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.
JUNE 2, 1926
CHAPEL HILL, N C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XII, NO. 29
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
LOCAL HISTORY
At a recent meeting of the North
Carolina Club Mr. C. W. Edwards pre
sented a paper on Local History, Its
Importance, and How Collected and
Preserved. The following is a brief of
his paper, which will appear in full in
the forthcoming Year-Book of the North
Carolina Club.
The community is fast becoming a
subject for investigation by students in
many fields. Economists study towns,
cities, and counties as economic units.
Specialists in political science and gov
ernment seek solutions to community
problems and offer new kinds of machin
ery to bolster up or replace old forms.
Psychologists wonder about the com
munity mind-is it narrow and pro
vincial, cosmopolitan, tolerant, or what?
Social welfare organizations — the Y. M.
C. A., the Red Cross, and others-are
investigating town and county as units
for social service activity, and sociolo
gists consider them in their sociological
bearings. In literature sometimes scenes
are laid in small towns, sometimes in
the city, and again the county is the
background. Some interest in the com
munity has been shown by the historians,
but the purpose of this paper is to show
that it is to the advantage of the com
munity, and as well to the larger societal
units, that a still greater interest should
be taken in local history.
In Europe the history of provinces
and cities has long been an essential
factor in even an elementary education,
Nearly every intelligent peasant boy is
fairly informed about the annals of his
locality. Its heroes are his own, its
glory is reflected in the enthusiasm with
which he recites the deeds to the pass
ing stranger. But here in America,
and North Carolina is no exception, only
slight attention has been paid to local
history. It is not even taught in the
public schools. Perhaps it is because
we have not appreciated its value. It
certainly is not that our communities
have just grown up, that they have no
past worth relating; for every com
munity’s past is the foundation upon
which the present is built, and for that
reason, if no other, it is worthy of
record.
The individual is not properly re
minded of his duty to the community.
Citizens should become saturated in the
community’s traditions, culture, cus
toms, its builders and heroes, and the
development of its several institutions—
churches, schools, societies, and others.
These make up the community’s his
tory.
Why Important
Every community is historical in
character and there are many values in
having its past visualized and a study
made of this history. In the first place,
the study of local history is cultural.
Second, through study of our own com
munity we may gain a fuller apprecia
tion of the world in which we live, for
each community is something of a world
in miniature. In the third place, local
history furnishes the substance from
which is developed pride in and loyalty
to the community—in community con
sciousness, its traditions, the stories of
its builders or its contributions to state
and national history. In the fourth
place, a study of community history
may be useful in solving the many prob
lems which are ever present. Only in a
thorough knowledge of the past can we
understand our problems and their solu
tion — for now and always like problems
will find solutions like those used in the
past.
Local historians may relate how the
county institutions, jail, county home,
schools, and others, have functioned.
They may describe change in sentiment
toward certain new offices, such as that
of superintendent of education, welfare
officer, and farm demonstrators.
Sources of Local History
Local history is not produced from
tradition, but from sources unwritten,
ethnological and archeological, and
written, that is, documentary evidence,
whether in printed or in manuscript
form. These materials are easily lost
or are being swiftly destroyed by fire
and moisture, or from lack of interest-
The state and every community in it
should plan for their collection and
preservation. And then the materials
collected and preserved should be
exploited so as to reproduce a vision of
the community’s past in a well written
and authentic history.
Most large cities and many towns
and villages have bad their historians.
Newspapers feature bits of local history
and every state has a few good county
historians. Social and economic surveys
are made of communities, but adequate,
complete local histories are rare. Since
1907 the North Carolina Historical Com
mission has constantly encouraged the
writing of local history, and patriotic
societies have sponsored the work in
this field. Durham, Wake, Mecklen
burg, Rowan, Lincoln, and Orange have
had good chapters written.
It would be well if every community
could have its story told with such
breadth of vision and understanding of
social and economic forces as has been
displayed by Wm. K. Boyd in his Story
of Durham. This pictures the develop
ment of the city and county of Durham,
and at the same time typifies the social
and economic developments of the period
since the Civil War. But few cities and
towns are as fortunate as Durham.
Community history in North Carolina
remains practically a virgin field.
A Suggested Plan
The following is in brief a plan out
lined for the purpose of reaching suc
cess in this field of North Carolina
historiography. Its arms will reach into
every locality. Provision is made for
direction by the State Historical Com
mission but also for self-expression on
the part of the local community in the
production of community history. The
work of the state organizations in local
history preservation and writing—asso
ciations, societies, clubs, and the like-
will be correlated by the Historical
Commission, within the county by the
county historian, and in the towns and
cities all work shall be directed by a
local historian. The secretary of the
Commission will be the executive of the
historiography machinery, and will
direct the activities of the newspaper
clipping bureau. He will prepare the
lists of eligibles from which county
boards of commissioners and city or
town councils shall appoint county and
local historians. The departments of
education and history of the universities
and colleges of the state, and the State
Department of Education, will aid in
preparing the lists. Universities and
colleges will offer courses in method
ology, materials, and historiography
which will prepare for teaching local
history or for positions as local his
torians. The county historian will be
in charge of writing or editing the
county history, of preserving county
records, of correlating the activities of
the various county organizations, and
will keep in touch with what is being
done in the various communities of the
county.
Local Unit Essential
The local unit is the most vital part of
the whole structure, for it is the history
of the community that is desired. The
local historian is the keystone of the
local machinery. The local history
preservation and collection, local libra
ries, the high schools with their social,'
economic and liistorical surveys, the
local historical and other patriotic clubs
will be supervised and their work out
lined and correlated by the local his
torian.
Local history clubs may do much in
making studies, and preserving their
results, of prominent men of the com
munity, the history of its schools,
churches and religious movements, the
press, business houses, and fraternal
organizations, and roads and railways—
all in their relation to the community.
They may further aid by making collec
tions of historical clippings, old pictures,
curios, copies of family histories, folk
lore, and by arranging programs with
the schools, and in other ways they may
deal with living history, gathering it
while they may.
It would be the duty of the local his
torian to collect and preserve materials
relating to the history of the community,
and to file such material in local offices
or with the Historical Commission. He
would call the attention of local authori
ties and the State Society to any ma
terial of local historic value which should
OUR BANK RESOURCES
As a banking state North Carolina
ranks forty-second in the United
States. The bank resources of all
banks of every sort whatsoever in
North Carolina averaged $173.60 per
inhabitant on June 30, 1925. dnly
six states, namely South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Ar
kansas, and New Mexico, rank below
North Carolina in bank resources on
a per inhabitant basis. The average
for North Carolina is less than one-
third the average for the United
States. Yet in the production of
agricultural and industrial wealth
combined North Carolina compares
favorably with the national average.
We rank fourteenth in population
and fifteenth in aggregate value of
farm and factory products, yet we
rank forty-second in per inhabitant
bank resources, the best single -evi
dence of accumulated wealth. The
bank resources of North Carolina
are inadequate to supply the .credit
demands of a state so important in
dustrially and agriculturally as the
state of North Carolina. Our meagre
bank resources are the best evidence
of lack of any considerable volume
of accumulated wealth in North Caro
lina. We produce a lot of wealth
and we spend a lot, but we do not
accumulate very much.
be secured, and he would encourage
local authorities to publish valuable
records. He should write or edit the
local history. If this office of local
historian functions properly the work of
securing a history of every community
would be brought to successful comple
tion.
THE SOUTH PROSPERING
According to a report of the Shipping
Board, every southern coast state from
Virginia to Texas increased its foreign
traffic in 1925 over 1924. These states
showed an increase in foreign trade for
1926 of 14 percent over 1924, while the
combined traffic of all other states de
clined about 4 percent. In 1925 these
southern states handled about one-third
of the total foreign trade of the country.
Dwell upon that fact for a moment.
The South is up, where all other states
are down!
This remarkable increase in activity
throughout the South has brought with
it greatly increased demands for prompt
and efficient railway service. Agricul
tural products, raw materials and
finished goods, must be conveyed con
tinuously from producers to consumers.
And here the Southern comes in, for it
is playing an important part in the
heavy movement of southern products.
In March, the Southern carried a volume
of traffic equivalent to moving 776,927,-
856 tons of freight a distance of one
mile. For the first q»arter of 1926, its
volume of traffic was equivalent to
2,246,737,367 ton miles.
We must give due heed to the con
clusion, which is that as business
in the South continues to grow addi
tional railroad facilities will be needed.
Accordingly the large earning power of
the Southern Railway is a great eco
nomic benefit to the entire territory
which it serves. Good earnings enable
the Southern to set aside a surplus for
improvements and additional facilities
and at the same time strengthen its
credit position so that it may secure
additional capital for necessary large-
scale improvements.
Thus prosperity becomes reciprocal.
Business activity brings increased traffic
which in turn brings larger railroad
earnings. Adequate earnings mean good
service to shippers and the ability to
build for the future.
The South is fortunate in many re
spects. It is particularly fortunate in
the ability of its railroads to show earn
ings which insure an adequate return
on property value and which will attract
new capital to the South.—Charlotte
Observer,
the remaining States not being in
session), Hawaii and Porto Rico was
11,750 acts contained in 23,234 pages,
enough to fill in book form a five-foot
book shelf.
The statutes relating to the mere
machinery of government, while given
first place in the report, are of interest
chiefly to technicians. They seem to
indicate centralizing and consolidating
tendencies, and in some instances a
heightening state consciousness, as in
Florida, where the Commissioner of
Agriculture is authorized — and the
authotizationis.no doubt considered as
mandatory — to advertise the state and
set up a broadcasting station to see that
people of the state get the slogan,
Watch Florida Head All.
But it is through statutes touching
human relations, and especially those of
husbands and wives or parents and chil
dren, that these seemingly impersonal
and severely legalistic provisions enter
into the intimacies of the lives of the
people. Here is written not only the
progressive new freedom of women but
also the other side of the equalizing of
the sexes. In Oklahoma, for instance,
the “surviving'spouse” is substituted
for “widow” to give the widower like
treatment with her. There is an increas
ing tenderness shown, too, toward un
fortunate children. In New York State
the use of the word “bastard” or
“illegitimate” is forbidden in public
documents. The substitute prescription
is “born out of wedlock.” Stepchildren
are especially protected by a new statute
in Vermont, and in Minnesota the state
extends its care not only to the feeble
minded but also to children ‘ ‘physically
or mentally incapable of study in a pub
lic school or of adoption.” As to mar
riage and divorce, the general conclusion
drawn by the committee is that getting
married is made more difficult; but the
laws cited seem to indicate that the
states are not all moving in the same
direction, for while in Michigan and
Vermont a five-day delay is required
between the issuance of the marriage
license and the solemnization of the
wedding, Nebraska has repealed a like
requirement. The statistics as to di
vorce, which Bishop Manning quoted a
few days ago, intimate that even if
state legislation is, on the whole, mak
ing marriage more difficult, it is not
doing the same for divorce.
There is a great mass of legislation
touching highways and motor vehicles,
enacted in the effort to keep abreast of
this new agency of transportation. That
relating to labor would doubtless also
fill a volume, that on crime another
volume. New laws on education have
to do chiefly with the prohibition of the
teaching of evolution, the prescribed
reading of the Bible, and the study of
the Constitution of the United States
and civics. The subjects are as numer
ous as the concerns of a highly compli
cated civilization. And with the closer
impinging of individuals as populution
grows and their interests grow more
complex, the prospect is of increasing
volumes ad infinitum, unless the legis
latures vest more power in municipali
ties or give administrative officers a
larger measure of rule-making power.
But even so, this process probably would
not, as the committee observes, reduce
the bulk of restraints on individual
action by public authority, for the area
of human activities subject to control
by law is tending to increase. This is
not an agreeable prospect for the indi
vidual, whose volumes of literature of"^
restraint give promise of growing till
there is no room left for the literature
of personal preference in its infinite
variety—and, besides, there is federal
legislation.—Greensboro Daily News.
GROWTH OF STATE’S BANKS
The^optitnism that was spread in re
gard to the state’s banking resources
during the bankers convention here last
week was justified, not because of the
present standing of the state in that re
spect, but because of the remarkable
increase the state is making. The recent
issue of the University News Letter
shows that there are only three counties
in the state with per capita bank re
sources equal to the average for the .
entire American Union. The per in
habitant bank resources in the United
States, based on statements of less than
a year ago, were $688, while for North
Carolina they were only $173.60. There
are only four counties in the state having
bank resources of more than $500 for
each inhabitant, they being Mecklen
burg with $590.30, New Hanover, $689.-
75, Forsyth, $660, and Durham $610.45.
The next on the list below Durham was
Guilford with $468.
When viewed in that light, it makes a
poor showing for the state. But, the
satisfaction is had on comparing the con
dition now with that of a dozen years
ago. In 1914, the per inhabitant re
sources were $64.90. That shows an in
crease in resources of nearly 200 per
cent in 12 years, and a more rapid
growth than the nation as a whole
showed in that same period.
North Carolina is a great commercial
state, and is making rapid progress.
Her bank resources, however, will have
to maintain a rapid growth if the state
is to continue its industrial growth. We
believe that the banking resources will
keep pace with our commercial develop
ment, and that in a few years we shall
have far .more creditable financial re
sources, ample to take care of the state’s
credit needs.—Durham Herald.
BANK RESOURCES PER INHABITANT
In the United States, June 30, 1925
In the following table, based on the report of the Comptroller of the Cur
rency, the states are ranked according to bank resources per inhabitant on June
30, 1926. The table covers all banks of every sort—national, state, commercial,
savings, private banks, and loan and trust companies.
New York is first with bank resources of $1,490.00 per inhabitant. New
Mexico has dropped to last place with bank resources of only $96.36 per inhabi
tant. The United States average is $640.00 per inhabitant.
North Carolina ranks 42nd with bank resources amounting to $173.60 per
inhabitant. We have moved up one place during the last two years. North
Carolina’s bank resources total $488,614,000.
(Note: The slight discrepancies between bank resources per inhabitant for
the United States and for North Carolina as reported in the News Letter of
May 12, dealing with bank resources by counties in North Carolina, and as re
ported in this study, are due to the fact that the May 12th issue was based on
1923 population figures, the latest available at that time, while this study is
based on 1926 estimates of population just received from the Census Bureau.)
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
MASS LEGISLATION
The 1926 report of the Committee of
the American Bar Association on Note
worthy Changes in Statute Law, recent
ly published, shows that the total out
put of session laws during the year for
forty-two States (the Legislatures of
Bank
Rank State - resources
per inhab.
1 New York $1,490.00
2 Massachusetts 980.10
3 California 828.00
4 Rhode Island 749.00
6 Connecticut 711.30
6 Vermont 670.91
7 New Jersey 636.40
8 Pennsylvania 629.00
9 Illinois 20
10 New Hampshire 610.22
11 Delaware 664.90
12 Maryland 552.20
13 Nevada 660.80
14 Florida 640.60
15 Maine 630.10
16 Iowa 468.70
17 Michigan 461.80
18 Missouri 457.00
19 Minnesota 461.90
20 Ohio 449.30
21 Nebraska 426.40
22 Oregon 374.20
23 Colorado 362.80
24 Wisconsin 360.00
Bank
res(»urces
per inhab.
Indiana $349.60
South Dakota 323.18
Washington 322.40
Utah 321.90
North Dakota 309.00
Kansas 305.40
Wyoming 289.70
West Virginia ^265.90
Louisiana 262.40
Virginia 269.46
Texas ^ 241.60
Montana 237.36
Kentucky. 217.60
Oklahoma 215.20
Tennessee 205.60
Arizona 192.10
Idaho 180.80
North Carolina 173.60
Georgia 154.66
South Carolina 150.66
Arkansas 143.62
Mississippi 138.77
Alabama 126.82
New Mexico 96.36
Rank State