North Carolina Newspapers

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 29, 1928 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. " THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS VOL. XIV, No. 42 Editorial Boardi E. C. Branson. S. H. Hobbs. Jr.. P. W. Wasrer, L. R. Wilson, E. W. Kniijrht. D. D. Carroll. H. W. Odum. Entered as second-class matter November 14, 1914, at the Postolhce at Chapel Hill. N. C.. nnder the act of Anirast 24, 1911. COST OF STATE GOVERNMENT The Department of Commerce an nounces a summary of the financial statistics of the state of North Caro lina for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927. The per capita figures for 1927 are based on an estimated population of 2,877,000. Expenditures The payments for operation and maintenance of the general depart ments of North Carolina amounted to $18,142,100, or $6.31 per capita. This includes $2,074,306, apportionments for education to the minor civil divi sions of the state. In 1926 the com parative per capita for operation and maintenance of general departments was $6.76, and in 1917, $1.96, the in creased per capita for 1927 being principally due to increased payments for operation and maintenance of high ways. Ths payments for operation and maintenance of public service enter prises in 1927 amounted to $9,962; interest on debt, $6,125,268; and outlays for i>ermanent improvements, $22,601,- 890. The total payments, therefore, for operation and maintenance of general departments and public service enterprises, for interest and outlays were $46,779,210. The totals include all payments for the year, whether made from current revenues or from the proceeds of bond issues. Of the governmental costs reported above, $24,634,293 was for highways, $4,206,686 being for maintenance and $20,327,607 for construction. Revenues The total revenue receipts were $36,- 826,832, or $$12.45 per capita. This was $11,649,612 more than the total payments of the year, exclusive of the payments for permanent improve ments, but $10,952,378 less than the total payments including those for per manent improvements. These pay ments in excess of revenue receipts were met from tne proceeds of debt obligations. Special property and other special taxes represented 21.5 percent of the total revenue for 1927, 21.8 per cent for 1926, and 50.2 percent for 1917. The increase in the smount of property and special taxes collected was 168.0 percent from 1917 to 1926, but there was a decrease of 3.1 per cent from 1926 to 1927. The per capita special property and other special taxes were $2.68 in 1917, $2.81 in 1926, and $1.20 in 1917. Earnings of general departments, or compensation for services rendered by state officials, represented 11.9 per cent of the total revenue for 1927, 11.1 percent for 1926, and 20.4 percent for 1917^ Business and nonbusiness licenses constituted 60.1 percent of the total revenue for 1927, 43.1 percent for 1926, and 19.4 percent for 1917. Receipts from licenses consist chiefly of taxes exacted from insurance and other incorporated companies and of sales tax on gasoline, while those from nonbusiue’ss 1.censes comprise chiefly taxes on motor vehicles and amounts paid for fishing privileges. The sales tax on gasoline amounted to $8,496,701 in 1927 and $7,160,516 in 1926, an in crease of 18.6 percent. This increase in the gasoline tax represents the j^reatest item of increase in business and nonbiisiness licenses. Indebtedness The total funded or fixed debt out standing June 30, 1927, was $163,419,- 200. Of this amount $94,999,600 was for highways. The net indebtedness (funded or fixed debt less sinking fund assets) was $147,981,294, or $61.44 per capita. In 1926 the per capita net debt was $42.03, and in 1917, $3.86. The increased per capita net debt reported for 1927 was due to bond issues for highways and schools. SOUTHERN.TRUCK CROPS What contribution does the South make to the fresh fruit and vegetable supply of the principal consuming centers of the nation? The question is , answered in Bulletin No. 31, “Unloads uf Fresh Fruits and Vegetables at Sixty- six Important Consuming Markets in the United States, “ recently pub lished by the Bureau of Railway Economics. The bureau selected 18 commodities, classified under five main headings: Deciduous Fruits, Citrus Fruits, Straw berries, Melons and Vegetables; drew up a list of the 66 chief consuming centers, and proceeded to trace to its source every carload of the 18 selected commodities received in every one of those 66 cities. The following table, condensed from a more detailed table in the bulletin, shows the number of carloads of the main divisions of the list received in every one of the 66 cities, together with the states of origin. It should be borne in mind that these figures are not for production, but only for commodities shipped in carloads to these 66 cities. They in clude about 66 percent of total ship ments of these 18 commodities. Fruits and vegetables shipped to other cities, or in less than carload lots to local markets, do not appear in the tabula tion. The table shows: Carloads, Year 1927. State of origin Total 18 com modities carloads Florida 69,650 Virginia ; 27,646 Georgia 21,404 Texas 15,064 North Carolina 10,894 South Carolina 8,263 Tennessee 7,967 Maryland 7,238 Alabama 6,348 Mississippi 4,306 Arkansas 3,946 Louisiana 3,810 Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia are the outstand ing Southern states in the tabulation. Florida’s two largest crops are grapefruit and oranges. These two account for 32,226 carloads in a total of 59,660. The other 27,424 cars are com posed of a considerable diversity of vegetables, including 6,691 carloads of watermelons, 6,136 carloads of celery, 4,411 carloads of white potatoes and 8,383 carloads of tomatoes. Florida shipped more celery and more tomatoes than any other state in the Union. Georgia’s largest shipments were of watermelons—10,193 carloads as com pared with 6,691 from Florida, her nearest competitor. Next in point of carloads of Georgia came peaches, with 9,883. North Carolina led the nation in ship ments of strawberries with 1,877 car loads, while Tennessee was a close second with 1,643 carloads. Other important items for the state were 1,592 carloads of peaches and 6,233 of white potatoes, while sweet potatoes, watermelons and lettuce added 1,686. Texas grapefruit and 'oranges are beginning to become noticeable, the state having shipped 468 carloads of the former and 10 of the latter. The bulk of that 'state’s shipments in the list were cabbage, 3,664 carloads; onions, 3,427 carloads, white potatoes, 1,869 and tomatoes 2,510 carloads. Virginia stood second to Maine in shipments of white potatoes, having shipped 16,296 ears compared with 26,656 from Maine, but led all states in shipments of sweet potatoes with 4,108 carloads. Other important ship ments from Virginia were 2,642 car loads of cabbage and 3,660 carloads of apples.-Manufacturers Record. OUR SOCIAL RESOURCES The keynote of the present era is the growing belief that the South will make the dominant contribution to the future of a great Christian democracy. .Our only interest should be to see that we should make that contribution through the spiritual development which would make democracy effective in the unequal places. If we agree with Lippmann that the South can do anything that any civilization ever did at any time because it has all the resources any civilization had at any time we must above all things work to discover how we can stop the waste of our social resources. We are not doing a perfect piece of work but the es sential thing is that in. North Caro lina we have stepped out on a well- founded plan which has been carried on so thoroughly, unit by unit, that it is recognized as one of the sound est approaches to social work.— H. W. Odum. Carolina during the same period made an increase of $19,600,000. As much of Michigan’s heavy payment of in come tax is due to the tax on auto mobiles and to the enormous prosperity created by the automobile, so much of North Carolina’s heavy payment of taxes is due to the tobacco industry.... The one state of North Carolina paid $54,263,722 more to the Federal Govern ment than the total paid by the New England States. In the Southern states, Virginia stood next to North Carolina with a total of federal taxes of $83,663,811.— Manufacturers Record. these 48 corporations is estimated to have a fair value of 18 million dollars, or less than two percent of the faif value of all the common stock of all corporations. North Carolina corpora tions have been slow to adopt the practice of issuing no par value com mon stock. This device was first authorized in 1912, and by 1925 nearly five percent of all the corporations of the United States had adopted such stock as a part of their capital struc ture, and the stock of these corpora tions had reached in value one-eighth of all capital stock then recorded. The larger corporations are employ ing the no-par-value-stock form of financing more than the small corpora tions. The average fair value of capital stock for corporations with no par common stock is nearly three times as great as the average fair value of capital stock of corporations whose stock has a par value. Where preferred stock is also issued, which is usually the case with such corporations, such preferred stock nearly always is in the usual form with stated par value. If there is no par value it carries an ob ligation of a fixed dividend per share. OUR CORPORATIONS According to a recent study made by the National Industrial Conference Board, based on official reports of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, a total of 6,841 North Carolina corporations filed more or less complete returns with the federal government in 1926. This does not include several corporations that failed to list assets and liabilities, which corporations were generally of small size. In number of corporations North Carolina ranks nineteenth among the states, and fourth in the South. The fair value of the common stock of these corporations is reported at 941 million dollars, in which respect North Carolina ranks twentieth. Texas and Virginia are the only southern states whose corporations have a larger total fair value of capital stock. No Par Value StocK Of the 6,841 corporations, only 43, or less than one percent, have no par value common stock. The common stock of THE COST OF SICKNESS An extensive study of the cost of sickness in its various aspects and ramifications is being made by a com mittee of some forty members repre senting five broad groups interested in ihe problem—the medical profession, public health, institutions and organiza tions, economists and the general pub lic. In this connection it is also worth while to call attention to the very able address presented by Homer Folks, LL. D., vice chairman of the Public Health Council of New York State and secretary of the State Charities Aid Association, before the International Conference of Social Work in Paris, July 12, on the “Distribution of the Costs of Sickness in the United States.” While Mr. Folks enters into a discussion of the costs of sickness his study is primarily of the distribution of these expenses “among much larger groups than the sick people themselves and their fami lies.” His estimate places the capital loss to the people of the United States through sickness, excluding the non- measurable losses due to loss of future wages and reduced earnings caused by slight illness, at $31.08 per person or $134.68 per family, and he estimates that, including these factors, the total earning power of the United States is diminished by some $16,000,000,000. Mr. Folks estimates that about ninety- four percent of the cost falls on the sick or their families, the remaining six percent being distributed as a com munity expense.—Health News, N. Y. State. north CAROLINA THIRD North Carolina paid to the Federal Government during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1928, a total of $226,- 816,160, having been exceeded only by New York and Pennsylvania. It out ranked Tliinois by $3,300,000, which was fourth on the list, and California by $88,000,000. The total tax paid by Michigan was $173,978,690, a decrease of $24 000,000 compared with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, while North TAX HATES ON GASOLINE Bus Facts for 1928, issued by the American Automobile Association, carries a tifble showing the amount of the state gasoline tax per gallon of gasoline. There are now six states that have a rate of five cents per gal lon. They are Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, South Caro lina, and Virginia. Twelve states have a rate of four cents per gallon; 16 states have a rate of three-and-a-half cents; and 12 states have a rate of two cents per gallon. Two states. New York and Massachusetts, levy no tax on gasoline. All of the southeastern states except Tennessee have rates of either four or five cents per gallon. Several of the Rocky Mountain states also have high rates. WAR HELPED THE PEASANTS The Roumanian Minister of Agri culture, speaking in May, 1922, was able to announce that “12,360,000 acres had passed from the hands of the large owners into those of nearly one and a half million of heads of families.” He added that when the reform was car ried through “out of a total of 32,110,- 000 acres of arable land possessed by Greater Roumania, 29,640,000 will have definitely passed into the hands of about 4,000,000 peasants, in separate lots varying from 2J4 to 12>^ acres, according to the region and the density of population. Two and one-half mil lion acres only will remain in the hands of about 6,000 owners, an average of from 250 to 600 acres per head.” Today the peasants, who form 82 per cent of the population, own 88.2 per cent of the arable land of Roumania.— Industries Publishing Co. MANAGER EFFECTS SAVING County manager government in Davidson county during the last fiscal year resulted in a computed saving of $9,600 over the system previously employed, it is stated by C. C. Har grave, county accountant and manager, in a letter to W. F. Brinkley, county Democratic chairman. Mr. Hargrave also estimates that through centralized buying for the several county depart ments a saving of at least $13,000 has been made. It is claimed also that the county credit rating has been raised to “A” standard and that a complete set of county books, kept up to date for all departments, has also been installed. COST OF OPERATING SCHOOL BUSES, 1926-27 Average Annual Cost per Bus Operated In the following table, based on State School Facts, Vol. IV, No. 21, issued by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the counties are ranked according to the average annual cost of operating each school bus during the year 1926-27. The parallel column shows the number of buses operated by each county. Cabarrus county reports the lowest average cost of operating its buses, the amount being $160.67, while New Hanover county reports the highest aver age cost, $1,633.21 per bus. The state total of buses operated daily to transport white children was 2,860, at a total cost of $1,673,449.47, or an average annual cost per bus of $662.09. Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina Rank County Vehi cles used Average annual cost per Rank County Vehi cles used Average annual cost per 1 Cabarrus ...19 vehicle .. $150.67 51 Nash ..39 vehicle ... $573.66 2 Greene ...39 . 296.41 62 Forsyth ..48 .. 679.81 3 Gates ..24 . 304.29 63 Montgomery... ..32 .. 682.83 4 Sampson ...60 307.14 54 Clay .. 3 .. 683.64 6 Johnston ...92 . 308.39 66 Moore ..40 .. 686.34 6 Randolph ...34 . 326.10 66 Yadkin .. 4 .. 610.61 7 Onslow ...34 . 331.36 67 Bladen ..40 .. 622.26 8 Chowan .. 4 . 334.38 68 Haywood ..13 .. 624.64 9 Union ..26 .. 346.86 69 Burke ..20 .. 631.36 10 Richmond .31 346.10 60 Scotland ..17 .. 631.62 11 Martin ...24 . 363.44 61 Catawba ..43 .. 633.73 12 Bertie . 37 357.20 62 Beaufort ..24 . 633.76 13 Lenoir ..62 .. 369.28 63 Brunswick .. 6 .. 642.62 14 Camden ..16 . 364.90 64 Davie .'. ..16 .. 643.32 16 Cleveland ...33 . 378.38 66 Hertford ...20 .. 648.67 16 Ashe ...11 . 386.64 66 Surry .,22 .. 650.02 17 Duplin ...66 .. 401.36 67 Gaston ...31 .. 664.29 18 Northampton. ...37 . 401.36 68 Orange ...27 .. 654.84 19 Caldwell ..14 . 401.74 69 Polk ..14 .. 668.38 20 Davidson ...44 404.03 70 Watauga .i 674.34 21 Caswell ...28 408.68 71 Carteret ..17 .. 676.85 22 Guilford ..81 . 409.28 72 Hyde ...14 .. 680.14 23 Lincoln ...22 . 416.62 73 Warren ...30 .. 687.40 24 Perquimans.... ...13 .. 422.99 74 Vance ..32 .. 6S9.68 26 Pasquotank.... ...26 .. 431.43 76 Dare .. 6 .. 711.77 26 Lee ...17 .. 446.33 76 Pitt ..41 .. 714,94 27 Robeson ...64 .. 466.76 77 Durham ..34 ... 722.01 28 Jones ...30 .. 461.16 78 Wake ..61 .. 739.63 29 Swain 8 .. 463.64 79 McDowell ..16 .. 740.43 30 Granville ..82 .. 466,32 80 Edgecombe ..61 .. 746.89 31 Rockingham... ....60 .. 468.47 81 Mecklenburg . ...37 .. 784.60 32 Pamlico ...20 .. 472.85 82 Avery 9 .. 790.20 33 Iredell ...40 .. 476.47 83 Cherokee ... 2 .. 792.30 34 Hoke ...16 .. 477.69 84 J’ranklin ..28 .. 793.83 36 Wilkes ...19 .. 477.98 86 Halifax ..31 .. 803.18 36 Alamance ...23 86 Person ...19 . 806.62 37 Wilson ...73 .. 490.66 87 Wayne ..60 .. 812.47 38 Rutherford ... ...76 . 492.26 88 Rowan ..16 .. 827.11 39 Columbus ...66 .. 603.69 89 Henderson ..16 .. 892.31 40 Stanly .,43 . 608.49 90- Currituck ..23 .. 946.88 41 Alexander .. 8 . 614.06 91 Tyrrell .. 4 .. 988.88 42 Chatham ...26 . 615.61 92 Buncombe ..47 ..1,006.77 43 Graham .. 8 .. 634.06 93 Transylvania .. .. 7 ..1,022.86 44 Mitchell .. 8 . 634.09 94 Yancey .. 3 ..1,024.29 45 Madison ..19 . 637.30 96 Jackson ..11 ..1,083.48 46 Pender .41 . 641.76 96 Macon .. 4 ..1,086.07 47 Stokes .,22 . 642.14' 97 Washington ... .. 6 ...1,103.41 48 Anson . 38 . 646.60 98 Cumberland ... ..36 ..1,163.82 49 Harnett ..48 . 650.77 99 New Hanover .. 9 ..1,533.21 60 Craven ■■■^2 . 661.27 100 Alleghany ..