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.
APRIL 6. 1927
CHAPEL HILL. N. C.
THE U.NIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIII, No. 21
Bditurinl lioard: E, C. Branson, S. H. Hobbs. Jr.. L. K. Wilson. E. W. Knijjht. D. D. Carroll. J. B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14, iai4. at the Postofflce at Chape! Hill, N. C., under the act of Aukusi ii4. 1912,
NEW COUNTY GOVERNMENT LAWS
NEW COUNTY BUDGET ACT
One of the new county\gpvernmeiit
laws is called The County Fiscal Con
trol Act. This act provides in the first
place that the board of county commis
sioners in each county shall appoint in
April 1^27, and biennially thereafter,
“some person of honesty and ability,
who is experienced in modern methods
of accounting, as county accountant.”
In counties in which there is an auditor
he shall be given the powers and duties
of accountant. Or the l^o.Brd may im-
pdse the duties upon any county officer,
except the sheriff' or tax collector,
treasurer or financial agent. The du
ties of the accountant, or the person
acting in that capacity, are briefly:
(a) act as accountant for the county
and suli^iviskms in settling with all
county officers; (b) keep a record of all
receipts, disbursements and contracts;
(c) require every officer and depart
year. Hence a supplementary budget
is to be submitted by the accountant as
soon as practicable after the first
Monday in July. Upon the submission
of the figures showing increase or de^
crease in deficits or balances, the ap
propriation resolution shall be deemed
automatically amended by .,the ami-unt
of such increases or decreases. The
: supplementary budget does not affect
the appropriation for any item, but
must be taken into consideration in
fixing the tax levy.
Annual Statement
Early in July the county accountant
must publish a statement of the finan
cial condition of the county, giving (a)
the assessed valuation for the current
year; (b) itemized statement of the
county debt; (c) amount and rate of
taxation for the preceding fiscal year;
(d) amount of taxes uncollected at the
end of each of the three preceding
ment receiving or disbursing money of j years, and amount of such taxes
the county or its subdivisions',to keep n | collected by the close of the preceding
detailed record of ail financial trans
actions; (d) examine monthly, or often-
er, all books, accounts, receipts, vouch
ers and other records of all county offi
cers and departments, including the
fiscal year; (e) miscellaneous revenue
(f) deficits, if any, in all county funds
for the preceding fiscal year; (g) defi
cits, for each subdivision; (h) surplus
revenues xof the county, and of eacn
road commission arid the county board i subdivision for the preceding year; (i)
of education; (e) require regular re-! unencumbered balances oi ibe couniy,
ports of all fees, fines and penalties; | and of each subdivision; (j) the esti-
(f) file annually a complete statement | mated rate of taxation for county pur-
of the financial conditions of the coun- ’ poses and for each subdivision for the
ty; (g) co-operate in the development j current fiscal year,
of simple, accurate and uniform ac-: Levy
counts for all the counties. xt i * m; j i
Not later than Wednesday after the
Btidget Estimate , third Monday in August the corniuis
Each department head or other sioners shall make sufficient levy upon
spending agency must file before June 1
of each year (a) a statement 'f the
amounts expended and estimated to be
expended for each object in his depart
ment in the current fiscal year; (b) be
ginning in 1928, a statement of ex
penditures for the previous fiscal year;
(c) an estimate of the requirements of
his department for each object in the
ensuing fiscal year.
Upon receipt of such statements and
estimates the county accountant shall
prepare a budget estimate for the
next ensuing year. This shall show
an estimate of the amount necessary to
be appropriatfed for the different ob
jects of the county, and its subdivisions,
an itemized estimate of the revenue
available for each fund, and an esti
mate of the amount of unencumbered
balance in each fund. The following
funds must be kept distinct: (1) cur
rent expenses of the county; (2) con
stitutional school maintenance; (3)
county-wide school expenses over and
the taxable property ol the county to
meet the budget requirements.
To i^revent Deficits
No
PROGRAM FOR EDUCATION
1. A businesslike State system of
school organization, administration,
supervision, and support; a profes
sionally staffed and adeqdate State
department of education.
2. Establishriient of an effective
unit for the greatest efficiency in
local school administration, or such
changes in existing unit as will add
to its practical efiiciency.
3. Readjustment of elementary
and secondary education to include
(a) education for health, (b) educa
tion for citizenship, (c) education
for life occupation, and (d) educa
tion for leisure.
4. A liberal system of school sup
port, including sources which sup
plement income from property taxa
tion, if possible; a scientifically dis
tributed equalization func; or an
equitable method of distributing
established funds to equalize educa
tional opportunities and at the sam^-
time provide an equitable distribu
tion of tax burdens.
5. Provision which insures sani
tary and appropriate school grounds
and buildings, preferably under State
supervision and inspection.
6. Preparation of an adequate
staff of teachers.
7. Provision for a modern system
of certificating teachers based on h
gradual increase in professional
requirements.
8. Adequate pr«»vision for living
salaries for these teachers, longer
tenures, and retirement pension.-
Federal Bureau of Education.
$13.60. And this $13.60 includes food,
clothing, tobacco, snuff, the superin
tendent's salary, and even Nancy the
cook's wages. There are sundry other
county accountant as tohows: “Provi
sion tor the ^laymeiit of the moneys to
tail due under this agreement has been
made by appropriation duly made or by ;
- J little interesting items here and there in
contract or agreement or requisfr- , , ^ .
. the records, too, which read somewhat
tion requiring the payment of money; - „ „ ’ .J, . , „ ,
II K ,r .. w A u .u as follows; Received from sale of
Shall be vaiid unless endorsed by the ' , .
stock, produce, etc., $464.83, which
i undoubtedly furnish food for thought
: for those who doubt the wisdom of the
board’s decision and the practical re-
. . .i , • J I suits of Mr. Corbett’s labors,
bonds or notes duly auinonzed, as ’
required by the ‘County Fiscal Control i 'Ibere are still many things to be de-
Act.Before making such certificate , County Home could
the county accoiinianc must ascertain considered a model for absolute
that funds are available-to meet the emulation, particularly in
obligation ' house itself, which, though provided
No claim against the county or any and conven-
subdivision shall be paid unless signed (>■*“ “ “P"
by the head of the department for P^arance with the things going on out-
which the expense was incurred and . ® '^P to-date home
approved by the county accountant: are rarely perfected m four
Provided, the board may approve a years-especaliy when the funds for
their perfection must be provided from
And there are those
above constitutional school maintenance; Itherefor. Accounts shall be
(4) county debt service; (5) county
roads; (6) each special purpose to
which the General Assembly has given
its special approval, separately stated;
(7) debt service of each subdivision,
separately stated; (8) maintenance of
each subdivision, separately stated; (9)
permanent improvements in each subdi
vision, separately stated. Each fund is
subdivided into functional accounts.
Budget Publicity
Immediately upon the submission of
the budget estimate, and at least
twenty days before the adoption of the
appropriation resolution, the board is
required (a) to file the budget estimate
in the office of the clerk of the board
for public inspection; (b) to furnish a
copy of the budget estimate to each
newspaper published in the county; and
(c) to publish in at least, one news
paper a summaiy of the budget esti
mate.
Not later than the fourth Monday in
July the board shall adopt and record
^n its minutes an appropriation resolu
tion, the form of which shall be pre
scribed by the county accountant. The
board is not bound by the budget esti
mates except (1) it shall not reduce the
appropriation recommended for debt
service (that is, principle and interest
of bonds and notes falling due and
sinking fund deposits); (2) it must
provide for a six months school term;
(3) it must appropriate the full amount
of all deficits reported in the budget
estimate; (4) no appropriation shall be
made in e.xcess of the amount which
may be raised under constitutional or
statutory limits of taxation.
Since the budget estimate is prepared
in June it is not possible to know the
exact balance or deficit which may be
shown by each at the end of the fiscal
claim disallowed by the county accoun-,
tant by entering on its minutes the ' ^ ic treasury
who believe most frankly that this
“Live at Home” idea around which
Superintendent Corbett has built his
plan for making the county farm pay
its own expenses will eventually solve
a problem which has been a matter of
concern in other counties and states
than Pitt and North Carolina.
The events—and the figures—of com
ing years will determine the real worth
kept by the county accountant for each
object of appropriation, and every
warrant or order upon the county
treasury shall state specifically against
which fund the warrant or order is
drawn. Every public officer and em
ployee whose duty it is to collect or
receive public funds most deposit the
same with the county treasurer or a
designated bank daily, and make report experiment which is going on at
the Pitt County Home for the Poor,
twenty-three counties appearing in the
table are with one exception all locat
ed In the eastern half of the state.
The exception is Forsyth where the
negro ratio is high. It will be noted
that almost without exception the
counties that have high infant death
; rates have high negro population ratios.
! The negro infant death rate is ordi-
I narily about fifty percent higher than
! the white infant death rate.
However, there are many counties
with large white population ratios that
have high infant death rates, as Davie,
Surry, Polk, and others.
Urban Coiinties RanK Low
It will also be noted that the counties
with large urban population ratios
usually have high infant death rates,
the deaths probably occurring more
frequently among the poorer classes
and especially among the negroes in
cities. All of the counties with large
urban population ratios appear in the
second column of the table, raokingbe-
tween fifty-five and one hundred. The
urban counties with large negro ratios
rank especially low.
North Carolina has a high infant
death rate compared with other states.
Out of thirty-seven states for which data
were reported by the Federal Census in
1923, only ten states had higher infant
death rates than North Carolina.
Children born alive but dying before
the first birthday numbered 6,691 in
North Carolina in 1925."^ Probably a
large number of infant deaths were not
reported. More infants die in North
Carolina each year than there are people
in many counties of the state. The rate
^ is appalling. The cause is largely
ignorance of the proper care of infants.
I More adequate facilities for the prouer
; instruction of mothers, young and old,
I v/ould greqtly reduce the infant aeath
irate.
I Maternal Mortality
; Not only is the infant death rate
high in North Carolina, but iilso the
maternal mortality rate is high. The
maternal mortality rate for the state
was 8 2 per one thousand live births.
Daring the year 1926 six hundred and
ninety mothers were reported to have
died from puerperal causes, that is
causes resulting from childbirth. Six
counties reported no deaths of mothers
resulting from childbirth. The rate
was highest in Jones county with 20.2
deaths of mothers resulting from child
birth per one thousand live births. In
thirty-three counties the maternal mor
tality rate was above ten per one
thousand live births. There appears to
be some tendency for counties with
high infant death rates to have high
maternal mortality rates, but there are
many exceptions.
North Carolina makes an unfavor
able showing in maternal martality
when compared with other states. Gut
of thirty states reported in 1923 only
four had maternal mortality rates
higher than North Gar«.tina. There is
no foreign country for which data are
reported whose mfaternal mortality
rate is anywhere near as high as North
Carolina’s. Our high infant and maternal
mortality rates may be due in part to
the fact that nearly one-third of all
births in North Carolina are attended
by midwives. Nearly twenty-six thou
sand were thus attended in 1926, more
than eight thousand of which were
births of white children.—S. H, H., Jr.
INFANT AND MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES
Per 1,000 Births in North Carolina, 1925
In the following table,'based on the 1926 report of the Bure"au of Vital
Statistics, North Carolina State Board of Health, the counties are ranked ac
cording to infant deaths under one year of age per 1,000 live births. The' paral
lel column gives the maternal mortality rate per 1,000 live births.
Clay county ranks best in infant deaths with a rate of 13.4 deaths under
one year of age per 1,000 live births. Pasquotank ranks last witli an infant
death rate of 185.1 per 1,000 live births. Nearly one out of every seven born in
Pasquotank died during the first year.
Jones county ranks last in maternal mortality with a rate of 20.2 deaths of
young mothers per 1,000 live births. Six counties did not report any deaths
from childbirth.
For North Carolina a total of 6,691 children born alive died during the first
year, a rate of 78.7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. Maternal deaths report
ed numbered 690, and the state maternal mortality rate was 8.2 per 1,000 live
births.
S. H. Hobbs, Jr.
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina.
to the county accountant by means of a
duplicate deposit ticket signed by the
depository.
The purpose of this act is to provide
and, in the meantime, certain commis
sioners are now able to speak of the
county home without that feeling of
which the mention of its
a uniform system for all counties of . ...
the state by which their fiscal alTairs name coajared up m thmt m.nds just,
may be regulated, to The end that ac
cumulated deficits may be made up,
future deficits prevented, and a bal
anced budget become the only legal and
accepted standard. The provisions of
the act may at first seem rather strin
gent and the bookkeeping complicated,
but a little study will reveal otherwise.
Budgetary bookkeeping is very simple
and a balanced budget the only safe
practice in the household, in business,
or in government. The counties will
be assisted in setting up budgetary
accounts, and it is a safe prediction
that after the counties become ac
customed to the budget they will never
want to go back to the old methods.
four short years ago.—News and Ob
server, March 20, 1927.
STARTLING DEATH RATES
The table which appears elsewhere'
shows how the counties of North Caro
lina rank in deaths of infants under one
year of age, along with data on mater
nal mortality. Clay county .appears to
have ranked best in the state for the
ye4r 1925, with only 13.4 deaths of in
fants under one year of age per one
thousand live births. Pasquotank had
the highest infant death rate with ap
proximately one infant death for eyery
seven children born during the year, or
one hundred and thirty-fjve infant
Certainly the taxpayers will welcome thousand live births, an
the budget, for it permits them to ^pp^jiing infant death rate. ,
compare governmental expenditures
year by year and item by item, and
offers them for the first Lime an ef- . . ,
.. . . „ , ■ , 0 7 showing are mainly mountain and ex-
fective means of fiscal control.—Paul ^ , . , » ...
treme eastern tidewater counties with
■ . large white population ratios. There
are very few exceptions to this
‘t lii rule. The cuuntit s that make the
rx ... worst showing, those having high
Four years ago it was ^costing,^ Pitt a •
county around $x00 per month to care infant death rates, arc located m the
for each dependent — last year it cost eastern half of the state. The last
A study of the table will show that j ■.
the counties which make the best I
PITT COUNTY HOMEj
Maternal
Infant
Maternal
Infant
mortality
mortality
mortality
mortality
Rank County
rate per
rate per
Rank County
rate per
rate per
1,000 live
1,000 live
1,000 live
1,000 live
births
births
births
births
1 Clay
... 6.7
13.4
51 Camden
10.1
70.7
2 Moore
7.7
24.8
62 Stanly
6.7
71.1
3 Cherokee
2.1
39.0
63 Halifax
8.1
71.7
4 Brunswick
11.6.. ..
40.6
64 Perquimans ..
13.1 ....
72.1
5 Watauga
5.8
41.0
66 Gaston
8.9 ....
72.3
6 Burke
1.6
41.6
66 Buncombe
9,0
73.6
7 Graham
—
43.4
67 Rowan
2.8
73.6
8 Gates
7.4
44.9
68 Carteret
14.3
73.9
9 Mitchell
2.4
48.3
69 McDowell
16.2 ...
76.0
10 Granville
7.8
48.6
60 Davidson
_
76.4
11 Alamance
6.0
48.8
61 Alexander
2.7
75.8
12 Haywood
3.0
49.1
62 Vance
.... 7.6
77.8
13 Yadkin
3,9
49.8
63 Bladen
7.9
78.0
14 Stokes
1.6
60.0
64 Wake
11.8
7S.6
16 Alleghany
11.2
60.5
66 Cabarrus
4.6. ...
78.7
16 Madison
6.4
60.6
68 Harnett
9.9
79^8
17 Onslow
11.3
62.1
67 Orange
3.3
81.3
18 Macon
6.6
63.8
68 Robeson
11.2
81.6
19 Yancey
—
64.7
69 Pamlico
11.8
82.6
20 Caldwell
5.9
66.2
70 Mecklenburg
11.6
83.9
21 Montgomery...
3.8
58.4
71 Anson
14.4
84.0
22 Hyde
—
SS.8
72 Guilford
10.6
85.3
23 Wilkes
2.6
68.9
73 Polk
16.7
87.8
24 Avery
6.4
.. .. 69.6
74 Beaufort
7.6
88.1
25 Catawba
6.5
60.6
76 Tyrrell
7.4
88.8
26 Rutherford .. .
6.3
60.7
76 Surry
6.0
91.1
27 Dare
12.1
60.9
77 Davie
6.2
91.3
28 Cumberland ...
13.6
61.6
78 Sampson
8.6
.... 92.4
29 Iredell
7.1
62.8
79 Greene
8,0
83.0
30 Warren
10.7
63.0
SO Duplin
.... 3.2
95.1
31 Columbus
4.0
63.6
81 Forsyth
6.1
• 97.7
32 Union
7.4
63.6
82 Washington ...
.... 5.9
97.9 "
33 Jackson
1.8
64.6
83 Martin
.... 2.9
98.0
34 Henderson
10.6
65.6
84 Pitt
....10.6
100.6
35 Swain
—
65.0
85 Lenoir
....10.5
101.3
36 Person
.... 6.0
66.4
86 Franklin
....13.3
102.7
37 Northampton..
6.2
66,6
87 Durham
9.0
102.8
37 Pender
.. ..16.0
66.6
88 Hoke
. ..16.6
104.9
39 Lincoln
4.1
66.9.
89 Edgecombe ....
....15 3
107.1
iO Richmond
9.6
67.0
90 New Hanover.
.... 8.8
107.2
cj. Jones
20.2
. ... 67.6
91 Nash
....15.0
111.2
42 Caswell
3.8
67.6
92 Wayne
....10.8
111.4
43 Randolph
5.7
.... 68.2
93 Hertford
.... 7.1
... .111.6
44 Rockingham...
6.6
.. .. 68.4
94 Wilson...
....14.0
114.9
44 Transylvania ..
—
68.4 '
95 Chowan
.... 2.6
115.0
48 Lee
8.3
68.6 1
96 Scotland
....13.5
116.5 ■
47 Chatham
8.1
68.7 1
97 Bertie
.... 8.0
118.7
47 Cleveland
2.4
68.7 j
98 Currituck
... 17.8
119.0
49 Johnston
11.6
69.3 i
S9 Craven
....13.6
130.7
60 Ashe j
2.9
. ... 70.2
100 Pasquotank....
....15.9
135.1