The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
JULY 29, 1925
the UNIVERSiTY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
CHAPEL HILL, N C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XI, NO. 37
Editorial Boardt E. C. Branson, S. H. Hobbs. Jr., L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll. J. B. Bullitt. H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14. 1914. at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N. C.. under the act of August 24. 1912
V. TAX COLLECTING
(It is suggested that one person be
charged wi^h this section)
A. Outline
1. The Tax list;
Prepared by Register of Deeds or
Tax Supervisor. (74) *
When endorsed has force of a
judgment. (74) C. S. 7991. t
2. The Tax Collector:
In most counties taxes are col
lected by sheriff. (79)
He sits for a day or more in each
township. (79) -
3. Payment of taxes:
When due. (78)
Discounts and penalties. (78)
C. S. 7994.
Form of receipt. (74, 78) ^ C. S.
7994.
4. Delinquent taxpayers:
Levy on personalty. C. S. 8006-
8008.
Garnishee wages, (65) C, S. 8004,
Sell real estate. (98, 99) C. S.
8010-8027.
Date of sale. (98) C. S. 8012.
Published notice. C. S. 8014.
Personal notice. C. S. 8013.
Manner of sale. C. S. 8016.
Sheriff's record of tax sales. C.
S, 8017.
Certificate of sale to purchaser,
or assignee. C. S. 8024, 8026.
6. Redemption of land sold for taxes:
C. S. 8038.
Must be within one year.
Must pay 20 percent interest to
purchaser.
Must pay costs to county.
6. Failure to redeem:
If certificate of sale held by pri
vate party, he must serve per
sonal notice on taxpayer, occu
pant, and mortgagee, if they
can be reached. C. S, 8028.
Otherwise at the end of nine
months he affvertises for three
consecutive weeks. C. S. 8028.
At the end of year may demand
deed from sheriff, C. S. 8030;
or he may foreclose within two
years. C, S. 8037.
If certificate of sale held by coun
ty, may institute foreclosure
proceedings after one year and
within five years after date of
sale. C. S. 8037.
Original owner may start suit for
recovery within three years.
C. S. 8034.
7. Sheriff's Settlement: (86-96) C. S.
7998; C. S. 8048-8062.
Time of settlement. (78, 86, 88)
Compensation. (87) C. S. 8044.
Commissioners to determine what
taxes are insolvent. (79, 89)
C, S. 8041.
8. Taxes a Prior Claim: (89)
* Numbers in parentheses refer to
sections in the 1926 Machinery Act.
t Numbers preceded by C. S. refer
to sections in Consolidated Statutes.
B. Explanation
No taxing unit ever collects all of the
taxes which it levies, and naturally the
proportion will be less in a time of de
pression than when times are good. In
agricultural counties the ratio of insol
vents will reflect the condition of the
crops. Yet sometimes two similar coun
ties under almost identical conditions
will present striking differences in tax
collections. One county may collect 99
percent of its taxes and the other hardly
more than 90 percent.
Such variations suggest unequal dili
gence on the part of the tax collectors.
In most counties the sheriff acts as tax
collector, and in most counties he re
ceives an ample salary or commission
for performing this service. Too fre
quently he is dilatory and over-indul
gent; rarely is the full letter of the law
enforced. More than likely his indul
gence is prompted by the most generous
impulses. The sheriff is usually a kindly
man, and he does not like to be severe
with his fellow citizens. But it is doubt
ful if leniency in tax collecting is any
kindness after all. Postponement of
payment this year only makes it more
difficult to meet it next year. Delay in
collection often permits the migratory
taxpayer to escape. Furthermore, it
deprives the county of the use of its
funds, and necessitates borrowing. But
worst of all, it establishes a bad prece
dent. If one is granted an extension,
others have a right to demand the same
privilege. The result is that delay in
paying taxes has become chronic in
North Carolina.
But that is not all. Some do not pay
at all and “get by” with it. When
»there is no real estate there is no other
way to collect from a delinquent except
through execution. The sheriff dislikes
to seize a man’s personal property; it is
physically easier and politically wiser
to declare the taxpayer “insolvent”;
and this is too often done. Incase there
is real estate it can be advertised and
sold for taxes, but here again the per
formance is only a gesture. Few people
care to purchase land at a tax sale be
cause of the inconvenience and uncer
tainty involved in getting a deed. Con
sequently the county bids in the prop
erty and, if the owner redeems it within
a year, collects the tax plus a 20 per
cent penalty. If the owner fails to
redeem it the county rarely proceeds to
foreclose as provided by law. The taxes
stand against the land and may be col
lected later, but often there is a change
of administration, the record of tax
sales is lost or unintelligible and so the
slate is wiped clean. Thus the county
not only loses the tax, but the respect
and fear of the taxpayer. It has be
come a habit with many taxpayers to
wait to be coerced. There seems to be
little stigma attached so long as other
reputable citizens are also being adver
tised. A vigorous enforcement of the
tax laws throughout the state would
inculcate a wholesome respect for law
and incidentally effect a considerable
saving to those who now pay their taxes
promptly and honorably.
C. Questions
What percentage of the 1924 taxes
have been collected in your county?
1923 taxes? 1922 taxes?
Does the sheriff make an annual set
tlement?
What was the amount of insolvents
last year? Examine the list.
What was the amount of tax sales for
1924 taxes?
Are there still sales to be held for
1924 taxes?
How much real estate has the county
bid in for each of the last three years?
How much was redeemed within a
year?
What was done in those cases in
which it was not redeemed?
Does the sheriff exhaust a man’s per
sonalty before selling his real estate
for taxes?
What compensation does the sheriff
receive for collecting taxes?
Are the tax laws rigorously and im
partially enforced?
Are discounts allowed if taxes are
paid early, and a penalty imposed if
paid late?
Is the penalty heavy enough?
What portion of the marriage license
fee is retained by the county?
What privilege and license taxes does |
the sheriff collect for the county? for
the state?
D. Sources of Information
Consolidated Statutes, sections 7972-
8062. ^
North Carolina Machinery Act, 1926,
sections 74 to 99.
County Tax Books, and county tax
officials.—Paul W. Wager.
MODEL RURAL COMMUNITY
A model rural community
Will have good roads
Will be patriotic
Will be prosperous
Will be sanitary
Will be ambitious
Will be cooperative
Will have good schools
Will be law-abiding
Will be God-fearing.
A community with these charac
teristics does not merely happen. It
becomes so only as a direct result of
well-planned thinking and doing of
men and women who have vision,
personality, a tactful judgment, and
the ability to do common things in
an uncommon way. It,is safe to say
that a community will be just as
strong and progressive as its citizen
ship.—The Banker-Farmer.
especially when it is remembered that
the figures disclosed that practically
one-fourth of our negro population
were illiterates.
Happily rapid progress is being made
in removing this unlucky figure from
the annals of our history. Last week
an important conference of school
superintendents was held in Asheville
to consider the important problem of
educating a quarter of a million illiter
ates in North Carolina. Think of it!
A quarter of a million adults in progres
sive North Carolina without the means
of securing even rudimentary know
ledge except by oral instruction and
then totally untrained in ways of as
similating it.
Buncombe county has demonstrated
that adults can be taught to read and
write. Three thousand and five hun
dred of them have been taught in that
county. It is a wonderful revelation
of progress when thatmany adults take
enough interest in bettering their con
dition to learn to read and write after
having gone through childhood and
youth without having done so. It is an
omen of progress that is more sub
stantial than mere buildings or ma
terial achievement. It reveals men and
women of heroic stuff.—News and Ob
server.
SELECTION OF PROPER WATER WHEEL
In the last two articles there were
described the three types of waterpower
prime movers, . namely the steel over
shot, turbine, and impulse wheels. A
broad generalization was made describ
ing the conditions of stream flow, fall,
and power for which each of these
types was adapted. In selecting the
best type of water wheel it is necessary
not only to bear in mind these general
considerations, but a careful study of
additional factors should be made to
enable the most, economical unit to be
purchased. The cheapest installation
in first cost, or even the wheel having
greatest efficiency at some special
power output, is not necessarily the
most economical in the long run. Other
factors to consider are described in this
and succeeding articles.
Machinery to be Driven
The water wheel may be used to drive
an electric generator. In this event it
may be either directly connected to the
generator, or connected with it by belt
or rope. The water wheel may be
used to drive machinery in a mill, or a
pump, neither of which is electrically
operated. In these cases the water
wheel may be connected through gear
ing or by rope or belt drive. A future
article will treat in more detail of these
various methods of connecting the water
wheel.
Character of Load
Does the demand for power fluctuate
greatly, or is it fairly constant? Is
there simply a demand for power to
operate household appliances such as
electric irons, washing machines, etc.,
together with farm or rural lighting at
night, or is there a big demand for
power in the day time to operate a mill
and is the demand constant every day,
or only occasional? For instance, it
would not do in many cases to put in,
say a 200 h. p. wheel to operate a mill
in the day time, and expect it to work
efficiently to supply a 76 h. p. lighting
load at night. Two wheels would be
more economical in such a case, espe
cially if the water supply was at all
limited.
Get Proper Size Wheel
Moreover, we should be very certain
that the wheel which is installed is de
signed for the load to be applied to it.
All water wheels, especially of the tur
bine type, operate at maximum effi
ciency within rather narrow limits of
horsepower. Thus a given wheel de
signed for a fall of 34 feet will produce
266 h. p. at 80 percent efficiency, and
use 110 cubic feet of water per second.
With the same fall, if the flow is re
duced to only 96 cubic feet per second
the power produced is 160 h. p., and
the efficiency only 66 percent. Mani
festly this whee( ought not to be used
if the ordinary load was 150 h. p. be
cause of the low efficiency which means
waste of water. A smaller wheel de
signed for maximum efficiency at 160
h. p. and 34 feet fall should have been
installed.
There are many very uneconomic
power plants in this state that are op
erating poorly because of the installa
tion of a wheel too big for the actual
load on it. There is a tendency among
manufacturers of water wheels to sell
a whbel too big, because it means more
money to the selling agent. The agent
will say that while your plant only needs
160 h. p. now, you may expand and the
load increase, so he will recommend 9
266 h. p. wheel and you will be able to
take on an additional load. This is all
right if there is plenty of water, but in
the majority of cases the purchaser
should be very cautious about buying
a water wheel having much greater
capacity than his present load demands.
Usually it is better to install an addi
tional wheel if there is ample water
and the power demands grow. The
purchaser should insist on being sup
plied by the manufacturer”^with “char
acteristic curves” for the wheel it is
proposed to sell him. These curves
show the relation between h. p., quan
tity of water used, fall, and efficiency.
The wheel purchased should base its
maximum efficiency at about the h. p.
required by the present load and using
the amount of water available. In the
case of plants designed for more than
200 h. p. it will usually pay to get a
competent disinterested engineer to
advise on the size of wheel to install,
and not to rely on the advice of the
manufacturer's agent alone.—Thorn
dike Seville.
OUR UNLUCKY NUMBER
Thirteen was North Carolina’s un
lucky figure in the census of 1920, The
government figures of that year
showed that in North Carolina out of
every hundred persons of ten years or
over there were thirteen who could
not read and write. It was not a
less lucky number for North Carolina
because in Alabama there were sixteen,
fifteen in Arizona, New Mexico and
Georgia, twenty-one in Louisiana,
seventeen in Mississippi, and eighteen
in South Carolina out of every hundred
who were illiterates.
As long as one person in North Caro
lina of ten years or more is without suf
ficient education to read and write the
English language, it will be a problem
to demand attention. In 1920 eight out
of every hundred white people and
twenty-four out of every hundred
negroes, making an average of thirteen,
were unable to read and write. That
percentage was entirely too high.
THE BONDED DEBT OF NORTH CAROLINA
As of August 1,1924
The following summary of the bonded debt of North Carolina is taken from a recent volume issued by the Bank of
America, and the information for this state was supplied by State Treasurer B. R. Lacy.
Purpose of State Debt
Highways $66,662,600
Welfare Institutions 18,922,600
Public Buildings 10,260,000
Miscellaneous 6,142,600
Funding Operations 3,980,000
North Carolina ranks fourth in total debt, $106,847,600.
North Carolina ranks third in per capita state debt, $38.87.
North Carolina ranks third in Highway debt, $66,662,600.
The Bonded Debt Analyzed
Date
of Issue
Form
Amount
Purpose
Int.
Rate fo
Maturity
July, 1909
Bonds
$600,000
State Hospitals
4
July 1, 1949
July, 1910
Bonds
3,430,000
Refunding
4
July 1, 1950
July, 1911
Bonds
260,000
State Building
4
July 1, 1961
July, 1911
Bonds
60,000
School for Feeble-Minded
4
July 1, 1961
Jan., 1913
Bonds
660,000
Refunding
4
Jan,, 1953
July, 1913
Bonds
1,142,600
Improvement
4
July, 1963
July, 1917-20
Bonds
1,368,600
Educational and Charitable Institutions
4
July, 1924-193S
July, 1917
Bonds
76,000
Caswell Training School
4
July, 1927
July, 1917
Bonds
26,000
Training School for Girls and Women
4
July, 1927
July, 1921
Jan.. 1922 23
Bonds
Boilds
26,000,000
Highway Construction
41^
Jan., July, 1932-1962
July, 1921
Bonds
4,562,600
Highway Construction
5
July, 1931, 1941, 1961 and 1961
Jan. 1, 1923
Bonds
1,260,000
Highway Construction
41^
Jan., 1933-1937
Jan. 1, 1923
Bonds
3,760,000
Highway Construction
4 3-4
Jan , 1938-1962
July 24, 1924
Bonds
10,000,000
Highway Construction
Jan. 1, 1934-3963
Sept. 20, 1923
♦Notes
6,000,000
Highway Construction
6X
Sept. 20, 1925
May 20, 1924
♦Notes
16,000,000
Highway Construction
3X
Feb. 20, 1926
June 22, 1924
♦Notes
2,000.000
Highway Construction
2}i
Aug. 22, 1924
July, 1921
Jan. 1, 1922
Bonds
3,372,000
Educational and Charitable Institutions
5
July, 1961
Bonds
3,373,000
Educational and Charitable Institutions
4K
Jan., 1962
Oct. 1, 1923
Bonds
3,049,000
Educational and Charitable Institutions
Oct. 1, 1963
Oct 1, 1923
Bonds
7,100,000
Educational and Charitable Institutions
4 3-4
Oct. 1, 1963
Oct 1, 1923
Bonds
600,000
Public Improvement
4 3-4
Oct. 1, 1963
Jan., 1922
Bonds
5,000,000
Special School Building Serial
4>^
Jan., 1927-1947
PpV. 16. 1922
Bonds
4,500,000
State Serial
6
Feb., 1937, 1942, 1947 and 1962
Mar. 10, 1924
♦Notes
3,700,000
Public School Buildings
4,'5
Sept. 10, 1924
Mar. 26, 1924
♦Notes
1,300,000
Public School Buildings
4M
Sept. 10, 1924
Total $105,847,600
*^These notes were given in anticipation of sale of bonds and will be retired when bonds are sold.