the capital
stock of our corporations is now
equal to the true value of all farm
property in the state, all lands,
buildings, livestock, and machinery
as reported by the Census Bureau.
It has not been so many years since
wealth in North Carolina consisted
largely of farm wealth. Today the
capital stock of our corporations has
a market value greater than the true
value ol all farm property in the
state, in order to further show the
extent of our urban-industrial de
velopment, it might be interesting
to note that the assessed value of all
town lots, including buildings there
on, is now almost equal to the assessed
value of all farm lands and buildings.
The bulk of our people live on the
farm, but the bulk of our wealth is
concentrated in towns and cities.
The following table shows the
facts about the capitalization of our
corporations as reported by them to
the Federal Treasury for the year
1924.
Capitalization
Per value preferred
stock,-- $91,4.1^718
Par value common
stock 625,194,378
Stock, no par value 13,491,237
Fair value, basis of capi
tal stock tax
Corp. reporting par
value of common
stock '. 919,640,300
Reporting no par value 16,301,371
Others 2,107,464
Total fair value com
mon stock 938,049,136
Taxable fair value 904,116,458
I Mechanics and Machinery
j Kranich, F. N. G. Farm equipment for
! mor'lmnii’a 1 1Q9Q IVTanwsiltan
mechanical power. 1923. Macmillan,
j $2,76
Page, V. W. Modern gas tractor. Ed.
4. 1921. Henley, $2.60
Potter, A. A. Farm motors. 3d ed.
1926. McGraw, $2.50
Smith, R. H. Agricultural mechanics.
1926. Lippincott, $3.00
Economics and Sociology
Galpin, J. C. Rural social problems.
1924. Century, $2.00
Gillette, J. M. Rural sociology. 1922.
Macmillan, $3.00
Gray, L. C. Introduction to agricultural
economics. 1924. Macmillan, $2.40
Steen, Herman, Cooperative marketing.
1923. Doubleday, $2.00
Wallace, H. C. Our debt and duty to
the farmer. 1926. Century, $1.76
—Selected by the American Library
Association.
Forestry
Cheyney and Wentling. The farm wood
lot. Ed. 2. 1926. Macmillan, $2.60
Animal Husbandry
Coffey, W. C. Productive sheep hus
bandry. 1914. Lippincott, $2.60
Craig, R. A. Common diseases of farm
animals. Ed. 3. 1919. Lippincott,
$3.00
Day, G. E. Productive swine husbandry.
1924. Lippincott
Gay, C. W. Productive horse husbandry.
Ed. 3. 1924.V Lippincott, $8.00
Henry and Morrison. Feeds and feeding.
Ed. 18. 1923. Authors, Madison,
Wisconsin, $3.86
Plumb, C. S. Types and breeds of farm
animals. 1920. Ginn, $3.80
Dairying
Farrington and Woll. Testing milk and
its products. 26th ed. 1924. Men-
dota Book Co.
Hunziker, 0. F. The butter industry.
1920. Author, LaGrange, III., $5.76
Sammis, J. L. Cheese making. 1924.
Cheese Maker Book Co., $2.26
Yapp and Nevens. Dairy cattle. 1926.
Wiley, $2.26
Poultry
Kaupp, B. F. Poultry culture, sanita
tion and hygiene. Ed. 3, 1924.
Saunders, $4.00
Lewis, H. R. Productive poultry hus
bandry. Ed. 6. 1923. Lippincott,
$3.00
Rice and Botsford. Practical poultry
management. 1926. Wiley, $2.76
BeeKeeping
The ABC and X Y Z of bee culture.
1920. A. I. Root Co., Medina, 0.,
$3.00 /
Langstroth, L. L. Langstroth bn the
hive and honey bee. Ed. 21. 1922.
American Bee Journal. 2.60
Pests
Georgia, A. E. Manual of weeds, 1914.
Macmillan, $3.00
Herrick, G. W. Manual of injurious
insects. 1926. Holt, $4,60
Sanderson and Peairs. Insect pests of
farm, garden and orchard. Ed. 2.
1921. Wiley, $4.60
Farm Buildings
Foster and Carter. Farm buildings. 1922.
Wiley, $3.00
Struck, F. T. Construction and repair
work on the farm. 1923. Houghton,
$3.75
BOTH IN SAME COUNTY
A correspondence student throws some
light on the unequal educational oppor
tunities of children in North Carolina.
How would you like for your child to
attend the first school described below?
Or more to the point, is the state treat
ing fairly the children who must attend
such a school?
“The poorest rural school that I
know is a one-teacher, one-room affair,
with a cracked stove in the middle of
the floor, windows on each side and one
end of the room with several missing
panes of glass, no library, pictures, or
other cultural influences in sight.
The desks are crude and ill-adjusted to
the age and size of the pupils. The
teacher, a young girl of poor training,
goes through about thirty lessons a
day, and not many pupils are repaid
for their trouble of coming to school.
“The best rural school that I am ac
quainted with is a consolidated stan- ■
dard high and standard elementary
school—one teacher to the grade in the
elementary department and several
high school teachers. There is a splen
did farm life school with a domestic
science department in connection with
the school. There are good buildings
and equipment and the pupils seem to
feel that their tiriie is counting for
something.” ^
OUR CORPORATIONS CLASSIFIED
The following table shows the number of North Carolina corporations by
classes, the number reporting to the Federal Government net income for the
year 1924, the amount of net income reported, and the income and profits tax
paid to the federal government. The table shows at a glance the essential facts
about corporations of the state, the number by classes, net earnings by classes,
and the amount of income tax paid by the different classes of corporations. The
amount of gross income by classes of corporations is not available.
Industrial groups Total No. Number Net Income and
of corpo- reporting income profits
rations net income tax
Agricultural corporations and related
industries 160 72... $122,730... $4,601
Mining and quarrying 49 14... 246.741... 27,932
Manufacturing:
Tobacco, foodproflucts,beverages.. 220 144... 29,822,477... 3,700,800
Textile and textile products 459 194... 9,207,143... 1,046,185
Leather and leather products 11 6... 88,161... 830
Rubber and rubber goods 4 1... 1,787...
Lumber and wood products 294..- 184... 4,101,948... 478,947
Paper, pulp, and products 10 8... 40,142... 3,499
Printing and publishing 103 55... 660,731... 69,911
Chemicals and allied substances... 81 46... 1,038,986... 116,342
Stone, clay, and glass products 67 44... 664,263... 70,392
Metal and metal products 77 39... 377,134... 38,681
All other Mfg. industries 49 24... ^318,673... 35,443
Total manufacturing 1,365 744... 46,201,434.. 5,660,930
Construction 108 76... 631,486... 60,770
Transportation and other public utili
ties 389 236... 19,842,796... 2,454,761
Trade (only corporations) 1,897 1,266.. 8,385,035... 808,216
Public service—professional, amuse
ments, hotels, etc 337 166... 776,674... 19,601
Finance-—banking, insurance etc 1,443 927... 7,040,890... 703,907
Combinations—predominant industries
not ascertainable 60 30... 686,737.., 65,623
Inactive concerns 277 —... ...
Total 6,085 3,629...$83,731,523... $9,726,312
INCOME TAXES PAID BY CORPORATIONS
On Income Returned for Year Ending Dec. 31, 1924
In the table below, based on Statistics of Income, Federal Treasury De
partment, the states are ranked according to federal income taxes paid by
corporations on income returned for the calendar year ending Dec. 31,1924. The
parallel columns give the number of corporations in each state, and the num
ber reporting net income.
North Carolina ranks seventeenth in federal income tax paid by corpora
tions, $9,726,312. The tax was paid by 3,629 of the 6,085 corporations in the
state. Only 68 percent of our corporations reported net income. The gross in
come of these 3,629 corporations was $961,977,206, and the net income was $83,-
731,623. The gross income of all corporations in the state was $1,232,206,820,
or about three times the gross value of all farm products for the same year.
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
Rank State
Total
Number
Federal
Rank State
Total
Number
Federal
number
report-
income
number
report- ‘
income
corpo-
ing net
tax
corpo-
ing net
tax
rations
income
rations
income
1
N. Y...
..76,043
43,406 $246,109,308
26
W. Va.
.. 5,336
2,818
6,636,627
2
Pa
..23,429
12,988
87,167,653
26
Ga
... 6,099
3,J)80
5,636,205
3
Ill
,26,414
16,969
82,467,674
27
Iowa....
... 8,961
4,993
6.284,901
4
Mich. -.
..12,778
7,429
69,869,267
28
R. I
... 2,465
1,310
6,236,749
6
Ohio....
.22,764
13.369
61,129,974
29
Del
... 991
694
4,703,290
6
Cal
.19,737
9,990
44,161,442
30
Okla. ...
.. 5,729
2,929
3,969,267
7
Mass. .
.17,101
9,412
40,796,074
31
Ala
... 3,838
2,373
3,905,099
8
N. J. ..
..14,229
8,680
30,688,913
32
Maine..
... 3,444
1,966
3,633,832
9
Mo
.16,139
8,906
26,039,340
33
Oregon.
... 6,647
2,733
3,106,610
10
Texas...
.10,787
6,815
16,819,180
34
Nebr...
... 4,679
2,896
2,762,866
11
Wis. .
.13,144
7,679
15,113,200
36
Utah....
... 5,096
1,483
2,098.811
12
Ind
.10,832
6,656
32,930,267
36
Ark
... 2,664
1,670
1,864,449
13
Minn. .
.10,800
6,783
12,698,036
37
S.C
... 4,104
2,111
1,372,469
14
Conn. .
. 6,782
3,431
11,848,127
38
Miss. ..
... 1,977
1,305
1,336,653
16
Md
. 6,202
2,933
9,846,911
39
Vt
... 1,060
683
1,011,271
16
Kansas.
. 4,985
3,184
9,832,973
40
N. H. .
... 1,175
704
929,840
17 N. C
TT" Va
.6,085
, 6,018
3,529
3,676
9,726,312
9,392,478
41
42
Mont. .
Ariz. ...
... 4,028
.. 1,526
1,489
679
841,019
776,072
19
Ky
. ‘6,226
3,226
7,347,437
43
Idaho ..
.. 2,071
902
680,401
20
Colo. ..
.. 6,494
2,891
7,024,097
44
N. D. .
... 3,084
1,601
443,397
21
Fla
. 6,224
3,094
7,006,389
45
Wyo. ..
... 1,527
761
391,311
22
La
.. 6,166
2,943
6,934,261
46
S. D. ..
... 2,970
1,669
366,446
23
Wash...
.10,096
4,856
5,860,662
47
N. M. .
... 1,037
413
270,886
24
Tenn....
. 6,100
3,074
6,789,104
48
Nev. ...
.. 1,049
^ 327
147,168