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.
APKIL 19, 1922
CHAPEL HHJL, N. C.
VOL. VIII, NO. 22
Editorial Board « B- C. Branson, 8. H, Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilson. B. W. Kni(?ht, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bnllitt, H. W. Odum. Bnt‘ired as second-class matter November 14.1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N. C t under the act of August 24, 1912.
AIDING LANDLESS MEN
•• C't \ ' . . -
: The part that the Federal Farm Loan
Bank and the .’Postal Savings System
can play in aiding landless men to rise
out of home and farm tenancy into own
ership was discussed at the last meet
ing of th« North Carolina Club at the
University by P. A. Reavis, Ji:,, of
Louisburg.
One thing that has always been an
obstacle in acquiring homes and farms
is the lack of long-term credit. People
of small;means find that commercial
banks cannot grant them loans for pe
riods long enough to allow them to pay
for the property. Both the measures
discussed at the club meeting are de
signed to remedy this situation.
The federal farm loan act aids in this
way by providing credit to farmers at a
low rate of interest, over a period of
time long enough to pay off both prin
cipal and interest in stated, periodical
suais so small that they are less than
the usual ioiit payments.
But tho federal farm loan bank is
practically beyond the reach of landless
men. Less than five peregnt of the
money loaned by it has gone to tenants.
, The Postal Savings JoKe
Congressman Clyde Kelly has pro
posed a revision of the postal savings
system. His plan has possibilities of
great service to the country. At the
present time the postal savings system
is so conditioned by law, that compara
tively few people make use of it. Three-
fifths df the depositors are aliens. The
maximum amount that a person is al
lowed to have on deposit account is
$2,600, and the interest rate is only two
percent payable annually. The result
is 167 millions of postal savings in the
United States, against five billions in
the British Isles.
Mr. Kelly’s plan of revision calls for:
1) immediate removal of the deposit
limit restriction, (2) the interest rate
to be raised to four percent payable
quarterly, (3) the use of postal savings
deposits as loans to prospective home
and farm owners, (4) the creation of a
Building and Loan Board, patterned
after the Federal Farm Land Bank.
The United States is from one to one
and a half million dwellings short, due
to the building paralysis of the World
War. The housing shortage in North
Carolina is 18;000 dwellings. The build
ing capital needed for dwellings in the
country-at-large is from five to seven
and a half billion dollars; in North Ca
rolina the immediate need is for from
seventy to a hundred million dollars.
The totals are so large as to swamp the
local building and loan associations
everywhere.
But, says Congressman Kelly, the
building capital could easily be assem
bled if the postal savings system were
properly revised. He proposes to in
crease the deposits from millions to
billions and to lend these billions to
home builders.
Billions in Si^ht
If, says he, the rate were increased
to four percent for deposits, and the
interest periods were quarterly instead
of annual, the United States would
stand a fair chance to have as many
depositors as France or Italy, which
would give us about two billion dollars
of postal savings deposits. The postal
savings of the United Kingdom are
right around five billion dollars. If our
ratio of thrifty people were equal to
that of New Zealand, we would have
around ten billion dollars in the postal
savings banks of the United States.
Mr. Kelly’s proposal appears in full
in his volume The Community Capitol,
Mayflower Press, Pittsburg. A brief
outline of it was passed on to the Uni-
versity.^ews Letter readers in volume
7, No. 29.
Mr. Reavis’s paper will appear in full
in the North Carolina Club Year-Book,
1921-22.-J. G. Gullick.
appeals.'- South Carolina spends more
protecting game than on its final
courts.
Oregon spends within $3,000 of the
same amount on its trial courts as the
combined expenditures for protection
and development of fish and game.
Similarly, Maine spends $69,000 for pro
tecting fish and game and $59,000 for
thett development, and $76,000 on its
final court. Arizona spends $91,000
developing livestock, while for trial and
supreme courts it spends $52,000.—
Alexander B. Andrews, in his recent
bulletins on The Per Capita Codt of
Courts.
STARTLING CONTRASTS
North Carolina spends on her trial
courts about $8,000 less than she spends
for the development of livestock—a
large part of it in the campaign against
cattle ticks. Virginia spends nearly
double as much protecting oyster beds
as she spends on her supreme court of
CROP VALUES PER ACRE
The production of crop values in North
Carolina in 1921 averaged $38.32 per
cultivated acre. Only eight states
made a better showing and of these
states only California was an agricul
tural state of any consequence. See
the table elsewhere in this issue.
It was more than twice the average
for the United States as a whole, which
was $17.47.
It was more than five times the av
erage crop yield of the Dakotas; it was
almost exactly four times the average
of Kansas and Nebraska; almost exact
ly three times the average of Indiana,
Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Mon
tana; and almost twice the average of
Wisconsin and Michigan.
Our high rank in total crop values
and in per-acre average is due to cot
ton and tobacco, which produce around
three-fourths of our crop wealth from
year to year.
If cotton and tobacco farming alone
could make us*tich, we would long ago
have been the richest farm people in
the Union.
But swapping cotton and tobacco dol
lars for imported food and feed is no
way to accumulate wealth, no matter
how much cotton and tobacco we raise
or what the price levels are. The bread-
and-meat farmers of the Middle West
take our cotton and tobacco money and
get rich; we raise cotton and tobacco
and stay poor. They produce small crop
values per acre, but they are food val
ues; we produce enormous crop values
per acre, but they are non-food values,
and seven of every ten cotton and to
bacco dollars go out of the state to pay
for imported bread and meat, grain,
hay, and forage.
The Middle Western farmers live at
home and board where they, live; we
live around in cotton and tobacco patches
and board in the Middle West. When
hard times come they have little ready
cash, but more food and feed than they
know what to do with. When hard
times come in tobacco and cotton areas,
we have little ready cash, little bread
and meat at home to live on, and even
less credit to tide us over till the next
harvest season.
Clark Howell long ago called it a sui
cidal farm system.
And so said tenant farmer on the
train the other day. I couldn’t get no
where, said he, hauling tobacco to town
and hauling flour and stock feed back
home. I quit and took to cotton mill
ing at Haw River.
Live-at-Home Farming
Wise or Otherwise, everybody knows
that the farmers of North Carolina can
never get rich buying food and feed
supplies with tobacco and cotton dol
lars.
It’s like the weather. Everybody
talks about it ail the time, said Mark
Twain, but nobody ever seems to do
anything about it
However, the boll weevil is dynamite
logic. He’ll blast a way into our brains.
No doubt about that. Bankruptcy and
starvation change farm systems when
nothing else avails.
Wisconsin was a one-crop state until
she went broke in the early eighties.
Now she is a money-crop, livestock
state. She raises binder tobacco and
other cash crops, to be sure, but she
raises these on a bread-and-meat basis.
We must always raise cotton and to
bacco in the South, but if we are wise
we will produce these crops with our
pantries, barns, and smoke-houses filled
with home-raised food and feed. We’ll
do it or we’ll go into bankruptcy in this
state within the next five years. Our
(Released week beginning April 17)
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina Needs
1. North Carolina needs to sober
her pride by recognizing her sins, to
drop tail feathers for a cool minute
to glance at ugly feet.
(1) Education. The training of
our public school teachers is inade
quate. Such training as they have
had puts too heavy emphasis on
method at the expense of subject-
matter. For example, many know
how to teach English, but. do not
know how to write it; know how to
teach arithmetic, -but not how to
solve its problems. And then the
amount of training is meager. As
regards the instruction these teach
ers impart, we ought to remember
that they have no chance at one half
of our school population beyond the
sixth grade. In all the grades, and
in the high school as well, the quality
of instruction is inferior as-compared
with results elsewhere in the United
States. Are we not too rtiuch occu
pied with our elaborate educational
machinery, too little concerned about
its output? Thirteen percent of us
remain illiterate, and, according to
the tests, literate is far from being
the same as educated. Agricultural
rank in the sisterhood of states,
fourth; educational rank, forty-
fourth.
(2) Law and Order. Fourth in
legitimate agricultural' production,
in the lead of all in illicit alcoholic
production. The intelligence and
conscience of the state need to be
organized and made practically ef
fective in expunging the stain of
this bad distinction. Our native in
dependence is lapsing into license.
The personal liberty folly goes unre
buked, is indeed semetimes cham
pioned by men of respectability, and
ever and anon the mob digs into the
foundations of our ordered life. Men
of character and better equipment
are needed in the public service to
displace men whose ambition is not
justified by their gifts.
2. North Carolina needs to relearn
our state motto: Be, not seem to be.
As a state and as individuals, are
we not on a splurge of luxury? We
need to recover the true perspective,
and so our poise; to put first things
first. Enhance life, let its comforts
wait. Enrich life, let the impression
it makes take care of itself. Let
income determine expenditure. In
sist on efficiency in the public busi
ness. Revise the pay roll. Cut out
duplication in responsibility and ex
cess in offices. We do not need any
longer positions which were created
for men. Jones, he pays the freight,
and is getting tired of paying so
much for goods which don’t come.—
Wm. Louis Poteat, President Wake
Forest College.
issue. It is worth thinking over, now
that we have seriously begun to take
stock of our agricultural system.
Per-acre production is important, but
per-worker production is two dozen
times more important!
HOMETOWNCOMMANDMENTS
1. Thou shalt love thy home town
above all other towns. Thou shalt be
loyal to her people and her institutions.
2. Thou shalt guard thy home town
from the hosts of evil that would invade
and destroy her soul. Thou shalt keep
the good name of thy home town clean
and without stain or blemish.
3. Thou shalt elect as thy public ser
vants men of strong character, eager
to conserve the best interests of thy
people. And when thou hast elected
such men thou shalt stand to support
and encourage them, for their tempta
tions are many and their burdens heavy.
4. Thou shalt exalt thy public school
and honor it all the days of thy life
with the best of teachers, buildings and
equipments, for the school is the cradle
of the future. Thy children are here
and they shall be -the leaders of tomor-
visitor to the sick in their affliction.
10. Thou shalt go to church for the
honor of thy home town and for thine
own good. Thou shalt not consider thy
self too wise, too busy, too bad or too
good, to spend an hour or two on Sun
day with thy neighbors in the worship
of God. Thou shalt not send thy chil
dren to church; Thou shalt bring them
there. Thou shalt offer thyself to thy
spiritual leader for the service of God
and thy community. So shall ^ win
many battles together. —F. Eastman,
Sanford Herald, Fla.
BUSINESS CITIZENSHIP
What does a business man owe to the
city in which his business is located
besides the payment of tax^? Nothing,
some close-fisted and tight-lipped busi
ness men will say. But they . are not
the biggest success, nor are they the
kind of business men who get the most
out of life.
The business men who make the big
gest successes and-who get the most
out of life are the kind who believe
they owe something more to the city
in which their business is located than
No training is too good for them j the payment of taxes, who believe they
and no preparation superfluous.
I owe it what they can contribute of ac-
5. Thou shalt defend the health of | tive aid m solving the problems that
thy home town from the death thaL j confront it, social, political or commer-
lurks in marshes, swamps, and'heaps | cial.
of filth. Thou shalt exterminate the i Fortunately for the cities of this coun
fly and mosquito, for they carry ty- j there are many able business men
phoid and malaria. The tubercle bacillus | ^ho, disregarding the advice of the
kind of business men who say that it
may cause tnera to lose some trade if
they take sides in a city’s affairs, are
devoting considerable of their time and
their talents to doing something for the
general good of their city. And the
number of such good business men is
growing.—Lawrence (Kan.) Telegram.
shalt thou drive before thee with the
j sun and fresh air as thy allies.
1 6. Thou shalt build,good roads and
keep them good. For by her roads is a
' town known for good or - ill. Eternal
, watchfulness shall be thy motto, that
thy roads may not ravel nor thy super-
! visor forget thee.
I , 7. Thou shalt keep thy home town
- beautiful. The hills, the trees, the
, waters that Nature has given her thou
shalt preserve in sacred trust. No hovel
shalt thou permit to disfigure them.
; Thou shalt keep thy homes and door
yards clean and cheerful. Thy waters
shalt thou purify that they may bring
thee life and strength. The future of
thy town shalt thou plan with care and
diligence that growth be not hap
hazard, but full of thought and loving
care, as the plans of a mother for the
growth of her child.
j 8. Thou shalt honor thy community
' institutions. Thou shalt work together
with thy neighbors with all thy heart
and strength and mind. Thou shalt
work together in thy organizations and
clubs for the common welfare. Thy
leaders shalt thou learn to obey. Thou
shalt serve on committees where thou
art put and not intrude on committees
where thou art not put. Thus thou
shalt know one another better, thy work
prosper, and thy friendships multiply.
9. Thou shalt be a good neighbor to
all who live in thy home town, whether
I they be rich or poor. Thou shalt speak
ill of none and good of many. Thou
shalt be a friend to strangers and
farmers, merchants, and bankers are
facing a common peril. They will sur
vive or perish together, as in South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and the
other boll weevil states.
Per-WorRer Production
We are a great state in gross crop
values, great in per-aere production,
but when it comes to per-worker pro
duction, it is another story. We rank
high in the first two particulars, but
in the last we rank low. In production
per farm-worker, thirty-one states
made a better showing than North Ca
rolina in the census year.
We produce four times the per-acre
values of Kansas and Nebraska; but
barely a third of the per-worker values.
And there’s a reason—many reasons,
indeed. But seethe table in next week’s
HOW AMERICA SUFFERS
America suffers today from ignorance
more than any other tyranny. Our
children may have knowledge of the
facts necessary for individual living.
Our youth may acquire professional
training of high degree. Their minds,
however, have not been focused upon
those truths which are so essential to
a democratic community. Positive lack
of knowledge of American conditions is
chiefly responsible for the continuation
of some evils. Failure to be intelligent
upon public issues accounts for much of
our weakness. The people need knowl
edge.—Marion LeRoy Burton, Presi
dent University of Michigan.
A CIVIC IDEAL
"When it shall be said in any country
in the world: My poor are happy,
neither ignorance nor distress is to be
found among them; my jails are empty
of prisoners, my streets of beggars;
the aged are not in want, the taxes
are not oppressive, the rational world
is my friend because I am the friend
of its happiness—when these things
can be said, then may that country
boast of its Constitution and Govern
ment. —Exchange.
PER ACRE CROP VALUES IN 1921
Based on the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s theoretical estimates (1)
of total acreages under cultivation, and (2) of the total value of all crops.
Average per acre crop values in the United States $17.47; in North Carolina
$38.82.
Rank of the state in gross total value of all crops, 6th; rank in per-acre
values, 9th; in per-worker values, 32nd.
The table of crop values per farm-worker in the census year will be given
in next week’s issue. tt • o o j *
Miss Henrietta R. Smedes
Department of Rural Social Economics, University of North Carolina
Per acre
values
Connecticut $88.46
Massachusetts 74.21
Rhode Island 63.43
California 52.39
New Jersey 60.97
New Hampshire 40.78
Maine 40.32
Arizona 39.01
North Carolina 38.82
Florida 38.54
Washington 33.98
Vermont 33.92
New York 30.14
West Virginia 29.20
Pennsylvania 27.68
Virginia 27.40
Kentucky 25.02
Maryland 24.54
24.48
23.81
23.68
23.67
23.53
22.22
Rank State
Oregon
Utah
Delaware
Louisiana
South Carolina .
Idaho
Rank State
Tennessee ....
Arkansas
Mississippi
Wisconsin ,....
New Mexico...
Nevada
Michigan
Ohio
Alabama
Georgia
Texas
Illinois
Indiana
Wyoming
Colorado
Missouri
Iowa
Minnesota
Montana^c
Oklahoma
Kansas
Nebraska
North Dakota .
South Dakota .
Per acre
values
. $22.21
22.06
21.73
20.69
20.21
20.18
19.78
18.09
18.04
15.98
16.91
14.19
13.88
13.58
13.36
r2.45
12.04
11.84
11.67
11.60
9.99
9.09
7.60
7.17