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.
august 10, 1927
- CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIII, No. 39
Editorial Boardi E. C. Branson. S. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knifflit. D. D. Carroll.- J.'B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14. 1914. at the Poatoffice at Chapel Hill. N. C.. under the act of August 24. 1912.
COUNTY BUYiNG POWER
Forsyth county ranks first in buying
power, according to the Dartnell
Advertiser’s Guide, just off the
press. Elsewhere appears a table
which ranks the counties according to
buying power, as determined by Dart-
neli. Tne index of buying power is
determined by combining a series of
wealth production and standard of
living factors chosen to indicate the
purchasing power of counties. A
unit of each factor' is given a value
and the total of the values is the index
of the county’s buying power. The
factors chosen by Dartnell are: Value
added by manufacture, value of mined
products, value of crops, value of live-,
stock products, value of fishing prod
ucts, bank deposits, number of domes
tic lighting consumers, number of
Ford and other passenger cars, number
of income tax returns filed, circula
tion of thirty leading magazines, total
population and an index of population
quality. The table is designed to show
purchasing power only, and is not an
indication of how counties rank general
ly, or in any other specific way.
Forsyth Leads
When the production and consump
tion units are totaled, Forsyth leads
with three hundred and sixty-six, and
Graham comes last with only five.
Which means that the indications are
that Forsyth's purchasing power is
about seventy-five times the purchas
ing power of Graham. Graham county
people live largely at home, while
Forsyth people are great consumers
of goods produced elsewhere.
Ranking after Forsyth are Guilford
with an index of one hundred and
ninety, and Mecklenburg with an index
of une hundred and sixty;four, followed
closely by Durham, Wake, Gaston, and
Buncombe. The high index of Forsyth
is due in part to the enormous value
of her manufactured tobacco, out of
which comes a large federal tax. The
buying power is reduced at least by the
amount of the tobacco tax. The same
factor has some influence on the rank
of Durham. Forsyth may purchase
more than Guilford or Mecklenburg,
but certainly not nearly twice as much.
Aside from this we have very little
criticism of the table. Enough pro-
duction and standard of living factors
are included to show fairly accurately
the relative buying power of the
counties.
The industrial and urban counties
and the grest cash-crop counties stand
well up in the table. These are coun-
ies with large cash incomes, and there
fore possess great buying power. The
rural counties with more or less of a
cash-crop type of agriculture occupy a
middle position. The highly self-
sufficing mountain and Tidewater coun
ties come last, it may be that many
of the counties near the end of the
table have higher standards of living
than some further up. They produce
at home most of the things they con
sume. Some • cash-crop countie.s may
not live so well, but they have cash
income and naturally they have greater
purchasing power. Dartnell is inter
ested in informing advertisers as to
sales possibilities. We believe the
findings are well worth passing on.
triotism.
The heart of the nation is in the
home and if your association can not
claim the credit for creating the con
ditions that make the home the cita
del, certainly it provides the build
ings in which the spirit of the home
burgeons and from which go influ
ences that make a better world with
more and more comforts for those
privileged by the aid of your organ
ization to become owners of houses
where the blessings of home convert
a building into the nearest approach
to a heaven on earth.
In a day of easy credit, -govern
mental agencies and individuals are
so prone to go into debt that it would
be well to declare that the philoso
phy of ‘pay as you go’ ought to be
adopted by many in our day. It cer
tainly ought to be the practice of
governments and individuals as to
everything except that which looks
to permanency. Borrowing money
even for bread and butter, not to say,
luxuries, is sure to bring the ‘misery’
foretold by Mr. Micawber. It is
equally true that strict adherence to
this principle as to home owning by
citizens and for neede^ permanent
improvements would check the wheels
of progress and deny homes to many
families in the years when they can
afford most happiness.
It is only 18 years ago that ‘this
state really recognized agencies of
comfort and gave them direction and
supervision—only 18 years, though,
of course, a number of associations
functioned successfully before then.
Then, the assets of the associations
were $4,362,888.03. The last annua!
report showed the assets had in
creased to $85,715,009:09, an increase
in the 18-year period of more than
$81,000,000.—Josephus Daniels, before
the National B. and L. Conviention.
BUILDING HOMES
The imperative call in our country is
for more homes' to be owned by their
occupants, and tess tenancy.
If a man who makes two blades of
grass grow where one formerly grew
IS accounted a public benefactor, what
shall be the appraisement of an associa
tion that flnances the building of half
a million homes in one year? There
may be some objections by the cap
tious to calling all houses constructed
through the good offices of the build
ing and loan association that many
homes. It is true enough that a
house does not make a home, but is
it not true that there must be the
shelter of a house for the lares and
penates of a home?
Therefore, a building for a family
must precede the founding of every
home, and experience has proved
that, though the exceptions are
many, the home nest or fireside is
the citadel of happiness and pa
ELECTRICITY ON FARMS
The electric light and power industry
is now doing for the farms of this
country what it has done for the town
and city—providing them with the
prime factor of economic prosperity,
electric service.
That is made clearer than ever in
the report of G. C. Neff, chairman of
the rural electric service committee
of the National Electric Light Asso
ciation, to the Atlantic City conven
tion of this body last month. Mr.
Neff, vice president and general man
ager of the Wisconsin Power and Light
Company, headquarters at Madison,
shows that farm electrification in
creased 86.6 percent in the last year,
notwithstanding the fact that this was
a rather depressive year for most
farmers. Thus electrical development
steps 'out in front of the procession
of progress on the farm as in the city
and lea'ds the way to new conquests.
That is as it should be, for it is the
function of the utility to lead. It
must always be prepared, not only to
meet present demands for its service,
but the ever-expanding demands.
At this rate of • increase—86.&jper-
cent the last year —Mr. Neff says that
by the end of 1932 there wi.l be
l,00u,000 American'farms equipped with
electrical service and by the end of
1938 three times that many, or near
ly one-half of all the farms in this
country.—Public Service.
HOLDING THE FARMER
A representative survey just com
pleted by the Department of Agri
culture indicates that 84 percent of
the farmers who moved to towns
between 1917 and 1926 owned their
farms at the time the change was
made. No doubt many of these
farms were mortgaged. More than
half of the farmers were under
60 years of age.
They gave as their reasons for
leaving the farms: E'conomic, 37.8
percerit; old age and physical dis
abilities, 25 2 percent; opportunity
to give children better schooling,
10.9 percent; because of having
achieved a competency, 2.5 percent;
in order to let soji have farm, 1.8-
percent; all other reasons, 21.8
percent.
What happens when a fairly well-
to-do farmer moves to the city?
He either sells his farm or places
a tenant in charge. If the latter
occurs, the farm must then support
two families. Tne new man, as a
general rule, has his fortune to
make out of the soil. The pros
perous farmer takes to the city
with him his years of experience
ano education in business-like farm
ing, his wealth which was produced
on the land, and his desire to live
a more comfortable life. The rural
neighborhood, school, club, church,
and local goverment lo&e a sub
stantial supporter. By remaining
on the farm, tne fairly well-to-do
man could do much to raise the
standard of living in his community.
In moving to the city, he enters an
entirely new environment with a
good chance of being a misfit in the
new surroundings.
As I see it, if we are to develop a
fuller and richer rural life, if we are
to make farm life and the farm
home sufficiently attractive to keep
the best farmers in the rural com
munities, we must pay more atten
tion to the technical principles of
rural consumption. That is to say,
we must assist the rural communities
to achieve the highest possible stand
ard of living on their income.
When the makers of apparatus
and appliances start out to improve
the conveniences of the farm house,
they must invent things adapted to
the conditions which surround the
farm home. There must be heating
plants, kitchen facilities—for light
ing, cooking, disposal of sewage—
radio sets adapted to farm use.
This is not impossible. I have
talked with men engaged in these
industries, and they believe the thing
can be done. The demand and the
market is waiting for the leader
who will get back of the idea and
work it out.—Secretary of Agri
culture Jardine.
NOTES ON PUBLIC EDUCATION
2.
A STATE PROGRAM FOR EDUCATION
The legislative program for any
particular state will differ from that in
others because it must provide for
particular and specific state needs and
must be consistent with the existing
administrative system and traditions
and ideals of the people. There are,
however, certain considerations and
problems common to all states which
will doubtless be the subject of con
sideration in formulating educational
programs. In many states the first
step should be to take an inven
tory or survey of the educational as
sets and liabilities of the state, and on
the basis of this study to formulate a
pVogram of educational legislation ex
tending over a period of year^ Such
a program would include, among other
things, sdTne provision for the follow
ing:
1. A businesslike state sysfem of
school orgauizatioD, administration,
supervision, and support; a professional
ly staffed and adequate state depart
ment of education.
2. Establishment of an effective
unit for the greatest efficiency in local
school administration, or such changes
in existing unit as will add to its prac
tical efficiency.
3. Readjustment of elementary and
secondary education to include (a)
education for health, (b) education for
citizenship, (c) education for life occu
pation, and (d) education for leisure.
4. A liberal system of school sup
port, including sources which supple
ment income from property taxation,
if possible; a scientifically distributed
equalization ffind; or an equitable
method of distributingestablishedfunds
to equalize educational opportunities
and at the same time provide an equi
table distribution of tax burdens.
5. Provision which insures sanitary
and appropriate school grounds and
buildings, preferably tinder state super
vision and inspection.
6. Preparation of an adequate staff
of teachers.
7. Provision for a modern system of
certificating teaching based on a
gradual increase in professional re
quirements.
8'.’ Adequate provision for living
salaries for these teachers, longer
tenures, and retirement ’ pension.—
From A Manual of Educational Legis
lation, U. S. Bureau of Education.
BUYING POWER OF COUNTIES IN 1927
In the following table the counties are ranked according to an index of
total buying power as determined by the Dartnell Advertiser’s Guide. The
index is determined by combining a series of factors chosen to indicate the
purchasing power of counties. The factors chosen are: "Value added by manu
facture, value of mined products, value of crops, value of livestock products,
value of fishing products, bank deposits, number of domestic lighting consumers,
number of passenger cars, number of income tax returns, circulation of thirty
leading magazines, total population and an index of population quality. The
table is designed to show only purchasing power, and is not an index of how
counties rank generally, or in other specific ways. Forsyth's high index is
largely due to value of tobacco producfs. See brief interpretation which ap
pears elsewhere.
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
TRUTH I.N NEWS
The need for editors to print the
truth, whether the facts are creditable
or discreditable to their community or
state, has never been greater than it is
today, Julian Harris, editor of the Col
umbus, Ga., Enquirer-Sun, told the
North Carolina Press Association at its
annual banquet.
•‘And never greater has been the
responsibility resting on each and every
editor, whether his paper be a country
weekly with 500 subscribers or a city
daily with 60,000, to do his full share
toward ridding his section of the forces
and ideas which are menacing its in
tellectual progress and spiritual growth
and making a jest of justice and a ' lie
of liberty,” the editor declared.
Mr. Harris then propounded the fol-
lowing questions;
“Are each of you honestly, and with
out reservations of any kind, printing
all the facts relating to every form of
injustice which is calculated to destroy
the happiness, limit the comforts, nar
row the rights, or threaten the life or
liberty of the people of your state?
“Or do you put industrial progress
and financial prosperity above human
advancement and human happines^^?
‘‘Are you working for the welfare of
the people of your town, whether
against social prejudice, religious in
tolerance, or organized lawlessnessf
“Or do • you use your columns to
clamor for a bigger town instead of
a far better one, and for a wealthier
community rather than one where the
less prosperous may have' full oppor
tunity 10 improve their condition?”
WEALTH AND ILLITERACY
Julian Harris in his recent address
to the North Carolina Press Associa
tion made a plea for the editors to
fight illiteracy, prejudice' and ignor
ance in the South. Quoting Walter
Hines Page that a “South, illiterate,
unhealthy, poverty-stricken was a
national pen),” the editor declared
that “to that statement I would add
that it is equally true that a South
illiterate and intolerant, but wealthy,
is a national menace.”
“If you are tempted to reply that
as soon as the South is wealthy,
illiteracy and ignorance, which breed
intolerance, will be wiped out. my reply
is that the South, even now, is rolling
in wealth.”
Reciting a list of figures showing
the great increase in recent years of
wealth in the South, Mr. Harris said
the South is no longer poverty-stricken
and unhealthy, “yet, illiteracy thrives,
and prejudice and intolerance, often
masked and hooded, usurps the law and
administers justice with the lash.”
Buying
power,
Rank County Dartnell
, index
1 Forsyth 366
2 Guilford 190
3 Mecklenburg 164
4. Durham 156
6 Wake 131
6 Gaston 120
7 Buncombe 106
8 Rockingham 90
9 Johnston 86
10 New Hanover 83
11 Pitt 81
11 Robeson ; 81
13 “Wayne 78
14 Halifax 76
15 Cabarrus 74
16 Edgecombe 73
16 Rowan 73
18 Wilson 70
19 Nash 67
20 Davidson 65
21 Cleveland 64
22 Alamance 62
22 Iredell 62
24 Catawba 60
26 Cumberland 56
25 Sampson 56
27 Lenoir 53
27 Rutherford 53
27 Union 53
30 Craven 51
30 Surry 61
32 Harnett - 60
33 Randolph 49
34 Richmond 48
34 Stanly 48
36 Beaufort 46
37 Duplin' 45
38 Anson 44
38 Wilkes..- : 44
40 Columbus 43
40 Vance 43
42 B’ranklin 41
43 Granville •' 40
44 Bertie 39
46 Haywood 38
46 Moore 37
47 Northamptbn 36
48 Burke 34
48 Chatham 34
48 Martin 34
.. Baying
power.
Rank ' County Dartnell
index
61 Caldwell 33
52 Pasquotank 32
63 Lincoln 30
63 Orange 30
63' Stokes 30
56 Henderson 29
66 McDowell ' 29
56 Person { 29
56 Warren 29
60 Ashe 27
60 Greene 27
60 Hertford 27
63 Bladen 26
63 Madison , . 26
63 Scotland 26
66 Davie 24
67 Carteret : 23
67 Yadkin ^... 23
69 Cherokee 22
69 Yancey 22
69 Montgomery ' 22
72 Caswell 21
72 • Lee ; .. 21
74 Brunswick 20
75 Hoke 19
75 Jackson 19
76 Onslow 19
75 Swain 19
75 Watauga 19
80 Chowan 18 '
SO Pender 18
82 Alexander 17
82 Macon 17
82 Perquimans 17
86 Gates 16
86 Transylvania 16
86 Washington 16
88 Mitchell 16 ’
89 Jones 14
90 Avery 13
90 Pamlico 13
90 Polk 13
93 Currituck 11
93 Hyde 11
96 Alleghany 9
96 Camden 8
97 Dare 7
98 Clay 6
98 Tyrrell 6
100 Graham 6