The news in this publi-
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Published Weekly by the
cation is released for the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex-
press on receipt.
I £ Jziic
tension Division.
FEBRUARY 29, 1928
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIV, No. 16
Kditorial E. C. Branson. S. H. Hobbu, Jr.. P. W. Wager. L. R. Wi!s4n, E. W. Knieht. D. D. CarroH. H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14. 1914. at the PostofBce at Chapel Hill. N. C.. under the act of August 24. 191S.
B.4NK RESOURCES IN U, S.
BfiNK SESOURCES
On June oO, 1927, there were 27,061
reporting banking associations in the
United States. Alaska and our insular
possession.'',
with cumbined resources
aggregating ^tiH. 132,56^,000. If weex-
clude District of Columbia, Alaska and
the island possessions the number of
banks becomes 26,961 and aggregate
resources $67,609,188,000. The table
which appears elsewhere in this issue
gives the batik resources of each stale
and ranks the slates according to re
sources per capita.
Since New York contains within its
boundaries the financial capital of the
Nation it is natural that it should lead
the states in bank resources, both in
the aggregate and on a per capita basis,
its bank resources exceed eighteen
billion dollars or 28 percent of the total
for the United States. This is equiva
lent to $1,664 per inhabitant. Penn
sylvania is second in aggregate re
sources and Massachusetts second in
proportion to population.
The mountain states have the small
est volume of bank resources—New
Mexico with its $41,297,000 having the
least of any state. The Southern states
rank lowest, however, in relation to
population. South Carolina’s bank
resources amount to only $127 per
capita and in nine other Southernstates
the figure is less than double that
amount. North Carolina has bank
resources equiv'alent to $174 per capita.
Even thuughthe Southern states rank
low among the states on a per capita
basis, their aggregate bank resources
are huge. In the Oi^irict'^of Columbia
and the 15 states south of the Mason
and Dixoo line bank resources amount
to ovefr ten billion dollars. North Caro-
linfi’s bank resources amount to 503
j dollars and nine Southern states
. ve even larger totals.
Vast Savings
' Of the $61,132,664,000 of aggregate
individual deposits in all the reporting-
banks of-the country more than $26,-
W32,000,000 were savings deposits. In
addition, postal savings in the United
States amounted to $107,141,000.
Statistics of building and loan asso
ciations in tile United States, as given
in the comptroller’s report for 1927,,
are for the fiscal year 1926. At tliat
lime there were 12,626 building and
loan associations, with 10,666,705 mem
bers and total assets of $6,334,104,000.
In addition to the savings deposits of
the banks of the country, postal sav
ings, and building and loan association
savings included in the report of the
comptroller of the currency, there are
also vast sums in associational and fra
ternal organizations and vast security
holdings not covered in the report,
which illustrate the magnitude of
savings by »the people of the United
States—Adapted by Paul W. Wager
from Manufacturers Record.
FAKM EFFICIENCY
Other factors than lack of production
efficiency are responsible for the decline
in the relative economic position of the
farmer, according to the National In
dustrial Conference Board. Agricul
tural output per worker during the first
quarter of the current century Las in
creased about as much as has the .out
put of industry per worker employed,
according to the Board’s computations.
Output per worker employed in in
dustry during 1899-1925 increased 49
percent, while the output per worker
on farms during the same period in
creased 47 percent. As in industry, this
increase in productivity has been due
largely to the greater use of power and
to increasing mechanization. Total
horsepower used on farms in 1926 was
47,400,000, as against 23,600,000 in 1899,
or 4.6 horsepower per farm worker in
1926 as against 2.2 horsepower in 1899.
Horsepower per person engaged in
manufacturing increased from 1.9 in
1899 to 3.6 in 1926.
While no definite measurements can
be made of the exact extent to which
increased power and mechanization has
•entered into the increased productivity
of either industry or agriculture, the
high development of American agri
cultural implements and machinery,
and their extensive application, are
sufficient evidence of the progress made
in agricultural production in this di-;
rection. In fact, so superior is Ameri
can agricultural machinery to imple
ments employed by farmers in other
countries that American farm machin
ery has become one of our most impor
tant items of exp'.rt and is used in all
parts of the world where the nature of
farming allows its application.
The American farmer is considerably
more productive then the farmers of
other countries, the Conference Boanl’s
analysis discloses. During the five-
year period just preceding the war, in
the United States 24.4 acre.s were be
ing cultivated per farm worker; in Scot
land, 16.6 acres; in England, 9.6 acres;
in France, 8.3 acres; in Germany, 6.2
and in Italy 4.2 acres per worker.
THE COUNTRY CHURCH
We are saying much and making our
selves believe that real serious effort is
made to meet the needs of the church
in the country. We have some money
to spend and we have certain projects
ahead, still we have every reason to
fear that the real care of the situation
has not been touched and will not be
until the great body of our leaders,
both clerical and lay, are mightily
moved with the seriousness of the
situation—a situation that is growing
more and more desperate with each
passing year. We are better favored
here in North Carolina than in many
other sections but the inevitable awaits
us. It is only a question of time.
Professor Fred Eastman in the
Christian Century gives these startling
data on the present situation:
The careful and scientific surveys of
the institute of Social and Religious
Research have given us twelve volumes
of data covering every section of the
country. Here are a few of the out
standing disclosures of tnose surveys;
Only one-fifth of the rural population
of America goes to church.
Two-fifths of all rural churches are
standing still or losing ground.
Seven out of ten rural churches have
only a fraction of a pastor each.
One-third of all rural ministers must
work at some other occupation in order
to make a living.
One-fourth of all rural churches have
no Sunday school.
One-fifth of ail rural churches receive
“home mission aid.”
Of these aided churches, about 71
percent are in active competition with
other aided churches.
This condition of the farmer's church
concerns more than the rural popula
tion of this country. Seventy percent
of all America’s churches are rural
churches. Our city churches for the
most part draw their membership “by
letter’’ from these rural churches.
They draw their leadership from them,
too, for the vast majority, well over
eighty percent, of the candidates for
the ministry in theological schools are
students who come from rural or small
town churches. The country church is,
therefore, historically the foundation
of the church in America and its
present basis for both membership and
leadership. When the foundation
starts to crumble, it behooves those
who live in the superstructure to take
warning.—North Carolina Christian
Advocate.
A CIVIC IDEAL
I dream'd in a dream I saw a city
invincible to the attacks of the
whole of the rest of the earth;
I dream’d that was the new City of
Friends;
Nothing was greater there than the
quality of roliust Love—it led the
jrest;
It was seen every hour in the
actions of the men of that city.
And in all their looks and words.
—Walt Whitman.
workable that a federated church be
established. In the federated church,
the affiliations with national and inter
national denominations are maintained
by individuals but worship and activities,
in the community are carried on to
gether.
In a survey, the council found many
situations of over-churching and under-,
churching, of duplication of effort, and
of abandonment of churches where they
were needed. There are 1,100 aban
doned churches in the state, with repre
sentatives of nearly all denominations
among them.
ELECTRICITY ON FARMS
MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE
The present number of farmers’
mutual fire insurance companies in the
United States is nearly 2,000 and the
total amount of insurance carried by
them exceeds $9,600,000,000.
The average annual cost of insurance
during the last five years has been
approximately 26 cents per $100. This
average cost is about 2 cents per $100
greater than the average annual cost
during the preceding five-year period.
This slight increase in cost is by no
means surprising. The post-war depres
sion in agriculture, like most such ex
periences, has had a decided tendency
to increase fire losses on the farm.
Maintenance, upkeep, and replacements
of property have in many cases been
unavoidably neglected. Many of the
commercial companies, in spite of rates
materially higher than the cost charges
in the farmers’ mutuals, have found it
necessary to restrict their activities in
the field of farm fire insurance, and a
few such companies have entirely dis
continued their farm departments.
Farmers’ mutual insurance is now
rather generally available to all farm
ers of good standing among their fel
lows, in all states outside of the Cotton
Belt and certain of the mountain states.
In the southern and mountain states
only a relatively small number of such
companies are in operation, and these
fall far short of covering the field.
Few, if any, attempts at cooperation
among farmers have proved so gener
ally successful as have^their efforts to
provide themselves with fire insurance
by means of mutual companies owned
and controlled by themselves. Es
sentially the same can be said of farm
ers’ windstorm insurance, where com
panies for this purpose have been so
organized as to^eover a substantial
territory and have been operated in
close contact with the local fire in
surance mutuals.—V. N. Valgren in
The Progressive Farmer.
AN ITALIAN BENEFACTOR
A. P. Giannini, a California Italiai;
who began his business career peddling
vegetables a^d today is president ol
one of the country’s largest banks, ha?
decided to give away his personal
fortune in the interests of human wel
fare—and significantly enough, remains
true to his boyhood love by devoting
his wealth to the benefit of agricul
ture.
In 1928 alone the enormous sum will
amount to $1,600,000, representing
Giannini’s 6 percent of the earnings of
the Bancitaly Corporation, which he
has refused to accept.
James A. Bacigalupi, on behalf-of
the directors of the Bancitaly Corpor
ation, made the announcement that
this money will be given to the people
of California through a foundation to
foster and develop the state’s agricul
tural interests.
One million dollars will go toward
the. establishment of the Giannini
Foundation of Agricultural Economics
at the University of California, and
five hundred thousand dollars for the
erection of a building on the campus
dedicated to ways and means of im
proving the economic conditions of
farmers, and dairy and livestock men.
A little more than thirty years ago
Giannini, a young Italian fruit and
vegetable buyer, began lending money
to other farmers who had established
themselves in the fertile valleys of
California.
Today the Bank of Italy reaches
every hamlet in California, and the
Bank of Italy and its subsidiary cor
porations are said to form the gecend
largest bank in the country, the Na
tional City Bank of New York being
the only one to surpass it.
As a result of a survey made by the
Rural Electric
Service Committee of
the National Electric Light Association,
it is reported that 227,442 farms in 27
states were receiving electric light and
power service on January 1,1927. On
this basis it is estimated that
between
300,000 and 360,000 farms in the United
States are receiving electric service
from^distribution lines.
States Number of farms
Percent
with central
of total
station service
farms
Alabama
2,000
0.84
California ... .
62,000
46.4
Colorado
1,800
3.1
Florida
1,015
1.7
Georgia
610
0.2
Idaho
6,900
17.0
Illinois
7,260
3.2
Indiana
5,100
2.6
Iowa
13,600
6.4
Kentucky
1,950
0.75
Michigan
6,800
3.5
Missouri
3,766
1.5
Montana.
7U0
1.6
Nebraska . .
2,600
2.0
New Jersey
3,950
13.3
New Mexico...
375
1.2
New York
35,600
18.9
North Carolina.
2,467
0.87
OKlahoma......
330
0.17
Oregon
7,600
13.6
Pennsylvania ..
19,369
9.7
South Carolina.
1,260
0.73
Tennessee
1,225
0.49
U tah ...-
8,050
30.9
Washington....
20,000
27.4
Wisconsin
ll.OUO
6.7
Wyoming
325
0.21
Total
227,442
L
best thing I know is dwarf periwinkle.
Now that graves are mostly fiat, tho
periwinkle covers them far better than
grass. It is an evergreen and early in
the spring It is a mass of bright blue
flowers. Once started, it gets thicker
and thicker until it is a bright fresh
green carpet. It lasts forever almost,
and requires absolutely no care except
some cutting back every few years in
cases where it has trespassed on the
walks.
Any of the dwarf evergreens are
better for planting close to graves than
the big ones. The big ones should be
kept for the intersection of the walks
and drives.
Weeping willows are lovely trees for
cemeteries and J do not know why they
are not used oftener. They are grace
ful, appropriate, and hardy and their
leaves come out very early in the
spring. And on top of all other good
qualities, they are rapid growers, and
while they like .moisture, they do not
necessarily have to be planted beside
streams. Leopards won’t change their
spots but trees will change their habits,
if given half a chance.—Mrs. Lindssy
Patterson, in The Progressive Farmer.
COUNTRY GRAVEYARDS
A friend has written to ask me about
country graveyards and what can be
dune to avoid the terrible weedy ap
pearance of so many of them. The
OHIO CHURCHES MERGE
Seventeen Protestant denominations
in Ohio, banded together as the Ohio
Council of Churches, have as their goal
adequate church equipment, with the
services of a resident pastor for every
inhabitant of the state.
The principles of comity declare that
every community with a population of
500 or more should have one competent
full-time, well-paid, resident pastor,
and the efforts of both the community
and the denominational officials should
be directed toward bringing this about
at the earliest moment.
In small comipunities of less than
1,000 population one well-equipped
Protestant church with adequate resi
dential pastoral leadership shall be con
sidered sufficient to meet the needs. If
additional workers are needed, the
pastor might better have assistants for
specialized departments.
Where over-churched conditions exist,
the principles urge that the churches
merge, or if such a plan is believed un
N. C. IN THE FOREFHONT
North Carolina is rapidly assuming
a place-of leadership among the states
in the promotion of school consolida
tion. In 98 of the 100 counties in
North Carolina auto trucks are in
operation transporting children to con
solidated schools. Approximately 87,-
300 pupils are traveling to and from
school in 2,317 trucks in these counties,
at a cost of $1,303,000 in round num
bers. Apparently only two states,
Indiana and Ohio, surpass it in numb^
cf transportation busses reported, num
ber of children transported to school,
and total expenditure for pupil trans
portation. Transportation data of the
kind indicated do not, of course, con
stitute a final nor an adequate niesstre
of a state’s progress in improving rural
education. However, they show system
atic accomplishment in one important
phase of improvement which in this case
is noteworthy. That North Carolina
ranks well in the lead among the states
in an acknowledged field of administra
tive accomplishment should be gratify
ing to citizens in that state interested
in its educational status.—Rural
America.
BANK RESOURCES IN URIITED STATES. 1927
State Totals and Rank on Per Capita Basis
The following table, based on the last report of the Comptroller of the
Currency, shows the aggregate bank resources in each state on June 30, 1927,
together with a ranking of the states according to bank resources per capita.
The report covers national, state (commercial) banks, loan and trust com
panies, savings and private banks.
There are 27,061 banks in the United States with aggregate resources of
$68,132,668. This is an average of $574 per capita, using estimated population in
1927.
New Y’ork leads the states both in aggregate and per capita bunk re
sources. Its banks have resources of $18,894,762,000, which is equivalent to
$1,664 per inhabitant. New Mexico has the smallest volume of bank resources,
$41,297,000, and South Carolina the least per capita, $127.
North Carolina has 640 banks and their aggregate resources amount to
$503,968,000. This is equivalent to $174 per capita.
Paul W. Wager
Department, of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
Aggregate Bank re-
bank sources
Rank State resources per
(000 omitted) capita
1 New York $18,894,762..$l,e64
2 Massachusetts 4,911,842...1,167
3 California 3,833,968... 868
4 Rhode Island 671,441... 812
6 Connecticut 1,820,034... 807
6 Vermont 261,716... 744
7 New Jersey..'. 2,619,291... 699
8 Pennsylvania 6,612,856.669
9 New Hampshire .. 304,0b8... 668
10 Nevada 46,629... 643
11 lilinois 4,617,864... 633
12 Delaware 161,230... 622
13 Maine 466,694... 689
14 Maryland 941,067... 589
16 Michigan 2,267,864... 606
16 Ohio 8,238,029... 486
17 Missouri 1,601,480... 466
18 Iowa 1,024,005... 422
19 Minnesota 1,129,048... 420
20 Florida 662,666... 416
21 Nebraska 641,422... 388
22 Indiana, 1,200,393... 381
23 Wisconsin 1,100,626... 377
24 Oregon 826,766... 367
j Aggregate Bank re-
( bank sources
Rank State resources per
j (000 omitted) capita
26 Utah $ 176,893... $336
26 Washington 620,146... 333
27 Colorado 337,866.... 316
28 New Mexico 41,297... 297
29 Kansas 641,466... 296
,30 Wyoming 68,419... 284
31 Lu^siana 629,314... 274
32 West Virginia 462,494... 267
33 Virginia 671,672... 264
34 Nortn Dakota 166,726... 268
35 Texas I,3i4,162... 244
36 Montana 170,389... 238
37 Kentucky 691,'418... 233
38 South Dakota 168,640... 228
39 Oklahoma 621,261... 219
[40 Tennessee 626,826... 2l2
j41 Idaho 97,603... 184
I 42 Arizona 82,8u4... 180
; 43 North Carolina 503,958... 174
[44 Mississippi 276,688... J64
j 45 Georgia 462,843... 146
'46 Arkansas 268,903... 140
: 47 Alabama 349,241... 1H7
48 South Carolina 234,841... 127