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.
lARCH 24, 1920
CHAPEL HHJU N. C.
VOL. VI, NO. 18
aitorial Board i HI, O. Branson, L. B. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D, Carrol], J. B. Bullitt.
Entered as second-class matter November 14, 1914, at the Postoffloe at Chapel Hill, N. C„ under the act of August 24,
1912
CROP VALUES PER FARM WORKER
'HE OUNCE OF PREVENTION
The average annual death rate in North
Jarolina is a little over 14 per 1,000 of
opulatioii.
Of tliese deaths about 20 percent are
life to such adult diseases as cancer, dia-
etes, heart disease, nepliritis etc., vvliich
re not readily preventable in the present
,ateof our knowledge. But about 10
ercent «re due to tuberculosis, a goodly
ercentage of which could he prevented
y proper sanitation and most of which
311 Id be cured by early diagmisis and
roper treatment. Over 20 percent occur
mo?ftr children under three years of age,
early all of which are theoretically pre
entable and over half of whicli are prac-
cally preventable by established methods
f hygiene and sanitation. Over 12 per-
ent are due to soil pollution diseases, all
f which are easily preventalile, and
bout 6 percent are due to the acute in-
■ctious diseases, the great majority of
hich can be prevented by simple means
f sanitation.
Upon the whole a thorough system of
ealth supervision would reduce our death
ite by at least one-half and would prao-
cally eliminate typhoid, hookworm,
lalaria, smallpox, and many other pres
at causes of death and disability.
The accuracy of this s'atement is well
lown by figures given in a recent bul-
tin of the State Board of Health. In
mie eounties the cases of hookworm
ive been reduced as much as 75 per-
mt, while the average reduction in nine
miuies which are cooperating with the
ate Board is about 50 jierceut.
In these same nine counties the aver
ts annual death rate from typhoid fever
IS formerly over 35 per 100,000 popn-
tion. In 1918 their average rate was
18 than 8. One of these counties whose
rmer typhoid rate was over 33 went
rough 1918 Without a single death from
is disease.
In another of tliese counties, tlie typhoid
lath rate dropped from 40 to 5, and
1 appreciation of tlie economic value of
laltli is sliown by the policy adopted by
le of tlie banks. Loans are made “only
person,s who are able to present evi- :
ince that they live amid sanitary sur- I
undings. An applicant for a loan, in
der to receive credit, must live in a ■
line provided with a sanitary privy. He \
1(1 ids family must have been vaccinated ■
;ainst typlioid fever and lie free from ^
arked evidence of hookworm disease.” |
This IS not sentiment but sound bank-
g precaution.—J. B. B.
Attendance on normal schools and
other teacher-training schools has fallen
ofi fr(,)in 10 to 15 per cent since 1915 and
is still falling. More than 100,000 teacliing
positions are now vacant or inadequately
filled as a result of this scarcity of grist
for tliese schools to grind.
If the foundation stone of democracy
is a well-educated citizensliip we are build
ing our national life on the quicksands.
—L. A. W.
UNEDUCATED AMERICA
We liave been wont to rejoice over tlie
lucalion of our citizenship in tlie United |
tales. In fact we liave rejoiced so much !
id so loudly that we have neglected to ,
k about llie trutli of tlie matter. A. |
iriety ol revelations during tlie war and |
ter indicate that we are a grossly un-
lucated people.
Tile total average lengtli of time eacli
dividual in tlie United States spends m
ir public schools is less than 6 years. In
-her words, on tlie average we as a ua-
3U do not have tlie education of cliil-
■en who finish the filth grade.
Of every 100 children who enter tlie
-St grade-of our public schools 30 drop
It before they finish the sixth grade;
) of tlie remaining 70 are dropped bolore
ley tinisii the eigiith grade and only
□out 1 in 4 of the remainder ever finish
igh school. Not only tliat Imt tlie total
igh school enrollment is only about 8
5rceut of the total elementary scliool
irollment.
Approximately _ 1 in every 20 of our
opulaiion over ten years of age can
either’read nor write at all and about 1
1 every 5 cannot read a newspaper or
rite a simple letter. Over and beyond
lis there are many tliousands of children
tteuding schools in which not one word
E English is ever spoken.
On the basis of the physical exatnina-
ons conducted in connection with the
raft it would appear that about 1 in
very 3 of onr population has physical
efects sufficiently severe to make them
nfit for even cannon fodder.
Sometliing like 4,000,000 children in
urbi,„ools are taught by teachers less
Elan 21 years old, who have little if any
Igh school training, who have no pro-
^ssional training at all, and who are
roducts of tlie same school which they
3ach„
THE NEW ERA IN HIGHWAYS
The time has arrived when arguments
as to the aiivantages of good roads are
no longer lieard. In fact, people gen
erally are keenly desirous of better roads
immediacely even at greatcoat. The road
building program in the United Ststes
for the year 1920 exceeds that of any other*
known engineering project. About three-
fourths of a billion dollars will be avail
able dnrihg the year for road improve
ment. Probably five times as much money
will be spent on roads during this one
year as was neces.sary to build the entire
Panama Canal. The most ditiicnlt prob
lem now is not how to finance roads but
how to build tlicm to stand the require
ments of traffic.
The Engineer’s Part
In the expenditure of public funds, the
highway engineers and officials of this
country are facing the biggest responsi
bility tliat has ever been put upon public
oflicials. Road building is an engineer
ing problem and tliere can be no guaran
tee of a wise expenditure of tliis vast fund
without tlie freest atiplication of scientific
non-i)olitical tuetliods. Engineers must
liav-e ample time and opportunity to in
vestigate aud plan thorouglily all tlie im
portant features of roads tliat are to be
built and kept up, so that wliatever is
done, is done in a tliorouglily scientific
manner.
One of tlie greatest contributions of the
federal government in connection aith its
aid to road building lias been the rigid
requirements for thorough engineenng
and tlie creation of state higlnvay depart
ments whose aim it is to work in conjunc
tion with tile Bureau of Public Hoads
and the various counties in planuiiig and
laying out a permanent road system.
If funds are limited on a project, tlie
engineer must decide where technical re
quirements slioiild be retained and wliere
ignored; but he must plan tlie work so
that whatever is done will become a use
ful part ot aii3 future improvement, in
most of the counties in North Carolina,
funds are only sulficieut to build a sand-
clay or top-soil road, whicli may have to
be ciianged to a liard-suriace road in a
few years, to meet the demands of traffic.
A road of tiiis type should be located and
designed witli tiie same degree of care as
tlie liigliesc type of pavement. It should
be permanently established with tlie best
possible alignment, the easiest grades
tliat tlie topography will admit ol, the
best drainage structures, and a good sate
width. In fact every road of importance
should be located with ‘the idea of per
manence in mind.
Neglected Features
During die last five years, automobile
and motor-truck traffic has readied such
a degree of intensity and recklessness
that safety to life demands stronger and
wider bridges.
More attention siiould be paid to the
aesthetic features of road planning. The
roads of Europe are ahead of ours in this
respect. Borne of our bridges are an of
fense to every passerby. A little extra
money for appearance sake is well worth
the cost certainly for structures of con
crete that are supposed to stand for all
time to come.
We have been slow in learning that
tlie maintenance of roads should, begin as
soon as construction ceases; and tliat it
requires the supervision of an experienced
engineer just as much so as do the loca
tion and construction of roads. Tlie chief
reason why the roads of France liave a
greater reputation for excellence than
ours lies in the close attention they
have paid to maintenance. The railroads
liave long realized the importance of
keeping the road-bed and bridges in good
condition. Unless roads are properly
kept up they are a liability instead of an
asseu.—T. F Hickerson, Associate Pro
fessor Civil Engineering, University of
North Carolina.
TBE FORGOTTEN MAN
William G. Sumner
The Forgotten Man, in the Ameri
can scheme of things, is one who is
delving aw-ay in patient industry, sup
porting his family, paying his taxes,
casting his vote, supporting the church
and school, reading his newspaper,
and cheering for the politician of his
admiration, but he is the only one for
whom there is no provision in the
great scramble and the big divide.
He works, lie votes, generally he
prays—but he always pays—yes, and
above all, he pays. He does not want
an office, his name never gets into the
newspapers except when he gets mar
ried or dies. He keeps production
going on. He contributes to the
• strength of parties. He is flattered
before election. He is strongly patri
otic. He is wanted, whenever in his
little circle there is W’ork to be done
or counsel to be given. He may
grumble some occasionally to his wife
and family; but he does not frequent
the grocery or talk politics at the tav
ern.
Consequently he is forgotten. He
is a commonplace man. He gives no
trouble. He excites no admiration.
Tlierefore he is forgotten. All the bur
dens fall on liim, or on her, for it is
time to remember tliat the Forgotten
EMail is not seldom a woman.
CROP VALUES PER WORKER
Eight liundred twenty-eiglit dollars per
farm worker.
Tliis is tlie gross wealth in crop values
at farm prices proiiuced by tlie average
farm worker in North Carolina in 1919.
On tliis basis of comparison 19 states
stood ahead oi us. Soutli Carolina is tlie
only otlier Sontliern state that stood
above us, as may be seen in tlie table pro
duced elsewhere in tliis issue.
Our per-worker average of $828 is more
than tliree times tlie average of ten years
ago—$828 against $236. Tlie increase is
due to our immensely greater acreage in
tobacco, and the current liigli price levels
of botli cotton and toiiacco—the two
crops that produced two-thirds of our
crop wealth last year.
In otlier words, the average gross crejp
income in Nortli Carolina in 1919 was
close to $2500 per farm family. It was
below tliis average, of course in the grain,
hay, and forage counties, but it was
above it—far above it—in our 27 cotton
counties, and it was highest in the 20
counties that produced the buln; of our
tobacco.
Here are fundamental facts that ex
plain wily farm tenants white and black
are swarming out of the Piedmont coun
ties—the whites into tlie mill villages,
and tlie negroes into the nearby towns or
out of the state into the North and West.
In tliese grain, hay and forage counties
farm owners, for lack of labor, will be
forced to go into expansive food and
livestock farming with increased horse
and machine power as in Kansas or
Iowa, say, or they must reduce their
farms to the family size demanded by
primitive hand-tool farming and sell off
or turn out the balance of their land to
broomsedge, black-jacks and scrub pines.
It is Hobson’s choice.
Tenants of both races are fairly well
content in the cotton and tobacco belt, as
things now are, because they are hand
ling more money than they ever saw be
fore. Tliey are indeed having the time
of tiieir lives in the cotton and tobacco
counties. For instance, the finest motor
car we saw in Scotland county last fall
belonged to a negro tenant farmer. Au
tomobiles in farm tenancy areas in North
Carolina are getting to be as plentiful as
blackberries.
Some Things to Think About
Wily did 19 states of the Union pro
duce greater gross crop values per farm
worker in 1919 than North Carolina?
Tlie answers are as various as tlie
states. Local conditions everywliere en
ter into the explanations in important
details. But certain factors are fairly con-
COUNTRY HOME CONVENIENCES
LETTER SERIES No. 4
ELECTRICAL TERMS
Time was when the only scientific terms
with which a farmer had to be familiar
were confined almost entirely to agricul
ture. Long since, however, with the in
troduction of mechanical power for farm
purposes, the average fartner has come
to be more or less familiar with the lan
guage of the mechanical engineer. He
has some conception of what is meant by
steam pressure and the term horsepower
has no particular terrors for him.
The development of the farm lighting
set has placed in the farmer’s hands a
new contrivance which must be talked
about in such terms as volts, amperes,
ampere-hours, and watts. These terms
are not hard to understand when their
similarity to otliers, more familiar, is
made clear. The meaning ol tliese four
fundamental electrical terms is as follows:
Volt is the unit of electrical pressure.
It is similar to the pressure in a water
system or steam boiler, which is measur
ed in pounds per square inch. Each
storage cell of a farm lighting set, when
fully charged, develops an electrical
pressure of about 2 volts and tlie whole
battery of 16 cells about 32 volts.
Ampere is the unit used for measuring
the flow of electric current. The flow of
a spring is often measured in gallons per
hour. Similarly the electric current de
livered by the generator of a farm light
ing set is about 25 amperes. Each 20
watt lamp requires about five-eighths of
an ampere. Hence 8 such lamps would
require 8 times five-eighths of an ampere
or 5 amperes, and 40 lamps would load the
generator approximately to its capacity.
Ampere-hour is the unit used to ex
press the capacity of a storage battery
for delivering an electric current. A
storage battery stores up capacity to de
liver electric current just as a tank stores
up water to be used as needed after the
pump has stopped pumping.
Watt is the electrical unit of power. It
is just the same kind of thing as horse
power. In fact 746 watts equal one
horsepower. Electrical men prefer this
unit of power because the number of
watts delivered by an electrical generator
is the product of the number of volts
times the number of amperes. Also the
number of watts of power required to op
erate an electric motor or to light a lamp
is tlie product of the number of volts
times the number of amperes supplied
to the motor.—P. H. D.
! stant in their effects. Omitting high-bred
seeds and improved tillage we center
attention upon: (1) The per acre
values of the standard farm crops pro
duced, and (2) tlie number of acres cul
tivated by the average farm worker.
The states in which fruits and vegeta
bles, tobacco, sweet potatoes, cotton, and
peanuts—one or more or all of these—are
considerable crops, stand a good chance
to rank high in the production of per-
worker crop values. All tliese crops are
tremendous producers of per-acre values.
But gross per-worker yields rapidly
diminisli according to the average acreage
the farm worker cultivates.
For instance, the average farm worker
in Nebraska in 1919 produced gross val
ues some $500 more than in North Caro
lina—$1,341 against $828. In North Caro
lina tlie farm worker cultivates only 14
acres upon the average, in Nebraska the
average is 120 acres.
Our farm system is intensive; theirs is
extensive. One farm worker with abun
dant horse and macliine power cultivates
nearly nine times as many acres in Ne
braska as ill North Carolina. In tliis way
the gross per-worker yields of Nebraska
farmers are easily larger than ours al
though ilieir standard crops, the grains,
liay and forage, do not begin to compare
with coEton and tobacco, peanuts and
sweet potatoes in per acre values. Our
per-acre values are higher than theirs;
their per-worker values are liigher than
ours.
But what is even more significant,
their labor cost is reduced to a minimum.
Consequently their net profits in average
years tend to be greater, and their accu
mulated wealth more abundant.
As farm labor becomes scarce and
expensive in the South we shall be forced
to study this matter of labor costs and
gradually to move out of small-scale farm
ing with hand tools mainly, into medium
or large scale farming with abundant
horse and machine power—at least in our
grain, hay and forage areas. The way
out does not lie in less land better culti
vated with expensive human labor, but
in more land better cultivated with abun
dant horse and machine pow'er.
For a half century our cultivated acre
age per farm worker has been steadily
decreasing in -North Carolina and the
South year by year. For years we have
been steadily moving into intensive farm
ing, and strange to say this movement
has been in an area of cheap labor and
abundant land.
Dynamite Logic
But now that farm labor has become
scarce and high lye shall have to readjust
our farm systems. Labor scarcity is a
ffindamental condition that compels rad
ical changes in our farm areas.
However, as long as cotton and tobac- '
CO bring top-notch prices we are not like
ly to look ahead wisely and to arrange
changes accordingly. Apparently we are
looking into the future with blinkers on.
We are awaiting the logic of dire necessi
ty, it seems.
And dire necessity awaits us at the next
turn of the road. It is the boll weevil.
The chances are that this pest will cover
our cotton areas by 1922. Then we’ll
change our farm system, or we’ll go in
to bankruptcy in our farm regions.
Cotton and tobacco farming on a bread-
and-meat basis is the way of escape, and
happy is the farmer who finds it well ahead
of the day of calamity.
The logic of dynamite lies in dire ne
cessity, and compelling logic rarely ever
lies anywhere else.
CROP VALUES PER FARM WORKER
Based on the Reports of the U. S. Department of Agriculture covering the year 1919
MISS HENRIETTA R. SMEDES
University of North Carolina
Average for the LTnited States, $783.15
Rank State Per AVorker
1 Nevada $2,291.33
2 California 1,616.50
3 Arizona 1,442.26
4 Nebraska 1,341.93
5 Iowa 1,335.41
6 AV'yoming 1,249.71
7 Kansas 1,169.97
8 Colorado 1,136.53
9 South Dakota 1,127.34
10 Illinois 1,106.35
11 New Jersey 1,063.67
12 Minnesota 1,056.76
13 Idaho 1,003.77
14 North Dakota 950.81
15 AVashington 935.53
16 South Carolina 913.20
17 Oregon 891.41
18 Alary land 884.95
19 Connecticut 839.65
20 North Carolina 828.08
21 Delaware 798.15
22 Te.xas -797.16
23 Wisconsin : 793.11
24 Oklahoma 791.77
Rank .State
25 Indiana
New York
Alontana
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Per Worker
1781.30
772,37
759.18
700.79
Massachusetts ggg
673:28
665.58
•■ • 662.86
639.58
627.39
619.43
588.72
582.99
577.33
572 79
Mississippi 558,4]
551.11
West Virginia 505.90
New Hampshire 497 04
New Mexico " 467’3g
Alabama ” 459 28
45530
Missouri
Michigan
AYrmont
Louisiana
Georgia
Kentucky
A^rginia
Rhode Island ..
Arkansas ....
Maine.
Florida