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THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
MAY 1, 1918
CHAPEL HttL, N. C.
VOL. IV, NO. 23
Editorial Board i B. C. Branson, J. Gr. deK. Hamilton, L. R. Wilson, R. H. Thornton, Q. M. McKie.
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, .at the Postoilloe at Chapel HIU, N, C., under the act of August,‘24,1912.
THE FARMERS ARE PATRIOTIC
FABM STATES FIRST
Wlio says the farmers are lacking in
patriotism?
Whoever they are—and the accusers
have been many—they need to be re
minded that the first state over the top
in the third Liberty Loan subscription
is Iowa, a fanp state—the best developed
farm state in the Union.
And the second state to take up its
allotment of Liberty bonds is Oregon,
another farm state.
The people of Iowa are not only rural,
70 per cent of them, but more than two-
fifths are foreign born or born of foreign
parentage. In Oregon tiiree-fifths of the
people are rural and nearly three-fourths
of them are foreigners either by birth or
immediate descent.
They are rural dnd largely foreign;
nevertheless they are loyal Americans in
the mass. They have fully subscribed
their share of Liberty Bonds, and they
over-subscribed the third issue in less
than a week.
They put to shame the rich states of
our great industrial area. Their ardent
faitli in our government and cur cause is j
a lesson to farmers in every state of tlie
Union.
small means in North Carolina within
tlie next six months.
So far 41 states of tlie Union make a
better showing than Nortli Carolina, and
we suggest tliat tlie directors of tliese 283
banks get together at once and discuss
tlie sliort-siglitedness of their casliiers.
It takes long-lieaded people to run
banks tiiat pay dividends and pile up
surpluses for stockliolders. In' Minne
sota, Montana, and Washington four-
fifths or more of the banks are actively
selling War Savings Stamps, hut in North
Carolina less tlian iialf of tliem.
This exhibit appears in a press letter
sent out by Col. F. H. Fries, our state
director of war savings, and itfliames us.
Our allotment of thrift stamps sales is
48 million dollars, but so far only two
million dollars worth liave been sold.
We need to wake up m this matter; and
i)etter than anybody else the bankers
can wake us up!
-
m
iJr
Si 1.1
'■j'
3
SOME SEASONS WHY
The sale oi 48 million dollars worth of
Savina'S Stamps and Tiirift Certificates is
more important in North Carolina tlian
ale of 56 miliion dollars worth of Lib
erty Bonds; not more important to the
government and tlie cause of Immanity
but more important to the State, because
tliey develop thrift habits in careiess
people and decrease the vast majority of
wasters and spenders.
Tlie people who have subscribed to 37
million dollars worth of war bonds in
North Carolina are already thrifty people,
with surpluses large or small laid by for
a rainy day.
But the people who will Iniy 25 cent
Savings Stamps and 5 dollar Thrift Cer
tificates will be the people who as a rule
do not have tiie impulse or tlie habit of
thrift and who now have a chance to de
velop this virtue on the highest possible
level of motive.
Those Who Save and Have
Tlie people who save are the people
who have forethought and self-denying
power. But most people have neither,
and we are beginning to know pretty
definitely how a large a fraction of popu
lation the thriftless represent. They are
right around nine-tenths of the people of
every community and country, state and
nation on tlie globe. Or so various in
vestigations sliow.
One-tenth of all the people own nine-
tenths of all the wealth of the United
States, is the statement witii whicli the
Federal Commission ou Iudu.«trial Kela-
tions startled the country in 1916.
One-tenth of tlie people of Great Brit
ain own niiie tentlis of all the wealth, is
the recent statement of the British Labor
Party.
One-tentli of all tlie people in a mid
state Carolina townsliip own nine-tenths
of all the taxables, as tlie North Caro
lina Club at the University recently dis
covered.
Just about one-tentli of tlie people of
tlie United States liave taken nine-tenths
of tlie Liberty l.oaii Bonds. Their pur-
cliase in Durliaiii represents less tlian
tliree per cent of tlie population.
Only about one-tcntliof the people who
die leave property enougli to call for an
administrator. Tiie business of probate
courts concerns tlie wills of just about
one-teiitli of tlie community deatli roll.
All of which indicates that just about
nine people out of every ten lack the
property-owning virtues, .some one or
more or all of them—industry, foresight,
self-denial, sagacity, sobriety, and integ
rity. They are homely virtues, but they
are very rare.
Just about nine jieople of every ten live
from band to mouth, day by day; with
nothing savefl and laid away or invested.
Just about nine men in every ten do
not have money enougli to bury a dead
wife or child without going into debt,
said one of the undertakers in lialeigli
some years ago.
The Fatal Ratio
Niiie-teiulis looks, like a fatal ratio. Tlie
question tliat tlie AVar Savings Stamp
■on tlie )iart of our iiankers are botli nec- | Campaign puts to eacli man is, lo wliicii
l-essary, if 48 miliion dollars worth of group do you belong—to the ■ Tlirifty
f; tiirift stamps are taken liy tlie i>eople of Tenth or the Ihriftless Nine Tentlis. lo ,
ii
OUR PART AND YOURS
Tliey say, who have come back from
over there, that at night tlie trouliled
eartli between the lines is carpeted
with pain. Tliey say tliat deatli rides
wliistling in every wind, and that tlie
very mists are cliarged witli awful tor
ment. They say that of ail tilings
spent and squandered tiiere young lin-
man life is lield least dear. But, please
God, our love of life is not so prized as
love of right. In tliis renaissance of
our country’s valor, we wlio will edge
tiie wedge of lier assault make calm
acceptance of its liazards.
For us tlie steel-swept trencli, tlie
stiflening cold-weariness, liardsliip,
worse. For you, for whom we go, you
millions safe at home—wdiat for you?
—We sliall need food. We shall need
care. We shall need clotlies for our
bodies and w'eapons for our hands.
We sliall need terribly and without
failure supplies and equipment in a
stream tliat is constant and never-
ending.
From you, who are our resourceaiid
reliance, wlio are tlie heart and hope
of tliat Immunity for which we smite
and strive, must come these tilings.—
Citizen Soldier No. 258, —th District
National Army Draft.
THE WIDOW’S CRUSE OF OIL
Tlie papers are telling once more the
wonderful story oi tlie widow's liarrel of
meal and cruse of oil. You will remem
ber tliat slie and her household and the
propliet lived for many days on a hand
ful of meal and a little oil in a cruse, and
still the barrel of meal wasted not neither
did the cruse of oil fail.
The bank reports are telling this story
over again tliese days, perliaps without
recognizing its parallel in tlie Bi’Die.
But look. During tlie last year the
national banks ot the country and their
customers have invested more than' three
billions of dollars in Liberty Bonds.
Bankers with narrow space between their
eyebrow's propiiesied liaukiuptcy for the
bank.s. So much for tlie foresight of
loolisli bankers—or the lack of it.
But instead of bankruptcy the volume of
national bank deposits was nearly one
«.nd a half billion dollars more in March
1918 than in March 1917, while national
tiankri resources w'ere more tlian two bil
lion dollars larger. So run the figures of
the Federal Comptroller of the Currency.
Which is to say, the national banks of
the country furnished the money to pay
for three billion dollars worth of Liberty
Bonds and at the end of the year tlipy
and their customers weie two million
dollara richer than ever. Their barrel of
meal w'asted not neither did their cruse
of oil fail.
It is the same story in North Carolina.
We invested 37 million dollars in Liberty
Bonds and yet our bank account savings
last December were 15 million dollars
more than they were in 1914. While our
savilig-i in war bonds and thrift stamps,
and in the hanks of the stale were, all
told, three and a half times .greater than
■they were when the world war began.
Bankers with sense, to say nothing of
I.patri ilism, will be busy with tlii.s third
, Liberty Loan. Or so it would seem.
SftOlT-SIGHTED BANKERS
Tliere are 540 hanks of all sorts in North
JCarohua, but oniy 257 of tiieip are act
ing as agents for the sale of Y"ar Savings
■'(Stamps, while 233, or more tlian half of
n^them all, are doing nothing to encourage
■’irthriH. of this sort among people who ordi-
'inarily ( VO from hand to moulh and lay
;iby nothing for rainy days.
' And yet banks could not live a single
■day without thrift on the part of their
,'Cu.sioiiiors. The greater the thrift and
'"cths larger the number of people with
' thrift habits, the larger the business of
S'baiiks, and the fatter their dividends
/‘ViJjear by year.
1 ook-S plain a-i a
pikestall, doesn’t it?
the small group that saves or the large
group that wastes?
The War Savings Campaign is giving
us all a chance to take stock of ourselves
seriously in North Carolina. Our fatal
weakness is wa.ste, and we now have a
noble motive for curing this childish
weakness. AVe say childish, because fore
thought and power of self-denial are the
qualities of maturity, ani^ the lack of
them indicates the inability of a man or
a people to put away childish things.
But stiarigc to say, 333 bankers in Nortli
Carolina do not seem to liave mastered
even the abe’s of tlieir busine.ss.. Patri
otism as well as common business sense
IS THE FARMER PATRIOTIC?
It has been said of farmers recently that
tliey will not figiit, pay taxes or buy
bonds. Tliis sounds as if the farmer is a
slacker I
If it were true that the farmer is a
slacker tiien I tremble for my country.
America must win and America cannot
win without its farmers. No nation can
long survive unless its rural population
has a strong love of home and country.
Our farmers do love their homes and
tlieir country. Hovv then have they ac
quired tlie reputation of being indifferent
and back-puliing in this war which means
freedom for farmers if we win, and going
back to peasantry under German over-
lords if we lo^e?
It is because farmers are just people
and a few of them are selfisii and short
sighted and have made a great noise in
complaining, wiiile remaining quite in
audible as to suggestions for lieliiing the
common cause. All the farming popula
tion gets the blame for the mistakes of tlie
few.
The First to Enlist
The farmer boy was first to enlist and
quickest to learn military discipline. The
farm family is therefore doing its part in
the first line of defense. Every farm fam
ily I know raised more garden stnfi' tliis
year than ever before. Most of the “cow
ranches’’ are feeding tlieir lieipers on
liome grown potatoes and beans, most of
them for tlie first time.
AATiat a pity that a blot sliould be east
on this good work by tlie complaining let
ters u liicli we see in tlie newspapers and
tlie farm journals. Every time I see one
of tliese grouch lefters I always liope the
man in tlie training camps will not read
it. It would make liis hard task harder
for lie would feel tliat tlie farmers were
stabbing liiin in tlie hack, and failing to
give tliat support wliicli he must have to
win.
Alany retired farmers u eiit back to tlie
land last spring and broke up new land
wliicli tliey liave been lioldiiig as a spec
ulation. Tliat was patriotic—and profit
able.
Some of tliem persuaded tlieir sons not
to enlist, tiioiigli tliey wanted to go, and
the older men could have taken their
places on tiie farm. This was uiqiatriotic
and unfair to tlie sons.
Ally women neighbors raised an extra
supply,of poultry, one raising 250 chick
ens from tliree dozen liens. Tliat was
fine, Imt they were not willing to sign
food pledge card.? nor service cards, and
put tliemselves on record as behind tlie
men in khaki. Tliey suspected the mo
tives of tlieir own government, wliicli
means ourselves, but they believed the
silly lies told by German agents, that
tlieir liouseliold supplies would be con
fiscate! 1.
Lihe Other FolKs
I believe most farmers are like tlie great
majority of Americans, ready to lielp in
every way by putting aside selflslmess
and personal privilege, but a few farmers
liave demanded exemption of tlieir sons
and hired men from military service; ex
emption from price regulation; exemp
tion from food regulations, especially in
regard to sugar; and exemption from ev
erything which touched farmers in any
way. A general exemptioner is a slacker,
and a slacker is a pro-German, whether
he is a farmer or a trust magnate.
The patriotic farmer has been so busy
! that lie has not expressed himseif as
plainly as he might. He has done his
duty but not all of his duty. He is some
times a passive American wlien he should
be an aggressive Ameritian. He should
consider himself a member of the council
of defense; should refute statements his
good sense tells liim are untrue; should
report un-American activities of deed or
word; should do ids part in resenting
slanders of our army and navy; and
should not indulge in captious faultfind-
ing and sneering criticism. He should
I be active in rebuking criticism and back-
I pulling on the part of neighbors and if he
j has any sug,gestion8 which lie thinks
j might lie helpful he siiould present them
to the public.
Every farmer knows in his own con
science whetlier or not he has been 100
per cent American, or whether he is
what iias l)een called a fifty-fifty Ameri
can. AA'e want our army and navy to
know by the words of farmers themselves
that farmers are standing shoulder to
I shoulder heliind them every day and
every hour.
If some few farmers ifad not expressed
themselves in an unpatriotic way we
would not now need to be defending far
mers in general from the charge of
slacker.—Minnie Boyer Davis, of The
A'igilantes.
WINNING THE WAR
Emphasizing the fact that the war can
be won not oniy by producing but also
by conserving Mrs. Jane McKimmon, of
Raleigh, state home administration
agent, made a very interesting and in
structive talk before tlie regular fort
nightly meeting of the North Carolina
Club on Alonday night. Mrs. McKim
mon is the first lady that has ever ad
dressed this club. Many ladies were
present, and slie received the closest at
tention of her liearers.
Albert Coates, president of tlie club,
introduced tlie speaker and spoke of lier
work as requiring wonderful executive
aiiility and infinite tact; and said he, af
ter several years of experience Nortli
Carolina feels tliat slie lias made no mis
take in selecting Mrs. McKimmon.
Home demonstration work since its
organization in Nortli Carolina in 1911
was fully discussed t>y Mrs. McKimmon.
Tlie expenses of this work arc met by
contributions by county, state and fed
eral governments. Canning club work was
started witli not over 100 girls in any one
county in 1911, liut before tlie end of
tliat year tliey liad produced 35,000 tin
cans of tomatoes. Today, said she, tliere
are 75 counties organized for such work,
with 54 trained liome economics women
as instructors and co-workers—women
wlio are tlie very best community work
ers.
Mrs. AIcKimmon told of the increas
ing-interest and response of tlie counties
to tlie growing demands of tliis commun
ity work. AVhen tlie work was begun
some of tlie county commissioners grudg
ingly gave $50 for this community clnb
work; now four counties are giving $1200
each per year.
Tlie work of tlie liome demonstrators
in organizing canning campaigns espec
ially among tlie factory girls, of interest
ing the people in growing gardens, liow-
ever small, and of encouraging tlie con
servation of food were all discussed at
lengtli by Airs. AIcKimmon.
In tliis work we have closely co-opera
ted witli the state and national food com
missions, the speaker said. People have
been urged to eat less wheat, meat, fats,
and sugars in order to help our allies.
Hmaller rations make liealthier and more
alert people.—Myron Green, Secretary.
WILSON WON THE CUP
Chapel Hill, N. C., April 15—Before
an audience that more tlian taxed tiie
capacity of Gerrard Hall, the AVilson
High Scliool, represented by Thomas
Burton and AVill Anderson, last Friday
night triumphed over the .famestown
Higli School, represented by Wills Staley
ind Nellie Haynes. Wilson defended the
legative, while Jamestown supported the
affirmative of the query: Resolved, that
Congress should enact a law providing for
the compulsory arbitration of industrial
disputes.
No final debate in the history of the
high school debating of North Carolina"
has been closer or more exciting. Both
teams received the rapt attention of the
audience and were frequently interrupted
by applause. The speeches were de
clared by many as mucli above the aver
age, and the rebuttals were brilliant and
full of vigor.
One new feature was introduced last
night. Gold medals were presented to
all four debaters who took part in the fi
nal contest. These were given by Presi
dent I.iiward K. Graham and Prof. M.
C. S. Noble, of the School of Education,
In opening. President Graham declared
that tliese debates liave come to be a real
influence in state life. He spoke of the
closeness of the contest this year and the
fine spirit shown, even though the weath
er was a bad break in the game. Prof.
N. A\. AValker, in delivering the cup.
spoke of the far-reaching influence of tlie
debates, which have been listened to by
100,000 North Carolinians throughout the
state. There were 300 schools participa
ting this year. After the debate, a re
ception was tendered the visitors in the
gymnasium.
AVilson now wins the cup for the sec
ond time. Sixty-seven schools took part
in the finals here. Tlie contest was close
throughout. Four schools,—Burgaw,
Concord, Jamestown and Brevard Insti
tute,—won on both sides in the prelimi
naries of Thursday night.
The following schools won tiie cup in
the past years: 1913, Pleasant Garden;
1914, Winston-Salem; 1915, AVilson;
1916, Graham; 1917, AVaynesville. The
negative team lias won in tlie last two
ilebates. Six girls have so tar participa
ted in the final contest. Two AVilson
girls, Aliss Etliel Gardner and Lalla
Rookh Fleming, won the debates in 1915.
V\ ilsoii is the only school to win twice.
Tlie track meet, whicli was postponed
because of tlie weather, will be held most
probably on April 27, here. The teams
competing for honors in tennis have al
ready made arrangement for playing oft
tlie tennis tournament later.
The reception to the visitors and their
friends in the gymnasium after the final
debate marked tlie end of the sixth con
test. Tlie debaters were entertained by
the University and the town during their
stay here.—Press Report.
A COLUMN AND A HALF
Tlie Pliiladelphia _ Public i.edger of
April 14 devoted a coiunin and a half to
leaflet No. 14 of the War Information Se- ‘
ries of the Lniversity of Nortli Carolina—
National Ideals in Britisli and American
Literature, by the English department of
tlie University,
It is a truly splendid tiling, tlie writer
says, and it goes far, he adds, to give
patriotism tlie material out of wliich real
patriots can he made. He quotes Dr,
Edwin Greenlaw’s Foreword in full and
goes on to record liis opinion tliat the 15
War I^eaflets of the University of North
Carolina ought to ho put in tlie hands of
all those publicists and otliers who in
pulpit or on platform are supposedly en
gaged in lielpiiig us to understand what
the phrases “liands across the sea’’ and
“blood is thicker than water’’ really
mean.
AVe sliould be indeed grateful if our
ow'n liome jiapers would give these war
leaflets siiaco enougli to catcli the atten
tion of tlie folks''in North Carolina who
ouglit to liave tliem. They go free of
charge to tliose who write for them, so
long as tlie supply lasts.