Newspapers / The University of North … / July 11, 1923, edition 1 / Page 1
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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 Cturo- lina Press for the Univer sity Extension Division. JULY 11, 1923 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. VOL. IX, NO. 34 Editorial Boardi B. C. Branson. S. H. Hobbs, Jr.. L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Ballitt, H. W. Odum. Entered as second-class matter November 14, 1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the actof Augrust 24, 1912 BANK CAPITAL IN THE U. S. II—NEWS FROM ABROAD We are quartered in Stuttgart for ten days or so, the capital of Wurtem- berg, a German state that lies along the Swiss border, as Polk and Ruther ford counties in North Carolina lie a- long the foothills of the Blue Ridge. We are directly south of Hamburg and fourteen hours distant from it by fast train. Our route skirted the occupied area all the way along, and we came as the crow flies. Riding on the Rail The German trains are fewer of late but there are no signs of disordered service. We left Hamburg on the min ute, changed cars twice on the minute, no train late by so much as a minute at any junction point, and. we arrived in Stuttgart on the minute. It may not be so every day everywhere in Ger many, but in these notes I am record ing exactly what falls under my eye from day to day. We found that travel in a second-class car in Germany is less luxurious than Pullman car service at home, but dis tinctly better than first-class day coaches on any road I know the United States over. Our compartment com panions were Germans and two Hunga rians of manifest wealth and culture. Nearly all of them spoke English of a sort, enough to be pleasantly chatty and helpful when we needed to change trains. One was a German steel man ufacturer in the occupied territory, a gentleman of perhaps seventy, gentle and genial in face and manner—a most charming personality. He sat quietly reading in his corner until he discovered our perplexity about trains at the next junction point, then he told us that he •too was bound for Stuttgart, most graciously took charge of us, changed cars with us and escorted us to our hotel. German Courtesy We kave had nothing but courtesies in Germany from everybody every where. If the Germans harbor a grudge against America we have not yet discovered it. True, they think that all Americans are rich. Have they not the Dollar, they say—Edel val uta, they call it, perhaps in contrast with their own fallen mark. But neith er in hotels nor stores do they charge us excessive prices. But then, Stutt gart is not a center of tourist travel and it is not infected with the tricks of tourist trade. The effusive greetings and responses, the hat-tipping aid the bowing among acquaintances on the streets and in the hotels are impressive and engaging. It is merely the immemorial custom of these people among themselves, and we merely share these courtesies with all the Stuttgartners of high estate and low. But there is no discoverable trace of servility or snobbery. There is no flunkeyism in hotels, streets, or stores, and no attempt in word or manner to hold us up for tips. Tips and Hotel Charges Along with the natives we are taxed thirty percent on hotel rooms, fifteen percent for service, and ten percent on food checks, but beyond these charges no gratuities are expected, and none are offered by general custom, except for special personal services. No tip ping is not only the law but the habit of Stuttgart. There are exceptions, of course, but they are fairly rare in Wurtemberg. Our bill for twelve days in the Marqua*'dt hotel, the best hotel in South Germany, was $31.00 for the three of us; $37.60 was the room charge alone for one for ten days in the St. James hotel in New York. Some dif ference that. A Busy People The day-trip south from Hamburg gave us a car-window look at Western Germany bordering the area occupied by the French. The way along the road is thickly set with towns and cit ies. Almost without exception they are manufacturing centers, and appar ently none are idle. But whether the town be large or small, industrial or not, the soil is cultivated right up to the factory walls. Almost every square inch shows vegetables, fruits, or flow ers. Always the crops of the open fields reach the railroad right-of-way, sometimes evenithe right-of-way is it self under cultivation, and occasionally the spaces between the tracks in the station yards. It is no exaggeration to say that a single wheelbarrow would contain all the weeds we saw in our fourteen-hour trip. The grain fields, orchards, and vineyards are as trig and trim as Collier Cobb’s front yard. In the late evening hours after the long work day, the factory workers with with their wives and children are busy gardening. Not all of them, to be sure, but enough of them to indicate the ingrained habits of toil in Germany. The signs of tireless industry are on every hand. Nobody is idle, every body works. Nobody is in a hurry but soldiering on a job is apparently a lost art among these wage-earners. What we look upon all day long is a moving spectacle of unhasting, unresting toil. Existence necessities must be satisfied, no matter what capers the mark may cut. Farm Villages I note from the car window that farm villages—what the Germans call dorfer—are set thick in the landscape a mile or two apart in all directions. They are groups of substantial farm buildings with terra cotta tile roofs. The gleaming red of the house-tops gives them the fresh appearance of new construction, although they may be four or five centuries old, as many of them are. They look at a distance like little towns of from fifty to five hun dred homes. Commonly they are off the railroads. They are self-sustaining and nearly self-sufficing little farm communities. Everybody in these little villages is a farmer, and the village farms of from ten to twenty acres lie in small patches in various directions in the immediate vicinity. In the early morning and evening hours the men, women, and children can be seen tramp ing out to their fields and back again— long processions of farm workers, as I see them from the car window. Country-Life Contrasts I shall be making special studies of these farm communities during the next six weeks. In South and Central Ger many there are 1,200,000 of these small home-owning farmers, dwelling in com pact social groups, not in solitary farm steads a few to the square mile in vast open spaces as in North Carolina, in the United States everywhere, and in the Western World in general. It is lonesomeness alone that accounts for much of the cityward drift of country people in America. It is the social life of home-owning farmers in fafm vil lages that will save the country life of Europe from falling into the decay that threatens America. The country civilization of North Carolina and the Nation is slated for destruction in the next generation or two unless farm life in communities or colonies can be gin a rapid development. Helpful Friends During the next month or so we shall be guests of Baron von Der Lippe, in the Schlossgut Engelburg, which crowns an eminence overlooking the little farm village of Winterbach; twen ty miles east of Stuttgart. A compan ion guest is the charming wife of Pro fessor Herman Staab, a distinguished member of the faculty of Romance Languages at the University of North Carolina. Their names are an open sesame to everything in Wurtemberg,r Balen, and South Germany in general. Prospective Studies It is not the industries and commerce of the large cities, the public buildings and parks, the monuments and art treasures, with which I shall be oc cupied during this student year in Eu rope. They are most impressive and most significant. But before I get out into countryside Germany, I shall be drawing a thumbnail sketch of city life in Germany as I have seen it in Stutt gart during the last ten days. With this brief account of an important busi ness center of 400,000 inhabitants—per haps in my next letter—Ishall be giving my attention in the main to the fields and farms of Southern Germany, for here INDIFFERENCE The besetting sin of the average American citizen today is indiffer ence. He is to such a large extent absorbed in his own work of making a living and promoting the in terests of his own firm, that he ceases to realize his greater and graver responsibilities to the Nation as a whole. Many people are indif ferent to the National aspects of business, and to the elimination of those dangerous barnacles which at tach themselves to business. If every citizen were to take a direct and vital interest in his govern- ment—National, State, or Municipal; participate in the selection of his representatives; keep close watch on legislation; know the actions of his representatives; and exercise his privilege of criticizing or commend ing these representatives, we would have a very much better govern ment.—Seymour L. Cromwell. is the source of primary wealth upon which these people must rely in the struggle to regain their place and rank in the business world-the source of raw materials for existence necessities and for manufactured commodities of all sorts. What will Germany do with t;be sources of raw materials that are left to her at home? It is a fundamental question, for final economic values lie in material commodities and exportable surpluses, not in marks, bonds, stocks, notes and mortgages, but in lands, buildings, factories, machinery, and consumers’ goods stored in warehouses, stores, and cellars. For instance, the man who turned Confederate money into cotton in the South during the War Betyeen the States was leagues ahead of the man who turned his cot ton into Confederate money. As things now are, who steals a Ger man purse steals trash, and even less than trash in the days ahead, or I miss my guess.—E. C. Branson, Stutt gart, April 26. SOURCE OF INFORMATION A recent addition to the statistical file of the chamber of commerce in Durham is the binding and indexing of the Uni versity of North Carolina News Letter. The News Letter is one of the most valuable newspaper sheets in the state. It appears weekly and contains, on a single sheet for ready reference, sta tistics of practically every nature per taining to the state of North Carolina. It is published for the good of the Old North State. It has as its goal the education of North Carolinians as to the value and resources of the state in which they live. Much of the success already achieved can be measured by the state’s steady progress. The chamber of commerce has taken these weekly sheets and put them in a binder. An index has been so prepared that almost any question that might arise concerning state statistics can be readily referred to, and the reference will be authentic. Durham county ranks seventeenth in the number of people per automobile in the state. There are 3,751 automobiles, or one car to every 11.8 inhabitants. Guilford county leads with one car to every 7.9 inhabitants and Graham coun ty is last with one to every 169.4. Divorce statistics show that, with the exception of South Carolina, where no divorces are granted, and the Dis trict of Columbia, the state of North Carolina leads the Union. There is one divorce in North Carolina to every 39.14 marriages. In Florida there is one divorce to every 8.73 marriages and in Nevada the ratio is one to about one and a half. In the ratio of white farm operators Durham county ranks 69th in the state with 69.1 percent. Madison county leads with 99.9 percent white and Halifax is last with 29.3. North Carolina ranks way down in the Union in native-born white illiter ates ten years old and over. Its percent is 8.2. Louisiana and New Mexico are the only two states with a worse showing in 1920. In livestock values per farm North Carolina ranks 47th in the United States. Durham county ranks 90th in the state. In personal property per inhabitant Durham county leads the state, with a value of $1,480 per person. Forsyth is second with $745 and Macon is last with $93. There are countless other statistical references that are open to the public. There are interesting sidelights and sta tistics on road advertising, American ism, county audits, bonded indebted ness, boll weevil, industries, churches, markets, co-education, farm tenancy and ownership, highway construction, labor, murders, negro migration, public wel fare, bank savings, taxes, and many other items concerning which the pub lic should have full information if they intend to “Know Their State.”—Dur ham Herald. V-FERTILIZER INDUSTRY The farmers of North Carolina, who yearly fertilize their cotton, corn, wheat, and tobacco fields, have very little idea of the magnitude of the in dustry in the state which furnishes them their crop foods. Do they know what a tremendous amount of money is invest ed in fertilizer manufacture and what sums of money the industry represents in the state? The entire fertilizer manufacturing industry of North Carolina entails an .investment of approximately $79,760,- 000; an estimated plant valuation of of $39,700,000; and a yearly production value of $31,850,000. Eighteen hundred and fifty men obtain employment in this industry on an annual payroll of $1,900,- 000. The fertilizer industry in^orth Caro lina was started by the Navasso Guano Company at Wilmington and Selma in 1869; the next operations started at New Bern in 1890 when two more ferti lizer plants were erected. Then started an expansion and extension of the in dustry throughout the state as follows: in 1900 there were fifteen plants; in 1910, nineteen; in 1918, twenty-seven; while an increase to fifty-seven resulted by the end of 1922. The largest single corporation in the fertilizer business in North Carolina is the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Com pany, which in 1893 ^established nine plants with a capital of $48,000,000. These plants are located at Charlotte, Durham, New Bern, Raleigh, Salis bury, Wadesboro, Wilmington, Wash ington, and Winston-Salem. The fertilizer manufacturing industry is divided into superphosphate, fish scrap, and mixed fertilizer production. [There are* fourteen superphosphate plants scattered throughout the state making acid phosphate by mixing proper porportions of sulfuric acid with ground “Tennessee Rock” or “Florida Pebble” phosphate rock. Because of the handling of gases, acids, and chemi cals, the control and operation of such plants is placed in the hands of men trained especially in the fundmentals and applications of chemistry and engin eering. The fish scrap industry cen ters around Beaufort and Wilmington, there being ten such factories. This type of fertilizer is produced by dry ing the wet fish pulp from which the fish oil has been cooked and expressed, or, if the season does not permit, the wet scrap is treated with sulfuric acid for the production of acid scrap. The mixed fertilizer plants produce fertili zer according to definitely described formulas for the trade, using cotton seed meal, linters, guano, superphos phate, and other fertilizer foods pur chased on the market.—G. H. Leonard, Division of Industrial Chemistry, De partment of Chemistry, University of North Carolina. THE FARM PROGRAM Two thousand two hundred North Carolina farmers have signed a pledge to adhere strictly to certain funda mental things in successful, farming in 1923. Ten provisions are enumerated and these ten provisions make a mighty fine schedule for almost any farmer anywhere to follow. They are: 1. Raise enough corn and hay to carry me through 1924. 2. Raise enough meat to supply my family this year. ' 3. Have a twelve-months-in-the-year garden. 4. Provide milk and butter for fam ily the whole year. 5. Keep an average of thirty hens on the farm. 6. Improve orchard by setting out trees and berries. 7. Plant legumes and other soil-en- riching crops. 8. Enroll at least one child in club work. 9. Add some home convenience. 10. Beautify the homestead. This is a good program. It was drawn up by a 'man who knows farm ing and who thinks. There is probably no community in the south where ' the same program if carried out would not prove profitable. If the 2,200 North Carolina farmers who have signed the agreement will live up to it they will be far ahead of their less far-sighted neighbors in a few years.—Gastonia Gazette. BANK capital PER INHABITANT In the United States, December 4, 1922. Based on Report of the Comptroller of the Currency of December 4, 1922, covering (1) the total capitaj and surplus in all banks, national, state, private, and loan and trust companies, (2) divided by the total population of each state. United States average $60.91; North Carolina average $20.60 per inhabi tant. C. E. Williams, Johnston County Department of Rural Social Economics, University of North Carolina Rank State Bank Capital Per Inhab. Rank State Bank Capital Per Inhab. 1 New York $120.5 25 Utah $37.7 2 Pennsylvania 76.0 26 Virginia 37.2 3 Massachusetts... 68.8 27 Colorado 37.0 4 California 66.4 28 Oregon 36.7 5 Delaware 64.4 29 Indiana. 36.6 6 Illinois 67.4 30 Maine 34.9 7 Rhode Island 66.8 31 Texas 34.3 8 Nevada 66.9 32 West Virginia ... 34.0 9 Connecticut 64.6 33 Wisconsin 30.9 10 Maryland 63.5 34 Washington 29.0 11 Vermont 52.6 36 Idaho 28.6 12 Iowa 61.9 36 Louisiana 26.6 13 Missouri 61.4 37 Kentucky 26.1 14 Wyoming 49.8 38 Georgia 26.9 16 Nebraska 46.7 39 Arizona 26.7 16 Ohio 46.6 40 Florida 26.6 16 Montana 46.6 41 Tennessee 25.3 18 Minnesota 46.3 42 South Carolina .. 24.7 19 New Hampshire . 44.8 43 New Mexico 23.7 20 South Dakota.... 40.7 44 Oklahoma 23.6 21 New Jersey 40.0 45 North Carolina.... 20.6 22 Kansas 39.6 46 Arkansas 18.4 23 North Dakota ... 39.0 47 Alabma 16.1 24 Michigan 37.9 48 Mississippi 14.3
July 11, 1923, edition 1
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