' 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.
MA.Y 10, 1922
CHAPEL HH.T., N. C.
VOL. Vm, NO. 25
Editorial Board i B.
1. C. Branson, S. H. HobbB, Jr., L. R. Wilson, B. W. KniKht, D. D. Carroll, J. B. BnlUtt, H. W. Odum. Entered as second-class matter November U,1914, at the Poatoffico at Chapel Hill, N. G., under the act of Augnat 24. IBIS
Holding Down Farm Wealth
The simple truth is North Carolina is
great in rarm-wealth production, in
gross and per-acre totals, but weak as
water in farm-wealth retention. So, not
because the farmers are wasteful and
extravagant, but because our farm sys
tem is fundamentally defective.
fiolding down a reasonable proportion
of the farm wealth we create year by
year is the biggest economic problem
this state faces today.
And the solution of it concerns mer
chants and bankers hardly less than it
concerns the farmers themselves, and
the church hardly less than it concerns
the state.
Church activities and state enter
prises—public schools, public health,
public roads, benevolent institution's,
and the like—are all in jeopardy unless
we can have an increase. in farm and
factory wealth along with an' increase
in willingness to devote our wealth to
the common good.
And as for tax reforms, be reckons
in vain who leaves the farmer out of!
account. The possibilities of progress '
in taxation are limited by the wealth
and the intelligence of the eighteen hun
dred thousand people who live out in the
j open-country of North Carolina—for,
TEXAS AND CAROLINA
How Countryside Texas looks to g
North Carolinian is the burden of a bul
letin just issued by the school of theol
ogy of the Southern Methodist Univer
sity at Dallas, Texas.
It gives in full the address of E. C.
Branson, department of rural social
economics, University of North Caro
lina, to the Texas Social Work Confer
ence at San Antonio, a little while ago.
The Social Problems of Countryside
Texas concern (1) sparsity of popula
tion, the solitary nature of farming as
an occupation, the overweening individ
ualism of farmers, and the conse
quences, (2) the cityward drift in
Texas, (3) the social ills of tenancy and
illiteracy, (4) the importance of a safe
ly balanced town-and-country civili
zation, and (6) social ideals and con
structive measures—the title and out
line of the address.
' • We are familiar with all these prob
lems in North Carolina, but the people of
this and other Southern states have not
yet thought them through. What they
mean to Texas, North Carolina, and
"the rest of the South in the days at
hand and ahead must be earnestly con
sidered by both the church and the state. I qj ’
They cannot safely be neglected by | remembered, they are seven-
either. [ tenths of all the voters of the state.
Copies of this address can be had by Agriculture is the mired wheel in
ministers and students in general by state economy. Nothing is plainer than j
applying to Kev. J. M. Ormond, South- this fact. But in the main, the job of'
ern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, lifting it out is the farmer’s job andj
Write for the February 1922 number of essentially it is an economic and social j
Service. problem, with the state standing by to:
Or if there be any widespread inter-; remove obstacles and to sanction just
est on the part of the clergymen of the and proper effort in the farm regions.
state, this address will be reprinted in
the University News Letter in early
June.
PER CAPITA FARM WEALTH
Six hundred and eighty-four dollars
of accumulated wealth in farm proper
ties per country dweller in North Caro
lina in 1919, according to the last cen-
sus.
The grand total of farm wealth in
lands, buildings, machinery, and live
stock was one and a quarter billion dol
lars, but the average per country in
habitant was less than $700.
After two and a half centuries, that’s
what the farmers of the state have
been able to save out of their enormous,
crop totals and per-acre yields year by
year.
Six hundred and eighty-four dollars
looks like a picayune when compared
with a per capita country wealth of
$8,113 in Iowa, $7,261 in South Dakota,
and $6,826 in Nebraska.
Forty states make a better showing
in this particular, and among them are
twelve southern states—Texas, Oklaho
ma, New Mexico, Arizona, Kentucky,
Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina,
Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and
Florida.
In all the Union only seven states
rank below North Carolina in the ac
cumulated farm wealth per country in
habitant. See the table elsewhere in
this issue.
A Startling Paradox
5th in total gross crop values
was our rank in 1921.
9th in the per-acre production
gross crop values in 1921.
And—
1st every year in the South in the
per-acre production of cotton and to
bacco values.
But—
32nd in the per-worker production
of crop wealth in the census year 1919
.A.nd only—
41st in the per capita accumulation
of wealth in farm properties the same
year.
We created 503 million dollars’ worth
of crop wealth in 1919, but 1250 million
dollars is all that our accumulated farm
wealth amounts to in 260 years of his
tory. That is to say, in two crop years our
farmers create nearly as much wealth as
they have been able or willing to save
in the entire history of the state,
live
The Way Out
No more important chapter in state
economy has ever been given to the
public in this state than that of Mr. J.
A. Capps on The Retention of Farm
Wealth, in the N. C. Club Year-Book
of 1916-17. We had many a letter from
the bankers and merchants of the state
about that chapter, but not one from
any farmer. The farmers of North
Carolina need to spell out this puzzle
with the intelligence that the Danish
farmers put into it. Man for man,
they are the richest farmers on the
globe. They have been aided by legis
lation, to be sure, but without in
telligent skill on part of the farmers in
the distribution of farm commodities it
would have amounted to nothing. The
people who get rich on farm products
in Denmark are the Danish farmers.
They handle their own wares from farm
to table; but in the end, of course, the
merchants and bankers are prbsperous
because the farmers are prosperous.
If the farmers are interested in farm
wealth-retention, they can have this
Club Year-Book. A few copies are still
on hand, and they will be mailed out
without charge as long as the supply
lasts.
Perhaps the following table will set
them to thinking.
Per-Acre Per Worker Per Capita
-that
of
Crops
Kan.... $ 9.9fe..
Neb.... 9.09..
N. Dak. 7.60..
N. C.... 38.82..
Crops
. $2,526..
. 2,778..
. 2,617.
. 1,053..
Wealth
... $3,836
... 6,826
... 4,074
684
NINE CENTS FOR CULTURE
Anne Pierce, librarian of the Char
lotte, North Carolina, public library,
has learned how to make books work.
With a total number of ten thousand
volumes in the library, of which four
thousand are reference books, 66,264
were in circulation last year, a turn
over which comes very near being a
record. The actual weight of reading
matter the people of Charlotte toted
back and forth during that time was
some sixty-six tons. Some of it, you
may think, was pretty light-weight
stuff; as a matter of fact, however, the
increase in the circulation'of non-flction
exceeded very materially that of fic
tion On the other hand, although
Charlotte people state that their city
ranks second in the world inthepropor-
tire history oi tne state. And | tion of its
in live crop years the wealth they; dents do not give proof of ““is m the
create almost exactly equals all the dumber of books on religiousjubj^e^c^^
wealth of every sort that appeared on I which they ohelves Only
the tax books in 1921-country taxables books gather dust
and town taxables, real and personal, some six hundred calls were made for
tangible and invisible all put together. I them during the year.
Released week beginning May 8
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
What North Carolina Needs
Josephus Daniels
1. First and foremost a revival of
old-fashioned religion—the old-fash
ioned religion both of faith and of
works. Faith, of couise, is funda
mental, but the religion of works is
also a necessity if the world is to be
reached. Works is the only argu
ment that has any weight with the
world.
2. Revival of old-fashioned econ
omy. This is necessary on part of
the individual, for we can nev6r be a
prosperous state until we are a col
lection of thrifty individuals. Old-
fashioned economy on the part of
every subdivision of government
from the voting precinct to the State
itself is also an urgent need. Units
of government like individuals must
live within their income. They must
avoid as they would the plague the
bonding of current indebtedness.
3. A change in the banking laws
by which drastic limitations could be
placed on the loaning by banks of
the money in those banks to officers
of the same. Nearly all banks that
fail, fail from within.
4. Striking from the constitution
the provision declaring that salaries
of judges shall not be reduced during
their term of office or adding a pro
vision that the prohibition as to re
duction of salary does not regard the
collection of tax such as is imposed on
all citizens of like ability to pay as a
reduction of salary. It is of the ut
most importance to the maintenance
of respect for law and its adminis
tration that there be no privileged
class.
6. A more diligent enforcement of
the law forbidding usury. It is broad
ly charged that some individuals and
some banks are charging by indirec
tion if not openly more than six per
cent interest on money.
6. Strengthening the primary law
and making it proof against trickery
and fraud.
7. The more vigorous enforce
ment of law in North Carolina,
the establishment of an aggresive
leadership in law enforcement, and
the devotion by the Attorney Gen
eral of all his time to the duties of
his office. He should be given pow
er and authority, with the necessary
assistance, to direct the concurrent
enforcement of the prohibition law.
8. Adhering to, enlarging and
strengthening, on part of the farm
ing interests, of the policy of co-op
erative marketing and co-operative
production. This is the most prom
ising means of placing the farmer
on a better economic basis.
9. The effecting of such changes
in the relations between tenant, land
lord, and supply-merchant, as will
make it possible for the tenant farm
er as well as the land owner to prac
tice diversification of crops.
10. The advocacy by all persons of
influence of the policy of ‘living at
home and boarding at the same place’,
both as a wise economic system gen
erally and as the wisest measure a-
gainst the threatened invasion of
the boll weevil.
each ‘year on the biggest educational
force next to the schools—less than the
price of a single admission to a movie.
—The Survey.
HOW FARM TENANCY HURTS
When the average person is asked
what the chief hindrances to ecflication-
al progress are and what renders the
school less effective, the answer is like
ly to be short school terms, unsuitable
school buildings, poor teaching, and the
like. Where these conditions exist the
answer is appropriate, but a careful
study of conditions and causes as they
exist will reveal the fact that irregular
attendance at school is one if not the
chief cause of retardation and discour
agement.
From what source comes the bulk of
this irregularity? A recent issue of the
State Normal Bulletin states the fol
lowing:
“The greatest defect of the rural
school is not in the barrenness of the
subject taught, nor that the subject
matter does not fit the surrounding con
ditions or that the methods employed
are so antiquated. These are defects
and should be remedied. But the rural
schools suffer on account of the moving,
shifting population more than from any
other cause. Tenants move on an aver
age every two years. In forty-live
counties in Georgia, seven out of ten
' farms are cultivated by tenants. These
[ people usually move about the middle
; of the school term, so that in some com
munities the teachers teach almost a
new school after the Christmas holi
days.”
These people carry their children from
one community to another so often that
they fail to become permanently allied
with the social forces of the vicinity
and do not feel that they owe a loyalty
to law and order as t\iey would were
they permanently located. The educa
tional ideals of this class of people un
fortunately do not take very strong
form. The church, the school, and the
community organization do not find very
strong support from them. Their feel
ing toward the support of the community
school is not as strong as if they were
permanently located- Hence the irreg
ularity in the attendance of their child
ren at school is noticeable. This irreg
ularity on their part, in many instances
the larger part of the school enrollment,
not only injures themselves but injures
the advancement of the whole school.
Until we shall have a more stable
population and a stronger arm of the
law to compel conformity to the com
pulsory attendance law, the schools will
continue to be hampered with non-at
tendance and irregular attendance. The
schools will continue to be more or less
ineffective, and our schools will continue
to fail in the attainment of highest re
sults.—G. 4). Godard, State School Su
pervisor, Ga., in School and Home.
possess the grounds and pastures of the
earth, that they, remembering them
selves to be Thy tenants, may notrack
or stretch out the rents of their houses
or lands, nor yet take unreasonable
fines or moneys, after the manner of
covetous worldlings, but fiiay so let them
out that the inhabitants thereof may be
able to pay the rents and to live and
nourish their families and remember
the poor.
Give them grace also to consider that
they, too, are but strangers and pil
grims in this world, having here no
dwelling-place, but seeking one to come;
that they, remembering the short con
tinuance of this life, may be content
with that which is sufficient, and not
join house to house and land to land, to
the impoverishment of others, but may
so behave themselves in letting their
tenements, lands and pastures, that
after this life they may be received in
to everlasting habitations. Amen.—
Prayer Book of Edward VI.
A PRAYER FOR LANDLORDS
We heartily pray Thee to send Thy
Holy Spirit into the hearts of them that
ENJOYMENT AT HOME
Home and heaven are not so far sep
arated as we sometimes think. They
are not separated at all, for they are
both in the same great building. Home
is the lower story, and is located down
here on the ground floor; heaven is up
stairs, in the second and third stories.
As one after another of the famny is '
called to “come up higher,” that which
seems to be such a strange place be
gins to-, wear a familiar aspect; and
when the last one is left below, Lho
home is transferred to heaven, and
heaven is home. »
Don’t shut up your house', l.est the
sun should fade your carpets and your
hearts, lest a merry laugh should shake
down some of the musty old cobwebs
there. If you want to ruin your sons,
let them think that all mirth and social
enjoyment must be left on the thresh-
hold without when they come home at
night. When once a home is regarded
as only a place to eat, drink, and sleep
in, the work has begun that ends in
endless degradation. Young people
must have fun and relaxation some
where; if they don't have it at their
own hearth stones, it will be sought at
other and perhaps less profitable
places. Therefore, let the fire burn
brightly at night, and make the home
stead delightful with all those little arts
so perfectly understood.
Don’t repress the buoyant spirit of
your children. Half an hour of merri
ment around the lamp and firelight of a
home blots out many a care and annoy
ance during the day; and the best safe
guard they can take with them into the
world is the unseen influence of a bright
little domestic circle.
Home is the bulwark of American
happiness. Put home first and fore
most, and you will give your children
a good heritage in their minds and
characters: for there will come a time
when the home circle will be broken:
when you will “long for the touch of
a vanished hand, and the sound of a
voice that is still.”—Durham Herald.
FARM WEALTH PER COUNTRY DWELLER
Based (1) on the 1920 census, (2) covering the year 1919, (3) referring to
wealth in farm properties—farm lands and buildings, farm implements and ma
chinery, and livestock, and (4) to dwellers in the open country outside all incor-
porated towns and cities.
Average for United States in 1919 was $1,836; for North Carolina $684; Iowa
$8,113; South Dakota $7,261.
Table ranking the counties of North Carolina in next week’s issue.
Miss H. R. Smedes
Department of Rural Social Economics, University of North Carolina
Per Rural
State Inhabitant
Oklahoma $1,387.4
Rank
1
2
Miss Pierce has done all this on the
beggarly budget of five thousand dol
lars a year. With this she has bought
the best books, such as Queen Victoria,
the Outline of History, The Education
of Henry Adams—books that cost real
money, has employed a full-time staff
of three people in addition to herself
and has purchased a wide range of
magazines. Meanwhile the city is
spending less than nine cents,per capita
State innaDitant
Iowa $8,113.3
South Dakota 7,260.6
Nebraska 6,826.4
Illinois 4,757.3
North Dakota 4,074.2
Minnesota 3,915.6
Kansas 3,835.6
California 3,723.5
Wyoming 3,683.5
Montana 3,209.7
Idaho 3,042.4
Colorado 2,900.3
Oregon 2,789.6
Indiana 2,639.8
Missouri 2,615.7
Utah 2,482.7
Wisconsin 2,399.9
Washington 2,213.7
Rhode Island 2,210.6
Nevada 2,118.6
Ohio 1,923.4
Texas 1,696.6
Michigan 1,546.5
Massachusetts 1,486.7
Rank
26
26 New York 1,317.6
27 New Mexico 1,226.9
28 Vermont 1,170.7
29 Arizona 1,169.2
30 Delaware 1,136.8
31 Kentucky 953.6
32 Maryland 908.9
33 Virginia 790.1
34 Tennessee ■ 784.7
36 South Carolina 767.7
36 New Hampshire 738.6
37 Arkansas 730.6
38 Georgia 726.0
39 Mississippi 701.8
40 Florida ' 688,4
41 North Carolina 683.9
42 Pennsylvania 682.9
43 Maine 602.0
44 New Jersey 685.9
45 Louisiana 566.4
46 Connecticut 623.4
47 West Virginia 516.8
48 Alabama 418.6