Newspapers / The University of North … / Nov. 29, 1922, edition 1 / Page 1
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The news in this publi cation is released for the press on receipt. THE UNhVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER Published Weekly by the University of North Caro lina for its,University Ex tension Division. NOVEMBER 29, 1922 CHAPEL HELL, N. C VOL. rx, NO. 4 Bdltorisl Board. B. 0. Branson,S.H. Hobba, Jr., L. R. WUaon, B. W. Knleht, D. D. Carroll, J. B.Bullitt, H.W. Odum. Entered asaecond-olaas matter Norember 14,1914, at the Postoffioe at Chapel Hill, N. O., under the act of Aufmst 2 A WIDE-AWAKE COLLEGE TOWN CHANGING CHAPEL HILL Little Old Chapel Hill, the seat of the University of North Carolina, 'a drowsy little village of some three hundred dwellings these hfty years or more, is awake at last—wide awake. In place of the vffeather-beaten old dwelling that housed the public school on the edge of the town, a handsome brick building on Main street. Six new buildings on the college cam pus, and 117 newly constructed resi dences in the town within the last eigh teen months. One new church building completed— the Sprunt Memorial Church; another approaching completion—the Baptist Church costing around $200,000; two others, the Methodist and the Episcopal churches, soon to be built at a total cost of some $300,000; a new brick par sonage nearing completion for the Methodist pastor, the handsomest resi dence in town. A half million dollars in church build ings alone. All told more than two , million dollars put into building con struction in Chapel Hill within two years. And then, a mile of concrete roadway in the heart of the town, and tentniles more of such roadway into Durham. A Community Club of Women—per haps the most effective in the state. And a Town Club of Men—men of the faculty and men of the town—who sit down together at a two-bit supper fort nightly, to discuss in Rotarian fashion What Chapel Hill Needs to be the Loveliest Town on Earth to Look at and to Live in. Such are some of the assets of Chang ing Chapel Hill. Nobody yet knows the full value of these assets to the home town. What Chapel Hill is to be doth not yet appear. But we venture the prediction that it can easily be as lovely as Williamstown, Mass., and that it certainly will be in a few more years a worthy seat for the University of the state. and to the Social Service Scholarship Fund; besides having a further part in statewide work through its contribution to the State Federation Endowment Fund. Through its departments of music and literature, the Club offers cultural opportunities which are greatly enjoyed by those who take advantage of them. —Emilie R. Holmes. WHAT THE WOMEN DID First and foremost the women’s Com munity Club of Chapel Hill stands for cooperation. Cooperation with the various agencies that have the welfare of the town at heart. For instance, (1) with the churches. Last year a survey was made of the town by which a list of all children not in any Sunday school was furnished to the pastors of each church, thus open ing the way for constructive church work where it is especially needed. (2) With the King’s Daughters, in the an nual Christmas Community Festival, whereby good cheer is brought to those in our midst in need of such help. (3) With the health officers. The sale- of Christmas Seals was effected last year through the Club, resulting in the reali zation of $475 for local use in fighting tuberculosis; while, perhaps even more important, an active study was made of possibilities for the future develop ment of this important work, from which we expect to hear of definite re sults during the-coming year. (4) With the town food inspector and the mer chants, leading to the better handling of foodstuff, the establishment of a curb market, etc. (5) With the may or and aldermen, in the matter of clean up campaigns, of creating sentimentfor the fire and accident ordinances that are now working for our protection, and other matters of welfare in which the aldermen need the backing of public sentiment. (6) With the American Legion and the Red Cross in their work for the ex-service man. Finally, and perhaps most important of all, with our school board in its never ceasing efforts to better conditions for the education of our children. To these manifold ends the Club works in various ways, contributes not only careful thought and devoted service, but the money which is a necessary part of all such active work. The Club, however, does not limit its interests to its own community. Last year contri butions were made towards a free bed at Sanatorium, to the work among way ward girls at Samarcand, to the Sallie Southall Cotten Loan Fund, which is used to help young women of our state who are studying to become teachers, THE MEN'S TOWN CLUB The Men’s Town Club of Chapel Hill is an institution. Haying proven its value it will live on and on just as will our schools and churches. It has become a regular part of the organized life of the community, holding its meetings fortnightly on Tuesday evenings. The meetings are held in the social rooms of the various churches, at the school cafeteria, and sometimes in open pic nic fashion. No town club meeting is complete without its food. The meetings are held at supper time and the food is the first item on the program. It is pre pared and served by the town women, and a fixed charge of fifty cents per plate is levied. The membership of the Town Club is made up of faculty members and business and professional men who are interested in making Chapel Hill the best and most beautiful town on earth in which to live. There is no member ship fee. The hat is passed for inci dental expenses. The club meetings are designed to promote the welfare of the town, but incidentally they promote good fellow ship among the men of the town. The men meet together, eat together, sing together, joke among themselves, and talk over Chapel Hill’s problems. If the club agrees on an issue it is met squarely and solved immediately—as with the graded school bond issue last spring. Every town or city needs a town club. No town club is complete without a town planning committee. The pre liminary report of the Chapel Hill Town Club town planning committee has been made recently, and we are featuring it in this issue. PLANNING CHAPEL HILL At the outset, emphasis is placed upon the fact that this is but a prelimi nary report on the Chapel Hill town plan. The primary purpose of this first report is to enlist the support of the Chapel Hill Town Club and others in such a way as to insure the comple tion at an early date of a real town plan, and further to enlist the interest and the cobperation of Chapel Hill and the University to the end that the plan may then be carried out. The fact should be emphasized, in the second place, that the report deals with a town plan, and not with a city plan. What is wanted in Chapel Hill is the planning and development of a growing town, and not ambitions for a city. The essential distinctiveness of Chapel Hill, whether for its beauty, its residential attractions, or its success in business, or as an educational center, ought to consist in its development and perfection as a town—made fine and kept fine by the most progressive meas ures which it is possible for an enthusi astic and active citizenship to adopt. It ought, even, to set standards for town adequacy not yet attained. In the third place, emphasis is placed on the simple meaning of town planning. The town plan is nothing more nor less than a cooperative enterprise for the town adequate—adequate for the hap piness and prosperity of all its people, and adequate to maintain its reason able services to its citizenship. The town plan is but a carefully worked out guide to the growth and development of the town. The Chapel Hill town plan would give to the town inhabitants a maximum of health, comfort, beauty, and general satisfactions; it would give to the Uni versity and its students a maximum op portunity for the exercise of the state’s normal expectations; it would give to the town’s business and industries a better chance to expand and succeed; it would give to the town’s public ser vices a growing efficiency and a maxi- KNOW NORTH CAROLINA A Georgia Verdict North Carolina is setting a great example to the other Southern states. In the fiscal year just closed the Old North State spent $42,- 000,000 on public eduation. In two years $25,000,000 have been spent on roads, and in the past two years about one hundred million dollars have been spent for education and good roads. In describing what this great sum for education means. The Asheville Citizen says:. “Forty-two million , dollars on public education in a year! '^Consid er what that means. It means an immensity of happiness, power, and wealth for North Carolina. It means that boys and girls who would have gone into cotton mills and furniture factories with minds un taught to think will have their 'im aginative powers so stimulated by schooling that they will contribute labor-saving and money-making in vention to the world of machinery. It means that men who would have fished the mountain streams will harness those waters to industrial undertakings. It means that young men and women who would have idled away days empty with igno rance will develop that genius which paints undying pictnres and carves cold marble into warmth of beauty. It means that mothers who would have cherished no dream of great ness for their children will give them the home life that leads to fine a- chievement. It means, in brief, that North Carolinians from moun tain top to ocean edge will be wor thy of North Carolina, the state which in natural resources is the outstanding leader of all America.” Georgia can profit by the pattern set by this great old state. While we hum and haw over a small bond issue for roads to match the gov ernment appropriation. North Caro lina is going ahead spending millions for roads. Schools are being gener ously supported, and North Carolina boys and girls in future years will show in lives of fine achievement what a splendid investment good schools have been.—The Vidalia (Ga.) Advance. mum of economy; and it would give to the state a town unique in it faculty to make good, President Chase says, as the second home town of all the citizens of the commonwealth. Finally, this preliminary report em phasizes the danger of any failure on the part of Chapel Hill citizens and govern ment to adopt a town plan^ , It refers to the immediate need, here and now, of a plan for this University towm. Objections not Valid The town plan not only will prevent mistakes in limited services, but it is economical in that it saves for the fu ture by planning in the present—in water systems, in streets, in public buildings (the post office for instance), in all matters of public utilities and in stitutional services as well. Not long since, in' a small city, a Baptist church was erected at a cost of a quarter million dollars. In less than a year it was surrounded by two filling stations, a garage, and other similar non-wor’hipful neighboring activities. This might have been avoided in two ways; either by a study of the town’s directions, showingjthat inevitably these business concernsmust^center here; or by an agreement which would have di rected such industries to another square. If this report were made long er, scores of instances—nothing less than pathetic—could be cited to show the danger which a town encounters when it developsjwithout a cooperative blueprint of progress. Divisions of the Subject For the present, this report recom mends that the town plan be worked out from five viewpoints: (1) the town plan itself as it relates to the town of Chapel Hill and its future growth; (2) the town plan as it relates to the Uni versity plan of expansion and its re lation to the town itself; (3) the town plan in relation to Orange county and its development, as well as its relation to tiie town of Chapel Hill; (4) the town plan as it relates to the State of North Ca rolina; and (5) the town plan as itrelates to cooperative financial support on the part of the University or the Legisla ture. It will be possible to refer only briefly to each of these. The Town Plan Itself For the Chapel Hill town plan little more need be said. The president of this club. Dr. E. C. Branson, last year set forth an ideal aim for this group— Chapel Hill, the loveliest place on earth to look at and to live in. The plan should provide for ex pansion of school grounds, for play places, for park spaces, for the development of the business side of The Hill, for extension of the city lim its, for extended utilities, for streets and sidewalks, and for the general beautification of homes and grounds through cooperative enterprise. These should be provided alongside the regu lar departmental municipal services, increased in efficiency by a new plan of town government made adaptable to our needs. The plan would provide for a complete map, topographical and social, of Chapel Hill, with the usual recommendations and plans looking to wards the development of the whole town, all sections, both races, now and hereafter. University Expansion The University of North Carolina has become the leading university of the South, and is now planning its future expansion in accordance with the high ideals and the state-wide sup port which now characterize it as being outstanding in the South. Its plan of development is being worked out on the principles set forth above. This is all the more reason why the town of Chapel Hill should plan likewise for its oivn orderly development, not only to keep pace with the University, but to develop in accordance with its plans so ,38 to bring about a satisfactory result for the whole community. But the re sponsibility does not rest alone with the citizens and the town of Chapel Hill. The University is the first, and proper ly so, to expect that the town will pro vide a good and clean place for its stu dents; but the University should itself maintain for operations and expansion, outside the campus and in the town, the same high standards of develop ment that it has for itself in its cam pus plans. Property b(ught and de veloped by the University in the town ought not to be kept below the stand ards set by a town planning commis sion. If the University makes a separ ate development in the town, it ought to do its part in repairing streets torn up, in beautifying its projects, not only in relation to the campus, but where- ever it owns adjacent property. Town and Coranty Not the least in importance .is the part which Orange county should play in the development of a better town and the part which Chapel Hill should play in making Orange a greater coun ty, with more diversified interests and ! more happiness and prosperity for its I jipople. Chapel Hill can never become ■ an adequate town so long as she is in different to the people and business of the county, or so long as the county re mains traditional for its under-develop ment, sparsely settled areas, limited funds, OE other standards below the North Carolina ideal. There is no greater or mbre attractive task, per haps, than that of planning a town with some idea of the services it should render in the development of a county so rich in possibilities, or in working with people so fine in spirit, or in bring ing still othei^citizens into its domain. The State at Large { Little more need be said concerning ^ the obligation which rests upon Chapel I Hill and the University to make the town the best in the state. This obli gation is also an opportunity, and is primarily twofold. First, because there are representatives from nearly all the counties in residence here, there is an obligation to set up a standard commun ity, representative ofjthe best that North Carolina can afford. In the sec ond place, the University can illustrate in practice its theories of better town and county administration through the development of the town and county, well planned. This aspect of the prob lem cannot be ignored;;'and it leads up to the final consideration of this re port. The Support lot the Plan It becomes increasingly'evident that Chapel Hill cannot plan and maintain all the ideals set forth without the fi-- nancial cooperation £of the University or state. How can a town in whicn more than half of the^residents who use its streets pay no taxes, hope to attain a maximum service? How can a town in which more than half the property is not taxed^hope to render all necessary services with-^a reasonable tax rate? Add to these considerations the fact that the presence of the non taxpaying elements increases the de mand for more than average services, and we have a double obligation. It seems clear that a very definite town plan ought to be worked out, in order that the exact amount and method of cooperation may be determined at an early date. Special Recommendations At the present time,“ the following preliminary recommendations are im portant. 1. That the^Chapel Hil! Town Club on record as favoring a town plan, and that it urge upon the School of Engineering, in cooperation with citi zens and with other University depart ments, to undertake the making of such a plan. 2. That the Town Club cooperate with the Community Club, which has already taken some steps looking to ward further consideration of a town plan. 3. That immediately a committee from the Town Club be instructed to work with a committee already appoint ed from the town council to confer with the University authorities with a view to obtaining state cooperation in the better maintenance of the Chapel Hill government. 4. That the President of the Town Club serve as chairman of a committee (which he will appoint) looking toward the revision of the Chapel Hill char ter, with a view to adopting the city- manager plan of government. 6. That in the meantime the Town Club go on record as favoring the com pletion of naming of the streets, the posting of street corners, and the numbering of houses. 6. That the town planning committee be continued with instructions to take such steps as may be needed to pro mote plans outlined in the report.— H. W. Odum. i'AlM CREDIT NEEDS Within the circle of my own Com munity I can point out a score of land owners who began life either as hired laborers or tenants. When they began to accumulate, the desire for land ownership possessed them. Soon they became land owners. This was made possible through that form of credit known'as real estate loans. I am interested that the good tenant farmer who aspires to be a land owner be granted a credit on such terms as will enable him notonly toown his farm but to improve its fertility from year to year and to take his proper place in community building and life. For this reason I believe the amortized loan to be ideal. It stimulates in the progress ive tenant, or the young prospective farmer, a home ownership desire and a confidence in land possession through the longer period of credit and certain ty of continuance, which the shorter loan does not afford. This permanence and assurance naturally brings with it the hope and inducement for both farm improvement and community building. The farmer is not only the most es sential and the largest factor in econom ic life but from the standpoint of in vestment he is the safest factor. Money wisely invested in land or in production of the products of land is less hazarded than in manufacturing, or merchandis ing, or commerce, and it is not right* that because a farmer borrows in small amounts or because his turnover is b\it once a year, that he be charged higher rates than most other industries. Yet this is true, and agricultural credit will continue to be a burning issue until some relief is found.—J. R. Howard, president American Farm Bureau Fed eration.
The University of North Carolina News Letter (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Nov. 29, 1922, edition 1
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