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The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for its University Ex
tension Division.
AUGUST 10, 1921
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. VII, NO. 38
Editorial Board i E. C. Branson, S. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum. Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postoffi.ce at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,1912.
ten-year gains and losses
In this issue of the News Letter we
are carrying a table ranking the coun
ties of the state according to the per
cent of decrease or increase in the num
ber of farms in each county operated
by tenants. In 1920 we had 16,038 more
farms in the state than in 1910, but we
had 10,172 more farms operated by ten
ants and only 6,056 more farms operated
by farm owners. We had 9.5 percent more
tenants than ten years ago and only
4.2 percent more farm owners. The
ten-year gain in favor of tenancy was
only in conformity with the drift into
tenancy that the state has been show
ing since the Civil War. Every census
period reveals a gain in tenants, both
in number and as a percent of all farm
ers. Today 43.6 percent of all our farms
are cultivated by tenants. And the
gain will continue, for it is a fatal law
that the more prosperous and populous
a region becomes the fewer are the
people who live in their own homes.
This is especially true of city popula
tions. It should not be true of country
populations, but our methods of agri
culture, especially in the South, make
impossible any other movement than
towards tenancy.
Decreasing Areas
Forty-two counties in North Carolina
have a smaller number of farm tenants
today than ten years ago. Some of
these same counties also have a smaller
number of farm owners, because the
number of farms decreased in 38 coun
ties. The counties that have fewer
tenants today are all the Mountain coun
ties except Graham and Clay, 21 coun
ties in the Piedmont belt, and six coun
ties in the Tidewater area, all having a
sparse farm population. New Hanover
leads the state in ridding herself of
farm tenants. They decreased almost
half during the ten years. To the
Mountain counties go the laurels for
making the biggest reductions, the loss
es ranging all the way from 39.7 per
cent in Cherokee to 10.3 percent in
Ashe. The Mountain counties have
always been an area of home and farm
owners and this policy is becoming even
more conspicuous than ever in the past.
The Hill counties taken together have
fewer tenants than ten years ago and
more farms operated by owners.
Twenty-one counties in this area actually
have fewer tenants, while the others
made only slight gains as a rule.
Farm Tenancy’s Paradise
During this same ten-year period
every single one of the Coastal Plains
counties, the paradise of farm tenancy
in this state, gained in the number of
farms operated by tenants. The gains
run all the way from one percent in
Nash county to 94.1 percent in Pamlico
county. Think of a county’s doubling its
farm tenant population during a single
decade! This is what happened in Pam
lico. And why? Simply because cash
crops, cotton and tobacco, are encroach
ing on Pamlico and other counties in
the Tidewater and Lower Cape Fear
regions, which, until recently have not
been large producers of these two
crops.
The Coastal Plains counties, the area
of vast cotton and tobacco production,
are increasing in tenant farmers at
such a rapid rate as to be alarming to
the thinking man. This-is the big agri
cultural area of the state, the area
that leads the entire world in tobacco
production and that produces around
one-twelfth of all the cotton grown in
the nation. And it is these two cash
crops, crops that are in every way suited
to tenant methodsf,that are precipitat
ing the eastern half of our state into a
land of tenant farmers. Not only are_
they tenants, but they are share ten
ants, or croppers, the lowest form of
tenancy. It is very little removed fron^
serfdorp itself. And in some counties
of this area four-fifths of all farms are
already cultivated by tenants and their
number is steadily increasing as time
passes. This has bepn true ever since
the Civil War and the trend will con
tinue for decades to come—unless the
“type of farming is changed. There are
Conspicuous Gains
Pitt and Wilson grow a good bit of
cotton but in addition they are two of
the leading tobacco counties of the na
tion. Tenant farmers in Pitt number
1,205 more than ten years ago, a gain
of 39.6 percent. In Wilson they number
985 more and the increase was 41.8 per
cent. Edgecombe has 917 more ten
ants, Wayne 790, Johnston 741, Samp
son 728, Lenoir 652, Craven 486, and |
Harnett 479 more than ten years ago. :
So it is for the entire eastern half of i
the state except six Tidewater counties |
that, as yet, are practically free from j
tobacco and cotton. Most of the tobac- j
CO counties in the northern part of the 1
Hill area and the cotton counties to the !
south made gains, but the gains were |
not large, as these areas have other
crops, and farm production is more di
versified.
The Outlook
Doe^he fact that the great agricul
tural plains of the eastern half of our
state are already farmed by an over
whelming tenant class, and a rapidly
increasing tenant class, cause any great \
alarm to the masses of our people? i
We seem to be complacently uncon- j
cerned about this condition. We seem.
not to realize either the causes or the
effects that are sure to accompany this
evil drift. The eastern half of our state
is based on agriculture, even the towns
themselves are wholly dependent on
agriculture. This is the section that
causes our state to hold such a high
rank as a producer of farm wealth. If
you ask why, if we, produce such enor
mous quantities of farm wealth in this
area, the farmers themselves do not
accumulate more, we answer that the
reason lies largely in the inefficient,
wasteful, crude, and ill-conceived crop-
per-tenant farmer system that over
whelms this area. The system is peril
ous. We are almost- glad we do not
know how many farmers who were farm
owners, or on the verge of ownership,
have lost their farms through foreclos
ures and other causes since the census
was taken in 1919. Certainly a great
mass of farmers who relied on the sup-
ply-merchant system have gone under.
Tenancy has made a great gain, due j
largely to the fact that a large percent |
of our farmers fail to provide their own ;
food and feed crops. I
Recently the papers of the state j
carried an article by a farm journalist |
stating that a large percent of our east-1
ern farmers were underfed* because,
they could not secure more food supplies
from the merchants!" If it were not
deplorable it would be humorous. The
first business of a farm is to feed itself
and then produce all the cash crops it
can. A farmer who does not produce
food enough for his family and livestock,
but produces only cash crops, must suf
fer what inevitably comes to a gambler
sooner or later, for our cropping system
is a gamble with prices. We have been
taught the lesson time and again but |
have never learned it permanently.
An increasing tenant population
makes democracy increasingly in peril.
The-Anglo-Saxon has a lust for land as
has no other race and if this lust is not
satisfied and becomes increasingly dif
ficult to satisfy, then we are likely to
drift into chaos. If democracy is ever
dethroned in this nation it wilt be by
the landless, homeless masses, and not
by home and farm owners. Improving
social conditions in the great tenant
stretches of our State is becoming a
difficult task. Tenants are a migratory
class that develop little love for any
community and a weak social conscious
ness. We are face to face with a situ
ation that demands a solution. Building
up an efficient farm system and social
conditions that are satisfying and whole
some in an area steeped in tenancy is a
dream that will never be realized.—S.
H. H., Jr.
. THE COMMUNITY
Justice Louis D. Brandeis
The great America for which we
long is unattainable unless the indi
viduality of communities becomes
far more highly developed, and be
comes a common American phenom
enon. For a century our growth has
come through national expansion
and the increase of the fanctions of
the federal government. The growth
of the future—at least the immedi
ate future—must be in quality and
and spiritual value. And that can
come only through the concentrated,
intensified strivings of smaller groups.
The field for the special effort should
now be the state, the city, the vil
lage. If ideals are developed locally
the national ones will come pretty
near taking care of themselves.
an advantage both to the owner and the
tenant, but the creation of tenancy as a
permanent feature of agriculture would
be an unmitigated misfortune. A ru
ral community made up of farm owners
has better houses, roads, and schools
than a community of tenants. What-
States. The realization that a widely
extended effort was necessary to obtain
satisfactory results made home and
school improvement the object of a cam
paign conducted in April in Iredell
county, N. C., under the direction of the
"home demonstration agent of the United
States Department of Agriculture and
the State agricultural college. Hundreds
of men, women, and children throughout
the county entered into the plan with
zest. Numerous prizes were offered by
business firms to stimulate interest.
I Snapshots were taken of school houses,
front and back yards, dining rooms,
living rooms, bedrooms, before and after
improvements were made.
The community of Mt. Mourne won a
prize of $100 for making the most im
provements in schools, homes, and
grounds. This progressive community
held a successful fair; it obtained an in
crease in the teachers’ salaries and an
extra month added to the school term;
through it another grade was added to
the course, and by many social diversions
the active cooperation of all its citizens
was encouraged. Furniture, china, and
money were awarded to those changing
old, unattractive rooms most pleasingly
for the least outlay. For the most con
venient kitchen a washing machine was
given.
The benefits of electricity on the farm
were brought out by debates, school-
children’s compositions, and various
other devices! The success of the cam-
ever the owner puts m his farm to im , . ,
-i - 1 - V.1X. J- „ ' paign lay m the awakening ot the im
prove it is his own. Whatever the ten- A ^ ^ . ... . ,
1 i - 1 1 wv,„i-Provement spirit, which seized hold ot
ant takes out is largely his own. What A! , j * j „ u *
, ^ - ii. i i,„„v.,i the county and contributed much to-
he puts in, in the way of capital, knowl- J a ^ a a t
, ^ i 1 ward setting up ideals and standards of
edge and skill m maintaining soil fertil-1 ^ a ■ a a-
. , 1 i 1 J comfortable living, of good judgment,
ity, goes largely to the land ow@fr un- j -Press Service U S
der our present short-sighted and short-, “st® Press, bervice, U. &.
The result i.s. DepaUment of Agriculture.
timed tenancy contracts. The result is,
the tenant does not nail boards on the
barn, does not plant trees along the
roads, or take any interest in doing any
of the things that are needed to make
rural life satisfactory.
Ownership has other values. It ex
erts a great influence on human char-
COTTON MANUFACTURE
Here before us is a statement to the
effect that North Carolina has won dis
tinction in the manufacturing world
largely through the initiative and enter
prise of her own people.
It occurred to North Carolinians who
were growing cotton that they might
profitably convert this cotton into cloth,
and eminently successful have they
been.
Three-fourths of all the new looms
and spindles set up in the South in 1920
were set up in North Carolina.
There are now 513 textile mills in the
state, compared with 180 in South Ca
rolina and 173 in Georgia.
North .Carolina embraces more mills
that dye and finish their own product
than any other Southern state.
The largest hosiery mills in the world
are located at Durham, N. C.
The largest towel mills in the world
are located at Kannapolis, N. C.
The largest denim mills* in the United
States are located at Greensboro, N. C.
The largest damask mills in the United
States are located at Roanoke Rapids,
N. C.
Winston-Salem contains the largest
underwear factory in America.
Gaston county, with around 100 mills,
is the center of fine-combed yarn of the
South.
Texas grows -more cotton than any
state in the Union, but as yet Texas is
only incidentally in the business of con
verting cotton into cloth.
Right recently two mills of consider
able size have been started up here in
Waco, with the latest improved ma
chinery, one a twine mill and tne other
a cloth mill.
The matter of another mill is under
consideration; it should be pressed un
til the final consummation.— Waco
Times-Herald.
FARM TENANCY IN NORTH CAROLINA IN 1920
Percents Increase or Decrease, 1910-20
acter. The owner of a farm has a
special pride in the fact that he is a per
manent member of the community and
that he has a stake in everything which
builds ujt its social and economic life.
Tenantry, in America, is on the con
trary migratory, and tenants are rapid
ly becoming class conscious and discon
tented. Unless this is checked, we are
certain to face the same unrest and dis
order that led to revolution in France
and Russia and to avert which some of
the most enlightened countries of Eu
rope have made national aid to farm
buying a government policy.—Report
of the California State Land. Settle
ment Board.
Counties ranked from high to low. Total increase in farms 16,038.
increase in farm tenants, 10,172, or 9.5 percent.
Rural Social Science Department, University of North Carolina.
Total
Rank
THE NEW CLUB YEAR-BOOK
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
20
22
23
24
25
no indications that it is being changed.
Ill a few more decades England her-
OWNERSHIP 08 TENANCY
The'last ten years has seen a rapid
increase in the percentage of farms
cultivated by tenants. Along with this
has come a distressing slump in the so
cial and recreative activities of farm.
The 1919-20 Club Year-Book of the
North Carolina Club at the University
has just come off the press and is ready
to go into the mails. Those people
who have made requests for this book
have already been mailed copies. This
bulletin goes free to any person in North j
Carolina who writes for it, as long as I
the supply lasts. If you have not al- j
ready made a request, and would like !
a copy, send a card to the Extension 27
Division, University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill.
A table of contents of this book has
already been printed in the News Let-1 31
ter. It is a 200-page book of condensed '
information and discussion on such
wide-awake Carolina problems as Pub
lic Education, Public Health, Transpor
tation and Communication, Home and
Farm Ownership, Race Relationships,
Public Welfare, Organized Business
and Life, Civic Reform, and The New
Day in Carolina.
The North Carolina Club Year-Book
is an annual publication issued by the
Rural Social Science Department of the
University. The 1919-20 book. State
Reconstruction Studies, is the work of
twoscore University students working
under the direction of the Rural Social
Science Department, and in collabora
tion with the Reconstruction Commis
sion appointed by Governor Bickett.
If you wish a copy write today before
the isSfie is exhausted.
self will not have a larger percent of ing districts which is having its influ-
tenants than the eastern half of our ' the best type of farm-
state. Tenancy in England is almost; city,
as good as land ownership. Not so with . br y 1
The temporary leasing of land is often
CLUB WORK IN IREDELL
The beautification of the farm home
itself, and of its surroundings, is the
latest step in a consistently graduated
plan among club workers in the Southern
DECREASES
' INCREASES
County
Percent 1 Rank
County
Percent
decrease
increase
New Hanover
46.4 i
47
Currituck
3.-9
Cherokee
39.7 i
47
Hertford
3.9
Henderson
39.7
49
Iredell
4.7
Madison
34.5
50
Orange
6.1
Wilkes
31.8
51
Durham
6.2
Gaston
30.7
52
Northampton..
7.0
Jackson
30.1
53
Montgomery .
8.0
Brunswick
29.5
64
Forsyth........
9.0
Transylvania
29.3
65
Clay
10.5
Swain. ' .. ...
27.1
56
Jones
10.7
Randolph
26.0
57
Lee
12.2
Lincoln
25.3
58
Halifax
12.4
Hyde
24.3
59
Wake.
13.4
Alleghany
22.6
60
Rockingham..
16.4
Yadkin
20.5
61
Franklin
15.5
Burke
20.1
61
Pasquot^k....
16.5
Buncombe
19.3
63
Camden
16.2
Carteret
19.0
64
Warren
16.4
Yancey
16.5
65
Perquimans
17.4
Catawba . ....
16.4
66
Anson
18.0
Macon.
16.4
67
Richmond
21.1
McDowell . ....
15.8
Columbus.. ..
22.0
Davie^....
14.8
68
Graham
22.0
Haywood
12.9
70
Bertie
23.9
Alexander
12.5
71
Caswell
24.8
Tyrrell
11.4
72
Onslow
26.7
Ashe ■
10.3
73
Johnston
25.9
Surry
10.2
74
Chowan
27.9
Union
10.2
75
Beaufort
29.7
Vance
8.0
76
Scotland
30.9
Chatham
6.6
77
Wayne
.
31.5
Stokes
6.2
78
Martin
33.7
Mecklenburg
6.0
79
Greene
35.6
Person
4.7
80
Moore
36.3
Cleveland
4.6
81
Pitt
39.5
Cabarrus
4.6
82
Bladen
40.4
Polk
'4.1
83
Lenoir
40.9
Rowan '
3.9
84
Pender
41.5
Stanly
2.6
85
Wilson
41.8
Guilford
2.2
86
Gates
.. • 42.4
Rutherford
0.6
87
Edgecombe...
43.0
Alamance
0.0
88
Washington ..
46.8
Dare
0.0
89
Sampson
. *
47.9
INCREASES
90
Harnett
50.8
Nash
1.0
91
Duplin
63.4
Granville
2.9
92
Craven
61.6
Davidson
3.2
93
Pamlico
94.1
Note: (1) Avery was formed in 1911 out of Watauga, Caldwell, and Mitch
ell, and does not appear in the 1910 Census. In the area occupied by these four
counties the number of farms operated by tenants decreased 33.6 percent be
tween 1910 and 1920.
(2) Hoke was formed in 1911 out of Cumberland and Robeson. In the area
covered by these three counties the number of farms operated by tenants in
creased 31.2 percent during the same period.
(3) Cleveland, Currituck, Dare, Durham, Gaston, Harnett, and Wake had
their boundaries slightly changed during the last Census period, but the terri
tory gained or lost was so small in each instance, that the figures for them in
the above table are approximately correct.