The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
receipt.
the university of north CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
‘•he .-Library,
Chape'l Hill.
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
AUGUST 28, 1918
Ediorial Board . E. C. Branson. J. G. deK. Hamilton, L. B, Wilson, R. H. Thornton, G. M. MoKie.
CHAPEL HHL, N. C.
VOL. IV, NO. 40
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, it the Postofflce at Chapel Hill, N C., under the act of August 24,1912.
WHAT THE STATE CAN DO
An effective attack upon the public
welfare problems of a state is two
fold: (1) By a State Welfare Board
and by State Welfare Institutions, and
(2) by Town and County Welfare
Boards and Institutions. Both attacks
must of course be supported by public
intelligence sensitively aware of exist
ing conditions and humanely moved
to remedy them, else they fail or limp
along lamely, on one foot. I call at
tention mainly to the second aspect of
Our orphan asylums—and there are
no better in any state or country—
cannot care for all the bereft and neg
lected children of North Carolina.
They are crowded to overflowing, and
the known applicants number many
more than can find places in them.
A placing-out policy is inevitable, and
the social machinery therefor is being
created in other states. It ought to be
a county machinery; so, because coun
ty authority is closest to the problem
and can most effectively and inexpen-
the subject because it concerns our; children that need
critical weakness in dealing with pub- homes and the homes that are
lie welfare problems in North Caro- make children good,
lina and in most other states. Mothers’ pensions are another ne-
Public welfare work calls for a in North Carolina that we can-
State Board of Public Welfare, state-; undertake until we have county
wide in authority, supported by sufti- j ^elfare boards and superintendents,
cient funds, properly functioned, and cannot venture into legislation on
adequately officered, and for state in- matter until it is somebody’s
stitutions that are large enough to' business in every county to
care for the delinquents, the depend- when it is best to preserve the
ents, the defectives and the neglected integrity of fatherless homes by giving
who cannot be better cared for by local widowed mothers of good character
authority and institutions. We must ™nncial support sufficient to enable
have state penitentiaries, state prison tnern to rear their children outside of
farms, and state tonvict camps because charity institutions. For lack of such
convicted criminals are too few in any Pensions the best of homes must often-
one county for the proper punishment ^mies be broken up; and while the
and effective reformation of social of- niothers struggle for self-support
fenders in county jails. We must have nway from their children, their child-
state schools for the reformation of, become a heavy charge upon the
wayward boys and girls, state institu- j fnarity of the State or join the swell-
tions for fallen women, state hospitals niultitude of orphans that cannot
for the insane and the epileptic, state. cared for in our orphan asylums,
schools for the deaf and blind, the! children _ in orphan asylums need
crippled and thp feeble-minded, be- j placed in good hpmes as fast as
cause the county cannot afford to es- i they can be found; the orphans already
to the oversight and guidance of social
efforts and enterprises, state and local,
public and private. Social diagnosis
and social guardianship, case work, su
pervision and guardianship in detail
must at least be the business of local
town and county authorities under the
guidance of the central office at the
capital.
Everything of which I have spoken
IS possible under our new public wel-
fare law. Our new State Board of Pub
lic Welfare has duties, rights and pow
ers that are far beyond those of the old
board. The law under which iti oper
ates puts us well ahead of all other
Southern states in the work of chari
ties and corrections and well alongside
the states of the North and East in op
portunities and possibilities.
It seems fairly clear that our new
State Board will miss its largest;
chance for effective service unless it
can stimulate local interest in public
welfare problems and organize welfare
machinery by counties, just as our pub
lie school and public health officers are
doing in their particular fields of ef
fort. The job is entirely too big for
any one central office or any set of
State institutions. It is county con-
cem, county interest, county activity,
and county institutions, that will count
most in the end; not state-wide efforts
and state-wide institutions, but coun
ty-wide efforts and county-wide insti
tutions in a hundred counties.
tablish special institutions to deal fitly
with the relatively small number of
such unfortunates in each county. It
is properly the business of the state to
gather them into state institutions of
the very best possible type and to deal
in good homes need to be kept there
by mothers’ pensions. Wisdom in de
termining all these details depends up
on painstaking case work, which could
be done by county welfare boards and
their secretaries. Without such organ-
more than (1) the sjnall company of
wretched souls in the poor house, (2)
the larger number receiving small
sums monthly from the county com
missioners—how much larger nobody
knows as a rule, and (3) the occasion
al occupants of the bounty jails—a
third of them empty at any one time,
and most of them empty a full half of
the year. Paupers and prisoners are
an inescapable affliction and not a
social problem. This and little more
is about all that charities and correc
tions has meant to the civic mind in
any county, and this is at present the
largest meaning that public welfare
has for the public in general today.
Civic consciousness and civic respon
sibility in county affairs is feeble
enough; but social consciousness, social
responsibility, and organized social
effort by counties can hardly be said
to exist at all in the United States.
County organization—civic and social
—is the very weakest link in Ameri
can democracy. Our essential weakness
in North Carolina lies in the fact that
four tifclis of all our pejple live iu wide
ly scattered country homes and there
fore feel a minimum rseponsibility for
the conditions that result in poor gov
ernment and that lay heavy economic
and social penalities upon the county
at large.
The meaning of public welfare needs
an immense enlargement in the public
mind. The stupidest man among us
must be brought to see that it con
cerns the curse of illiteracy and near
illiteracy, .wholesome community re
creation and commercial amusements,
The counties will be slow to create' P^®'’entable disease and postponable
County Welfare Boards and to sup- feeble-mindedness and its
I>ort county welfare suiiei’intendents insanity, poveity and its
because such officials increase the local i P‘‘^nifold relationships, orphan child-
tax burden and because the people in i homes whose fathers are
genei-al see neither rhyme nor reason ' orphan children in unsafe
in the proposition at present. What holies whose fathers and mothers are
would a welfare superintendent have' ^hve, the placing-out .of children and I socialism (of the sort that offends the
A QUARTER CENTURY JOB
county jails and county homes, their
mischievous misuse and the conse
quences that are common almost
ever3Twhere. .
6. He oould make a personal study
of every person or family applying for
outside aid, and supervise each case to
see that the aid extended helps to raise
the recipient tio his feet wherever such
R.thing is possible, instead of dropping
him into the mire of hopeless depend
ency. ^
7. He could forestall fraud and graft
on the part of applicants for poor re
lief on the one hand, and ignorant
waste or deliberate misuse of public
funds by public authorities on tihe
other.
8. He could get feeble-minded girls
and women into state institutions for
schooling and training in self-support,
and for protection against the im
morality that multiplies feeble-minded
children. Most of our poverty springs
from feeble-mindedness and its causes,
as I think we shall come to see.
9. He tould study in each county the
causes of dependency, delinquency,and
defectiveness, and report upon these
problems to the grand juries, the coun
ty commissioners, the welfare board,
and thnough the newspapers to the
public, and thus develop the intelligent
sentiment that is so urgently needed
in North Carolina in order to attack
our various social problems effectively.
He could be the local diagnostician and
sanitarian in social matters, and the
local agency of education, stimulation,
and guidance in all organized social
effort. He could pack the technical
word “social” full of ite proper signi
ficance. And this is necessary, because
I constantly run across people w'ho
think that it refers in particular to
society as we find it displayed in the
newspapers, or to social equality, or to
with them properly under the general. nffencies the placing-out of orphan
oversight of a ^tate Welfare Board. children is a mistake.
WHAT THE COUNTY CAN DO, SOME COMMON MISTAKES
But on the other hand, it calls for ; I am roughly distinguishing
County Boards of Pulic Welfare with ' between w'hat can and ought to be done
county-wide authority and trained ex- 1'^^ State welfare institutions on the one
ecutive secretaries. Because (1) manyl hand, and what can best be done by
of our social ills bulk up so big that
they can be successfully attacked only
in details by social interest, local ef
fort, and local institutions. Tuberculo
sis and poverty are capital instances of
county welfare institutions on the
other. The distinction is important.
The State ought not to attempt, in
futile ways what tan be done only by
local county effort, nor ought counties
social problems that are beyond the ‘ ^ attempt what can be done by the
possibilities of state institutions, and State alone. Here and there in the
that necessarily wait upon organized' United States costly mistakes are be-
county efforts of effective sort. Be- j made for the lack of this distinc-
cause, (2) the state officials in a big' tion in efforts and institutions,
state institution or in a big fcentral' Foi" instance, a State sanitarium for
office at the capital cannot finger cer- | the , tubei’culous is necessary as a
tain social problems down to the Xast' clinic; as a center of up-to-date learn-
detail. For instance, we do not know mg in the treatment of this disease,
the deaf, the blind, the feeble-minded, and as an agency of state-wide educa-
the epileptic, the crippled, and the neg-, tional effort and emphasis, but it is, of
lected or wayward boys and girls
their number, their naipes, and their
residences in any county of the state;
and so because there is at present no
local organization charged with the re
sponsibility of accounting for such un
fortunates, and with the duty of urg
ing them in sympathetic ways into
proper state institutions. And because
(3) a large number of necessary re
forms in the Stats are delayed by the
course, impossible as a cui-ing station
for all the consumptives of any state.
How could an institution with 135 beds
undertake to cure the fifteen thousand
cases of pronounced tuberculosis in
this or any other state ? Here is a sit
uation that calls for county interest,
county effort, and county .hospitals—
if not one in each county, then one at
least for each group of co-operating
counties. So far we have only a few
lack of efficient county welfare boards! county tuberculosis hospitals; in Wis-
and secretaries. Thus, we cannot now ^ consin there are forty-seven,
have juvenile courts or special sessions i Xhe Mis-use of Jails
adequately to
oi our circuit courts
consider juvenile offenders in chambers
as wards in chancery, and wayward
children under 16 years of age cannot
On the other hand, our counties have
long undertaken to punish convicted
misdemeanants in jails and chain
gangs. Jails are places for the deten
te do in our county more than going' guardianship, wajnvard children, | normal minded,
out to the poorhousc occasionally and: children maimed and 1:
looking in at the jail every once in' “I'ain, the families of convicts in pris-
lame in body and
awhile ? is the question put to me'the ' returned convicts, prisoners on
other day. This question will be asked I^^role, men wanting jobs and jobs
a million times or so in the next quar-' wanting men; that it concerns jail and
ter century m North Carolina, and it chain gang oonditions, poorhouse and
must be answered convincingly if we I’^'^Pcr conditions, juvenile couirs and
are to move ahead in a hopeful direc- oversight of juvenile probationers,
tion. 1 fallen men and fallen women alike,
Beluctance on the part of taxpayers the whole subject of social hy-
is natural enough, because the cost of ffiene; that it concerns the conditions,
county government is everywhere in- consequences and cure of social
creasing by leaps and bounds. In North every sort; that it sweeps the
Carolina in 1913 it amounted to nearly, whole immense field of social science
seven million dollars, which was more theoietic and applied,
than double the cost of State Govern-' To build a meaning of this adequate
ment at that time. Largely, this in
crease is due to waste by honest but
inefficient county officials. We must be
able to show that the salary system for
and needful sort in the public mind, to
stir the consciences and wills of men
and women into activity, and to ei'ect
suitable institutions in North Carolina
now be put on probation under ou persons indicted for crimes and
present law in North Carolina, because {g be innocent until they are
th re is nobody officially chargea i proven guilty. As instruments of pun-
our counties with looking_ aiter juve- jg^ment for convicted criminals, they
bile probationers, or who is condition^ |^ failure and worse, they are an,
ed to do it properly. j unspeakable reproach in every land [
the same reason another pre-. country. The punishment, refor-
retorm ] social restoration of con-
For
gressive movement in prison
falls to nieces in this State. I r
efer to;
. ut- nf- victs is the business of the State, and
the lack of authoritative i the State with penitentiaries for fel-
prisoners on parole or under me e , convicts and State fp’ms for niis-
minate sentence from the ^coun ^y ^ i (jgnieanants (as in Indiana, for in
district courts, the staite refori^torie^ ! ^as
and the state penitentiaiy. W ^ these delica
a chance to succeed in
•"'•il +v,(,itnese delicate, difficult tasks, the
the same kind of oversignt over tne success lying in proper
families of criminals m prison
over criminals upon their return
after release.
County Welfar® Boards
other matters of importance wait
■upon the creation and proper function
ing of County Welfare Boards. Fo
instance, orphan children cannot now
ideals and purposes, facilities, plans,
and methods: the county is bound to
fail with jails and chain gangs. When
prisoners pass out of our courts under
courthouse officials in at least 58 coun- ■ county by county is an exceedingly
ties of the State, when protected bv the difficult but an exceedingly necessary
auditing of county accounts by State task. We are confronted by a gigan-
accountants, would create county fee tic educational campaign that challen-
funds sufficient to pay the salaries of &es our finest purposes and our most
all bounty officers and leave balances devoted efforts the next quarter cen-
large enough to support county wel-' tury; and our women must lead in it
fare superintendents. Already the sal-' because public welfare work is social
ary' system of compensating county' of-! housekeeping and men lack the house-
ficers i,s in vogue in 50 counties of the | keeping instincts.
State. The proper auditing of fees and | , =
commissions, in all of them would; puBLIC WELFARE DETAILS
create fee and salary funds sufficinet *'"*-*'- w.
to support a welfare superintendent in' Fm- gake of .simplicity I itemize the
addition to other county officers. After i -teings that a county welfare agent can
paying all county salaries the balances do under the direction of the State
left over in eight counties last year; Board, that ought to be done in every
■were large enough for this purpose, county, and that are never likely to be
These balances ranged from 82,800 in ^ done until it becomes somebody’s stat-
Iredell to $2,500 m Guilford. Under. gd duty to do them,
this plan with good management the; j. In conjunction with the county
balances could easily be large enough ggbool superintendent, he could num-
to support county ■welfare superintend- ber name and locate in reliable records
ents in more than half the counties of ^ ^be illiterate, the deaf, the blind, the
the State. ' feebleminded, the crippled and deform-
And again, we are spending around ^d, the wayward and neglected, the or-
$258,000 a year on county homes an(i pbans needing homes and the homes
in the support of outside paupers; and offering shelter and loving care to or-
this Qost is mounting up rapidly year pans, the families of convicts, retuim-
by year, for lack of intelligent local in-1 convicts, prisoners lon probation or
terest, oversight, and management. An | parole, the insane and the epileptic,
effective attack upon our pauper prob-1 present, there are no such records
lem alone would not only decrease the ■ county of the State. Such cen-
volume of pauperism but it could cer-; data must be assembled in order
tainly reduce the bill of costs. If so,; .j.bg(. .(-bg people of a county can know
here is money enough saved in a single realize what the job of welfare is,
detail to pay the salaries and expenses | bo-w bie it is and what the details are.
of welfare superintendents in haif a | 2_ jjg could take into proper guard-
hundred counties. . 4.1 ! ianship the dependents, the defectives.
There are o^er approaches to tne , ^^g neglected, and the delinquents, resi-
financial end of this county problem.
They are this year being threshed out
by the North Carolina Club at the
University. The Club Year Book for
1917-18 will give these studies to the
and State prison farms for punishment
and restitution to useful citizenship.
The State should not attempt to nn-
p-py. ijy direct ways the details of many
as a wise and safe policy m bis. It can never be done for an
aiipe at present ■we homes entire state, in mpy fields of welfare
investigate and appraise t -work, by any possible number of social
that apply for such children experts and supervisors m any one
sentence, they ought to pass out of our; public. Twio of them have already ap-
county jails into State penitentiaries 1 pgared in Bulletin No. 25 of the Uni-
. 4? 4T vgy-sity Extension Bureau.
What Public Welfare Means
But county welfare machinery will
be set up slowly even in our best coun
we keep such homes under the
regular supervision to see that tne
children are properly . c^’Ced f
humanely provided with school art
vantages and other opportunities.
Bound-out children
oversight in North Carolina,
present they cannot receive it.
noTit-ral office. There must be a staff of
sp?ciMists in the office of the State
Board to be sure, but it will be small
fnd its efforts will be directed to keep-
r OPPU1LU4.X...— a ‘ ^ .^^gb ahead of the times
need the, same abreast o
appiicu , r.iihHc and
but at in
tion and
stimulation of the public, and
ties unless the public mind gets busy
in direct, first-hand ways ■with its
social problems and spies them out to
the last detail. Public welfare is a
vague phrase. It conveys little mean
ing or no meaning at all to the mind of
most people; and this Is particularly
true of dwellers in sparsely settled
rural counties. Even the older phrase,
charities and corrections, meant little
dent in a qounty, and in sympathetic
way urge into state intsitutions those
that ought to be under the care of the
state; and if state institutions are
not large enough, he could create pub
lic sentiment in favor of more extend
ed facilities.
3. He could be a parole and proba
tion officer for all classes and ages of
wayward people outside of jails and
reformatories by order of the various
authorities.
4. He could have direct responsible
oversight of the county home, the jail,
and the chain gang. He could stand as
a guarantor to the public that they are
serving their proper uses, and no oth
er. He could establish adequate re
cording, accounting, and reporting sys
tems. .
5. He could study the proper use 01 ence
10. And—what is fundamentally im
portant—he could develop, organize
and direct wholesome recreation in the
countiryside and give it a proper place
in the imral mind. The law indeed
charges him with this particular duty.
Our country people in America, in
marked contrast with the farm folks of
the old world countries, are settled in
vast areas in widely scattered hiomes.
Life is solitary and tends to be lonely
and sombre. Work is a conscious ne
cessity while fun and frolic are essen
tially wicked—such is the firmly es
tablished connection of ideas in the
countryside. Rural America needs to
be anointed with the oil of gladness
that David Celebrates in the Psalms.
People that do not play -together, never
learn to work together; and if they can
not or will not work together and pull
together here on, earth, neither shall
they dwell together in Heaven—a say
ing that you will find in Timothy
10:16.
Is there, then, anything for a coun
ty welfare officer to do ? There is more
to do that ought to be done than any
ten such officers can do in any county.
And fortunately so; it gives a wise
officer a chance to call to his side and
to involve as volunteers in his purposes
all the civic and social minded men and
women of the county. He needs them,
and they need the work, and in it they
are sure to find the more abundant life
that the Master came to earth to brin^r
to the sons and daughters of men.
Religion Worth the Name
Suppose we had in every county of
North'Carolina a body of closely inte
grated social servants composed of
(1) the school board with its superin
tendent and supervisors, (2) an agri
cultural board with its home and farm
extension agents, (3) a public health
board with its whole-time health of
ficer, its public health nurses, its
clinics and dispensaries, (4) a public
welfare board and its secretary charg
ed with specific social concerns, and
(5) a ministerial board composed of
all the preachers lof all the churches
busy stamping every common effort
with the ultimate values of life and
destiny, time and eternity—suppose I
say, the civic and social mind of North
Carolina were organized and federated
in this way! If only it could be so,
and it can, then what an era of demo
cratic wholesomeness and effectiveness
we should enter upon, and hqw rapidly
our beloved state would move to the
fore in the new social order that is
even now breaking upon the world.
Man freely self-surrendered to his
fellow kind and whole heartedly given
in organized effort to the comnwm good
is the dream we dream. Man dedicated
to the state is Prussianism; man ded
icated to humanity is the soul of de
mocracy; man dedicated to humanity,
in His name, is the last word in any
kind of religion that is worth calling
Christian. The Kingdom of Heaven
doubtless means much more than thi?,
but I am sure that it ought never to
mean less.—E. C. Branspn, an address
before the N. C. Social Service Confer-