■jTje news in thi« publica
tion is released for the press on
date indicated below.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau ot Extension.
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. I, NO. 51
editor'
1 B Hamilton, L. B. Wilson, L. A. WiUiams, R. H. Thornton.
Entered S3 second-class matter November U, 19U, at the postoffioe at Ghapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,1913
north CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES
4 COMMUNITY RALLY AT
the university
rjjjp .rnests were our friends and ueigh-
Ijors in orange, Chatham, Durha.t, and
ii«mance-some 500 or more.
The liosts were the fwople of Chapel
Hill, the faculty and student hxiy ot the
ITnivei-sity-the Comni.mity Club, ihe
eity Hoard of Trade, the t.U8vnes.« people
tl,e ;,cnsekeopeTS, everybody in t hapel
The luajor-dcxnio was l)ean M. C. S.
Noble who conceived this idea and has
tept it alive from J^earto year until its
eocial signiflcknce bccame clearly evi-
TUe events were an automobile parade,
entertainment by the University stu-
' address of welcome by
an
dents, a hriet
Preside'nt Graham, a wonderful exhibit
In Jlemorial Hall of farm product, veg-
Ptalilew, fruits, and flowers; needlework
new and old, some of it historic, rare,
and prei'ious; old furnitures and house
hold furnishings; school exhibits and so
on and oil; free moving pictures; a lan
tern lecture on poultry; a competiti\e
singing by five county Sunday schools;
athletic contests by the young people—
potato races, three-legged races, rainy
day rai«s and tlie like; an
picnic dinner in the University
and the awarding of some sixty small
cash prizes.
An eventful happy day—a detail of the
large University plan to promote a com
fortable, folksy, home-folksy, helpful re
lationship with the people far and near to
whom the University belongs, if only
they could but realize it.
Herbert Knox Smith, our Federal Cor
poration Commissioner at that time.
^A LooK Ahead J
^iWhen our wasteful methods of lum
bering, our steady destruction of present
and prosiiective timber by forest fires,
and our enormous yearly rut of firewood
have bfought us to our knees in North
Carolina, we will begin to realize the im-
mence value of our unconsidered small
water powers.
In another generation or two we will
turn to these small privately «wne(l water
powers, not only for light and warmth,
power and traction, said Mr. Eagle, but
for protection against over-charge.s^for
electricity furnished by the big com
mercial concerns.
old-fashioned
grove;
TWO HEADLIGHTS
Two headlights for \orth Carolina:
The daylight school for every child in
the State and the moonlight school in
operation till there are no illiterates
in North Carolina.—The News and
Observer.
LEADS THE SOUTH IN PO
TENTIAL WATER POWERS
In the mountain regions of tlie state
and on the long slope eastward to the
fall line in North (Carolina, and south
eastward along the streams flowing into
South Carolina, our potential minimum
water power is 578,000 horsepowers, on a
basis of 75 per cent efficiency; and our
rank in this particular is first in the
South, as recorded by the Federal Corpor
ation Commission in 1912. *
Herein lies the explanation of North
Carolina’s early start toward industrial
development, and her present pre-emi-
nence in manufacture in the South, said
Mr. D. E. Eagle of Iredell county to The
North Carolina Club at its last meeting.
Numerous Small Water Pow
ers
And these figures do not count the
small sites capable of developing less than
1000 horsepowers. These small water
powers are available for domestic and
municipal uses; for running farm ma
chinery, lighting farm homes, lighting
small towns and citie.s, and furnishing
power for the hundred uses of small busi
nesses therein.
Lags Behind in Municipal Own
ership
But in 1912 only two towns in North
Carolina had develojied their own small
water powers and brought them into use
for iuunici[)al purposes.
Water Powers in Manufac-
0 ture
The water iiower developed and in use
for manufacturing purposes in North
Carolina, as reported in the 1910 census,
was 41,926 horsepowers; in which partic
ular we ranked 2nd, in the South.
In addition we had 22,000 horsepowers in
use by 191 custom saw mills and 861 custom
grist mills; making all told 64,000 horse
powers developed by water and in use for
manufacturing purposes in the state.
That is to say, we are using for manufac
ture almost exactly one-ninth of the po
tential water power in North Carolina.
Corporation Ownership
In 1912, eighteen corporations owned
and controlled 158,435 horsepowers or
27 per cent o{ our total potential horse
powers. Forty-five per cent of the com
mercial water power in North Carolina,
e\elope^ and under construction in 1912
^as controlled by a single concern, says
an Hise, in his volume on Concentra
tion and Control; and two-thirds of it,
by two lijrtit and power
OUR DIVERSITY OF FARM
PRODUCTS
The remarkable diversity of soils and
seasons in North Carolina naturally leads
to diversity in crops, livestock farming
and agricultural industries, said Mr. It.
E. Price of Rutherford county to the
North‘Carolina Club at the last meeting
in October.
In the tide-waler country we have ,said
he, the truck crops of the Great AVinter
Garden. In the coastal plain counties,
we have nature’s choicest area for cot
ton, tobacco, corn, sweet potatoes, i»a-
nuts, pumpkins and pork production.
The Piedmont country is a winter wheat
area, offering every possible advantage in
hay and forage production, livestock and
dairy farming. The mountain country is
a region of cattle, cabbages and kings,
buckwheat, sugar maples and apple or
chards.
We raise everything from the sul»-trop-
ieal fig to the sub-arctic cereals and
grasses.
North Carolina and Wisconsin
Compared
The speaker exhibited an interesting
chart of the farm products of the state in
the census year, arranged in the form of
a pyramid; fifty million dollars worth of
cotton forming the base, and seventy-five
hundred dollars worth of grasses and gar
den seeds, ^ the apex.
Comparing it with Wisconsin’s prod
ucts he said, we raise everything that
Wisconsin raises except flaxseed, emmer
and spelt; and we raise corn, w'heat, pea
nuts, tobacco, orchard fruits and nuts in
greater abundance. Our farm woodlot
products are worth nearly $2,000,000
more. Our poultry stock is smaller, but
we produce 5,000,000 fowls more per
year. Cotton of course Wisconsin can
not grow at all.
In Wisconsin the fanner struggles with
Nature to produce crops and animal prod
ucts; in North Carolina Nature struggles
with the farmer for a full expression of
of her gifts and favors.
He called attention to the fact that
Wisconsin’s agriculture is based on hay
and forage, her greatest crop; ours, on
cotton and. tobacco—or so in the census
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 50
year.
We are crop farmers mainly; they are
hvestock farmers mainly. While wepro-
prodnce |33,000,000 worth of livestock
l)r(]ducts, they produce nearly 1120,000,-
000 worth, not cowHting another $100,-
000,000 in butter, cheese and condensed
milk turned out by their 3,000 small fac
tories. They are food farmers and five
at home with surpluses to sell; we raise
cotton and tobacco to sell, withdeficits of
food and feed to buy—or so for a long
term of years.
As a result our per capita country
wealth is lesS than a third of the average
in the United States; Wisconsin’s is a
fourth above. Our average is $322 and
theirs $1,123.
Our New Farm Bwis
However, said Mr. Price, we are rapid
ly remedying this economic error. Our
crop values have increased $151,000,000 j weekly disposal of contents,
in 15 years, an average gain of some $10,-' The Federal Health Service
A WONDERFUL SANITARY
SURVEY
During the last six months, six field
officers of the. Federal Health Service have
been visiting and re-visiting the 3250
homes of Orange comity.
They have been investigating the con
ditions afi’ecting disease, sickness and
death in these homes—the water supply,
the toilet facilities, the disposal of human
body waste, the breeding places of dis
ease-carrying insects, the screening against
flies and mos(]uitoes and .so on.
Thay have scattered bulletins far and
wide about the origin and nature of ty
phoid fever and other intestinal diseases
—dysentery, diarrhoea, hookworm, chol
era infantum and the like. They have
pointed out the simple effective things
to do in order to abolish typhoid, and to
save the 65 children who die in Orange
year by year before they are five years
old, most of them from 'preventable dis-
jases.
They have held 80 public meetings, and
given illustrated lectures to 6,000 people
in scliools and churches all over the coun
ty. No more searching, stimulating
liealth campaign has ever been comlucted
anywhere in the United States.
Astounding Revelations
The civilization of Orange county is 162
years old, and there are no better people
on earth. The disclosures of this survey
simply show how sensible, good people
can habitually neglect the commonest
safeguards of health and life—the health
and life of loved ones in their own home
circles.
In the 2,085 country homes, the survey
ors found not a single family that tried to
prevent the breeding of flies in manure
piles. They found only two sanitary out
houses. They found 1,605 dwellings to
tally unscreened, and 1,292 homes or
more than three-fifths of them all with no
surface closets or other toilet facilities.
In the 773 town homes, they found 645
dwellings with unsanitary surface closets;
653 families depending on wells and
springs, and 358 wMth totally unscreened
homes.
In these 773 town homes they found
histories of 301 typhoid fever cases, and
altogether 1,188 cases of typhoid fever in
the homes/of the county during the last
25 years.
The same kind of searching examina
tion would show similar or worse condi
tions in any otiier county in this and
every other state. Orange is not worse
than other counties, but Orange now
knows better than 3,000 other counties of
the United States the necessity of safe
guarding the home circle against prevent
able disea.ses, and the ways in whicli to
do it simply and inexpensively.
The Results to Date
When the people of Orange were
brought face to face with these anftzing
conditions, they began to act jiroinptly.
The towns have all passed ordinances
requiring sanitary surface closets, and the
weekly disposal of human body waste in
sanitary ways under the direction and in
spection of health ofiicers.
On the second round of visitation, the
surveyors found 35 per cent o{ the coun
try homes with sanitary surface closets al
ready I)uilt, and almost all the rest ar
ranging to provide them.
The school board appropriated money
to help in building sanitary outhouses for
the schools, and the superintendent, the
district trustees, and the teachers are
alive to the necessity for fly-proof closets
with water-tight receptacles, and the
One question which should be con
stantly in the mind of the teacher in pre
senting any subject or any portion of a
subject is this; What is the aim of this
work which is being done? What result
am I aiming at m this lesson or this series
of lessons? For the result at which one
is aiming will naturally determine the
methods of teachuig which are followed.
Different Groups of Subjects
If, with this question of aim in mind,
we examine the different subjects of the
course of' study, we find that they fall
into diftefent groups.
There is, for example, one group, in
cluding much of English literature, music,
picture study, and the like, in which the
aim sought for is that the pupil should
develop an application of the material
with which he is presented. Another
group of subjects attempts to give the pu
pil a definite stock of ideas and informa
tion about things inijjortant for him to
know. Here belong geography, history
to an extent, parts of science and
nature study, physiology and hygiene.
And so we might go on, finding that the
subjects taught fall naturally into such
groups, characterised by different aims
and so requiring different methods. Dif
ferent "parts of the same subject may of
course belong in difterent groups, as, for
example, the fundamental operations in
arithmetic and problems in\ olving reason
ing aim at different results.
The Habit Group
One of the most important of tliese
groups is that made up of the so-called
‘habit subjects’’. These subjects, or
appreciation, or at the acquisition of a
stock of useful information or general
mental discipfine, but at a result which
is simple, definite, and easily tested.
This is the power to do certain very defi
nite things, easily, accurately, mechani
cally, and without hesitation.
One Habit Subject
fjet 118 take tor illustration the teaching
of the four fundamental operations in
arithmetic. The aim here is the forma
tion of a series of habits of dealing with
number combinations. The aim is ful
filled only when the pupil can deal with
those combinations with absolute accura
cy, with ease and rapidity, and so me
chanically that no thought is retjiiired.
When does a pupil know how to multi
ply? Not until he can handle any com
bination in the table with one hmidred
per cent ai«uracy and in a fashion which
is absolutely mechanical. Only then has
he formed the series of habits in question.
The ability to multiply eight by seven is
a habit. The ability to multiply seven by
eight is a difl'erent one, as a teacher some
times finds to her surprise. Each habit
must be formed separately, and drill on,
each one must be continued until perfec
tion is reached. A habit half learned is
soon forgotten, ()ur schools are suffering
today because pupils are not drilled in
fundamental habits with sufficient thor
oughness. A child who can give the
right answer to a number combination,
but who can give it only after stopping to
think,” should never be considered by
the teacher as having mastered the fun
damentals of arithmetic. Neglect of this
simple truth means a tremendous amount
parts of subjects, aim not at developing i of trouble later.
It is encouraging to know that the 160
typhoid cases in 1914 dwindled to 19 this
year; and the death rate from eight to
two.
The county is getting ready to have a
whole-time health officer; and to lead the
whole United States in freedom from pre
ventable, postponable diseases and
deaths.
A PRACTICE HOUSE
•
From the Clarion, the official publica
tion of the Belmont High School (Gaston
county) we learn thatBelmonl is to have
a practice house as a means of teaching
the girls how to run a house with skill
and economy.
The next step we, suppose will have to
be a practice shop or office or farm to
teach the boys how to provide the neces
sary wherewithal for the support of the
home.
We are glad to welcome the Clarion
once more as it starts on its second year.
May itTontiniie to grow better with each
issue.
Children nnist he protected from
“catching these diseases. Not only must
there be quarantine but it mi^t be rigidly
enforced. Every good citizen will see to
it that children are given the right to
their physical heritage,—good health.
RANDOLPH PROSPERS
We have just had an opportunity to
take a look into Kandolpli county. It has
wonderful possibilities. Rich soil, beau
tiful in situation and in most cases well
cultivated. There is much of it still lying
waste, however, and some of it is poorly
tended. They say hay grows well in the
county. If that is so why is there so much
baled hay wire visible?
Asheboro
Asheboro is the busy center and a fast
growing town. There is an alertness
among the people there w'orth watching.
Their school building, built new only a
short time ago, while too large when
built is now altogether too small. The
teachers are wide awake and eager to do
their level best. We are looking for much
good news all through the county radi
ating from Asheboro.
SCHOOL HEALTH
INSPECTION
The whole time health officers of Samp
son, Nash and Pitt counties have adopted
the plan of medical school inspection for
their schools this year that the State
Board of Health has receiftly developed.
The health officers of these counties will
cooperate with the Board in like manner
as the school .specialists of Alamance,
Northampton and Edgecombe counties.
The Board will keep a record of all
school children whose examination show
ed some pliysical defect and, in order to
see that the child receives treatment, will
adopt the same follow-up method in
Sampson, Nash and Pitt counties as in the
other counties where the medical inspec
tion campaigns will be conducted by the
Board. The whole-time health officers,
however, will be able to give only two or
three days in the week to this work while
in the other counties the specialist will
give his entire, time.
With these counties adopting medical
inspection for their schools it is expected
that by the end of the year ten counties,
at least, will have been given the benefits
of this combined ediicational-health
work.
And the gain is in bread | enough to know that.
companies, says j years
000,000 a year.
and meat, hay and, forage crops. We
havo-ftss cotton this year, but more com,
wheat, oats, hay and forage, pigs and
cattle.
The base of our 1915 pyramid is corn,
$55,000,000 worth. Cotton retires t» the
second place for the first time in forty ! that they
I oughly.
CHILDREN FIRST
Whoever in the world wiis it started the
simple as these { superstition, myth, legend, fairy story or
IS wise
things are, no community scores a hun
dred in sanitary matters in a jiffy; and
that time is required for the full measure
of results.
And the people of Orange are wise
enough to go on to the very end now
have started toclean up thor-
just plain lie, that the best time to have
contagious and infectious diseases is dur
ing childhood?
Vital statistics can be quoted to show
that a vastly greater proportion of deaths
occur among children having whooping-
cough, measles, or scarlet fever than
among adolescents or adults.
EDITORIAL COMMENT
The newspapers of the state are taking
notice of the professional training of
teachers. The Greensboro Daily News
has called attention twnce, editorially, to
the necessity for a teacliing profession
based on specialized training. The Fay
etteville Observer has also caught the i-
dea and is clearly setting forth the issue.
Keep At It,
We know what a decisive part our
state papers play in forming public opin
ion and w’e sincerely hope this whole
question will be persistently followed up
until our citizens come to see the worth
and tlie necessity of a professionally
trained body of teachers for our schools.
The New England states are ^ro^esting
against putting a thousand dollar educa
tion on ten-ccntboys. We protest against
ten-cent education for our thousand-dol
lar boys.