Newspapers / The University of North … / Jan. 28, 1925, 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 CAROLI^JA NEWS LETTER Published Weekly by the University of North Caro lina for the University Ex tension Division. JANUARY 28, 1925 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS VOL. XI, NO. 11 ril. a. C. Branaon. S. H. Hobbs, Jr., L R Wb.aa E. W. Knlitht, D. D, Carroll, J. B.eullln, H. W, Odo Entered Ha Becond-claaa ruatter Nevember 14,1914, at the Peatofflceat Chapel Hill, N. C., andar the act af Aiignat £4. 1912 MOTOR CARS AND SCHOOLS Common-school and public high- school properties in North Carolina now represent a total investment of a little more than 60 million dollars. It is sixty times the amount invested in public-school properties twenty-five years ago. But since 1911 the automobile own ers in North Carolina have invested a little more than $240,000,000 in mo tor cars. Which is to say, around three hundred thousand people in North Carolina have invested four dol lars in motor cars for every dollar twenty-seven hundred thousand peo ple have invested in public school buildings. Just now many people in North Ca rolina are in a panic about bond issues and taxes. And in very truth North Carolina has been piling up a stupen dous total of bonds—state bonds $108, - 847,000 in round numbers, county bonds $87,000,000, municipal bonds $97,563,- 000-all told, $293,473,000 of bonds.-. “The people of this state, "said a legislator on the train yesterday, “have literally gone mad on the subject of roads and bridges, public schools, pub lic health, and public welfare. We are either immensely rich, ’ ’ he went on to say, “or we are certainly cra zy.” Enormous as our bonded indebtedness is, our investment in motor cars alone makes a total almost as large. Moreover, we spent 64 million dollars last year for brand new motor cars. It is a sum sufficiently great to sup port the state government and the state institutions of learning, benevo lence, and correction for the next five years. Debatable Grounds When we look at the cold figures of average income per inhabitant in North Carolina, at the per capita producing power of our farmers and the meager per capita bank resources of the state, we face the almost overwhelming con clusion that North Carolina is still poverty-stricken. As a matter of fact the state is not poverty-stricken. It is so far from being poverty-stricken that the aver age man and the average community are ready to vote for anything that looks like progress. The simple fact is that it has come to be a disgrace in this state for a community to have a shabby schoolhouse for the children, and almost equally a disgrace for a man on any level of life to be walking instead of riding in an automobile . The plain people of North Carolina are not poverty-stricken on the one hand, neither are they rich on the other. At any rate, they are rich enough to invest in motor cars in amazing multitudes —all sorts of peo ple, white, black, blue, and green! Look at the motor cars parked around the front of this or that mill property in the state. They are the property not only of the floor bosses, superintendents, and owners, but of the mill operatives as well. The workmen on the buildings of the University park more cars on the cam pus every day than the faculty mem bers are able to do. The farmers and factory workers of Europe own no cars, but the farmers, the factory workers, and the day laborers of North Carolina own cars in multiplied thou sands. Startling Contrasts f The table elsewhere in this issue presents in alphabetic order in paral lel columns the investment in motor cars and in public-school properties county by county. A few of the poor er counties like Clay and Dare have two dollars invested in automobiles for every one dollar invested in schools. On the other hand, Pender and Lenoir have more than nine dollars in motor ears for every dollar in schools, Guilford enjoys the unique distinc tion of heading the list both in schools and motor cars, with nearly 4 million dollars in schools and more than 14 million dollars in motor cars. Sixteen counties have school proper ties averaging in value from a million dollars in Rockingham to $3,960,000 in Guilford. But no matter how much these sixteen counties may have in vested in schools they have from three to six times as many dollars invested in motor cars. Graham Stands Out Graham, a county set in the clefts of the Great Smoky Mountains, enjoys the unique distinction of being the on ly county in the state with greater wealth in schools than in motor cars. Lenoir, which long led the procession in public-highway building, has more than nine dollars invested in automo biles for every one dollar invested in school buildings. Sixty-seven counties in North Caro lina have each more than & million in vested in motor cars, in amounts rang ing from $1,077,000 in Hoke to $14,- 000,000 in Guilford; but only sixteen counties have more than a million dol lars invested in public-school proper ties. If only the rich had motor cars in North Carolina, the answer would be easy. And what is the answer any way? What is the proper comment upon the nearly universal distribution of motor cars in North Carolina? KNOW YOUR OWN STATE A study of North Carolina, economic and social, has been prepared for the Women's Clubs Section of the Uni versity Extension Division, by Pro fessor S. H. Hobbs of the Department of Rural Social-Economics. The usual form of the Extension Division study programs has been adopted with the exception that this study has a more comprehensive introductory outline with each meeting. A Women’s Club Program The sixteen meetings are arranged according to the following divisions. The first four meetings provide for a study of the Tidewater Area, the Coastal Plains Area, the Piedmont Country, and the Highland Area, with reference to their natural resources, their economic and social characteris tics, and their possibilities for develop ment. This is followed by a study of the state’s population, its problems of farm tenancy, agricultural possibilities, land, forests, flora and fauna, water power, mineral and resort resources. Then there are two meetings devoted to the study of the industrial wealth of the state, the question of taxation, the matters of health, roads, and public welfare. The last three meetings are taken up with studies of immediate needs of the state, with emphasis on county homes, county hospitals, port terminals, improved county govern ment, co-operative farm enterprise, consolidation of schools, state and county prison reform, and a state pro gram for delinquent girls. This outline may seem heavy at first glance and it does contain mate rial for a thorough study of the state’s resources and possibilities; but it is so arranged that a club may select the parts that are most interesting to the group and concentrate on those topics. The reference material is comprehensive and is supposed to be used with discrimination. Know Your Own State is a bulletin that came as a response to many requests from women’s club groups who are anxious to know the North Caro lina of today. The women of North Carolina have always been interest ed in the affairs of the state, the na tion, and the world, and this is only a step in their search for knowledge. The Author Suys The author in the Foreword says: Af ter all, isn’t it just as proper to be get ting acquainted with our home state, whose history we are daily making, as it is to be prying into the interred re mains of countries that have passed into oblivion? Be that as it may, we are cer tain of this one thing, that intimate ac quaintance with North Carolina will result in strengthening our determina tion to make her what she properly ought to be—the best spot onjearth to live in. This is the goal toward which A FUNDAMENTAL ASSET ANGUS WILTON McLEAN One of the most significant as pects of modern conservation is a high regard for the health of the community. In the strenuous life of the twentieth century the demand is for a maximum amount of mental vigor in a sound body. Community health, state health, and national health is a composite of individual health. The better the individual health, the better the general average of community health. The more healthy produc ing individuals any community has and the longer such individuals live to produce, just that much greater will be the progress of that community. Good health is both an individual and a national asset. It is just as essential and fundamental to the in tegrity and permanence of a demo cratic nation as scientific progress, political achievement, industrial de velopment or economic accomplish ment. Indeed it is the basis upon which all these things are built. The marvelously increasing longe vity, with its resultant increased production and general progress, can be ascribed not to any change in climate or natural conditions, but to health education. People have learned how to conserve their health and abolish those conditions which were conducive to plague and pes tilence. People have learned how to protect themselves against many of the diseases which were once so greatly dreaded. An important agent for the ad vancement of health education and the realization of this individual and national asset is the public school, which is the natural and most effective training centre for this branch of public welfare work. Our schools must teach the ele ments of personal hygiene as well as community sanitation. The teaching of these things is an im portant part of the education of a community. Our schools must so train the individual as to prolong the period of individual productive ness and prevent interruptions caused by illness, thus adding to social efficiency and individual hap piness. Our state can no longer afford the retardation of efficiency which comes from ill health brought on by neglect, by environment, or by failure to combat preventable disease. Some of the principal attributes of education in a democracy are moral character, civic efficiency^ and industrial competency. All of these can be attained in our American schools under well-trained teachers. To their achievement and full devel opment there is this basic requisite —good health. Health education produces good health. Good health makes possible education. Educa tion means progress.—State Health Bulletin. our hearts are set and there is no agency in the state that can do more than the North Carolina’ Federation of Women’s Clubs to make her the best spot on earth to live in. This, program will be especially val uable to the many clubs that used “Studies in the History of North Caro lina” prepared for the women’s clubs last year by Professor Connor of the History Department. The demand for the present outline came largely from those who have made themselves fam iliar with their state’s history. Material for the study of each topic is available for study clubs and will be sent upon receipt of the registration fee which is charged each club. Single copies of the program will be sent on approval or upon payment of the usual price of Extension programs. Further information concerning this program will be given upon applica tion to the Women’s Clubs section of the University Extension Division. water transportation act. This queyy was decided upon by the central commit tee of the High School Debating Union after the port terminals and water transportation question had received the largest number of votes in the balloting on the query which was par ticipated in by 371 high schools and preparatory schools of the state. For the usq of the schools taking part in the contest this year the Uni versity Extension Division ^has pub lished as a high-school debate hand book an Extension bulletin entitled “Port Terminals and Water Trans portation.” This bulletin, 100 pages in length, was compiled by E. R. Ran kin, Secretary of the High School De bating Union, and has been sent to all schools which have indicated a desire to participate in the contest of the High School Debating Union this year. The bulletin contains a brief history of the High School Debating Union; a statement of the regulations govern ing the contest; a statement of the query ^ith limitations and several sec tions of the bill on which the people of the state voted l&stNovember4; select ed articles bearing on the affirmative side of the query; selected articles bear ing on the negative side of the query; and a bibliography. The section of the bulletin carrying material on the affirmative includes articles from Dr. E. C. Branson of Chapel Hill, and J. W. Bailey of Ra leigh; excerpts from the message of Governor Cameron Morrison to the special session of the General Assem bly last summer; the recommendations of the State Ship and Water Trans portation Commission; excerpts from the leaflets issued during the past fall by the Headquarters of the Ports and Terminals Campaign; and editorials from The Progressive Farmer and The Greensboro News. The section of the bulletin carrying material bearing on the negative side of the query includes articles from Sena tor P. H. Williams of Elizabeth City, James T. Ryan of High Point, J. L. Graham of Winston-Salem, Robert N. Page of Southern Pines, E. E. Britton of Washington, D. C., and from D. H. Blair of Washington, D. C. In the forthcoming contest the tri angular debates will be held on March 27, and the flnal contest will be held at the University during' High School Week on April 9 and 10.—E. R. Ran kin. COLLEGE CULTURE VALUE President Charles F. Thwing, of Northwestern University, showed that “of the wealthiest men in the United States, considered with reference to the total population, there were 277 times as many college-bred men as there were non-college-bred.” College graduates in the United States are less than 1 percent of the adult male population, yet from this one one-hundredth of the population come more than half of the presidents, 47 percent of the vice-presidents, 62 percent of the secretaries of state, 50 percent of the attorney-generals and nearly seven in ten of the justices of the Supreme Court. Of the 26,357 persons listed in Who’s Who in America—the greatest and moat complete roster of leaders in business and in all the arts and sciences —77 of every 100 are former college students and 64 percent are college graduates.—Richmond News-Leader. THE DEBATE BULLETIN The query which will be discussed in the forthcoming contest of the High School Debating Union of North Caro lina is: Resolved, That North Carolina should ratify the port terminals and TOTAL INVESTMENT IN 1924 IN Motor Cars and Public Schools A Comparison by Counties The following table of investments in automobiles and public elementary and high-school buildings is based on an advance report (1) of the State Superin tendent of Public Instruction on public-school property for the school year 1923-24, and (2) of the Secretary of State on the number of automobiles on December 1, 1924. The average motor car is reckoned as representing an investment of $800. On this basis, the total invested in public elementary and high-schcol properties was $60,614,000; in automobiles $240,797,000 or nearly four times as much. Edgar T. Thompson Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina. County Autos School Prop. Alamance $3,740,800 $ 746,840 Alexander 920,800 182,850 Alleghany .. 392,000 110,600 Anson 2,185,200 370,260 Ashe 626,400 248,000 Avery 267,200 178,200 Beaufort 2,369,600 639,850 Bertie 2,292,000 340,500 Bladen 999,200 322,980 Brunswick... . 607,200 103,745 Buncombe 7,462,400 2,691,400 Burke 1,684,800 382,000 Cabarrus 3,388,800 986,215 Caldwell 1,667,200 627,650 Camden 431,200 84,000 Carteret 568,000 451,000 Caswell 1,332,000 149,330 Catawba....:.. 3,623,200 827,700 Chatham 2,096,000 330,000 Cherokee 490,400 209,760 Chowan 979,200 160,000 Clay 141,600 61,000 Cleveland 3,936,800 640,000 Columbus 1,449,600 346,876 Craven 2,232,800 721,200 Cumberland.... 3,740,800 931,000 Currituck 626,400 250,000 Dare 107,200 64,200 Davidson 4,769,200 940,660 Davie 1,195,200 282,010 Duplin 2,193,600 697,850 Durham 4,642,400 1.710,465 Edgecombe 4,260,400 581,000 Forsyth 9,989,600 2,330,870 Franklin 1,997,600 410,700 Gaston 6,228,800 2,663,700 Gates 842,400 129,660 Graham 60,000 69,490 Granville 2,396,000 623,000 Greene 1,361,200 . 269,906 Guilford 14,220,000 3,960,200 Halifax 3,760,000 1,180,390 Harnett 2,703,200 600,000 Haywood 1,468,800 466,700 Henderson 1,762,400 404,175 Hertford 1,449,600 258,650 Hoke 1,077,600 143,876 Hyde 263,200 110,170 Iredell 4,230,400 1,263,800 Jackson 668,000 264,500 * In 1923 County Autos School Prop. Johnston $6,190, Jones 450, Lee 1,449, Lenoir 2,800, Lincoln 2,193, McDowell 920, Macon 392, Madison 783, Martin 1,429, Mecklenburg... 11,772, Mitchell,. 282, Montgomery ... 1,628, Moore 2,742, Nash 4,328, New Hanover.. 3,721, Northampton... 1,900, Onslow 744, Orange 1,724, Pamlico 460, Pasquotank.... 1,704, Pender 763, Perquimans 881, Person 1,371, Pitt 4,524, Polk 626, Randolph ...... 3,388, Richmond 2,840, Robeson 3,936, Rockingham.... 4,524, Rowan 6,091, Rutherford 2,742, Sampson 3,016, Scotland 1,508, Stanly 2,526, Stokes 1,997, .400 $1,242,440 400 260,000 600 800 ,600 800 .000 200 600 000 .400 oco ,400 ,800 600 ,000 000 000 400 ,000 200 600 200 ,800 .400 ,800 000 ,800 206,000 301,335 ,426,800 187,680 ^21,000 311.966 744.305 2,167,840 82,000 591,900 660,195 1,123,650 1,144,785 367,450 184,895 396,000 341,875 583,000 82,000 105,000 230,700 900.305 196,400 509,385 787,600 1,134,455 ,800 1,010,'200 Surry 2,683 Swain 328. Transylvania... 588. Tyrrell 277, Union 3,329, Vance 1,724, Wake 8,912, Warren 1,390, Washington.... 862, Watauga 649, Wayne 4,191, Wilkes 1,667, Wilson 4,700, Yadkin 1,410, Yancey 208, 200 ,400 ,0C0 ,000 .400 ,600 ,200 .000 ,000 600 ,600 000 ,000 ,400 ,400 .600 ,200 .200 ,800 ,400 ,800 1,091,175 464.900 369,000 490,625 490,000 276,010 360,240 *98,000 247,435 85,600 702,620 435.900 1,805,700 491,815 439,560 200,700 864,000 360,285 1,375,380 163,000 131,000
The University of North Carolina News Letter (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 28, 1925, edition 1
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