THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
The news io this pub&ca-
bon i( released for the preas oo
the date indicated below.
* _.. .
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolma
for its Bureau of Ejdeasion.
MARCH 8, 1916
VOL. II, NO. 15
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
IBditoriai. Bo«rd B« O. Branaon» J. O, deR* Hamilton L*. R wn a wi»i ~ —————————
• ■ Q. . A. WUliam-s. U. H. Thornton. O. M. MtiKie as tHwondnslaas matter Nor«nl>er 14,1914. at the poetoffloe at Ohapel HU1» N. C„ under the act of Aujmst 34. 1912
NORTH CAROLINA CLUB STUDIES
A COUNTRY-LIFE CONFER.
ENCE
■\Ve here cull attention to th‘ letteb of
'Eev. T. S. Coble and President K.
•Graham in another column of this issue.
The University U at the service of min-
I istersanil others who are interested in the
■' .problems of ’ountry Life.
Send us a letter about the suggested
onference in early May to arrange work-
ng plans for Country-Life Institutes in
Korth Carolina.
vX)UR NEED FOR GREATER
WEALTH
The North Carolina Club at its last
ssion discussed Wealtl), Welfare, and
WillingnesB in North Carolina: (1) our
.leagre stores of wealth, (2) why we need
jpvater wealth, and (3) our willinaness to
-onvert wealth into community well-
eing. The discussion was lead by Mr.
It. E. Price of Rutherford county.
1. Wealth, said he, is the material
„asis of welfare and well t>eing. A devel
oping democracy must l)e self-su|)porting
’n order to be self-directing, self-protect
ing, and golf-elevating. We need greater
,'ealth in order to meel the increasing
'emands of civilization.
We Need Greater Wealth
Our undeveloped resources call for cap
ital. Our farm regions need more money
for operating expenses and marketing
purposas. We need improved public
.iiighways. We need whole-time health
rofficers and community nurses. We need
stter hospital facilities for our afflicted—
'Hhe victims of tuberculosis, pellagra, epi-
Jepsy, insanity, blindness, deafness, and
*old age. We need more money for our
'•old soldiers and our orphans.
J We need better schools, l)etter l)uild-
SiJgs and equipments, better trained and
etter paid teachers. We need an in-
rease of public library facilities; and
ore money for our normal schools, our
A. & M. College, and our University,
the churches need greater wealth for
support and enlargement, for education,
Lmissions, and the care of aged ministers.
All these necessities evidence our need
ffor greate.’ private wealth, and greater
Spublic revenues in our state and county
itreaauries.
We have the natural resources and the
Sturdy population out of which to build
'OL great commonwealth, but we have not
fjet made the most of ourselves or our
•«tate.
J We produce great wealth year by year
'l)ut we retain too little of it, and hence
■our low rank in accumulated wealth
-among the states of the Union. The per
•capita country wealth of North Carolina
;jn 1910 was only I.S22 against |994 in
ithe United States, ^>2528 in Ilhnois, and
-|1338() in Iowa. Our per capita wealth,
:all property considered in 1912, was only
$794; while that of Iowa was 13539 and ^
ithat of Nevada *503S. Mississippi with
'^726 is alone of all the 48 states poorer
than North Carolina. These are the fig
ures of a recent Census Bureati Bulletin.
^Why Our Wealth Is Small
3. There are many causes for such a
X!ondition in North Carolina. Briefly
:*tated, the meagre accumulation of wealth
,in North Carolina can be attributed
largely to two main causes, viz: (1) our
•«ne-crop, farm-tenancy, supply-merchant
-..aystem in the cotton and tobacco coun-
tties, and (2) the lack of diversified crops
Lind livestock farming.
The small per capita farm wealth in
3Torth Carolina is not altogether due to
Hack of energy and thrift. The funda
mental reason lies in our farm system, a
^system that is not yet on a self-feeding,
(live-at-home foundation, for it does not
■produce food and feed for man and beast
-in quantities sufBcient for home con
sumption.
Dare andNew Hanover counties could in-
■^rease their farm wealth three-fold with
in a single year, if they would raise suffi
cient food and feed supplies for home
consumption. In the same way, Durham
•and Carteret could double their country
■wealth in a single year; Vance, Madison,
Brunswick, Craven, and Pasquotank in
two years; and 15 other counties could do
the same thing in the same way in three
years. These statements are all based on
1910 census figures.
Seoding cotton and tobacco money out
I of H stat* for food and feed supplies that
i coil Id be raisc'd at home is a spendthrift
Systt'm. Mr. Clark Howell, editor of the
i Ailiifttit Constitution, denouncpK it as
I economic insanity.
j IJist ye.-ir we were S49.000,000 richer in
I food crop-s and livestock than in 1910.
This fact evidences a marvelous gain in
agricultural w'iadom during these five
years; but the meat-and-bread farmers of
the West arc still getting millions upon
millions of onr cotton and tobacco mon
ey. They fill tlieir purses while we emp
ty ourtf by this system.
This single fact accounts in large part
for our small per capita wealth in North
Carolina; and it results in a hick of pub
lic revenues for public progre-^s. For in
stance, the per capita tax burden for inib
lie education in North Carolina is only
$1.76 per inhabitant. It is less in .South
' Carolina and Mississippi alone. It is
more in 45 staU‘«. It is|i3.48 in Texas,
|i4.15 in Oklahoma, •f!7.48 in Nebraska,
and $10.54 in Montana,
We Need Greater Willingness
i 4. Thus we see that Montana spends
six times aa much per inhabitant for pub
lic education as North Carolina. This
^ expenditure is not in proportion to the
. wealth of the two states. The per capita
wealth of Montana, all property consider
ed, was 3)2854 in 1912; while that of
North Carolina was 5>794. The wealth of
Montana is 3.6 times that of North Caro
lina; but she spends si.x times as nuich
I per inhabitant for public education.
I This fact shows that the people of Mon-:
tana are more willing to convert their
■ wealth into public welfare and well-being
than the people of North Carolina.
I However poor we may be in North
I Carolina our wealth is greater than our
, willingness. For instance, our invest
ment in automobiles on .January 1, 1915
was $11,000,000, but our investment in
public school property according to Sup
erintendent Joyner’s last report was on
ly $9,080,000.
Nevertheless, we are not bankrupted by
our motor cars. There, are 27 counties in !
North Carolina that haVe more wealth
invested in automobiles than in public j
school property, and 14 more counties in
which the investments are about equal. |
The State over, our yearly bill for tires '
alone is more than the money we spend
in building and equipping new public
schools. The annual upkeep of our
motor cars calls for more ready cash than
the salaries of ;dl our teachors and super
intendents. I
Dare and Alleghany ;
Our countie.s shnw great differences in
willingness to bear tax burdens for public
progress and prosperity. For instance,
Dare with aper capita eouniry wealth
amounting to only $47 is the poorest
county in the State; while Alleghany with
a per capita country wealth of $560 is the
richest county in the State. Nevertheless,
every school district in Dare levies a speci
al school tax, while only two of the forty
school districts in Alleghany were special
tax districts, according to the last report.
Alleghany leads in wealth and lags in
willingness; Rare lags in wealth and leads
in willingness. ' |
There are many similiir contrasts in j
North Carolina, and they serve to show ;
that we are atill rich enough to invest in .
what we want most, but too poor to spend j
money on what we want least. j
North Carolina in the years gone by
has wrought miracles out of hard, un- j
toward circumstances and conditions; I
but the State is now attempting to make ^
brick without straw. Without larger,
measures of wealth and willingness, we
shall fail to develop the finest possibilities
of the fairest state in the sisterhood of
American commonwealths.
ADULTERATING DRUGS
The present high price of drugs, especi
ally of the coaltar products such as as
pirin, acetanilid, salol, and the like, has
resulted in much adulteration by un
scrupulous makers and dealers. The In
diana State Board of Health has recently
examined two specimens of aspirin. One
contained nothing but milk sugar and ^
alum; the other common chalk and
cream of tartar. A third sample con-
tained but two ^ains of aspirin, although ^
labelled five grains.
CHURCH LEADERSHIP IN
COUNTRY-LIFE IN
STITUTES
The paragraphs that follow occur in
a letter from T. S. C-oble of
Mocksville, N. C- to President E. K.
Graham of the University. They ate
featured in this iHsne becau.'ie they con
cern sa\ important matter.
For some tim« my heart has been
hungry for a constructive program of
elScient .service in the Country
Church. There is a need everywhere
for strong, efficient leadership in the
pastoral care of our country church
congregations.
I hope you will begin with a nioiel
ten-day institute for Orange county,
thus leading the way for similar insti
tutes at various points in the state.
Those institutes ought to reach the
country preachers anl teachers, the
farm demonstrator, the public health
official, the county superintendent
and R committee froni each church on
social service-missionary and evan
gelistic, the school committeemen,
and leaders among the young men on
the farm.
For these institutes secure a Sunday
School -specialist, a competent physi
cian for lectures on public health and
sanitation, a lecturer on simple ele
mentary principles of agriculture, and
the field agents of the State Depart-
inents for instruction in corn club,
pig club, canning and poultry club
work. Let them train our social ser
vice workers for intelligent activities
in every community of the county,
.■in expert on good roads could help
along the movement and lay a found
ation for the consolidation of schools
into the ideal farm-life graded schools.
I hold the church to be the one log
ical center of every community inter
est which, sfiould mould, direct and
conserve every other interest of the
community for the extension ofGod’s
Kingdom among men.
Every worker in his respective field
has gone on with his own loneliness of
success or defeat as the case may be.
We need a larger appreciation of the
fullness of joy to be found in the
Christian fellowship plan of co-work
ers as farmers, teachers, doctors and
ministers.
Now we need an organized move
ment that the country church may
set itself fully to the task of solving
the whole country-life problem, econ
omic, educational, social, and spirit
ual. We need to strike hands with
all our brothers in the field, and go
out in the fervor and zeal of a co-op
erative Christian fellow’ship movement
to make conditions ideal in every
home, our whole country over; to the
end, that every citizen of our state
shall be a citizen of the Kingdom of
God looking for a new Heaven and a
new earth, but determined by the
grace of God to make the new earth
first.
Many are so anxious to reach the
sweet by-and-by over there, that they
freely yield the sweet here-and-now to
selfish men, ignorance, disease, and
devil.
We need to call into conference the
country preachers, country school
superintendents and country teachers,
the farm demonstrators, public health
officers, and leading farmers to coun
sel together about good roads, public
health, scientific farming, education
on the consolidated movement scale,
and efficient country churches and
Sunday schools.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 64
OUR CITY SCHOOLS
Comparisons
We have in the past often lieen con
tent to compare our city schooln with
each other, rather than with school nys-
tems in other ■■states. Such a comparison
has its advantages; it tends toward uni
formity of conditions within the state.
But it fllso has its dangers. So long as
we limit our educational vision to any
one state, we are likely to satisfy our-
afllveii too easily that ait is as it sliould
be. One city finds that it spends about
as much on its schools a« oUier cities in
the stat*i; why spend iiw^re'f The salaries
of teachers in one town compare favora
bly with the state average; why incnjaw?
them? One school system is well organ-
ized Its far as state comparisons show;
why not let it alone? We need badly to
nationalize our educational thinking We
need to measure ourselves by standards
that are not state standards, nor even
sectional standards, but national stan
dards.
Testini^ by National Standards
If we adopt as our standards those set
ui> by the best national nsage, a number
of interesting fa(;ts are revealed. One of
these which deserves the careful attention
of superintendents, principals, and school
bc>ards, is the amount of teaching which
I is required of those in positions of respon
sibility in our school systi'Uis.
Teaching vs. Supervision
Many of us still feel that it is the main
duty of principal, supervisor, and super
intendent, to teach. Only in a few of
our larger cities has the superintendent
been relieved from such work. In the
great majority of systems which enroll—
say, four or five hundred pnpils, the 8li-
perintendent is really not a snperiiitend
ent at all, but a teacher. And, tf> an
even greater decree, this ia true of school
principals. Such a practice is opjwsed
to the best national standards.
False Economy
No man at the head of even a moder
ately large school system can devote the
bulk of his energy to teaching and run
I is school system properly. It is a prac
tice which almost inevitably results ia
poor organization, loose work, and finan
cial waste. It is poor economy, even
me«sim>d by the strictest financial ntan-
d»r«i.
Teachers Suffer
•Nor is such a practice fair to the teach
ers. In most of our systems are a num
ber of inexperienced teachers, who need
very careful direition if their work into
count. Only the superintendent who ia
free from teaching can control and direct
their work. Proper supervision is the
greatest single means of increasing the
teacher’s efficiency.
The Superintendent
No superintendent who is really a
teacher can develop as he shf>uld. The
day is past when supervision and admin
istration can be carried on by guess work.
The superintendent today must read,
think, study, as does the doctor or the
lawyer, if he is not to find himself hope
lessly behind the times. Most of oursuper-
intendents are too much tied down to
details to do justice even to themselves or
the children committeil to their care. We
must realize tiiat the tnen in charge of
our city schools cannot be either clerks or
teachers if those schools are to develop as
they should.
country ministers, of at least one repre
sentative from every county and of others
interested in church leadership in coun
try life, and spend two or three days talk
ing over a program for similar meetings
to be held later over the State in each
county by the ministers of the county?
Should such a plan seem wise, we
should be glad to undertake to call the
conference here for early May, and help
to prepare the program.
Faithfully yours,
E. K. Graham,
President.
A HAY CONFERENCE SUG
GESTED
My dear Mr. Coble:
I have read your letter with inter
est and appreciation. What you say ap
peals to me as being true and vitally im
portant.
The schoolhouse ought to be the social
center of the community; but, in a far
deeper sense, the country church should
be its life center. As a matter of fact, it
seems that everybody agrees that it isn’t,
and a great many people are concerned
over what to do about it.
Would it be practical and helpful to
have a conference here early in May of
THE WORK OF THE CHURCH
PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON.
Saving Society as well as individuals
is a job that you have to undertake im
mediately and work at all the time, and
it is the business of the church.
Legislation cannot even rectify socie
ty. The law that will work is merely the
summing up in legislative form of the
moral judgment that the community has
already reached. Law is a record of
achievement. It is not a process of re
generation. ‘
Our wills have to be regenerated and
purposes rectified before we are in a po
sition to enact laws that record those
moral achievements. And that is the
business primarily, it seems to me, of the
Christian church.
One of the things that the Depart
ment of Agriculture at Washington is
trying to do is to show the farmers of the
country the easiest and best methods of
co-operation with regard to marketing
their crops; learning how to handle their
crops in a cooperative fashion, so that
they can get the best service from the
railroads; learning how to find the pre
vailing market prices in the accessible
market, so as to know where it will be
best and most profitable to send their
farm products, and drawing them togeth
er into cooperative association with these
objects in view.
The church ought to lend its hand to
that.
PASSING STRANGE
I We exported a billion and forty-three
million dollars worth of foodstuffs, horses,
mules, and seeds during the eleven
months ending with November 1915; or
more than double the amount of similar
exports during the corresponding period
I of 1914. These are the figures of the Fed
eral Department of Commerce.
Here is a tremendously increased de
mand ; nevertheless the farmers received
less than the year before for their corn,
cattle, bogs, horses and mules; $196,000,-
000 more for their wheat hut $283.000,-
000 less for their cotton.
THE UNIVERSITY SUMMER
SCHOOL
A great many requests for room reser
vations and for information relative to
the Summer School session have already
been received by the Director of the Sum
mer School.
The fact that these requests have be
gun to come in so early gives promise of
the lai^est Summer School we have ever
had. Plans will be made to accommodate
1,000 Summer School students in 1916.
SUMMER CREDIT COURSES
In 1914 the Summer School inaugurat
ed the policy of offering courses upon
which could be granted credit leading to
ward academic degrees. These courses
have proved to be among the most popu
lar and beneficial courses now given in
the school. In 1914 there were 73 stu
dents pursuing work leading toward de
grees ; in 1915 the number had grown to
193. The indications are that more than
300 students will this summer elect the
credit courses.
To the teacher who wishes to improve
his academic training and better equip
himself for his work professionally, the
Summer School oflTers splendid opportun
ities. The work of one college year can
be completed in four summers. Thus, a
person holding the A. B. degree from an
institution of standard grade can in four
summers, complete the work required for
the A. M. degree.
UNIVERSITY SUMMER
SCHOOL Y. W. C. A.
Plans are being made for opening the
University Y. M. C. A. building this
summer to the young ladies in attendance
upon the Summer School for the purpose
of conducting a Y. W. C. A. This work
is being organized by Miss Willie R,
Young, Secretary of the South Atlantic
Field Y. W. C. A. She is making every,
effort possible to make it prove inspiring
and helpful to our Summer School stu
dents. A local committee was elected at
the close of the 1915 summer session to
plan the work for the coming summer.
This committee is now in readiness to
lead the work.