The news in this publica-
tion is released for the press on
the date indicated below.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
OCTOBER 1915
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. I, NO. 47 y
.O B C. Branson, J. G-. deR, Hamilton, L. K, Wilson, L,. A. Williams, R. H. Thornton.
Boarai
Entered as second-class matter November 14, 19li, at the postoflice at Chapel Hill, N.C., under the act ofiAugust 24,1913-
north CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES
OUR I21st ANNIVERSARY
TuGsdtiyj October 12th, is tlie 121st aii-
•niversary of the University of Nortli Car-
°^Dr. J, H. Kirkland, Chancellor of
Vanderbilt University, will make the ad^
4ress. Subject, Patriotism—a New In-
iterpretation.
On Moiulay niglit, October lltli, the
Tisiting ahimni will meet to rekindle tlieir
loyalty and enthusiasm, to inform them
selves about the University’s rapidly en
larging work, and to form constructive
plans for ■ co-operation afield in North
Carolina.
Altogether the occasion will be a great
event in the history of the University.
FELLOWSHIP, FUN, AND
PROFIT
Friday, October 29th, is the annual Ral
ly Day in Chapel Hill—a day set apart
for comr .deship with our neighbors in
Orange, Chatham, and Durham counties,
under the auspices of the Chapel Hill
Board of Trade, the Community Club
Women, and the University.
It is the occasion conceived by Dean
Ifoble and kept alive by him for the last
;three or four years.
The events will be: singing contests by
the country Sunday Schools; a musical
'entertainment by the University students,
Ijotato races, three-legged races, and
■other athletic events; a domestic science
■exhibit; a better babies contest; brief ad
dresses, and an old-fashioned picnic din
ner on the campus.
The general committee arranging the
went is Mayor W. S. Roberson, Messrs.
Lucio Lloyd, M. 0. Blackwood, R. L.
Stroud, Paul C. Lloyd, A. E. Cole, .
B. Thompson, and Professor M. C. S.
Noble.
ticularly true of our clays and granites.
The gold produced in the State last
year amounted to the small total of J!130,-
000, or about half the value of the honey
and wax produced in North Carolina each
year. He quoted Professor Collier Cobb
assaying, “I would rather have a good
clay bank in A\'ayne county than all the
gold mines in th(? State.”
On the whole, the mineral resources of
the State have been poorly developed so
far. Here is a source of varied wealth
far greater than our enterprise in this di
rection.
EXTENSION LECTURES
The members of the faculty of the Uni
versity, working through the Bureau of
lixtension, will this year continue to give
lectures throughout the State whenever
their services are asked. The lectures of
fered generally fall into three groups.
A.—Popular lectures of general inter
est.
B.—Specific and technical lectures for
AVomen’s Clubs, Study Clubs, Teachers’
Institutes, Teachers’ IMeetings, Farmers’
Meetings, W M. C. A. gatherings, and
Chamber of Commerce meetings.
C.—Lectures or addresses for special
meetings, such as commencements, patri
otic ami dedicatory occasions, ^Memorial
Day exercises, and conventions.
The only charge incident to the giving
of a lecture is for the traveling expenses
of the sj)eaker.
If you desire a lecture, or a series of lec
tures, by members of the University facul
ty in your community this fall, write to
E. R. Rankin, Assistant Director, Bureau
of Extension, Chapel Hill, N. C.
OUR WEALTH IN FOREST
PRODUCTS
At the North Carolina Club session the
■other night Mr. J. H. Lassiter of North
ampton county briefly detailed the forest
■wealth of the State as follows:
Nearly twenty million acres of wood
land, containing 430 billion board feet of
standing timber. In which particular
North Carolina ranks among the first four
states of the Union.
An annual timber cut of 4 billion board
feet. rAiniber and timber products worth
.$34,000,000 a year, ranking next to cot
ton and tobacco manufacture as a source
iof annual wealth.
Our farm wood-lot products, mainly
firewood, were worth $11,000,000 in the
census year; in which particular North
Carolina outranked every other state in
the Union.
The annual firewood cut is some 5,
720,000 cords per year, equal to three
billion board feet-of lumber; which easilj’
accounts for the fact that nobody was
ever known to freeze to death in North
Carolina.
We have 33,000 saw mills, 117 furni
ture and refrigerator factories, 138 car
riage and wagon works, 12 car and gen-
'ral construction shops. If we count the
lumber and timber industries, they em
ployed 44,000 people and turned out
products worth $50,000,000 in the census
year.
Our own wood-working establishments
consume nearly a third of our lumber
andtimljer products, or around $11,000,-
000 worth of them annually.
COUNTRY CHURCH
HOMES
Rev. Archibald Johnson
For long and hapjiy years Rev. C.
W. Scarborough was the pastor of two
strong country churches a few miles
apart, and he lived halfway between
them. That is one of the most de
lightful and attractive communities in
North Carolina, and Mr. Scarborough
was the moving spirit in all the ad
vancement of his people.
Forji greatinany years Spring Hill
church in Scotland county has had its
pastor settled in the midst of the con
gregation, and the Spring Hill pastor
is the central figure in the leadership
of that great people.
The newspapers can well afibrd to
take up this (|uestion and urge its im
portance upon their readers for it
means more to our material prosperity
and to the happiness of our homes
than all' the industrial enterprises in
the State, or all the other movements
for the betterment of our social and fi
nancial conditions.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 46
SCHOOL HEALTH CLUBS
The School Llealth Club is a new and
special feature of health and educational
work in North Carolina at the present
time. As it is being tried out in Johnston
county, it proves to be a !most
efiective way to reach the country people
and rural communities in the matter of
health and sanitation. These clubs are
organized in the different schools under
the direction of the teachers with the
school children as members and ofiicers.
In Johnston county forty-five clubs with
two health officers and about twenty-five
members in each club were organized last
year.
Scout WorK
The school club officers act as “sanitary
school club scouts’ ’ in their neighbor
hoods and rei>t)rt to the health officer any
condition they find insanitary or not
conducive to health. This cooperation
on the part of the boys and girls through
out the county not only gires them a
practical working knowledge of heallh
conditions as they are and as they
should.be, but has brought the county
liealth officer into confidential relation
ship with the people whereby he may
have their hearty co-operation.
Community Effects
The county health officer prepares his
scouts for good service by instructing
them in matters of liealth and sanitation
and how to meet those conditions to
which the duties of their offices are likely
to lead them. H« sees that the clubs have
health literature to read and use, and
gives personal attention to the club’s
monthly reports. No greater compli
ment can be paid this work than this re
mark of a visitor who recently drove
through the county. He said: “It seem
ed to me I could notice improved health
conditions about almost wery home I
])assed. There were screened doors and
windows, improved wells and closcts and
an air of cleanliness and order about the
yard.”—N. C. Health Bulletin.
THE PROFESSOR SAYS
A race horse needs a professional train
er yet, apparently, an untrained teacher
is good enough for children. ^
Some teachers develop subject-matter.
The best teachers develop children.
Average daily attendance should be not
less than 90 per cent of enrollment.
JiEW WORK
The Bureau of Extension is preparing a
new bulletin on the work of the Corre
spondence Division.
Among the new courses to be ofi'ered is
one in beginner’s French. This course is
of the same nature as the one in begin
ner’s German which was oflered last year
and will be conthmed this year.
Full information will be furnished upon
application to the Bureau of Extension. ^
A GOOD BEGINNING
Word comes to the University News
Letter, through Superintendent I. C.
Griffin of Marion, that McDowell county
is to conduct a moonlight school in each
of the fifty-four districts of the county.
At the first meeting of the county teach
ers on September 25th, fifty-eight teach
ers volunteered to carry on this work.
The work is beginning to grip and hold.
KEEPING OUR SCHOOL CHIL
DREN WELL
No boy or girl likes to be sick. Neither
do grown-ups, for that matter. There
are some kinds of disease that we can do
much to avoid; others, there is nothing
much that we can do in the way of pro
tection.
Among those diseases that boys and
girls can do a great deal to avoid are diph
theria, scarlet fever and measles.' All of
these are highly contagious, ‘ ‘catching’ ’
as we often say, and for the most part are
conveyed from one person to another by
the matter that comes froni the nose,
throat or mouth.
Now, if the school children of North
Carolina could all be taught about these
three diseases alone, and then these few
simple directions followed, they in large
part would be able to avoid having diph
theria, scarlet fever and measles.
Here they are: Keep away from chil
dren who are sufl'ering with severe colds,
complain of sore throats, and who say
they don’t feel well. Without being rude
or unkiml, you need not play with them
or exchange gum, candy, fruit or food of
any kind.
Do not borrow or lend pencils at any
time; and never put even your own pen
cil in your mouth.
Use your own'drinking cup.
Do not \i.sit playmates who are not
well; they may bo coming down with any
one of the diseases that we are talking
about, and, as a rule, the early stages are
the most dangerous'.
Do not go into any ^ house wh(“re there
is a warning sign posted on the outside.
The only safe rule is not to expose your
self knowingly. Take no chances.—Ad
apted from the Chicago Department of
Health, in the N. C. Health Bulletin
The bulletin contains helpful hints,
suggested outlines, instructions to teach
ers, reports from schools, etc.
In this case the idea is old, the form is
new. We welcome the improved form,
we hail the idea as a success.
MORE LIGHT FOR WAKE
The Smirise .school in Wake county
needs more light and so has organized
the first Moonlight school of the county.
Knightdale is also laying plans to begin
this work for the banishment of ailult il
literacy.
Suj)erintendent Giles is calling also for
the names of all adult illiterates in the
various school districts of the (county as
a part of the regular school census wor^.
By this means he hopes to keep in im
mediate touch with th:> need for more
moonhght schools.
In 1910 Wake had 28,102 native white
ilhterates over ten years of age. This
means practically one white person in
every ten, a record better than the state
average bj 3 per cent but surely bad e-
nough for the county with the State cap
itol.
DUR MINERAL RESOURCES
Mr. J. II. Allred of Surry reported to
the North Carolina Club at its first meet
ing as f ollow's:
The wealth produced by our mines and
■quarries in North Carolina last year was
'.nearly $3,800,000.
It is not a large total, said he, when
•compared with the w’ealth produced by
agriculture, w'hich W'as $190,000,000; or
by cotton manufacture, which is around
$75,000,000 a year; or by tobacco manu-
iacture, which is some 140,000,000 annual
ly. But it is nearly a three-fold increase
since the census year.
Our mineral resources have a remark
able range and variety. Many of them
are of great economic value, both quanti
ty and quality considered. This is par-
RIGHT YOU ARE
How to “Check the Waste” is a phrase
that needs to be seared into the conscious
ness of es’ery individual capable of think
ing.
So long as housekeepers are carelessly in
different as to the cost or manner in
whicli-their pantries are supplied; and so
long as mothers allow daughters to drift
along supremely indifferent to such
things as a working knowledge of foods
and food values and comparative costs of
suppUes, just so long will there be reck
less waste and needless expense connected
with the food problem in each home.
—Miss Elizabeth Kelly, Smithfield Her
ald.
ENGLISH AND CIVICS HELP
Do the teachers of English or civics or
history in the high schools wish help in
the ways and means of using current per
iodicals for more efiicient teaching of
these subjects?
Write to The Independent, 119 W. 40
St., New York City, and ask for their
three pamphlets dealing with this matter.
They are free to teachers.
the school fund. Superintendent Brit
tain of Georgia advocates a license tax on
dogs to be used for the j)urchase of
school books for primary children.
A recent school exliibit up in McDow
ell county gives as a reascm sheep are not ,
raised in the county the fact that so
many dogs run loose over the farms there.
What is true in McDowell i.s true else
where in the state.
Benefits
A nominal tax on dogs with the penal
ty of death for untaxed dogs would pro
duce a neat sum for (nir school fund, and
in addition would serve as a stimulus to
shi^p raising. Distinct benefit would
accrue to the farmers, the children, the
schools and to worth-while dogs, under
such legislation.
DYING ILLITERACY
The United States Bureau of Educa
tion in a table of statistics compiled for
use at the Panama-Pacific Exhibition is
sponsor for the following facts:
In 1900, of every 1000 children in the
United States between the ages of 10 and
14 there were 42 who could neither read
nor write.
Progress
In 1910, of every 1000* children in the
United States between the ages of 10 and
14 there were only 22 who could jieither
read nor write.
Pro\iding the reduction in illiteracy
since 1910 has proceeded at the samu rate
the number of illiterate children between
10 and 14 years of age cannot now be
more than 1 in every 1000.
Child illiteracy is on its deatb bed with
no one to mourn its demise.
IMMUNITY FOR JOHNSTON
The anti-typhoid campaign just clos
ed in Johnston county was in some ways
the most satisfactory one ever conducted.
Over 95 per cent of those beginning the
treatment in July have received the full
immunizing treatment of three doses..
More enthusiasm has been manifested
and more faith and confidence in the
treatment have been expressed than ever
before. IMore co-operation on the part
of the medical profession has been re
ceived than ever before. The aid receiv
ed from public ofiicials and from the
Press of the county hasjDeen greater than
ever before.
The number of cases of typhoid fever
is over 50 per cent less than in any year
previous to this year in a long tune. A-
bout one-eighth of the entire population
of the entire county is now rendered im
mune to typhoid f*r the next four
years.
Four thousaml were given the vaccine
last year and 2,023 have received the
treatment this year without any cost ex
cept to the one giving the treatment.—
Dr. H. H. Utley.
ADVERTISING MARION
We have just received a little folder
netting forth the merits of Marion in Mc
Dowell county. Health, prosperity and
wealth are h'eld up as possibilities for
those who w^ll come to Marion and en
gage in the^lumber, pottery, textile, or
agricultural industry. The local Board
of Trade believes in Marion. So do we.
HELPS FOR STUDY
The professors in the School pf Educa
tion are preijared to give assistance on
the study of the books prescribed by tbe
Reading Circle course of the State De
partment. ' ,
Study outlines, illustrations of princi
ples involved, hints to the leaders upon
the study of any of the books will be hir-
nished for a nominal sum upon applica
tion.
STILL THEY COME
The University News Letter has receiv
ed the initial copy of Durham county’s
school bulletin.
Economy and efliciency have led Supt.
Massey and his co-workers to substitute
this printed sheet for the mimeographed
letter which the Durham county teach
ers have been receiving for several years
past.
MISTAKEN IDEAS
No public school system can succeed or
ever has succeeded that depends solely
upon state appropriations for its main
tenance. Our legislators might as \\ell
understand this now and for all time.
The only successful public education
that we can acquire comes and must al
ways come through local option.
Our people might as well learn this now'
before they waste more time trying to
build up an educational system at the ex
pense of the state at large; Also, there
can be no marked decrease in our illiter
acy until we get the children in school,
j So long as there is a large percentage of
‘ our boys and girls straggling about the
state without ever entering the class room
so long will our iUiteracy remain as it is.
—The Educational Monthly, Georgia.
DOG TAXATION
In some of the northern states the in-
I come from the dog tax is turned over to
INFANT MORTALITY
Statistics carefully collected by the
United States government show us that,
of every 1,000 babies born, each year, 127
die before the next year comes; and, of
these 127 annual deaths per thousand, it
is freely admitted that a large percentage
are easily preventable.
Babies vs Calves
If, out of every 1,000 calves, 127 should
die the first year, and statistics should
show such a loss as that year after year
throughout the country, a storm of indig-
nation would rise at the lax methods of
inspection that would permit so costly a
mortality; biit considered purely from the
value in dollars and cents, the waste of
child-life is a question that demands the
attention of every man who loves his
kind and wants to see this country great
er and more prosperous. To measure hu
man life'in dollars may be a brutal way
of putting the question of health- preserv
ation ; it may be startling; but it enables
us to contrast the care we give to our do
mestic animals with that which we fail to
give our own children.—Postal Life In
surance BuUetin.—North Carolina Health.
Bulletin,