North Carolina Newspapers

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. JANUARY 12, 1927 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. the university of north CAROLINA PRESS VOL. XIII, No. 9 Editorial Board: E. C. Braiison, S. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knisht, 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. FEDERAL INCOME TAXPAYER Only two and one*third percent of the people of North Carolina filed federal income tax returns for the year ending December 81, 1924, according to Statis tics of Income, Treasury Department, just off the press. Out of a population of more than two million seven hundred thousand, fewer than sixty-four thou sand individuals filed federal income tax returns. This does not include the six thousand-odfi returns filed by corpora tions. There are forty-two states that rank ahead of North Carolina on the basis of the percent of the population filing indi vidual federal income tax returns. Five Southern states rank below North Caro lina, namely, Georgia, Alabama, Ar kansas, South Carolina, and Mississippi. Fewer than twenty-nine thousand of the approximately sixty-four thousand persons filing individual returns actually paid a tax. More than thirty-five thou sand persons filing individual federal income returns paid no tax, being ex empted because of deduction, allowances and so on under the law. The above means, therefore, that while two and a third percent of our in habitants file income returns, only one person out of every hundred actually pays a federal income tax. Or to put it another way, approximately one family out of every twenty-two pays a e. To try to solve the problem of unemployment. 3. To shareholders; What share holders want is a fair, regular, and uni form return, and what management wants is such a return to shareholders that when they need new capital, for the extension of their business or new tools of production, it will be forth coming. Of course, incident to that, if you are going to expect the con fidence of your shareholders, you must tell them of the activities of the com pany, and give adequate publicity in re gard to its earnings, its orders and its shipments. 4. To itself: Large companies have opportuities and also responsibilities— of research, of seeking for better methods and new truths and new ways of doing things, and, of course, of edu cational work. Industry has more to fear from the unsuccessful than from the successful, from wrong policies, from ignorance of method, and from ignorance of the elements of cost.—Ar ranged from an address by Gerard Swope, in Commerce and Finance. PRIMARY vs. CONVENTION The North Carolina Club at its last meeting had the privilege of hearing Senator-elect J. M. Broughton of Raleigh discuss the relative merits of the convention system and the direct federal income tax. Approximately the^ primary. In a very lucid and interest- same individuals who file federal income : ing way Mr. Broughton explained the tax returns file state income tax re- machinery and procedure of the con- turns, and approximately the same in- vention system, and incidentally how the dividuals actually pay a tax, except that politicians were able to manipulate, state employees pay no federal income | first the caucus and then the convention, tax, and federal employees pay no state ; He granted that the convention plan income tax. ' bad certain merits, but thought that its Although only a small percent of our i evils seemed to outweigh its benefits population files federal income returns, I Among the evils which he enumerated or pays a federal income tax, it is in teresting to note that in average net income per return filed North Carolina ranks fairly well, coming twenty-fourth. And in average tax paid per individual return filed we rank even higher, com ing seventeenth. Which means that there are a few individuals in North Carolina who pay very large income taxes. The averages are raised con siderably because of a few large in come taxpayers, North Carolina is a state of enormous productivity, characterized by small- scale enterprises, with only a few ex ceptionally large businesses. We have small cotton mills, small furniture fac tories, small oil mills, small towns, small stores, small banks, and small farms, widely distributed with respect to location and ownership. It is a healthy economic condition, but it is not conducive to payment of income taxes. The unit is too small to produce were: (1) It limits participation. The caucus is often held in obscure places, at inconvenient hours, and without much advertising. Only a handful of men, rarely any women, attend. A slate is prepared in advance; it is accepted by acclamation; and often the meeting is adjourned before the rank and file of i the party members arrive. (2) At the'” convention the delegates, being hand picked, are very amenable to boss con-1 trol. (3) If delegations are notj instructed for more than one or two' offices they are willing to make trades; with other delegations. (4) The sys-1 tern offers great temptations for cor-! ruption. (6) It is an extra-legal in-1 stitutios and subject to no statutory • control. i The speaker then traced the develop- , ment of the direct primary from its first advocacy by Governor LaFollette in i Wisconsin, until today it exists in some form in every state. Its chief merits STATE EXPENDITURES ALARM AND REGRET are ex- pressd at Washington over the con tinued rise of state governmental expenditures. The White House points to the steady reduction of federal taxes, and deplores the fail ure of states and cities to imitate this example. Is this criticism just? First, it should be observed that federal expenditures for normal func tions of government have not de clined. On the contrary, they have grown in the last five years. The reduction in federal taxes has come about through the cleaning up of war-time finances and extraordinary war-time expenses. Only a scanda lous disregard of ordinary financial prudence could have prevented an inevitable reduction in federal taxes upon the resumption of peace. The states, on the other hand, had rela tively few unusual expenses as a result of war. Most of them bad practically none, beyond local aid to disabled veterans. But state expen ditures naturally grow with the passing years, as population increases and life grows more complex. State expenditures ought to increase. Not all additions to local expenses are wise, but by and large they reflect the growth of prosperity and an in telligent widening of local interest in the welfare of the community. They spell better roads, better schools, better hospitals, better care of children and of the public health, more parks, more libraries, more museums of art. Not size of expenditures, then— not even, necessarily, the relative tax rate year by year—but wisdom, is the true test. Thirty-one percent of the money spent by the states in 1926 went into permanent improve ment, of which four-fifths were for better roads and waterways. This kind of expenditure ought to be encouraged.—World’s Work, Decem ber, 1926. of institution which would make such conditions possible. Every effort would be made to make industry the domi nant characteristic. It would be main tained not only to restrain and discipline, but also to train, rehabilitate and restore, to which end, industry contrib utes fundamentally. It is clearly apparent that our methods of dealing with women who have been convicted of offenses against the law are inadequate. Most of them are in county jails, poorly supervised workhouses, or county homes for the aged and infirm. They are surrounded by idleness, disease, low mentality, and everything that appeals to the worst in human nature. Some of them are turned loose on unsuper vised suspended sentences, or condi tional suspended'sentences that are not merely futile but are positively vicious. One of these conditional sentences which is often pronounced is a term of so many days in jail unless the woman leaves town within a given time. J’>y imposition of such sentences, Raleigh sends her women offenders, mostly prostitutes, to Durham, Durham to Greensboro, Greensboro to Charlotte, and so on till tlie vicious circle starts ail over again. Practically all the women serving sentences are under the supervision of men. It has been pretty generally recognized that women offenders should be separated from men and placed under the supervision of women. Only two jails that we know of employ to the short ballot, and (6) a more en lightened public sentiment. The members of the club besieged the speaker with questions after he finished his address, and altogether the meet ing was one of the liveliest and most enthusiastic of the season. Other prob lems of democracy are to be discussed in subsequent meetings. large incomes per unit, but it does not ^ jj. jg (jemocratie. It gives necessarily follow that small to moder ate-sized, businesses widely distributed with respect to location and ownership are not a splendid basis for widespread and general prosperity. A state that owns nearly a hall'-niillion motor cars must have a considerable income, even if it fails to rank high in the payment of income taxes. Mure than one hun dred and fitly thousand farmers in North Carolina own automobiles, but only sixty-live farmers filed an income tax return in 1924. -3.11.11., Jr. INDUSTRY’S RESPONSIBILITY 1. To the public; The test of the efficiency of any organization is meas ured not only by its service and the quality of its products but by its con tinual and progressive reduction in the prices of its products. 2. To employes: a. Nothing can take the place of adequate earnings for the working man. It isn't conditions of work, it isn’t hours of work, it must be first and foremost adequate earn ings. The only way to safeguard ade quate earnings is to put power in back of the working man. b. We have to remove some of the worries that have been attendant upon working men from time immemorial first, the uncertainty of life. It is necessary to educate them and then to provide an easy means of insuring their lives. c. To provide by putting the man in the position and educating him to the responsibilities and opportunities of becoming his own home owner? d. To offer a means of thrift and investment where the principal is as sured and the income is fair and uni form and certain. every member of the party a chance to ; express himself on the candidates, or to j be a candidate himself if he wishes. ^ (2) It is subject to public control. ' The law fixes the day and hour of the j primary election,how the votes shall be j counted, etc. (3; It enables the women to participate in the nomination of officers j without suffering the mdigniiies which attend the typical caucus. Mr. Broughton conceded that the primary has its weaknesses. It pro longs the political campaign. It is, oz- may be, expensive to the candidate, though the huge “slush funds” we read about are exceptions. While certain candidates for the U. S. Senate spent huge sums in the last campaign, others spent very little. Senator Norris of Nebraska, for instance, spent only about $600. The primary, like the con vention, can be manipulated by the bosses, but not so easily. While some states may overthrow the primary (New York has already done so for state offices) the speaker did not predict its overthrow in North Carolina. He said the people will be unwilling to abandon a victory that it took them so long to win. They will not relinquish tl^e degree of public con trol that has been acquired. Finally, the women will resist a return to the old system. In order to make the primary, and elections generally, more dignified there are other improvements which are needed in North Carolina, said Mr. Broughton: (1) a secret ballot-the Australian ballot or something similar, (2) a more stringent corrupt practices act, (3) a better and quicker procedure for investigating and dealing with elec tion irregularities, (4) some approach FOR WOMEN OFFENDERS Six hundred and sixty-six women were committed to jails in North Caro lina in the year 1924, from twenty-one counties. Tnis gives an idea of the number of delinquent women for whom no correc tive treatment.is being given. In the jails they sit in idleness. They fre quently lack the medical attention that practically all of them need. They are realeased to the community in no way better than they were when the law took them in hand Neither the indi vidual offender nor the community profits by our present methods of treat ing delinquent women. The State Board of Charities and Public Welfare is charged by law with the duty of recommending to the Legis- Idttfre, among other things, “the crea tion of necessary institutions,” and,the Board is recommending the establish ment of a Farm Colony for Delinquent Women. A bill authorizing, the establishing of a farm colony to care eventually for four hundred women, will be offered the General Assembly of 1927. The establishment of such an institu tion has been adopted by the Legisla tive Council of Women as one of the five measures which it is advocat ing. The North Carolina Conference for Social Service has approved and ad vanced such a proposition for several years. The need for such an industrial insti tution has long been recognized. The women who are serving sentences in jails are costing large sums of money. The average amount spent per day on their food alone is 76c. If this were spent on keeping them in an institution where they could be made to work and to be come at least partially self-supporting, where they were given adequate medi cal attention, and industrial and moral training, we might hope for good re sults. A farm colony for women is the type matrons to care for women prisoners. One of the provisions for the farm colony for women would be that the superintendent should be a properly trained, well-educated and spiritual- minded woman. Provisions have been made, in many ways, for the employment of the men serving sentences in North Carolina. The State should recognize equally the necessity of providing industrial em ployment for women. We cannot afford, from an economic and a social stand point, to avoid the question any longer. North Carolina should do some con structive work with this class of of fenders. The farm colony for women offenders should be made a reality by the General Assemblyof 1927.—K.B.J., in Public Welfare Progress. GOING TO THE DOGS New York University announces that 18,000 of its students supported them selves in whole or in part last year. Their annual earnings totaled more than $13,000,000 and averaged $722. A good deal has been said in reply to the young man who wrote sensationally regarding moral delinquencies in our colleges, but nothing was so convincing, we believe, as these figures. Young men who care enough for education to work hard to get it are not likely to waste their opportunities for study; neither are they likely to have any great amount of time on their hands for im moralities. Observation leads us to be lieve that few things take so much of a man’s time as going to the dogs.— Chicago Tribune. INDIVIDUAL FEDERAL INCOME TAX PAYERS For the Year Ending December 31, 1924. In the following table based on Statistics of Income, Federal Tresury Depart ment, the states are ranked according to the percent of the total population filing individual federal income tax returns, column 1, for the year ending Decem ber 31, 1924. Column 2 gives the average net income per return filed; column 3 the net income reported per inhabitant; column 4 the average income tax paid per return; and column 6 average income tax per inhabitant. For North Carolina 63,864 individual federal tax returns were filed, of which 28,841 were taxable. The remaining 35,023 individuals filing income tax sched ules paid no tax. Of our total population 2.36 percent filed federal income lax returns, and almost exactly one percent paid a tax. North Carolina ranks 43rd in percent of population filing federal income tax returns;124th in average net income per return; 42nd in per inhabitant net income reported; 17th in average income tax paid per return filed; and 32nd in per inhabitant income tax. For the United States 6.6 percent of the population filed individual income returns. The study does not include returns filed by corporations. S. H. Hobbs, Jr. Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Percent Average Per inhab. Average Per Rank State of pop. net net income income inhab. filing income reported tax per income returns per return return tax 1 Nevada ....13.78 $2,583 .,$355.71 .. $17.29.... ,..$2.38 2 California ....13 06 3,406 .. 444.92 .... 74.10... ... 9.68 3 New York ....11.08 4,232 .. 468.79 ....194.74.... ,,.21.57 4 Wyoming .10.58 .... 2,647 .. 280.16 .... 18.05,... ... 1.91 5 Connecticut .... 9.54 3,334 .. 317.96 .... 87.82.... ... 8.37 6 Illinois . .. 9.49 .... 3,699 .. 350.93 ....102.04... ... 9.68 7 Washington* 9.48 2,861 .. 270.56 .... 23.38.. ... 2.22 8 Massachusetts .... 9.27 3,492 .. 323.76 . .108.07 ... ...10.02 9 New Jersey .... 8.71 3,926 .. 342.00 ....106.60..., ... 9.28 10 Maryland .... 8.30.... 3,701 ., 307.14 .... 95.65.... ... 7.94 11 Delaware . 8.12 3,397 .. 275,94 ...128.76.... ..10.46 12 Oregon . .. 7.99 .... 2,848 227.50 . 30 37... ... 2.43 13 Michigan .... 7.98...: 8,231 .. 267.20 .... 96.71.. .. . 7.61 14 Pennsylvania .... 7.76 3,672 .. 276.70 .... 109.16.... ... 8.46 16 Rhode Island .. 7.71 3,926 ..^02.60 ....137.78.... ...10 62 16 Colorado 7.30 2,796 .. 204.11 .... 43.12.... ... 3.16 17 New Hampshire 7.02... .. .. 2,986 209.70 ... 43.68, .. .. 3.07 18 Montana ... 7.00.... 2,437 .. 170.60 . .. 16.61.... ... 1.16 19 Ohio....: .... 6.72.... 3,368...... .. 225.71 .... 76.69,... , 6.15 20 Wisconsin .... 6.47 2,770 .. 179.28 .... 40.97.... .. 2.66 21 Florida .... 6.02 3,903 . 234 86 ...112.42.... ... 6.67 22 Utah .... 6 92..,. 2,862 .. 169.38 ....■20.82...., ... 1.24 23 Vermont .... 5.86,... 3,086 . 180.65 .... 47.45.... ... 2.78 24 Maine .... 5.42.... 3,200 .. 173.38 .... 60.78.... ... -3.29 '26 Missouri .... 5.41 3,386 ,. 183.06 .... 66.24... ... 3.68 26 Arizona .... 5.40 2,736 .. 147.78 24.04.... ... 1.30 27 Indiana .... 6.16 2.944 .. 162.04 42.43.... ... 2 19 28 Minnesota .... 5.07 2,929 ... 148.37 62.41.... ... 2.65 1.37 1.77 1.06 .64 1.26 . .46 i29 Nebraska 4.95 2,847 140.83 27.78.. 30 West Virginia 4.76 3,025 144.02 37.27.. ;31 Kansas 4.66 2.416 112.46 22.81.. :32 Idaho 4.46 2,440 108.71 12.18.. ;33 Iowa 4.44 2,706 120.11 28.29.. 34 South Dakota 4.01 2,496 100.04 11.56.. 36 Texas 3.84 3,311 127.16 63.11 2.04 I 36 Louisiana 3.63 3,268 118.61 62.16 1.89 137 New Mexico 3.08 2,766 86.05 19.31 60 38 Virginia 2.96 3,227 95.32 46.29 1,37 1 39 Kentucky 2 91 3,301 96.19 62.77 1.63 ^40 Oklahoma 2.88 3,336 96.02 69.89 1.72 41 North Dakota .2.82 2.641 71.68 13.99 39 42 Tennessee 2.78 3,347 93.07 61.05 1.42 43 North Carolina 2.35 3,146 73.78 59.15 1.39 •44 Georgia 2.07 3,366 69.64 64.26 ‘1.12 j 45 Alabama 1.96 3,360 65.39 68.23 1.13 ■46 Arkansas 1.93 3,107 60.10 41.10 79 47 South Carolina 1.69 2,834 46.19 26.89 .41 48 Mississippi L62 3,037 46.16 42,46 65 ^Includes Alaska.