North Carolina Newspapers

The news m this pubbca- bon is released for the pres« oo the date indicated below. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER Publi«hed weekly by the University of North Carolna for its Bureau of Exten«on. JANUARY 12, 1916 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. VOL. II, NO. 7 Kilitoriai Boardi K C. Braoson, J. O. deB. Hamilton, L. R Wilson, L. A. WUliama, B. H. Thornton, O. M. MeKie. Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the postoffloe at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the aot uf Aui^nKt 24,191H NORTH CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES FILE NUMBERS The tirsl volume of the Univer.sity News LftttCT consisted of 51 isauea. The second volume and all succeeding volumes will consist of 50 numbers. That is to say, ihereaft^r the annual holiday of the (edi tors will be two weeks during the Christ- mas and New Year season. Readers interested in _^Uuiversity News Steatite will please note that the issue «f”this date is number 7, and follows whuiIkt 6 i.saued on Deo. 22, 1915. ! knowledge of sunitiition and has vested i her .sanitai'y ofTicers with authority to I make and enforce sanitary laws. WHAT COLLEGE PRO FESSORS HAVE Painters have painter’s colic, plumbers have lead poisoning, and college profes-s- ors] have—the academic mind.—W. F. Foster, President of K>el (’ollege, in The T^ation. PIG AND POULTRY CLUBS The Olul) enrollment in North Orolina in 1915 was 76H, and the Poultry Clubs nnmtered 1056 members. Beef and dairy industries develop slowly anywhere; but the meat deficit in a farm community can tie easily and ' promptly wip'd out by a proper attention ito pigs and poultry. Hence the wisdom ;i9f pig and poultry clubs in the South. North Carolina makes a capital begin ning dni I’lub work of this kind. CARE OF EMPLOYEES Then' is a ho|>eful outlook for improved sanitation in the attempt of some indus trial organisations to t^tablish a physical j examination of all their employees. The j railroads were the first to undertake this I work, but wldle eliminating the imfit they have made no effort toward their ' physical rejuvenation. The (T(5odrich Rubber Company em- : ploys whole-time dentists to examine and : care for the teeth of its emi)loyee.s. The j general supfirvision of sickness among the I employees of the Ford Company has re- I duced ihsenteeism and has so far in- : creased efficiency as to yield a handsome ' profit f« the Company—not to mention : the benefits derived by the workmen. The Carrs have employed a nurse to wait upon the necessities of their mill operatives in Carrboro, and the Cone M^ufacturing Compjiny in Greensboro can boast of one of the most sanitary mill villages in the State if not in the South, says Dr. C. \V. Stiles of the Federal Health Servicf’. SEEMS DOOMED rhe secvdar press of the Stat? has dis covered that the Country Church is in peril. The authorities of the various denomi nations are tieginning an earnest, active study of the problem—esjiecially in the North and West. The country church in certain locali ties seems doomed and is slowdy disinte grating, and the leaders of church work are trying to devise some remedy for the evil that is coming upon us, says The Presbyterian Standard in a recent issue. These certain locaUties are the regions of excessive farm tenancy and absentee land- Jordism-in this and every other state. If you are interested write to Dr, S. L, Morris, Executive Secretary of Presby terian Committee on Home Missions, Hurt Building, Atlanta, for his pamphlet on the Country Churcii in the South; or to E. C. Branson, University of North Carolina, for his pamphlet on the Country Church: a Country-Life Defense. The jfirst will cost you five cents, the last is free of charge. COUNTRY HOME IMPROVEMENT Nearly 400 county agents are at work with the farm women in 15 Southern 45tates—«ome forty under Mrs. Jane S. McKimmon in'North Carolina. These, agents are not devoting them- iselves to canning alone. They are con ducting demonstrations in cooking, im proved saiutary conditions, winter gar dening, poultry work, and home dairy ing. They are giving attention to in creased conveniences, comforts and lux uries in country homes. These workers steadily move forward in ideals. For instance, a Virginia League of farm women has just been having lessons in tireless cookers, scrub bing chariots, milk coolers, iceless re frigerators, shower baths, roller tray wagons, folding ironing boards and the like—all home-made at a trifling ex- })ense. The cityward drift of country popu lations will never stop until country ihomes, country schools, country church- les and country social life are efficient and attbractive, no matter how prosperous farm life may be. Nine times out of ten it is -■a dissatisfied wife and mother who moves i^ive family into town. WE LIVE LONGER For several centuries the length of human life has been increasing. Better living conditions have prevented many of the needless deaths of infants, children and young adults. In recent years the gain in this country has been about 15 years per century. In Prussia the rate of gain has been twenty- seven years. The reason for this difference lies in the fact that Prussia has utilized modem AMAZING PROGRESS A most remarkable stride toward eco nomic freedom in the fann regions of North Carolina this year is shown in the Federal crop report given to the press on December 16. The significance of this report appears when the totals are com pared with crops of 1909 as found in the 13th Census. We have raised this year not less but more cotton and tobacco than we raised six years ago; but at the same time we have nearly doubled our corn and hay crops, more than doubled our yield of rye, and nearly trebled our yield of wheat and oats during this inten’al. We have also raised more rice, buckwheat, and potatoes. We have wheat and liay enough for home consumption, and we are approach ing sufficiency in our corn and potato crops. W’e will this year hold down in North Carolina a large part of the $119,- 000,000 that went out of the State in 1910 to swell the bank accounts of the bread- and-meat farmers of the Middle West. No farm civilization can achieve perma nent prosperity that is not self-financing; and no farm community can be self-fi nancing that is not self-feeding. Nineteen fifteen is a remarkable year in North Carolina Agriculture. OUR SIX-YEAR CROP INCREASES North Carolina 1915 Crops 6-Yr, Increases Corn, bushels, 64,050,000 88 per cent Wheat, bu. 10,358,000 161 per cent Oats, bushels, 8,050,000 190 per cent Rye, bushels, 575,000 105 per cent Buckwheat, bu. 175,000 21 per cent Rice, bushels, 4,000 667 per cent Potato«>,s, bushels, 3,150,000 32 percent Sweet pota’s, bu. 8,925,000 5 per cent Hay, tons, 648,000 75 per cent Tobacco, lbs, 198,400,000 42 per cent Cotton, bales, 708,000 5 per cent WAR-TIME DEMANDS ON OUR FARMERS A comparison of exports during the year ending June 30, 1915 with those of tlie year before shows increases as fol lows : Horses and mules increase from $4,000, - 000 to $77,000,000; meat and dairy prod ucts, from $146,000,000 to $220,000,000; wheat and wheat flour, from $142,000,- 000 to $428,000,000; corn and corn meal, from $7,000,000 to $39,000,000; oats, from $1,000,000 to $57,000,000; barley, from $4,000,000 to $18,000,000. The wheat farmers produced the largest wheat crop in the history of the nation, and they received an average of 22 cents a bushel more than the year before—some $196,000,000 more, all told. Oats aver aged a cent more per bushel; and barley two cents a bushel more; but the farmers received slightly less for their corn than in 1913, less for their cattle and hogs, 4.6 per cent less for their horses and mules, and $283,000,000 less for their cotton. All told, the American farmer gets less this year than last out of the largest volume of farm wealtli ever created in the history of this country. BROADER GROUND FOR BANKERS George A. Holderness, Tarrboro In the tasi few years the fetding that one sliould not live to himself alone, that one owes an equal duty t« his fellow men. has develop«l rapidly, and if ther*' were no other reason this would be sufficient for the average banker. Not only can he have a satis fied con.-K-ienco iu performing his duty; the same time he can aid in the upbnilding of liis bank. The mere fact of loaning money to some individual farmer is only an in cident in the aid and development of the agriculture of the state. There is a broader ground the l>ank- ers must ’ occupy. They must get solidly behind the movement to iai- crease the pnxiuctiveness of the .soil, and]to better the condition of the farm er. The national government and the state government are accomplishing wonders in this line and the bankers should give this movement a^tive co operation. Thti farmer in your com munity will bfdieve much more readily the information you give him than that he gathers from the talk of some government expert. UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION LETTER SERIES NO 57 AGAIN AHEADIN COTTON PRODUCTION North C’arolina again leads the cotton belt states in the per acre production of dotton, 1914 crop. The first three states in the following list do not raise eirough cotton to figure in this comparison. Kob- eson county, for instance, raises nearly as much cotton in an average year as the whole state of Missouri. Virginia raised only 25,000 bales all told in 1914; and California not much more. Rank State Per Acre Yields 1 California 499 lbs, 2 Missouri 288 3 X’irginia 260 4 North Carohna 248 5 South Carolina 208 6 Tennessee 202 7 Mississippi 180 8 Arkansas 176 8 Oklahoma 176 10 Georgia 168 11 Louisiana 159 12 Alabama 148 13 Texas 145 14 Florida 112 TEACHING AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS I’eople used to look wise and declare with strotig confidence that no one could teach an old dog a new trick. This was the ground of their lielief that when a man was grown old he l)ecame Too Old to Learn Boohs : hi fact, in the olden days, they even ; went so far as to say of a man who had i graduated from a college that he had : Finished His Education i P>ut now we know by experience that a I man never gets tx> old to learn books and | that he never finjshes liLs education until j death, or at lesist he shotdd never finish | his education so long as he lives. That! grown people Can Be Taught is a fact that has been abundantly proven in rec.ent years, and especially Here in North Carolina during last November when hundreds of iiliteratps gathered into our schoiil- houses as pupils in the Moonlight Schools, and in that one short month Lifted Themselves out of the weakness and humiliation of illiteracy into the power and pride of reading and writing their mother tongue. The Moonlight School has taught us that old people, men and women up around their three score years and ten, are' Not Too Old to Learn to read and writt>, and the Moonlight School fias taught us something else lie- MAKING HISTORY IN DUR HAM COUNTY The Co-operative C!redit Union orga nized by a little group of fanners at Ix)we’s Grove schooHiouse in Durham county the other day is the first organization of this sort in North Carolina imderournew law. The organizers were aided by Mr. John Sprunt Hill, the banker-friend of the farmers, Mr. W. R. Camp, the Stat*' Superintendent of Co-operative Enter prise, and Mr, J. L. Morehead, the Dur ham lawyer. Outside the credit unions among the Jewish farmers of the Northern States this is the first co-operative credit society formed among the farmers of the whole United States, We speak here of co-ope- rative not joint stock associations, and short-time credit for personal loans upon character as a collateral, not co-operative societies for securing loans on land mortgages. It is possible that the little group of Durham county farmers may go down in history with fame like that of the co operating weavers in Toad Lane, Roch dale, England, whose $140 began a busi ness in 1844 that now amounts to $600, 000,000 a year in England alone. Fifteen million co-operating farmers in Europe do a credit business among them selves that amounts to some seven billion dollars a year. To be sure, it has taken them 66 years in which to accomplish this wonderful result; and substantial re sults cannot be achieved in America in any brief space of time. But the farmers of America must be- giu; and tlie beginning has been made in North Carolina, It is a start toward the organizing of thrift, out of which arise ; sides. In a group of Moonlight Schools the illiterates were not the only pupUs. Grown-Up Men and Women in numbers from 25 to 60, would attend each of these wthools and ask for Instruction in Other Subjects in the public school course, especially English grammar, arithmetic, and geog raphy, history, the last two being especial- ly popular with these peopU’ who could read and write but little Luckily teach ers were plentiful and the instruction so unexpectedly asked for was gladly given to large class(!s of men and women who were anxious to learn more about the elementary principles of arithmetic and the great events of stflte and national history Such Great Interest was .shown by these men and women that their Moonlight School is to be fol lowed by weekly neighborhood meetinge to tie held in the schoolhouse. .\t these meetings there will be short lessons and talks on popular topics in history and current events, elementary practic,al arith metic, domestic science, and every day problems on the farm. In this way the pwple will learn many things of Value and General Information about their country, their home work, and their business problems. The old men and women are not only going to learn the new- tricks of today but they are already learning them, feet’s keep the Moonlight School idea aliv'e and by lecture and well-directed suggestions teach the people as long as they will 'ome out t5 be taught. the capital, collalt>ral, and character that, credit demands. Credit is financial and moral trust worthiness, It is ability and willingmiss to pay what is due. Agencies beyond the farmers can furnish the money; but farmers alone can establish the credit tliey need. Dr. Henry Wallace, whose disinterested friendshi)> for the farmer nobody doubts, has been saying these things long enough to challenge wide spread attention among the farmers of the entire country. NEARLY EVERYBODY VOLUNTEERED Only three counties have smaller il literacy ratios among the whites ten years old and over, and only four counties make a better showing than Pasquotank in the literacy of white s'Oters, said Hon. W. M, Hinton, the Superintendent of Schools in an eloquent address the other day at the Community Ser^-ice Rally in Elizabeth City. We have much to be thankful for, he added, but nothing to lie proud of. The large audience of town and country people was also addressed by Mr. .1. K. Wilson, 'Dr. B. C. Henning, Prof. Spra- gins. Superintendent of the city schools. Dr. R. L. Kendrick, E. C. Branson of the University faculty, and Congces-sman John H. Small. Mrs. J. G. Fearing read the Qovernoi’s proclamation; Mrs. C. W. Melick, Hon. E. Y. .Joyner’s letter, and Superintendent Hinton made the appeal for volunteer teachers in the Moonlight Schools. The audience arose almost en masse. These schools will open in early January in the city and the c^imtry districts of the county. A beautiful little capital city and a great people down in Pasquotank! The dinner served by the city people in Cra mer Hall to the country visitors was abundant, and the hospitality hearty and wholesome. f/lizabeth City, and it succeeded most admirably. Such special editions ought to be duplicated many times oyer in North Carolina in the days to come. The Advance has fieen carrying the full text of the addresses made upon Commtinity Service Day, and repeating some of them a second time for its read ers. If the county builds common- schools as wisely as Superintendent Hin ton dreams, and the city catches up witli the visions of Superintendent Spargins, Pasquotank will be a little paradise in the ,\lbemarle country. What wonderful agencies of progress the w'eekly papers are' And how jx>or is the community with no weekly paper or a poor weekly paper! USEFUL WEEKLY PAPERS The special community service edition of The Independent on December 9th was unique. It side-stepped the tisual parade of community progress, and the circus bill-poster English that is so common in special editions of the home newspapers. Instead it was filled with studies of local problems, and plans for progress by thoughtful home folks. The edition was meant to stimulate interest in the ap proaching Community Service Rally in OUR CAROLINA FISHER FOLK Dare coimty, North 'Carolina, is in habited by a seafaring people, some 5,000 all told in the census year. They are settled in small fishing colonies along the banks from Kitty Hawk to Hatteras Inlet for 95 miles; on Roanoke Island mainly, and more sparsely on the main land portion of the county. Fertile soils are abundant. The truck ing advantages are wonderfid. When the Inland Water Way from Norfolk to Morehead City is completed and regular traffic is established, Currituck, Dare, Tyrrell, Hyde, Pamhco, Beaufort, and Carteret will enter upon a new era of progress. Only one Farmer in the County So far tlie influences of the sea have side-tracked attention to agriculture in all these counties. In Dare there is only one farmer; that is to say only one man, so they told us the other day, that de rives his living from the farm alone. The 1910 census reports only 136 farmers and fewer than 1,500 of the 240,000 acres of land tmder cultivation. These people make their living by fishing; they farm a little as a side issue. They raise com, potatoes, peas, collards and turnips, and a few figs and strawberries—less than $9 worth of farm and garden crops per in habitant in the census year; and less than a dollar’s worth of pork, "beef, mutton, poultry, eggs and butter. Seventy-four dollar’s worth of food per inhabitant must be taken from the sea or imported from abroad. On the wharf at Elizabeth City we found twenty-pound boxes of boneless fish from Gloucester, Mass., addressed to a point in Dare. It beats shipping coal to Newcastle.