Newspapers / The University of North … / June 6, 1928, edition 1 / Page 1
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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 6, 1928 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS VOL. XIV, No. 30 Editorial Boards B. C. Branaon. S. H. Hobbs, Jr., P. W. Wager. L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight. D. D. Carroll, H, W, Odum. Entered as second-class matter November 14. 1914. at tbe Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N. C.. under the act of Angast 24. 1918. INCREASE IN PRISONERS Prison statistics supplied by the federal Department of Commerce show causes and check the volume of crime, : as it is for the doctors to prevent and | cure disease? Increased crime cannot; be attributed altogether to the de steady increase in the number of com-1 and court procedure. ' mitments to federal and state penal in-; place some of the : stitutions. The admissions to 92 state institutions in 1926 number 41,042, com pared with 33,298 in 1923 and 26,416 in 1910. Admissions in 1926 to the four; federal institutions numbered 6,010, compared with 3,703 in 1923 and 987 in 1910. The number of inmates in the 92 reporting state institutions on Jan uary 1, 1927, was 89,294 and in the federal institutions 6,803. In 1923 the respective populations were 72,474 and 4,664 and in 1910 the numbers were 61,- 933 and 1,904. Recent statistics cover ing county and municipal jails are not available but in 1S23 the number of prisoners in such institutions was about one-third of the number in federal and state institutions. These increases have far outrun growth in general population. The number of prisoners in confinement on January 1, per 100,000 of the general population, in the 44 states represented, was 70.2 for 1910; 68.3 for 1923; 76.3 for 1926; and 79.2 for 1927. When comparing the figures for individual states, given in the accompanying table, it should be noted that the num ber of prisoners in the prisons and re formatories in a given state is affected, not only by the prevalence of crime in the state, but also by such factors as the character and effectiveness of the local policies and machinery of law en forcement, and the distribution of prisoners between the state penal insti tutions and county and city jails and workhouses. responsibilty there. It some bold experiments procedure and penology. time for in criminal CRIMINAL PROCEDURE At a recent meeting of the American Bar Association the principal theme of discussion was the need of sweeping reforms in judicial procedure to enable the courts to cope more effectively with crime. Edwin R. Sunderland, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, one of the dele- MORNING TONIC To sin by silence when we should protest, makes cowards out of men. The human race Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised Against injustice. Ignorance and’lu.st, The inquisition yet would serve the law, And guillotines decide our least dis putes. The few who dare must speak, and speak again. To right the wrongs of many. —John W. Davis. a change in the compulsory school at tendance law to include all to the age of 16 who have not completed the fourth grade, an eight-months com pulsory school term, a workmen’s ac cident and compensation act. Other resolutions and recommendations follow. CROPS IN WHICH WE LEAD According to the estimates of the United States Department of Agricul ture, l^orth Carolina has stood in each That the conference urge the of the last five years among the five states leading in the production of three important crops—tobacco, peanuts, and super- sweet potatoes. Taking tbe average intendents of public welfare and public instruction to sponsor a physical edu cation and recreation director in every school in the county, either upon a full or part time or volunteer leadership ! basis. gates, declared: “The administration of essary to anai>ze hypothetical data and justice continues to be tbe one outstand-; work out various tabulations and cor ing political failure in American popular relations before going after the real government.” Of the half-dozen speak-; data. This was to prevent the omission ers, leaders in the legal profession, not j of any pertinent information. It was one approved of this country’s criminal I also necessary to instruct the field jurisprudence, while several declared' worker? very carefully and agree on the present system archaic. One of ! definition of terms so that each sched- the speakers, Judge Oscar Hallam, of i ule would be comparable with the St. Paul, chairman of the Association’s j others. Finally, it was necessary to section on criminal law, said, in part:, work out a calendar and a budget and “The remedy lies more in adminis-1 keep within them both, tration than in statutes. The admin-1 1,300 Farms Studied istrators of the law can tighten or' loosen the processes of the law. Pub-! The investigation covered 1,000 farms liciiy of facts is one of the surest' in 13 representative areas of the state, guaranties of efficiency. Many a germ | Actually' the farms were located in is killed by blazing sunlight. Every [ twenty-five countie?. The farms with- step from detection to ultimate release i in each area were chosen at random. after fulfilment of sentence, should be , Dr. Forster said he believed the l.SOO farms were us fair a sample as could have been selected. They were all open and the public should be kept advisedl The facts should be arrayed not by sensational methods of the police I owner-operated farms, with and with- o£ the careful! out croppers. Tenant farmers were That the conference urge munici- ‘palities to sponsor wholesome play i through the development of commis sioners and recreation as an official part of municipal government. That the conference express its ap proval of the act providing a small ap propriation for a farm colon/ for de linquent women, and request the next general assembly to continue and in crease its support That the conference petition the general assembly to make the Efland school for delinquent negro girls a state institution and assume entire re sponsibility for its maintenance and necessary expansion. The conference thoroughly approves the system of mothers’ aid as now administered in North Carolina and urges the next general assembly to generally increase the appropriation for this work. reporter, but by those In only twelve of the 44 states report ing were there fewer prisoners in 1927 than in 1923. In many states there are rather striking increases. It is im possible to state whether these in creases aro due to more crime, more vigorous prosecution of the criminal lavYS, or the commitment of a relatively larger proportion of the prisoners to state institutions. Possibly all these factors operate in some states, and other factors as well. If there is a more vigorous prosecution of crime, or if a larger proportion of felons is being committed to state institutions, the in creased population of these institutions is a sign of progress. If, on the other hand, crime is increasing, as there is strong reason to believe, the picture is not so bright. ' Reforms Needed i not considered, since the investigation i was concerned mainly with taxation. A investigator, ‘‘Yet there are definite lines of whole-j ^ ^ \ ji j ieutuc “ , I separate study of E-00 landlord incomes some procedure that may be established ^ ; and i There are numerous crime surveys being made. The science of criminol ogy and penology is being developed. Criminal law and court procedure are being examined rather critically. And it is high time that these things were being done. The layman knows that there is an appalling amount of crime; he knows that our police agencies are deficient; Ue knows that court proce dure is slow and costly and ineffectual; he knows that prisons are being main tained at great expense by the tax payers and that they are failing lam entably either to reform the criminal or to deter others from crime. He knows that an overhauling is needed in all these lines, but he is incapable of making recommendations. There is no one who knows just what is needed. It is time to make some experiments. If they fail no great harm is done; if they succeed society will be benefited im measurably. That is why we should welcome such experiments as the Baumes law in New York, the abolition of the grand jury in Wisconsin, the abolition of capital punishment in Michigan, the honor system as attempt ed (with great success) by Thomas Mott Osborne. There is no profession which clings more tenaciously to old forms and old practices than the legal profession. ■Prominent members of the Bar Associa tion recognize that court procedure is 4intiquated and often the cause of tbe defeat of justice. Probably the rank and file of the profession recognize it, too, but improvement has not come. If the medical profession were as slow to cast off outworn methods as the lawyers humanity would indeed suffer. And is not humanity suffering from tbe inertia of the lawyers? Is it not just as much the duty and responsibility of the legal profession to discover the by statutes or rules of courts “We can eliminate straw bail. “We caQ. simplify indictments permit their amendment. “We can eliminate unnecessary con tinuances. We can simplify the drawing of juries and improve their personnel by limiting the number of challenges and placing greater power of control in the Court. “We can permit comment on the fail ure of the accused to testify in bis own behalf. “We can require a plea of insanity to be made on arraignment, require the commitment of such a defendant for observation by experts, and permit the calling of expects by the Court. “We can shorten the time to appeal; require appeals to be more promptly heard. “We can provide increased punish ment, where the crime is committed by one in the possession of a gun. “We can permit paroles to be made only after judicial investigation and notice to the trial Judge and prosecu tor. “We can revise procedure in other ways, speeding trials and eliminating technicalities. ’ ’—Adapted ary Digest. was made in order to determine what from Liter- MEASUHING FARM INCOME At its last meeting of the year the North Carolina Club, at the University, was privileged to have as its speaker Dr, G. W. Forster of State College, who discussed Farm Income and Farm ’Taxes Dr. Forster was the director of the farm survey recently completed for the State Tax Commission. This was the most comprehensive study of the rela tion of farm taxes to farm income ever completed in the United States. The United States Department of Agricul ture sent an expert investigator to North Carolina to assist in the study, The field workers were carefully select ed students, mainly graduate students, from State College and the University. The objectives of the survey were three- (11 To determine the percent of farm income absorbed by taxes; (2) To determine the ratio of assessed value of farm land to true value; (8) To de termine the aggregate amount of taxes borne by agriculture and to what ex tent the taxes are burdensome. Before going into the field. Dr Forster explained, it was necessary to deter mine exactly what kind of information would be necessary in order to^ throw percent of the return on capital in ian6 is taken by taxes. Tbe 1,300 farm schedules which were filled out contain careful estimates of value of farm, investment in machin ery and livestock, crop acreages, crop' yields, produce sold, produce consumed on farm, inventory at beginning and end of year, family labor used, value of fuel produced on farm, value of house rent, etc. With this information it is possible to determine the farmer’s real income in 1927. Then it is neces sary to determine how closely 1927 repr^ented a normal year. To do this it is necessary to work out price indices and yield indices. Mr. Forster pointed out that any ef fort to measure farm income, only part of which is a money income, necessi tates many estimates. What is the cost equivalent of house rent, firewood, and produce raised and consumed on the farm? Shall food consumed be esti mated at selling price or buying price? What is the amount of milk, eggs and vegetables consumed on the farm? Having arrived at net income of the farm family how much shall be allowed for family labor and bow much allowed for return on capital investment? What is the capital investment and what rate of return shall be allowed? All of these complications make it exceedingly difficult to measure the farmer’s income on a basis comparable with that of em ployed labor. There are so many vari ables in the picture, said Mr. Forster, that it will probably be best to work out income with each of several values assigned to these variables. However unsatisfactory the results, it is emi nently worth while to make this scien tific effort to determine farm income in Nqrth Carolina and the ratio of taxes to income. Whereas the facilities providing for the mentally defective of both races in North Carolina are woefully inadequate, and whereas, such condition seriously endangers the future citizenship of this state, the conference urges the general assembly to make adequate appropria tions covering this deficiency. Finally, the conference recommended that all able-bodied prisoners should be employed at some form of useful oc cupation. production for the five years 19*23-1927, the state’s rank has been first in to bacco (with Kentucky second), first in peanuts (with Georgia second), and second in sweet potatoes (with Georgia first). In the five-year period 1923-27 North n Carolina produced 28.9 percent of the entire tobacco crop of the United States, and 36.3 percent of the amount raised in the five leading states (which produced four-fifths of the total crop of the United States). Of the peanut crop North Carolina produced in the five-year period 25.7 percent of the entire United States crop, and 29.4 of the amount raised in the five leading states (producing nine-tenths of the United States crop). Of sweet pota toes, whose production is more wide spread, North Carolina produced in the five-year period only 10.9 percentof the entire United States crop, but 21.4 percent of tbe amount raised in tbe leading five states (which produced a little over half of the United States crop). While North Carolina has gained in production of tobacco in recent years, our runner-up, Kentucky, has steadily declined. As a producer of peanuts, Georgia is a formidable rival to North Carolina, and its 1927 peanut crop sur passed that of North Carolina very considerably. Georgia has also forged ahead with sweet potatoes, in which crop it now leads; and Texas also is gaining steadily in sweet potatoes, of which it has had a larger production than North Carolina in each of the last two years. The average value of these crops in North Carolina for the five-year period 1923-27 has been: tobacco $96,767,000, peanuts $9,610,000, sweet potatoes |8,* 414,000. P8IS0NEBS IN STATE AND FEDEKAL PRISONS Number on January 1. 1923, and on January 1,1927 The following table showing the ratio of prisoners in federal and state prisons to general population in 1923 and in 1927 reveals a steady increase in prison'population. In the 44 states which were reported for 1927, there were 92 state prisons and reformatories with 89,294 inmates, compared with 83,721 in 1926 and 72,- 474 in 1923. The number of prisoners in confinement in these institutions for each 100,000 of population was 68.3 in 1923, 76.3 in 1926, and 79.2 in 1927. The census was taken each year on January 1. There has also been a marked increase in the number of prisoners in the four federal penal institutions. Three states, Alabama, Florida and Idaho, failed io furnish census reports. Delaware has neither a state prison nor a reformatory. The exceptionally high ratios of prisoners to population for Maryland are largely due to the fact that a considerable number of petty offenders are sentenced to the State House of Correction, whereas such prisoners are as a rule committed in other states to county or city jails. Tbe ratios for Nevada are increased by the presence in the Nevada State Penitentiary of many federal prisoners drawn from neighboring slates. These figures are based on a preliminary report of the United States Department of Commerce. Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina light on the situation. It was also nec- SOCIAL OBJECTIVES A law requiring two weeks’ notice before marriage, and legislation for the abolishment of capital punishment were set forth as major objectives of the North Carolina Conference for Social Work, which closed a two-day session in Winston-Salem recently. Other objectives adopted by the con ference were: The Australian ballot system, an eight- hour work day for children between 14 and 16 engaged in industrial and mer cantile occupations, a reduction of the legal work day from 11 hours to at most 10, a survey of women in industry, Number of prisoners per 100,000 of general population Rank State Jan. 1, • Jan. 1. 1923 1927 1 Nevada 224.8 299.7 2 Kansas 87.7 146.7 3 California 100.5 134.0 4 Maryland 98.4 121.0 6 Indiana 76.4 116.2 6 Michigan 91.3 116.1 7 Oklahoma 83.1 113.3 8 Wyoming 167.3 110.9 9 Vermont 89.7 110.1 10 West Virginia ...104.8 106.9 11 Colorado 102.3 106.6 12 Washington 70.3 99.9 13 Arizona 92.9 ■ 98.2 14 Missouri 64.0....^ 98.2 16 Georgia 124.6 93.3 15 Ohio 69.1...... 93.3 17 New Mexico 64.1 91.8 18 Kentucky 84.4 &8,8 19 Louisiana 86.1 87.6 20 Mississippi 90.6 87.3 21 Iowa 74.3 87.0 22 Minnesota 65.3 83.9 23 Illinois 64.9 83.3 24 Tennessee 68.1 81.7 Rank Number of prisoners per 100,000 of general population State Jan. 1, Jan. 1, -1923 1927 Virginia 81.6 78.2 Arkansas 77.6 72.3 Nebraska 69.1 71.8 South Dakota 49.2 67.7 Oregon 49.2 64.7 New York 68.4 64,2 New Jersey 66.6 64.1 Montana 64 0 62.0 Texas 72.3 68.8 Connecticut 60.2 66.8 Rhode Island 72.0 65.6 North Carolina... 38.9 54.9 Maine 48.7 62.1 Wisconsin 42.2 61.6 North Dakota ... 37.9 48.2 Massachusetts... 36.0 46.6 Pennsylvania 47.2 43.1 Utah 41.8 40.6 New Hampshire 30.8 29.3 South Carolina .. 80.2...... 27.5 Delaware Alabama 130,6 Florida 119.9..:... Idaho 60.3
The University of North Carolina News Letter (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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June 6, 1928, edition 1
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