Newspapers / The University of North … / July 9, 1919, edition 1 / Page 1
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The newi in this publica- tim is released (or the press oil receipt. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER ^Published weekly by the University of North Carolina for its Bureau of Extension. JULY 9,1919 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. VOL. V, NO. 33 ■— —■ — ■■■.. !■ II. .Sf —.. . ■ BiUorial Board i fi. C. Branson, .J. G. dajt. Hamilton, L. B. Wilson, D. D Carroll. G. M. McKie. Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, it tbe Postotflee at Obapel Hill, N» C., under the. act of August 24,1912. jj^ 1 WAR TIME THRIFT IN CAROLINA HADE RICH BY THE WAR Under the rough, electric shock of war the people of North Carolina salted down ,222 million dollars in savings—in liberty bonds, war stamps, and interest-bearing bank deposits. In round numbers the (record stood as follows on June 1, 1919: 1st liberty loan, Ji9,400,000; 2d, ji27,500,- 000; 3d, $25,000,000; 4th, $48,000,000; 5tli or victory 'loan, $26,000,000; war stamps, $27,000,000; bank-account sav ings, $59,000,000; grand total, 222,000,- 000. Nobody knows how many millions more we invested in private loans and hid away under the corner brick of the liearth. ’ Our savings in cash in two years are nearly one-fourth of all the wealth ac cumulated on our tax books since Wil- Jiam Drummond’s day. But the savings in sight in the forms stated show us to be nearly exactly twelve •times richer than we were in 1915. The interest-money turned loose in North Carolina is now around 10 million dollars a year—eight millions to our war- bond and war-stamp holders and two and a quarter millions to our bank depositors on savings account. The dividends on our savings are enough to pay off the bonded indebted ness of tlie state in a single year. kSince the census year we have increased our cotton yield by 200,000 bales in quan tity, and 50 million dollars in Value. We have nearly doubled our total of grain crops, and morethan doubled our yield of tobacco, and although we had less labor on our farms in 1918 than ever before in a, half century, we produced the largest tobacco crop in the history of the state— nearly 250 million pounds. Our farm, truck, and fruit crops have not only greatly increased in quantity, but their value has been nearly quadrupled in the open markets. The increase in nine years has been from 143 million to 537 million dollars. We have no authoritative figures for cur industrial output since 1914, but it is safe to say that our cotton mills, tobacco .factories, and wood-working industries have doubled their wage totals, and quad rupled the value of their products during ■the last four years. We are rich in North Carolina, as Tar heels count riches—richer than we ev'er were before in all our lives. We worked harder, saved more, and moved forward faster during the war than in any half joentury of our history heretofore. War Thrift in Carolina In order to rank the counties of Nortli ■Carolina in war-time thrift and to do it ■ on .some definite, autlioritative basis, four students of Rural Social Science in the University of Nortli Carolina have spent live months assembling our liberty bond and war stamp purchases and bank account savings by counties, and reduc ing the lull totals to a per capita basis Tor tiie year 1918, the year of the armis tice. The only detail lacking is the first ,li):)erty loan which was reported for the state as a whole, but never by counties. The table appears elsewhere in tb s issue. The results are astounding. The state •over, our wealth in war-securitie.s and ■hank-savings averages $90 per inhabitant, counting'men, women, and children of both races. The figures range from $6 per inhabitant in Clay a mountain coun ty and $10 in'Dare a coast county, to $270 per inhabitant in Forsyth our leading in dustrial county and $288 in New Hanover the leading export and banking center of Jthe state. New Hanover and Forsyth Twenty counties are above the state ( average of $90. Except New Hanover, Craven, Pasquotank, and Chowan in the ■ tide-water country, these counties are in the cotton and tobacco belt, or in the .great industrial area that stretches like a half-moon from Durham to Mecklenburg. More than half the entire war-securities ' and bank-account savings of the state- 120 million dollars in round numbers—is in'these 20 counties, New Hanover lead- • ing in per capita amount and Forsyth in the grand total. New Hanover heads the list with $288 .per inhabitant. Forsyth with 16 million •dollars has more wealth laid away in fsvar-securities and bank-account savings than the 30 counties at the fag end of the table all put together. Static Areas These thirty counties are country coun ties, more or less aside and remote from the active centers of manufacture and commerce. Their people are far from tlui maddening crow'ds of factories and city market places. Epoch making events in the great world break in tiny ripples on the shores of the sequestered life they live. They dwell for the most part in solitary farmsteads. Compactly settled communities, conscious of common neces sities and definitely organized to secure common advantages, are few. Life in these farm areas lacks the quickening in fluence of farm bureaus and granges, as in the north and west. The civilization of these country counties is not stagnant or decadent—many of the very best peo ple in North Carolina live in these 30 counties; but it is static, unalert, un organized, and inefl'ective, except here and there under the leadership of some intelligent, public spirited teacher, preacher, farmer, or business man. As a consequence, the half million peo ple in these 30 counties were hard to reach and arouse in our war-bond, war- stamp, war-benevolence drives. All told, they had less than 15 million dollars, or $30 per inhabitant, in war-securities and bank-account savings in 1918—a full million dollars less than the total of For syth county alone. The war-thrift figures of these 30 coun ties are highly significant, and we dare to say they will provoke profound thinking on part of their readers, thinkers, and leaders. These figures are distinctly re lated to tax difficulties, highway enter prise, school and church support in these static country areas. Some Surprises 1. The low rank of Johnston, 55th— one of our half dozen richest agricultural counties. 2. Tlie low rank of Greene, 59th—the richest county in North Carolina in per capita motor car wealth. 3. The low rank of Alleghany, 76th— the richest county in the state in per capita country wealth in farm properties. 4. The low rank of Ashe, 85th—which stands only sixth from the top in per capita country wealth in North Carolina. 5. The high rank of thirteen country counties containing brisk, prosperous lit tle cities. Namei in order of rank in war-thrift, they are Pasquotank, AVilson, Vance, Scotland, AA^ayne, Nasli, Ala mance, Craven, Northampton, Cabar rus, Lenoir, Granville, and Chowan. All these counties have a place among the first 20 leaders in the column of war- thrift in North Carolina. The explana tion lies in the capable, tireless, selfless leadership of a few people in every coun- ty_gometimes one or two—sometimes a man—sometimes a woman. Other coun try counties with prosperous trade centers fell far behind for lack of such leadership. ! 6. The relatively high rank of such ! country counties as Rtac’Kingham 21st, Pitt and Eiciimonii 22d, Cleveland 24th, : Cat-duba and Beaufort25th, Orange 27th, Gaston 28th, MrDow.ll 29th, and Ire- dell^SOth. The rank of these counties, along with Surry, Martin, Person, Franklin, Davie, Polk, Hertford, and Rutherford—all of them in the upper half of the war-thrift column and all of them lifted high above their usual place in 310 other tables of economic and social sort in University studies—can be explained only in terms of superb local leadership on part of fervent patriots. The war has been a* vitalizing ex perience for some 50 counties of this state and the results will be epoch-making in every one of them. In Old Orange, for instance. One and a quarter million dollars laid away against a rainy day, in war-securities and bank-account savings, and sixty thousand dollars a year turned loose in cash divi dends mearis a big-scale interest hereafter in school activities, church support, high way building, farm policies, and business enterpri.ses. The day of civic and social unconcern and inactivity is surely at an end in Orange and forty other country counties in North Carolina—at least SPIRITUAL DERELICTS In a recent address by John Gals worthy at Columbia University the renowned author spoke of the ten dency of the times, and said: If America should get that purse and power proud fever, which comes from national success, we are all des tined to another flare-up. We were rattling into a new species of barbarism when the war came, and unle.ss we check ourselves, shall con tinue to rattle, now it is over. The underlying cause in every country is the increase of herd-life, based on machines, money-getting, and the dread of being dull. But power for real light and leading in America will depend, not so much on her material wealth, or her armed force, as on what her attitude towards life, and what the ideals of her citizens are going to be. AA^e are spending billions and bil lions in making the world better and really how much better is it? How much less is there of selfishness, vice, overreaching, prejudice, distrust than a lew centuries ago? Indifference and vice are more respectable than they were a few centuries ago. But their hold on human life is nearly as strong. Why? Because we are pushing spirit uality and religion aside and putting on style and frivolity, which unre- stained, are as hurtful to a nation as espionage.—Ohio State Journal. UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION LETTER SERIES NO. 175 OLD GLORY FLAG DATES Through many years Old Glory has been having all kinds of experiences; in war and in peace, in successes and in re verses, in rejoicings and in mournings. The story of her life can be told here in only a brief, disconnccieci, and sketcliy manner, but even so the tonebes of ro mance will appear. The red letter days in her life and the reason for them dur ing her first century of life are given be low. January 1-2, 1776. Grand Union Flag (British Union and Thirteen Stripes) over AV^ashington’s headquarters at Cam bridge, Mass. This was the first real flag of the Colonies. February 8, 1776. Colonial Congres sional Committee accepted a naval flag, consisting of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, with a rattle snake diag onally across the face of it. March 17, 1776. The first display of the Grand Union flag in Boston, on the day that town was evacuated by the British. November 16, 1776. First foreign sa lute to an American flag. This was to the Grand Union Flag, and was given by the Dutch governor, DeGraatf, at the island of St. Eustatius to the brig, Andrea Doria, commanded by Captain Robinson. June 14, 1777' First strictly American flag decreed by Congress. This flag dis placed the British Union by thirteen stars, and the first flag of this design was made by Betsy Ross, at her home in Philadelphia. It contained thirteen stripes, alternate red and whith, and thirteen white stars upon a blue field. June 14, 1777. Captain John Paul Jones appointed to the command of the Ranger. It was Jones who first displayed the Stars and Stripes on a naval vessel. It was also he who had previously first hoisted the flag of America on board the naval vessel Alfred in 1775. August 3, 1777. First display of the Stars and Stripes was over Fort Stan- wix, N. J. September 11, 1777. The American flag first carried in Battle at the Brandywine. This was the first great battle fought af ter its adoption by the Continental Con gress.—L. A. AA’’. dollars more than the total for Scotland which has about a third as many inhabi tants and barely more than a tiiird as much wealth on the tax list in 1918. Scotland ranks 10th in per capita war- thrift, with $128 per inhabitant. A i close estimate figures Robeson’s per capi- ; ta war-thrift at $50 per inhabitant, and I places the richest farm county in North Carolina 50th and not 1st in war-securi ties and bank-account savings in 1918, Scotland beats her neighbor just about two and a half times over in war-thrift. Or something like that. In another issue of the University News Letter, the counties will be ranked ac cording to bank-account savings, state and national in 1918. forty. As for another forty country coun ties: Here’s to them, lioping! Ten Unranhed Counties Ten counties of the state do not appear in the accompanying table, for lack of authoritative population figures in 1918, due to changes in territory in the forma tion of three new counties in 1908 and 1911. AA’'ar-thrift per inhabitant cannot be given therefore, but tlie totals of war- securities and bank account savings in 1918 were as follows : Robeson. $3,191,490 Cumberland 2,499,944 Moore 1,300,9421 Caldwell 1,031,995 ] Lee 965,658 , Cliatham 754,046 Hoke 366,094 AA^atauga 354,142 Avery 328,610 Mitchell 182,863 Our Mountain Counties Three of the unranked counties are AVatauga, Avery, and Mitchell in the mountain regions. Their combined total of war-securities and bank-account sav ings in 1918 was $866,000 in round num bers ; which is only slightly more than the total for Davie a little country county east of the Ridge. The war-thrift total of the 16 mountain counties (Buncombe not counted) was $6,606,664; which is les§ than the total for Buncombe alone by some $600,000, although their combined wealth on the 1918 tax list was nearly double that ■ of Buncombe. Ranked in the order of total war- securities and bank-account savings, the 17 mountain counties stand as follows (the figures in parentheses show the per capita rank among the 90 counties in the table): (8th) Buncombe $7,218,860 153rd) Haywood 1,246,426 (47th) Henderson 986,253 (69th) Cherokee 527,858 (74th) Madison 516,136 (38th) Transylvania 491,203 (64th) Yancey 449,141 (65th) Swain 434,967 AVatauga •• 354,142 Avery 328,610 (85th) Ashe 315,279 (80th) Jackson 269,605 (86th) Macon 203,366 (76th) Alleghany 186,194 Mitchell 182,863 (83rd) Graham 92,678 (90th) Clay 21,943 Our BHchest Farm County In the production of crop values year by year, Robeson is far and away the richest county in North Carolina, and it is one of the 16 counties with more than three million dollars in 1918 in war-securities and bank-account savings. But ranked according to totals, it stands 15th. The total for Robeson is less than a million WAR THRIFT IN NORTH CAROLINA Per Inhabitant in 1918 Based (1) on the reports of the Federal Comptroller of the Currency, the ■ State Banking Commission, the state chairman of AYar Stamp Savings for 1918 and the Fifth Federal Reserve District reports of the last three Liberty Loans, and the Afic- tory Loan, and (2) on the Census estimates of population in 1918. Unfortunately the first Liberty Loan was never reported by counties and is therefore omitted in these detailed county calculations. Counties ranked from high to low according to per capita savings, covering in vestments in Federal war securities and bank account savings in banks of all sorts, state and national. Total for the state $222,000,000; per inhabitant $90. Departhrent of Rural Economics University of North Carolina, 1918-19 Rank Counties Per Inhab. 1 New Hanover... .$288 2 Forsyth 270 3 Durham 215 4 Mecklenburg 192 5 Guilford 155 6 Pasquotank 134 6 ' AVilson 134 8 Buncombe 132 9 A^'ance.) 129 10 Scotland 128 11 AVake 121 11 AVayne 121 13 Nash 113 14 Alamance 109 14 Craven 109 14 Northampton...., 109 17 Cabarrus 108 18 fjcnoir 94 19 Granville 92 20 Chowan 90 21 Rockingham 89 22 Pitt 86 22 Richmond 86 24 Cleveland 85 ~25 Catawba 84 25 Beaufort 84 27 Orange 83 28 Gaston 80 29 McDowell 78 30 Iredell 75 31 Rowan 72 32 Surry 71 32 Martin 71 34 Anson 66 34 Edgecombe 66 34 Halifax 66 34 Person 66 38 Transylvania 64 39 Davidson 63 40 Carteret 61 40 Franklin 61 42 Davie 59 42 Lincoln 59 44 Polk 57 45 Hertford 55 55* 5-B 59? Total , Savings $10,094,605 16,173,599 9,683,286 15,101,075 13,495,881 2,643,244 4,391,549 7,218,860 I 53 2,829,292 | 53 2.323.368 8,626,629 4,797,703 4,789,013 3,442,567 2,933,502 2,540,765 3,215,556 2,511,404 2,454,353 1,103,966 3,484,028 3,563,199 2,011,481 2.866.369 2,851,789 2,113,856 1,268,644 3,729,358 1,130,917 2,947,811 3,137,535 2,397,906 1,287,210 1,915,138 2,472,944 2,942,449 1,281,244 491,203 2,223,690 952,481 1,501,688 858,854 1,094,246 466,731 911,124 Ra'nk Counties 53 Jones., 47 Per Inhab. Rutherford 55 Henderson 54 Stanly 53 Randolph 53 AVarren 50 AVashington 48 Perquimans...... 48 Haywood 47 Jo J6 Gates 46 Duplin 45 Bertie 45 Greene 42 „ Harnett. H 6^^ A^e^i^eF?. 39 6$ Alontgomery 39 6^” Union 38 6-4 A^ancey 36 6? Swain 35 6? Columbus 35 6? Onslow 34 Sampson 33 70* Cherokee 32 Total Savings 1,717,842 986,253 1,307,851 1,603,327 1,029,191 549,412 570,607 1,246,426 432,342 2,362,464 482,472 1,269,785 1,129,950 590,995 1,184,267 ^ 4^9,m"- 664,982 1,461,439 449,141 434,967 1,216,394 Bladen 30 Wilkes 27 Madison 26 Caswell 25 Alleghany 24 Currituck 23 Yadkin 22 Camden 22 Jackson 19 Pender 19 Hyde 19 Graham 18 Tyrrell 18 Ashe 17 Macon 16 Brunswick 14 Stokes 11 Dare 10 Clay 6 549,792 1,073,775 527,858 320^ 540,122 895,639 516,136 367,280 .186,194 198,352 362,176 128,011 2,69,605 334,645 161,561 , 92,678 96,019 315,279 203,366 232,334 234,476 46,729 21,943 Ten counties are omitted for lack of authoritative population figures: Avery, Caldwell, Chatham, Cumberland, Hoke, Lee, Mitchell, Moore, Robeson, and Watauga.
The University of North Carolina News Letter (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 9, 1919, edition 1
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