i
*
The news in this publi
cation is released for the
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
press on receipt.
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
OCTOBER 24. 1928
CHAPEL HILL. N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIV, No. 48
'Editorial Board. E. C. Branson. S. H, Hobbs. Jr.. P. W. Wasrer, 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 Anaruat 24, 1911.
SCHOOL COSTS COMPARED
Public school expenditures in North
Carolina are steadily mounting.
Twenty-five years ago the annual ex
penditure was less than a million and a
half dollars; seven years ago it was
twelve million dollars; the last year for
which complete figures are available,
1926-27, the expenditure was more than
thirty-six million dollars. Current ex
penses alone for 1926-27 were in excess
of twenty-five millions. Since capital
outlays fluctuate greatly from year to
: year and, moreover, are not a valid
charge against any particular year,
they should be eliminated in a table of
comparative costs.
The table which appears elsewhere
in this issue shows how the counties of
the state rank in current school costs
per child enrolled in the rural school
systems. The city systems are
eluded so as to make the counties more
nearly comparable. It will be noticed
that the cost per child is greatest,
$50.16, in the rural schools of Durham
county, and least, $17.98, in Alleghany
county. The average for all the rural
systems of the state is $26.66, with
forty-five counties exceeding this
figure and fifty-five falling below it.
Cities Have Advantage
The corresponding figures for thirty'
four city systems range from $68.12 in
Asheville to $32.96 in Smithfield. All
are well above the state average for
rural schools. Logically the per pupil
cost should be less in the cities than in
the country, for the item of transporta
tion does not have to be included, and
furthermore, the classes are more
nearly uniform in size, all containing
full quota. Despite its advantages in
these particulars the expenditure per
pupil in the city systems is considera
bly greater than in the rural schools.
The explanation is simple. In both
city and country the limiting factor
is the tax rate. The cities can afford
to spend more on their schools be
cause they have relatively more wealth
to tax. The cities can provide longer
terms, better teachers, and fuller
equipment than the country districts
and still enjoy a much lower tax rate.
Per pupil cost is notan absolute index
of the quality and quantity of instruc
tion, but there is usually some parallel.
It will never be possible to give equality
of educational opportunity to all the
children of the state so long as the
local district, or even the county, re
mains the unit of taxation. The steps
that have been taken to mitigate the
inequalities are encouraging but there
is a long distance yet to go before
there is either equality of opportunity
or an equalized tax.
A SIX-MILLION FUND
The matter of the eight-months
school term is largely an economic
question, involving the relative ability
of the taxpayers to bear the financial
burden necessary to support it. 1 have
felt, and still feel, that it would not
only be unjust, but' perhaps unmoral,
to compel these less wealthy agricul
tural counties of the state to assume
the financial burden of an eight-months
school term until the burden of the six-
months school term has been fairly and
equitably distributed.
With the illuminating facts found
and presented by the Educational Com
mission and the consequent accelera
tion of public sentiment, the last
General Assembly made a great for
ward stride toward the goal of the
eight-months term, when it more than
doubled the equalizing fund, particular
ly in view of the fact that it had to
provide substantial increases for all
other services of the state government,
including interest, sinking fund, and
serial payments upon the outstanding
public debt.
The increase of the equalizing fund
from one and one-half million dollars to
three and one-quarter million dollars
has meant a far-reaching reduction in
the proportion of the cost of maintain
ing their six-months terms which the
poorest counties must bear. The base
on which a county participates has
been broadened. Before 1927 the state
aided only the payment of teachers’
salaries; now the state aids in the pay
ment of salaries and of other current
expenses. The million-and-a-half-dol-
lar fund provided slightly more than
one-fifth of the seven-million-dollar
salary fund (according to the state
schedule) of the seventy-six counties
participating in it; the three-and-a-
quarter-million dollar fund provided
three-tenths of the eleven-million-
dollar current expense fund of the
ninety counties now participating. In
other words, the state is now paying
an average of thirty percent of the
current expenses of the six-months
term of all except the ten wealthiest
counties of the state. The public
should bear in mind, however, that the
state does not pay a Hat thirty percent
of current expenses of each of the
ninety participating counties; it pays
only a small proportion for the richer
counties participating and the major
part for the poorest counties where the
tax rate for schools was highest. For
example, the state pays only 0.6 per
cent of the current expenses of Rowan
county, which was the last county
to share in this fund; it pays only three
percent of the current expenses of
Graham, four percent of Pasquo
tank, and six percent of Wayne. On
the other hand, it pays more than fifty
percent of the current expenses of nine
of the poorest counties; and for the
very poorest, Clay and Dare, it actual
ly pays two-thirds of the current ex
penses of operating cost of their six-
months school term.
The State Superintendent of Public
Instruction estimates that an increase
by the next General Assembly of one
million dollars in the equalizing fund
for the first year, and one and one-half
million dollars for the second year of
the next biennium will complete the
equitable distribution of the burden of
financing the six-months term on the
present basis.
Just around the Corner
I have said that the constructive
work of the commission has paved the
way for the uniform eight-months
term, which is “just around the corner. ’’
I hope and believe that the corner may
be turned and the longer term made an
accomplished fact by the next General
Assembly. It should not be done
unless provision is made at the same
time to distribute the financial burden
fairly and equitably, in all the counties
of the state, by increasing the equaliz
ing fund to such an amount as will
accomplish this result.
State Superintendent Allen has esti
mated that an equalization fund of six
million dollars for the first year of the
next biennium and six and one-balf
millions for the second year, used for
the support of the six-months term,
would be sufficient to distribute the
financial burden of an eight-months
term fairly and equitably in all the
counties of the state. This fund, if
apportioned according to the present
equalizing fund, would go a long way
toward reducing the total school tax
rate (speaking in terms of county and
district combined) in all of the districts
having the eight-months school term,
in counties which now share sub
stantially in the present equalizing
fund provided for the support of the
six-months term. Many of the less
wealthy counties now have from three-
fourths to four-fifths of their children
in schools with an eight-months term.
The state is, at present, aiding sub
stantially in the support of the first
six months of the term, the districts
themselves are carrying the entire cost
of the last two months of the eight-
months term. Many of these districts
are paying for the support of the ad
ditional two months more than .they
are paying to the county fund for the
support of the regular six-months
terra.
It appears reasonably certain that
at the end of the present biennium on
June 30, 1929, there will be a sub
stantial surplus in the general fund of
the state, which will aid materially in
providing the means for the necessary
increase of the equalizing fund.—Gov.
A. W. McLean, in The N. C. Teacher.
RICH LOCAL MARKETS
Manufacturers who sell their prod
ucts in the South know that—North
and South—the Carolinas must be
numbered among their most active
markets.
People there, supported by busy
factories as well as richly yielding
fields, have money to spend and the
disposition to buy.
These markets, following economic
laws, naturally fall to the manu
facturer whose product, quafity for
quality, is lowest in price.
That is why this rich at-the-door
consuming market offers the great
est opportunity to the Piedmont
Carolinas manufacturers with their
admitted advantages and economies
in overhead, labor, raw material, and
power.-Piedmont Carolinas.
ing about North Carolina is to help
give Georgia such a big jump in every
way that everybody will talk about
Georgia. And of course it can be done.
There is nothing in North Carolina,
fundamentally, that Georgia has not,
and there is much in Georgia that
North Carolina has not. ’ There is just
one big difference. North Carolina
has capitalized its resources, taken
advantage of its opportunities, realized
its fundamental assets, while Georgia
has not. Maybe that is not a palatable
fact, but it is a fact nevertheless,
Do you know what are the greatest
assets a country can have? That is, in
addition to the ones bestowed by
nature. They are simply good educa
tional facilities for its children, good
methods and means of communication,
and good health. That does seem very
simple, doesn’t it? But there is not
one of them that does not get tangled
up in politics. Even health matters in
Georgia have suffered from that
blight. Even school matters have done
so. And as for roads!
In North Carolina these three funda
mentals were recognized long ago, and
and while nobody will say politics did
not touch them in that state, they
were at least treated more as economic
factors there than in Georgia. North
Carolina claims to rank third in the
payment of federal taxes, exceeded
only by New York and Pennsylvania.
Of course, you will say that North
Carolina makes so many cigarettes
that it has to pay a lot of taxes. True,
there is always a reason why a state
stands out in some particular. But
North Carolina passed Georgia in value
of agricultural products a long time
ago. And it has a better road system.
And it has paid more attention to the
health of its people. And it started
sooner than Georgia to have a real
primary educational system.
The Morning News is just about as
tired as any private citizen in Georgia
of hearing so much about North Caro
lina. But that state has a habit of
making itself talked about. Nothing
would please The Morning News more
than to hear Georgia talked about in
North Carolina in the same tone of
voice and for the same reasons North
Carolina is talked about in Georgia.
And that can happen.
It all depends on Georgians.
They can realize the value of schools,
roads and health, and translate that
realization into actualities if they want
to. If they fail to do so they are like
ly to bear a lot more even than they
have heard about North Carolina.-
Savannah News.
Modern methods of production of
high-class goods on a large scale are
being promoted by agents of the fed
eration. A substantial sum has been
accumulated for this purpose, $100,000
being donated toward the work by
New York financiers. The poultry
products of the section were formerly
estimated as worth about $3,000,000.
Under- modern methods this annual
sum can be increased, according to
leaders of the federation, to nearly
$76,000,000 through the establishment
of poultry fattening plants and egg
collecting stations throughout the'
mountain region.
The leader of the federation during
the eight years of its existence is
J. G. K. McClure, of Asheville, pres
ident of the organization. The sue- i
cess of the federation, which is in- \
corporated under the laws of North
Carolina, with its membership com
posed mainly of farmers, has been due
to the service rendered the members.
Farmers who before the coming of the
federation sold their produce by the
wagonload on local markets at low
prices, now market their goods by the
carload at more distant locations and
at higher prices.
A still greater scope in marketing
can be secured, jt is said, by the estab
lishment of a system of canneries for
small fruits and vegetables and
creameries to take care of milk and
butter produced.—News and Observer.
THE FEDERATION PROSPERS
TIRED OF NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina claims a per capita
wealth increase between 1912 and 1922,
one decade, of 238 percent, against a
national increase of 61 percent. May
be you are tired of hearing about North
Carolina. Well, the way to stop hear-
As a result of seven years of united
efforts, the farmers of Western North
Carolina are solving the problem of
marketing the surplus products of the
farms of the section. The Western
North Carolina Farmers’ Federation,
organized in 1920 and capitalized in
1921 at $4,000, now has a capitalization
of $260,000 and handles a large part of
the produce of the mountain farms.
Through the establishment of a sys
tem of warehouses at strategic points
and the operation of a fleet of trucks
the farm products are gathered, graded
and stored to await shipment to mar
kets where the most advantageous
prices may be secured. The federation
began operation with one warehouse.
At present the operations of the or
ganization extend to 20 counties in the
western portion of the
state.
INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT GAINS
North Carolina industries in 1927
turned out products valued at $1,162,-
482,164, an increase of approximately
ten percent over 1926, it is revealed by
figures from the biennial census of
manufactures, announced yesterday
by Wade H. Phillips, director of the
state Department of Conservation and
Development.
These figures were compiled by the
State Department, which, by special
arrangement, took the census for the
U. S. Bureau of the Census, and are
the first to be completed for any of the
forty-eight states. The totals have
been verified and approved by the
federal bureau.
The enumeration shows that North
Carolina advanced well beyond the
billion-dollar class in which she was
placed following the 1926 census, which
showed a total value of $1,060,434,117
or $102,048,047 less than the latest
compilation.
Further industrial trend in the state is
shown by the increase in number of wage
earners between the two census periods
from 182,234 to 206,604, a total gain‘of
23,370 persons engaged in industry.
Industrial workers were paid eigh
teen percent more wages in 1927 than
in 1924, receiving $167,812,720 for last
year in comparison with $134,237,097.
or $23,675,623 more.
Value added to products by the pro
cess of manufacturing for the first
time passed the half-billion mark in
1927 when it amounted to $691,737,886.
The number of manufacturing establish
ments enumerated in the last census
was 3,004 as compared with 2,614 for
1926, an addition of 390 new concerns.
The ten leading industries of North
Carolina, according to the value of
their products, are shown by the fol
lowing: total textiles, $426,233,596,
tobacco, $413,274,114; lumber, $64,062,-
616; furniture, $63,661,221; fertilizer,
$18,293,687; flour and meal, $18,201,-
642; cotton seed oil, cake and meal,
$17,612,879; leather, tanned and cured
SIR .infi
$16,406,364; car construction and repair,
$14,447,433; printing and publishing,
$12,269,226,—News and Observer.
RURAL SCHOOL EXPENDITURES IN NORTH CAROLINA
Current Expense per Child Enrolled, 1926-27
In the following table based on State School Facts, Vol. IV, No. 24, the
rural school systems of the one hundred counties are ranked according to
annual current expense per child enrolled. The expenditures of the city school
systems are omitted so as to make the counties more nearly comparable.
Capital outlays are omitted for the reason that they fluctuate greatly from
year to year and are not a proper charge against a particular year.
In 1926-27 there were 616,488 children enrolled in the rural schools of the
state and the total current expenditures of the rural systems was $16,339,730.
This is an average of $26.66 per child. There were forty-five counties in which
the cost per pupil was greater and fifty-five counties in which it was less.' The
range was from $60.16 in Durham county to $17.98 in Alleghany.
State average current cost of schools per rural child enrolled, $26.66.
Department of Rural Social-Economics. University of North Carolina
Current
expense
Rank County per child
enrolled
1 Durham $60.16
2 Currituck 47.04
3 Buncombe 44.71
4 Transylvania 44.70
6 New Hanover 42.88
6 Polk 38.20
7 Carteret 38.14
8 Craven 36.38
9 Dare 36.26
9 Guilford 36.26
11 Henderson 36.20
12 Catawba 36.02
13 Forsyth 33.69
14 Gaston 33.67
16 Vance 33.11
16 Wilson 32.97
17 Pamlico 32.49
18 Hyde 32.16
19 Jackson 31.37
20 McDowell 31.17
20 Rutherford 31.17
22 Washington 30.64
23 Mecklenburg ! 30.61
24 Camden 30.31
26 Davidson 30.24
26 Moore 30.06
27 Wayne 29.94
28 Pasquotank 29.63
29 Avery 29.43
30 Burke 29.39
31 Wake 29.21
32 Cumberland 29.18
33 Pender 29.16
34 Rowan 28.99
36 Montgomery 28.88
36 Rockingham 28.74
37 Haywood 28.64
38 Alexander 28.66
39 Alamance 28.33
40 Orange 28.30’
41 Graham 28.02
42 Tyrrell 27.26
43 Davie 26.89
44 Caldwell 26.69
45 Bladen 26.68
46 Swain 26.46
47 Iredell 26.20
48 Lincoln 26.13
49 Hertford 25.99
60 Harnett 26.94
Current
expense
Rank County per child
enrolled
61 Beaufort $26.73
62 Onslow 26.68
63 Granville 26.69
64 Johnston 26.39
66 Northampton 26.12
66 Perquimans 24.96
67 Jones 24.90
68 Columbus 24.66
59 Martin 24.37
60 Macon 24.13
61 Franklin 23.79
62 Madison 23.62
63 Edgecombe 23.63
64 Duplin 23,41
66 Lenoir .23.38
66 Randolph 23.21
67 Nash 23.19
68 Chatham 23.18
69 Mitchell 23.09
70 Lee 23.03
71 Clay 22.96
72 Gates 22.92
73 Stanly 22.89
74 Warren 22.76
76 Person 22.63
76 Greene 22.40
77 Bertie 22.11
78 Pitt 22.04
79 Stokes 21.92
80 Yancey 21.66
81 Halifax 21.60
82 Sampson. 21,60 '
83 Anson 21.28
84 Robeson 21.04
86 Union 20.92
86 Cleveland 20.64
87 Brunswick 20.14
88 Surry 20.13
89 Cabarrus ..20.06
90 Richmond 19.73
91 Chowan 19.68
92 Yadkin 19.38
93 Watauga 19.34
94 Wilkes 19.20
96 Hoke 19.13
96 Scotland 18.73
97 Cherokee 18.71
Ashe IS.es -
99 Caswell 18.17
100 Alleghany 17.98