The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-03-24
PUBLIC RELIEF in NORTH CAROLINA

The University News Letter has COM
piled and published information about
public relief work in North Carolina when
is interesting. For example, 1t shows th&t
for the twelve months ending December l.
1888. the total expenditure for relief IN
Henderson county was $63,255 and thar
fifteen per cent of the people OF the coun-
tv were on the relief rolls for that period
Rutherford county received SGT Alb and
1913 per cent. of the population was on
relief rolls. Buncombe county expended
S41O,293 for relief, with 15.9 per cent. OF
the population on the relief rolls. Tran
svlvania expended S38,345 and the rolls
listed 16.9 per cent. of the population.
Polk county's relief work cost $31,618 and
listed 1919 per cent. of the population on
the rolls.
SANE. af.ths Information and comment
Z al s8h3sa VI Bletter may be of interest to
jn6ss slSs readers, and is as follows;
: y HS{s<he tYelve-month period the average per-
ee1f 81 Me states population receiving emergency
rsI;dfnkSs f6.2 or approximately one-sixth of the
eI,t,r& stipulation The ratios were much higher
daxinR khe winter months of 1928, and consla-
egaht,s5ower during the summer ana IAN months
Theg ssate total expenditure of emergency relief
funds for the twelve months S9,748,S67 OF
which around six-seyenths contributed by the
federal government and one-seventh from local
sources.
Stanly county appears to have weathered the
depression year 1888 better than any other North
Carolina county. At least she made the smallest
demands upon the emergency relief funds. FOR
the twelve-month period her average percent Of
population receiving aid three and seven
tenths and a total of only $50, 1873 was eXpen9e9
in Stanley The peak month for St3ny was 90
percent on relief in February 1888. In november
1888 less than one percent of her people were re-
eeiving relief. The explanation at the Renet VI
rectors office is that Stanly was able to rlae tne
depression because of sound agreuitural plo-
gram that had been put across IN that county
{ At the bottom we find Tyrrell county. Her II
month record was an average OF al per eehT VI q
her entire population RECEIVING emergency reheI'
Her high month was February 1888 with 81 per-
cent on relief, and in November 1893 when the
ratios were low in most counties, Tyrrel still had
55.2 percent on relief. Tyrre1 was consistently
high throughout the entire period.
Other counties that averaged only small per-
cent of their population received relief funds are
Cleveland Pasquotank, Wilkes, Alamance Har-
nett, Union and CASTOR, all under ten percent.
These counties widely scattered over the state
and represent every type of economy found IN the
state 40
! There is one area in the state which appears to
have been exceedingly hard hit by the depression.
With two or three counties excepted, the entire
area east of Raleigh and Fayetteville and south Of
Albemarle Sound had high percent of its popu-
latiOn on relief funds. The only exceptions are
Greene Hyde Dare and 0nslow counties. Coun-
ties elsewhere in the state with large percentS on
relief are few Piedmont counties-Caswell, Per-
son. Granville Wake, Chatham, Lee. Montgomery,
Anson and Mecklenburg, and few mountain
eounties-Avery, Wadtauga, Clay, Cherokee, and
Graham. Generally speaking it the eash-crop
farm tenant belt of the state that made greatest
Demands for emergency relief 1t is surprising
that for the most part, the industrial counties hac
small percents of their population relief funds.
Note the small percents in CASTOR, Cabarrus Ala
nance, Forsyth, and Davidson.
When one contemplates the ease with which the
existence necessities could be produced in eastern
North Carolina, and notes that the peak demand
for emergency relief comes from that area, ne IS
bound to conclude that the people have not MADE
the best of their natural resources. 1t will take
several vars of high prizes for cotton and tobacco
to neutrahze the losses incurred through the utter
collapse of the farm-tenancy, cash-crop system
Which brought eastern North Carolina to about as
low point any farm region In America mas
ever touched. The farm tenant non-food, cash
crop system is a fair-weather system only. 1t can,
not weather storm, lesson that should be wei
learned by this time.
The bulk of the counties rank about as they
would be expected to rank However, there arc
several exceptions and interesting contrasts The
small percents of population on relief in Greene
and Martin counties, compared with surrounding
counties Is interesting In several instances there
are adjoining counties, alike as two peas but one
has had high percent on relief and the other
low percent. Two interesting counties are Castor
and Cleveland, both of which had surprisingly
small ratios relief funds during the last twelvt
months. One wonders why the percent drawing
emergency relief twice as high in Meeklen
burg in Forsyth.
Mecklenburg leads in total amount of relic
received during the tyyelye-nonkh nerio1