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 for the University Ex
tension Division.
MAY 20, 1925
CHAPEL HILL, N C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XI, NO. 27
KtlHorial Koiird: E. C. Branaon, S. H. Hobbs. Jr.. L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll. J. B. Bullitt. H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter Noviwnber 14. 1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24, 1912
HOW OUR COUNTIES READ
Eight RepresentativeMagazines
To work out a table showing ac
curately the variation in the reading
propensity in different sections of
North Carolina is difficult for two
reasons: (1) only a few publications
have a state-wide analysis of circula
tion by counties available, and (2) a
number of well-known publications
have only a regional, and not a stat-e-
wide circulation, and therefore could
not be used. The eight magazines
considered in the accompanying tables
have a state-wide circulation, and
rank among the leading magazines in
the country. T^ee of them circulate
over two million co'pies per issue, and
.all, with one exception, the Youth’s
Companion, have over a million copies
per issue. Their combined national cir
culation is 13,007,607 copies per issue,
or one copy for every 7.57 inhabitants
in the nation. In North Carolina these
magazines have a combined circulation
of 168,432 copies per issue, or one copy
for every 16.94 inhabitants in the state.
These magazines represent different
types of interests. Three of them.
Woman’s Home Companion, Ladies’
Home Journal, and McCall’s Magazine,
are women’s publications. The Satur
day Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, and
American Magazine are well-known
publications of fiction. The Literary
Digest gives news and current com
ment, and the Youth’s Companion bears
out its name.
The author attempted to include in
the calculation the circulation by
counties in North Carolina of other
prominent national piiblic^tions hav
ing a representative state circulation,
but figures showing an analysis of cir
culation by counties were not avail
able.
No Local Publication
The circulation of state publications
was not considered because of the
question of representative state-wide
circulation. Broadly speaking, only
one publication in the state, the Pro
gressive Farmer, has a representative
state-?/ide circulation, and the analysis
of its circulation will be published in a
succeeding article. Some of our larger
state dailies, like the News and Ob
server, send copies to every county in
the state, but tne greater part of the
circulation of each state daily is con
fined to a more or less restricted trad
ing territory.
A table based upon the circulation
of publications that do not have a
state-wide circulation would be unfair
and misrepresentative. But the maga^
zines considered have a representative
state-wide circulation. They are pub
lished outside of the state, and therefore
the question of locality of publication
does not come in. The author feels
that the table based upon their circula
tion is a fairly accurate cross-section of
the reading habits of the people in the
different counties and areas of the
state. At least it shows how the coun
ties rank as leaders of magazines, and
it is very likely that their relative
standing would not be seriously af
fected if they were ranked according
to the total amount of all reading done
by the counties.
Buncombe and Graham
Thus, if v.'e are to judge by the ac
companying table, it seems that the
people of Buncombe read about'four
teen times as much as the people of
Graham. Of the magazines we are
concerned with, one copy gets into Bun
combe for every six inhabitants, while
for Graham there is one copy for every
88 inhabitants approximately.
Geographic Areas
The table shows that there are great
differences in the reading habits of
the people of the state when the
counties are grouped according to
geographic areas. In the Piedmont
section, comprising 39 coiihties west of
Raleigh and up to the tier of counties
bordering east of the Blue Ridge,
there is an average of one copy of the
above magazines for every 13.33 inhab
itants. In the mountain area, com
prising 23 Western counties, there is
one copy for every 17.57 inhabitants.
In the Coastal Plains area, consisting
of 38 counties east of Raleigh and
Rockingham, the average is - one copy
for every 20.78 inhabitants. In other
words, the people in the counties of
the Piedmont section seem to be read
ing 32 percent more than those in the
Mountain area, and 56 percent more
than those of the Coastal Plains. One
immediately becomes interested in the
question. Why does this difference
exist?
Piedmont Leads
The people of Piedmont Carolina
read most. Is it because of greater
means of contact, and because urban
people read more extensively than
those in rural districts? Why is it
that the Mountain area, where nature
has made contacts difficult, ranks
above the Coastal Plains area? This
is one of the surprising facts brought
out by the study. Perhaps the ra
cial element largely explains the low
rank of the eastern counties. The ne
gro population is largely centered in
the Coastal Plains area, a dozen coun
ties having negro majorities. In only
two coqnties in the Mountain district is
there more than 12.5 percent of the pop
ulation negro. But this in itself is not
altogether explanatory. There are
many more negroes per 1,000 inhabi
tants in the Piedmont than in the Moun
tain area, yet the people in the Piedmont
read the eight magazines considered
32 percent more extensively than do
the mountain people.. Evidently urban
ratios in the Piedmont more ^than off
set high white ratios in Mountain
counties.
ContributingTactos's
Other factors which affect reading
habits of different counties are acces
sibility, means of contact, illiteracy,
efficiency of school systems, size and
number of public and school libraries,
per inhabitant wealth, and many others
of varying importance.
The counties that rank high in aggre
gate wealth per inhabitantj;.rank high
in reading and vice versa.
Counties that have a large' percent
age of their population urban read ex
tensively, while those that have a
large percent of their population rural
rank low in reading. As statisticians
would say, there is a very high corre
lation between the percentage of ur
ban population and the ^quantity of
reading done in the state.
Again, the question of farm tenancy
enters in. The counties that have a
large percentage of their farms oper
ated by tenants and croppers rank rel
atively lower in reading than those
that have a larger percentage of land-
owners.
Likewise, the problem of illiteracy
has its influence. Buncombe county,
which ranks first in the table, has the
lowest illiteracy rate of any county in
the state. Other counties that rank
high in reading, like Guilford. Moore,
Rowan, and others, have low illiteracy
rates.
^The high position of Buncombe
county in reading may be explained in
part by the presence of tourists in
Asheville. Florida, a tourist state,
outranks her neighboring .Southern
states by many points.
Furthermore, there exists a strong
relationship between the efficiency^, of
the various county school systems and
reading. As yet there has been no
definite index of efficiency worked out
for county school systems, but using
the total expenditure for school pur
poses per inhabitant in 1923 as an in
dex, we find generally that the coun
ties that spend liberally for education
rank high in the circulation of maga
zines.
There is a definite positive correlation
between library facilities and reading
habits. The Piedmont section of the
state has more volumes relative to its
population than any other section.
In short, where a county possesses a
combination of factors conducive to
reading, it ranks high. Where a com
bination of factors not conducive to
reading exists, as in a largely rural
county with a large negro ratio and a
EDUCATION
An Iowa State College professor,
who has given considerable thought
to the matter, has worked out a
definition of education that is some
what different from the usual run.
Its merits are a matter of, opinion.
However, the idea may be stimula
ting:
“An education is the ability to
make use of experience. The man
with the greatest amount of educa
tion is the man whose reasoning
power is so developed] that he can
take advantage of the greatest
amount of experience, both his
own and others’.
“Originally I had the^ idea that
the information a student accu
mulates was the thing that was
going to give him this advantage.
But in later years I have learned
that for fifty dollars a man .can buy
an encyclopedia set that contains
more facts than can be extracted
from a w'hole college faculty. So’ I
have come to the conclusion _that a
knowledge of how to apply princi
ples and facts is the really impor
tant part of an education. ’’—Country
Gentleman.
high tenancy rate, the county will rank
very low. These contributing factors
are found in North Carolina in varying
combinations, and no two counties in
the state rank the same as readers of
magazines, newspapers, or any other
form of publication. The reader might
be interested in analyzing his county’s
rank, and also in working out ways by
which reading may be stimulated. —Or
lando Stone.
WHY COLLEGES EXIST
- There is a widespread belief that
the only people who receive large
benefits from colleges and universities
are the students who attend them.
Many people apparently think that
these institutions are maintained sole
ly for the benefit of the students.
Sometimes this belief leads to propo
sals that college students should be re
quired to bear the entire cost of main
taining the colleges that they attend.
Such proposals might be sound if only
the students benefited from college
education. But that the students are
not the only beneficiaries has been
conclusively shown in a great many in
stances.
While the college student usually
benefits greatly from college education,
the public, in the aggregate, benefits
much more. Colleges are maintained
primarily, not for the purpose of con
ferring benefits upon the small percent
age of the population which attends
them, but for the purpose of prepar
ing a limited number of men and
women, usually of more than average
ability, to parform tasks for all of us
which most of us ordinarily are unable
to perform. This is only another way
of saying that colleges are maintained
primarily for the purpose of develop
ing the qualities of leadership. That
they are generally successful is clearly
shown by the fact that practically all
of us depend for leadership, in many
important activities, upon college-
trained men and women.
This dependence can clearly be seen
when we consider how we look about for
expert information or assistance in af
fairs upon whicii most of us are not
well informed. 'When we build a fine
home or other building, we look to the
architect for asistance. When we
build an expensive bridge or a hard-
surfaced road, we look to the civil en
gineer. When we need medical or
surgical attendance, we call in the
trained physician and surgeon for our
selves and the trained veterinarian for
our domestic animals. And when we
need legal advice, we must depend up
on the trained attorney. The work of
most of the agencies of popular educa
tion is done by college-trained men and
women. These agencies include many
of the good newspapers and magazines,
and the grammar schools and high
schools. In agriculture we must look
to all these groups of college-trained
men and women for the services sug
gested and for many others. We also
have need to depend upon college-
trained people for a great variety of
technical agricultural service. It is
true that we, as individuals, must pay
for this service. But this payment
seldom makes the payee rich, and, gen
erally speaking, the service we buy is
indispensable to us.—F. D. Farrell.
manufacturers 352; bankers 331; and
insurance men 286. Thus the ministers
stand sixth, in numbers, in this group.
These compilations are on the basis of
a study of 7,600 of the living alumni,
and are for June 1924.”
These ministers represent a minimum
of fifteen denominations and are scat
tered throughout the world.—Chapel
Hill News.
UNIVERSITY PREACHERS
There are 260 University of North
Carolina alumni in the ministry, the
number actually exceeding those in
some of the professions for which spe
cific training is offered, according to
an article in the current number of
the Alumni Review, alumni magazine
of the University, which has just come
from the press.
“The University has offered profes
sional training for lawyers, physicians,
surgeons, teachers, engineers, pharma
cists, and inameasure for journalists,”
the article points out, “and in addi
tion, alumni engage in 230 trades and
professions for which they receive
only preliminary training in the Uni
versity courses. The number of min
isters comes high in this second group
and actually exceeds some of the pro
fessions in which specific training is
offered.”
“There are 465, alumni who are
farmers, or almost 'two farmers for
one minister, but there must be thirty
or forty farmers in the*state for ' each
minister. Merchants number 670;
CROOKED CARNIVALS
If a crooked carnival comes to your
town it is because the crooked men in
that carnival have paid crooked offi
cials in your town to permit them to
rob ajid debauch you and your young
men, and it is your duty to expose
those officials.
If a crooked carnival sets up its mid
way on your fairgrounds it is because
crooked men in that carnival have paid
for the privilege of swindling and de
grading the people of your community
for one fair week.
That is pointed language, but it is
true. It is impossible for a lewd show
or a swindle to operate on your fair
grounds without the knowledge and
connivance of the secretary of your
fair.
So, go after him. Hold him respon
sible. If you are a preacher, preach
against it. If you are a church mem
ber, call the attention of the church to
it. If you are a woman, move tbe
women of your acquaintance, of your
church, of your club or society against
this thing.—Country Gentleman.
DOES NORTH CAROLINA READ
The RanH of the Countses in Reading Eight National Magazines
The table below gives the rank of the counties in reading eight of the lead
ing magazines of the country. The table is based upon the circulations of the
following magazines: American Magazine, Coemopolitan, Ladies’ Home Jour
nal, McCall’s Magazine, Literary Digest, Saturday Evening Post, Woman’s
Home Companion, Youth’s Companion.
Buncombe county, urban, white, and having fewest illiterates relative to
population, leads, averaging one copy per issue for every six inhabitants.
Graham county, rural and remote, comes last with one copy for every 87,78
inhabitants. The state averages one copy for every 16.94 inhabitants. Twenty-
: three counties rank above the state average, while seventy-seven fall below,
j Orlando Stone, Research Assistant
I Institute for Research in Social Science, University of North Carolina
Rank Counties
Inhabs. Rank Counties
per Magazine |
Inhabs.
per Magazine
1
Buncombe
6.00
B1
Davie
25.08
• 2
Mecklenburg....
6.22
62
Surry
25.11
3
Guilford
6.34
63
McDowell
25.17
4
New Hanover ...
8.13
54
Person
25.26
Wake
8.66
66
Jackson
26.14
6
Durham
9.21
56
Warren
26.21
t 7
EdgccDinbe
9.91
67
Union...
27.48
I 8
Moore
11.02
58
Anson
27.49
9
Pasquotank
11.16
69
Mnpon
10
Rowan
11.17
HO
Franklin
28.49
11
Cumberland
12.09
61
Cherokee
28.85
12
Richmond
12.54
62
Moke
28.90
13
Orange
12.76
63
Perquimans
29.38
14
Gaston
12.96
64
Johnston
.... 30.14
15
Catawba
13.01
65
Northampton....
30.70
16
Forsyth
13.26.
66
Camden
30.93
17
Henderson
13.28
67
Currituck
33.33
18
Vance
13.88
68
Dare
33.64
19
Lee
14.10
69
Martin
35.24
20
Iredell
14.20
70
Pamlico
35.96
21
Craven
16.03
71
Pender
36.15
22
Cabarrus
15.30
72
Hertford
36.33
23
Scotland
15.48
73
Mitchell
37.14
24
Lenoir
16.21
74
Columbus,
37.16
26
Beaufort
16.68
75
Madison
37.39
26
Wilson
16.79
76
Bertie
38.69
27
Alamance
16.92
76
Swain
38.69
28
Carteret
17.16
78
Duplin
38.72
29
Wayne
17.67
79
Watauga
41.08
30
Rockingham
18.09
80
Onslow
41.18
31
Burke
18.56
81
Gates
41.27
32
Stanly
18.66
82
Chatham
41.79
33
Caldwell
18.60
83
Brunswick
42.95
34
Transylvania....
19.67
84
Alexander
43.63
35
Rutherford
20.06
85
Tyrrell
44.89 ■
36
Pitt
20.36
86
Bladen
46.01
37
Halifax
20,39
87
Avery
47.46
38
Haywood
20.40
88
Greene
48.16
39
Cleveland
20.45
89
Yancey
49.79
40
Randolph
20.56
90
Stokes
49.94
41
Montgomery ....
20.67
91
Wilkes
50.44
42
Robeson
21.07
92
Sampson .;
52.14
43
Chowan
21.73
93
Clay
62.26
44
Hyde
22.01
94
Nash
68.58
.46
Granville... .
22.17
95
Alleghany
68.76
46
Polk
22.20
96
Caswell
60.23
47
Lincoln
23.23
97
Yadkin
61.76
48
Davidson
23.84
98
Jones
67,14
49
Harnett
24.40
99
Ashe
68.44
50
Washington
24.91
100
Graham
87.78