ECONOMICS OF THE FISHERIES 295 



relatively poor State in agricultural income, and the coastal region has its 

 proportional share of this poor showing. 



Some indication was obtained that the region buys more and produces less 

 of its own food requirements than it needs to, in view of its own possibilities 

 in kitchen gardens, cows, pigs, chickens, and fisheries, but we were unable 

 to find quantitative data with which to measure this factor. 



Manufacturing. The region is not considered a manufacturing region, but 

 has in number 9.1 per cent of the State's establishments, does about 2 per 

 cent of the business, and employs 3.8 per cent of the wage earners. Sawmill- 

 ing is the chief manufacture of the region outside of New Hanover County, 

 and menhaden oil, meal, and scrap in Carteret County. 



Standard of Living. The standard of living in the coastal region, as meas- 

 ured by a few selected categories of material comforts, conveniences, facili- 

 ties, services, and buying power, is generally somewhat below that of the 

 remainder of the State, though the comparison is not seriously unfavorable. 

 Outside the towns, the dwellings are mostly without conveniences of plumb- 

 ing, central heating, and gas; a smaller percentage have been built since 1929, 

 and more are in need of major repair (as of 1940) than those of the whole 

 State. In effective buying power the coastal counties increased from 9.4 per 

 cent of that of the whole State in 1939 to 9.6 per cent in 1944. Most of this 

 buying power had its origin in agriculture and lumbering. Educational facili- 

 ties and services are to a large extent provided by the State and cannot be 

 used as a local criterion of comparison. The number of hospital beds (for 

 white and colored) is slightly larger in proportion to the total of the State 

 than is the population. Hospital facilities and public health services, however, 

 are also regarded more as a State than a local responsibility, and were dealt 

 with by the legislature of 1947. 



Taxes. The 21 counties of the coastal region, having 10.2 per cent of the 

 population of the State in 1940, accounted in that year for 7.24 per cent of 

 the individual and 6.95 per cent of the domestic corporation State income tax 

 returns, and paid 5.29 per cent of the individual and 2.77 per cent of the 

 domestic corporation income taxes. The individual taxes paid per 100 of 

 population in the 21 coastal counties were only 56.9 per cent of those of the 

 State as a whole. 



In these comparisons, the coastal region is set against the 100 counties of 

 the State, including not only the 21 coastal counties themselves but the 

 mountain counties and certain others of low economic status. If the com- 

 parison were made between the 2 1 coastal and the 79 non-coastal counties, 

 the contrast would be even greater. In some of the counties, including the 

 fishing counties of Hyde, Pamlico, Onslow, Tyrrell, and Brunswick, the 

 revenue derived by the State from income taxes is negligible. 



Fisheries. The average value of the fish production for the five-year period. 



