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 Press for the Univer
sity Extension Division.
JULY 4, 1923
chApel hill, N. C.
VOL. IX, NO. 33
E lilorial Boardi E. C. Braaaon, S. H. Hobba, Jr.. L. R. Wilson. E. W. Enisht, D. D. Carroll, J. B, Ballitt, H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14. 1914, atthePostofflceat Chapel Hill, N. C.. under the act of August 24. 1912
OUR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
WRITES FROM EUROPE
In this issue of the News Letter ap-
p-^ irs the first of a series of brief arti
cles by Prof. E. C. Branson, Kenan
P.'ofessor of Rural Social Economics at
the University, who is in Europe on a
year’s leave of absence studying at
hrst-hand farm life conditions in sever-
a. European countries, notably Ger-
m ny, Denmark, Holland, France, and
England. There will appear in each
P iv.ceeding issile a short article from
Pr >f. Branson giving his observations
i I these countries. Plans have been
arranged for his letters to be published
on the same date by the following pa
pers: News and Observer, Charlotte
Observer, Wilmington Dispatch, Twin-
City Sentinel, Greensboro Daily News,
and The Asheville Citizen. Each arti
cle will appear in the News Letter fol
lowing date of release and the press is
free to use all or any parts of this cor
respondence following its appearance
in the above named papers.
NEWS FROM ABROAD
We dropped anchor at five o’clock
yesterday afternoon at the mouth of
the Elbe, and for ten tedious hours
waited for the flood of the tide. The
Saxonia draws twenty-eight feet of
water and boats of this draft can get
over the bar and into the river channel
only at full tide. The largest boats
must land their freight and passengers
at Cuxhaveiv and get them into Ham
burg sixty miles by rail.
At three o'clock this morning the en
gines started again, and we began to
creep at a snail's pace over the bar and
along the narrow, tortuous channel to
Hamburg, fifty miles up stream. Fifty
miles is about the distance from Dur
ham to Greensboro. In the open
stretches of the river we made good
time, but around the bends we went so
slowly that we scarcely seemed to
move. At the journey’s end, it took
six snorting little tugs, three fore and
three aft, to edge our boat out of the
river channel and safely into the slip
at Hamburg.
Hamburg’s Hard Task
I had forgotten, if I ever knew, what
difficulties Hamburg has had to con
quer in order to become the greatest
export shipping center of continental
Europe. Natural advantages alone
considered, Wilmington has Hamburg
beat a thousand miles, as the boys say.
But for a thousand years or more Ham
burg has been dredging and protecting
her channel into the open sea, and ex
cavating the slips and quays that now
spread out like the fingers of a monster
band into thousands of acres of water
surface.
Making a Seaport
It takes time and money—sometimes
many years and many millions of
money—to make a riverside town a
seaport harbor, as for instance New
Orleans on the Missjissippi, Liverpool
on the Mersey, or London on the
Thames. Also it takes the pressure of
business in exportable surpluses and
the demand for imported goods in a
populous back-country.
When these conditions developed in
Southern California, Los Angeles bond
ed herself $40 per inhabitant, built her
own harbor twelve miles away on the
sea front, erected her own warehouses
and docking facilities, made them free to
the shipping of all the world, laid down
railways into the city freight yards, and
then announced herself ready for ocean
trade in competition with San Diego on
the south and San Francisco on the
north. The investment paid instanta
neous dividends, both for private busi
ness and for municipal expansion. Dur
ing the following ten years Los Ange
les (ioubled her population and quad
rupled her taxable wealth. Suddenly
she is larger than San-Francisco and
many times larger than San Diego,
with nothing more to fear from either.
When the rapidly developing pros
perity of North Carolina creates simi
lar business conditions and necessities,
then the state must have her own ac
cessible, well equipped port, first for
coastwise shipping and then for trade
and travel on the high seas—most like
ly at Wilmington. And the chances
are that Wilmington must herself take
the initiative, even as New Orleans,
and Los Angeles did. Manifest divi
dends invite capital and create course
everywhere.
Riverside Pictures
Since four o’clock this morning, I
have been on deck looking into busi
ness and life on both sides of the Elbe—
into the farm life on the level south
side, and into the private estates, sum
mer residences, hotel properties and
manufacturing plants that lie along the.
fifty miles of river bluff on the north
side. It is daybreak around four o’
clock and at this early hour the river is
alive with fishermen. A little later the
ferry boats are crowded with working
men crossing to their daily tasks in the
ship yards, machine shops, warehouses,
and docks in South Hamburg. Evi
dently the struggle for existence be
gins early in the day in Germany.
From Cuxhaven to Hamburg the land
scape is beautiful as a picture—on the
south the tile roofs and the church
steeples of the farm villages in clumps
of shade trees, the fields set in grass
and grain crops down to the water’s
edge all the way along, no weeds and
no uncultivated inch of soil anywhere in
sight, small herds of Holstein cattle on
almost every farm; on the north side
the estates of the rich, attractive villas
on the eminences, stone walls, drive
ways, boat houses, yachts and motor
launches along the water front, trees
and shrubbery in prim array, the grass
clean-cut as though freshly shaved with
a safety razor, here and there a sum
mer hotel, and so on and on for the fif
ty miles to Hamburg.
Self-Respecting Workmen
Leaning over the taffrail before the
gangway is in place to land us on the
dock, I notice that the stevedores are
none too portly but that they are bet
ter dressed than I am accustomed to
see on the New York wharves, that
their hats ahd shoes are in uniformly
good condition, and what is more that
every man's shoes are freshly polished.
Shoes may be expensive in Germany
but I did not see a ragged or neglected
pair all day long in Hamburg. I asked
where the slums were—the poverty-
stricken areas like our Lower Eastside
in New York City. The answer was.
There are none, and only the bare sug
gestion of such an area across the river
in South Hamburg.
I get the distinct impression that
German workmen are a decent self-
respecting lot. They look it both in
dress and manner. 1 search the faces
of the crowds in the streets for signs
of truculence and I search in vain.
Everybody is busy, no loafers or bums
are on the benches of public squares,
everybody is good-humored, and every
body is courteous. All day long we
have had lessons in politeness. It is a
lesson that America sadly needs to
learn. Nobody is in a hurry, and no
body is gruff or rough. I am told that
we will find it so all over Germany.
Hamburg is a beautiful city, and
clean almost beyond belief. Sven the
docks and freight yards are swept and
garnished like a Dutch Kitchen. And
a busy city, unmistakably so—busy
with the business of all Europe, for all
Europe is Hamburg’s back-yard for
business.
Tomorrow morning we start on an*all-
day trip to Stuttgart, in Wurtemberg,
South Germany. Bavaria, Wurtem
berg, and Baden are probably the most
fertile and the most prosperous farm
regions in all Germany. During the
next six weeks I shall be busy in these
three states studying the country-end
of German civilization.
A National Calamity
Already I am sensing the unspeak
able national calamity of a disordered
currency, the swift changes in the
value of the mark from day to day and
almost from hour to hour, the vast
volumes of money everywhere in evi
dence and its pitiful purchasing power.
A mark which used to be about a quar
ter in our money will not today buy
anything more than a single cambric
needle. But the quintessence of the
trouble lies in the fact that nobody
knows what it will buy tomorrow. No
matter what other troubles Germany
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
Promoting Education
The State Government at Raleigh
has apportioned the sum of $1,163,-
939.62 among various counties in the
state in the nature of an equalization
fund, the purpose being to bring the
more backward counties forward.
There yet remains a fund of over
$50,000 which is to have distribution
later. The incident gives token of
educational advancement in rural
North Carolina, the progress in sys
tem being further indicated in one
item of $20,000 for transportation of
pupils to and from the school houses
in motor busses. The consolidated
school and the transportation service
is giving the children of the rural
districts about the same advantages
as are enjoyed by- children in the
towns. Politics play no part in the
distribution of this money. It is
noted that some of the largest Re
publican counties in the state have
been given the larger apportion
ment, as, for instance, the county of
Wilkes, which-draws over $75,000.
All counties, regardless of politics,
share alike in the blessings of a
home Democratic Government. —
Charlotte Observer.
may have, this devil's dance of the
mark is the worst.
Our forefathers in the South suffered
the agonies of a depreciating currency
in the days of the War Between the
States. The common name of Con
federate bills soon came to be “shin-
plasters,” and after Appomattox they
ceased to have any use or value what
soever. The instability of the mark is
the essential problem of Germany to
day, and so far I have found no Ger
man who entertains any hope of bet
ter German money. When it ceases to
have any value whatsoever then will
come the crash in Germany.
And this is .the outlook despite the
unimpaired productive power of her
fields and factories. It took Germany
more than a hundred years to recover
from the effects of The Thirty Years
War. With her capital wealth con
sumed by the recent war, the most
costly war in all history, it will take
long centuries for her to recover the
treasures accumulated in a thousand
years of history. Fluid capital, honest
money, redeemable at its face value in
gold, and business credit at home and
abroad— these are the priceless jewels
Germany has lost, and he would be a
stupid observer who could not look be
yond the charming outward surface of
things in this beautiful land into the
bewildered, benumbed soul of a people
who toil on in dumb despair.
A Snicidal War
And what is true of Germany is meas
urably true of every other country of
Europe. The simple truth is that
Europe has barely escaped suicide. The
next war will mark the passing of Eu
rope from the page of history. I can
well believe that Lloyd George was
right when he said, If this war is not
the last then the next will- be the end
of Europe.—E. C. Branson, Hamburg,
April 18.
TRENDS IN AGRICULTURE
The new bulletin of Agricultural
Graphics for North Carolina and the
United States, 1866 to 1922, by’Miss
Henrietta R. Smedes of the depart
ment of Rural Social-Economics at the
State University, of which advance
notice was given some time ago, will
be coming from the press at'an early
date. It will be sent promptly on issue
to all who have already asked for it,
therefore requests already forwarded
should not be duplicated. Others who
desire copies should apply at once, as
the edition is small.
It is the design of this bulletin to
give adequate graphic treatment to
some important phases of our agricul
tural situation, and to the extent that
this effort is successful it should be not
only of special value just now, in a
time of agricultural and industrial
changes and adjustments, but also^of
enduring value as a historical record.
Agricultural Graphics is based on
government statistics, which it pre
sents in readily intelligible form. It
consists of (1) a brief narrative of in
terpretation, (2) tables in detail, and
(3) graphs for each crop and each class
of farm animals included.
It will go free of charge to all North
Carolinians who want it and ask for it.
Application should be made to C. D.
Snell, Director of the University Ex
tension Division, Chapel Hill, N. C.
MEDICAL EXTENSION
What is termed the largest single ex
tension teaching project in the United
States was launched by the Extension
Division of the University of North
Carolina on June 18. Over 360 physi
cians began a twelve weeks’ post grad
uate course given in eighteen cities dis
tributed throughout North Carolina.
Three courses will be given in Inter
nal Medicine this summer on three cir
cuits of six towns each, beginning July
16. On another circuit composed of
Winston - Salem, Greensboro, High
Point, Salisbury, Concord, and Char
lotte, a course will be given by Dr. B.
T. Terry, of Vanderbilt Medical School,
on the subject of General Pathology.
The plan this summer calls for a lehture
and a clinic a week in each of twenty-
four cities, which will be attended by
groups of physicians numbering from
fifteen to thirty.
What is called the Mountain Circuit
has as instructor Dr. Frank A. Chap
man of Rush Medical College, Chicago.
Meetings are being held in Waynes-
ville, Asheville, Rutherfordton, Mor-
ganton, Hickory, and Statesville.
Dr. F. Dennette Adams of Washing
ton, D. C., is the instructor for the Sand
Hill circuit. Meetings are being held
in Raleigh, Sanford, Carthage, Hamlet,
Lumberton, and Fayetteville.
Dr. C. Sidney Burwell of Jqhns Hop
kins is in charge of the Tidewater* cir
cuit. The meeting places are New
Bern, Washington, Williamston, Tar-
boro, Greenville, and Kinston.
This is the third summer of post
graduate medical extension courses as
given under the auspices of the Exten
sion Division and Medical School of
the State University. They are grow
ing in popularity each year and already
plans are being laid for a series of
courses to be given during the summer
of 1924.
IV-OUR ICE INDUSTRY
Science tells us that beat never goes
from a cold body to a hot one, but then
it is possible to freeze water on a sum
mer day when the temperature is nine
ty degrees in the shade. If you have
ever spilled gasoline or ether on your
hand, you will begin to realize how this
is done. Such liquids in evaporating
carry off with them so much, heat that
your hand is left decidedly cold. If
such evaporation is permitted to take
away the heat from water, the latter
will eventually become frozen.
Ether and other low-boiling hydro
carbons are too expensive to be used in
making ice, and so ammoniaor sulfur di
oxide is substituted for it. The ammonia,
a gas under ordinary conditions, is not
the aqua ammonia sold in drug stores,
but it is the active ingredient of aqua
ammonia. When ammonia gas is com
pressed into a liquid it heats up consid
erably, but this heated liquid is cooled
with running water. Upon evaporat
ing or upon releasing the pressure, the
gas is as much colder than it was be
fore it was compressed by the amount
of heat taken out of the comressed gas
by the water. Therefore water does
its own freezing. The expanded ammon
ia is run through pipes which circulate
through brine tanks. The water to be
frozen is put in large cans and placed
in the brine bath. By running suf
ficient water over the cooling pipes,
enough heat is taken from the com
pressed gas so that when pressure is
released it attains a* temperature be
low the freezing point of water. After
evaporation the ammonia gas goes back
to the pumps which compress it all
over again, making the process a con
tinuous one. . Sulfur dioxide is used in
exactly the same way, producing ice
which is advertised as ammonia free.
Sometimes the gas pi^s are run along
the walla of a closely built room to ef
fect a cold storage.
Growth in Business
The seasonal nature of ice manufac
turing has been more than compensated
by a general demand for the product.
In thirty years the status of the indus
try has changed from a novelty to that
of a standard necessity, satisfying the
demands of nearly every home in the
state. Between the years 1888 and 1900
seven ice plants started operation. In
1910 there were nine plants, in 1918,
forty-one, and so the number has grad
ually increased until today there are fif
ty-five in operation, with a total capital
stock of $2,750,000, plant valuation of
$2,000,000, and an annual value of their
products of $2,600,000. Over a thous
and men are employed in the process
of making ice, receiving annually a
limited payroll of $610,000, due to the
seasonal production of the commodity.
So completely do these plants cover the
state that there is hardly a country
store in which the sign Ice Cold Drinks
is not displayed.
Ice manufacturing represents a type
of direct co-operation between producer
and consumer seldom found in lar^e
business organizations. As such it la
of immediate interest to everyone who
is concerned with those industries which
are devoted solely to the comfort and
convenience of the people of the state.
—Alfred Boyles, Division of Industrial
Chemistry, Department of Chemistry,
University of North Carolina.
FARM POPULATION RATIOS
In United States in 1920
Based on the 1920 Census of Agriculture, showing the ratio of the total
population that lives on farms in each state.
The actual farm population of the United States was 31,614,269, or 20.9 per
cent of the total population. The states range from a farm population ratio of
2.6 percent in Rhode Island to 71 percent in Mississippi.
The actual farm population in North Carolina was 1,601,227, or 68.7 percent
of the total population. Only four states had a larger farm population ratio:
North Dakota, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Only four states
had more farms and more farmers than North Carolina: Texas, Georgia, Miss
issippi, and Kentucky. Probably only Texas and Georgia have more farms in
1923. We rank fifth in farms, and fifth in crop production because we special
ize on crops. A farm population of half a million in California produces more
wealth than our farm population of a million and a half. California diversifies
in production and cooperates in marketing.
S. H. Hobbs, Jr.
Department of Rural Social Economics, University of North Carolina
Rank
State
Percent Total
Rank
State
Percent Total
Pop. on Farms
Pop. on Farms
1
Rhode Island ...
2.6
25
Wisconsin
36.0
2
Massachusetts...
3.1
26
Vermont
36.6
3
New Jersey
4.6
27
Missouri
35.6
4
Connecticut
6.8
28
Minnesota
37.6
5
New York
7.7
29
Iowa
41.0
6
Pennsylvania....
10.9
30
Montana
41.1
7
California
16.1
31
Kansas
41.7
8
Illinois
16.9
32
Louisiana
43.7
9
New Hampshire
17.2
33
New Mexico,...
44.8
10
Maryland
19.3
34
Nebraska
46.1
11
Ohio
19.8
34
Virginia
46.1
12
Nevada
20.9
36
Idaho
46.6
12
Washington
20.9
37
Texas
48.8
14
Delaware
23.0
38
Oklahoma
60.2
15
Michigan
23.1
39
Kentucky
64.0
16
Maine
26.7
40
Tennessee
64,4
17
Arizona
27.1
41
Alabama
66.9
18
Oregon
27.3
41
South Dakota...
66.9
19
Colorado
........ 28.3
43
Georgia
68.2
20
Florida
29.1
44
North Carolina....
58.7
21
Indiana
31.0
45
North Dakota ..
61.0
22
Utah
31.2
46
South Carolina.
63.8
23
West Virginia ..
32.7
47
Arkansas
66,6
24
Wyoming
34.6
48
Mississippi
71.0