1
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 of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
FEBRUARY 19, 1919
CHAPEL HH.L, N. C.
VOL. V, NO. 13
Kdiiorial Board . B. 0. Branson, J. G. deB. Hamilton, L. R. Wilson, D. D. Carroll, G. M. McKie
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, .it the tPostofflce at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,1912.
COUNTRY LIFE PROBLEMS
Two conditions profoundly revolution-
siry in the country life of the state and
the nation have been created by the Great
War; (1) the decrease of farm labor, and
2) the increase of food values. The re
sults immediate and remote are almost
infinite in variety and tliey aftect life and
ljusiness in town and country regions
-alike.
Tlie fanner-soldiers in tlie camps at
iKMiRi and in our armies overseas are one
and a half million men. Another million
and a lialf iiave swarmed out of the coun
try regions into our industrial centers.
Ttie farm areas of tlie United States have
lost three million workers in tlie last four
years. They are a full fourth of the
•effective labor strengtli of tlie farms of the
country. The loss tlireatens to be per
manent. It is the fasliion of wars to dis-
!>cate farm populations.
As for food values, we can look for no
great decrease in the famine price of
foodstuffs for some years to come. It
will take at least six years, says Mr.
Hoover, to stabilize the food stocks of the
world; and even longer perhaps to con
trol in righteous way the agencies of dis
tribution. We liave come into an era of
excessive production costs in farm re
gions and unbearable living costs in city
•centers. Both conditions are sources of
economic uplieaval.
A Looh Ahead
country people out of our farm regions
into towns and villages be increaseci by
after-the-war conditions? AVill the civ
ilization of our open country move for
ward, mark time, or fall back into hope
lessness in the great new era? The an
swer depends on our country dwellers
mainly.
What effect will these two causes in
combination have upon the country life
•of fee state and the nation? Shall we
have an increase of wilderness areas in
INorSh Carolina, and a dwindling, disa
ppearing agriculture? Already we have 13
million acres, once cleared and cultivated
and now abandoned to blackjacks, scrub
pines, mullein stalks, and sassafras. Or
will this vast domain be reclaimed for
■food crops produced by abundant horse
-and machine power, and for livestock
farming on a domestic scale, a few meat
ani milk animals on every farm?
Tl>e first effect will surely follow unless
-our farmers liave, or can thriftily accum-
‘ulat- from the present liigh price of food-
•stuffs, enough capital to establisli cotton
and tobacco farming on a bread-and-meat
'basts. But we can liardly hope for any
rathcal change in our agriculture, with
out a tremendous increase in country in-
teliinence, and in organized production,
purchase, salesmansliip, and credit in
•our farm regions.
At present 95 per cent of our wliite il-
litertu y and near-illiteracy is in the coun
tryside. Are our country people equal
to ail increase of two and a half million
-dotlars raised by local taxation for six
■anoiith.s’ schools? If not, our sparsely
-aetUed country dwellers are fore-doomed
' .to a static or a stagnant civilization.
- ill which event, the cityward drift of
country people in North Carolina will be
iDiiiicnsely accelerated; farm lands will
decix-aee in value or farmland sales will
ice8j.e, and we sliall be ‘land-poor' once
more; aspiring, alert country people will
move into our 500 villages, towns and
small cities, wldle tlie nnalert will remain
on Uie iand; country liomes will be
d.reaiy and lonely, country scliools will
toe hleless and uninspiring, and country
■clmrcbes will decay.
Excessive Ruralism
Must our country civilization be in
creasingly individualistic—more and more
socially aloof, and less and less organiz-
able for business enterprise, culture pur
poses, and wholesome civic order? If so,
then illicit liquor making in which we
lead the nation, liomicides in whicli we
lead the states of the registration area,
lynching and inability to deal with law
lessness in our courts, and excessive illit
eracy white and black, are problems that
we can never hope to solve in North Car
olina. We are a rural state, nearly ex
actly four-fifths of our people live in the
open country outside villages and towns
of any size 'whatsoever. And these are
ills that curse excessive ruralism every
where. Primarily they are rural problems
all. They hinder and retard or render
impossible every progressive move for
ward and upward of every sort and kind.
If we cannot or will not make up our
minds to attack them courageously and
end them utterly, then we must be con
tent to trail the rear in the forward march
of American states. Essentially they are
rural ills but they menace every worth
while agency and institution the whole
state over.
They can be cured, and North Caroli
na—I am fain to believe—has the intelli
gence, the civic courage, the vital relig
ion, and the lofty patriotism that are
necessary for the task.—E. C. B.
A Countryside Job
. W
OUR NEW UNIVERSITY HEAD
)
Here in brief are acute after the-war
qprohkituH that North Carolina now faces,
and which must be solved in the main by
•iur country {leople themsolve.s. Never
Aefiire in the history of the state and the
nation have native, home-bred leaders
-hi-eii more critically necessary in our
-country regions. And I may add that, in
riiy opinion, it is the business of colleges
and universities to develop the intelligent,
coiiHecnited leadership that country life
everywhere needs. Herein lies the im-
fKiiiauce o£ the rural social science courses
•that have lately found a place in the ac
ademic culture schemes of the country.
ilutal life problems are social as well
as occupational. They concern culture
as well as agriculture—the farmer’s home
children as well as his crops and
farm animals and bank balances.
Clan country life he efficient, satisfying,
wholesome? Will the exodus of
The trustees of the University of
North Carolina authorized Governor
Bickett, ex officio chairman, to name
committee of five trustees to inves
tigate and report upon the fitness of
persons suggested for the presidency of
the University to succeed the late Dr. E.
K. Graham. The committee will not
nominate, but will simply ascertain facts
concerning the qualifications of the var
ious candidates and lay them before the
Board. This will be done as early as
possible and when the committee is ready
to report, the Governor will call the
trustees together.
The trustees provided for the vacancy
created by the death of Dean M. H. Sta
cy by the election of Dr. H. W.
Chase, wlio has been acting Dean of the
College of Liberal Arts, as chairman of
tlie faculty, with powers and duties of
the president.
Dr. Chase is a native of Massachusetts,
and a graduate of Dartmouth college. He
formerly did liigh school work in Massa
chusetts and directed tlie clinic for sub
normal children at Clark University
where he took his degree in 1910. Since
then, lie has been professor ofpyschology
at the University.
A Woman’s Building
In addition the trustees heard tlie
recommendations of Dean Stacy and gave
their approval. Included in the list of
recommendations are tlie proposal to es-
tablish a School of Commerce at tlie Uni
versity ; a director of music for the devel-
ment of musical talent among the stud
ents ; a publication editor to liave charge
of ail periodicals and be responsible for
the news service of tlie University; and
the erection of a woman’s building to
provide for expansion of tlie University
in its appeal to the women of the state.—
News and Observer.
ainl.
ibartjs,
and
inC. LUUR iJKl
C.AUUUS
The Cityward Drift of Country Popu
lations in Carolina is tlie first of a series
of studies in ‘ ‘CarolinaIndustrial and
Urban”, undertaken by the Nortli Caro
lina Club at the University this year. Tlie
Club program in full detail appeared in
tlie University News Letter of Feb. 12.
Tlie Country Exodus in Carolina was
presented in brief outline on Monday
evening, Jan. 27, by E. C. Branson of tlie
University faculty. Tlie debate that fol-
KEMP PLUMMER BATTLE
Dr. Kemp Plummer Battle was
given to ns out tlie civilization of tlie
old soutli and was to us the tie that
bound the new, aggressive, aspiring
south of today to tlie sweet, the calm,
and radiant era of ins youtli.
He carried with liim into the troub
led times of reconstruction the gentle
feeling tliat grew up naturally from
the soil of a golden, romantic past.
Ke-acting heroically to the challenge
of the new day, and keeping liis con
tacts witli the strenuous hours ot our
beliolding, the precious idealism of
pre-war liistory still made its liome in
ills heart; and looking upon him,
someliow we felt that tlirough him our
lives were blessed and that in our
world of planning and doing we liad a
higher pedigree tlian our surround
ings and a nobler mission than our
activities could expose,
To think happy thoughts, to live
simply, to liave and to merit tlie dear
affection of friends, to be interested in
life and wish the happiness of others,
to liave a heart for the tender, open
ing things of springtime and ail tlie
splendor of the varied, fourfold year,
amidst the jarring forces of our life to
cherish the serene confidence that all
is well, to love to work, to do ones
work as a sacrament and without fretr
ting, to acliieve honor without pride,
and above all to endure as a child of
God—that is the legacy our good com
rade has left us. In that legacy we
are rich and in it we have encourage
ment to know ourselves as masters
and not slaves and to enjoy support in
the hour that tempts to weakness of
any kind.
And so our dear friend tliougli gone
from us is still a living reality in our
midst and will abide with ua forever.
‘‘The witness of liis ow'n immortality”,
ins spirit bears witness in our spirits
tliat our destiny is also assured.
Such lives so permeate the com
munity enriclied by their presence
tliat at last tliey are an integral part
of all they have touched. In Dr. Bat
tle Cliapei Hill has lived and moved
and had its being dowui tlirough tlie
years, and now tliat the earthly house
of his tabernacle is dissolved tlie house
not made witli hands abides.
He will go on with us into other
days and amidst “the weariness, the
fever, and tlie fret, here wliere men
sit and hear each other groan”, we
sliall feel the quiet sense of eternal
values, and tlirougli him we shall see
Him more clearly as He is.—William
D. Moss, Pastor Gliapel Hill Presby
terian Cliurcli.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 158
DEMOCRACY IN SCHOOLING
If we are to accept the idea that the
bulw'ark of democracy is to be found in
universal education and tliat tlie essen
tial tool of universal education is tlie pub
lic school, we must naturally look to the
public school to be itself a democracy.
Have we stopped to consider wliat sucli a
tlieory implies?
What it Means
It means, first, that an equal cliance
to go to school must be given to all chil
dren. It means, second, that the terms of
school in city and country must be equal.
It means, third, that ail schools must be
equally well equipped witli adequate
teaching apparatus—not forgetting that
the teacher is a very essential part of
sucli equipment. It means, fourth, that
an equal cliance must be given all chil
dren to have their healtli cared for and
their bodies built up. It means, fifth,
that no pupil shall be deprived of his
chance to grasp these opportunities be
cause some indifferent or ignorant pa
rent commandeers such pupils’ time or
energy either to work direcctly for the
parent, or to work for a manufacturing
plant and turn the results of sucli labor
over to tlie parent.
Are We Ready?
Are we ready to guarantee such a de
mocracy in education to tlie cliildren in
our nation? Are we willing to provide
these equalities in educational opportun
ity? Are we prepared to open our pocket-
books and pay tlie taxes wliicli sucli a
program will and does demand? Has
the war for democracy so got into our
very life tliat we can see such a policy in
the light of an investment for our cliil-
dren and for our state and nation ?
City and Country
The folks in our cites long ago began
to see the light but the country districts
are still content to sit in darkness. Yet
the city folks have only caught a partial
glimpse of the great blazing light of
learning. The crowded school room with
40 or more pupils to a teacher is not con
fined to tlie one-teacher country scliool.
The narrow and fixed course of study and
rigid systems of promotion are found in
city as well as in rural systems of educa
tion. The same can be said as to insuffi
cient and inefficient supervision, inade
quate and dilapidated teaching equip
ment, neglect of the necessity for regular
attendance, failure to care for pupil
healtli, etc., etc.
Are we we ready to provide and pay
for scliools adequate to a democracy?
lowed concerned tlie question. Is the city
ward drift beneficial to the State as a
whole? The discussion was led by E. S
Merritt of Craven in tlie affirmative and
S. H. Willis of Guilford in the negative,
and is given compactly in the paragraphs
that follow.
A Rural Civilization
North Carolina is and has always lieen
excessively rural. Our towns and cities
liave been few and small—so actually and
relatively. In the census year nearly ex
actly four fifths or 79 per cent of our peo
pie were dwellers in the open country
outside villages and towns of any size
whatsoever. They numbered more than
17 hundred thousand and, as elsewhere
in America, tliey dwell in widely scatter
ed farm homes thirty-nine people to the
square mile—in elmen counties fewer
than twenty to the square mile, counting
both races. All of wliich means that
Nortii Carolina is dominantly rural. The
character of tlie culture of our country
people is both the mainspring and the
measure of our civilization. As the coun
tryman tbinketh in his heart so are we in
Carolina, as the politicians know full well.
The level of our country culture is the
level of North Carolina—the real level; a
foundational fact directly related to busi
ness, law and order, religious conscious
ness, progress and prosperity. Both the
best and the worst of us as a people lies
in the fact that North Carolina is funda
mentally a rural state. Our town and
country civilizations are not safely bal
anced, as in France, Denmark, Holland,
and Switzerland. Establishing and pre
serving a sane, safe balance between town
and country civilization is the most im
portant problem in any state or nation.
Our civilization in North Carolina is out
of balance—lias always been so, the best
interests of the state considered. We need
to be more urban and less rural. Illiter
acy, blockade liquor making, excessive
homicide rates, lynching, inability to
deal effectively with crimes of violence in
our courts, repugnance to taxation, op
position to stock and dog laws, are pe
culiarly rural problems—so in every land
and country. They disappear as a peo
ple becomes more and more urban. IVe
need an immense multiplication of small
villages and towns, our larger towns need
to grow rapidly into larger centers of man-
facture, trade, and credit. At present the
producers of country wealth outnumber
the city consumers nearly five to one in
North Carolina. Our farmers need a larger
consuming public, more nearby markets
and better, a larger opportunity to con
vert country products into ready cash at a
fair price and profit, greater wealth and a
greater willingness to invest it in country
schools and libraries, country churches,
country health, and country highways.
The cityward drift in North Carolina is
not altogether deplorable, said the speak
er; it is all in all a drift in the right di
rection, provided the population left be
hind in the country regions draws togeth
er in farm village groups for social ad
vantage, and provided further that both
our town and country civilizations can
be efficient, satifying, and wholesome
through and through.
Rapid Urbanization
And what North Carolina needs is
coming swiftly to pass. Cur civilization
is being rapidly urbanized. The cityward
drift in Carolina during the last census
period was more rapid than in 36 other
states of the Union, our city increase in
population being four and a half times
our country increase. The country exo
dus was most pronounced in fifty coun
ties—mainly' in our developing industrial
area, wdiich stretches like a reap-liook
from Durham along tlie Southern Kail-
way to Charlotte and westward into Gas
ton and Rutherford. Ten counties act
ually lost country population—Durham
one-eleventh,and Mecklenburg a ninth!
In forty counties more the increase of
country population was less than the nat
ural increase due to the excess of births
over deaths, which in North Carolina is
around 12 1-2 per cent in ten years. In 9
counties the city increases ranged from 8
to 25 times the country increases in pop
ulation, as follows: Caldwell, Edge
combe and Lenoir 8 times, Iredell and
Rockingham 9 times, Granville and Nash
10 times, IVilson 12 times, and Beaufort
25 times. The causes are two in the
main: (1) The lure of collective life in
our rapidly multiplying factory and trade
centers, and (2) the expulsive force of
loneliness in our sparsely settled country
areas. Wliich is merely to say that Car
olina is sliaring in tlie world-wide effects
of modern industrialism. North Caro
lina is far and away the best developed
industrial state in the South and there
fore is being urbanizeed more rapidly
than otlier southern states. We now have
nearly 600 towns smaller than the census
city (2500 inhabitants). Many , of them
like Carrboro were not on the map in
1910. During the last eight years such
towns in North Carolina have sprung up
by hundreds like mushrooms overnight.
Think of it: not a town of 2500 inhabi
tants eight years ago in Haywood, Johns
ton, Lincoln, Richmond, Robeson, Ruth
erford, Scotland, or Stanly! It is safe to
say that our urban population lias been
more than doubled since 1900, and that
the rate of increase has been ten times
that of our country increase in the new
century. In addition there is tlie loss of
country people who have swarmed out of
our farm areas into the centers of war in
dustries north and east—a full 100,000,
and the draft of 60,000 of our country
boys into tlie camps at home and over
seas—all told, around a fourth of our ef
fective farm labor. And tlie chances are
that these country people will not return
to our farm areas. It is the tasliion of
war to dislocate farm populations.
These statements barely hint at the
most tremendous single fact of social
transformation in the entire history of
the state. AVhether it bode good or ill
for Nortli Carolina, depends upon how
well we consider it, and how swiftly and
wisely we adjust our changing civilization
to it. It would be inexcusably stupid in
us to be unaware of it. We need to ad
dress ourselves promptly and competent
ly to the problems of progressive re-ad-
justment in tliese days of profound social
changes. Herein lie our after-the-war
problems in North Carolina—better
scliools and minimum illiteracy—voca
tional education in farm and factory re
gions—better church support and a larger
measure of applied Christianity—greater
attention to public liealth and pubhc
liigliways—the decrease of our landless,
homeless multitudes town and country—
responsible, intelligent citizenship and i.
higher level ot law and order—cooper..-
tive enterprise and social integration in
our countryside—and the reign of eco
nomic righteousness every wliere.