North Carolina Newspapers

IMP . ? The news in this publica- m is released for the press on ceipt. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER Published weekly by the University of North Carolina for its Bureau of Extension. PXEMBER 29,1920 CHAPEL HHX, N. C. VOL VI, NO. 45 rorial Board . K. O. Branson, L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt. Entered as second-class matter November 14, 1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N* C., under the act of Auj?usr. 24, 19Ti LIBRARY EXTENSION SERVICE CAROLINA LIBRARIES .(orth Carolina has a University li- iry with 94,000 volumes, a State Li- iry in Raleigh with 47,000 volumes, a preme Court library with 23,000 voi les, 30 college libraries with 220,000 !umes, 52 public libraries in our towns d cities with 187,000 volumes; in ad- ion there are 300 traveling libraries erated by the State Library Commis- m, with 13,000 volumes, 4,*190 rural hool libraries with 326,000 volumes, d various city school libraries with ,000 volumes. All told, there are nearly exactly a illion books in the free public libraries North Carolina; or nearly two books an average for every household in e state, both races counted. However, a full fourth of all the pub- ; library books of the state are in ake county and Orange county alone— nost entirely in Raleigh and Chapel 5even hundred and fifty thousand or •ee fourths of all the library books of .rth Carolina, are in the libraries of ! state and state institutions, the col- ;es and city schools, and the public raries of 52 towns and cities. And j population served by these libraries fewer than 400,000 of our two and a If million people. iVhich means that around two million 5ple in North Carolina ase meagrely rved by rural school libraries and by i traveling libraries of the State Li- i iry Commission; with about one book ' every other household on an aver- i e. Only nine counties of the state | ve public libraries of 5,000 volumes' more; 53 counties have no free li- iries of any sort except those of the antry schools. » m the United States as a whole 27 rcent of the counties contain public raries of 5,000 volumes or more, but j North Carolina such counties number ly nine, or less than 10 percent of all 3 counties of the state. The Urgent Need 5ixty million or 67 percent of the peo- 1 of the United States are without 3quate library facilities; but in North rolina two million or 80 percent of r people are bereft of books, and linly they are tRe dwellers in our intryside. We need a tremendous library revi- 1 in North Carolina. The hope of a 'ilization lies with the people who id and think, who have a chance to e daily in the shadow of great ideals character and achievement. 2 Raw clay and clay pro ducts 1,844,483 3 Mica 577,341 4 Iron ore 446,898 5 Sand and gravel 231,813 6 Feldspar 131,442 Something like a score or more of other minerals were mined in the state, on a small scale in each instance. The most important of these were corun dum, talc, copper, marl, gold, and bary tes, the output ranging from $5,000 worth of barytes to $67,000 worth of corundum. The value of the beeswax in North Carolina is considerably great er than the value of the gold we pro duce from year to year. Thirty-eight states outrank North Carolina in mineral production. In the South, only Mississippi and South Caro lina have smaller mineral outputs. North Carolina, however, has a cred itable rank in the production of certain minerals. For instance, our rank is first in the production of mica; second in the production of feldspar, with Maine alone ahead of us; third in the produc tion of garnets for abrasive purposes, with only New York and New Hamp shire ahead of us; third in millstones, with only New York and Virginia ahead of us; third in aluminum, with only New York and Tennessee ahead of us; and fourth in silica, with only Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsip ahead of us. All of which means that North Caro lina is dominantly agricultural and in dustrial. Doubtless we shall some good day cash in the commercial possibilities of mineral production in North Carolina; but the chances are that this day is far distant, because in competition with other states we must compete with larger deposits of this or that mineral, better transportation facilities, and greater local demand by furnaces and foundries. TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP e need county library systems in •y county, and etfective county-wide ice on part of every existing library 'forth Carolina. Greensbbro and ham are leading the way in library :nsion service. Every other library le state needs to follow suit. Iready we have far more books than lers. We need more books, but also leed more readers. Getting across he folks with informing, inspiring is is a tremendous problem. Library dency needs to be reckoned in terms drculation, and library circulation ds to be quadrupled in North Caro- 5 for '-our 900,000 negroes, their ce at public library volumes ap- ches zero. The State Library Com- ion reports fewer than 40,000 vol- 3 in two city libraries and eight o colleges, or only one book for y five negro households in the state. OUR MINES AND QUARRIES The total output of the mines and luarries of North Carolina in 1917 was valued at $6,246,000 in round_numbers, .0 quote the figures of the last bulletin >n this 'subject by the federal Geologi- :al Survey. It is a bare pin’s fee when 'ompared with the crop wealth pro- lucediin North Carolina from year to 'ear-'^683,000,000 last year. Our Irish )otato crop in 1917 was worth a full nillion dollars more than the output of ■he mines and quarries of North Caro- ina, ^nd our peanuts were worth two ind a half times the minerals of all iorts produced in the state. Injthe order of values our mineral Products were as follows: '1 Stone $1,896,554 I fail to see how we can have an effi cient, intelligent democracy, capable of solving its own problems, on any other condition than that social studies be made central in the curricula of all of our schools. Democracy has everything to gain and nothing to lose from grow ing social intelligence and education. Democracies are like all other human societies—they can achieve great things only through capable leadership. But in a democracy the people themselves must provide and select their own lead ers. This means that the whole educa tional system should be devised to se lect and train the most capable for so cial leadership. This places the main responsibility for the success of democ racy upon those higher educational in stitutions which are supposed' to be equipped for the training of social and political leaders, namely, the colleges and the universities. Are American colleges and universities awake to their full responsibility in this regard? We need to see the vital relation be tween democracy and education, that both must rise or sink together. But we need especially a practical faith in education, such as will lead us to match every dollar spent for army or navy or military training by at least another dollar spent for our schools. Then, per haps, we shall be able to safeguard our own democracy, and thus do our bit -in making a world safe for democracy.— Charles A. Ellwood, University of Mis- Ijouri. I AM A FARMER I love the country—it’s God’s land. I love the trees, the birds, the flowers. I love the starry skies and the sun lit fields. I love the rain and the glistening snow. I love the pure air and the spark ling brook. I love the spring, summer, autumn and winter. I till the soil and plant the seed. I cultivate the crop and gather the harvest. I supply the food that none may starve. I work from sunrise to sunset. I work for the joy of work and for my loved ones. I have no time to strike. I believe all who eat should work. I believe in cooperation. I believe in the brotherhood of man. I believe my children should have the best in education. I believe my wife should have every home convenience. I believe in work, sleep, and play. I believe my rights and privileges are those of every man. I believe in a government of the people, for the people, by the peo ple. I believe in my God, in my Coun try, and in you. I am a farmer.—Exchange. COUNTRY HOME CONVENIENCES LETTER SERIES No. 29 BANISH BLUE MONDAY III Down in South Carolina is a planter who has 2000 acres of cotton land, and twenty-six families of negro tenants on it. He raises 900 bales of cotton a year. And this man has a herd of pure-bred cattle and a big red barn for them to live in, all fitted up with patent swing ing stanchions and conveyors for their feed, and running water. But his wife and five children live in a little old house without any modern labor-saving device in it. A friend of mine was down there, and he noticed that the wife had no help in the house, although there were ne groes in plenty all round: her face was seamed with care and hard work. At the supper table my friend looked out the window at the Blue Ridge Moun tains that pushed their purpled crowns up against the clouds only thirty miles away. “You have the mountains almost at your door, don’t you?’’ he said to her. “Yes,” she said, “but I am as close to them now as I ever get. ’ ’ “Don’t you ever go up there in the summer, when it is so hot down here?” There was a w istful look in her face as she answered: “No, I’ve always wanted to go there and rest among the cedars on those hills. I tell my husband we ought to have a little cottage there.” The face of the husband wrinkled up and he tapped the table with his fingers in an annoyed way and said: “A rich man’s dream, a rich man’s dream. ” He’ll work and slave and save and at last die and leave it all for someone to squabble over. He can’t take it witlS him: there’s no pocket in a shroud. Many men are like that—can’t spare a hand to help the wife with the house work because there’s cotton to chop or wheat to plant. They’ll get up in the morning, whistle the family together for prayers, read Psalm 117, because it has only two verses in it, mutter a few words of prayer, then rush out to slop the hogs. Fifteen million farmers in this country are being taught how to take care of the hog, what slop to feed him so as to add a few extra pounds to his weight and an extra curl to his tail: we have in this country twenty-three universities that have departments for the study of the American hog. All very well. But let’s give more attention to helping the overworked farm wives of this land. “Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence.’’—Billy Sunday in the Country Gentleman. neighborhood is one inhabited by people who make good neighbors. A good neighbor is one who bids you good morning, calls to ask what he can do when you are sick, borrows your garden tools, keeps his chickens and children at home, never plays his pho nograph after ten o’clock at night, and takes a mild interest in all of your af fairs. He calls you Tom if you happen to be a Tom and feels free to enter your house by the kitchen door if that is the more convenient way. Are there any such in great cities? When the wife bakes and has unusu ally good luck the best loaf goes to the neighbor. It expresses friendship and her commendable pride in good crafts manship. After a few days the loaf returns in the form of a cherry pie, hot from the oven, or a bowl of dumplings cooked in the homemade blackberry wine left from the boiling of a ham. If one of the children cuts a finger the neighbor has iodine. He offers it free ly, for tomorrow night he may forget to bring home a can of tobacco. Small-towp people are one big family. If their mode of life makes secrets im possible, it also lessens the^ number of things that should be kept secret; and their interest in one another—an inter est that might be very annoying to a big-town man—is inspired by kindness rather than curiosity. The man who asked “Who is my neighbor?”was not a small-town man, else he would have known. —The Satur day Evening Post. by law held to have been inducted into the military service of the United States, where they remained until they are dis charged. They are subject to trial by Courts Martial for their offense of de sertion. Draft delinquents are men who were required by law to register, but who failed to register, or who, although they registered, as required, failed to report for physical examination, or failed to return properly executed ques tionnaires. These delinquents have not been in ducted into the military service and consequently are civilians, not subject to trial by military courts. The De partment of Justice is charged with bringing these offenders to punishment, and had indicted thousands of them be fore the Federal Courts, of whom a considerable number have been convict ed. The offense of draft delinquency is no more to be overlooked than that of draft desertion. The Department of Justice has most ably cooperated with the War Department in apprehending draft deserters.— War Department Bulletin. tribution of land' ownership. Men who get out of farm life what they should to find it satisfying must have perma nent interest in the land as well as so cial life, more direct distribution, and more capital for improvements.—Ashe ville Citizen. GORKY ON RUSSIA FARMLESS FARMERS NEIGHBORS A big town offers advantages. There are unusualfacilities for spending money, impressive buildings to suggest man’s importance and show-houses where one may be entertained, at a price, by ex perts in the entertaining business. There are smooth streets to encourage the consumption of gasoline and smooth promoters to encourage the cutting of eyeteeth. There are pedestrians wear ing the • latest styles and newspapers chuckling over the latest scandals. But there are no neighbors. Ih a city a good neighborhood is a part of town inhabited by people who have plenty of spending money. In a small town a good PUBLISHING DESERTERS Out of over 24,000,000 registrants the maximum- number chargeable with wil ful desertion is 173,911; considerably less than one percent of the total regis tration, and a tremendous improvement ■ over the draft record of the Civil War. The War Department, in the near fu ture, will publish to the country a list of men classified as wilful deserters, and desires to obtain the cooperation of the various state and local officials, patriotic societies and other agencies including the Department of Justice, in bringing about the apprehension of these men. Assurances of such cooper ation have in many cases already been given. Exact copies of the list of names, grouped by states or other convenient divisions will be available for postmas ters, police stations and other agencies. Draft deserters are men who regis tered, and who \vSje ordered by the draft authorities to report for military duty at a specified time and place, and who did not so report. Such men are Much is said about home-owning; lit tle or nothing about farm-owning. Taking our population as a whole, only 48 people in every 100 are land- owners. And landlordism and tenantry in the country are as great menaces to sturdy citizenship and production as home-renting in cities is to the develop ment of responsible citizenship. Land speculators grab and hold the earth for the unearned increment. Ten ants poorly housed and tied up in hard contracts scratch the soil and rob it of richness for few years and move to the next farm or the nearest town. High food prices have forced up the price of land till only capitalists own big farms. ■ ’fhe farmer’s boys were weary of the . isolation of the country before the war. These boys saw something of the world and learned something of the comrade ship, good and bad, of great cities, and they are going back to the farm in num bers so small as to alarm both farmers ■ and economists. | Farm bureaus, good roads, commu- i nity movements social and commercial, ; better marketing and collective buying, i will help make the farm more attract-1 ive and more profitable. There was a time when farm hours were too long and farm wages too small. Today the farmer must compete with industries where hours are shore and pay large. Prosperity laached the farm too late to stop the migration to the white lights and the movie houses. Private ownership of land is instinct ive and will hardly yield to the, seductive promises of universal welfare couched in various projects of land socialization. But legislators, publicists, and farmers themselves must devise more equal dis- But are we making any new things or are we engaged in work worthy of a free people? No.- We work without soul, carelessly, and without energy. Through lack of foresight for the proper adjustment of work and worker we are wasting the forces of our republic. Of course these are mere trifles, especially for us, who wish to edify the whole world with a new social order. But are the masters, who are unable themselves to work and do not wish to work, en titled to be considered educators? The master will soon have lost his last pair of pants. I do not believe that Europe’s workers will be much edified by such maste.rs. Revolutionary Socialist policy is assuredly a very beautiful thing, but we must -svork. We have created an at mosphere of general idleness and crimi nal negligence. We have never worked sq ill or so dishonestly as at present. T(^be sure, this is in part the result of malnutrition and consequent bodily weakness, but in the main it proceeds from a lack of the sense of responsi bility. Maxim Gorky, quoted in the Literary Digest. RUSSELL ON BOLSHEVISM The Communist who sincerely believes the party crqed is convinced that pri vate property is the root of all evil; he is so certain of this that he shrinks from measures, however harsh, which no and seem necessary for constructing preserving the Communist state. The same mo-tives, however, which make him austere make him also ruth less. Marx has taught that Communism is fatally predestined to come about' this fits in with the oriental traits in the Russian character and produces a a state of mind not unlike that of the early successors of Mohammed. Oppo sition is crusht without mercy, and with out shrinking from the methods of the Czarist police, many of whom are still employed at their old work. Since evils are due to private property, evils of the Bolshevik regime, while it has to fight private property, will au tomatically cease, they say, as soon as it has succeeded. These views are the familiar conse quences of fanatical belief. To an Eng lish mind tney reenforce the conviction upon which English life has been based ever since 1688, that kindliness and tol erance are worth all the creeds in the world~a view which, it is true, we do not apply to other nations or to subject races,-Bertrand Russell, quoted in the Literary Digest. all the : > 'I; !' i'l I .' I- s a