Newspapers / The University of North … / Dec. 22, 1915, edition 1 / Page 1
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The news in this pubiica- hon is relecised for the pre*« on the date indicated below. DECEMBER 22, 1915 THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER Published weekly by the University of North Carolina tor its Bureau of Elxtension. CHAPEL HILL, N. C. VOL. H, NO. 6 Editorial Boardii B. C. Branson, J. G. deR, Hamilton, L. K Wil«on, L. A. WUbams, R. H. Thorutou, G. M. McKie. £!a&«red as Hecond-cla.5f^ matter November 14, 1914, at the posfcoffi^e at Chapei HUl, N. C., under the act of Angnst 1912 NORTH CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES WOMAN'S WORK Twenty-nine hundred Canning Club Oirls in 37 counties of North Carolina have put up 633,000 tins and jars of fnrita and vegetables—tomatoe.?. string beans, ' 8oup mixtureM, (jeachea, cherries, pre serves, jams and the like. The value of the club productts this year is $104,000; the profits §75,000 ; and the average proHts per member $39.90. A great record for Mrs. McKimmon and her girls! Nine new counties begin the club work next year. Some of them made a late beginning this year—Orange among them, under Miss Cassidey who made such a great record in Sampson. The saving of waste iu time or material marks the difference between crudeness ' and culture in any business whatsoever. A::! 4sixty bushels per acre Mr. T. E. Brown w’ho directs the Corn Clubs thinks that tbe average yield of his 3550 boys thia year will be around 60 bushels to the acre. The grown-ups have averaged barely 20 bushels to the acre in North Carolina. If tliey had done as well as the boys, we should have 182,000,000 bushels of home-raised corn; or enough for home (Consumption and a hundred million bushels more to market abroad or, better still, to feed our livestock. f. The development of livestock farming depends first of all on surpluses of grain, hay, and forage; a fact worth consider- ing- PRIMARY PROBLEMS OF PROGRESS It is important for a growing city (1) to be the center of a well-developed food- producing region; and (2) to keep the „_ost of living at the lowest possible level by solving the local market problem; by c!ftwhich we mean, bringing together city onsumers anji nearby producers of bread- stuffs, so that the consumer gets more for his money and the farmer more for his ’ products. Atlanta is a case in point. For years he production of food and feed supplies m Fulton and the adjoining counties has een a dwindling farm enterprise. At- anta has no city market. A little while go an investigation by Federal experts showed that Atlanta was one of the four most expensive cities in the United States to live in. Atlanta Slows Down ,\8 might have been expected, the 1914 ensus of manufactures shows tliat indus- rial enterprise in Atlanta has had hard sledding these last five years. The liigh ost of living has led to a demand for higher wages, to labor unrest, and chronic strike moods in factory opera- ives. In consequence, since 1909 the number of industrial establislunents has decreased 12.2 per cent, the persons ngaged in manufacture has increased less than 3 per cent, and the value of products only 25.2 per (*nt. It is a slow gait— for Atlanta. Every developing industrial center in orth (“larolina can afford to study these primary problems of progress. FARM CO-OPERATION IN NORTH CAROLINA The other night Mr. L. I’. Gwaltney, Jr., of Alexander county, passed in re view for The North Carolina Club the subject of Co-operative Farm Knterprise in North Carolina. The discussion cover ed a wide and iuterestiug field of State problems. Dr. T. N. Carver, expert economic ad viser of the Federal Department of Agri- «ulture, found 6,388 co-operative enter prises in the United States in 1914, mainly in the middle West, as follows: 336 cheese factories, 2,165 creameries, 2,020 elevators, and 1,867 mutual insurance companies—these last being weU distribu ted throughout the North as well as the West. Our own State appears in this report to the small extent of two creameries. Nevertheless, the farmers of North Caro lina have made a creditable beginning in co-operative enterprise. Co-operative Telephones 1. For instance, in 1912 there were 718 telephone systems in North Carolina, 109,000 miles of wire, and 65,000 tele phones. Some 650 of these were country telephone systems, owned and operated privately by groups of farmeiH. They had in use around 35,000 miles of wire, and some 20,000 telephones. There are 1,200 country ’phones on co-operative lines in Orange county alone. Mutual Insurance 2. The Farmer.^ Mutual Fire Insurance Association with headquarters in Raleigh has nearly 20,000 members, who carry insurance amounting to $17,570,000 at an average cost of $3.60 per thousand; in Catiiwba county it is only fl.SO (ler thousand. in addition to another association of this sort with headquarters in Rocky Mount, there are Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance companies in Gaston, Meck lenburg, Rowan, and Union counties car rying insurance on three and a third mil lion dollars wortli of farm property, Farmers Union Enterprises ‘3, The Farmers Union in North Caro lina is the best organized, the most active, and the most influential Union in the United States; and their co-operative en terprises number fifty or so—mainly warehouses, merchandise stores, fertilizer concerns and the like. The total invest ment in these enterprises is $207,775, and they did business in 1914 amounting to $1,042,500, They handled $375',000 worth of fertilizers alone. Catawba Leads 4, Catawba county leads the State in farm co-operation. Five years ago the farmers invested $1,500 in a creamery. Last year it did a business of $245,505 in butter, poultry, and eggs. A thousand co-operating farmers sold through this agency 228,700 dozen eggs, and 6()0,000 pounds of butter for the year ending with June 1914, They got from one to four cents more for their eggs per dozen, and nearly twice as much as before for their butter. Another group of 150 farmers sold 125 car loads of sweet potatoes last season and received $2.67 per crate clear of all expenses. The farmers of this county also have a mutual fire insurance company and a land and loan association, while their wives are organized into tw'o active clubs of United Farm Women. The Co-operative Warehouse in Newton did a busines? of $25,000 last year. Dairy Farming 5, Catawba successes in farm co-ope ration have been followed by creameries in Union and Iredell, at Monroe and Mooresville; and by four cheese factories in Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany. Noth ing succeeds like success, and we may look for wonderful development along all these lines in this region of the State in the next ten years. Our 425 silos, 3,000 cream separators, 13 creameries, and 5 cheese factories are not large totals for a state with 254,000 farms and 605,000 farmers- But they are a wonderful start toward dairy farming; and dairy farmers soon learn that share- profits are double profits. Later on they will take share-profits orno profits at all; or so the Iowa and Minnesota farmers are finding out. North Carolina Leads in Pro gressive Legislation 6, So far, sixteen states have given legislative support to co-operative enter prise ; but the laws passed by our last legislature on this subject are pronounced to be the best of* them all. They cover (1) Co-operative Enterprise (2) Co-oper ative Credit Societies, and (3) 1,/and and Loan Associations. On December 9th the first Rural Credit Society in North Caro lina was organized under these laws—at Lowe’s Grove in Durham county. And now another group of Durham farmers are getting ready to form a credit society. They are likely to succeed, beca,use they are organizing under the guidance of Mr. John Sprunt Hill of Durham and Mr. W. R. Camp, the State Superintendent of Co-operative Enterprise. The CurritucK Farmers 7, The farmers of Currituck have this year sold their sweet potatoes co-opera tively like the farmers of the Eastern Shore of Virginia; and they have learned that profits can be secured only by busi ness-like market methods. The Curri- tu ck crop is around 100,000 barrels a CULTURE AND DEMOC RACY Dr. Wm. L. Poteat. Culture would come too high, if it in volved the compromise of democracy. For what is democrat^y? In Etymolo gy it is the rule of the people. But equal participation in government, manh(X)d suffrage, and majority rule are not lemocracy itself so much as the mef^hanism of demwracy. The essence of ilemocracy is the spirit of fraternity and justic*. It can not be dcceiv('d by disguises of prece dent and tradition, of circumstance and ceremony. It counts the individ ual human spirit so precious and go regal that its accidents of birth and position are insignificant. It was bom into tlie modern world iu the now defi nition of man iu tbe teaching of Jeeas and its development througli the Christian centurie* is their shining dis tinction. The general straggle for freedom against despotism in all its forms has been universal and irresistible, jkm- sessing, as De Tocqueville says^ all the characteristics of a divine decree. Next after religion, it is our dearest possession. We cannot afford to sac rifice it on the altar of culture. year, and it is worth protecting by co operative methods, Salemburg, a Model Community 8. Organized effort at Salemburg, a country community in Sampson county, hascentered upon sanitation, better school facilities, attractive homes, home culture, and community law and order. The suc cess of these efforts has made Salemburg famous far and wide. It is a form of co operation that ought to be duplicated in a thousand communities in North Caro lina. FIRE! Says the Insurance Commissioner for North Carolina: In Ameri('a we |burn twelve schoolhouses and two colleges every week. In tl>e United States, a'fire occurs every day in some school. Fre quently the lives of our children are sav ed simply because the fire occurs while the school is not in session. When we build new schoolhouses in North Carolina are we taking sufficient caution to protect the children from fires? Are our school buildings fire proof? Write Mr, James R. Young at Raleigh and let him help you plan your buildings so as to save the kiddies. THE WORK STARTED Miss H, Celeste Hankel, Assistant County Superintendent of Iredell writes that there has been organized at tbe Harmony High School an open air school. The Duilding is a pavilion used for camp-meeting purposes. The teacher of the class is enthusiastic in praise of the plan and feels sure that great good has already been accomplished. Later the plan is to have the Domestic Science class furnish hot milk and cocoa to the children below normal health. Success to the plan! May we have more of them! ANOTHER SCHOOL RALLY Ivy Township Rally Day was a rousing success on Thanksgiving Day at Bar- nardsville. The exercises began at 10:00 A. M, and lasted until late that night. The speakers discussed adult illiteracy, comniunity co-operation, good roads, sanitation and hygiene, boys’ and girls’ club work. The Barnardsville and Dill ingham schools debated the question of A Greatly Increased Navy for the United States, and the Barnardsville High School presented a play in the evening for which a small admission fee was charged. All in all it was a great big success and the Principal, H, C. Miller writes en thusiastically of the occasion and the in- creastid interest aroused in the commun ity for the schools of that section. Let the good work go on! UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION LETTER SERIES NO 56 CHRISTMAS IN THE SCHOOLS At this season of the year, l>oys, girls, teachers, and parents are eagerly count ing the weeks, days, and hours that lie between them and the great holiday of the j’eAr. A.s the good Christmas Day Draws Ni^h there comes on with it to many people a strong ]esire to slacken their pace for tlie time being and live au almost entire ly disorganiztid life til! New Year's. Some Teachers Get Restless possibly, and tx)k forward to the ciose of school rather than to the details of the work to he ac/-omplishel before the clos ing day. Some Parents Get Careless possibly, and take a child from school to help the father at his work or the mother in her household duties. And when they do take a (-hild away with this purpose they apologize to themselves for their act with the thought that a few days out of school makes no real difference. Some Pupils Get Tired and beg parents to let them stop till Christmas bec.ause so many others have stopped and the last week or two does Not Amount To Much And so under all these distracting in- fluenca'f the best, results are not obtained. This thotigh ip No Good Reason for letting pupils leave their .school work. The last week of a school term is the best week of the whole terra, and if it is not the l>est week somebody is to be blamed for it. The la.«t week is The Great Rallying Point of the session, and school committeemen, teachers, pupils, and parents should work to make the days between now and Christmas full of the very best results, The Best School in the State must have many points of excellence to merit tliat good name, but it ought to be that all of our best schools should have their l)«Bt record for attendance in the month of December. What school com mittee would let the school close the last of every month on the ground that very little good was ever done the last week and still pay a full month’s salary? What farmer stops plowing the last few days before he lays by his crop and gives as his reason that the last few day’s work is never worth much? How many of our schools will take for their slogan. No Absences Now Till Christmas? CORN PRODUCTION IN THE SOUTH IN I9I5 Six-Year Increase in the U. S., 17 per cent; in the South, 45 per cent; in North Carolina, 73 per cent. Rank State Per A. Bu. Total Bu. Six-Yr. (iain 1 Kentucky 31 119,939,000 36,591,000 2 Oklahoma 29.5 127,440,000 33,157,000 3 V^irginin 28.5 61,332,000 23,037,000 4 Tennessee 27 95,877,000 28,195,000 5 Texas 23.5 175,968,000 100,519,000 6 Arkansas 22.5 62,100,000 24,490,000 7 Loui.siana , 20 48,000,000 21,990,000 8 North Carolina 19.5 59,144,000 25,080,000 9 Mississippi 19 70,623,000 42,194,000 10 Alabama 17.5 68,548,000 37,852,000 11 Georgia 15 66,600,000 27,225,000 United States 28.3 3,090.509,000 535,320,000 ONSLOW: A SLEEPING GIANT VVe have just returneil from a most enjoyable visit to Onslow county. The folks down there surely know' how to entertain in royal fashion. We never ate such an oyster roast nor such crack- lin’bread as they have iu Jacksonville, It was hard work to get away soon enough to get back in time for church on Sunday. It is a fine homey sort of folks one finds there, A Sleeping Giant No one can estimate Onslow’s possibil ities. It is like a sleeping giant, not yet awakened to realize what it can do. Acres upon acres of good farming land lying waste, nnles of good river front for eight-foot boats, plenty of good fishing ground, millions of feet of lumber, num berless cords of fire wood. Nobody knows what the per capita wealth of the coun ty would be if she would develop her resources. Roads and Schools The folks are beginning to believe in good I'oads and are justly proud of the few miles of sand-clay roads they now have. Ten years ought to see every main thoroughfare of Onslow a first class road. The school districts are rapidly con structing new and up-to-date achool- houses. Cedar Lane and Bacon Neck have consolidated and, aided by the per sonal loan of a public spirited citizen of the county, have built a beautiful new building, Jacksonville, under the ex cellent principal, I. M. Bailey, has added a new wing to its fine brick building and other districts are making like progress. Work to Be Done There is still much to be done. A more united sentiment for public improve ments, a more lively interest in com munity welfare, a more determined effort to bring Onslow to the fore would help lift the county out of the position of a commonplace coastal county. It has the resources, it has the potential wealth. It needs more folks and folks who will help her to realize her possibilities. It has some such folks and itjneeda more. THE FIRST IN ORANGE Superintendent S. P. Lockhart of Orange county is stirring up things edu cational this year. With the aid of Miss Lulu M. Cassidey, Rural Supervisor, he has organized a series of township meet ings to be held in each of the, townships sometime during the year. This work is being done in the thought that the teachers will benefit by coming together occassionally in smaller groups than in the regular county meeting. On December 4th the first township meeting under this plan was held at the Carrboro school in Chapel Hill Town ship. Mr. E. C. Brogden of the State Department was present and added much to the interest of the meeting. Representatives from the University School of Education were present to aid as they might. The Carrboro school gave a model type opening exercise, and the plans for County Commencement and the qualifications of a standard teacher and a standard school kept the meeting lively. Several of the district committeemen and one member of the County Board of Education were present; and one school, the Merritt, had all the teachers and the entire committee present—a 100 per cent school. At luuch time Mr. Ray, of Carrboro, invited all the lady teachers to eat at his table and other citizens took care of the men teachers, proving the warm hospi tality of the community and its interest in Orange county schools. It was a good meeting and means much to the town ship and county. Wouldn’t it be fine if we could make the average term of schools for the state 150 days instead of leas than one hundred as it is now? THE PROFESSOR SAYS Play is as necessary for children as food. An insufficient amount or an im proper kind of either retards develop ment. Some folks tell us that teachers are bom, not made. Perhaps so, but one thing is sure; they are not bom ready made. Two dangerous weapons in the teach er’s power are the hickory switch and the sarcastic remark. One cuts the ffesh, the other scars the 'soul. Few teachers can use either safely.
The University of North Carolina News Letter (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 22, 1915, edition 1
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