Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1914-10-15
WILL MAKE COUNTY SURVEYS.
Conditions ThrOughout State to be
Studied; Comparisons to be Made

Conditions ThroughOut State to be
Studied; Comparisons to be Made
Chapel Fil.-The United States Bu-
reau of Education, bulletin No. %, of
March 1913, describing the study OF
rural sociology in the State Normal
College, of Athens, Ca, among other
things, remarked: 'The Georgia Club
is face to face with an unmistakable
conclusion, namely, that intimate, &C
curate knowledge of ones own home
county and home State probes the
quick and core of interest and concern.
IL is an ever-present subject, with an
~eyer-growing fascination and appeal.
lingering the facts and the causes in
d1cative Of increasing stagnation and
social decline in a county land there
are % such counties in Georgia) makes
Of u young people not teachers
merely, but citizens and parties as
we'll"
This paragraph applied to the in
vestigation and Statewide campaign
of the rural conditions in the State of
Georgia, under the direction of Prof
q. c.. Branson, intimates the program
Of the North Carolina club. The work
OF the Georgia club, however vigor-
ously prosecuted t a conclusion, will
hardly measure up to the comprehen-
s1ve program to be undertaken by the
North Carolina club, in conjunction
with the county clubs of the State
University. TIE machinery for the
prosecution of the North Carolina cam
Iaign is more intensive and far-reach-
ing. Too, the first library of economic
and social problems, as it were a clear
ing house for economic sociology, in
America will be established in North
Carolina.
vitality Touch Every County.
An outline of Prof, B%ranson's cam
| raign, just made public, should be of
intense interest to North Carolina
folks. The underground sill and
framework of this momentous under
taking is now being laid. 1t will vi
tally touch every county in the State.
Prof. Branson announces that it's chief
purpose will be to get a grip on eco
nomics in North Carolina, and not a
study of economics in general. The
original idea first had it's birth i'll
the State Normal College, of Athens,
Ca, in 1897. A little later John M.
Gilletts instituted a similar plan,in
North Dakota, and of more recent
date the universities of Minnesota and
Wisconsin found favor with the idea.
The work undertaken by the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin was under the sup
ervision of Prof. Branson. The North
supplemented. the activities of the
county clubs giving the idea new as
poets.
Every County Active.
Every North Carolina county rep
resented in the University, will be an
active agency in pushing forward the
work. Each county will take an in
yentory, as it were, of it's country
side conditions. It will ascertain
whether it's own county is moving for
ward and progressing along normal
Lines, whether it is just marking time,
Or whether it is in a state of stagna-
ton and social decline. 1t will com
pare notes. with all other counties in
North Carolina The county clubs will
hunt concrete facts on topics concern
ing population, rural and urban, white
and black; agriculture, farm owner
ship and tenacy, wealth and taxation;
percentage. of i~lliteracy; the average
per capita wealth of each county; the
country church, and the hundreds OF
similar topics that are interviewer
with the growth or decline of country
side life.
The facts obtained in these reports
will be amply sQbstantiated, and the
surveys will be sent to intelligent men
end women back home for verffication
al to details. The next immediate
step on the program will be to trans
late these intensive studies into an
interesting, running narrative for pub
LEGATION in the North Carolina weeklies
: and other publications back home.
The two formal courses taught by
Prof. Branson furnish a background
for the Interpretation of these county
studies, and his workshop in the Pea
body Educational building is a store
house for the collection and distribu-
ton of information.
After wide distribution of these
studies through the medium of the
county newspaper, the particular sub
Jtct treated or the many subjects dis
cussed will be published in booklet
form. 1t will then prove of lasting
use as a textbook for teachers, social
workers, ETC., whose civic conscious
ness will be thoroughly aroused over
the presentation of actual conditions
IL their home county.
lingering the Facts.
The Investigations undertaken by
some half a dozen post-graduates in
the University will illustrate the idea,
which Professor Branson aptly terms
{ lingering the facts of the countryside
civilization: One student is attack
ing the country church problem in
Durham county; another desires to en-
compass the topic of the economic sur
plus in the farming region Of North
Carolina, and again the civic con-
seriousness of another student directs
his interests in the three typical farm
systems in the State.
.