The news in this publica>
lion is released (or the press on
receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
University of North Carolina
for its Bureau of Extension.
OCTOBER 1, 1919
CHAPEL HELL, N. C.
VOL. V, NO. 45
Editorial Board j C. Branson* L. B. Wilson, B. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll. J. B. Bullitt.
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postofflce at Chapel Hill, N« O., under the act of August 24,1913.
THE STATE AND COUNTY COUNCIL
THE WELFARE COUNCIL
The spectacle of 32 state and federal of
ficials sitting; in witii 233 county welfare
)fficera and tiieir volunteer social allies is
a brand new thing in Nortli Carolina.
Nothing else like tlie State andiOonnty
Council on the University campus ever
happened in this state, or so far as we
know in any other state of tlie ITiion.
All told, the registered attendants upon
tlie Council numbered 265, with periiaps
a half-hundred more people wlio were
A WELFARE AGENCY
The University of North Carolina with
its weekly News Letter and other agen
cies of public service is freely at the com
mand of the people of this state in all the
fields of public welfare, progress that en
gaged the mind of the recent State and
County Conncil. Every issue of the
News Letter these five years has focused
attention upon some economic, .social,
or civic problem and puzzle of North
Carolina.
We should like to have on our regular
mailing list every juvenile court judge,
present without for^ial enrollment. They | every public welfare superintendent, ev-
representod seven states including North ; ery school board member, every publics
Carolina, and 76 of the 100 counties of
tlie state; all but Alleghany, Cherokee,
Clay, and Graham of tlie 17 mountain
counties, all but Yadkin, Burke, Lincoln,
Cleveland, and Henderson of the foot-hill
counties, all but Tyrrell of the Pamlico
counties, all but Hertford, Martin, Cruv-
..“,n, .Tones, and Pender of tlie tidewater
counties, and all but Vance, Greene,
Sampson, Harnett, and Hoke of the cot
ton belt.
Wake led with 43 councillors, followed
by Durham with 12, Guilford with 11,
and Perquimans with 10. The other 72
•counties represented had eacli from one
to nine delegates jiresent.
The county delegations included 95
■school and public welfare superintend
ents, II county health otlicers, 22 other
court-house officers—the juvenile emu L
judgeedeading, 53 volunteer social allies
and related social agents—including 7
representatives of welfare institutions, 7
city w'elfare oiiicials, and 41 county board
members concerned with county finance,
health, education, highways, and public
welfare problems.
New Under the Sun
Whenever before in North Carolina
has there been siicii a body of people
gathered together as these 300 public
welfare servants, official and unofficial?
Here are wbat President Graham loved
to call 'real people’—people with their
iiearta and hands steeped in real prob
lems, and busy with the realities of hu
man w’ell-being in Nortli. Carolina—edu
cation, health, highways, social adjust
ment, and taxation.
And they were bundled up together in
six se.ssions daily for four days, with
round-table conferences and informal dis
cussions between times. They lived to
gether in the college dormitories and had
their meals together in Swain Hall at
Jil.25 a day. They formed intimate ac
quaintances in the shade of a university
■ ampn.“, in the comforting quiet of a lit- j
tie country ccllcgc town, far removed
from the distracting confusions of a big
city center.
Most of these social servants for the
first time in their lives were brougtit to a
keen realization of tiieir mutual depend
ences, and the foundational necessity for
social solidarity if we are to get ahead at
a lively gait in Nortli Carolina, They are
sure to have hereafter a keener sympathy
and a deeper respect for the most he
roic public servants in this or any other
state—the court-house officials who^serve
without pay aud whose reward for tlie
most part is criticisin' alone,, the county
commissioners 1 And on the other hand
the county commissioners present have a
better understanding of the public wel
fare necessities of their counties and will
be readier hereafter to finance schools,
health, highWays, and the like, to the
full limits of possibility.
A Great Lesson
But it was a state ofiici'aL who stumbled
on perhaps the largest lesson of this
Gouncil.
“Quite without realizing it,” said he,
"“my real name all these years has been
Jackie Horner, who, you may remember,
sat in a corner, eating his Christmas pie,
who put in his thumb and pulled out a
plum aud said, What a big boy am I.
Hereafter I shall be sitting down with
the plain folks around a common table,
. . 'passing along good things to my tellow
. / ■ workers in a common cause, and saying,
whut a big job you’ve got! What can I
■uo to help you? What a big boy are you!
I’ve learned that the work is everything
—far bigger than the worker; that it will
last on and on after I’m dead and gone;
~ and so I want to know, What can I do to
help you along in your job today.”
!'■*?' It was the one great outstanding lesson
' of this first State and County Council,
and many were the people who learned it.
health official, every minister, and every
legislator in the state—these especially.
But also the thoughtful farmers, bankers,
mill owners, and merchants in general,
and the civic-minded women of the .stale
in particular.
The Lniversity is pnqiaring to increase
the News l,etter mailing list from 15 to
20 thousand readers weekly ; but—and
mark this—this little sheet goes to no
body without direct application for it. Tt
goes to everybody in North Carolina free
of charge, but we must be cocksure that
wo do not waste a single copy on any
body that does not want it. This is why
we do not broadcast it aimlessly.
The Ihiiversity News lA^tter is not a
college gossip sheet. Tt is not advertising
the Lniversity. The University is not
thinking first and most about itself but
first and most about North Carolina, and
.the News Letter is convincing proof of it.
If you want it, write for it at once, and
advise u.s proinjitly whenever yon change
your mailina address—that is, if yon do
not wish to bo stricken ofTonr mailing list. |
The next issue will carry lists of social j
welfare books and bulletins that can be
had for the asking or borrowed from the
University Library.
4
WOMEN AT THE COUNCIL
A signifleant feature of the State and
County Council was the large number of
women present—forty of them formally
registered and nearly as many more in
constant attendance. Women have al
ways done welfare work. They have
rarely ever had an opportunity to become
thoroughly trained to do it in the South.
A new era starts on the day when Caro
lina women say, AYe wish to lielp, and
then add. And we .vish to know our job
down to the last detail, and help to the
fullest advantage of everybody concerned.
.At a meeting held in the University Y.
M. 0. A., an invitation was extended byj
the University to the Stab; Feieration oft
AVornen’s Clubs to meet on the Univer-j
sifcy campus as often as they may deem
wise. The acceptance of this invitation
would necessitate a change of meeting
date for the Federation from spring to
late in August or early September. The
advantages would be many. The Uni-
\fersity would entertain the convention in
its dormitories an-i Swain Hall at mini
mum cost to the visitors, qiround 3>l-25 a
day. The burden of private entertaining
would be eliminated. So would ques
tions of dress and othpr matters of ex
pense.
They MaHe Suggestions
ft was su,g,aested that the State Nurses
Association mi.ght well be invited to meet
at the same time and place for mutual re
inforcement in social enthusiasm and ef
fectiveness. The women of the clubs who
wish to help along in the state health
campaigns and the nurses who do the
actual work need to know one another
better. ■
Another suggestion was a meeting of
the State Press Association and the News
paper Institute st the University the
same week. Here are prime agencies of
public welfare, every one of which needs
the help of the others.
The women present at the meetingrac-
cepted these suggestions with alacrity.
Mrs. M. H. Stacy, Adviser to AVomen at
the University, presided. She appointed
as committee to take these matters under
consideration: Mrs. R. E. Little, Wades-
boro, Chairman, Mrs. Clarence A. John
son, Raleigh, Miss Elizabeth Kelly, Ra
leigh, and Miss Ernestine Noa, Chapel
Hill. Mrs. AValter F. AVoodward, AYil-
Bon, and Miss M. Pearl AA^eaver, Ashe
ville, were also called into conference
with the committee.
President Chase stated that the Univer
sity could be amply ready to entertain
such a joint meeting by September, 1921.
—E. N.
THE HUMAN EQUATION
AVe are accustomed to believe with
out argument that American institu-'^'
tions will endure forever, but it is not
always ea.sy in those troublous times
to give reason for the faith that is in
us. If republican America is estab
lished on surer foundations than was
Rome, it is because of a different sjur-
it breathed into the forms of govern
ment. Alere excellence of material
fabric of which the political state is
constructed will not tran.sforiu human
nature. Alaterial progress can go apace
with moral degeneration. Germany^
showed how it can be done on a grand
scale.
At the University -if North Carolina
tliere is thi.s week in .session a confer
ence w’hose pnrpos> furnishes one of
the reasons w'hy democratic govern
ment can survive the wrecks of time,
in opening the conference Governor
Bickett declared that the greatest fac
tor in modern si'ciety is the human
equation, the welfare of the individ
ual. A’arious are the explanations
given why Rome, Nineveh, and Tyre
reeled to their fall, but any account
of their life story shows that they sin
ned .against the worth of the individ
ual and denied to men, women, and
children the opportunity of expanding
all their powers. They disregarded the
human equation.
At Chapel Hill this week 300 coun
ty and state officials are seeking bet
ter methods of promoting human wel-
'lare in city and country. The men
and women in session for the state and
comity council meet with the convic
tion that it is a civic crime to spend
millions for roads and a bagatelle for
tluj,protection of childhood against ig
norance, disease, and crime. Roads,
tax reform, and like matters have their
place on the program, as they should.
But the university council includes in
its platform the doctrine that moral,
healthy, happy, economically inde
pendent citizens are the state’s great
est asset.—Aslieville Citizen.
A FEW STAR SHELLS
The welfare officers attending the State
and County Council were learning some
thing new about their jobs every minute
of the time, during the daily sessions or
in discussions on the campus. Many of
these things were like star-shells and
flares in the night along a battle front.
HighAway Maiateisanc®
For instance, few of us xiiew that our
county road authorities are cempeiled by
law to levy a property tax for highway
maintenance amountmg to not less than
$50 nor more than $120 per mile accord
ing to the mileage cost of the roads, for
all roads built or to be built wdth bond
moneys, such tax to be levied annually
during the term of the bonds. Chapter
190, N. C. Laws 1919.
AATiat counties have complied with this
law? AVe should like to publish a list of
them in the University News Letter for
the information of the public.
If they are not obeying this law, then
the question is, AAffiy not?
The matter is important. During the
last ten years, around 20 million dollars
have been spent in public highway Ijuild-
ing in North Carolina; and before July
of next year 10 naillion dollars more will
be going into improved roads. They will
be just so much more money wasted un
less systematic road patrol and effective
road repair safeguard these invested
millions of public funds. Surely it will
not take sheer bankruptcy to ballywhack
into North Carolina some sense about the
fundamental importance of road mainte
nance 1 •
Free Highway Machinery
And again, we wonder how many of
those present knew that the State High-
w'ay Commission has already in use 87
army trucks w'orth something like |250,-
000, and is in fairway of securing from the
Federal Government additional road ma
chinery valued at one and a half million
dollars—all without costing the state a
single cent?
Good work, Mr. Page. ^
State-Wiile Auditing
A good deal was said in the Council
sessions about the necessity for the audit
ing of county accounts under a state-wide
system, and a vast deal more ought to be
said on thi.s subject; but almost nobody
knew' that the state auditor already has a
travelling accountant supported by a fund
of $7500 a year, and that the state treas
urer has $2500 a year with which to pro
tect the state treasury in the prompt and
proper collection of state taxes. The
Revenue Act of 1919, Section 96.
The University News Letter would be
glad to pass on to its readers detailed in
formation in brief about Iiow this $10,000
is being expended.
County Treasurers
Strange, but the Conncil was,very much
surprised to learn that up to 1915 forty-
one counties had abolished the office of
treasurer; that nevertheless all but six
of these counties iy 1915-16 tolled the
school fund with commissions for hand
ling it, in amounts ranging from $86 in
Granville to $1717 in Madison; that all
told nearly $57,000 of the school money
of the children of the state in that year
went in commissions to city and county
treasurers.
Tiie treasurers’ commissions for hand
ling the school funds of North Carolina
in 1915-16 were enougli to pay the salar
ies of the school superintendent and all
hi;^teachers in a county like Alamance,
Beaufort, Columbus, or Davidson,' or any
one of a score of our larger counties.
I Treasurer or no treasurer, is there no
! way to protect the interest of the children
in the school fund of tliese counties?
Fourteen counties did it in 1915-16, as
follows: Avery, Forsyth, Gaston, Guil
ford, Henderson, Hoke, Jones, Moore,
Northampton, Pender, Rutherford,
Swain, Union, and AVilkes. An honor-
roll, this!
AVhy cannot the other 86 counties do
it? AVhat’s the matter?
It’s a Local Job
I County Government and County Af-
I fairs in North Carolina is the title of the
11917-18 A'ear-Rook of the North Carolina
1 Club at the University.
AA'e found in the Council crowd a good
many people who had received copies of
it (it goes free of charge to any citizen of
the state wiio wants it), but we found al
most no'nody who had thumbed it thor
oughly from cover to cover.
That i.s to say, nobody but one man—a
keqn, public-spirited lawyer, who said:
AA’e’11 not get far in this state in public
welfare progress, which is a local job in
the last analysis, until county govern
ment in North Carolina ceases to be
cluii'.sy, sprawling, unbusiness-like, irre
sponsible, and wasteful, and comes to be
unified under responsible headship, with
uniform county account keeping and re
porting in the courthouse offices, under
the compulsion of a state-wide system of
county-account auditing. Your Carolina
Club Bulletin tells the whole story of this
necessity. If only a half dozen intelligent
legislators would read it to some purpose,
we’d quickly have two or three pieces of
fundamental legislation that wotild bring
order out of the present chaos of county
government in this state. Then w'e’ll
make real headw'ay in public welfare
work. If only a half dozen thoughtful
people iu,£very county would read this
bulletin, we’d have the needed legisla
tion, or know why not, in short order.-
And much more to the same effect.
Rose,
AV’ick-
K. R.
Oettin-
H. G.
Uzzell,
AVhit-
A. AIcDade, F. C.
P.
THE ROLL OF COUNCILLORS
Alamance: Rev. P. H. Fleming, M, C.
Terrell, .G-C. Haworth, C. C. Thompson,
Miss Eula Dickson, D. J. AValker.
Alexander: A. F. Sharpe. I
Anson: Mrs. R. E. Little, J. AV. Cam
eron. '
Ashe: 0. M. Dickson. , ■
Avery: F. A. Edmundson.
Beaufort: H. B. Seawright,. Miss M.
Davis. , /
Bertie: H. AV. Early. /
Bladen: B. J. Cromartie.
Brunswick: D.. G. Robinson, Miss»F.
Dosher, Mrs. F. J. Stevens, M. C.
Guthrie.
Buncombe: Miss Pearl AVeaver, G. AL
Reynolds, Dr. W. H. Scruggs, Jr.
Cabarrus: J. M. Furr, J. C. Querry.
Caldwell: R. M. Smith, J. T. Reece.
Carteret: K. J. Respess.
Caswell: F. R. AVarren.
Catawba: G. E. Long, 0. E. Hefner,
G. W. Ship, AV. P. Speas, J. T. Setzer.
Chatham: H. B. Norwood, J. B. At
water, H. M. Kinsey, J, Norwood, Mr.
and Mrs. F. M. Nash,
Columbus: M. K. Fuller.
Cumberland: J. A. Martin.
Currituck: AV. D. Cox.
Dare: R. 0. Evans, B. G. Crisp.
Davidson: S. G. Hasty, C. \V. Stokes,
P. F. Feezor, J. C. Ripple, E. F. Long,
M. L. Kcsler.
Davie: AV. M. .Seaford.
Dnplin: AI. H. AAMoten, H. Stewart.
Dnrliam: ,lohn Sprunt Hill, A. P.
Carlton, H.T. Carver, C. M. Crutchfield,
H. A. Forester, Benehan Cameron, H,
Holton, Aliss S. Hood, Miss Josephine
Miilor, T. .1. Pendergrass, F. F. Schnepfe,
AV. H. Young.
Edgecombe: AA’. S. Howard, J. Brake,
Miss B. Savage, Alis.s M. Lile.s, Mrs. J.
0. Powell, Miss Rose Ehrenfell.
F'orsyth: W. B. Spea^, R. L. Carlton,
.A. S. McFarlane.
Franklin: J. C. Jones.
Gaston: F. P. Hall, W. B. Hunter.
Gates: L. Hofler, H. A, Harrel.
Granville: .1. A. .Alorris, J. E. Davis,
J. F. Jackson, AIr.s. AI. 0. Evins, Mrs. A.
L Capehart, .Miss Alary Shotwell.
Guilford: \A’. L. Brewer, AV. C. Boren,
Mrs. B. B. Carr, T. R. Foust, H. A.
Garret, G. AA'. Hiatt, AA'. C. Jackson, AV.
C. .lones, A. AV. AIcAllister, S. B. Tur-
rentine. Miss Pearl AA’ychc.
Halifax: A. E. Akers, R D. .Jenkins.
Haywood: R. A. Sentell.
Hyde: AL S. Credle, /. T. Fortesque.
Iredell: J. A. Steele, AA'. AV. Holland,
Miss F. Kosser.
.Jackson: M. Buchanan.
Johnston: G. T. AA'hitley, H. A',
AV. B. Crumpton.
I^ee: F. M. Judd.
Lenoir: Dr. and Mrs. T. F.
liffe, Rev. G. B. Hanrahan,
Curtis, Dr. C. B. McNairy, Yliss
ger.
Macon: Airs. F. L. Siler.
McDowell: L. AV. Gettys, Mrs. J. AV.
PI ess.
Mecklenburg: Aliss A Crutchfield, L.
II. Ranson, J. M. Alathews, G. G. Scott.
Montgomery: F. H. AVood.
Moore: A. B. Cameron, R. T. Hoke,
J. R.Page, T, E. McLean.
Nash: L. S. Inscoe, J. A. Beale, Jr.,
G. R. King.
New Hanover: AA'. A. McGirt, Dr. C.
Fi. Low.
Northampton: D. A. Parker.
Onslow: AV. AL Thompson.
Orange: R. H. Claytor, Rev.
Dorsett, Air. and Airs. AI. AV.
Charles Strayhorn, Aliss Olive
more, S. Browning, C.
Branson.
Pamlico: J. C. AA'ooodward,
.tones, T. B. Attmore.
Pasquotank: P. S. A'ann.
Perquimans: J. H. Aliller, R. H
AVelch, AA'. Mathews, T. C. l.ane, Chas.
AVhedbee. Air. and Airs. J. J. Fleetwood,
A. R. Fleetwood, K. \A'. Joyner, Aliss
K. Fleetwood.
Person: D. AA’. Bradsher, .1. A. Beam.
Pitt: AI. K. Blount, H. G. Swanson,
S, B. Underwood, T. AL Hooker, T.
Nixon, Robt. H. AVright.
Polk: AV. P. Hume.
Randolph: I. G. Hinshaw.
Richmond; AA'. N. Everett, Jr., O. G.
Reynolds.
Robeson: E. R. Harden, J, AA'. AA'ard.
Rockingham: P. H. Gwynn. L. N.
Hickerson. J. H. Allen, Rev. AV'. J.
Gordon, Miss L. Spessard, P. L. Gwynn.
Rowan: Airs. E. E. Overman, Airs. M.
O. Linton, R. G. Kizer, C. P.Trexler, 0.
H. Boyden.
Rutherford: R. F. Price.
Scotland: A. Hail.
Stanly: C. A. Reap.
Stokes: AL D. Phillips. J. C. Carson.
S'iirry: AA'. Y. Davenport, L. AI. Epps,
I. H. Allen.
Swain.' J. AL Smiley, G. I. Calhoun.
Transylvania: F. T. AVilson, A. F.
Mitchell, \V. J. AA'aliis.
Union: R. Funderburke, R. AV'. Allen.
AVake: A, T. Allen, B. Arendell, K. F.
Beasley, Gov. T. AV'. Bickett, Airs. C.P.
Blalock, L. C. Brogden, T. E. Brown,
E. F. Carter, K. N. Childress, O. J. Cof
fin, Dr. G. M. Cooper, P. H. Coor, Miss
Daisy Denson, AL C. Duncan, Baxter
Durham, F. H. Green, J. L. Harris, J.
T. Harris, C. R. Hudson, Carey H. Hun
ter, F. II. Jeter, Airs. TKdgar Johnson,
Airs. Clarence A. .Johnson, Rev. Living
ston Johnson, Aliss Elizabeth Kelly, S..
J. Kirby, Dr. B. AV'. Kilgore, J. C. Lock
hart, H. AI. London, A. J. Maxwell, Airs.
Jane S. McKimmon, N. C. Newbold,
Frank Page, Aliss AI. B. Palmer, Ex-
Judge George P. Pell, AV. G. Privette,
Dr. W. S. Rankin, Dr. F. M. Register,
P. E. Seagle, AV. L. Spoon, J. S. Stell,
Mrs. Kate B. A^'aughn, Rev. R. T, Vann,
Dr. B. E. Washburn, R. F. AVilliams.
AV'arren: R. R. Rodwell, AV. Allen,
Miss A. L. Rankin.
'Washington: T. H. Darden, J. AV.
Darden, C. V. W. Ansbon.
AA'atauga: E. AI. Brown, 0. L. Har
den.
AVayue: A. E. Howell, Aliss Estelle
Smith, Miss A. P. Hallenback.
AVilkes:. S. E. Leonard, C. C. AVright,
Aliss Cleone Hobbs.
AA’ilson: H. B. Lane, L. J. Smith,
Mrs. W. F. AA'oodard.
A'ancey: G. A.^Anderson.
Other States
Judge C. N. Feidelson, Savannah, Ga.,
VV'. AI. Reinhardt, Baltimore, Md., R. K.
.Atkinson, Sag Harbor, N. Y., Aliss
Lassie Kelly, Richmond; A'a., C. F. Fau-
cette, Atlanta, Ga., E. AV'. James, Wash
ington, D. C., Dr. A. VV’. Fi;eeman, Co
lumbus, 0.
Counties Unrepresented
, The following counties had no repre
sentatives in the State and County Coun
cil: Alleghany, Burke, Camden, Chero
kee, Chowan, Clay, Cleveland, Craven,
Graham, Greene, Harnett, Henderson,
Hertford, Hoke, Jones, Lincoln, Madison,
Martin, Mitchell, Pender, Sampson, Tyr*
rell, Vance, and Yadkin.