The news in this publi-
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro-
cation is released for the
lina for the University Ex-
press on receipt.
Ha Vw ^ MjMs 1 1 sLM
tension Division.
FEBRUARY 8, 1928
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
the university of north CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XIV, No. 13
Bditorial Board: E. C. Branson. S. H. Hobbs. Jr., P. W. Wager. L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knight. D. D. Carroll, H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-claBS matter November 14, 1914, at the Poatofflce at Chapel Hill, N. C.. under the act of August 24, 1912,
FARM MORTGAGES
Taking the United States as a whole j
there has been a considerable increase ;
in the last fifteen years in the number |
®f mortgaged farms. In 1910 mort-
gage debts were reported on 31.0 per-'
cent of all farms operated by owners,
and in 1926 the percentage had in
creased to 36.1.
Some agricultural economists point
to this increased mortgage indebtedness
as a sign of economic distress, even as
an evidence of agricultural decay. Per
haps it is. Certainly those who bought
farms at the inflated prices which pre
vailed in 1919 are groaning under the
mortgage load. It is likely that some
farmers, to meet emergency bills such
as sickness or hospital bills or fire
losses in the lean years since 1921,
have had to place mortgages on their
farms. There is probably no question
but that some of the increase in farm
mortgages reflects the depression which
followed deflation in 1920. However, it
is not so certain that increased farm in
debtedness is a sign of decay, any more
than that North Carolina's increased
public debt is a sign of decay. But
when mortgages are placed on farms
to secure money to buy automobiles or
to make non-productive investments
they are often an evil.
Changes Are Sectional
The fact that mortgage increases or
decreases are sectional suggests that
they may reflect no more than changes
in farm practices or changes in methods
of financing. Between 1910 and 1925
the percentage of mortgaged farms in-
isreased quite generally in the West
North Central states, the South Atlan
tic states, the South Central states,
the Mountain states, and the Pacific
states. On the other hand they de-
j^reased generally in the New England
states, the Middle Atlantic states, and
the East North Central states. It ap
pears, then, that the number of mort
gaged farms is decreasing in the older
agricultural regions of the United
States where there is a pronounced ur
ban movement and many abandoned
farms. There is an increased number
mortgaged farms in the regions
which are still in the process of develop
ment sa:h as the South and Far West.
The area which has the greatest pro
portion of mortgaged farms is of course
the wheat belt and the western edge of
the corn belt. It was this region which
witnessed the greatest infiation in farm
real estate prices in 1919-20. It is this
region which » engages in large-scale
farming with huge investments in ma
chinery and livestock, and it is good
business to use the farm as collateral
for raising capital. It is this region
which is. witnessing the introduction of
the “wheat combine" and hence a
change to larger-sized farms.
Not Necessarily Bad
The Sootiiern states show a relative
ly low percentage of mortgage in
debtedness. What increase there has
been is probably due in large part to
improvement of the buildings, improve
ment of the livestock, and the expense
involved in changing to a more diver
sified agriculture. It may be due in
part to a change in methods of financ
ing, personal notes and crop liens giv-
mg way to mortgages; in fact any kind
of indebtedness is less feared than
formerly. This easy attitude toward
debt is not altogether desirable, but
perhaps it is no worse than the parsi
mony and self-denial which charac
terized the passing generation.
The table which appears elsewhere
in this issue ranks the states according
to the percentage of farms, operated
by owners, which are mortgaged. The
range is from 12.1 percent in West
Virginia to 63.8 percent in North Dakota.
North Carolina's percentage is 19.3,
only two states showing relatively less
mortgage indebtedness. The facts
are interesting but not necessarily
significant.—Paul W. Wager.
These New Yorkers have just contrib
uted $100,000 in cash to be used as a
fund to assist western North Carolina
farmers in their efforts to improve ag
ricultural conditions in a section of the
country famous chiefly because of its
pictqresqueness and because of its pop-
) ularity as a playground for the nation.
A total of $260,000 is to be invested
by a group of New York men and wo
men who have unlimited faith in the
mountains and in the hardy men who
dwell among them. O.ie hundred thou
sand dollars of this sum already has
been made available to farmers in this
section. It has been turned over to the
Farmers’ Federation, a co-operative or
ganization of farmers engaged in in
tensive agriculture and in systematic
marketing of their produce. The re
mainder of the $250,000 will be avail
able long before this initial sum has
been expended.
Five-Year Program
This $100,000 is to be used to estab
lish agricultural industries, such as
canneries, creameries, poultry plants,
etc., among the Blue Ridge Mountains,
and through which mountain farmers
can prepare their products for market
in an attractive ^ way. The total fund
of $260,000 is to be used over a period
of five years, under the supervision of
the Farmers' Federation. It will be j
administered by a board of trustees,
who will co operate with progressive,
industrious mountaineers in the estab
lishment of modern canneries, poultry
fattening plants, egg gathering sta
tions, woodworking plants, cream sta
tions, and similar-enterprises.
In addition, specially trained workers,
will be placed in the field to maintain
close personal contact with farmers
who wish to avail themselves of the
opportunities offered. These workers
will teach farmers how to increase the
fertility of their’ soil, how to grow
larger and better crops, and how to
market their products more scientifi
cally.
James G. K. McClure, Jr., president
of the Farmers' Federation, visited
New York recently for the purpose of
laying this plan before wealthy men
and women who are familiar with the
problems of the farmer in the moun
tainous section of North Carolina.—
Lexington Dispatch.
PROMOTING AGRICULTURE
Promise of the dawn of a new era in
western North Carolina, “The Land of
the Sky," has been offered through the
generosity of a group of wealthy New
Yorkers who believe that the mountains
of this region, long noted for their beauty,
can be made to yield profitable crops.
MARKET FOR FEEDSTUFFS
The first annual meeting of the
Mecklenburg Farmers Federation re
vealed to its members and to the public
generally the fact that this new or
ganization has gotten off to a fine start.
The public has been astonished to know
that the organization has done a busi
ness of approximately $126,000 during
the eight months it has been in opera
tion, handling, as one item, an average
of more than 10 carloads of feedstuffs
per month, in addition to the handling
of fertilizer, seed and other products,
and ginning 1,600 bales of cotton.
The Farmers Federation is paying a
dividend of eix percent to its stock
holders and to the same stockholders a
trade dividend of five percent upon the
amount of business transacted with the
Federation during the eight months it
has been in business. More important
than these dividends and no less im
portant than the saving effected by the
farmers through their aggregate pur
chases through the Federation, is the
fact that the Federation purchased
more than 7,000 bushels of corn and
hundreds of bushels of barley, wheat,
and oats from the farmers of the
county, grinding it and mixing it with
cottonseed meal and other ingredients
and selling it in the form of ideal dairy
and hog feeds.
Never before have the farmers of
Mecklenburg county been assured of a
market at standard prices for any
amount of corn and small grains which
they might produce. Mecklenburg Farm
ers Federation has officially stated that
it would purchase any amount of corn,
barley, oats, or wheat offered. This
is a long step forward. It opens a new
field of opportunity for the farmers of
this section, some of whom would prefer
to grow grain to growing cotton and a
considerable proportion of whom would
prefer to cut their cotton acreage if
they could turn to another crop for
which just as ready a market would be
available. One need not be a prophet
SOWING AND REAPING
Experience is the harvest of life,
and every harvest is the result of
sowing. The experience which
young people most crave is that of
success in some service for which
they are naturally fitted. And they
wish it at once—immediately.
Youth wishes to touch a magic but
ton and command success without
apprenticeship. But nothing ripens
that is not first planted and the
very desires, the impatience, the
dreams, the ambitions of youth, are
by way of a planting which shall
come to fruition—sometimes after
these desires are abandoned and for
gotten. For the sown seed goes on
growing whether we remember it or
not. The wisdom of life is to keep
on planting.—Dearborn Indepen
dent.
to predict that the quantity of corn
and small grains offered to this or
ganization will increase very rapidly.
North Carolina is importing ground
and mixed feeds today at the rate of
90,000 tons a year. It were time our
people, and particularly the farmers
who consume this enormous quantity of
feed stuff and who should be growing
it even if they do not grind and mix it
themselves, were waking up. Here has
been a big opportunity and the start
that has been made by the Farmers
Federation inspires confidence that this
big opportunity is going to be met in a
big way.—Adapted from Charlotte Ob
server.
FARM COLONY IN CRAVEN
The arrival in Craven county of six
families of Hungarians to engage in
intensified agriculture on small farms
may start a movement of growing
significance. If the farmers are pleased
with conditions and if they make the
success they should on the rich lands of
that section, others will follow. They
have the reputation of being peculiarly
expert farmers of thrifty ways.
Slowly but surely the negro labor is
leaving the Eastern North Carolina
farms. Agricultural acreage is dim
inishing steadily. Farm after farm is
going back into forest, in itself not a
bad thing but economically serious in
its immediate results. Man-power for
something like the acreage already be
ing tilled must be obtained to com
pensate for the loss of the old labor
supply. Interstate immigration is the
only solution, now that national laws
cut down the quotas from abroad.
But, like it or not, it has been shown
that it takes the vaunted “melting
pot" many years to fuse its contents.
Immigrants in this country congregate
naturally. Whether in the city or in
the country, they must have the touch
of associations they understand. They
demand the right to continue in the
first generations of a new life their
familiar language and to an extent their
peculiar customs. The farm colony
satisfies this need. In spite of some
successful experiments, it yet remains
to be seen whether it can so operate as
to keep its members prosperous and
contented while encouraging them to
become identified with the population
as a whole.—Concord Times.
RURAL ELECTRIFICATION
Tabulations prepared by the National
Electric Light Association show that
1,660,000 new customers were added to
the lines of the operating companies in
this country during the year, bringing
the total number of customers now
served up to 21,626,000. Of this total,
17,770,000 are household users. The
rapid rate at which these electric light
and power facilities have been made
available throughout the country is
shown by the comparison that 25 years
ago there were only 600,000 customers.
Due to the vast network of power
lines that now extend over the United
States smaller communities are now
being given the same opportunities for
industrial expansion as were before en
joyed only by the large centers of pop
ulation.
At present, service for both light and
power has been extended to every com
munity in the country of 6,000 popula
tion and over, 97 percent of all places
of more than 1,000 population, 40 per
cent of all communities of 250, and 20
percent of all other communities.
The extension of inter-connection has
also had its effect on the progress of
farm electrification. The same facil
ities that are being offered to the small
er centers of population are also made
available to a steadily increasing num
ber of farms and farm homes. A total
of 360,000 farms now have electric ser
vice. Experimental projects are being
carried on at this time by a number of
different agencies in 23 states in the
concerted endeavor to bring to light ad
ditional methods of applying electricity
to agriculture and raising the efficiency
standards of the American farmer.
Operating companies are cooperating
with these agencies and with the farm
ers in improving service to the farm
er and enabling him to employ the
most modern methods.—Public Service.
had its origin at Franklin, Macon
county, April 25, 1923. It contained
9,967 pounds, slightly more than a half
car. The first cooperative carlot ship
ment from Piedmont North Carolina
originated at Rutherfordton, April 18,
1924, and contained 19,397 pounds. A few
days later, April 26, 1924, the first coop
erative carlot movement of poultry from
Eastern North Carolina was shipped
from Washington, Beaufort county.
This shipment contained 20,624 pounds.
During the eleven months July 1,
1926, to June 4, 1927, live poultry han
dled cooperatively in North Carolina
amounted to 2,804,480 pounds and
yielded the producers $689,636. The
gain to the farmers due to cooperative
marketing is estimated at $160,000.—
Adapted from a report of the North
Carolina Department of Agriculture.
COMMUNITY HATCHERY
Brevard’s Community Hatchery is
starting its third year of successful
service to the poultry raisers of Tran
sylvania county. The value of the
equipment and building of this com
munity concern is estimated at more
than $6,000, and is owned debt free, by
the 70 stockholders comprised entirely
of Transylvania citizens.
Over 60,000 baby chicks were hatched
for the people of this and adjoining-
counties during the last year, and
even better results are expected this
year. The building and equipment are
thoroughly modern in every respect and
enlargements are made to the plant
from time to time as needed. J. A.
Glazener, of the agriculture depart
ment of the Brevard high school, is
manager of the business.
As a recognition of the success of
the Brevard Community Hatchery, a
page story of the local hatchery plant,
along with pictures, was carried in a
recent issue of the official Buckeye
publication for 1927.—Asheville Citizen.
GAINS IN POULTRY
The first cooperative carlot shipment
of poultry sent from North Carolina
WHO CAN BEAT IT?
Sheriff George W. Goodwin of
Chowan county has been brought into
the spotlight by facts revealed con
cerning his collection of 1926 taxes.
The tax books charged him with the
collection of $149,924.12, and he has
collected all except $261.63, this latter
sum representing insolvents. In other
words his collections represent over
99.8 percent of the charge.
But his record becomes the more
praiseworthy when it is revealed that
he discovered and collected the tax on
over $161,000 of taxables not on the
tax books. Sheriff Goodwin is paid a
a salary of $2,800 a year and each year
since he has been in office the tax on
his discoveries has been nearly suf
ficient to pay bis entire salary.—Based
on item in News and Observer.
N. C. STRAWBERRIES
North Carolina led the entire United
States in the shipment of carlots of
strawberries during 1927, according to
figures compiled in the general offices
of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
here. The compilation showed North
Carolina's shipments totalled 2,202
cars. Arkansas, according to the same
source of information, ran a close
second with 2,041 cars.—Kinston Free
Press.
MORTGAGED FARMS, 1910 AND 1925
Expressed as a Percentage of Farms Operated by Owners
The following table shows what percentage of the farms operated by
owners were encumbered by mortgage in 1910 and in 1926. The states are
ranked according to the percentage of mortgaged farms in 1925.
In 1910 mortgage debts were reported on 81.0 percent of all farms operated
by owners; in 1925 mortgage debts were reported on 36.1 percent. On the
latter date an increased percentage of mortgaged farms is shown in all of the
West North Central states except Missouri; in all the South Atlantic states
except Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia; in all the South Central states;
in all the Mountain states;jand in all the Pacific states. Reduced percentages
are shown in all the New England states except Connecticut; in all the Middle
Atlantic states; and in all the East North Central states except Wisconsin.
West Virginia has the smallest percentage of mortgaged farms, 12.1 per
cent; North Dakota has the highest percentage, 63.8 percent.
Paul W. Wager
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
Percent Percent
of farms of farms
Rank State mortgaged mortgaged
1910 1926
1 West Virginia 12.6 12.1
2 Virginia 16.0 18.9
3 North Carolina 18.5 19.3
4 Florida 14.8 19.4
5 Kentucky 19.6 19.8
6 Tennessee 16.9 20.7
7 Pennsylvania 31.1 23.7
7 New Hampshire ..26.6 23.7
9 Maine 26.6 24.9
10 South Carolina 24.0 26.9
11 Ohio 28.9 26.4
12 New Mexico 6.4 26.6
13 Delaware 37.2 26.8
14 Georgia 19.0 27.2
16 Louisiana 19.0 ,27,6
16 Rhode Island 29.6 29.0
17 Maryland 36.6 29.9
17 Alabama 26.9 29.9
19 Arkansas 21.4 32.9
20 Mississippi 32.9 33.1
21 Nevada 16.7 33.6
22 Texas 33.3 ....83.9
23 Illinois 39.2 35.6
24 Indiana 38,8 36.4 ^
Percent Percent
of farms of farms
Rank State mortgaged mortgaged
1910 1926
26 New York 43.9 38.7
26 Massachusetts 40.9 39.7
27 Arizona" 12.9 40.1
28 New Jersey* 49.6 41.2
29 Connecticut 43.2 43.2
30 Vermont 46.9 43.6
31 Michigani 48.2 43.7
82 Missouri ,..,...46.3 44.1
33 Utah) 22.9 44.3
34 Oregon 33.7 46.7
34 Washington* 34.1 46.7
86 California’ 40.6 46.3
37 Kansas; 44.8 46.6
38 Oklahoma: 43.6 ;48.8
39 Wyoming 19.7 48.6
40 Minnesota; 46.3 48.6
41 Colorado 26.4 63.1
42 Montana 21.1 64.6,
43 Idaho 33.4 64.7
44 Iowa 51.8 66.6
46 Wisconsin’ 61,4 66.9
46 Nebraska 39.4 66.6
47 South Dakota .....38.2.. 62.4
48 North Dakota 60.9-.. 63.8