T
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.
MARCHES, 1927
CHAPEL HILL. N. C.
THE UNIVERSITV OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIII, No. 19
Board: E. G. Branson, S. H. Hobbs, Jr.. L. It. Wilson, E. W. Knijrht, D. D. Carroll. J. B. Bullitt. H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14. 1914. at the PostofRce at Chapel Hill. N. C., under the act of August 24. 1912.
PRESEEVING PUBLIC CREDIT
The question of safeguarding public
credit in North Carolina is becoming a
problem of tremendous importance,
whereas just a few years ago it was a
question of little concern to the people
of the state, according to Myron Green,
of the Institute for Research in Social
Science, speaking before the North
Carolina Club Monday night.
There has been a very great increase
ic. the Ulie of public credit in North
Carolina since 1920, said the speaker.
In 1910 the bonded indebtedness of the
State of North Carolina was only $7,-
239,660, and by 1920 this had increased
only just a little more than $300,000.
The bonded indebtedness of the state
in 1920 was just $7,694,400, or almost
two million dollar.s less than the present
bonded indebtedness of the city of
('harlotte alone. Between 1920 and
1926 the state's bonded indebtedness
increased from $7,694,400 to $123,788,-
OOO, a fact traceable to the growing
complexity of government, to the in
creasing demand made upon govern
ments to furnish.improvements and to
perform services which until a few
years ag-i were unthought of as govern
mental fanctions. The somewhat alarm
ing increase in the state’s bonded in
debtedness results from the era of prog
ress, the era of construction and better
ment that the state has gone through
since 1920. It is not an unsound prog
ress that the state has undertaken;
but the extensive use of the state’s
credit for any purpose, sound or un
sound, calls for careful and intelligent
preservation of that credit, said the
speaker.
County and Municipal Debt
In addition to the bonded indebtedness
of the state the use of credit by the
political subdivisions of the state must
be considered. Since 1919 the bonded
indebtedness of the counties .of the
state has grown from $23,198,226, to
$112,734,486, the figure for June 30,
1926. The bonded indebtedness of
cities and towns of the state on June
30, 1926. amounted to $138,781,318.
The total bonded indebtedness of the
state and its political subdivisions at
the end of the last fiscal year was
$376,303,803.
The greater part of the money
derived from issuance of bonds by the
state, counties, cities and towns has
gone for public improvements such as
roads, schools, etc., butno little of it has
gone to funds operating deficits incurred
through lack of proper business man
agement of the fiscal affairs of govern
ment in North Carolina, the speaker
asserted. This is true in regard to the
state government to the extent of'
approximately nine and a half million
dollars, and particularly is it true of
local governments. It is a common
practice of counties especially to in
cur deficits and later fund them with
bond issues. The habit of levying in
sufficient taxes to meet the county’s
needs, the proneness of public officials
to grant the demands of begging con
stituents without considering the coun
ty’s ability to pay, materially affects
the credit of not only the county itself,
but of the state as-well. The tax rate
or counties, according to the speaker,
is too often determined as a matter of
political expediency, and too infrequent
ly is it based upon accurate and depend
able information as to the county’s
needs, Political expediency is the rule
and good management of the fiscal
affairs is the exception so far as local
governments are concerned.
The System to Blame
Mr. Green referred to the laxity on
the part of public officials in the man
agement of the affairs with which they
are charged. He places blame not so
much on the officials as on the system
under which they must operate, a sys
tem which reflects not so much on the
officials themselves as upon the people
of the state who have permitted such a
system to continue.
There is, with the exception of
some half-dozen counties in the state,
I practically a complete absence of
I accounting for public funds. It is
! impossible for the official or for the
citizen and taxpayer to know the
financial condition of the county. The
same applies to the majority of cities
and towns in the state as well. There
is no constitutional limitation upon the
amount of bonds that may be issued,
and not infrequently bonds are issued
for purposes which might be more
economically financed in other ways.
Sinking funds are seldom sufficient, are
too often not invested, and more often,
are not kept inviolate. Money is spent
indiscriminately with little attention
to economy, which might be effected
through proper control of purchasing.
Proper Management
The one immediate hope we have of
getting relief from the ever-increasing
tax burden, and of keeping intact the
credit of our state and its political
subdivisions, is the relief that will come
through application of proper business
management to the fiscal affairs of
government. Taxes have about reached
a limit. Every source of taxation,
except possibly a sales tax, has been
about exhausted. The great bulk of
taxes go to the support of local govern
ments, and relief can come in but one
way,—by making these local govern
ments more effective by proper applica
tion of business principles in the
conduct of their fiscal affairs. It is
the one way to get immediate relief,
and public credit will be rendered safer
thereby.
Mr. Green summed up what has al
ready been done to place the state
government upon a proper business
basis, referring to the operation of the
budget plan as established by the
General Assembly of 1926, and to the
constitutional amendments ratified in
1924 protecting the sinking funds of the
state, and limiting the bonded indebted
ness to seven and one-half percent of
the assessed valuation of property
within the state. He referred likewise
to the three county government meas
ures enacted by the General Assembly
just ended, and expressed belief that
these measures may afford some relief
within the next two years. Relief may
have to come through constitution
amendment, or through the enactment
of new statutes. It must come as a
result of increasing interest in govern
mental affairs on the part of the people
of the state.
THE RURAL CHURCH
If the American farmer slowly
sinks into peasantry, through national
unconcern; if the rural church sinks
and goes down with him; it will be
due, in my estimation, to the sickness
of the American Church; it will be a
case of national decline due to the
temporary eclipse of religion. It
will not be at base a case of bad
economics or bad politics. The
aristocratic superiorities of a dozen
righteous cults—all so near alike
that God himself is not supposed to
tell them apart—will have brought
on the doom.
I shall not live to see the new day for
the rural church; but that new day
will come. I do not believe the Ameri
can farmer will sink into peasantry.
I believe a prophet will arise who,
warming all hearts and bringing to
the point of ignition the dormant
love of men for men, for just plain
men, will build upon the facts of
this generation and upon the insight
of this intellectual era—and the
rural church will rise to distinction.
I do not expect to see with my own
eyes your sects and mine—all very
haughty cults indeed—joining their
resources under a single battle cry
against the devil; but I do not doubt
for a single instant that it will one
day come.—C. J. Galpin.
FAVORABLE TO SOUTH
The practicability of reclamation of
arid, swamp, and cut-over timber lands
in six southern states was upheld in a
report to congress today by a special
board of advisors.
The first report dealt specifically with
the states of North and South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Tennessee, and was drafted by Howard
Elliott, chairman of the Northern Pa
cific Railway company; Daniel C Roper,
former commissioner of internal rev
enue; and George Soule, a director of
the national economic research bureau,
who were appointed to carry out the
survey which congress authorized
several years ago.
The Yazoo report was made by C. A.
Bissell, a reclamation service engineer,
and also was in compliancewith an act
of congress.
The six states' report held that “every
sign indicates that the South is ready to
welcome’’ and take advantage of the
right kind of reclamation colonization,
and recommended that experimental or
demonstration colonies should be estab
lished as an initial step in the reclama
tion undertaking. The report made no
suggestion as to an appropriation by
congress for the work but gave a com
prehensive review of the soil, climate,
and other conditons that would enter
into the proposed work.
Reclamation and successful land
settlement in Australia, Denmark,
Germany, California, and Wisconsin, and
work already started in North Caroline,
were discussed in the light of what
might be expected in thfe South. The
report covered nearly 100 typewritten
pages.
It entered into a thorough discussion
of settlement areas at Pembroke, N. C.;
Mount Holly, South Carolina; Albany,
Ga.; Selma, Ala.; Hattiesburg, Miss.;
and in Maryland and Tennessee.
“The South is facing agricultural
difficulties,“it said, “whicb represented
one phase of the nation’s agricultural
problem. This problem includes low
prices of agricultural products, increase
of mortgage debt and tenancy, drift
of population to the cities—especially
for the young and vigorous—and de
pletion of soil fertility.
“Conditions of the southeast favor
able to agriculture include long growing
season, adequate rainfall, fertile soils,
or soils highly productive if adequately
fertilized, nearly fiat or gently rolling
land, nearness to markets, good trans
portation facilities and low land values.
“The values have not been adequately
utilized on account of the one-crop
system, large acreage per farm, absen
tee ownership, prevalence of tenancy,
drift of population from the land,
abandonment of farms, impoverishment
of the soil, shortage of local food crops,
lack of self-sustaining farms, in
adequate marketing facilities and di
versified agriculture, and unattractive
rural environment.” The three advisors
reported that areas inpsected were
chosen by state authorities as typical
of the opportunities in the South for
reclamation work. —Associated Press.
I COLLEGE LEGISLATORS
! A. B. Andrews, of the Raleigh bar,
has compiled some figures about the
legislature that shows the youngsters
with better educational advantages
than their elders are making use of
them.
Out of 64 members of the House
born prior to 1881, there are 14 college
graduates, 16 with college training, 14
with high-school training and 20 with
less than high-school training.
Out of 54 members of the House born
since 1881, there are 21 college gradu
ates, 16 with college training, five with
high-school training and nine with less
than high-school training.
Out of 22 members of the Senate
born prior to 1881, there are six college
graduates, eight with college training,
two with high-school training and six
with less than high-school training.
Of the 25 members of the Senate
born since 1881, there are 18 college
graduates, 12 with college training,
which takes up the entire number.—
News and Observer.
years ago in Great Britain 20,000 per
sons were in local prisons; today there
are only 8,000. Fifty years ago 10,000
persons were in prisons at penal servi
tude (the equivalent of our state
prisons) Today there'* are only 1,600.
Contrast this with the 6,600 in New
York State, alone. Fifty years ago
there were 113 local prisons and 13
penal servitude prisons (state prisons
for convicts); today there are 31 local
prisons and 4 penal servitude institu
tions. Nearly half the prisons in the
country have closed down during the
last twelve years. Since 1914 no fewer
than twenty-five prisons have been
wholly shut down. —World’s Work,
March 1927.
CLOSING UP PRISONS
At a time when America’s prisons
are overflowing. Great Britain’s prisons
are becoming empty. The reduction in
Great Britain’s prison population which
has come about in recent years is
startling and almost unbelievable. Fifty
/
SOUTH DEVELOPING TRUCKS
Year^after year the Southern States
nave beenmakingjprogress in the grow-
ng £of vegetables and fruits for ship
ment to Eastern and Northern markets.
Southern-grown winter vegetables are
to be found throughout the winter
months in the larger cities of the
country, and the South’s fruits andi
berries and early spring vegetables are
to be had in the North and East before
the frost is out of the ground in those
regions. The value to the nation’s health
of these trucking crops, in supplying
the urban population of the country
with fresh green vegetables and fresh
fruits, is immeasurable in dollars and
cents.
Recent 'estimates furnished by the
Department of Agriculture show that
Southern ^growers received more than
$166,000,000 in 1926 for their commer
cial trucking crops of vegetables, fruits
and berries. This is 48 percent of the ag
gregate value of the commercial truck
crops of the country in 1926, amounting
to $326,617,000. Since 1923 truck crop
values have steadily increased in the
South. While the value of these crops
in 1926 compared with 1926 made a gain
of over $6,000,000 in the South, there
3 & decline of more than $20,000,000
in the rest of the country outside of the
South,
California with a value of $59,089,-
000 led all the states in commercial
truck crops, followed by Florida with
$36,470,000; New York, $22,637,000;
New Jersey, $20,738,000; Virginia, $19,-
216,000; Texas, $18,690,000 and Louisi
ana, $14,570,000. North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Maryland, each reported
commercial truck crops valued at more
than $10,000,000. In addition to these
trucking crops, the South furnishes a
vast quantity of peaches, citrus fruits,
apples, and other fruits.
The following table of the estimated
value of the fruit and vegetable crops
raised for shipment has been compiled
by the Manufacturers Record by states
for the South for the years 1924, 1926,
and 1926:
VALUE OF
SOUTHERN COMMERCIAL TRUCK
CROPS
States
1923
1924
1925
1926
Alabama
. $3,669.00Q..,
... $3,624,000..
... $3,247,000...
... $3,714,000
Arkansas
. 3,236,000...
... 4,779,000...
... 3.832,000...
... 6,663,000
Florida
. 40,889,000 ..
... 39,081,000...
... 35,320,000...
... 36,470,000
Georgia
. 3,610,000...
... 3,262,000...
... 4,918,000...
... 3,943,000
Kentucky
. 3,619,000,.
... 3,094,000...
... 3,308,000...
... 2,296,000
Louisiana
. 7,341,000...
... 8.944,000...
... 8,643.000...
... 14,670,000
Maryland
. 15,600,000...
... 12,262.000...
... 14,651,000...
... 12,692,000
Mississippi
4,330,000...
... 6,913.000...
6,027,000...
7,006,000
Missouri
.. 3,676,000...
... 5,675,000...
... 9,938,000...
... 6,414,000
North Carolina....
. 8,056,000...
... 8,313,000...
... 8,070,000...
... 10,271,000
Oklahoma
918,000...
835,000...
... 2,046,000...
... 2,420,000
South Carolina ....
. 11,443,000...
... 7,626,000...
... 8,125,000....
... 10,367,000
Tennessee
4,439,000...
... 6,638,000...
... 6,609,000...
... 5,247,000
Texas
. 12,648.000...
... 14,237,000...
... 14,030,000...
... 18,690,000
Virginia
. 21,169,000...
... 22,376,000...
... 22,827,000...
... 19,216,000
Total
.$144,041,000...
,..$146,369,000...
...$160,491.000...
...$166,767,000
Canning crops* ..
$736,000....
... $1,082,000...
... $1,969,000...
... $1,217,000
Rest of U.S. out-
side of South
,.$177,700,000...
...$162,800,000...
...$190,000,000...
...$169,300,000
Total U. S
.$322,188,000...
...$308,625,000...
...$341,248,000...
...$326,617,000
*Not included by
states.
—Manufacturers Record.
TAX BURDENS ON FARM LANDS IN 1919
Based on the Press Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
The table elsewhere covers tax studies in twenty-six counties, of twenty-
six states, to ascertain the ratio of state and local taxes to cash rents.
Only cash-rented farms were considered.
The states listed in the table appear in the order of these ratios.
Halifax was the county studied in North Carolina, in which county 6.3 cents
of every dollar of cash-rent went to pay state and local taxes—mainly local
taxes.
The ratio was lower only in Southampton county, Ya., another cotton-produc
ing county, just across the North Carolina line.
The ratios range from 5.6 cents per dollar of cash rent in Southampton
county in Virginia to 66.6 cents per dollar of cash rent in Pennsylvania.
The cotton-belt counties all ranked low in 1919 except in Oklahoma.
In 1924, corporation tax burdens in North Carolina were 31.44 cents of
every net income dollar.
Meantime the tax burdens on farm properties have increased. Other
studies of farm tax burdens will follow in our columns.
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina.
Rank State
Counties studied
Percent total
1
Virginia
Southampton county
taxes were
of cash rents
6.6
2
North Carolina
Halifax county
6.3
3
Alabama
Montgomery county
7.1
4
Georgia
Bleckley county
7.6
6
Tennessee
Rutherford county
7.6
6
Arizona
Maricopa county
9.8 .
7
Arkansas
St. Francis county
10.4
8
Mississippi
Tunica county
....V 11.3
f.
Nebraska
Wayne county
11.7
10
California
Sacramento county !
13.9
11
Indiana
Tipton county
15.0
12
South Dakota
Moody county
16.2
!3
Illinois
Macoupin county
18.2
14
Iowa
Story county
18.8
16
Ohio
Franklin county
22.4
16
Kansas ^
, Butler county
23.7
17
Colorado
Delta county
24.0
18
Minnesota
McLeod county
24.4
19
Idaho
Ada county
28.4
20
Utah
Salt Lake county
28.7 .
21
Oklahoma
Payne county
29.2 .
22
New York
Delaware county
30.9
23
Oregon
Washington county
37.8
24
Michigan
Lenawee county
38.0
26
Wisconsin
Dane county
39.6
26
Pennsylvania
....... Chester county
66.6