The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
JUNE 27, 1928
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIV, No. 33
Editorial Boardi E. C. Branson. S. H. Hobba. Jr., P. W. Wager. L. R. Wllaon, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-claaa matter Norember 14. 1914. at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of Angust 24. 1911.
AUTOMOBILES ON FARMS
It was cmly a few years ago that an
Automobile was considered a luxury.
Even more recently it was beyond the
reach of all farmers except a few of
the most pjyjsperous. One would hard
ly have predicted that by 1928 there
would be over five million farm-owned
motor vechicles in the United States.
This represents 21.8 percent of the pas
senger care and 20.7 percent of the
motor trucks. When it is recalled that
only about 26 percent of the population
live on farms it appears that auto
mobiles are as common among farmers
as among any other class. A pro
longed agricultural d^ression has not
greatly affected the purchase and use
of automobiles by farmers. Some
might deduce from this that there is no
real hardship among farmers. Others
might maintain that automobiles are
the cause of the farmer’s poverty.
While there may be an element of truth
in each of these positions it is probably
nearer the truth to say that an auto
mobile is less a luxury and more a tool
to the farmer than it is to many city
owners. In few other occupations are
time and distance such important
factors. As a self-sufficing agriculture
gives way to a commercial agriculture
this is peculiarly true.
A Car Per Farm
The t»1»le which appears elsewhere in
this issue shows the number of auto
mobiles and trucks per hundred farms
,sn each of the states. In fifteen states
the number of farm-owned automobiles
exceeds the number of farms—this is
exclusive of motor trucks. Most of
these states are those which have very
large farms. Idaho, Montana and
Nevada, with their huge cattle ranches,
lead all others. The only eastern
states with more than one automobile
per farm are Rhode Island, Maryland,
and New Jersey, each containing many
fruit and truck farms. New Jersey
leads all the states in relative number
of farm motor trucks-38.3 percent of
the farms being so equipped. Massa
chusetts is second with 34.4. The
states that rank high in number of
trucks on the farms are mainly states
with large cities to be supplied with
milk, fruit and vegetables.
Despite the apparent density of auto
mobiles in the South the southern
states are far below the western states
in ratio of automobiles to farms. There
are seven southern states in which
fewer than forty percent of the farms
have automobiles or trucks. North
Carolina ranks fortieth among the
states with 42.8 passenger cars and 7.4
trucks for each one hundred farms.
While the South has fewer automobiles
per 100 farms or per 100 people than
some sections it must be remembered
•that its farms are relatively small and
that half of them are cultivated by
t.enants or croppers who are equivalent
to farm laborers in the North and
West. Nevertheless the rural south is
farther from automobile satiety than
■any other agricultural area in the
'Country. That this is so, is indicated
by the fact that North Carolina ranked
eighth among the states in number of
•cars purchased in 1927 and first in per
centage increase in registrations. South
Carolina was second in percentage in
crease in registrations.
Social Eifects
'The fact that there are 6,007,124
motor vehicles on the 6,371,640 farms
of the United Slates promises much
for the future of American country
life. The automobile has removed the
isolation of the farmers and it will
destroy their provincialism. There is
no danger of an American peasantry.
There is too much mobility. The auto-
• mobile may keep a man poor but it
does give him contacts. It gives him
a wide range of employment opportuni
ties. If farming ceases to be profit
able the farmer can go ten or twenty
miles each day to work on the railroad,
or in the factory^ or on public works
and he is doing so. The automobile has
•a leveling influence on the whole pop-
■alatroQ—both socially and economically.
Jts cultural effects may not yet be ap-
5)arent, but they will be none the less
teal. The automobile takes the coun
tryman to the city and the cityman to
the country so easily that the effect on
'both will be profound. The auto
mobile aAd the radio together will build
a new society. Whether better or
worse than we have known, it will cer
tainly be vastly different. It may not be
a cultured society, but it will at least
be one that is worldly-wise.
A BANK WITH VISION
Many banks in the South have rec
ognized that the best work they can
do for the development of the sur
rounding country, and thus for their
own individual prosperity, is to develop
the industrial and agricultural activities
of their community. We have seen no
report, however, of a'ny bank carrying
on this kind of work which shows up to
better advantage than that being done ■
by the First National Bank of Laurel, :
Miss.
For a number of years this bank has ;
realized that a profitable agriculture
was necessary if the 83 percent of
available farm land in Jones county
now lying idle was brought into cul-1
tivation. It is thoroughly convinced
that practically all the cut-over land in
this section is suitable for farm crops
or the growing of excellent pasture
grasses. There is much cheap-priced
land available for farming, pasturage
or poultry raising. Many profitable
crops can be grown if the land is in
dustriously and intelligently farmed...
Thousands of farmers have been
loaned money with which to purchase
land, build homes, barns or fences, to
buy trucks and to make crops. Loans
are made after the farm has been
visited, the land appraised, and the
fact ascertained that the farmer raises
all or
MORE HUMAN CONTACTS
How shall the rural population
liberate itself from the restricUons
and repressions upon its manner of
life and labor, whether in some de
gree forced upon it inevitably by the
necessity of the case or blindly ac
cepted from tradition, so as greatly
to extend its acquaintance with per
sons and increase its contacts with
the human mind? Human contacts,
more human contacts, and still more
human contacts is the slogan remedy
of this problem of rural social organ
ization.
In popular terms, increase of con
tacts means larger life, broader out
look, wider horizon, deeper insight,
responsibility for greater social
enterprises, maintenance of human
relations in local life on a more com
prehensive scale—a scale over and
above the scale of farmstead, house
hold, and neighborhood. In the
phrase of common speech, the main
question is one of life, more life,
and still more life.—C. J. Galpin.
backs incidental to living in the isolated
rural districts are still enough to dis
courage the average farm boy or girl
from living there.
Modern farm machinery and good
roads have made it possible for the
farmer to grow more crops. They
have made it possible to haul his prod
uce to market in a few minutes,
provided there is any market or de-
major portion of his feed and' mand for it.
food on the farm. The bank does not: But few farms, even yet, have the
believe in a one-crop system of agri-' modern home conveniences which are
culture in this section. No customer available in the towns and cities. Elec-
has ever been charged,a bonus for a | trig lights and power on the farm and
loan, and a customer is always given i running water in the farm home are
the privilege of paying all or a part of I still lacking in the vast majority of
his loan at any time before maturity, cases. Although consolidated schools
stopping interest charges when paid, offer better educational advantages,
Employes of the agricultural depart- there is still something lacking \a the
ment have, free of charge, terraced j farm home to make it attractive to the
hundreds of acres of land, pruned many j boys and girls of the rural districts,
trees, assisted in planting pastures, ^ Electricity is destined to become the
vaccinated hogs, culled chickens, canned I to the farmer since the
b. Should have a fair proportion of
men in their prime, trained specifically
for town and country work, with a zeal
for that work and intensely loyal to it.
c. Should be given field help and
j assistance similar to those given to the
' farmer by agricultural bureaus, col-
I leges, and specialists.
Administration
; a. There should be only so many
; churches as can be successfully cared
; for.
! b. There should be a ministry over
' areas which shall include rural centers
j and the adjacent countryside, with the
use of the Larger Parish Program.
I c. To encourage the use of th&
I larger parish plan provision should be
[made for extra transportation expenses
i incident to this type of work.
d. The inefficiency of churches large
ly due to the short pastorate should be
remedied by giving mfssionary aid only
to those churches which are willing to
do their full share in paying an ade
quate salary in carrying on a genuine
community program.
e. The minimum salary for a man in
his prime fully equipped with college
and seminary training should be |1,800
and parsonage.
f. Superintendents and others in
charge of rural work should give them
selves special and continual training
for the town and country portion of
their task and should place upon their
staffs trained country life specialists.
— Congregational Church Extension
Board.
road oil at $3,600 per mile.
The engineering and contingency
cost will average about 10 percent of
the cost of each mile of road built in
1927, engineers of the highway com
mission said.
Of the $22,698,862.94 expended last
year for jobs completed, $1,373,828.15
was for new bridges.
In 1926 the State expended approx
imately $28,000,000 to build 1,870 miles
of new roads and bridges, records of ,
the highway commission show.—
Monroe Enquirer.
j advent of the gasoline motor. It will
1 do much toward lightening the burden
of farm life and will prove, either
directly or indirectly, an incentive for
fruits, meats and vegetables, made
land appraisements, shipped numbers of
cars of hogs and vegetables, and as.
sisted in planting fruit and pecan trees, ^
...The agricultural staff is always ready pjopie to remain on the farm,
to respond to any call made by farmers j ^ yjjipn i„to the future when all
in the Laurel trade territory. highways will be illuminated by
The First National Bank pays a mar- [ electricity and when electricity will be
keting man to assist the farmers by | generally used on all farms is not an
finding a market for the various truck j Once the lines for the
crops grown in this section. Farmers ! ngj^jing of highways are extended by
can either sell for cash, direct to this | power companies, the electriBca-
man at all times, or else consign: of farms will be a comparatively
their commodities through him. He : 5i„,pig matter. If the State Highway
keeps in touch with the various mar-1 commission, the power companies and
ket centers, and advises with farmers j jj,,. farmers will cooperate the problem
the crops most likely to produce a prof-1 furnishing electric current to most
it and how to pack and ship the various | f^jms will be solved,
crops grown. I Electricity will bring every advan-
To encourage chicken-raising the
bank has loaned money during the last
tage of the city to the farmer and
would tend to keep a more intelligent
three years to several hundred farm giggg gf people on the farms. It will
women and girls with which to pur-, g^ppiy rtig power to furnish water to
chase pure-bred baby chicks. It has : [jgjjts, electrical appliances,
also loaned money to many boys with, and machinery of all kinds.
which to handle 4 H club projects and
to purchase each a pure-bred pig...
The work of the farm department has
increased tremendously during the last
three years and now requires the full
time service of four employes to handle
it- two of them, a young man and a
young woman-both college graduates
—spending a major portion of their
time outside the bank on the farms or
in the homes of the farmers in the
Laurel trade territory...
While some other banks in the South
are thus broad-minded and energetic m
similar work, there are many banks
that are not taking any active part in
carrying on a campaign of this kind.
To them we would strongly recommend
a study of the work of this Laurel
bank.-Adapted from Manufacturers
Record.
ELECTRICITY ON THE FARM
It was not so long ago that the farm
offered no opportunities for advance
ment and culture, no conveniences in
the home or on the farm, and little if
any inducement to the young people to
remain on the farm. Times have
changed to some extent, but the draw-
electrical refrigeration and cooking.
Electricity can furnish a cold storage
plant for the farmer, hatch his eggs,
brood his chicks, milk his cows and do
a score of other farm jobs equally well.
With all these advantages on the
farm the people would not want to
leave the farms and move to the cities.
If the electrification 6f the farms is
carried out, the situation may be re
versed, and the farmer will find that
he has as many privileges as the city
dweller, or more.-Elkin Tribune.
COUNTRY CHURCH IDEALS
The Town and Country Church
a. Should have a field large enough
to challenge and’hold ministers of out
standing ability for country service.
b Should have a program based
upon a survey of the field and meeting
all human needs so revealed.
c. Should have buildings and equip
ment designed to meet these needs.
The Town and Country Ministry
a. Should be esteemed as a worthy
vocation for life and accorded dignity
and place equal to any other ministry.
A YEAR’S WORK
To build lj206.86 miles of new roads
and bridges last jear North Carolina
expended $22,598,852.94, the report on
the state highway released last week
revealed. The report, which was com
piled by the division of construction
and tests of the State Highway Com
mission, showed that the following
number of miles of new roads were
completed daring 1927:
277.60 miles of graded road, which
was let to the contractors for an aver
age of $8,000 per mile. This figure,
which includes the cost of drainage
and the b.uilding of small structures,
does not include engineering and con
tingency costs.
221.99 miles of sand clay or gravel
surfacing at $12,500 per mile, including
drainage cost and expenditures for
small structures.
396.61 miles of,concrete surfacing at
an averfige cost of $22,000 per mile.
This cost does not include engineering
and contingency costs, however.
67.33 miles sand asphalt surfacing
road at an average of $16,600 per mile.
243.32 miles of road treated with
FORGING AHEAD
It is expected that 1928 road build
ing activities will exceed all records.
Twenty thousand miles of surfaced
roads are to be built, and about 8,000
miles graded and drained. Through
out the country a multitude of plans
have been laid for improving the exist
ing highway systems as well as extend
ing them.
A high degree of road service is as
sured by the fact that about 240,000
miles of the total 288,000 in state high
way systems are this year to be main
tained under the supervision of state
highway departments.
Early estimates give amount avail
able for road expenditures as being
much greater than last year. From the
various sources, it’ is expected that
highway funds will be upwards of
$1,300,000,000.
These highway facts should please
everyone. There is no such thing as
road building expense, unless it be
shortsightedness that constructs poor
or inadequate roads. Every dollar put
into a modern highway for building or
widening is an economy and a dividend
paying investment.
The United States highway system
is the best in the world.—Monroe
Enquirer.
HIGHWAY EXPENDITURES
(Figures from U. S. Bureau of Pub
lic Roads)
State High- County and
Year way De- Local
partment*
1913 $ 37,438,172 $160,086,021
1914 24,220,860 216,063,784
1916 ** 80,614,699 186,461,700
1916
1917 47,290,797 186,333,728
1918 119,285.268 168,812,926
1919 t 200,292,694 189,163,237
1920
1921 413,241,662 623,346,110
1922 429,896,672 468,466,736
1923 442,969,666 549,776,066
1924 606,666,207 676.866,909
1926 649,126,101 639,814,606
1926 621,744,210 675,000,000
1927 tt 648,483,066 476,124,000
* Includes local funds expended by
or under State Highway Dept.
** Does not include statute labor
estimated at about $16,000,000.
t Does not include statute labor
estimated at about $12,000,000.
ft Estimated.
FARM-OWNED MOTOR VEHICLES
Automobiles and TrucKs on Farms, January 1, 1923
The following table shows the number each of farm-owned automobiles and
trucks per 100 farms in each state on January 1, 1928. The number of cars
was determined by the Farm Journal and reproduced in Facts and Figures of
the Automobile Industry, 1928 Edition. The number of farms is that given by
the 1926 Census of Agriculture.
According to these sources there were 4,408,470 passenger cars and 698,664
motor trucks on the 6,371,640 farms of the United States. This is equivalent
to ^9.2 automobiles and 9.4 trucks on each lOO farms.
The density varies from 140 passenger cars in Montana and 38.3 trucks in
New Jersey to 23.6 passenger cars and 2.4 trucks in Arkansas. Fifteen states
average more than a passenger car per farm and twenty-six states average
more than one motor vehicle per farm. North Carolina ranks fortieth witTi
42.8 cars and 7.4 trucks per 100 farms.
Department of Rural Social-Economics. University of North Carolina
Trucks
Autos
Trucks
Autos
Rank State
per 100
per 100
per 100
per 100
farms
farms
farms
farms
1
Idaho
... 3.7
...140.0
26
Delaware
..27.2
... 87.1
2
Montana
...13.9 ....
...137.8
26
Ohio
...14,6
... 85.0
3
Nevada
...10.0
...126.6
27
Massachusetts.
...36.4
... 83.7
4
Nebraska
...11.8
...113.6
28
Connecticut....
...23.6
... 79.7
5
California
...16.4
...109.6
29
Oklahoma
... 6.0
... 78.0
6
South Dakota..
... 9.4
...106.7
30
New Hampshire ..14.7
... 77.3
7
Wyoming
...11.2
.. 106.4
31
Utah....'.
.. 4.6
... 77.2
8
Arizona
...14.6
...106.8
32
Missouri
... 8.0
... 69.9
9
North Dakota .
... 9.6
.. 106.5
33
Vermont
... 8.8
68.7
10
Rhode Island ..
...24 1
...104.2
34
Florida
..20.8
... 63.2
11
Maryland
...18.6
...103.6
35
Texas
... 6 6
... 61.9
12
Iowa
..'.10.8
...101.8
36
West Virginia..
.. 6.9
60.9
13
Wisconsin
...14.9
...101.4
37
Maine
... 9.4
... 67.9
14
New Jersey ....
...38.3
...100.7
38
Virginia
...10.3
... 62.4
15
Oregon.-v
...12.6 ....
...100.6
39
New Mexico....
4.3
... 50.6
16
Minnesota
...12.3
... 97.6
40
North Carolina .
... 7.4 ....
...42.8
17
Kansas
... 9.6
... 96.7
41
Georgia
.. 6.1
... 38.7
18
Pennsylvania ..
...18.3
... 96.6
42
Alabama
.. 4.6
... 33.8
19
New York
...20.4
... 93.3
43
Kentucky
.. 3.3
... 33.7
20
Washington ....
...14.8
... 92.6
44
South Carolina
.. 8.8
... 32.6
21
Illinois
...11.4 ....
... 92.4
46
Louisiana
.. 6.8
... 30.5
22
Colorado
...11.5
... 90.6
46
Tennessee
... 2.9
... 27.6
23
Indiana.
...12.4
89.8
47
Mississippi
.. 6.0
... 26.2
24
Michigan
... 8.6
... 88.4
48
Arkansas
.. 2.4
... 23.5