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.
^BER 6, 1920
H*"—
Ititorial Boara i K. O. Branson U. B. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt.
CHAPEL HHX, N. C.
VOL VI, NO. 46
Entorad as aecond-ola.ss matter November 14, 1914. at the Postomci* at Chapel Hill, N, C., under the act of August 34, 191i
WEALTH IN CHURCH PROPERTY
:arolina church wealth
in two and a half centuries we have
3een willing to invest 28 million 600
;housand dollars in church buildings and
larsonages in North Carolina. So read
;he figures in the 1916 Census of Relig-
ous Bodies.
But in ten years we have invested 100
million dollars in automobiles. We are
now buying new cars at the rate of 60
million dollars a year. What we spend
for motor cars in a single year is more
than double the wealth we have accu
mulated in church properties since Wil
liam Drummond’s day.
It cost a little over 6 million dollars
to keep our 10,000 churches in commis
sion in 1916, while we are now spending
around 20 million dollars a year to keep
our 110,000 cars in commission.
It costs almost exactly as much to
support our churckes year by year as it
does to support our state government.
We support the church about as well as
we support the state, and we starve
them both.
Our investment in church property in
1916 was $26.60 per member, while our
investment in motor cars is now $44 per
inhabitant, counting men, women, and
children of both races.
' Where a man’s treasure is, there his
heart will be also. And it is true, the
other way around.
Denominational Wealth
There are 50 different religious bodies
in North Carolina. In 1916 they had
9736 organizations or congregations, 1210
of which had no Sunday schools; 9136
church buildings worth $25,523,323; 1322
parsonages worth$3,077,203, and 1,080,-
723 church members who own most of
the billions on our tax books.
Church members are 62 percent of our
population 10 years old and over. The
people of these ages not on the rolls of
iny church of any name, sect, or sort,
lumber 648,250. Which is to say, nearly
;wo of every five people of responsible
jges in North Carolina are outside the
ihurch- within the curtilage of the
’hurch, to be sure, but not on the church
-oils. See the University News Letter,
VoL V, Nos. 14, 15, 21, and 24.
Only four states of the Union had a
arger number of church organizations
n 1916—New York, Georgia, Pennsyl
vania, and Texas, in the order named.
3nly 18 states had more money invested
in church property, three of these being
Southern states -Georgia, Virginia, and
fexas.
Almost exactly half of all the church
members of the state are Baptists of
various sorts, white and colored, 540,013
in number, but they own a little less
than a third of ttie church property,
$8,041,448. The Methodists of various
sorts are a little less than a third of the
total church membership of the state,
343,866 all told, but they own more than
a third of the property in church build
ings, $8,936,998.
The Episcopal church ranks 8th in the
number of members, 18,545 in all, but
4th in church property, $1,406,400, 2nd
in per-member church property, and 1st
in per-member wealth in rectories.
The Presbyterians rank third in the
number of members, 74,416 all told in
the four organizations, and third in
church property, with buildings valued
at $4,060,065.
lanK in Church Property
Arranged in the order of wealth in
church buildings, the leading denomina
tions ranked as follows in 1916:
1 Methodist bodies: eight
kinds, white and colored $8,936,998
2 Baptist bodies: seven
kinds, white and col.... 8,041,448
3 Presbyterian bodies: four
kinds 4,050,066
4 Protestant Episcopal
church 1,406,400
5 Lutheran bodies: three
kinds 812,866
6 fPoman Catholic church... 397,310
7 Disciples of Christ. 339,900
8 Christian church 321,826
9 Moravian church 210,200
All other denominations:
23 in all, with 33,123 mem
bers all told 1,006,311
Total $25,523,323
Church Wealth Per Member
But the order changes when these
figures are reduced to per-member
wealth in church buildings, as follows:
1 Roman Catholic church $79
2 Protestant Episcopal church.... 76
3 Presbyterian churches 54
4 Moravian church 46
5 Reformed church in the U. S... 40
6 Lutheran churches 35
7 Methodist churches, white 26
8 Christian church 18
8 Baplist churches, white 18
10 Disciples of Christ 17
11 Negro churches, seven bodies... 15
Average, total membership, white
and colored 23
The per-member investment in church
buildings in North Carolina is small-
only $23. Twenty-three dollars will
barely furnish the most modest bed-room
in the homes of church members. It
would not begin to pay for the furniture
in anybody’s parlor. The fact is, it will
barely buy a single tire for a Ford car.
The averages range from $16 for the
negro church members—about what a
half acre of corn will produce, to $79
for the Roman Catholics—which is less
than the price of a tire for a fine auto
mobile. Clearly we are not laying up
any great amount of treasure in church
tabernacles on earth.
Parsonage Property
The nearly 10 thousand congregations
in North Carolina reported only 1322
church homes for ministers—parson
ages, pastoriums, manses, rectories, as
they are variously called. They were
worth all told $3,077,263.
Arranged in the order of wealth in
parsonages, the leading denominations
appear as follows.
1 Methodists, white and col
ored, 695 parsonages,'544
white, 151 colored ..... .$1,328,144
2 Presbyterians, 192 parson
ages 616,050
3 Baptists, white and colored,
181 parsonages, 163 white,
28 colored 487,275
4 Episcopalians, 99 parsonages 282,750
6 Lutherans, 71 parsonages.. 153,900
6 Roman Catholics, 15 parson
ages 54,400
7 Reformed church, 25 parson
ages 63,500
8 Moravians, 7 parsonages... 31,000
9 Disciples, 5 parsonages.... 14,200
10 Christians, 1 parsonage 3,500
All other religious bodies, 22
in number, with 31 par
sonages 52,484
Total $3,077,203
Per-Member Investment
But when these figures of parsonage
wealth are reduced to a per-member
basis, the order changes; and they serve
to indicate the relative concern of the
various religious bodies about the com
fort of ministers and their families.
1 Episcopalians $15.24
2 Roman Catholics 10.81
3 Reformed Church 8.76
4 Presbyterians 8.30
6 . Moravians 6.85
6 Lutherans 6.72
7 Methodists, white 4.40
8 Baptists, white 1.36
9 Disciples of Christ 70
10 Christians 20
Negro church bodies, seven in
number 65
Average, all denominations,
white and colored 2.84
Most of the church homes of the state
are located in the towns and cities.
There are very few in the country re
gions. We have never been able to find
but 27 country church homes in North
Carolina—most of them in the Scotch-
Irish and German-Lutheran sections of
the state.
The preachers who serve our country
churches, with once-a-month sermons
as a rule, usually live in towns, com
monly in homes of their own or in rented
houses. They are absentee preachers,
not resident pastors or shepherds of
their country flocks.
The fate of our churches, especially
our country churches, is directly related
UNIVERSITY FREEDOM
President H. W. Chase
It is the faith of this University
that, with men of your years and at
tainments, character develops best
in an atmosphere of freedom. But
the freedom in which the University
believes is not freedom to do what
one likes; it is the freedom to do
what is right; to do it not because
one is compelled to do it, but because
one chooses to do it.
Such a faith does not do away with
responsibility; it puts the responsi
bility where it belongs, squarely on
the man himself. It expects him to
want to conduct himself as a fine
citizen in a free community; if he
lacks this desire it holds him un
worthy of membership in the com
pany of Carolina men.
Remember that individual freedom
means individual responsibility; that
you have no right to accept the one
and defy the other. Remember that
your voice helps to form public opin
ion on the campus; be certain that
it is heard speaking for the right.
From this moment on, align yourself
with nothing that might, however
faintly, smirch the honor of this
place; align yourself with every
thing that makes for a greater and
finer Carolina.
I have so strong a faith in the
soundness and justice of the pub.lic
opinion of this campus that I have
come to this conclusion: A man who
lives as the opinion of this campus
holds that a Carolina man ought to
live is exhibiting and developing pre
cisely those moral qualities, precisely
the sort of character, that the world
outside this campus stands most in
need of.—Extract from address of
Welcome, University of North Caro
lina, September 23, 1920.
to living conditions and living salaries
for ministers. Hence the foundational
importance4)f comfortable church homes
in larger numbers.
Two dollars and 84 cents per church
member, invested in parsonages, is not
creditable. Three of our leading denom
inations drop below this average. The
negro churches outrank one of these
and nearly equal another.
It is pertinent to add that $2.84 falls
far short of paying for a single bushel
of Irish potatoes, now-a-days.
A commodious, comfortably furnished
church home with ample space for a
garden, poultry ranges, and pasture for
a cow, goes far to reconcile a minister
to a small salary. Without such a rent-
free church home he is forced to ‘look
after the affairs of his own household’,
in Saint Paul’s phrase, and to get out
of the ministry or be ‘worse than an in
fidel’.
Average Church Salaries
Speaking of ministerial salaries, the
denominational averages in 1916 are ap
palling. These are doubtless greatly in
creased during the last four years. If
not, our preachers are grazing on mighty
short commons, because the cost of liv
ing has more than doubled since 1913.
As a matter of fact a dollar will buy no
more existence necessities today than
45 cents would buy ten years ago. It is
well for church members to remember
that even the preacher is worthy of his
hire.
The average salary of preachers in 13
religious bodies in 1916 follows:
1 Episcopalian $1632
2 Presbyterian, Southern 1351
3 Disciples. . 1251
4 Baptist, Southern 1072
5 MethodistEpiscopal South 1037
6 Lutherans, United Synod 932
7 Roman Catholic 838
8 Methodist Protestant 832
9 Christian ffO
10 Friends 681
11 Negro Baptist, National Con-
COUNTRY HOME CONVENIENCES
LETTER SERIES No.' 30
BANISH BLUE MONDAY—IV
One of the best stories told by Aunt
Jane of Kentucky is about how a farm
er’s wife rebelled against cooking a
Sunday dinner for the preacher.
“I got up early,” says the farmer’s
wife, “and dressed the children and fed
my chickens and strained the milk and
washed up the milk things and got break
fast, washed the dishes, cleaned up the
house and gathered the vegetables for
dinner and washed the children’s hands
and faces and put their Sunday clothes
on ’em, and jest as I was startin’ to get
myself ready for church,” says she, “I
happened to think that I hadn’t skimmed
the milk for next day’s churnin’. So I
went down to the spring house and did
the skimmin’, and jest as I picked up
the cream jar to put it on the shelf my
foot slipped, ” says she, “and down I
came and skinned my elbow on the rock
step, and broke the jar all to smash and
spilled the cream all over the creation.
“However,” says she, “I picked up
the pieces and washed up the muss, and
then I went to the house to git myself
ready for church, and I heard Sam hol
lerin’ for me to come and sew a button
on his shirt. The children had been play
in’ with my work basket and I couldn’t
find a needle,” and, to make a long
story short, she ran the needle into her
finger and when she was dressed the
children were dirty from playing in the
mud and she had to dress them again.
Then she rubbed her own dress against
the black grease of the wagon hub.
No wonder that, as she says: “The
nearer I got to church the madder I
got.” No wonder that she refused to
join in singing the hymn: Welcome,
Sweet Day of Rest.
A Lesson for Husbands
No wonder that in telling of it after
ward she said: “I ain’t seen any day of
rest since the day I married Sam, and I
don’t expect to see any till the day I
die. If Parson Page wants that hymn
sung I’ll let him get up a choir of old
maids and old bachelors, for they’re the
only people that see any rest Sunday or ■
any other day. ’ ’
No wonder that when Sam took the
preacher home with him to dinner she
rebelled against cooking a big meal, and
gave him the “left over cold vittles”.
But Parson Page’s heart was in the
right place and he said: “I’d rather eat
a cold dinner any time than have a wo
man toiling over a hot stove for me.”
And then she, just like a woman, cooked
him a whaling big supper, yellow
legged chickens and cream gravy.
There’s a lesson in that story for
every husband of a toil-worn wife. As
Aunt Jane says in another of her charm
ing stories: “The discouragin’ thing
about woman’s work is that there’s no
end to it, and no day of rest. If a wo
man had to see all the dishes that she
has to wash before she died piled be
fore her in one pile, she’d lie down and
die right then and there. Whem I’m
dead and gone there ain’t nobody goin’
to think of the floors I’ve scrubbed and
the old clothes I’ve patched and the
socks I’ve darned. That’ll be forgotten
when I’m gone.”
But the most discouraging thing to a
woman is that her work is generally
forgotten while she is living and doing
it. And the poor tired woman is ex
pected to do more work on Sunday than
any other day in the week and go to
church to boot and sing Sweet Day of
Rest.
0 Land of Rest for Thee I Sigh, would
voice her sentiments better.—Billy Sun
day in the Country Gentleman.
vention 572
12 African Methodist Zion 502
13 African Methodist Episcopal... 478
Negro Churches
The Negroes of North Carolina are
almost exactly a fourth of our total pop
ulation, but their church buildings are
more than a third of all the church
buildings of the state and the member
ship of the seven negro denominations
is 322,165, which is nearly a full third of
the total.
In a half century or so they have built
2591 churches worth $4,917,613 and 179
parsonages worth $211,281. It is a re
markable showing. It is largely due to
the interest with which they support
their church organizations and church
purposes. For instance, we found in
Orange county in 1916 that the per-
member contributions of the negroes to
their churches was $2.06, which was ex
actly the figure for the white church
membership of the county. It appe^ars
that out of their little they give much,
and that out of our much we give little
for church buildings and church pur
poses.
The 1916 Church Census
These facts are worked out of the two
quarto volumes of the Federal Census
of Religious Bodies in 1916. These vol
umes can be had free of charge by ap
plying at once to your Congressman.
They are a mine of exact, informa
tion about church properties, personnel,
activities, and results, and they ought
to be in the private library of every
church statesman and intelligent local
leader in church circles.
part of the country, that it prospers
only as the country prospers, and that
it has its place in the scheme of things
to be the life center of the country about
, it.
, The town merchant who opposes co-
j operative buying or selling by the farm
ers of his territory, the town banker
who would hinder the establishment of
farm loan associations in his county,
the town editor who neglects the in
terests of the back-country districts,
is becoming more and more out of
date.
Best of all, town folks are coming to
see that they are out of date. Not un
til the country and the country town
learn that they are yoke-fellows and
must pull together can either make the
progress it should. And both are learn-
’ing. —Southern Agriculturist.
COUNTRY TOWN WISDOM
The country town is a part of the
country. It is one of the encouraging
signs of the times that country town
business men are coming to realize this.
It has not been so long ago that every
little town thought that its business was
to grow into a city justas soon as possible.
Some towns and many town people still
think so. Many small town people, too,
still think that their chief relations and
interests are with the cities rather than
the country. The most farseeing business
men have come to know better. They
are seeing more and more clearly that
the town, the small city, is an integral
TEN MILLIONS FOR NEGROES
A recent statement from high Catho
lic authority estimates the number of
Negroes without church ties at 6,000,-
000; and the archbishops of Baltimore,
New York and Philadelphia are calling
for large sums for work among this
group. ,
A writer in America, a leading Catho
lic publication, urges the assumption of
this task by the Knights of Columbus.
This order, with its membership of
600,000, could, it is claimed, easily raise
in two years the $10,000,000 needed to
finance the work along both community
and religious lines. The card-indexing
of all Negro non-church members is
urged as a preparation for propaganda.
Each city or town, it is said, could be
districted, and put under the charge of
K. of C. dist^ct committees. The
Knights, we are told, could go even
further. They could seek out, get ac
quainted with, and in numerous ways
show interest in, the welfare of these
people.
One thing friends and enemies of Ca
tholicism are agreed upon; it is a church
which takes up big problems on a big
scale, and notably where those problems
concern the poor, the suffering, and
similar handicapped folk. The proposed
movement will be watched with interest
by many outside the church immediately
concerned.—Southern Publicity Com
mittee.