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 20, 1927
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE U.NiVERSITY OF NORTH CAROI.IN.V PRES.S
VOL. XIII, No, 23
Editorial Hoard: E. G. Branson, S. H. Hobba, Jr.. L. K. Wilson. E. W. Knicrht, D. D. Carroll. J; B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum.
Entered ae accojid-clasa matter November H. 1914, at the Pastoflice at Chapel Hill, N. C., under tho act of August 24. 1912.
HUNT^G AND FISHING LICENSES
SOURCE OF MUCH REVENUE
Elsewhere appears a table which
shows the amount of state revenue
derived from hunting and fishing
licenses issued for the year 1926. It
will be noted that three states,North Ca
rolina, Mississippi and Nevada, derived
no state revenue from this source. The
state income from hunting and fishing
licenses for the other states ranged
from more than nine hundred thousand
doUars in Pennsylvania to only two
hundred and thirty-three dollars in
Florida. Ail told the state govern
ments derived nearly eight million dol
lars from bunting and fishing licenses.
The net income to the various state
govarnmcntfi from this source was I
around three and a quarter million j
dollars. ]
Pennsylvania,, for instance, received I
?906,334 from hunting and fishing li- j
censes, and spent $247,069 on fish and!
game conbervation, deriving a net in- j
come of $009,265 from hunting and!
fishing licenses. Several northern and I
western states netted more than one*
hundred thousand doUars each from!
their state-wide fish and game laws.
Virginia derived a net income from
hunting and fishing licenses of more
than seventy thousand dollars; West
Virginia one hundred and twenty-two
thousand; South Carolina seventy-four
thousand, and Alabama fifty-one thous
and. Thus it appears that North Caro
lina has been passing up a rather im
portant source of state revenue.
Locally Regulated
Throughout the history of the state
hunting and fishing, when and where
they have been regulated at all, have
been regulated by public-local laws.
Literally tbousands of such laws have
been enacted, amended, repealed,
and reenacted. The will of the local
representative has been the law for
his county during his tenure of office.
Our State-Wide Law
The 1927 Legislature gave us our
first state-wide fish and game law, and
placed the administration of the law
in the hands of the Department of
Conservation and Development. We
do not know how much has been appro
priated to be spent on the conservation
and development of our fish and game
resources, nor how much revenue is
anticipated from hunting and fishing
licenses. What we do know is that many
states with poorer hunting and fishing
resources and possibilities than ours,
spend large sums annually on the con
servation and development of their fish
and game resources, and that hunting
and fishing licenses bring* in large sums
to many state treasuries. Most of the
states net neat sums annually from
hunting and fishing licenses.
Our Natural Resources
North Carolina might easily become
one of the nation's chief fishing and
hunting states. We have the natural
resources. In fact few spots on earth
are so favorably endowed with possibil
ities for fish and game as North Caroli
ne, from the points of view both of
variety and volume. To the east we have
three hundred miles of frontage on the
Atlantic ocean. Between the mainland
and the ocean lie the greatest bodies of
inland coastal waters on earth, with
unlimited possibilities for fish, oysters,
and game. Emptying into these sounds
-are many broad rivers with enormous
fishing possibilities. The entire state
is well covered by rivers and streams
capable of being developed into attrac
tive fishing grounds. The mountain
streams, famous for brook trout, offer
their special appeal. Only one-fifth of
our enormous land area is under the
plow. Our climate and other natural
resources are ideal for the conservation
and development of bird and other
game life. We doubt if any other state
could offer the variety and volume of
fish and game within so compact an
area were our natural resources prop
erly conserved and developed. North
Carolina could become a hunting and
fishing paradise. Oar resources might
easily be developed to the point where
hunting and fishing licenses would not
only repay the state for expendi
tures on fish and game conservation and
development, but would net the state
treasury a considerable amount of
revenue. It is done by other states.
We hope the recent state-wide fish and
game law inagurated a new day in
fishing, oystering, and hunting in North
Carolina.—S. H. H., Jr.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Optional Forms Provided
The new county government act
which deals with organization recognizes
two forms of county government, the
County Commissioner form, which is
the existing form, and the Manager
form. The present form is already
well understood.
The second plan permits the board of
county commissioners to appoint a
county manager who shall be the ad
ministrative head of the county govern
ment, and responsible for the adminis
tration of ail the departments that
the board of county commissioners has
the authority to control. He shall be
appointed with regard to merit only
an'd he need not be a resident of the
county at the time of his appointment,
in lieu of the appointment of a county
manager, the board may impose and
confer upon the chairman of the board
the duties and powers of a manager,
and under such circumstances would
become a whole-lime officer. Or the
board may impose and confer the
powers and duties of manager upon
any other officer or agent of the county
who may be sufficiently qualified to
perform such duties, adjusting the
compensation accordingly.
According to the act, “It shall be the
duty of the county manager: (1) to be
the administrative head of the county
government for the board of commis
sioners; (2J to see that all the orders,
resolutions, and regulations of the board
of commissioners are faithfully exe
cuted; (3) to attend all the meetings of
the board and recommend such
measures for*adoption as he may deem
expedient; (4) to make reports to the
board from time to time upon the af
fairs of the county, and to keep the
board fully advised as to the financial
condition of the county and its future
financial needs: (5) to appoint, with the
approval of the county commissioners-,
such subordinate officers, agents, and
employees for the general administra
tion of county affairs as the board may
consider necessary, except such officers
as are required to be elected by popular
vote, or whose appointment is other
wise provided by law; (.6) to perform
such other duties as may be required of
him by the board of commissioners.’’
If the board of county commissioners
does not exercise its discretion to ap
point or designate a county manager,
a petition may be filed with the board,
signed by at least ten percent of the j
voters, asking for adoption of the |
manager form of county government, i
Whereupon an election shall be held ;
and, if a majority of the votes cast j
favor a manager, the board shall pro- >
ceed to appoint one. Not more than
one election may be held within a'
period of twenty-three months.
Whether the manager form of county
government is adopted or the existing
form retained, the act makes it the
duty of the commissioners to designate
some competent person, either a mem
ber of the board or some other officer
or agent of the county, as purchasing
agent, if there is a county manager
he would very likely be given these
duties. Likewise the board is required
to designate some member of the
board or some other officer or agent of
the county to make a regular inspec
tion of the county property and repi-rt
the condition of the same to the com
missioners.
Advisory Commission
There is created a county govern
ment advisory commission of five mem
bers, appointed by the Governor, and
“qualified by knowledge and experience
to advise and assist the county officials
in the proper administration of the
county government.” At least three
of the members of the commission mu^t
be county commissioners.
The commission is authorized to ap
point a competent person to be known
as the executive secretary of the com-
, mission, and he is to be a salaried
I official devoting his entire time to the
! work. The members of the commis-
FARM PROSPERITY
The agricultural problem promisee
to play an important part in the
politics of the future.
It seems to me that it will be un
fortunate if the farmers of America
depend too much on the politicians.
The problem of permanent farm
prosperity in America will never, in
my judgment, be solved by govern
ment subsidy, by legislation, or by
ready-made organizations planned by
professors of agricultural economics
or promoted either by professional
organizers or by men whose main
interest in the organized activity of
farmers is to be used as a stepping
stone to a personal career in local
politics.
The problem of permanent farm
prosperity in America will, as I see
it, be solved if and when the farmers
of America achieve both the willing
ness and the ability to take into
their own hands and to manage ef
fectively the distribution as well as
the production of their agricultural
products.
The problem of permanent farm
prosperity in America must be solved
from the bottom up, not from the
top down.
The farmers of America must do
for themselves what the farmers of
Denmark have done for themselves.
Sixty years ago—and sixty years
are only a split second in the life of
a nation—the Danish farmer was a
peasant, practicing agricultural
methods that had changed but little
since the dawn of history.
Today the Danish farmer is the
complete master of his own cultural,
political and economic destiny, in
striking contrast to the farmer of
other lands who is so often the play
thing of controlled markets and the
pawn of middlemen.
What has happened thus to lift a
whole people from poverty to pros
perity, from peasantry to indepen
dence, in tbe brief span of sixty
years? Two obvious answers lie on
the surface of the situation:
First, the Danish farmer has be
come a scientist in production.
Second, the Danish farmer has be
come a co-operator in distribution.
The average Danish farmer is to
day practicing agriculture with a
perfection of scieiitific technique to
be seen rarely in America save on
our prize experimental farms, and
he is marketing his products through
his own co-operative sales agencies,
the size and success of which are
the legitimate envy of our biggest
big business men.
They have worked out their own
salvation, not with fear and trem
bling, but with coarage and stead
fastness.
They have not depended upon any
economic Messiah to bring them a
free salvation.
Tomorrow I shall describe in detail
what the Danish farmers have done
in order to gain control of their own
economic destiny. To me it is one
of the great stories of the nineteenth
and Uentieth centuries.—Dr. Glenn
Frank, McClure Newspaper syndi
cate, by permission.
The commission has had three meet
ings, at the last two calling into con-
. ference with it several of tbe county
‘ auditors of the state and the univer
sity men who have been engaged in
county government research. An effort
is being made at the outset to devise
uniform blanks for the use of the
county accountants. A standard classi
fication of accounts with a common
nomenclature is also essential.—Paul
W. Wager.
VANCE COUNTY HOME
The Vance county home, constructed
in 1923, is a perfect gem according to a
study of county almshouses made for the
state of Virginia which has just come
from the press.
The Vance county home is serving
as a model for the first district hospital
home in America to be constructed at
Manassas, Va., to serve six counties.
The hospital was organized in January
j1926.
; “Along with 24 other states,” said
Miss Lucy Lay, publicity chief of the
State Board of Charities and Public
Welfare, “Virginia has been working on
the idea that care for the aged and
infirrp can be given most effectively and
economically through a district plan.
In advocating consolidation, the Virginia
Board of Public Welfare picked out tbe
Vance county, N. C., plan after much
study, and it is considered a distinct
compliment to the county and to the
state.
“Mrs. W. B. Waddill, superintendent
of welfare in Vance county, directed
the planning and building of the Vance
county hospital, as she calls it, since her
plan has been to turn it gradually into
a hospital and to care for the aged in
some of the homes of the county. The
home has a capacity of 60 inmates. It
cost the county $31,000, furnished.
“The General Assembly of 1916
passed a bill making possible the
establishment of a district hospital home
in the northeastern part of the state.
In 1923 a similar bill, which was state
wide, was passed but by mistake was
placed among the public-local laws.
The last Legislature reenacted the bill,
“As yet no group of counties has
seen fit to consolidate the county homes.
Virginia is leading the way in district
homes, but the fact that a plan of a
North Carolina home is used indicated
that the problems of the two states are
alike.”—Asheville Citizen.
sion serve without compensation except
their actual expenses.
It is the duty of the executive
secretary to act as secretary to the
commission; to visit the counties in the
state, and to advise and assist the
county commissioners and other county
officers in providing a competent,
economical and efficient administration;
to suggest approved methods for levy
ing and collecting taxes and other
revenues, and for keeping the accounts
of the various officers and departments
of the county government; to prepare a
manual of forms and recommendations
for the guidance of the county officers
in making reports and keeping account
of the receipts and expenditures of the
public money; and to perform such
other duties as may be required of him
by the commission. The commission
may employ such assistants to, the
executive secretary as it may consider
necessary.
' For the purposes of meeting tbe
expenses of the county advisory com
mission and the executive secretary
and assistants the legislature appro
priated $15,000 for the biennium 1927-
1929.
SAFE INVESTMENTS
How to make two dollars grow where
one grew before is the master passion
of Americans. The desire for invest
ing is so strong in us that laws have to
be passed to protect the “lambs” from
the “wolves,” the “suckers” from the
“sharks, ” so to speak.
The last 10' years have proved,
i especially to farmers, that all invest-
I ments, even in real estate, are very
i uncertain things. Millions of our people
; have in their possession beautifully
j printed certificates which are now
■ worth about a postage stamp }>er
$1,000.
I 1 know, however, of some kinds of
j investments that are “dead sure” to
i produce good dividends. Here are a
! few,
1. Good Books.—The investment in a
i good book always pays. Where there
' are good books in a home, the growing
I children will clip intelligent coupons of
moral and useful knowledge. An in
spiring book is next to the voice of
God.
I have seen homes with libraries
such as this;
A mail order catalog.
A photograph album.
An agricultural report for 1886,
A little book of verse.
An unused Bible on the table in the
back parlor.
Can you expect children to be either
good or useful without a few of the
great books of the world? It will pay
well to invest in a few.
2. Community Building,—Some peo
ple are wise enough to invest time,
energy, and money in community up
building, Perhaps we have too many
committees' in modern life, and are in
the position of the tired woman who
looked at her baby and sighed, “Poor
little girl, just to think that you will
have to grow up and be on a com
mittee!”
Communities are just as rich in the
spiritual and intellectual life as tbe
heart treasures that are poured into
them. Someone has estimated that
the inspirational work of each neigh
borhood is done by one-tenth of the
people in it. We need more investors.
8. Spiritual Enrichment.—Much is
being written about the country church.
There are literally thousands of little
chapels all over the country, standing
unused and unpainted at lonely road
corners. Meantime our crime bills
mount higher and higher, and our
criminals grow younger and younger.
There is but one reason. People are
ceasing to invest their prayers, their
interest, and tbeir money for the
spiritual enrichmient of life.
City people are more negligent of
these duties than country residents, so
we have mere boys and girls going
through the juvenile courts. We need*
greatly more spiritual investments.
America needs to hear and heed, be
fore it is too late, the great words ut
tered by our Lord, “What shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world and
lose his own soul?”
It is not too late if we will all investi
—Dr. J. W, Holland in Progressive
Farmer,
STATE REVENUES FROM HUNTING AND FISHING
Licenses by States for the Year 1925
The following table, based on Financial Statistics of States, Federal De
partment of Commerce, shows the state government incomes from hunting and
fishing licenses issued by states for the year 1926. The states are arranged
alphabetically. Pennsylvania annually collects more than nine hundred thousand
dollars from hunting and fishing licenses granted by the state. Three states,
North Carolina, Mississippi and Nevada, derived no state income from such
sources. The 1927 Legislature passed our first state-wide fish and game law.
U. S. total of state revenue from hunting and fishing licenses $7,962,366.
Total state expenditure on fisli and game conservation and development $4,-
732,748. Net income from hunting and fishing licenses $3,219,618.
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina.
State revenue,
States hunting and
fishing licenses
Alabama $73,908
Arizona.. 31,992
Arkansas 61,469
California 396,882
Colorado 242,665
Connecticut - ■ &3,463
Delaware 17,911 ^
Florida 233
' Georgia • 40,571
! Idaho 144,794
' Illinois 396,416
I Indiana 209,518
llowa 151,818
j Kansas 126,478
I Kentucky 74,026
' Louisiana 120,310
; Maine 120,577
: Maryland 113,776
! Massachusetts 168,712
j Michigan 668,433
! Minnesota 262,960
I Mississippi
I Missouri 288,060
! Montana 121,264
State revenue.
States bunting and
fishing licenses
Nebraska $144,727
Nevada
New Hampshire *. 130,324
New Jersey 236,241
New Mexico 43,434
New York 378,804
North Carolina
North Dakota 64,766
Ohio ■ 368,645
Oklahoma 96,732
Oregon 376,840
Pennsylvania' 906,394
Rhode Island 20,561
South Carolina 80,927
South Dakota 107,169
Tennessee 62,726
; Texas 168,304
;Utah 84,867
j Vermont 73,664
I Virginia 162,045
I Wisconsin 336,229
I Wyoming 88,963