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.
JUNE 28 1922
CHAPEL Hn.T^ N, C,
VOL. VIII, NO, 32
Editorial Board i E. C. Branson, 8. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilson, E. W. KnlehE, D. D. Oarroll, J. B. Bnllltt, H. W. Odum. Ei^iered as second-class matter Novembe^ 14.1*)14. at the Postoffioe at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24, 1912.
FEW PURE-BKED ANIMALS
A little less than one of every twenty-
five farms in North Carolina reported
pure-bred dairy cows, beef cattle,
horses, sheep, or swine, one pure-bred
animal or more in 1920.
; The average for the country-at-large
was more than one farm of this sort of
every nine farms reporting livestock.
In Iowa it was more than one of every
four, and in South Dakota it was nearly
one of every three farms.
Forty-five states made a better show
ing th9.n North Carolina, and only two
states of the Union made a poorer
showing-^South Carolina and Louisiana.
See the table elsewhere in this issue.
‘ Our rank was low enough in the cen
sus year, numbers alone considered and
all livestock counted, including pure-
bfeds, grades, and scrubs of every sort.
On this basis of comparison only four
states made a shabbier showing. See
the table in the University News Let
ter, Vol. VIII, Nos. 29 and 30.
But the quality of our livestock con
sidered, we descend two points more
toward the bottom of the column.
Could any figures better exhibit the
fact that we are crop farmers mainly
or merely, and livestock farmers only
incidentally or accidentally? ’ I
Our Roll of Pure-Breds j
The pure-bred swine of all types on
farms in North Carolina number 27,874,
asfollows—Duroc-Jerseyl3,843, Poland-
China|6,484, Berkshire 3,511, and all
others 4,536.
Opr pure-bred dairy animals of all
types number 7,697, 'as follows—Jersey
4,978, Holstein*Friesian 1,613, all others
1,106.
Our pure-bred beef cattle number
3,086, as follows—Herefords 933, Aber
deen Angus 786, Shorthorn 732, all
others 634.
Our pure-bred sheep number 1,207,
we shall have enormous farm wealth
accumulated and steadily increasing
year by year.
COUNTY OFFICE AFFAIRS
Dr. E. C. Brooks, the state superin
tendent of public instruction, severely
arraigns the handling of tax moneys by
county officials in North Carolina, He
declares that unless there is an im
provement the state will not be able to
carry on her school, road, and health
programs.
Three years ago 53 percent of the
teachers in this state, said he, had no
more education than students in the
sixth and seventh grades of the elemen
tary schools. Now, under the system
of paying more to the better qualified
teachers, 58 percent are of high school
or higher educational attainments.
Three years ago over '8,000 of the 15,-
000 teachers had no more educational
.qualifications for teaching than sixth
and seventh grade pupils have. Today |
there are 11,000 teachers in the high i
school and college class of educational
preparedhess.
Brooks’s Indictment
For this system of improving the
quality of teachers, a million more dol
lars will soon be needed, and the tax
payers will be unwilling to shoulder
this additional burden. The remedy
lies in a better system of tax account
ing by county officials.
Inefficiency and somet'imes dishonesty
in the administration of county affairs
is held responsible for the lack of proper
revenues in the county treasury for
school funds.
Many magistrates and other minor
courts never turn into the school funds
a cent of fines, penalties, and forfei
tures. From 16 to 20 percent of the
taxes are not collected. Many men
taining the property. One case Dr.
Brooks mentioned was that of a man
worth $100,000 who had not paid taxes
in years. In another county it .-was
found that two telegraph companies,
telephone companies and other public
service corporations had never paid a
cent to the school fund. For 12 months
the state has been trying to get the
figures on the bonded and floating in
debtedness of the counties, but because
of the lack of records this effort has
accom^ished little. Many counties
have no records of their business. Dr?
Brooks declared that any private busi
ness conducted on the loose methods of
county governments would be in bank
ruptcy, Tax-dodging is the worst form
of slackerism. ,Dr. Brooks advocated
posting in public places the names of
all persons who failed to do their duty
in paying their part of the taxes.
A County Mayor
The whole ' speech was a strong ar-
Taignment of our county governments.
The remedy was that these govern
ments be placed on a business basis
with some competent person, whether
auditor, sheriff, or county manager, as
head, who can be held responsible by
the taxpayers for the proper collection
and disbursement of tax' moneys. He
urged the citizens to see to this matter
of making every man pay his part of
the taxes.
The revelations about laxness in
county governments were startling to a
great many of Dr. Brooks’s audience.
The remedy lies in the power of the
ballot, which the people have not yet
learned to wield intelligently and effec
tively.
Know your city and county govern
ment is the injunction he hands the
citizens. A stop must be put to this
tremendous financial waste m North
Carolina, if the progressive work now
underway is to be maintained!
The statements of Dr. Brooks should
be heard by every man and woman in
the state. There is more food for
thought in what he says than in any
thing that has been brought out in
long while. It is of vital interest to
the taxpayers and to the progress of
the state. There should be a general
awakening of the people, and they
should see that their government af
fairs are properly conducted.—Durham
Morning Herald.
•• dodge their tax duties by letting their i
as follows-Shropshire 820, Hamp,sh.re then r ‘
Down 209, all others 178.
Our pure-bred horses numbered 193,
as follows- Percheron 94, Standard
Bred 17, all others 82.
A Lively Scrap
It started on the Diamond Bar Ranch,
an eight-thousand acre farm 50 miles«
east of Los Angeles devoted entirely to
■pure-bred livestock, Duroc-Jerseys
mainly, and it ran all the way down to
San Diego and up to Sacramento the
summer through.
It was about scrub stock and scrub
farmer?. “THby are one and the same”,
said a California farmer, with a snort.
‘‘Wherever you have scrub stock you
have scrub farmers. The farmers will
grade no higher than their livestock in
California or any other state. ’ ’
It was a raw remark to make to a
Carolina Cottontot, and it is not alto
gether true; but there is enough truth
in it to establish it as a settled convic
tion in the Pacific Coast states. We
heard the same statement made in one
phrase or another all over the far West
the summer of 1921, and it provoked a
lively discussion every inch of the way—
a discussion that involved every doctrine
of rural social economics from Peter
Rice to colophon.
The Way Up
But true or not, it is fairly clear that
the steps up in an agricultural civiliza
tion are first and bottom-most, single
crop farming, no matter whether it be
wheat, or corn, or cotton, ortobacco;sec-
ofid, livestock farming based on home-
raised food and feed crops; third, farm
industries based on crops or livestock
or both, in which the farmers them
selves .put their own farm products
into finished form for final consumption;
and fourth, cooperative farm enter
prise based on all these lower forms of
agriculture.
This last and topmost stage of agri
cultural civilization is best illustrated
by Denmark in Europe and by Califor
nia in America.
Assuredly cotton-and-tobacco farm
ing, based on farm tenancy, imported
food-and-feed supplies, and time-mer
chant credit, is the lowest rung of the
farm ladder.
The way to the top is plain as print,
but we have a long way to climb in the
Cotton Belt.
At the bottom we have enormous crop
wealth created year by year; at the top
(Released week beginning June 26)
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
Our Traveling Libraries
In 1921, the Raleigh postoffice
handled 2,230 packages containing
15,659 books, pamphlets, and maga
zine articles which the State Library
Commission loaned free to people
who wrote for information on sub
jects ranging • from fertilizers to
Sunday-school methods. In addition
616 traveling libraries of forty vol
umes each were shipped by freight
to 414 places; 247 new stations were
established, and all the counties
served except Avery and Clay. Ire
dell secured the largest number of
traveling libraries in 1921, and "Vance
led the state in the number of pack
age libraries. One woman wrote
“Our patrons look forward to those
libraries. When they come, we
gather around to see them opened.
We a^e so glad of our books and
glad we are Tar Heels.” J
A rural librarian who sent in an
urgent plea for a library said, ‘‘This
morning I have had several mes
sages begging me to get a library
right away as people are shut in by
this deep snow and want to read.
You can have very little idea what
these|J)Ooks mean to farmers’ fam
ilies who love to read.”
Letters of keen appreciation evi
dence the fact that farmers and
their families do love to read. A
library-service with sufficient funds
to make books accessible to every
boy and girl, every man and woman
in North Carolina, is one of the
greatest opportunities of the state's
educational’ and welfare system.—
Mary B. Palmer, Secretary, State
Library Commission.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT NEEDS
In the existing machinery for rural
local government in the United States
the most general defect is the compli
cated variety of local officials, and the
lack of any definite and coherent sys
tem of organization. This is shown in
the number of county officials indepen
dent of one another and by the lack
both of any concentrated executive
control and of an adequate representa
tive council or board with substantial
powers of local legislation. State super
vision pver local officials is also exer
cised spasmodically and without any
coherent plan, and it is clearly inade
quate even in the case of officers who
are most distinctly state agents for the
local administration of state affairs
(as, for instance, the sheriffs and clerks
of court in North Carolina).
. These considerations call for (1) a
reduction in the number Oi elective
cowty officials, (2) the establishment
of a single responsible executive con
trol, (3) effective stdte supervision over
local officials in the performance of
state functions, and (4) the creation of
a local representative authority for
controlling local policies and local fi
nances.
The County Board
For the local representative authority
in the county, there should be a coun
cil, in most cases of five to seven mem
bers, with control over (1) county taxes
and finances, and (2) questions of local
policy and local legislation, but (3)
without the detailed administrative
duties now imposed on county boards.
Such county councils may be elected by
districts, or if elected at large should
be chosen by sdme plan of voting which
will secure the representation of differ
ent interests.
For the chief county executive, there
is much to be said for applying the
principles of the city-manager plan and
providing for a county manager, se
lected by the county council. But it
will perhaps be easier to bring about
the needed concentration of executive
authority in one of the existing officials.
Tendencies in this direction now exist
in the case of the county or probate
judge in some of the southern states.
and with other officials in other states,
as the county clerk in Illinois, or the
president of the county board in Cook
county, Ill. (and in Buncombe county,
North Carolina).
State Supervision
As a means for securing responsible
supervision over the performance of
state functions, it is believed that the
state’s attorney or public prosecutor
should be appointed by the governor, as
the principal agent for the local en
forcement of state law, ' Other execu
tive and administrative officials should
be appointed; but iii most states the
election of judges will probably be con
tinued.
There is further need for a definite
system of reports by such local author
ities to the state authorities, present
ing brief but intelligible statements of
finances on a uniform plan, and also
other records. Uniform systems of
local accounts and a regular state audit
of local accounts are desirable; but the
primary need is for a satisfactory sys
tem of reports as to local finances and
the work of local governments.
Local Civic Leagues
"Whatever may be done in the way of
readjusting lotal areas, reorganizing
the machinery of rural government,
' and' extending the legal powers and
; functions of the local authorities, the
i successful working of any system of
j rural government will depend on an ac
tive and intelligent body of citizens.
For this purpose there is need for more
systematic and organized efforts to
arouse and strengthen an educated in
terest in local public affairs in rural
communities. There should be in such
regions, as well as in cities, local civic'
associations or leagues dealing, with
local problems on their merits and tak
ing an active part in the selection of
more capable and progressive local of
ficials, as for instance in Alameda
county, California, and in Westchester
and Nassau counties. New York state.
Enlisting the Women
A phase of such work of special im
portance at 'this time, with the recent
extension of voting rights to women,
is the development of organized work
in citizenship among the women in ru
ral sections. ^ Courses of reading and
study in citizenship and rural problems
should be formulated suitable for the
use of women’s clubs, extension schools,
and other agencies; and also for civics
classes in rural high schools; and ste^s
should be taken to distribute outlines
and suggestions for such courses through
such organizations as the League for
Women Voters and publications such as
the Woman (citizen.—Dr. John A. Fair-
lie, Univer^sity of Illinois, a report to
the American CountryrLife Association,
New Orleans session, November 1921.
are as deeply interested in public af
fairs as they are. The rural reader
gets more time to read and more time
to think. It is a mistake to think that
the farmer is devoted solely to cattle
and crops and that the villager thinks
only in terms of his limited environ
ment. These citizens, the majorit^r of
our population, are more essential to
the nation’s well-being than the law
yers and stockbrokers, and they are,
ultimately, more influential. — B. W.
Huebsch in the Freeman.
BANKS THAT HELP
The banks of Charlottesville, Va.,
are cooperating with farmers of the
surrounding county in obtaining pure-
1 bred sires. According to reports re-
j ceived by the United States Depart-
j ment of Agriculture, if a farmer will
j sell his grade or scrub sires and pur-
j chase pure-bred animals, the banks sup-
, ply the necessary funds to cover the
I purchase of the pure-bred sire over the
I amount received for the inferior animal.
I The loan is made on the basis of a year’s
time.
Sentiment among bankers regarding
the use of pure-bred livestock in prac
tical farming operations appears to be
growing more favorable, and the atti-
I tude of the Charlottesville banks is
I evidence of this point. Pure-bred sires
j of good quality, as shown by informa- '
tion obtained by the Bureau of Animal
Industry, increase the earning power
of herds and flocks in which they are
used^—Clip Sheet, U. S, Department
of Agriculture.
THE FARMER THINKS
Many of our habitual readers in large
cities and industrial centers forget that
the millions in small towns and on farms
Rank State
South Dakota....
Iowa
Illinois
Vermont
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Minnesota
• Wyoming
Utah..'....
North Dakota....
Oregon
Kansas^
Nevada
Idaho
New York
Indiana
Colorado
New Hampshire.
Missouri
Ohio
Montana
Massachusetts...
Pennsylvania ....
Michigan
Pet. of Farms
Pure-bred
31.8
26.9
22.7
21.1
21.0
20.9
18.6
18.2
17.9
17.8
17.6
16.7
16.5
....... 16.3
....... 16.8
15.7
15.4
16.1
15.0
13.6
13.2
12.9
11.9
11.7
Rank State
25
26
27
28 '
29
30
31
32
33
34
34
36
37
38
39
39
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
Washington
Oklahoma
Arizona
Maine
Connecticut
Rhode Island ..,
California
New Jersey....,
West Virginia .,
Florida
New Mexico . *,
Arkansas
Maryland
Texas
Delaware
Tennessee
Mississippi
Virginia
Kentucky
Georgia
Alabama
North Carolina...
South Carolina .
Louisiana’
. OWN YOUR OWN FARM
To succeed as a farmer in this state,
where the average man is the tiller of
a limited number of acres, says Mr.
Brown, the Georgia Commissioner of
Agriculture, the farmer has got to get
out of the tenant class and into the
land-owning fraternity; the farmer has
got to back up all his industrious skill
with what agricultural science, books,
experiments, and demonstrations can
teach him; he and his neighbors have
got to buy and use labor-saving ma
chinery in common, taking turns in.
using what the individual cannot afford
alone to purchase; he has got to buy
his supplies, sell his produce, and finance
his work cooperatively, and he has got
to look for and find markets, cash mar
kets in nearby or convenient towns.
The state bureau of markets, as Mr»
Brown points out, will render valuable
assistance in finding markets and in
aiding- tne farmer to dispose of his
products. ;
That, in brief, is the new gospel of
the farmer, according to Commissioner
Brown. The capstone, top and crown
of it all is that the farmer has got to
own the ‘land he tills. As a tenant
farmer, he is in a losing game. —Salis
bury Evening Post.
PURE-BHED LIVESTOCK IN THE U. S. IN 1920
States ranked according to the ratio of farms having one or more pure-bred
horses, dairy cows, beef cattle, sheep, or swine.
Ratios based on the 1920 Census figures (1) for farms reporting livestock
of these types, and (2) for farms reporting one or more pure-bred animals.
In North Carolina 257,673 farms reported horses, cattle, sheep, swine; but
only 10,057 or 3,9 percent of these farms'had pure-bred animals. United States
average, 11.3 percent. Rank of the state 46th.
Department Rural Social Economics, University of North Carolina.
Pet. of Farms
Pure-bred
' 11.6
11-5
11.3
11.1
10.5
9.9
9.5
8.5
8.2
8.2
7.2
7.0
6.6
6.6
6.5
6.1
5.0
4.5
4.1
4.0
3.9
3.4
3.0