1
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.
NOVEMBER 10, 1926
CHAPEL HILL, N C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIII, NO. 2
Editorial Boardi E. C. Branson, S. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt. H. W. Odurr
Entered as second-class matter November 14, 1914, at the PostofFice at Chapel Hill. N. C.. under the act of August 24. 1911
GUAR02NG EXPENDITURES
The fourth major function to be pro
tected in county government is the
matter of expenditures. The counties
•f the state are spending, in addition to
the receipts from bond issues, thirty-
live million dollars a year. Are they
getting a dollar’s worth of services or
goods for every dollar expended? It is
safe to say they are not. What is the
margin of loss? Is it ten percent? If
so, the counties are losing (3ach year an
amount which is twice as great as the
State Equalizing Fund. Suppose it is
twenty percent. If so, it is an amount
sufficient to build 200 miles of concrete
highway every year. Are the counties
losing ten to twenty percent on their
purchases, on their contracts, on their
expenditures for labor? Taken the
state over, it is almost certain that
they are. A few counties are safe
guarding expenditures very carefully,
but in the majority of the counties the
system of buying, the system of aulit-
ing, the whole administrative machinery,
is so loose that waste is inevitable.
Sources of Waste
In only a very few counties is there
centralized purchasing. Each office and
each department purchases its own
supplies. This necessitates retail rather
than wholesale buying, and consequently
buying at a higher price. Since county
bills must be audited by the commis-
iioners before being paid discounts can
not often be taken advantage of. Due
to lax methods of accounting the same
bill is sometimes paid twice, or an ac
count is overpaid. This is most apt to
happen when open accounts are kept
with merchants or supply houses. An
other source of loss is the failure to
check up on deliveries of coal, hay,
grain, lumber, etc. A man delivers a
load of wood to the jail, or hay to the
county home, or lumber to repair an
©allying bridge. Later he presents his
claim to the commissioners and they as
sume that it is correct. In one county
a load of bridge material was paid for
twice; in another county the commis
sioners paid for wood which was, being
cut on the county farm. While the less
on these items maybe relatively small,
it counts up in the course of a year.
More spectacular are the losses in
letting contracts. In one county a
heating plant in a jail cost several hun
dred dollars yet had to be replaced
within a year. In another county a
schoolhouse roof began to sag within
a few months after the building was
completed. In a third county the com
missioners entered into a contract to
build a bridge, and later paid $75,000 to
get it cancelled. Finally there is prob
ably not a county in the state that has
not lost money in road contracts. Some
have lost a great deal; no county knows
how much.
Another common loss is unnecessarily
high interest rates. Why are some
counties paying six percent on their
bond issues while others are paying
only 4'-^ or 4W. percent? The difference
is due in part, perhaps, to the fact that
some counties have preserved their
credit better than others, but it is just
as likely to be due to poor bargaining.
Inefficient Employees
The greatest waste in county expen
ditures is that which is least visible-
paying for incompetent service. Ad
ministrative positions requiring ex
perts are dispensed as political rewards.
It is a general practice for the tax as
sessors and list-takers, highway super
visors, deputy sheriffs, superintendents
of county institutions, and other offi
cials to be chosen from the ranks of
the “party regulars.” Training and
ability are made secondary considera
tions. When it comes to the clerical
positions there are usually two employees
for each position—one who holds the
title and a stenographer who does the
work. One official was frank enough
to admit that he considered he had
done his duty if he entertained the pub
lic so that his deputy could work with
out interruption.
It is common knowledge that public
employees doing road work or manual
labor do as little as possible. A county
job is considered a sinecure, and to
put something over on the county is
considered quite within the bounds of
honesty. If one is sent on a county
mission, with expenses paid, he is less
economical than with his own money.
A man will lose a day’s work and drive
fifteen miles to a county seat to collect
a witness fee or get a release from a
dog tax. ’fhe general attftude seems
to be to get all one can from the county
and give as little. There is very little
pride of citizenship.
Remedies
In the interests of economy in county
government, especially in safeguarding
the expenditures, three agencies are
almost indispensable, (1) a budgetasan
instrument of financial control, (2) an
auditor, and (3) a purcasliing agent. In
most counties a separate officer to act
as purchasing agent would not be neces
sary. The most general practice is to
combine county purchasing with the
duties of an auditor. An auditor is
necessary, for if there is no systematic
bookkeeping and current auditing, waste
and error are almost inevitable. A
competent auditor, devoting his full
time to county work, supplies a unity
and continuity to administration which
is essential to efficient performance.
Along with these improvements in
machinery, it would be helpful if there
could be developed a higher sense of
civic honor and a greater pride of
citizenship. It is difficult to keep the
expenses down when so many people
are willing to impose on the county just
because they can. —Paul W. Wager.
THE SMALL TOWN
“There is more to being a popular
and thriving town than having the
largest population or the biggest
manufacturing plants or the most
money. And the sooner a lot of
small towns- all over the country
realize this, the sooner they will
begin to create charm and distinc
tion for themselves, ” says the Marion
Progress. The same paper, quoting
the Emporia Gazette, says:
“We can be nice, decent, agricul
tural towns, with each town having
some small industry, some specialty
in schools or local development like
oil or coal and the products of the
soil. But big plants- no! We are
doomed by our geography to be small
towns. Then why not be beautiful
towns? Why not get the best out of
our towns, and our lives? Why not
apple blossoms in Arkansas City,
roses in Eldorado, cannas in Fredonia,
redbuds in Emporia? Surely if Japan
can grow famous over the world for
beauty of its cherry blossoms, we
can make something out of the beauty
that lies in our hands.”
tion of a Savings and Loan Association
and, once organized, to talk over the
aims and purposes of this, our first co
operative association; to make plans for
a community fair this fall; to form a
Women’s Community Club through
which the women hope to understand
community problems and help toward
their solution. Every Saturday after
noon this summer a very varied group,
old and young, have come together
to watch or take part in strenuous
gymnastics which Mr. Bidstrup, our
farmer-gymnast from Denmark, him
self a former folk-school pupil and
teacher, has brought to us. A level
bottom down by the branch has had to
serve as gymnasium except when heavy
rains have driven us to the limited
^ shelter of garage or porch.
A Demonstration
One who has faced, day after day, the
serious economic problem ever present
in every mountain community, will not
need to ask why much of our time and [
thought has gone to the farm. It is of
little use to hold up the ideal of a rural
I civilization unless one can base it upon ;
' adequate agricultural resources, and we i
; who seek to enrich and develop rural
; life cannot ignore this most funda-
I mental aspect of the life of our section,
mighty poor basis for comparisons. Two I Y/g conceive our farm to be a great
! avenue of possible help to our neighbor- !
j hood as well as a practical help to our-:
INTEREST IN TAXATION
Predictions that this would be a tax
reduction year have been borne out by
reports from all sections of Indiana,
according to Harry MieSse, secretary
of the Indiana Taxpayers’ Association.
“Our forecast relative to what would
happen,” said Mr. Miesse, “was not
based simply on the theory that the
wish was father to the thought. We
wished for tax reduction where reduc
tions could be made, of course, but we
prophesied cuts throughout the state
because we knew the temper of the
people and we realized that they were
aroused to a point where they were de
termined to take an interest in their
own affairs. Whenever they do that,
expenses come down.
“A majority of the counties
Indiana show reductions in rates this
year. Most of the reductions were
made where w'e have organJzation.s of
th.e state association or where we were
working through local committees. In
several counties where we 'could not
interest the people in organization work
there have been notable increases in tax
rates. Eighty appeals were taken to
the state board of tax commissioners
by tax payers who wished to have
budgets reviewed. Certainly there is
no crime in having enough interest in
public affairs to ask for as authoritative
a body as the state board to review the
proposed levies. Thirty-six counties
were represented in these appeals, and
in twenty-seven of them the county
rate was the tone of contention. It
was discovered in the case of one county
that enough money remained in the
county fund to take care of the esti
mated expense for next year and the
entire county fund was eliminated for
the simple reason that it was not needed.
This would not have happened had not
the taxpayers of that county taken an
appeal.
‘The work in behalf of tax reduction
could not have been successful this year
had it not been for the hearty and en
thusiastic cooperation of the newspapers
of Indiana. Through both news and
editorial columns there has been a de
mand that expenses be pared, the peo
ple.have had their local issues called to
their attention and the combination has
meant the saving of thousands of dollars
in taxpayer money.”—Indiana Tax
payers Association.
things must be kept in mind. First.
North Carolina is outnumbered in farms
only by Texas. Ranking second in
farms, we ought to rank high in crops.
Second, North Carolina specializes on
crops, mainly cotton and tobacco; and
meat and milk animals and animal
products play a minor role in our sys
tem of farming. Consequently North
Carolina ranks much higher as a crop
state than she does as an agricultural
state. And on the only fair basis of
comparison, the per farm basis, North
Carolina ranks very low in the produc
tion of agricultural wealth—usually in
the lower forties.
RANKS NINTH IN CROPS
North Carolina ranked ninth in 1925
in the value of all crops during the year.
The United States Department of Agri
culture places the value of our crops for
last year at nearly three hundred and
nineteen million dollars. For the five-
year period from 1919-1923 our rank in
crop wealth production was fifth. It
was eleventh in 1924, and as stated
above, ninth in 1926.
This is a very high rank on an aggre
gate basis, but aggregates .make a
COUNTY LIBRARY NEWS
Two new county libraries are reported
from California by the American Li
brary Association’s Coixnnittce on Li
brary Extension. This brings Califor
nia’s number up to 45. Marin County
has established an independent library.
The supervisors of Plumas County (one
of the small counties, with only 1,783
population) have contracted for library
service with the neighboring Sierra
County Library. 'Ihe appropriation to
the Chattanooga Public Library for
service to Hamilton County (Tenn.)
has been increased from $8,400 to $15,-
000.
County library publicity is being
successfully carried on in Iowa by the
book truck furnished for that purpose by
the Iowa Library Association. It is being
shown at county fairs and is traveling
up and down country roads, under the
auspices of the library commission and
of individual public libraries. The first
tax-supported book truck in Pennsyl
vania, the Cardinal, belonging to the
Harrisburg Public Library, is also being
used for state-wide publicity. The
extension division of the state library
has taken it to the summer school of
State College and to the meeting of
selves when our boarding school has_be
come a reality. It is easy to tell the I
mountain farmer to cut down bis corn
acreage, fertilize, rotate, and buy pure
bred stock, but do you realize what it
means to see the effects of such a policy
with your own eyes? 'I’he average ^
farmer of this section will not be able '
to visit the nearest State Experiment
Station near Asheville, seven or eight |
hours away by train, but he will visit
the school. Therefore, we seek to make ,
our farm as far as possible a demonstra- ,
tion station. We can afford to experi
ment better than our neighbors—even
to fail where we should fail, but finally, :
our greatest demonstration will be to '
make our farm pay, and toward that we I
aim.
Already we* have limed, fertilized, i
ploughed, and planted soy-beans to turn
under. Every acre is carefully planned ,
for a system of crop rotation. We have
stretched our old log barn with slabs to .
accommodate our team and a registered
Jersey. We have built a model chicken-
house and installed pure-bred white
Leghorns. Soon we shall have some >
pure-bred pigs to complete our livestock
family, for the best way to build up the
worn-out lands about us is, Mr. Bid -itrup '
believes, through a type of agriculture '
based upon livestock. • This mountain
country can never raise grain to com-
pete on the market with the products '
of the great grain areas. Poor roads,
and distant markets make trucking ^
hazardous. Ours is a dairy country up '
here in tf/e far western toe of North j
Carolina. With pure-bred dairy cattle, !
pigs and chickens, we can piece out an ;
agricultural triangle which has a broad :
and firm base—that is, if we look at'
farming as a full-time profession and •
not just a “crop. ”
Mr. Bidstrup’s questions from day to ,
the state federation of women’s clubs. I difference between
Rural America. farming as the average Danish farmer
_ [ does it, a skilled'business with the help •
I of trained specialists, and lurming as it'
is carried on in most parts of America—
A CAROLINA FOLK SCHOOL
The last few months, since our first | mountain America, at all events,
bulletin in March, have been important | ,1,^3
ones in the life of the John C. Campbell!;
Folk School. The faded yellow home-
soil to be analyzed? Where can I send
stead on our farm, sadly in need of j pf every month to get the
paint and repairs, has become a trim
gray farmhouse with green trimmings
and rose-covered trellises. Dilapidated
outbuildings have been torn down and
transformed into a garage and tool-
house. The uncertain and muddy well
has been cleaned and deepened. We
have mended fences and put in a gar
den.
If you could see our neighbors busily
at work about the place, you would
understand how we have become so
soon well acquainted. Happy were we,
when roads dried out in spring, to fol
low the menfolk back to their homes
and come to know the whole family.
Too many families we have been un
able as yet to visit, back in cove or
hollow reached only by a rough wagon
way. They, however, have often found
their way to the little church nearby,
where we try to help with the Sunday
School, or have gathered with us in our
small rooms, on the porch or even in the
yard, to hear what some passing guest
could tell us; to discuss the organiza-
butter-fat percent? Can Mr. Deschamps
(our forester-secretary) make a map
showing where we have laid drains and
also the different fields so that we can
keep an accurate record and account?”
Trained in a country which has learned
to use every inch of land, he cleans his •
fence corners of bushes and weeds, prob- •
ably for the first time in their history. ;
He is eager to straighten the creek, for |
our farm, he says, is too small already. !
Steadily, intelligently, farsightedly he :
works ahead, using head and hands un-!
tiringly, and always full of interest and ,
deep understanding of our problems and |
aims.
Using the Woodlands
Part of our property, about twenty-'
five acres of the “eighty more or less,” j
is in woodland. From the first we saw ]
the value of this green setting for fu
ture buildings and for a firewood sup
ply, but it took Mr. Deschamps to see
it with the trained eye of the forester
and-lover of trees. Between times, for
he has surveyed the place, laid out
roads, directed building, kept a regular
account of spring flow for future water-
supply, together with many other ac
tivities, he has cleared one piece of land
for an arboretum. Here we will slowly
gather the trees, shrubs, and wild
flowers native to North Carolina. Al
ready he has listed on our grounds
twenty five of the one hundred and
twenty seven possible species of trees.
Think what a school in itself this little
woodland will be in years to come, all
centering up as it does in the loghouse
museum! The museum, however, is a
subject that deserves a sheet all to
itself.
Our rougher timbered hillside he is
cutting with the practical forester’s
unsentimental axe. It is to be a demon
stration of how forest can be treated
on a commercial basis. There is no
reason, he says, why good timber should
not be grown here even though the white
man found, when he came here in 1830,
little to compare with the magnificent
growth on the slopes of the Unakas to
westward. This was Cherokee Indian
country, burnt-over and cultivated in
those days much as it is now. Too
often the white man still follows Indian
practices. The smoke of his forest fires
clouds the spring air as he shortsightedly
kills young growth, injures old, and de
stroys the humus in his soil, making
ready for pasture or crop. Mr. Des
champs kicks up the earth with the toe
of his shoe to show how poor and thin
the cover.
A Community House
We had hoped to have a short course
or informal series of lectures out-of-
doors, late this spring, but smallpox
broke out in the neighborhood and did
not disappear until well into summer, a
season largely given over to revivals.
Now we are deep in construction. On
Wednesday, August 11th, in a corner of
woodland overlooking the Hiawassee
River valley and distant mountains,
2,000 to 5,000 feet high, the Community
House was staked off by an expert car
penter from the county seat, with the
help of many interested neighbors all
eager to lend a hand. It was a happy
moment even though we realized that,
without further gifts, we should be able
to build only the community room, 35 by
6.0 feet, a wing of the main building.
When this is ready, by Christmas, we
hope, we can gather around the big
fireplace for social evenings, hold regu
lar community sings, lectures and gym
nastic classes.
Important as is our community room,
our experiment proper calls for a board
ing school for young adults. The entire
community building would be admirably
adapted for temporary use as a small
dormitory and schoolhouse. If wesecure
enough tunds to finish it, we can begin
our. school next fall, in addition, an
adequate water-supply for drinking and
for fire protection must be provided.
We can pipe down the springs, a mile
above us at the head of the branch, or
pump up the small ones on our own land
into a reservoir, either one an ex pensive
proceeding. Financial mountains they
are to us—house and water-supply—but
mountains that must be crossed before
wo can come to our first Highland folk
school.
The community ishelping in a remark
ably fine way. Eight hundred and four
teen days of* free labor have already
been paid, 72 of them with team.
Reckoning such labor at the local rate
of $2.00 per day without team and $4.00
with team, the local citizens have con
tributed $950 exclusive of $130 in cash,
$18 in locust poles, and numerous un
estimated gifts in building logs, lum
ber, poles, telephone posts and firewood.
Many, hastening to fulfill their pledges
before the harvest sets in, are now
hauling rock and laying foundations.
They cannot, however, begin to meet
the necessary expenses. We hope to
open the John C. Campbell Folk School
in 1927.—John C. Campbell Folk School
Bulletin.
OUR COUNTIES NEED IT TOO
1 think, at this lime, one of the vital
issues of our politics is the budget sys
tem. For thirty years in American
politics, we have been going through
a great bloodless revolution, changing
our attitude toward government in
many important areas, turning out cor
ruptionists in cities and states, break
ing machines, local, state and national,
and now we are in the position of an
army that has jast won a decisive
victory. We must straighten out our
lines. We must mop up. We must
entrench. And the only way to corre
late all government of life is to install
the budget system. It will be the
victory of the people in their fight for
self-government which 'began in the
nineties, a sure and lasting victory.—
William Allen White in the National
Municipal Review.