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.
JULY 27, 1927
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
the university of north CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIII, No. 37
Edilorial Hoard; E. C. Branson, S. H. Hobbs, Jr.. L. R, Wilson, E. W. Knieht, D. D. Carroll. J. B. Ballitl, H. W. Odn
Entered as eecond-claga matter November 14. 1914. at the Podtoffice at Chapel Hill. N. C.. under the act of Augruat 24. 1912.
PAYISG AND RECEIVING
We are presenting elsewhere a table
which gives a very good indication
-as to how the counties rank as state
government tax payers. In a parallel
column is shown the amount of school
equalizing money alloted to each
county. The study, by the way, has
nothing to do with the work of the
equalizing commission. The table is
published merely for the information it
contains. It is important to know
where our state revenue comes from,
and how counties compare as con
tributors to the state treasury and as
beneficiaries from state appropriations.
The table shows the amount of
state revenue paid by each county
from three main sources only, and
is therefore only an index of total
amounts paid by each county. It is,
however, a fair index for if all other
sources were included the relative
importance of the counties as state
tax payers would remain about the
same. The table accounts for more;
than half of all state revenue collected
from the counties.
Sources Included
The sources covered by the table
are the individual and domestic cor
poration income tax, the inheritance
tax, and the business taxes (schedule
B). Main sources not included are
foreign corporation income taxes,
franchise taxes (schedule C), and in
surance taxes. Either such data are
not available, or they cannot properly be
credited to individual counties.
As would be expected, the urban
and industrial counties contribute most
to the support of our state government,
since the main sources of state revenue
are income, franchise, license, and in
heritance taxes. There is no state taxon
property. Country counties pay very
little of any of these taxes. There are
several counties that do not pay all
told as much as five thousand dollars
into the state treasury.
On the other hand, the ten counties
that do not share in the school equaliz
ing fund pay a great deal more than
half of the total cost of state govern
ment, as is shown by the table, and
it is from these ten counties that is
collected the bulk of the insurance and
foreign corporation income taxes, and
a large share of the franchise taxes.
These counties have great concentra
tion of wealth. They are more than
able to maintain their own schools
without sharing in the equalizing fund.
Just how many counties receive back
from the state treasury more all told
than they pay in no one knows, nor is
it possible definitely to determine. It
is not possible to say just what each
county contributes, as not all state
revenue can be credited to individual
counties; nor is it possible to deter
mine just what the state spends on
each county, as not all expenditures
can be exactly charged to individual
counties. A fairly close approxima
tion could be reached, but not as
close a? is desir^bl® with the limited
data now available. It would be
valuable in determining state fiscal
policies to know just as nearly as
possible what each county contributes
to and receives from the state treasury.
Possibly both burden and service could
be more equitably distributed.—
S. H. H., Jr.
I children are faring far better under
j the county child-welfare or public
j welfare boards in Minnesota, North
Carolina, and New York than they
did before such boards were created.
Closely related to the system of
public welfare administration was the
state-wide juvenile-court system estab-
lished by a 1919 act. The clerk of the
superior court of the county was made
the judge of the juvenile court, and
the county superintendent of public
welfare was made the chief probation '
officer. In 1924' the superintendent I
was usually the only probation officer,
although the law clearly contemplated !
provision of assistance to superinten- 1
dents of public welfare in this branch I
of their work. Only three counties
were employing full-time
officers.
Before 1917
Before 1917 a juvenile delinquent
in North Carolina who was convicted
of the offense with which he was
charged was sent to the chain gang
to work on the roads and to live with
the adult offenders in the road camps.
A girl offender was sent usually to
the almshouse where the poor of all
ages and classes, and sometimes even
the insane, were committed. Blind
DEMOCRACY’S HOPE
A people can be a democracy if it
can learn to read, if it can learn
to get the wealth that there is in
store in the literature of the race,
if it can learn to weld itself together
into a single intellectual society by
the interchange of reading, if it can
find present expression for its own
meaning and find the record of past
meaning. I don’t believe that any
society can be a democracy in any
considerable measure at all except
as it develops reeding.—Alexander
Meiklejohn, University of Wiscon
sin.
! Board of Charities and Public Welfare
. ! to undertake the placing and supervi-
pro ation, dependent children in foster
I homes, but the board had been unable
I to do this work on account of in
adequate staff. Many of the county
superintendents of public welfare were
placing children in foster homes within
their own territory, but it was felt
that much closer investigation of
conditions before placement and more
ttiorough supervision after placement
were necessary to insure the welfare
of the children, particularly in a state
where children have minimum protec-
and lame children had nothing done tion against labor. This need had
for them. Family welfare agencies been fully realized by the State Board
existed in a few cities and church ; of Charities and Public Welfare, which
and private societies helped as best I hoped to obtain appropriations to
they could, but there was no state-• develop this work in the near future.-
on a recent visit to this county.
Formerly, he says, the people who
are now being reached by the adults’
schools “looked upon the learning of
the alphabet and the reading of the
printed page a.s possible only under
a dispensation of God. Their feeling
was that khowledge was not for them;
that they had been passed by when
God gave forth the gifts to men;
To some, ability to read; to others, to
speak with tongues; and to others, the
gift of healing.” As a result of the
work done by the adult schools he
found that there has been created in
those who attend them “a “sense of
equality with associates;” that the
general standard of intellectual life
has been raised and that the attendance
' of children in day schools has been
j promoted.
I The report of Dr. Aldermon is being
; republished from day to day in The j
United States Daily. It goes into I
detail regarding the plan and cites [
many illustrations of individual benefits
resulting from it. Describing a night
school where school busses brought
the pupils from some distance and
where five rooms were occupied by
pupils, most of whom were about thirty
years of age, some being older and a few
in tbeir twenties, Dr. Aldermon says:
“Some of these people have been
attending evening schools for five
years and could read and write as
well as a fifth-grade child in a regular
day school. After the class time was
over they all came into the assembly hall
for general exercises. The writer was
impressed with the earnestness of the
students, and saw as never before the
great importance of reading as a means
of keeping up with the world.”—
Asheville Cilflzen.
THE FISH ARE BITING
During 1925 the loss to good peo
ple who sought to carefully invest in
most cases and in others to get rich
quick amounted to one billion, four
hundred million dollars ($1,400,000,000).
Just think of this; for these figures
are the estimate made by the Ameri
can Bankers’ Association.
These figures mean heartaches for
so many; and for the aged, when they
had thought to live in comfort, it means
they must still “carry on” the work
that should at least have been light
ened. Many fail to learn the les
son that these schemes that offer
big returns never make good for the
reason that a good, safe investment
does not have to offer such a high
rate of interest.
When you have an investment to
make do not rely upon figures shown
you or rash promises for these seldom
are found to be correct. Investigate
the matter carefully and, for those
who will avail themselves of the offer,
we are willing to advise you honestly
and sincerely as to the wisdom of
making the investment.
It does truly pay to consult your
banker before you invest your money.
—Bank of Chapel Hill News.
NORTH CAROLINA LEADS
Before 1917 no one would have been
likely to select North Carolina for a
study of methods of reaching the
problems of destitute, neglected, and de
linquent children or of school at
tendance. But now, North Carolina
is one of three states selected by
the Children’s Bureau of the U. S.
Department of Labor for a study of
county programs of child care, the
results of which have just been pub
lished under the title “Public Child-
Caring Work in Selected Counties of
Minnesota, North Carolina, and New
York.” Organization of child-caring
and child-protective work with the
county as a unit makes it possible
to reach rural children, as well as city
children, and is attracting country
wide interest.
It was found in the survey that
wide program for child protection.
The problems of children in need of
special care were little understood
either by the officials or by the people
of the various communities.
The adoption in 1917 of a state-wide
system of public welfare including
a broad but centralized and definite
child-caring program with the county
as the unit of administration introduced
a new era in the protection of children
in North Carolina. This system is
now state-wide, reaching into each of
the 100 counties. It provides for the
cooperation of the State and the coun
ties through state and county boards
of charities and public welfare, and
county superintendents of welfare who
must have certificates of qualifications
issued by the state board. By 1926 full
time superintendents of public welfare,
7 of whom had assistants, were em
ployed in 61 counties. In 8 counties
there were part-time superintendents,
and in 41 the superintendents of schools
acted as superintendents of public
welfare.
Although with few exceptions the
county executives had been local ap
pointees without previous training or
experience in social case work, they
were receiving training through the
joint effort of the slate board of
charities and public welfare and the
school of public welfare of the Univer
sity of North Carolina, which con
ducted special summer courses. More
over the state board was endeavoring
to obtain the appointment of super
intendents who had better training
and wider experience, and to system
atize and standardize the local work.
Each year had seen better work done,
and the possibilities and usefulness
of the system were being better under
stood by the workers themselves, by
county officials, and by citizens
throughout the state.
Outstanding Features
Analyzing tbe outstanding features
of the North Carolina system, the
report says; “There was a greater
degree of interrelation and coordina
tion in the work of the various state
and county departments than is found
in many other states. The heads
of all state departments met together
as a governor's council which bad a
definite function, so that the state de
partments were brought into very close
relation. The care of the poor, school
attendance, juvenile-court work and
the control of child labor were inti
mately associated and interwoven in
a most interesting fashion.”
Among the activities of the county
boards which need further develop
ment the report lists the care of young
unmarried mothers, for whom, as yet,
little provision has be^n made, and
child placing and supervision, one of
the most difficult branches of child
care. The law authorizes the State
U. S. Department of Labor, Children's
Bureau.
RANKING NORTH CAROLINA
The following table based mainly on
census data, as reported in ^ Southern
Blue Book of Prog.-ess, 1927 edition,
shows how North Carolina ranks in
several particulars among the sixteen
states classed as Southern. The list
includes Missouri andWest Virginia.
Item Rank
Area, 62,426 sq. mi 7th
Population, 2,858,000 4th
Farms, 263,492 2nd
Value of farm property, $1,050,-
000,000 4th
Value of crops, $327,860,000 2nd
Value of all agricultural prod
ucts, $412,000,000 , 4th
Value corn crop, $46,000,000 6th
Value tobacco crop, $103,802,000.. 1st
Value cotton crop, $72,000,000 7th
Value peanuts, $7,895,000 1st
Value S. potatoes, $7,660,000 2nd
Value I. potatoes, $11,840,000 2nd
Value soybeans, $2,296,000 1st
Value cattle, $18,243,000 9th
Value hogs, $10,867,000 6tb
Value mules, $29,981,000 3rd
Value factory products, $1,060,-
000,000, Missouri and Texas
ahead 3rd
Furniture, $51,208,000 1st
Lumber, $38,080,932 8th
Value textiles, $316,088,931 Ist
Active spindles, 5,943,208 1st
Active looms, 84,279 2nd
Cotton consumed, 1,411,710 bales
Value manufactured tobacco, ap
proximately $400,000,000 ...
Developed water-power 638,289
ii- P
Mineral production, $9,604,000 14th
Highway expenditures 1926, $47,-
216,147 1st
Motor cars 1926, 365,047 5th
Bank resources, $505,891,000 10th
Public school expencjitures, $30,-
980,000 4th
Federal tax payments, $192,404,-
000 1st
Assessed value of all property
1925, $2,746,916,0.00 4th
Estimated true value of all prop
erty, 1922, $4,643,110,000,
STATE REVENUE AND THE EQUALIZING FUND
The following table shows (1) the amount of state revenue contributed
by each county from individual and domestic corporation income taxes,
inheritance taxes, and business taxe§ (schedule B), for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1926; and (2) the amount of'school equalization fund allotted to each
county for the coming school year. Several sources of state revenue are
omitted either because data are not available, or the amounts cannot properly
be credited to individual counties. The main sources not included are foreign
corporation income taxes, insurance taxes, and franchise taxes (schedule C).
Were these included the relative importance of the counties as state taxpayers
would remain about the same. The table accounts for more than half of all
state revenue collected from the counties.
The ten counties that get no equalizing fund pay more than one-half of
the total cost of state government.
The table is based on the 1926 Report of the State Department of
Revenue, and data furnished by the Secretary to the Commission appointed
to allot the equalizing fund.
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
1st
1st
1st
6th
BUNCOMBE PLAN PRAISED
Buncombe County has been singled
out by the Bureau of Education at
Washington as a shining example of
the right method of solving the il
literacy problem by incorporating adult
schools into the regular county system
and providing for adults the same
privileges and opportunities that are
provided for children in day schools.
In its official publication, School Life,
Dr. L. R. Aldermon, specialist in adult
education for the Bureau, describes
at length the functioning of this
method of treatment as he found it
State revenue
from income
tax (ind. and
County domestic corp.),
inheritance tax,
business tax (B)
Alamance $69,716
Alexander 7,226
Alleghany 1,211
Anson 20,646
Ashe 2,947
Avery 3,965
Beaufort 23,340
Bertie 10,896
Bladen 12,811
Brunswick 6,286
Buncombe 470,818
Burke 38,306
Cabarrus 169,032
Caldwell 40,375
Camden 1,368
Carteret 11,824
Caswell 2,789
Catawba 61,513
Chatham 8,256
Cherokee 6,217
Chowan 22,442
Clay 742
Cleveland 29,101
Columbus 12,048
Craven 27,836
Cumberland ... 67,527
Currituck 12,861
Dare 3,561
Davidson 85,310
... 6,134
... 17,401..
Amount
apportioned
from
equalizing
fund
..$56,799
37,349
.. 16,675
.. 42,711
.. 57,141
,. 33,637
.. 63,087
,. 60,307
,. 44,704
,. 28,741
Davie
Duplin .....
Durham 205,048
Edgecombe 31,236
Forsyth 748,712
Franklin 13,427
Gaston 223,774,
Gates 2,966
Graham 1,052
Granville 16,626
Greene 3,627.
Guilford 498,191.
Halifax 48,609,
Harnett 15,308.
Haywood 20,638.
Henderson 73,021.
Hertford 9,111.
Hoke 8,329.
Hyde 3,661.
Iredell 72,246.
Jackson 8,116.
. 22,290
. 37,646
. 6,661
. 36,693
. 24,409
. 43,848^
. 30,692
. 42,208
. 10,233
. 14.?o6
. 47,202
. 82,766
. 8,461
. 47,611
. 14,927
. 18,877
. 64,186
. 21,665
. 66,903
. 24,302
. 64,030
, 23,213
. 6,174
. 23,737
, 21,846
. 4,621
, 72,239
. 33,470
. 26,945
31,232
, 7,499
27,648
37,139
26,903
State revenue Amount
from income apportioned
tax (ind. and from
County domestic corp.), equalizing
inheritance tax, fund
business tax (B)
Johnston $28,002 $56,646
Jones 1,068 20,547
Lee 16,011 26,168
Lenoir 36,817 19,669
Lincoln 36,994 40,730
McDowell 37,990 10,511
Macon 6,463.. 40,144
Madison 6,365 49,112
Martin 6,129 33,923
Mecklenburg .. 548,693
Mitchell 3,462 16,016
Montgomery .. 9,463 41.663
Moore 32,441 26,999
Nash 81,940 73,996
New Hanover. 209,245
Northampton
Onslow 3,77:
Orange 13,390
Pamlico
Pasquotank .
Pender
Perquimans .
8,642 45,322
... 32,560
... 21,630
1,999 36,276
40,268 4,084
4,296 36,077
8,026 23.664
Person 17,339..
Pitt..
Polk..
Randolph..
. 27,293
43,562 6,178
9,271 29,321
17,619 67,706
Richmond 62,519 20,169
Robeson 39,015 8i,860
58,362 29,912
96,118 13,266
. 60,214
. 85,100
Scotland 20,342 10,417
Stanly 60,496 19,604
Stokes 7,703 62,235
Surry 53,838 66,733
Rockingham..
Rowan .
Rutherford 44,339..
Sampson 10,285..
Swain.
Transylvania..
Tyrrell
Union 20,703.
Vance 40,369..
3.744 10,840
9,609 20,776
1,080 12,424
97,720
3,667
Wake 246,336
Warren 10,696 41,622
Washington... 6,257 20,361
Watauga 8,937 36,366
Wayne 66,747 11,716
Wilkes 14,291 96,172
Wilson 70,671
Yadkin 2,936 48,678
Yancey 6,487 35,224
Total $6,404,847 $3,126,643