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.
AUGUST 19. 1925
Editorial Board, E. C. Branaon. S. H. Hobba. Jr,. L. B. Wilson. E. W, Knight. D. D. Carroll, J. B, Bullitt, H. W. Odum.
CHAPEL HILL, N C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLIflA PRESS
VOL. XI, NO. 40
Entered as second-class matter November 14. 1914, at the Postofflce at Chapel Hill, N. C„ under the act of August 24, 191
VIII. CARE OF PUBLIC PROPERTY
A. Outline
Buildings:
.S’ambor and location.
Cost.
Pres-eiit valuj.
State of repair.
Attractiveness.
Insurance carried.
Cost of upkeep.
Grand jury recommendations.
2. Equipment:
Court house fixtures and furnish
ings.
County home fixtures and furn
ishings.
Jail fixtures aftd furnishings.
Highway machinery.
School equipment.
School libraries.
How well cared for?
Annual inventory.
3. Supplies:
Where kept?
Who responsible?
Are requisitions required?
Is there an annual inventory?
4. Records:
Preservation of valuable records
' and documents.
Protection from ffre.
Accessibility.
How catalogued and indexed.
6. Individual Responsibility:
Highways:
Are they safe?
Are they free from billboards
and litter? »•
Are there roadside plantings?
. Do you Hx, report, or ignore a
. fault?
School Buildings:
. Are they well-lighted, well-
ventilated, and fire-proof?
Are there adequate play
grounds?
Are the grounds attractive?
Are buildings and grounds
cared for during the sum
mer?
Public property in general;
Is it respected as private prop
erty is?
Is there a lively sense o|f per
sonal responsibility?
When there is waste or misuse
is it condemmed, condoned,
or corrected?
B. Explanation
Poor Richard’s adage that a penny
saved is a penny earned does not seem
to be much respected in modern times,
at least when public property is con
cerned. Every county has large and
expensive properties the life-time of
which depends on the care which they
receive.
The accompanying outline hardly
needs explanation. It merely suggests
a few inquiries that might be made
relative .to public property and how it
is appraised, inventoried, and accounted
for. The county is a political corpora
tion and each citizen is a stockholder,
and has a responsibility, to assume. In
the grand jury the citizen has an agen
cy through which he can report any
neglect, abuse, or misappropriation of
public property of which he has knowl
edge. This body will investigate and,
if necessary, present the matter before
the court.
Many of the counties have recently
built handsome new courthouses of
which the people'may justly be proud.
Yet it is not uncommon during court
week.to see the floors scratched and
stained, the walls marked up, the fur
niture disfigured.
During the last few years hundreds
of splendid new school buildings have
been erected, fitting testimonials to the
educational awakening of the state.
Yet, oftentimes, during the vacation
period, the weeds grow waist high,
windows are smashed, doors broken
open, and books and fixtures strewn a-
bout and generally abused. Sometimes
leaks are unnoticed until much damage
has been done. Oftentimes the floors
of a handsome building are ruined in a
year because of the mud tracked in. A
slight expenditure in walks and grass
plqts would save the floors tremendous
ly. to say nothing of improved appear
ance and cleanliness. '
The state and the counties are spend
ing millions of dollars for improved
highways. Apparently some people
feel that as soon as a road becomes a
public charge their responsibility ends.
They will not even kick a stone out of
the road any more. Sometimes a small
hole in the road could be repaired in
ten minutes, but if neglected for sev
eral days it gets larger and involves a
considerable expense to repair. There
are three types of citizens. One throws
a few shovel-fulls of dirt in the hole
and says nothing to anyone about it.
The second type calls up the road super
visor and tells him about the hole. The
third type drives around the hole day
after day, criticises the road force, and
complains about high taxes.
Many illustrations might be given of
waste in the care and use of public
property. Valuable road machinery
may be left unsheltered from the
weather; supplies may be stolen and
never missed; equipment of all sorts
may rapidly depreciate for lack of at
tention.
There can be no great relief in taxa
tion until, on the one hand, there is
some system of centralized control over
public property, and on the other hand,
a greater sense of personal responsi
bility on the part of the citizens in the
care and use of this property.
C. Questions
What is the total value of the coun
ty’s fixed assets?
Is there an inventory and appraisal
each year?
Has the county a comfortable jail
with desirable quarters for the jailer’s
family?
i Is there a,,comfortable county home?
How many consolidated schools? Are
there teachers' homes in connection
with them? Ought there to be?
What is the life-time of a school
truck? Are they ever used for pur
poses other than the transportation of
pupils to school?
How many miles of improved county
road? How does cost of maintenance
compare with that in other counties?
How many modern bridges? How
many new ones needed?
Are all buildings adequately insured?
Who is responsible for the care of
road supplies and equipment?
Who is responsible for school sup
plies and equipment?
Are county records properly pro
tected?
Are billboards along the highways
necessary or desirable?
Is anything being done to encourage
the beautification of highways and
school grounds?
D. Source of Information
Examination of county buildings.
Interviews with county officers.
Observation of buildings, grounds,
etc., in other counties.—Paul W.
Wager.
BUILDING AND LOAN PLAN
Ko investigation of progress and
prosperity in North Carolina could fail
to discover the important part played
by building and loan. It has been a
tremendous factor not only in building
up the state iii a material way but al
so in creating more homes and better
homes, in assisting in the education of
its people, in developing better citizens
and in making North Carolina a better
place in which to^live.
How Building and Loan Works
A true Building and Loan association
is a strictly mutual co-operative sav
ings and lending institution operated
for the benefit of all its members. It
is a local organization and is not to be
confused with any concerns doing a
nation-wide business. Building and
loan associations are noted for their
low cost of operation and for the econ
omy of their management. Their
shareholders save their money to
gether, lend it to one another, and share
proportionately in the profits.
The aim and purpose of a building
and loan association is to aid and en
courage its members to learn and prac
tice thrift by regular systematic sav
ings, and to provide ways and means
by which every family may procure a
home. It affords the wage earner and
salaried man, as well as other inves
tors, a safe place to accumulate their
savings with maximum interest. Then
it lends the money so acquired to the
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
Home Ownership
Forty-three and one-balf percent
of all farms in North Carolina are
operated by tenants, and 62.6 per
cent of all homes, town and country,
are occupied by renters. In farm
tenancy ratios North Carolina ranks
fortieth among the states, while in
the percent of all homes occupied by
owners, farm and others, 27 states
make a better showing. Except for
our excessive farm tenant ratio
North Carolina would rank fairly
well among the states in home own
ership.
Between 1910 and 1920 there was
an increase in the percent of farms
operated by tenants, but a general
trend towards home-ownership on
the part of non farming classes. Al
though our farm tenants increased
by more than ten thousand, the per
cent of all homes rented, farm and
urban, decreased from 63 percent to
52.6 percent; the percent of all
homes owned free of encumbrance
increased from 33.6 to 39.3 percent.
The percent of all owned homes
owned free of encumbrance increas
ed from 82.2 to 82.9 percent, in
which respect North Carolina ranks
best among the states of the Union.
However, less than half of the peo
ple of the state live in homes of
their own, and 27 states make a
better showing than North Carolina.
VII. POWER FROM FUEL
man buying or building a home and al
lows him to repay the loan by small
weekly or monthly installments distrib
uted over a long period.
The plan in use by most of the build
ing and loan associations in North Car
olina provides for the payment of 25
cents per share per week, payable
weekly or monthly. A share matures
when the total paid in together with
the profits amounts to $100, which the
shareholders then receive in cash. The
usual period required is about six and
one-third years, which means that
every payment has earned over 6 per
cent simple interest.
People with lump sums may secure a
6 per cent investment by paying for
shares for the whole period at the time
of purchase, the cost being about $72.60.
Some associations also offer dividend
bearing shares at $100 each, which earn
about 5 percent interest, payable an
nually or semi-annually.
Loans are made to members only and
are secured by first mortgages on real
estate. The borrower is required to
carry one share for every $100 bor
rowed as a means for
of his loan. He pays the interest
his loan, not for a year or for six
months at a time, but weekly or
monthly along with his payment of
principal. The weekly payment on a
loan, then, for every $100 borrowed is
25 cents principal and 6> percent inter
est, making a total of 36.6.—E. Y.
Keesler in Charlotte Observer.
The generation of electric power by
falling water has been discussed in
previous articles. Other sources of
power were mentioned in those arti
cles, namely, steam and internal com
bustion engines and the large power
company. This article and the two
articles that follow will consider,
briefly, steam and internal combustion
engines, which fall under the general
classification of heat engines.
In a heat engine the latent heat
energy in some fuel is changed into
mechanical energy, which may be used
directly in the driving of various ma
chines, or in the generation of electri
city. In the case of water power,
water is the vehicle, or working sub
stance for the production of power. In
heat engines the working substance i;
steam or gas and, as in the case of
falling water, the steam or gas must
be under considerable pressure. This
pressure is produced by the burning of
some form of fuel, either under a boiler
for the production of high pressure
steam or directly in the cylinder of an
internal combustion engine. I't may
be seen then, that the amount of power
obtainable from engines is not limited
as in the case of water power, for
some form of fuel is generally avail
able in any amount anywhere. Fre
quently, therefore, in water power
plants, steam or internal combustion
engines are installed to help carry the
load during certain seasons of the year.
Cost of Heat Engines
It is impossible to make direct com
parisons of the ultimate cost of power
for the various types of heat engines
because the different efements of the
total cost, such as cost of fuel and
labor, vary >widely with locality. In
vestment charges also vary widely.
Greater economy of fuel may be ob
tained by the installation of the more
efficient types of internal combustion
engines. In both cases the first cost
will be higher than with less efficient
types, and, therefore, investment
charges will be greater. In consider
ing any individual case it must then
be decided whether or not the install
ation of high efficiencty engines will
result in a sufficient saving in fuel cost
to more than offset increased invest
ment charges. As an example, the oil
engine converts a greater percentage
of the heat enVgy in the fuel into
work than any other heat engine. Its
greater first cost and the high cost of
the fuel it uses, however, have retard
ed its adoption in place of steam en
gines, except where oil is cheap and
pkn'iful.
Steam Engines
The term steam engines, as here
used, includes reciprocating steam en
gines and steam turbines. Every steam
power plant requires boilers, chimney,
teed water pumps, a large amount of
piping and other auxiliary equipment
in addition to the engines themselves,
and this fact should be taken into ac
count when comparing steam plants
with the greater simplicity and lesser
space requirements of internal combus
tion engine plants.
In the reciprocating engine heat en
ergy is transformed into work by
direct action of the steam aga'inst thd
piston. In the steam turbine heat
energy is first converted into kinetic
energy by expansion through nozzles,
the kinetic energy subsequently being
absorbed by directing the high velocity
steam against blades or vanes on a
wheel. The action is similar to that
of water in the impulse water wheel.
In other turbines the steam is allowed
to expand in the blades of the wheel
and drive the latter by reaction similar
to the action of water in the water
turbine.
Choice of Engines
In comparing the steam economy of
reciprocating engines with that of
steam turbines it way be said that the
best turbines show no advantage over
the best engines. The average large
turbine, however, is superior in this
respect, to the average large en
gine. In small and medium sizes, those
in which readers of these articles may
be interested, the steam engine is
superior.
Thus, from the standpoint of fuel
economy, there may not be any choice
between the two. There are, how
ever, certain applications and advan
tages that may dictate the choice of the
turbine. The turbine is essentially a
highspeed machine and is particularly
suitable for the driving of electric gen
erators, centrifugal air compressors,
fans, blowers, etc. Turbines require less
floor space; they have great uniform
ity of rotation and less vibration, and
therefore require lighter foundations;
with widely fluctuating loads their
steam consumption does not vary as
much from the best value, that cor
responding to normal load; the first
cost of turbine and generator is
generally less than that of engine and
generator of the same capacity. Tur
bines ordinarily are not suitable for
belt driving because qf their high
speed, or for applications where a
large effort is required in starting the
load.
The next article will consider inter
nal combustion engines. —E. G. Hoefer.
THE GREAT HOME BUILDER
Perhaps the greatest home builder in
America is the Building and Loan
Association, an American plan origin-
^ during the last five years, the main
the repayment ^ facts concerning which appear in the
' accompanying table.
There are many benefits to be de
rived from building and loan associa
tions. However, their main purpose is
to enable people to own homes, through
a convenient plan of savings or repay
ment. A partial estimate of their
worth to our state is readily seen when
we learn that in 1923 more than six
thousand homes were built or pur
chased through this plan, and in 1924
nearly eight thousand homes were pro
vided by this plan, or enough homes
provided in one year to house the
entire population of the largest city in
the state!
^The possibilities of such associations
the occupant is the ideal of the build
ing and loan association. It is a most
worthy ideal.-S. H. H., Jr.
FARMER BUILDING AND LOAN
In North Carolina the building and
loan association plan is now used ex
clusively by town and city people. The
plan was designed to promote urban'
home ownership. However, there is
no essential reason why the same plan
cannot be used by farmers to reduce
farm tenancy, provided the farmer can
meet the weekly or monthly payments.
The farmers of Ohio employ the build
ing and loan to great advantage. The
same plan now being used so exten
sively by our urban residents is avail-
ating in Philadelphia, the city of | their assets dur^g^th^ last
homes.
more than eleven thousand building and
loan associations in the United States
five years
At the present time there are grown from 23 million dollars to
^ more than 70 million dollars. If these
associations continue to grow it will
not be long before home-ownership
with a combined membership of more i among our townspeople in North Caro-
than eight million shareholders. The [ lina will be the rule and not the
assets of these associations of and for j exception. Indeed much has already
readily seen when we recall that j able for farmers. The legislature, somq
home builders amount to about five bil
lion dollars, or twice the total of all
wealth listed for taxation in North
Carolina. The assets of these associa
tions are increasing at a very rapid
rate, having more than doubled within
the last six years.
In North Carolina
In a brief table which appears else
where will be found a summary of the
the main facts concerning the present
status and recent growth of building
and loan associations in North Carolina.
Since 1904 the building and loan asso
ciations have been under the super
vision of the State Insurance Commis
sioner, and during all these years there
has been no failure among the associa
tions. In 1904 the assets of the asso
ciations in the state totaled $2,642,800.
In 1924 the assets had grown to the j
respectable sum of more than seventy j
million dollars. I
The most rapid growth has occurred ;
been accomplished
urban tenant rate.
in reducing the
A home owned by j Statutes.
years ago enacted a Land and Loan
Association law, the purpose of the
law being to extend the benefits of the
building and loan plan to would-be
home and farm owners. The reader
who might be interested in such an
association is referred to sub-chapter
2, Land and Loan Associations, sec
tions 5204-5207 of the Consolidated
, GROWTH OF BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS
Dec. 31, 1919 to Dec. 31,1924
The following table based on reports of the Insurance Commission presents
the main facts showing the remarkable expansion of the building and loan idea
in North Carolina during the last five years.
1919
1921
1924
No. Associations reporting
141
186
■ 247
No. white shareholders
45,476
53,324
71,301
No. colored shareholders
7,645
7,959
10,173
Total assets
$23,452,771
$37,666,451
$70,248,910
Shares of stock in force
616,COl
970,796
1,516,630
Shares subscribed during year
2&3,120
311,930
457,724
Average interest rate earned
.055
.05365
.C6928
Average expense ratio
.0391
, .03617
,03079