I' iHii! !■ Li' .r ip I UN i'i\ tb.Jf .,k I viii THE WEEKLY PILOT Published every Friday morning by the Pilot Printing Company. STACY BREWER, Manager. Entered at the Postoffice at Vass, N. C., as second-class mail matter. FRIDAY, FEB. 4, 1921 A PIECE OF LAND The Pilot has no land to sell, so it can hardly be accused of being an interested party in advising every one who can get it to secure a piece of land before land gets too high. So far land is cheap around Vass. It is not going to stay that way. No matter what some folks may say about the boosting of prices around Southern Pines and Pine- hurst land has not yet gone to its top figures. There is a lot of land around Vass yet, but that is why it is still cheap. Every time a new man comes in and buys a piece that lessens the amount that is obtainable. When Camp Bragg cut 125,000 acres out of the available supply of land to the east of us it took an estate that cannot be taken from the market without a marked effect. That land was enough to make a thousand big farms. What is left naturally brings more money because the people who want it must pick from the amount left instead of from all that was to be had before the camp came. What is left in this section has gone up. Southern Pines and Pine- hurst are taking land that would otherwise be used for farming. In addition to taking the land they are bringing people into the community who will be wanting farm supplies, thus calling on the remaining land to make stuff for the support of the new comers. The mills at Vass and the other industries that are con stantly springing up will call for more of farm products. A few acres of ground can be had yet for little money. In a year or two the price will be higher. Half a dozen years from now it will be so much higher that those who have it will not be giving it away. All around Vass little tracts of land can be picked up, or whittled off of bigger tracts, and the man who has no land should fortify himself with live or ten or thirty or fifty acres while the getting is good, and the price ,is easy. Now is probably the best time to buy a piece of land that we will see in this country ever again. Probably better terms can be had now than ever again. Now is a good time to cut up some of the big holdings and make small farms and subujg|an home sites of five or ten acres^Where land is so cheap as around Vass every man ought to have a reserve site of at least two to five or ten acres on which to make himself a home and a safe refuge. THE NEW HOTEL The new hotel is almost complet ed. In a short time it will be ready for use and when it is opened it should be the business of every in dividual in Vass to do what he can to see that the hotel is made a suc cessful venture. It will be a factor in turning travelers this way, for it is a well built and well provided building, and the management will see that it is carried on in a manner that will be satisfactory. The hotel will be a market for con 5»iderable country stuff, and in that w'ay it will l>e a market. It will pro vide a stopping place for people who will do more or less business with Vass institutions, and it will bring here new acquaintances who may in the course of time join with us in the development of this desirable community. * So wherever you can put in a word for the new institution, and for that matter for any other insti tution in your community do what you can. It is not an individual af fair that you have no interest in, for it was designed to be a public benefit, and ot make any public bien- efit of the greatest welfare it must have the help and backing of every body. MONEY CROPS AND OTHERS Money is not the big thing in this world, for all money will do is to get for you from some one else the things he has that you do not have and that you want. A money crop is a good thing to get the farm what it wants and does not make, but if the farm makes those things it does not *need the money crop to get them. The south overdoes the mon ey crop idea. In doing it it makes itself a slave to the money crop. The man who makes too much cotton or tobacco and does not make the things needed that it can make sub jects itself to the risks of low prices, which is just what is the trouble now. Cotton is the staple crop that many farms are familiar with and they are wise to keep on making it. It is the same with tobacco. But the man who makes tobacco and cot ton will do well to figure on some of the things that he needs for he can make some of them to fidvantage and then he will not have to pay for them with cotton and tobacco that sell too low to be satisfying. The farm that has its own meat does not have to sell cotton at thirteen cents to buy meat. He does not havt to sell it to buy bread if he has inede some bread. The man 'vi.'j h."s made his living on his farm does not have to sell much cotton to buy anything, and if he has made his living he does- not have to raise so much cotton. If he makes on the farm the things he needs as far as he can he frees him self fiom the tyranny of cotton or tobacco, and is in much better shape to live and in far better shape to thrive, for the farmer who is con tinually driven by low priced cot ton or tobacco is always in hot wa ter and low finance. Court House Condemned The Pilot prints below a portion of the Grand Jury's last report to the Court, In which it condemns the present court house. This is a matter that should have the Im mediate attention from the proper authori ties. No better time to build a new build ing than right now, as material Is cheaper now than It will be a year from today. We say build a new court house by all means and on the present side, and large er:ough for the growing population of the county, as the present court house is entirely too small and has no acconmiodatlons: “We have thoroughly examined the court house and find it unsafe for use, one of its walls being out of line and the roof sup ported by posts recently set up in the court auditorium. We find further that the vaults are unsafe and are not fire proof and that the valuable records of the county are unsafe therein. We find fur ther that said court house Is an out-of- date structure and entirely inadequate for the use of a court house. We are of the opinion that said building cannot be re paired and made safe and the defects mentioned removed. We further recom mend as a body, that steps be taken at once by the proper authorities for the erection of a modem court house with fire proof vaults for the safe keeping of the valuable records of the county.’.’ Respectfully submitted, L. R. REYNOLDS. Foreman of the Grand Jury. P. S.—We also wish to inform the Court this court house has been this day con demned, by the building inspector as be ing unsafe and dangerous. L. R. REYNOLDS, Foreman of tlhe Grand Jury. We have on several occasions called at tention to the great advantage of a build ing and loan association for this town and vicinity. There is nothing better for a town to help advertise it. Let us all talk about it and get people Interested. It will bring people to the town. It Krill help build houses. Why not call a meeting of the leading people and talk it over. It will be a paying venture. Who will make the start ? It is a pity and not prudence that urges a man to love his neighbor if she happens to be an attractive wi3r cowx^ Vi ‘sro WOVAe PiXPGR. QECUZ-tV -To ^ A OtM vs Viora APOOa cwvs Naonu