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 4, 1928
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIV, No. 21
Editorial UoarJi E. C. Branson. S. H. Hobbs. Jr.. P. W. Wager. L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knight. D. D. Carroll. 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.
DAJRY COWS IN THE U. S.
In the table which appears elsewhere
in this issue the states are ranked ac
cording to the ratio of dairy cows to
population, the state with the most
cows in proportion to population rank
ing highest.
The twelve North Central states
have more than half of the Nation’s
dairy cows, while sixteen Southern
states have only 26 percent of them.
Wisconsin, Minnesota and New York
lead, in the order named, in the num
ber of dairy cows, but the Dakotas
lead in the ratio of cows to population.
It is not surprising that small states
with large urban centers should have
few cows in proportion to population.
Hence Rhode Island, Massachusetts,
and New Jersey rank lowest in the
table. It is surprising and disappoint
ing that large Southern states, mainly
rural, should rank but little better.
Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana,
Georgia, and North Carolina, all are
deficient in dairying.
N. C. RanKs Low
Although North Carolina is pre
dominantly a rural state it falls . far
short of possessing its quota of dairy
cows. Taking the United States as a
whole there is one dairy cow for each
6.4 people, or slightly less than a cow
per family. North Carolina lacks 180,-
000 cows of measuring up to this
average. The United States Depart
ment of Agriculture estimates the
number of milk cows and heifers in
North Carolina on January 1, 1928, as
321,000. To equal the average for the
United States there should be 603,000.
North Carolina has one cow for each
9.02 people, and only a few Southern
states make a poorer showing. Ken-
2. Over a period of years, the auto
matic classification of lands best suited
for forestry purpose.
3. The exemption of growing and
unmerchantable timber from taxes, on
forest crop lands, until harvested.
4. A flat tax of ?.10 per acre per
year from the owner on all forest crop
land.
6. State participation in the de
velopment of forestry by a contribu
tion of $.10 per acre per year on all
forest crop lands to the town in which
such lands are located.
6. A yield tax of 10 percent of the
stumpage value when forest products
are removed from crop lands.
For years it has been pointed out by
interested people that the highly de
sirable work of forest restoration was
hampered by the ad valorem plan of
taxation. To have to pay a tax on a
growing crop of trees year after year
until the trees were of saleable size
proved an effective barrier to private
land owners in forestry activities, j
We of this generation stand between [
the days of forest supplies in great
abundance in all parts of the country
and the time when the forests will be
considered as a crop from the soil to
be grown in an orderly and organized
way and compatible with our land,
industrial and social requirements.
Fire and taxes have been the great
enemies of forestry everywhere and
we are now just beginning to over
power these enemies.
Constitutional Amendment
The forest crop law was made pos- j
sible by the constitutional amendment ]
approved in the spring election of 1927. j
The rule that all taxation must be uni
form as to values and methods in the
same taxing jurisdiction was amended
so that a classification could be made
WHAT AILS OUR TOWNS
The worst thing that ails our Ameri-
can country towns is their myopia,
their proneness to see only to the
end of Main Street, and to' think
that a town grows of itself and
from its stores and shops outward.
A city has the Main Street point of
view when it looks down from the
height of its own size to sneer at or
to feel sorry for the little town with
but one important thoroughfare; a
town has the Main Street point of
view when it thinks of its one im
portant thoroughfare as a road to
the city instead of a way to the
country. And many a little town
has this point of view. Cure the
country towns of this defect of
vision and understanding, and both
material ;and spiritual development
beyond the dreams of most dwellers
becomes possible for them. —E. E.
Miller, in Town and Country.
FEWER LYNCHINGS
Forty-one states were free from
lynching during 1927, states the Roll of
Honor prepared by the.Federal Council
of the Churches of Christ in America
through its commission on the Church
and Race Relations. The 16 lynchings
which occurred last year took place in
seven states. These states are Missouri,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Ar
kansas, Louisiana and Texas. The
number of victims was 14 less than
in 1926, one less than in 1926, and the
same number as in 1924. /
The high mark of states free of the
evil was reached last year. In 1926
there were 38 states without a lynching;
in 1926 there were 38; in 1924 there
were 38, and in 1923 there were 39.
just enacted a law making lynching an
offense to be prosecuted by the at
torney general and other prosecutors
designated by the governor in addition
to local authorities.
SAVE THE TREES
J. S. Holmes, State forester, says
in a study of forest trees of the state:
“Two-thirds of the area of our state
is still classed as forest land.
Most of this has had the greater part
or all of the merchantable timber cut
from it; and through destructive
lumbering, turpentining, roving live
stock and forest fires, this timber has
been replacing itself very slowly or not
at all.
“It should also be remembered that
a happy change is taking place. Land-
Georgia and Florida for tlie first time ! “Tefully;
since records have been kept now an-1 ““‘e ^ogs have been controlled in
tucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas,
'Vi'jeinift, Alabama, and West Virginia. , , • , . 4. ^ ^ ^
all surpass North Carolina in the ratio | by the legislature as to forests and
of dairy cows to population. Oklahoma, forest land. Fo lowmg the P^sage of
Mississippi. Kentucky and Arkansas ! fis amendment the first draft of the
- I forest law was prepared and the final
even exceed the United States average.
Result of Tenancy |
Why does the South rank so low in the
number of dairy cows and why does
North .Carolina rank below many of the
other Southern states? It is partly due, of
course, to the lack of natural pastures,
but more to the cash-crop, tenancy
type of agriculture. North Carolina
is buying much of its butter and most
of its cheese from the North. It ought
to be supplying the local markets with
home-grown dairy products. Even
worse than the practice of sending
money out of the state for dairy prod
ucts that might be locally produced is
the absence of milk and butter from
the diet of the people. Thousands of
Eastern ''Carolina people hardly know
the taste of butter and thousands of
children are reared without milk. It
is not alone urban children that are
denied milk. The 1926 census of agri
culture shows just half of the farms of
North Carolina reporting dairy cows.
Think of it, 140,000 farms in North
Carolina without a single cow! North
Carolina is making some gains in
dairying; here and there we find a
fancy herd; a few creameries are being
established. There are 30,000 more
dairy cows in the state than there were
in 1910, but located on 20,000 fewer
farms.
Can we call it progress so long as
140,000 farm families do not possess a
cow? With 400,000 rural children in
the state growing up without milk, and
with 22 million idle acres, can we boast
of our rural civilization? It is not
civilization: it is not even humane;
it is a great moral and physical
blight. We cannot build a great
state on such a foundation. We
cannot build a great state on the shift
ing sands of tenancy, an institution
which leaves 140,000 farms without a
cow, 110,000 without a pig, 40,000 with
out a chicken, and 46,000 without a
garden.—Paul W. Wager.
WISCONSIN’S FOREST TAX
The Wisconsin forest crop law which
will come into full force and effect
during 1928 is proclaimed by many as
the best law of its kind in any state.
This act authorizes;
1. The encouragement of forest
development by private enterprise.
draft was drawn by the special legisla
tive committee on forestry and recom
mended for passage and subsequently
fully approved.
The main intent of the law is that
lands suited only for forest growth
shall be in effect isolated and used for
such purposes. The official county
records will show such lands classified
as forest crop lands. No lands having
a value for agricultural, recreational,
mineral or other uses are eligible for
entry.
A Flat Acre Tax
Forest crop lands are not assessed
for taxation purposes but the assessor
enters such lands by acreages in a
special column on his tax roll. The
owner pays a flat tax to the town
treasurer of $.10 per acre per year.
The state also contributes $. 10 per acre
per year from the general fund to the
town treasurer to compensate the town
for, what it might lose in bringing this
law into effect. In many cases the
town in which such lands are located
will be better off immediately through
the working of this law as the total
amount received under the forest crop
law, namely $8.00 per forty acres, will
be more than they received under the
ad valorem system. Each town
guaranteed $8.00 per forty acres under
the forest crop law; that is, $4.00 from
the owner and $4.00 from the state.
As the law now stands, no land bearing
merchantable timber is eligible for
entry. The law also specifies a mini
mum of 160 acres that can be entered
but special hearings may be bad on
forest land of less than that acreage in
the nature of farm woodlots. The
owner of land accepted as forest crop
lands waives his right to post his land
against hunting and trapping and this
right rests entirely in the public, un
less the Conservation Commission, after
a hearing, officially closes the area to
hunting and trapping.
Method of Listing
The owner of any land who believes
his land best suited Ao forestry petitions
the Conservation Commission; for the
entry of such, lands as forest crop lands.
The blanks for such petitions are fur
nished by the Commission. A hearing
is subsequently held at the-county seat
and report is made to the Conservation
Commission. The Commission then
passes on the petition. If, the,petition
is granted, the owner and interested
state and county officials are notified
and the transaction then takes the
form of a contract running between
the state and the owner for a period of
fifty yeafs.
The owner obligates himself to bring
about, either through artificial or
natural methods, a growth of trees
that in due time will become a com
mercially valuable forest. To do this i
he may plant trees. lie must protect
the area from fire. He may encourage
the natural growth. He may scatter
tree seeds to encourage reproduction.
He may put on fire patrols during dry
times or purchase forest fire pumps or
hand tools for the protection of the
property, but through his actions in one
way or another he must bring about a
growth of forest trees on his forest
crop land, it is to his interest to do so,
for it is only from the forest crop that
be can retrieve the annual minimum
expense he incurs of $.10 per acre per
year paid as taxes.
Good Faith Necessary
It should be borne in mind that es
sentially the forest crop law is not a
law to reduce taxes on any land The
tax on such land is adjusted by the law
so that it is compatible with the re
turns from a sustained forest enter
prise. The owner of any land will gain
nothing from the forest crop law if he
does not have a good faithful intent to
actually practice forestry on the lands
he petitions to enter. The law compels
the Conservation Commission to make
an examination of all forest crop lands
once every five years to determine
whether the intent of the law is being
carried out and if the report is nega
tive, the lands may be ordered back on
the regular tax rolls and the owner is
compelled to pay all taxes that would
ordinarily have been levied under the
ad valorem system, plus simple interest
at B percent. The town board or the
tax or conservation commissions may
also at any time enter a complaint that
the intent of the law i.s not being
carried out and, after hearing, the
lands may be ordered back onto the
regular tax rolls and all back taxes
that would ordinarily have been levied
are assessed and must be paid or the
land becomes delinquent and subject to
the regular laws regarding delin
quency.
Of course the owner may also with
draw his lands voluntarily after peti
tion to, and hearing by, the Conserva
tion Commission and in case the lands
are withdrawn voluntarily he must
again pay back all taxes that would
ordinarily have been levied as deter
mined by the tax commission, and the
lands are then released from their
character as forest crop lands. An
owner of land, therefore, should not
deceive himself into believing that the
forest crop law will be of advantage to
him in reducing taxes unless he is at the
same time serious in his effort to estab
lish a forest that eventually becomes
of commercial value, f-ands entered
under the forest- crop law should, in
fact, be lands primarily valuable and
suitable only for the production of new
and commercially valuable forests and
for such areas the forest crop law is of
great value.
ap-1
pear on the Roll of Honor. Connect!- |
cut has been added to the list of states ;
that never had a lynching because
recent investigations of the Commis
sion on Race''Relations indicate that the
case in 1886 recorded as a lynching by
the Chicago Tribune, the accepted
authority for early records of the evil,
was probably a suicide of a murderer
hunted by a posse and not a lynching.
Other states that have never had a
lynching are Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
All except one of the seven states
that h£^d lynchings in 1927 have been on
the Honor Roll at least for one year
since 1922. Now only one state in the
country has an unbroken yearly record
of the crime of mob murder.
The gain in territory free from mob
murder is attributed by Dr. George E.
Haynes, Secretary of thfe Commission,
to the pressure of public opinion,
stimulated by the white and Negro
newspapers of the Nation. He states
that it is significant that ten of the
sixteen lynchings last year occurred in
two states in the Mississippi Valley,-
and he adds that the pressure of public
opinion against mob violence should
continue and increase until every person
in America regardless of race or color
is safe and secure in any state.
There were 42 instances in 1927, ac
cording to Professor Monroe N. Work
of Tuskegee Institute, in which'officers
of the law prevented lynchings, 8 of
them in northern states and 34
southern states. The Commission on
Interracial Cooperation has designed
and is awarding to officers of the law a
medal for prevention of lynching.
Five such medals were given to officers
in Texas in 1926, and two were given in
Florida, two in Louisiana and one
Kentucky in 1927. Virginia, through
the
nearly all our counties, and protection
from the fires is being extended as
rapidly as county, state and federal
funds become available.
“The chief thing lacking now is the
interest and cooperation of the people
of the towns as well as of the country
in growing and protecting our trees and
forests.’’ —Morganton News Herald.
ipTone month
Fifty-five people were killed in auto
mobile accidents in North Caroline in
February, and 33 people were burned to
death, according to the report of the
Bureau of 'Vital Statisics of the State
Board of Healthf.
There were in all 144 Violent deaths in
the state last month, the report shows.
Nineteen of this number were homicides
while seven committed suicide.
l’'rom accidental gun-shot wounds
eight lost their lives. Seven died from
gun-shot wounds of a doubtful nature,
the authorities being unable to deter
mine whether these deaths were homi
cides or accidents.
Of the 66 deaths in automobile ac
cidents, five occurred at grade crossings.
In addition to these, there were 11
people killed in straight railroad ao
cidents.
Four people were drowned. The re
port shows no deaths by lightning.
BEST MANAGED COUNTY
Forsyth county, which more than
two years ago adopted a modern and
accurate system of book-keeping and
was operating under an orderly, thor
ough and systematic plan of account
ing for a year before the County
Government Advisory Commission was
organized by the state has just re
ceived another commendation in the
form of a letter of approval from
Charles M. Johnson, executive secre
tary of the State Commission, who says
he regards Forsyth as the best
the State.—News
governed county in
leadership of Governor Byrd, has j and Observer.
DAIRY COWS IN THE UNITED STATES. 1928
States RanKed According to People Per Cow
In the following table the states are ranked according to the number of
people for each dairy cow. The table is based on the estimates of the United
States Department of Agriculture for January 1, 1928.
The estimated number of dairy cows in the United States is 21,948,000, or
one for 6.40 people. Nearly half of this total are in the twelve North Central
states. New York is also a great dairy state, being exceeded only by Wiscon
sin and Minnesota in total number of cows.
South Dakota leads the state in ratio of cows to population. Rhode Island,
with its large population and limited farm area, quite naturally ranks lowest.
Many of the Southern states make a poor showing when compared with other
rural states.
North Carolina is estimated to have 321,000 dairy cows, or one for 9.02
people. It ranks thirty-seventh among the states.
Paul W. Wager
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
Rank
State
Persons per
Rank
State
Persons per
dairy cow
dairy cow
1
South Dakota ....
1.34
26
Washington
6.79
2
North Dakota ....
1.40
26
New Hampshire...
6.91
3
Wisconsin
1,46
27
New Mexico
6.03
4
Minnesota
1.76
28
Delaware
6.76
5
Iowa
1.84
29
Virginia
7.00
6'
Nebraska
2.28
30
Alabama
7.28
7
Kansas
2.61
31
Ohio
7.32
8
Idaho
3.14
32
California
7.37
9
Wyoming
3.36
33
Illinois
7.64
10
Oklahoma
3.71
34
West Virginia
7.76
11
Nevada
3.87
36
Arizona
7.91
12
Montana
4.08
36
New York
8.68
13
Oregon
4.12
37
North Carolina
9.02
14
Missouri
4.26
38
Georgia
9.17
16
Colorado
4.44
39
Louisiana
9.48
16
Indiana
4.65
40
Pennsylvania
11.26
17
Mississippi
4.69
41
South Carolina
11-53
18
Kentucky
4.97
42
Maryland
11.64
19
Arkansas
'6.08
43
Vermont
12.39
20
Michigan
'6.29
44
Connecticut
16.02
21
Maine
6.64
45
Florida
17.48
22
Tennessee
6.67
46
New York
30.70
23
Utah
6.68
47
Massachusetts
31.66
24
Texas
6.76
48
Rhode Island
36.20