The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OR NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
MAY 7,1924
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSIXr.OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. X, NO. 25
Bdiiorlal Boardi B. C. Branaon. S. H. Hobba. Jr.. L. R. Wilaon. E. W. Knigbt, D. D. Carro!!. J. B. Ballltt H. W. 0.iam.
Entered as Becond-claaa matter Neverabwr 14. 1914. at tbePoatoffineat Chanel Hill. N. C., under the act of Aa^uat 24, Ifil
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES IM N. C.
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
Id view of the fact that ..it is com
mencement time in North Carolina, the
accompanying table showing how the
counties ranked in 1923 in white high
school graduates should be of special
interest. One of the outstanding de
velopments in the growth of public ed
ucation within recent years in North
Carolina has been the rapid increase in
number of high school students and^high
school graduates. While great progress
is being made we are still far' below
the average -rate of white high school
graduates per unit of white* population
for all the states.
For the year 1923 Northampton coun
ty led all the counties of the state in
the number of white high school ^grad
uates per 10,000 white people, her rate
being 93.7. Or to put it on another
basis, it took 22 white families upon an
average to supply one high school grad
uate, in the county that ranks highest
in the state. In this connection it is
interesting to note that Northampton
stands fourth in rank in collegejattend-
ance in the state. Gates, a nearby
county, with no incorporated town in
the county, ranks second in high school
graduates, with 64.3 per 10,000 white
people.
The Northeast
A most interesting situation is dis
covered in connection with the nine
counties which form the northeastern
corner of the state. Of these nine re
mote rural counties all rank above the
state average in high school graduates,
except Pasquotank which is near the
average, and the only county with a
large town.
This same area ranks high in college
attendance, nearly all the counties
ranking either above or near the state
average of 41 , college students in our
state cplleges per 10,000 white popula
tion. To our mind there are two rea
sons for this commendable rank. In
the first place it is an area of relatively
high farm ownership with diversified
agriculture and a fair cash income. The
other reason, in our opinion, is Chowan
College at Murphreesboro. For years
this small woman’s college has been
training future mothers, and the re
sult is seen in the keen desire on the
part of the mothers to provide the best
educational advantages for their sons
and daughters.
The Sand Hills
Again it is interesting to note the
status of the Sand-Hill area, for many
decades looked upon as a poor section
of the state. Of the eight counties
which make up the bulk of that part
of the state known as the Sand Hills,
every single county ranks above the
state average of 33.7 high school grad
uates per 10,000 white population, and
every single county s ranks above the
state average of 41 college students per
10,000 white population attending North
Carolina colleges of A and B grade.
Again we believe there are two main
reasons for this commendable position.
In the first place the Sand Hills are
settled largely by the Scotch and every
one knows that above all things the
Scotch people want an education, and
will starve for it if necessary. Our
second explanation is Flora McDonald,
the Scotch woman's college which for
decades has been training Scotch
.mothers. The effect is seen in the
firm desire of these mothers to provide
the best educational facilities for
their sons and daughters. It does not
just happen that a solid group of coun
ties in any area ranks high or low in
high school graduates and in college
students. There is always a reason,
deeper than chance or even wealth.
Two other groups of counties rank
high: the counties in the central sec
tion of the state which contain most of
the colleges of the state, with a few
adjacent counties, and four contiguous
counties in the west: Buncombe, Hen
derson, Polk, and Transylvania, with
large numbers of northern settlers and
with some good private, as well as
public, high schools.
Where Graduates areJFew
The counties that rank low in high
school graduates, as well.'as ;jin college;
students, are all the counties west of
Granville along the Virginia border,
and all the mountain counties ex
cept the four mentioned above, which
rank well in high school graduates a-
ione. Other counties which rank low
in high school graduates are to be found
scattered over the entire state, some
rich and some poor, some urban and
some with only small country towns. In
this list come Forsyth, Gaston, Lin
coln, Rowan, Cabarrus and other great
industrial and largely urban counties;
Johnston, Sampson, Pitt, Edgecombe
and other great agricultural counties;
and some very poor counties like Dare
and Tyrrell.
It seems that there is little or no re
lationship between county wealth and
high school graduate rates. Some of
the richest counties rank lowest,
while some of the poorest counties turn
out many graduates, and send many
sons and daughters to college. The
nature of the population, desire for ed
ucation, local leadership and disciple-
ship are some of the real factors that
Count.
Recent Progress
The high schools of the state have
made remarkable progress within re
cent years. Perhaps more progress
has been made here than in any other
part of our school system. Not only
has the quafity of high school work
been greatly improved, but the in
crease in high school students and in
high school graduates has been unbe
lievably rapid.
In 1912 the enrollment in all high
schools in the ^tate totaled 14,401,
while the fourth-year.high school stu
dents numbered 818. In 1916 the stu
dents enrolled in all high schools num
bered 16,788, while the fourth-year
students numbered only 1,313. At the
present time there are about 45,000 stu
dents enrolled in the high schools of
the state, and last year the white
graduates alone numbered 6,317. The
graduates this year will probably be
far in excess of the 1923 graduating
class.
We Cannot Boast
But even with our remarkable prog
ress within recent years we have far
to go before we can begin to boast of
our high schools. We do not lead, we
do not rank high, we do not even ap
proach the average of the United
States in high school attendance, or
graduates, or in the quality of high
schools, referring mainly to teachers.
It is authoritatively stated that of
the entire school population of the
United States, 10 percent are enrolled
in high schools. Of the children of
school ages in North Carolina only 6
percent are enrolled in high schools.
On the basis of white high school grad
uates per 10,000 white people rank
far below the average of the United
States, *nd so far below the rate of
such western states as Washington,
Oregon, Minnesota, Colorado and oth
ers as to make our rate of 33.7 gradu
ates per 10,000 white population look
rather small. Several southern states
rank above ours in this respect.
A study of the table carried else
where will reveal the rank of the coun
ties in North Carolina in white high
school graduates in 1923. The cpun-
ties rank from Northampton which
leads to Graham which graduated no
one, and has only one student in col
lege this year. Five counties still have
no standard high school. Their stu
dents must go elsewhere to seek a
standard high school education, or they
must do without.
The rate of high school graduates for
1923 for the entire state was only 33.7
per 10,000 white people. This means
that upon an average it took 63 white
families to supply one high school
graduate. Plain common sense tells
us that the rate is ridiculously low.
Too many students drop out before the
raceis'run. And many are the boys
and girls in North Carolina who yearn
for at least a high school education but
who are denied the opportunity to get
it. Especially is this true of country
children who live long distances from
high schools an(j who are unable to
leave home to attend school. A stand
ard high school should be within the
reach of every boy and girl in North
Carolina who desires a high school ed
ucation.—S.H.H.,Jr. '
THE IDEAL FARM
In the final analysis the ideal
farm—the truly successful farm—is
the one which yields to the farmer
and his family a living—full, ade
quate, complete—liberal in material
rewards, but not lacking in the so
cial, aesthetic, and ethical values
which make for character, content
ment, and genuine happiness. The
soil has the capacity to produce
these returns if the hand which
turns it but knows how to sow the
seed. The key which will unlock
the wealth of the fields and bring
forth the treasures material and
spiritual is the intelligence of the
farmer.—New Jersey College of
Agriculture.
VIRGINIA AND CAROLINA
More than $1,000,000 will be expend
ed by the University of Virginia during
the fiscal year of 1924-25, according to
announcements made today by Presi
dent Edwin A. Aldermarr in connec
tion with the April meeting of the
board of directors.
A budget carrying total appropria
tions of $1,127,643 was adopted by the
board. This amount includes $56,000
for capital outlay as well as provision
to expand the teaching staff of the uni
versity by the employment of seven
faculty members of professorial rank
and a superintendent of the university
hospital.—Greensboro News.
The Gniversity of Virginia will have
a current operating fund for the year
1924-25 of $1,071,646. If our University
is to continue to expand in service to
the people of the state its present op
erating fund must be increased by at
least $260,000. The annual mainte
nance fund at present is $716,000, or
$366,646 less than that of the Univer
sity of Virginia.
percent take daily papers, 20 percent
take weekly papers, 10.2 percent take
church papers, 26.8 percent take farm
papers, 1.6 percent take children’s pa
pers, 19 percent take magazines, while
47.5 percent take no paper or magazine
of any kind.
In our state last year there were only
64 counties which had within their bor
ders a library of some kind, 46 counties
had no public library of any kind, and
only 11 counties had a public library of
more than 6,000 vblumes. Thus it is
seen that the great majority of the
people of North Carolina have no ac
cess to public libraries, and can be
served only by traveling libraries pro
vided by the North Carolina Library
Commission.
The above data indicate the low
position which North Carolina holds so
has been tried in other states are en
tirely satisfactory. If there are ex
treme rural sections where book sta
tions cannot conveniently be established,
a book truck is operated and makes
regular trips over the country carrying
needed books into the very homes •f
the most isolated farmer.
The Washington county library, with
its center at Hagerstown, Maryland, is
a good example of a county library
system which ought to work well in the
counties of North Carolina. Every
thing there, as in this state, is run on
a county basis. The county is the main
unit of government. The county library
has been found to fit in per^ctly in
that state. The people report that
they would not do without their county
library and their book wagon. A simi
lar system is operated in the state of
far as her books and libraries are con-?CaIifornia, where it has been a marked
cerned. If the 1,820,000 farm popula-[ success. In California, by July, 1918,
tion, of which 43.6 percent is of the
tenant class, is ever to acquire reading
facilities, it seems that such must come
to them through some form of loan
system. It seems then thatthe county
traveling library must be employed in
order to reach the entire rural popula
tion. Since the county is our main
unit of organization, it seems that the
county library is best adapted to North
Carolina needs and is the only one
which can readily conform with our
state situation. Hence whenever we
think of the library rnillenium in North
Carolina it seems that we must visual
ize a county system consisting of a
strong tax-supported, free public libra
ry in each of her 100 counties, with
branch stations at various points in the
different localities.
In Other States
The results of this system where it
42 of the 68 counties had established
county libraries under the state library
law; 38 of the 42 received an annual
maintenance fund of $539,458, contained
945,856 volumes, maintained 2,890
branches, served 1,649 school districts,
and were directed by trained certified
librarians under central state supervi
sion. \
It is some such system as this that
we propose as the nearest solution for
North Carolina’s reading problem. It is
the most feasible plan in this day of
easy communication. Of course it can
not be hoped that this system would
usher in the millennium, but it seems
to be a great step in the right di
rection. It would inevitably lead to
greater literary progress and eventual
ly solve our book problem.—E. D. Ap
ple, before the'North Carolina Club.
COUNTY LIBRARY SERVICE
In the year 1700 Thomas Bray, a
missionary from England, established
at Bath a small library for use of the
clergy of the colony of North Carolina.
From this small beginning in 1700 un
til the year 1897 our state library de
velopment represents a slow and fairly
uniform growth.
The modern library movement had its
beginning in the year 1897 when the
city of Durham opened the first free,
tax-supported library in North Caroli
na. It began with only a small wood
en building and a few thousand books;
but today it has a new $45,000 building,
a reported book collection of 10,890
volumes, with a circulation last year of
79,469 volumes, and has broadened its
service so as to include not only the
city but the schools and general public
of Durham county as well.
Following this lead taken by Durham,
public libraries were started in Raleigh
in 1900, Greensboro in 1902, Charlotte
1903, Winston 1906, and so on until at
the close of last year there were a to
tal of 68 public libraries in the state.
Sixty-two of these libraries reported a
collection of 231,262 volumes, or about
one book to every twelve people. On
this basis North Carolina ranks forty-
seventh in library facilities. There ai;e
more motor cars in the state than tfiere
are books in our public libraries.
In the June issue of the North Caro
lina Library Bulletin for last year ap
peared reports . from these libraries
which show incomes that range from
$17.63 to $11,387.60, and a total income
of $103,036.00, or approximately one-
fifth the one dollar per capita which
the American Library Association has
set as the standard.
What A Survey Shows
North Carolina, with its 2,690,000 in
habitants, is mainly an agricultural
state. It includes only 27 cities which
have a population of 6,000 or more.
Seventy-one percent of its people live
in the open country. A recent survey
of farm conditions on 1,000 farms in
North Carolina shows the percent of
farm homes that have no books other
than Bibles to be: for the operator land
lords 25 percent, for the owner opera
tors 19.5 percent, tenants 33.2 percent,
and croppers 62.1 percent. Of these
1000 farm homes in three typical areas
of the state, 37.6 percent had no books
other than the Bible.
The survey also showed that of the
1000 farm families interviewed only 20.3
I HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES IN NORTH CAROLINA
Per 10,000 White Population in 1923
I The following table, based on information furnished by thelJ,State Super-
! visor of High Schools, shows the number of white high school graduates from
I both public and private high schools per 10,000 white population for the year
11923. The accompanying column shows the total number of white high school
i graduates.
! Northampton county ranks first with 93.7 white high school graduates per
, 10,000,white population. An adjoining county. Gates, ranks second. Graham
, which d? one of five counties with no standard high school comes last with no
j high school graduates.
1 State total white high school graduates from both public and private high
I schools in 1923 was 6,317. The state average rate was 33.7 graduates per 10,-
I 000 white inhabitants, or one graduate for every 63 white families in the state.
S. H. Hobbs, Jr.
Department of Rural Social Economics, University of North Carolina
Rank County
No. High
!^o- Per
Rank County
No. High
No. Per
School
10,000
School
io,ooe
Graduates
White
Graduates
White
1923
Popula-
1923
Popula-
tion
tion
1
Northampton.
88
93.7
51
Orange
41
31.9
2
Gates
37
64.3
52
Madison
62
31.5
3
Craven
85
69.4
53
Columbus
66
31.3
4
Henderson ..
100
68.8
54
Forsyth
181
31.1
5
Transylvania .
65
68.0
55
Union
87
30.9
6
Alamance ...
161
57.3
66
Washington ..
, 18
30.7
7
Warren
43
64.3
57
Pasquotank...
30
30.3
8
Polk
42
54.2
57
Rowan
Ill
30.3
9
Davidson
173
61.6
59
Halifax
67
30.2
9
Randolph ....
142
61.6
60
Pitt .
72
29.7
11
Iredell
159
61.2
61
Hyde
15
29.2
12
Buncombe....
296
50.9
62
New Hanover.
72
28.9
13
Granville ....
73
50.1
63
Franklin
44
28.5
14
Camden
16
49.6
64
Carteret
38
28.2
16
Nash
123
49.5
65
Lenoir
49
27.8
16
Durham
144
47.4
66
McDowell . ..
J.'?
17
Robeson
121
46.2
67
Martin
31
26.7
18
Pender
34
46.0
67
Alleshanv ....
19
26.7
19
Jones.
26
45.9
69
Cumberland ....
58
26.3
20
Guilford
306
45.6
70
Gaston
121
26.2
21
Vance
60
45.6
71
Rorkinyham
Q9
22
Bladen
54
44.8
71
Yancey
40
25.8
22
Pamlico
26
44.8
73
Ashe
53
25.0
24
Perquimans ..
26
44.7
73
Harnett
65
25.0
26
Mecklenburg..
248
43.9
75
Rutherford....
67
24.0
26
Anson
61
43.4
76
Chatham
36
22.2
27
Beaufort
82
43.3
77
Cabarrus
61
20.8.
28
Richmond ....
70
43.2
78
Tyrrell.
7
20.6
29
Moord
68
43.0
79
Caldwell
36
19.6
30
Montgomery..
47
42.2
80
Sampson
48
19.2
31
Hoke .
22
41.6
81
.Tobnston
7.^1
32
Wayne
105
41.2
82
Person
20
18.0
33
Chowan
22
41.1
83
Surry
64
17.5
34
Currituck
19
40.7
84
Stanly
43
16.6
36
Lee
40
40.0
85
Avery
17
16.4
36
Scotland
23
38.3
86
Caswell
13
16.1
37
Wake
183
38.0
87
Yadkin
26
.16.0
37
Watauga
62
38.0
88
Brunswick ....
16
15.9
39
Wilson
86
37.9
89
Wilkes
48
15.6
40
Bertie
39
37.3
90
Alexander
17
14.7
41
Cleveland. ...
106
36.5
91
Swain.
19
14.6
42
Hertford
23
35.6
92
Stokes
25
14.0
43
Burke
74
36.0
93
Cherokee
21
13.7
44
Catawba
Ill
34>6
94
Davie
16
13.4
45
Clay
..; 16
33.7
95
Dare
6
12.5
.46
Lincoln
52
33.1
96
Onslow
14
10.6
47
Duplin
62
32.3
97
Greene
7
8.1
48
Edgecombe ...
53
32.2
98
Mitchejl
9
7.8
48
Haywood
76
32.2
99
Macon
6
5.0
60
Jackson
40
32.1
100
Graham
.; 0
o.e