1
i
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The Library,
Chapel Hill.
The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University oi North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
JANUARY 23, 191«
CHAPEL HTT.T., N. C.
VOL. IV, NO. 9
Edilorinl Board i B. C. Branson, .T. G. deK. Hamilton, L. K. Wilson, B. H. Thornton, G. M. McKie.
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postoffloe at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,1912
IT’S GERMANY’S LAST CHANCE
THE WAR WILL END IN 1918
The war will end in 1918. So i^omes
the word from the war capitals, as we go
to the printers with this issue.
Glermany has moved l,50t),000 sea-
soiKid soldiers from the Russian to the
western front where her forces now out-
mimlier the allied armies by 750,000 men.
Hngland and France are girding up their
loins and tightening up their belts for the
supreme, final struggle, now—in 1918
They call to America for men. They will
do without food, they say, and give us
two million tons of ship space for a mil
lion «ien. They will supply artillery and
ammunition. The critical necessity is
men—by June or July at the very latest—
' a iHillion men or more. The war will be
won or lost in 1918, and time is now the
very quintessence of safety. Time is the
.stuff that life and destiny are made of
now. Who now wastes time, wins the
war for Germany.
This is the fateful word that is quietly
passed along by the American commission
just hack from the war conference in
Paris.
And Washington responds. The rail
roads pass under government control.
Passenger trains go off and the tracks are
cleared for freight. War service is now
tile only excuse for travel, and war sup-
plie.s the only business of manufacture.
NoWdng is to be made, sold, or used thht
we can do without in our' homes. The
finger of fate points to food production,
shqis, air-planes, war supplies—to su
preme effort on our farms and in our fac
tories, to supreme sacrifice in our homes
—a LI f to a million men, now!
The Year of Destiny
V/iiy? Because the war will end in
191‘!—not in 1919. The date we liad set
to fs.i on the fighting line is a full year too
lat‘, IS we now know.
(ierinany plans to repeat her triumph
in I (aly. She counts on overwhelming
001 western battle line before America
gotn into the tight.
Oao she win this year? That ijnery is
tile question mark of God?
And the answer is, No—if America gets
there in time! No—if the wavering bal
ance of war feels her weight in time. The
fat' of tlie world now lies—our allies
tlieiMSelves have .said it—in the swift and
heavy hand of America.
Bid. won or lost, the war will end in
19L8. So comes the word from the men
that heat know.
It will end this year liecaust' of exhaus
tion in men and metal, food supplies and
fii'litiiig strength, in the power of nations
t9 do and dare, .sacrifice and sufter. It
win end this year becau.se the bodies and
hratns of men and the hearts of women in
tlie c.iuutries at war can endure the strain
n > I niger—unless America intervenes in
time.
TIk.‘ colla[ise of national wills and
Tt i.tMiiai resource.s in a weary world is at
Itio l—unless America gets her shuulder
mt i.o tlie crushing burden of war.
11 will end in 1918 because it i.-i humanly
itn|)0'-,Hible to carry the struggle over into
lOL't—impoH.sible for all the countries at
.wai' exCtMit America.
We Can Win If We Will
I
i
'u n litores 01 treasure are inexhaustible,
we wa.ste in American homes, rich
-aat.,ioor. is several times more than this
will cost us, says President Wilson.
Old'I'arius alone produceii 21 billions of
■v/eOtUi in 1917—thism a single year; and
ito 'cartops our total war ex])€nse to date,
ia (i nid.s and taxes, by nearly a billion
dolliiv';. We are now creating new wealth,
in all proiluctive enterprises, at the rate
of (i VC on l a half billion dollars a month
■or iji .Uy-eight and a half billion dollars a
jear, ii.tys Dr. Anderson of Harvard. The
surplus income of the nation—the net
‘firifitH ready tor patriotic use—is more
tills one and a(lialf billions a month or
eighteen billions ii year, says Mr. McAdoo.
Y es I our stores of treasure are inex-
iia.iintihU—and impotent, if they cannot
be iiiaosed. against Germany in time!
An for the national will to light; The
soul of America is like a placid summer
like; t'he soul of Furope is like a storm
riven sea in winter. You have not yet
visu i.liw'd and reali'/.ed what this war
meAD.i. said Dr. George Adams, repre
ss?! ting the British Home Ofiice, 'at the
Blue Ridge Conference last August.
And it’s true. But America must rise
to the supremest issue in the tide of all
the times since the world began to be.
She must screw her courage to the stick
ing place in swift haste, for her hour of
destiny draws nigh.
But whether she gets into the fight this
year or not, the war wall end in 1918—as
far as the human eye can now see.
The Prize at StaKe
But how will it end? Who will win?
And what is the prize at stake? When
this war is over, will it be a world worth
living in? Will Christendom go into
eclipse as it did for a thousand years in
the Dark Ages? Will life as we know it
come to an end—in France, in England,
in America? Will German crag-barons
rule the heights and prey upon the plains
of earth without let or hindrance? Will
German submarines lie in wait in every
sea lane? Will the freedom of the seas
fade into a dim tradition? Will govern
ment of the people, by the people, for the
people cease to be on earth?
Throughout all the years of her history,
this old world has travailed until now,
even as a woman travails, to give birth to
freedom of opportunity—to give men and
nations the full free right to rule them
selves in righteousness if they will—the
chance to stand erect as heaven-facing
creatures and not as slaves bowed down
to another’s will.
For this she has endured the age-long,
agonizing sweat of labor. For democracy!
the sign and symbol of shabby actualitie.s
here and there on earth today hut the
rainbow promise of divine possibilities
in the world tomorrow—for America and
Germany alike.
Self-activity, self-rule, and self-respect
Athene’s triple gift—this is what human
ity struggles lor! And what, pray, would
any man or nation be worth without it?
The world now struggles for this prize, as
for life itself, with self-effacement, self
surrender, and self-sacrifice—the Master’s
triple gift, which will alone avail to win
it.
And America can win it for humanity,
America alone can win it. And America
will fail—if she cannot get into 'the
struggle in full force in 1918!
ILLINOIS AWAKE
Mr. B. F. Harris, President of the First
National Bank of Champaign, Illinois
—next door to the State University-
writes: “The Green-Cheese Special issue
of the University News l^etter is a crack-
erjack. Send me a dozen copies for wide
publicity in Council of Defense work.’’
He encloses a copy of his resolutions,
adopted by the Rotary Club, calling on
the schools of Cliampaign county to in
form and arouse pupils and people about
the war—as a part of their regular daily
work.
Teachers alone can reach all the homes
either in Illinois or in North Carolina
The resolutions follow:
A Bugle Call to Teachers
1. Whereas, President Wilson tells us
that “It is not an army we must shape
and train for war; it is a nation,’’ and
2. Whereas, it is certain that, in order
to shape and train tlie nation, we should
give the widest publicity to the truth con
cerning the dangers that confront us; the
vicious, monstrous and inhuman policies
and methods of our enemy; and the read-
justment of our business and daily life in
order to conserve money, labor, food and
materials, to more quickly win the war;
3. Therefore be it resolved that, as
one of the methods to accomplish this de
sired purpose,—as a national necessity
and as a war measure,—we call upon the
the hoard of education, the school com
missioner, tlie school committees and
every teacher in the county to put into
the curriculum of the schools, witliout
delay, as a part of each day’s tuition,
What America stands and fights for.
Why America and lier Allies must fight
Germany to the Death, The Danger of
Defeat to this country, and the Duty of
every American to Support the conduct
of the war loyally.
IS AMERICA ABLE?
In a normal year savings from all
sources in the United Htates, from cor-
THE
QUESTION MARK OF
GOD
Reorge D. Herroa
We are in the midst of a grdat cri
sis that carries in its issue the world’s
fundamental reconstruction or its pos
sible dissolution.
Humanity halts at the cross-roads
of history, and the question mark of
God there stands.
We are deciding, whether we will or
no, either by conscious choice or
evasion, the destinies of the race for
long centuries to come.
It is not possible to exaggerate, it is
impossible that we yet comprehend or
encompass, the height and the depth
and the reacli of the question now be
fore us.
If there ever was a war between
good and evil, it is now.
If ever hath Ormuzd striven against
Ahriman, it is in the conflict between
the Allies and the Germanic Powers,
And shall it be with the light or the
darkness that the Nations gather to
gether?
According as the answer shall be,
so shall the years hence turn to man’s
true lieginning, or to his dread and
necessitated end.
plied in many cases to the purchase of
investments even after allowing for the
serious increase in the cost of living.—B.
C. Forbes in Hearst’s Magazine.-
porations, business men, farmers and in
vestors generally, amount to from 5 bil
lion to 6 billion dollars.
In 1916 the supply of capital in the
United States was about two and a half
times tlie normal amount. In that year !
savings in this country, including those |
re-invested by corporation.? in their own
enterprises, amounted to 15 billion dol
lars.
Conservative estimates for the current
year indicate that tlie aggregate for 1917
available for the government in prosecu
ting tlie war and fqr the general purposes
of financing industry may reach 18 bil
ion.—Col. M. W. Thompson, Chief of
the Signal Corps of the Army.
Secretary McAdoo says: “Whatever
differences of view there may be about
the annual savings of the American peo
ple, it is undoubtedly true that they are
now so large that with the other re
sources of the country upon wliich we
may draw there can be no doubt what
ever of the ability of the people of the
United States to finance every demand
which the Government may make upon
them for tlie purposes of this war.
If the ordinary savings whicli have
been made heretofore voluntarily are aug
mented by the savings whicli can be ef
fected under the pressure of patriotism
and necessity, by prevention of waste,
the practice of genuine economy, the cut
ting off' of luxuries during the period of
tills war, what may not the American
people be able to do?—Saturday Evening
Post.
THE MEANING OF THIS WAR
Germany’s war is a definite war of
atheism against Christianity, of barbar
ism against civilization. If we would
save this country from even greater hor
rors than Belgium and France have suf
fered, because Germany hates us more
than it hated eitlier Belgium or France,
it is absolutely incumbent upon us to up
hold the nation to the utmost extent of
our moral, physical and financial power
in this life and death grapple. There is
no middle ground. 'Victory or defeat are
the two issues at stake.
To win, every effort of the nation to
the last ounce of its strength—in the
building of ships, in food production and
food conservation, in increased output of
coal and iron and steel, in bettering our
transportation facilities by rail and high
way and water—must be put forth in en
thusiastic, unending work by the men
and women of this country.
It is incumbent upon everyone who
realizes this situation to do his very ut
most to awaken the latent patriotism of
others and quicken tlie knowledge of all
that they may understand the magnitude
of the task and the stupendous issues in
volved—and these issues are the life and
death of our nation and of all civiliza
tion.
dinary channels within the University it
self ; it is also to be discharged througfa
the extension of its influence throughout
, the territory which it serves. The ma
chinery for this extension is already in
existence. In the present crisis it is
to be brought to bear upon the new and
difficult problems that confront our de
mocracy,’’ says President Graham.
To this end several changes have been
made in the extra-campus service of the
University. The most important of these
is the estabhshment of extension centers.
At these centers, organized under the di
rection of University men, courses will be
given by the regular University teaching
staff, with provisions for study groups.
The courses will be confined to the gen
eral topic, America and the World War.
The purpose is to study history, litera
ture, political science and the physical
sciences from this standpoint; to study
the issues of the war, and the methods by
which our democracy may be rendered
more effective in war and in peace, the
international relations of the United
States, and the progress of democracy in
other nations.
We must carry into every home, preach This Primary fact gives the German
om everv nuloit. teach in ev-e.v lh.nl Russia-and even
from every pulpit, teach in every school
the meaning of the war and the individ
ual responsibility of every man, woman
and child in the country. Not until, as
a nation, we do this will we escape the
( 1 a , , oreea aistrust 01 nie government,
danger ot the awful destruction wrought . . ,,
inBelmiim anBTi'ranceanB activity of the allies,
in Belgium and France and wherever the
armies of Germany have marched.—The
Manufacturers Record.
BUSINESS PROSPERITY
The billions to be raised by taxation
and bonds will not be sent out of the
country, but will be spent at home on top
of the billions expended here by our Al
lies. We have seen already how war or
ders liave maintained an industrial boom
in this country and led to an unprecedent
ed increase in our financial resources.
Since the war began, we have sold to
Europe 3)10,000,000,000 worth of Ameri
can products at prices which have netted
us fully $2,000,000,000 more than we
would have received for tlie same goods
on the pre-war price basis.
For example, a dollar’s wortli of wheat
on the level of June, 1914, now costs $2,
a dollar’s worth of copper a little more
than $2 today, a dollar’s worth of steel
billets nearly $4, a dollar's worth of shoe
leather about $2 aud a dollar’s wortli of
packed meats almost $1.50.
Little wonder that the Comptroller of
the Currency is able to report on May 1
the total deposits in our national banks
exceeded $13,000,000,000 for the first
time in our history. The gain in one
year was $2,000,000,000.
The profits of forty-four leading indus
trial corporations last year exceeded the
profits of 1914 by $627,000,000 according
to a recent compilation by Treasury ex
perts. Wlieroas the profits of the forty-
four concerns in 1914 were just under
$170,000,000, they exceeded $800,000,000
last year.
Now, all this means that more money
is being paid out to stockholders and to
workers, some parts of whicli can be ap-
WAR DEMAND ON COTTON
It takes half bale of cotton to make
the powder for one discharge of a twelve-
inch gun.
A machine-gun uses up a bale of cotton
every three minutes.
In the naval battle off Jutland more
than ten bales a minute were consumed
be each active warship engaged.
It takes 20,000 bales a year to provide
absorbent cotton for the wounds of the
injured in the hospital camps of the Al
lies.
One change of clothing for all the
troops now engaged in the war represents
more than a million bales.—Exchange.
THE TARHEEL DOG
Dogs in Alleghany county average $10
in value, on the 1917 tax list, and sheep
$3.92.
In Iredell the average tax value of dogs
this year is nearly $15 while the average
for sheep is $1.42. A dog in Iredell is
worth ten times as much as a sheep—on
the tax list.
Twenty sheep will clothe one of our
boys a whole year on the battle front, but
two dogs at home will eat enough to
starve one soldier abroad. Our choice
used to be betiveen dogs and sheep; now
it is a choice between dogs and human
lives.
Between sentiment about dogs and sen
timent about soldiers—their comfort and
their lives in battle lines—there is very
little room for choice—in areas of sense
IVhen our worthless, wandering cur
dogs disappear, fewer cliildren will cry
for bread in North Carolina in the days
that are at hand, and wool underw'ear
will be more abundant here at home and
in the front lines in France.
Manifestly civic authority can do noth
ing with dogs in tliis state. It’s a Job for
Federal officers in all the states. .Success
to Congressman Dougliton in the Federal
Dog Law he proposes!
OUR WAR-TIME BULLETINS
A Program of Extension Service for
time of War is the title of a new bulletin
which for the first time giws in detail the
plans for the new extension centers and
lists specific lectures for the coming year.
The University of North Carolina has rec
ognized the need of adapting its extension
work to the needs of the time. ‘ ‘The
duty of the University to investigate and
to teach can never be abrogated, least of
all in a democracy in time of war. This
duty is to be discharged through the or
PRIME BAIT FOR GUDGEONS
The war-lies that swarm about now-a-
days are like the flies of Beelzebub for
multitude. They do little more than an
noy intelligent people, but they are prime
bait for gudgeons—and gudgeons swim in
large schools in all waters.
in
England, France, Italy, and the United
States. False reports and insidious ru?
mors are slyly set afloat for foolish ears
and gossipy tongues. The purpose is to
breed distrust of the government, and to
and it
succeeds in amazing and alarming ways.
Here are some of these lies set going m
our particular balivvick—
“You’re foolish to buy Liberty Bonds.
Your daddy bought Confederate bonds,
and he went bankrupt, didn’t he?
“When they get you women registered
for war service, tliey’ll drag you away to
fight, like the women in Russia.
The food census is just a trick to find
out what canned goods you women liave
got in your pantries. The government is
getting ready to confiscate all the food
you’ve got.
“No use to knit socks and sweaters for
the soldiers. They don’t get to France.
They are selling them in New York, a
friend in New York told me so the other
day.
“Getyour money out of the bank; the
income tax officer is coming around.’ ’
And so on and on. No end of lies of
the most preposterous sort, but they
alarm the multitudes and they weaken
public opinion in its support of the war.
It’s a Lie
The Philadelphia North American in a
recent issue displays the war-lies set afloat
of late by pro-German treachery in the
North and Fjast. Plere is the editorial
listing the lies and treating each of them
with a drop of prussic acid:
“Herbert Hoover, Federal Food-Ad-
ministrator, gets a salary of $18,000 and
lives in luxury. It is a lie. He gives his
services to the people without salary and
lives simply.
“At Camp Dix or Camp Meade quar
ters of beef are thrown away or burned.
It is a lie.
‘ ‘Tons of veget-Lhles, principally jiota-
toes, are rotting through carelessne-ss of
soldiers. It is a lie.
A\ hole car-loads of food are decaying
on the railroad tracks in this city because
the commission men want to get high
prices. It is a lie.
‘ ‘The Government intends to seize all of
the canned goods that the patriotic women
put up during the summer. It is a lie.
‘ ‘French army officers have been shot
for selling American wheat to Germany.
It is a lie.
“Canada is holding its \yhcat, so that
it can demand a high price when the
American crop is exhausted. It is a lie.’’
A Teacher Gets Busy
Some time ago the Red Cross work of
the splendid country women in this coun
ty came near being stopped by a mischief
making agent on his round of the country
hoihes. “What’s the use,’’ he said;
“these things don’t get to France; no
room in the ships going out of New York;
besides the submarines are sinking all the
ships anyway. ’ ’ And much more to the
same effect.
Fortunately the lie got to town prompt
ly. AVhereupon one of our teachers got
into a motor car and tracked down the
fool (or knave—we never knew which),
got his name and the address of the house
he represented, and had him shipped—
all in less than a week.
The zeal of this teaclier suggests a kind
of war service tliat teacliers can render in
every community in the land.