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.
OCTOBER 4,1922
CHAPEL Hn.r,, N. C.
VOL. vm, NO 46
jSdilorUl Bo.rd . B. 0. Branson, 8. H. Hobbs, .Tr., L. R. Wilson, K. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B, Bnllitt, H. W. Odnm. Entered as seoond-olasa matter November U,
,1914, at the PoBtoffioe at Chapel Hill. N. O., ander the act of Aufnst 34,1913,
CERTAIN DEFECTS
Two years ago when I discussed this
question before a similar conference
here at Chapel Hill, said Dr. E. C.
Brooks our state superintendent of
Public Instruction, I called attention to
certain defects that were seriously di
minishing the public benefits that we
had a right to expect of our county of
ficials. The information was not de
rived from hearsay stories but from
personal investigation of the records of
a number of counties. Since that time
we have inaugurated an auditing sys
tem of school accounts which shows
that in the main these same defects ex
ist to a greater or less extent in a large
percent of the counties today. They
are as follows:
1. From ten percent to fifteen per
cent of the taxes in some counties re
main uncollected from year to year and
the records fail to show what becomes
of the delinquent lists. Therefore,
from eighty-five percent to ninety per
cent of the people seem to carry an ex
tra tax burden of from ten percent to
fifteen percent.
2. The fines^ forfeitures, and penal
ties of the towns and cities and the fines
and penalties of the magistrates court
frequently are not applied to public
school support in the county in accord
ance with law but are spent illegally.
3. The funds collected are not segre
gated in acci^rdance with law and ap
plied to the^ several departments as a
good budgeting system would demand.
Therefore the illegal excess spent by a
department may be an additional bur
den on the county and it certainly be
comes necessary to borrow in order to
meet the legitimate needs of other de
partments. Thus the county’s indebt
edness is increased.
4. The special local taxes are not al
ways properly levied, collected, and dis
bursed. I have on my table now a let
ter from a citizen of one county asking
if certain corporations in the district
should pay special taxes for the sup
port of the school and the local govern
ment and if so how far back can the of
ficials collect.
6. Officials in many counties do not know
the cost of county government, the size
of the bonded indebtedness, or the
floating debt, or the expenditures of
the several departments. Hence they
do not know what rates of taxes to
levy. Therefore each General Assem
bly is called upon to refund the float
ing indebtedness. This is an evidence
that certain municipalities and counties
are living partly on bond issues for cur
rent expenses rather than levying the
required amount of taxes for their le
gitimate needs, or they are living be
yond their means, and in either case
they are piling up trouble for the fu
ture.
Since these charges were ma^ie two
years ago some notable improvements
have been begun. The General Assem
bly has made a beginning and the State
Auditor has at last been able to secure
enough information to tabulate the a-
mount of the bonded indebtedness of
all the counties save one, A budget
system has been inaugurated and has
been installed in a number of counties,
thus increasing the number of better
governed counties. An accounting
system has been authorized and the
people will have access to information
that they have never been able hereto
fore to secure. But one of the most
encouraging’signs is the interest the
public is taking in this question and es
pecially the new determination of, the
commissioners to reorganize the gov
ernment to meet modern conditions,
and sooner or later the people will de
mand a correct exhibit of public busi
ness and in terms they can understand.
The Pitt County Idea
I wish now to call attention especial
ly to one county that has made notable
improvement. Two years ago it ap
peared that Guilford maintained the
best standard of all the counties we
had studied. But I am now inclined to
believe that Pitt county is in the lead.
I realize that I am running great risk
when I begin to specify, but since I
have said it is the duty of some one to
hold up good examples of an entire
county working effectively, I shall
plunge in whether the water ig. fine or
not.
The commissioners of Pitt for some
time have been keenly interested in
ways and means of improving their
county government, and judging it by
good business standards it seems to be
more efficiently governed than any oth
er county in the state of which I have
any knowledge. If there are others
better organized and more efficiently
governed, I hope this address will call
them to the front. I am informed that
less than one percent of the legitimate
taxes in Pitt county was uncollected
in 1920. Therefore, the public burden
is equally distributed. The commis
sioners have secured the services of a
whole-time auditor, (he might be called
county-manager just as well as county
auditor,) who is the executive of the
board. His duties seem to be as fol
lows:
1. He, instead of the Register of
Deeds, makes up the tax books for the;
year and holds a copy of these books in
his office for the correction of errors, for
checking against other departments,
and for keeping up with all legitimate
refunds. Therefore the income can be
measured fairly accurately at the be
ginning of the year.
2. He superintends all buying for the
county, keeps a record of the same, the
prices paid, and the needs. Each de
partment, therefore, can be kept with
in its legal requirements, and made to
live within its income, unless an emer
gency arises. Then, of course, the
commissioners can follow the law in
meeting all such emergencies.
3. He audits all accounts presented
to the commissioners for payment and
checks them according to the provisions
in the budget, and I am informed that
the commissioners “can tell the finan
cial condition of each fund in the county
at a moment’s notice, what proportion
of the taxes have been collected, and
what taxes are in arrears at any time.”
4. The commissioners employed a
man to work under the auditor, whose
duties are to study the county’s tax-
ables and to ascertain how much is not
listed. During the first two months of
his services he put on the tax books
over $2,000,000 worth of property, some
of which was real property that had
not been listed in several years, and
under good management this property
will remain on the tax books. Of
course, it is clear that the income is
greatly increased and the burden of
public support lighter on those who
have heretofore paid their taxes. Such
are the reforms that have been made
in Pitt county during the past two
years. I may add also that in the ad
ministration of the public school* funds
the same good business methods are
employed, as the records in our office
show.
Reform Principles
There are two principles contained in
these reforms that should be noted.
First. The commissioners have separ
ated the strictly executive functions of
■the board from the purely legislative.
As a result they can devote their best
energies to planning for the county’s
welfare and outlining the work of this
executive officer.
Second. They have taken from the
Register of Deeds and the sheriff cer
tain functions that in many counties
are seriously affected by political pres
sure, and placed them in the hands of
an executive who can perform his du
ties without fear or favor.
Many of the defects in county admin
istration are due to the fact that those
who have in their custody the record of
property values and those who receive
the funds from the people are too often
easily influenced by those on whom they
rely for political support. Therefore
these two functions should be removed
as far as possible from party influences.
How They Work in Pitt
In taking the improvements in Pitt
county as a good example of reforms
in the right direction, suppose we ap
ply some of the accepted principles of
good government to them. Article I
of our Constitution is called the Declara
tion of Rights. Section Ssays, “Theleg-
islative, executive and supreme judicial
powers of government ought to be for
ever separate and distinct from each oth
er.” This distinction is fairly well main
tained in the organization of our state
government, and our ‘'judicial system
throughout is fairly well divorced from
the other two divisions. But in county
government, as a rule, it is difficult to
tell in many cases which is the execu
tive and which is the legislative.
Article VII of the Constitution says,
“It shall be the duty of the commis
sioners to exercise a general supervision
and control of the penal and charitable
institutions, schools, roads, bridges,
levying of taxes, and finances of the
county, as may be prescribed by
law.” But section 14 gives the General
Assembly power to modify this section.
However, it still stands as the highest
authority.
The Board of County Commissioners
has then both legislative and executive
functions. It may pass certain rules
and regulations of a very broad nature
that have the force of law. These,
therefore, would be legislative acts.
At the same time it acts as an execu
tive body when attempting to carry
out these rules and regulations, al
though the total time devoted to both
may not exceed in many instances twelve
days within a period of twelve
months. This is perhaps long enough
for their legislative duties,, but certain
ly not long enough for their executive
duties.
Moreover, after the commissioners
pass rules and regulations governing
the several departments of a county
there is no central executive head con
tinually functioning to see that the
rules of the board or the laws of the
state are obeyed. Therefore indivi
duals or communities or classes that
can bring the greatest pressure to bear
on the board are sometimes the most
fortunate, thus violating directly or in
directly Section 7 of the Declaration of
Rights, which says that “No man or
set of men are entitled to exclusive or
separate emoluments or privileges from
the community but in consideration of
public services.”
Pitt county has separated many of
the executive functions of the county
commissioners from their legislative
ones by placing the former in the hands
of an executive employed by them and
responsible to them. If he is held to
strict accountability, and no member of
the board is permitted to interfere
with his acts except as they may be
reviewed by the whole board, it is reas
onable b) suppose that, if he is a com
petent man, Pitt county will be
greatly benefited. The evidences justi
fy this conclusion.
But under the old confused method,
if ten percent of the people are exempt
from taxation they are receiving emol
uments and privileges not enjoyed by
the other ninety percent. If towns and
cities are spending the fines, forfeitures
and penalties, they are using money a
part of which belongs, to the country
people. If one department of govern
ment is receiving more than its legal
share of the funds and the others are
compelled to borrow as a result, one
part of our population may be receiving
benefits not enjoyed by the other part.
The provision in the Constitution that
“It shall be the duty of the commis
sioners to exercise a general supervi
sion and control” of the affairs of a
county, is wise, and they should be re-
^pnsible directly to the people. But
^en they as a board undertake to ex-
e^e a number of rules and regulations
and state laws, they cannot exercise
the general supervision and control
that this modern day demands. There
fore their duties should be legislative.
They should select a competent execu
tive to carry out their rules and regula
tions and the state law, and hold him
responsible for their execution. I do
not know whether he should be called
an auditor or a business manager or by
some other name. The name does not
matter so much. There are counties
today employing auditors who are mere
ly book-keepers, and careless ones at
that, while there are other counties em
ploying auditors who are real execu
tives and worth thousands of dollars to
their counties in excels of their sala
ries. In fact, so far as I have been able
to learn, the counties that have made
the most progress are those that have
the best auditors^ and I suspect their
duties vary in different counties. Who
can estimate the value of Auditor
Holden to Wake County, and Auditor
Orrell to New Hanover?
But an auditor with the duties usual
ly assigned to him is not enough. We
need a real executive with broad pow
ers, and I do not believe it is necessary
to increase the number of officials in
order to secure it. By a rearange-
ment of functions the county’s busi
ness can be transacted by the same
number of officials as at present. It
will be necessary, of course, to increase
the number of clerks in order to trans
act twenty times more business today
than in 1900.
State Supervision
Finally it is the duty of the state to
help the counties set up a standard of
good county government. Governor
Morrison in his fine passion to see North
Carolina go forward along all lines has
appointed a Commission to report to
the next General Assembly* a plan for
the improvement of county govern
ment. We may look in vain through
the statutes of the General Assembly
for any plan or even a suggestion of a
good form of organization. Therefore
great good may result from the acts of
this Commission if it brings together
the best practice as well as the best
thought and embodies them in a statute
on county government as a guide to all
public officials. However, it should be
somewhat elastic until a complete form
of good county government has been
worked out and proven by actual prac
tice.
But after a standard is set up it is
the duty of the state to exercise super
vision and require the counties to meet
it. The State Bank Examiner closes a
bank as soon as it reaches the danger
line. And many a bank has been closed
and the officials punished for doing less
than certain county officials do with
impunity. County officials, therefore,
should be required by the state to meet
a similar standard of safety. For ex
ample: suppose a bank should let a few
of its depositors overdraw their ac
counts until the reserve is far below
the amount required by law to meet
the daily demands of the bank! Yet
this is exactly what a number of coun
ties do today. They permit certain de
partments of government to take money
as long as any may be found in the
treasury, regardless of the amounts due
those departments. *
A system of traveling auditors under
the jurisdiction of the State Auditor
can easily tell whether the county’s
business is in safe hands. If it is not
properly safeguarded the guilty officials
should be removed at once, leaving to the
Commissioners the power to fill the va
cancy until the next election. More
over, the State Auditor should be au
thorized to conduct an institute for all
new officials who are ignorant of their
duties and they should be allowed a
reasonable time to qualify. But they
should qualify! The duties and respon
sibilities of our officials are twenty-fold
greater today than they were twenty
years ago. Therefore the old methods
of book-keeping and of managing coun
ty affairs will not suffice for this new
day.
I am ambitious to see North Carolina
the best governed state in the world.
In order to be the best governed, it
must have the best citizenship, and to
have the best citizenship it must have
the best system of schools—not the
most costly, but the best. But when
we consider how little has been done
by the state to help the county expand
and equip its organization to meet the
new and increasing demands of the
public, the wonder is not that we have
many defects, but that we have worked
out an organization as efficient as
we find in many counties. There are
evidences that the people are seeking
for something better, that patriotic of
ficials are giving of their time and
money to make their counties respond
justly to the needs of the people, and
that heroic men and women in every
section of our state are cooperating
unselfishly for the glory of this old
Commonwealth.
DOES NORTH CAROLINA READ?
Table showing (1) the combined circulation in North Carolina of The Pro
gressive Farmer, Literary Digest, Ladies Home Journal, and Saturday Evening
Post, on June 30, 1922, in each county of the state, (2) the number of inhab
itants per paper, and (3) the rank of the counties.
In this study the average for the state is 26 inhabitants per paper. Seven
ty-seven counties fall behind this average. Mainly they are (1) the counties
with large negro populations, (2) the remote rural counties, and (3) all the
mountain counties, Buncombe and Henderson excepted.
L. R. Wilson, Librarian, University of North Carolina
No. Inhabs.
Rank County papers per paper
1 Buncombe 6000 13
2 New Hanover 2967 14
3 Mecklenburg 6310 16
4 Wake 4636 16
4 Guilford 4846 16
6 Moore 1211 18
6 Durham 2366 18
8 Catawba 1769 19
8 Orange 926 19
10 Lee 659 20
11 Alamance 1668 21
11 Cumberland 1633 21
11 Edgecombe 1809 21
11 Richmond 1234 21
11 Rowan 2066 21
16 Carteret 704 22
16 Forsyth 3623 22
18 Chowan 460 23
18 Craven 1268 23
18 Iredell... , 1669 23
18 Pasquotank 772 23
18 Randolph 1366 23
23 Columbus 1244 24
23 Henderson 769 24
23 Lenoir 1211 24
23 Vance 938 24
27 Beaufort 1266 26
27 Duplin 1223 26
27 Rutherford 1244 25
27 Scotland 629 25
31 Montgomery 667 26
31 Davie 617 26
31 'Cleveland 1292 26
34 Pitt 1709 27
34 Stanly 1016 27
34 Wayne 1617 27
37 Robeson 1960 28
37 Cabarrus 1220 28
39 Gates 363 29
39 Perquimans 382 29
39 Union 1242 29
42 Wilson 1209 30
42 Washington 382 30
42 Pender 491 30
42 Northampton 762 30
46 Gaston 1667 31
46 Granville 861 31
48 Rockingham 1377 32
48 Bladen 619 32
48 Chatham 742 32
No. Inhabs.
Rank County papers per paper
48 Anson 890 32
52 Bertie 727 33
52 Halifax 1344 33
62 Harnett 849 33
52 Person 678 33
66 Swain 384 34
56 Sampson 1048 34
66 Camden 158 34
66 Alexander 359 34
60 Davidson 996 35
60 Currituck 206 35
60 Hyde 240 35
60 Onslow 420 36
60 Pamlico 260 36
66 Tyrrell 134 36
66 Polk 246 36
67 McDowell 462 37
67 Martin 570 37
67 Surry 866 37
67 Warren 577 37
71 Caldwell 629 38
71 Burke 609 38
73 Haywood 602 39
73 Lincoln 457 39
73 Macon 328 39
76 Transylvania 236 40
76 Hertford 401 40
76 Franklin 669 40
79 Hoke 277 42
80 Johnston 1137 43
81 Jones 223 44
81 Stokes 472 44
81 Cherokee 360 44
84 Yadkin 362 46
84 Brunswick 309 48
84 Greene . 339 48
84 Jackson 280 48
88 Nash 777 63
89 Wilkes 607 54
90 Mitchell 202 56
91 Caswell 262 60
92 Clay 76 61
93 Watauga 216 62
94 Yancey 233 66
95 Avery 146 70
96 Madison 281 71
97 Dare 61 84
98 Alleghany 69 107
99 Ashe 189 111
100 Graham 26 187