The news in this publi
cation is released for tlje
press on receipt.
the university of north CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
JUNE 1, 1921
CHAPEL miT., N. C.
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for its Bureau of Ex
tension.
VOL. vn, NO. 28
Editorial Board i B. 0. Branson, L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bnllitt.
Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N, C., under the act of August 24,1913.
NEW COLLEGE COURSES
Ten years ago fewer than ten colleges
and universities were offering courses
in Rural Social Science. It is the new
est section of college culture offered to
students in America.
It is the last born of college courses.
But see the growth of Rural Social
Science courses during the last ten years.
At present these courses are being offer
ed in 106 colleges and universities, in 46
of the land grant colleges, in 110 normal
schools, and in 41 church seminaries.
The teachers of Rural Sociology alone
are 367, as so far listed.
Doubtless when the full returns are
in these figures will be greatly increased.
Two hundred and seven institutions
have not yet turned in the information
called for.
So reports Dr. W. J. Campbell, Pres
ident of the Y. M. C. A. College at
Springfield, Mass.
NEW LIGHT ON OUR WEALTH
The total taxable wealth of North
Carolina in 1920 was a little over three
billion dollars. The revaluation figures
reported in August of that year were
$3,168,480,072.
Then came the collapse of cotton and
tobacco prices in the fall of 1920, and
in the general distress of the cotton and
tobacco belt the question, uppermost
was. Are not our tax values inflated
and ought not the revaluation figures
to be lowered? As a result, in 44
counties the tax • valuations were low
ered by the county commissioners, in
various ratios, ranging from ten to
sixty percent. Thirty-three of these
44 counties are in the cotton-tobacco
belt.
But, as a matter of fact, is North
Carolina bankrupt, or anywhere near
bankrupt?
The recent report of the State Insur
ance Commissioner throws a flood of
light on the wealth of the state when
the year 1920 came to a close. He shows
that the property covered by fire insur
ance in North Carolina was valued by
the insured at a little more than one
billion dollars, or $1,042,000,000. Which
is to say, the insured property of North
Carolina is one-third of the total tax
able wealth of the entire state.
When you stop to think of it, this to
tal of insured property represents only
a fraction of the true wealth of the
state. People who take out fire insur
ance are simply protecting buildings
and contents of the same, homes and
household goods, stores and merchan
dise, oflices and furniture, factories and
machinery, and so on. But the great
majority of country dwellings and out
houses are never insured; many town
buildings' are not insured; and fire in
surance does not cover land at all.
Insurance and Tax Values
The buildings and contents covered
by fire insurance in North Carolina are
valued at nearly exactly one-half of all
the real estateof North Carolina, includ
ing land and buildings thereon, accord
ing to the revaluation figures.
If the buildings and contents covered
by insurance are valued by the insured
at more than one billion dollars, how
much is the state worth when the value
of all the uninsured buildings is added
and the value of land thrown into the
account—farm lands, town sites and the
like?
Moreover, we paid for fire insurance
alone in North Carolina in 1920 around
eleven million dollars, and for life in
surance around twenty millions more;
or thirty-one millions altogether. Which
is to say, the people who insured lives,
and buildings and contents paid more
money in premiums to the insurance
companies than they paid as taxes into
State, county, and municipal treasuries
all put together—twelve million dollars
more. Our total insurance bill, fire
and life, was $31,730,603; our taxes,
state, county, and municipal, were $18,-
912,000.
No poverty-stricken people could pay
thirty-one millions for insurance in a
single year.
What the state got back to cover fire
losses and death claims was eight and a
third million dollars.
What we spent last year for insur
ance alone, after all the death claims
and fire losses were paid, was twenty-
three million dollars which is nearly
equal to a third of the authorized
state bond issue for public higji-
ways, consolidated schools, and state
institutions of learning and benevo
lence.
We surrender money in millions for
personal protection or personal pleas
ure, but we are staggered when the
state proposes to spend sixty-three mil
lions as an investment in commonwealth
prosperity and progress. We are gen
erous toward ourselves when we insure
our properties; we are less enthusias
tic when we value them for taxation.
Selah!
It brings us once again to the conclu
sion that North Carolina is rich and is
innocently unaware of it.
REVALUATION AND SCHOOLS
Thirty-six North Carolina counties
which in 1919-1920 did not levy enough
taxes to maintain six months public
school will ask the State for an increased
amount of help in 1921.
The horizontal reductioning done to
property valuations by the county boards
figures in the scheme of things. The
State equalizing fund was computed by
the financiers at the 1921 session of the
general assembly. The revaluation fig
ures were used in arriving at these to
tals and with the assessed valuations
frightfully slaughtered in 44 counties
the question of “where are we at” is
pertinent. ^
The equalizing fund is explained by
the State Superintendent as being ne
cessary because “certain counties had
insufficient funds to provide for a school
term of six months as required of every
county by the law.” Each of these
counties was apportioned, in addition to
the regular apportionment, an amount
sufficient to cover the difference be
tween the funds available and the amount
required for its three months term. The
1919-1920 equalizing fund totaled $150,-
645.06.
We are glad to know that Rocking
ham is not included in this list of pau
per counties.— The Tar Heel. •
DEED AND CREED
Edgar A. Guest
I’d rather see a sermon than hear
one any day.
I’d rather one should walk with me
than merely show the way.
The eye’s a better pupil and more
willing than the ear.
Fine counsel is confusing, but ex
ample’s always clear.
And the best of all the preachers are
the men who live their creeds.
For to see good put in action is what
everybody needs.
I soon can learn to do it if you’ll let
me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action,
but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lectures you deliver may be
very wise and true.
But I’d rather get my lesson by ob-
%
serving what you do;
For I may misunderstand you and the
high advice you give.
But there’s no misunderstanding how
you act and how you live.
UNWORTHY OF APES
Maurice Maeterlinck, who recently
visited America with a view to writing
for the screen and who was given,
while here, exceptional opportunities
to observe all kinds of pictures, has
lately reported, in the Photoplay Maga
zine, that out of a hundred films wit
nessed in California he found four or
five truly good, three or four others
not so good, and ninety-odd practically
worthless.
There were spectacles, he says, scarce
ly worthy of apes, going to.such a point
of imbecility, of silliness, of coarseness,
of incoherence, and especially of revolt
ing ugliness, that one wonders shame
fully why he has come into this gor-
ous place where such things are ex
hibited.
One wonders, too, he continues, that
human beings endowed with brains and
with the most elementary feeling or
taste will waste months of work, mob
ilize hundreds of actors and employees,
and spend from a hundred to a hundred
and fifty thousand dollars to produce
each ene of these inanities. And there
is yet a more serious question; how can
millions of other human beings (statis
tics say that 18,000,000 people go to the
movies every day), equally equipped
with brains and sensibilities, waste in
their turn their leisure hours, those
.most sacred hours of the day, for they
count most in the development and^du-
cation of man. How can they bear to
waste those hours contemplating those
same inanities, and how can they even
prefer them to the vastly more inter
esting sights that any glimpse of street
or landscape or sky might afford?—Cur
rent Opinion.
BUILDING PEACE TEMPLES
We Build, and around us the forces
of reaction and destruction have
never seemed so strong and well en
trenched.
We Build, and about us everywhere
are the agencies released which only
tear down.
We Build, and on every hand the
wrath and the passions of men are brings
ing divisions and disruptions.
We Build, and the continents are torn
asunder with social strife and racial
bitterness.
We Build, and disease and pestilence
are holding carnival in all the countries.
We Build, and in a back alley of my
home town I have seen enough squalor
and gaunt penury to absorb the city’s
total annual appropriation to public
charity.
We Build, and in a few wards of this
community are at work agencies de
structive and virulent enough in their
social passions to contaminate this
whole city with the same spirit that
drenched nations in blood.
What a moment, this, then, for red-
blooded militant men to go forth, robed
as artisans of the precious metal of hu
man destiny, to recast society upon a
foundation of fellowship, and to draw
about it the girdle of charity, which is
the sign and symbol of perfection! The
opportunity is ours, here and every
where. The spirit which brooded over
chaos in the dim beginning of time is
brooding again over today’s disorders.
The voice which started the centuries
with the command for light is again
vocative in the earth.
“0, the dawn is upon us;
The pale light climbs to its zenith
With glamor and golden dart.
Up men, boots and saddles!
Give spurs to your steeds.
There are cities beleaguered
That cry for men’s deeds
With the pain of the world in their cav
ernous hearts.
Ours be the triumph! Humanity calls.
Life’s not a dream in the clover.
On to the walls! On the walls—and
over.”— Julian S. Miller, Editor
Charlotte News.
THE COUNTRY WEEKLY
I am the friend of the family, the
bringer of tidings from other friends;
I speak to the home in the evening
light of summer’s vine-clad porch or
the glow of winter’s lamp.
I help to make the evening hour; I
record the great and the small, the
varied acts of the days and weeks that
go to make up life.
I am for and of the home; I follow
those who leave humble beginnings;
whether they go to greatness or to the
gutter, I take to them the thrill of old
days, with wholesome messages.
I speak the language of the common
man; my words are fitted to his under
standing. My congregation is larger
than that of any church in my town;
my readers are more than those in the
schools. Young and old alike find in me
stimulation, instruction,, entertainment,
inspiration, solace, comfort. I am the
chronicler of birth, and love, and death,
—the three great facts of man’s exis
tence.
I bring together buyer and seller, to
the benefit of both; I am part of the
COUNTRY HOME CONVENIENCES
LETTER SERIES No. 55
SOURCES OF FARM WATER SUPPLY
In developing a water Supply system
for a farm the first concern is the
source of the water. 'This discussion
concerns water for the farmstead, for
stock and home consumption. Possible
sources of supply may he grouped under
two heads—surface waters and under
ground waters.
Surface Waters
Surface waters are not widely used
for human consumption though under
certain conditions they may be used
with safety. Flowing streams and
ponds are the two general types of sur
face waters.
The water flowing in streams has its
origin, as does all other water available
for farm use, in rainfall, but rainfall
may reach the stream in several ways,
for example as surface runoff, as drain
age water, that is the water of under-
drainage, or through flowing streams.
In many sections of the state ponds
are relied on for stock during the sum
mer. Often they are the only source
of water for house use. As Tong as
rains.are frequent and the weather cool
these ponds form a fairly satisfactory
source of supply for the stock. But in
the dry summer months the water be
comes filled with low forms of plant life
and is quite unfit for any kind of stock
and not to be considered for human con
sumption.
The term spring is usually applied to
a decided stream of water emerging
from the ground at a more or less con
stant rate. The proper protection of a
spring consists chiefly in preventing
surface wash, leaves, and other foreign,
material from getting into the pool or
basin in which the water is caught.
Underground Waters
Our farm water supply is commonly
taken from wells. As a general rule
they furnish a pure supply of water and
are generally free from impurities. The
common types encountered are dug
wells, drilled wells, and driven wells.
In the older sections of the country
the dug well is common. It is only
natural that it should be, since wells of
this sort were most easily and quickly
provided. They are limited, however,
to those sections where an adequate
supply of water is encountered within
60 feet of the surface. Fifty feet is
a reasonable maximum depth for a dug
well, though depths considerably in ex
cess of this are often reached.
Next to the dug well the drilled well
is by far the most common type and in
newer sections of the the country is of
ten the only type of well found. It is
adapted to practically all sections of
the country and in depths up to thous
ands of feet, though for ordinary pur
poses the depth is usually under 300
feet.
In sections of the country where
water may be found in sands or gravels
within a distance of 50 to 75 feet, and
few stones and other obstacles to driv
ing are found, the driven well proves a
good type. It is found most commonly
where the depth is not over 30jft.
No attempt has been made to point
out the best source of water supply for
the individual user, as this matter is
determined in nearly every case by local
conditions. As a general rule it may be
said that water from wells and some
springs where properly protected from
surface drainage constitute the best
source of supply for domestic consump
tion. Streams unless fed almost entirely
by underground drainage are not rec
ommended. The use of ponds as a source
of water supply has been discussed
above.
This is the first of a series of articles
dealing with the subject of water
supply. Next week we will take up the
subject of providing means for bring
ing the water to the house for use. —
W. C. W.
market place of the world. Into the
home I carry word of the goods which
feed, and clothe, and shelter, and which
minister to comfort, ease, health, and
happiness,
I am the word of the week, the his
tory of the year, the record of my com
munity in the archives of state and
nation.
I am the Country Weekly.— From
Bristow Adams’ Newspaper day address.
Farm and Home week.
COMMUNITY MEETINGS
The report comes from many towns
where community meetings are being
held to discuss local improvement, that
these gatherings are splendidly attend
ed. They start in some small room, and
soon they have to go into the biggest
hall in the place.
The people are finding out that they
all have one common problem, and they
are anxious to hear the suggestions
that their fellow citizens will make.
Some people who by their exterior
appearance would never appear to have
harbored one original idea, will utter
words of penetrating wisdom. Out of
all this exchange of thought, a residue
of practical suggestions remains, and
is beginning to shape itself in many
places into programs of community
progress. Mebane needs community
meetings of that type, to which all in
terested in town progress can bring
their ideas.—Mebane Enterprise.
CITY TAXES IN CAROLINA
North Carolina cities are spending
per capita on their city governments
only a little more than half the per cap
ita cost of the cities of the United
States as a whole, according to a re
port by T. R. Buchanan, of Staunton,
Va., to the North Carolina Club of the
University of North Carolina, which is
this year making an urban and indus
trial study of the state.
Dividing city expenses into such
items as general government, protec
tion, health conservation, sanitation,
highways, charities, education, recre
ation, and miscellaneous expenses,
Mr. Buchanan reported that the per
capita cost for the United States cities
was $16.38, but for the North Carolina
cities it was only $9.93.
“Considered from the viewpoint of
the average city in the United States,”
he said, “it will be seen that North
Carolina compares favorably only in
matters of education, protection, health,
and highways, with the per capita even
in these being lower except in health.
Especially are North Carolina cities de
ficient in handling the problem of re
creation. Other cities spend 3.5 per
cent of their income on recreation;
North Carolina cities spend only 0.2 per
cent. ’ ’
In more definite instances he cited the
fact that 146 American cities between
30,000 and 50,000 in population spend
$34.08 per capita annually for city gov
ernment as against $29.94 per capita by
Wilmington, $28.84 by Winston-Salem,
and $18.76 by Charlotte.—The Raleigh
Times.
CAROLINA COMMUNITY LIFE
At a meeting of the North Carolina
Club Monday night, Mr. C. E. Cowan
gave an interesting discussion of com
munity life and organization in North
Carolina. He first discussed the rarity
of country community life in the State,
attributing it to the fact that North
Carolina is mainly an agricultural state,
and to the feeble sense of civic and so
cial responsibility in country areas.
Two of the main conditions that retard
the development of community life are
the sparsity of population and the na
ture of farming as an occupation. We
have country settlements, and country
neighborhoods, and small towns de
voted to trade and banking, said Mr.
Cowan, but few country communities,
and few country towns in the old world
sense.
The latter part of the discussion was
devoted to agencies of social integra
tion. Taking the consolidated school
in a county-unit system and the small
town as the most promising of these
agencies, he pointed out their functions
and discussed their possibilities. He
concluded with a discussion of the dif
ferent organized agencies which are at
work in'the country areas, small towns,
and cities of North Carolina.—The Tar
Heel.
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