r
The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
THE UNiVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
MEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
JUNE 1. 1927
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIII, No. 29
Editoriul Boards E. C. Branson, S. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilaon, E. W. KnigrbL D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14, 1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill. N. C., under the act of August 24. 1912,
FULL-TIME HE ALTH SERVICE
It is seldom that we are able to pre-
eent a table in which North Carolina
occupies a praiseworthy position. It
tbeifefore gives us great pleasure to
present in this issue of the News Let
ter a tablo in which North Carolina
ranks better than in any other table
that has appeare^ in some time. The
high position that North Carolia bolds
in ihe field of public health work is not
widely known at home. Outsiders
credit us with having a model organi
zation and program of state health
work. Ohio and North Carolina for
years have led the Nation in this field.
Alabama has recently made great
strides in expanding her public health
facilities, and now ranks alongside of
Ohio and North Carolina.
Of our one hundred cc'unties, thirty-
seven had local health service under the
direction of whole time health officers
on January 1, 1927. North Carolina
ranks second in number of counties
and third in percent of the total rural
populacion with county health work
headed by a whole-time health officer.
The thirty-seven counties with such
offi.cer3 contain almost exactly one-half
the rural population of the state. In ,
all cases except where a city has its !
separate health organization the county !
health service also includes the urban :
population. There were twenty-nine j
counties with whole-time health officers I
four years ago, thus there has been a ;
net gain of eight counties with full- i
time health officers in four years. One- j
ninth of all counties in the United |
States with whole-time healt^ officers !
are in North Carolina.
South Leads
It is interesting to note that the
Southern states rank unusually well in
public health work. All of the South
ern states except three f^nk well up
toward the top. Unquestionably the
South because of physical conditions,
race, and other population factors,
needs such service more than any other
' section of the Nation. ^
Counties Receive Aid
Of the three hundred and thirty-seven
counties or districts with local health
service, two hundred and ninety-three
are receiving financial aid from ope or
more of the following sources: The
State Board of Health, the United
States Public Health Service, the Inter
national Health Board, the Children’s
Bureau of the Department of Labor.
AVithout assistance from outside agen
cies local governments of rural com
munities are not disposed to appropriate
adequately for the support of efficient,
whole-time local health service. Often
the local governments even when of
fered such assistance decline to appro
priate their part. It is thought that
rapid progress in the development of
this vitajly important field of general
welfare would be accomplished on the
cooperative basis of one dollar of feder
al and three dollars of state money to
every four or more dollars of county
money.
County Unit Best
The United States Public Health Ser
vice is strongly of the opinion that the
proper foundation for rural health
serviqe is the county health depart
ment under the direction of the quali
fied whole-time county health offi
cer. “It becomes more and more evi
dent to those with practical experience
in the publio health field that agencies
concerned with the promotion of
specialized health activities, such as
typhoid fever jjrevention,, hookworm
control, tuberculosis prevention, nial-
• aria control, venereal disease prevention,
or child and maternity hygiene, can per
form most effectively and economically
by dovetailing their specific activities in
with ^nd making them a part of a
well-balanced, comprehensive program
of local official health service under the
immediate direction of qualified, whole
time local health officers.”
Of the total rural population of the
United States only one-sixth are sup
plied with local public health service.
The total annual expenditure for strict
ly rural health service is about three
and a quarter million dollars. ‘ ‘Reasona
bly adequate whole-lime rural health ser
vice throughout this country would cost
about twenty million dollars a year.
Apart from the loss in human life,
human health, and human happiness—
which cannot be measured—our nation
al economy loss annually in wage
earnings and in other items incident to
preventable sickness because of lack of
efficient county health service is esti
mated at over one billion dollars A
claim made several years ago, and not
yet successfully challenged, is that the
dollar invested for well-dire^ted com
prehensive whole-time' county health
service yields to the public welfare
more than any other dollar obtainable
by taxation of the people can be made
to yield in normal times.”
The North Carolina counties with
local health service directed by whole
time health officers are: Beaufort,
Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Buncombe,
Cabarrus, Carteret, Columbus, Craven,
Cumberland, Davidson, Durham, Edge
combe, Forsyth, Granville, Guilford,
Halifax, Henderson, Johnston, Lenoir,
Mecklenburg, Nash, New Hanover,
Northampton, Pamlico, Pitt, Richmond,
Robeson, Rowan, Rutherford, Sampson,
Surry, Vance, Wake, Wayne, Wilkes,
ana W'ilson. Twenty-five of these
counties are located in the eastern
half of the state, and twelve ijiJ;be
western half. —S. H. H., Jr.
I AM THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
I am opportunity.
I am the continuation school for
all.
I am the storehouse of knowledge
in this city.
I am supported by the people for
the people.
1 have books for all tastes and needs
and creeds.
I am free to the public to profit
from and enjoy,
I offer you the opportunity to know
all there is to know about your
work.
I am in the care of courteous at
tendants whose duty it is to help
you to profit from me.
I open‘my doors as a great public
mental recreation ground for your
leisure hours.
I Am The, Public Library.—Public
Library, Davenport, Iowa.
A BILLION OF INSURANCE
The announcement from Raleigh that
more than one billion dollars’ worth of
life insurance is now in force in North
Carolina is impressive as it stands but
it becomes much more impressive when
it is taken into account that this is
sibout one-ninetieth of all the life in
surance outstanding in the world.
After a great deal of effort the of
ficers of the Association of Life in
surance Presidents of this country suc
ceeded last year in making a compila
tion of comparative insurance statis
tics for the world at large. A study
of the data thus gathered was pre
sented to the Association by Fred A.
Howland, of Vermont, .who found that
of the approximately ninety billion
dollars of life insurance in force at the
close of 1924 something like $67,000,-
000,000, or three-fourths of the entire
life insurance of the world, was held^
by American companies; most of the
business of American companies being
placed in the United States. Five-
sixths of all the insurance is in the
English-speaking nations.
It is curious, as Mr. Howland pointed
out, that England, the home of under
writing, has never taken to life in
surance on a very broad scale. One
reason for this is that business in Eng
land is done on old-established lines,
much hedged about by red tape, and
the life insurance solicitor meets with
a multitude of discouragements. Amer-
icaTy companies have given up trying
to write insurance in Great Britain.
Of the other nations, Japan is mak
ing greatest progress in life insurance.
Its companies are well regulated and
well managed. German companies
FEW FARMS MORTGAGED
The 1925 Census of Agriculture
shows that relatively few North Caro
lina farms are mortgaged. Of our
132,610 farms operated by full owners
only 24,983, or 18.8 percent, were mort
gaged. In only two states are the
ratios of mortgaged farms lower than
in North Carolina,—Virginia 18.6 per
cent, and West Virginia 11.9 percent.
For the United States slightly more
than one-third of all farms operated by
full owners are mortgaged.
Whether or not a large percent of
mortgaged' farms is good or bad
depends entirely upon the nature of
the debt secured by the mortgage.
A farmer who goes in debt to increase
the earning power of his farm does
just what other properly conducted
businesses do. It is just as good busi
ness for a farmer to use borrowed
capital as it is for a railroad, or a
factory or for local, state, and national
governments. The farmer who mort-
’gages his farm in order to buy luxuries
and consumptive goods is acting un
wisely, of course, and such practices
should be discouraged. Many farms
are mortgaged during periods of de
pression in agriculture, and this is un
fortunate. But to incur debt in order
to make the farm morp efficient as
producing unit is good business.
Where Ratios Are High
It is interesting to note that the
ratio of mortgaged farms is usually
high where farmers are wealthy and
prosperous and low where farmers are
poor. The farmers of Denmark are
conceded to be among the most pros
perous in the world, yet their farm
debt is appalling. The debt has been
incfirred to make agriculture more por-
ductive and the farm more efficient.
The Danes operate largely on borrowed
capital, and much of their prosperity
is due to their wise use of this bor
rowed capital.
The ratio of mortgaged farms is
high in such states as California,
Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska.
dogs, the more books, one gathers.
But at the rate with which the county
has found use for the books brought, so
to speak, to its front door, there may
be need for a great many more dogs.
The truck has been on its way six
months of late fall, full wjnter and
early spring weather. During that
time it has v found more than 3,400
persons anxious to borrow books, and
the 3,400 have created a circulation of
some 28,000 volumes. That is at the
rate of about 4,500 volumes a month,
or about 160 volumes a day. The full
amount of. reading runs higher than
that, since it is reasonable to assume
that a single book has often found
more than one reader in a family. The
distribution baa centered, as might
have been expected, around the county
schools, which as in many other in
stances appear in the light of distribu
tion points for all manner of healthy
influences. Their light shines out to all
the corners of the territory they serve.
It is a story packed with significance;
a modest effort that already has justi
fied itself -many times over. Here
tow’n and county join hands, without
any roll of trumpets, to provide a
simple means of furnishing what might
reasonably be called a necessity. It
works easily; it meets with a hearty
welcome and a demand for more, and
it continues to grow and spread as well
as its limited resources permit.
The man who knows about libraries
in North Carolina said the other day
that the attention given to schoolj^-
braries in Greensboro was one of The
conspicuous educational achievements
of the state. That me^ns that in time
the same thing can be said of the
county schools, for the idea has a way
of spreading. There must be a spir
itual relation here between public li
brary ind school libraries. More than
one good thing has come out of the
Greensboro public library—so many
good things, in fact, that it is one of
the unexplained curiosities of the times
that the community continues to post
pone the assistance it has always in
mind for this essential institution.—
Greensboro Daily News.
POULTRY SHIPMENTS GAIN
Co-operative poultry shipments from
North Carolina for the season have
passed the 1,260,000 pound mark, it
was announced at the State Depart
ment of Agriculture today. P'our car
loads were moved during .the last
week, bringing the season’s total to
72 carloads, which netted the producers
in the neighborhood of $266,000. This
I amount represents the money paid at
the car door. Co-operative shipments
eliminate overhead expenses and result
in greater profit for the farmers.
The Department of Agriculture and
' its distribution experts have been plug-
i ging away, exerting every effort to
! build up the poultry and egg business
; as a part of the diversification program
j agreed upon at a meeting called to
! consider last year’s over-production of
! cotton and the consequent slump in
j prices. Leaders, the conferees con-
' curring, agreed to adopt no drastic
I sign-up methods but to set about to
interest the farmers in diversification,
i pointing out to them how this course
• would make them financially indepen-
! dent, whereas the continuous planting
! of cotton to the exclusion of other
' crops might .mean bankruptcy and
I more bankruptcy.-Gastc^ia Gazette.
RURAL POPULATION HAVING HEALTH OFFICERS
Percent of Rural Population and Number of Counties, Jan. 1927
In the following table, based on data released by the U. S. Public Health
Service, the states are ranked according to the percent of the rural population
having on January 1, 1927, local health service under whole-time local (county or
district) health officers. The parallel column gives the number of counties in
each state having whole-time health officers.
Ohio leads, both in percent of the rural population with health service
under whole-time health officers and in number of counties with whole-time
health officers. North Carolina ranks third in percent of rural population, and
second in number of counties, with whole-time health officers.'
S. H. Hobbs, Jr.
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
Percent of
Number
rural pop.
counties
having whole
having
time health
whole-time
officers
health
officers, .
suffered disastrously as a result of the
World War and its aftermath but are^ and Wisconsin, and lowest in West
Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina,
Florida, Vermont, and Tennessee.\The
recovering now and have made good
progress recently although the amount
of insurance outstanding is very small, ‘ low percent of mortgaged farms in
judged by American standards. The the South is due largely to the fact
French and German companies at the
close of 1924 each had something over
$700,000,000 of insurance in force, or
decidedly less than the amount out
standing in North Carolina.
There is plenty of reason, therefore,
for gratification at the record North
Carolina has attained in this matter;
but before this gratification runs too
far it should be noted that the per
capita for the United States approxi.
mated $566 while the average per capita
in Nor^h Carolina at the present time
is stated as being $376. This com
pares with $428 for, Canada, $286 for
New Zealand, $212 for the United
Kingdom, $207 for Austria, $141 for
Sweden, $116 for Denmark,.$109 for
Switzerland, $70 for The Netherlands.
There are still, it would appear, a
good many North Carolinians who are
not carrying any life insurance, and a
good many others who are not carrying
as much as they might, based on the
averages that have been built up for
the American people.—Asheville Citi
zen.
that mortgage houses have not con
sidered Southern farms good risks.
It is a mistake to infer that a low
ratio of mortgaged farms is a healthy
or favorable sign. The business of
the world today is conducted on credit.
Credit may be used wisely or unwisely,
by farmers as well as other groups.
The wise use of credit is as good busi
ness for the farmer as it is for the
factory operator. But it must be used
wisely, and too often the mortgaged
farm is not the result of a productive
investment. Few North Carolina farms
are mortgaged, either for consumptive
or productive purposes.
BOOKS AND DOGS
The motor book-truck by which the
Greensboro public library has carried
upwards of 30,000 books to readers in
rural Guilford was made possible, the
story in the Sunday Daily News said,
when the county devoted to the purpose
the full amount of the dog tax. The more
Rank State
1 Ohio 69.67 47
2 Alabama 63.44 30
3 North Carolina. 49.31 37
.... 16
6
9
6
T9 Missouri 17.26
20 Kansas 11.77
21 Montana 8.68,
22 Kentucky 8.67.
23 Massachuetts 8.19
24 Illinois 6.96
26 Florida 6.89..
4 South Carolina 42.70*
6 Maryland 38.78
6 New Mexico 35.27
7 Washington 33.49
8 West Virginia ^ 30.30 13
9 California 29.89 9
10 Mississippi 25.78 18
11 Tennessee 23.94 14
12 Virginia 21.26 16
13 Georgia /. 20.93 24
14 Oregon 20.61 6
16 Utah 20.21 6
16 Louisiana 20.03 10
17 Oklahoma 17.72 9
18 Arizona 17.66 2
12
9
3
9
1
3
3
3
5
6
2
.... 1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
26 Arkansas
5.84.
27 Maine 6.47
28 Texas 4.32.
29 South Dakota 4.10.
30 Minnesota 3.31.
31 Colorado 2.87.
32 Connecticut 2.68
33 Wyoming .' 2.33.
34 New York 2.21
36 Iowa 1.26
36 Delaware 0.
36 Idaho " 0
36 Indiana •
36 Michigan '
36 Nebraska yf
36 Nevada
36 New Hampshire .
36 New Jersey
36 North Dakota....
36 Pennsylvania ....
36 Rhode Island
36 Vermont
36 Wisconsin