Page Two
THE PILOT
Published every Friday by
THE PILOT, Incorporated.
Aberdeen, North Carolina
NELSON C. HYDE, General Manager
BION H. BUTLER, Editor
JAMES BOYD STRUTHERS BURT
RALPH PAGE
Contributing Editors
Subscription Rates:
One Year ..$2.00
Six Months $1.00
Three Months 50
Address all communications to The
Pilot, Inc., Aberdeen, N, C.
Entered at the Postoffice at Aber
deen, N. C., as second-class mail mat
ter.
Friday, May 29. 1931
THE LEGISLATURE
NOT RESPONSIBLE
The legislature has conclud
ed its job, and although it has
not done what the people had
hoped for, it has done about as
much as could have been expect
ed. The people asked for a reduc
tion of taxes. To reduce taxes
it is necessary to reduce expen
ditures. The people and the leg
islature alike were not in sym
pathy with reduced expenses.
Some things were cut down a
little and some were not only not
cut down but raised. It is im
possible to reduce taxes unless
the outgo from the treasury is
reduced. Some things cannot be
reduced. The interest on state
and county debt is fixed. The
sinking fund and the debts due
cannot be reduced except by
payments. Ro^ad building goes
on. Schools continue to call for
money, although with a probable
reduction. The state assumes
more of the cost of schools and
then levies taxes to help carry
out its part of the work. The
shift is largely from one shoul
der to the other, but until the
matter has been tried out
through some months of actual
practice nobody knows w’here
we are to land.
Many schemes were proposed,
some rather intelligent, some
helpful, some purely political,
some absurd. After long strug
gle messy sort of compromise
is reached, w^hich will be over
hauled two years from now, but
until that time the thing to do
is to study the problem of tax
ation and expenditure in actual
practice and to stop the ever
lasting yammer about the folks
who have a different opinion
about the method. The new bill
has its serious weaknesses. It
could be much worse. Perhaps
with so many men of differing
views to make a tax law we will
never have one much better. It
is not as bad as it seems to
many people. The truth is that
we never get a good tax bill,
state or national. The truth is
also that we don’t w^ant a good
one. We want a bill that will
make the other fellow pay the
taxfs, and that was the cause
of the delay in getting this one.
Next year will be a warm po
litical year in North Carolina, as
well as in the nation, and
Moore county will be stirred up
some along with the rest of the
state. We will all hear some new
things talked about, and taxes
will be in the mixing batch as
well as A1 Smith, financial
troubles and the tariff. Also
will the reduction of expenses
figure in the next campaign, for
we pay taxes again before the
next political battles are to be
fought.
DESTROYING
NATURAL BALANCES
The experience at the Eldridge
Johnson plantations concerning
the status of hawks and other
presumed vermin in dealing with
quail and other desirable birds
and animals is worth a study by
the whole people. Hawks and
owls have been the object of in
discriminate warfare for an in
definite period. It seems that
many of these creatures that
men have been slaughtering
without definite knowledge of
their relation to other creatures
is disturbing that natural bal
ance which is essential if animal
life is to continue.
A large variety of hawks and
owls, including kites and eagles,
are found in North Carolina, but
only a limited number of these !
varieties kill poultry or the birds
that are esteemed of great value. ’
The kites are knows as snake
hawks where they are most com
mon, the ospreys feed largely on
snakes, fish, insects and small
animals. The marsh hawk feeds
on small rodents, rats, mice, rah-
bits and such creatures. The
sharp-shinned hawk is not com
mon in the state, but it occasion
ally gets a quail or a chicken.
The Cooper's hawk, or blue dart
er, is one of the marauders of
the poultry yard. It is not justi
fied in being overlooked. The
Red-tailed hawk catches an occa-
I sional chicken, but a great many
other things that are'objection
able, while the Refd-shouldered
hawk, often called the Chidken
hawk, has not been known by the
I state ornithologists who wrote
. the book of the ^‘Birds of North
.Carolina’’ to kill a chicken or
.bird of any kind. The Broad
winged hawk is seldom, if ever,
known to destroy bird life, but
it does kill a lot of animals and
insects that are harmful. Eagles
are a joke as far as killing use
ful birds is concerned. They live
I largely on fish except an occa-
! sional golden eagle in the moun-
i tains, and anyway it is not seen
I often enough in this part of the
j state to bother about.
At least this is the story as it
{comes from the authorities at
j Raleigh who are thoroughly fa-
I miliar with birds of prey and all
I others. It shows that we have
! been killing many birds ^ that
I should be highly beneficial in
'killing snakes, mice, insects, etc.,
I and that in doing it we are re
moving one of the most impor
tant helpers of the human race,
i Before men commenced to kill
i birds so indiscriminately and so
largely it was not necessary to
'have a poison for the restraint
I of every pest that bothers every
crop. But we have been killing
I birds so thoroughly that it is
! hardly any use to set out a fence
1 post these days unless we spray
j it every few weeks. We have
, killed the birds to permit perni-
jcious vermin of all sorts to
thrive, and it is time to change
' our tactics, to become familiar
with what the birds actually do
for us, to distinguish between
[the few objectionable birds and
the helpful ones, and to try to
encourage natural equilibrium
instead of destroying it.
THE PILOT, a Paper With Character, Aberdeen, North Carql^
sufficient to buy the myriad of
■other things we seem obliged to
ihave. It is not as simple a prob-
I lem as you might think, but the
I signs indicate that we are be
comes this way from the North,
assembling it on that fanned out
railroad that has arms from
Washington to Philadelp^iia,
New York and all New England;
ginning to see clearing sky. And i to Harrisburg, Buffalo, Roches-
! one thing appears to be possible | ter, and the state of
I—that may be we will temper New York; to Pittsburgh, Clev^
I the buying to the income instead i land, Chicago, Cmcmnati and all
j of straining the income to make | of the Northwest, a ^eat sweep-
I it cover the buying. Problems i ing gatherer of business froni
that seem impossible are some- |all the country that is interested
I time solved by turning them I in this direction.
■around that way and working
from the other end.
A TRAFFIC
REVOLUTION
A hundred million dollars has
been appropriated for the work,
which is to be pushed forward as
fast as possible, and with the
employment of men, the pur
chase of material and the var-
I An announcement that will in-: ious stimulating effect on bus-
jterest the Sandhills country | iness generally this big job will
I comes from the Pennsylvania have decided effect on the pros-
IRailroad whicji is about to award ' perity of the country. But it will
I contracts for changing 1,500 materially affect the Sandhills
miles of its main lines to electric neighborhood, for pouring
operation. The annual report is- through that funnel at Washing-
sued a few weeks ago told the ton and down’ the Richmond
stockholders that the purcliase road, which is largely owned by
of 230 electric locomotives has the Pennsylvania interests, will
been authorized, that the entire come a traffic under new condi-
route from New York to Wash- tions that will be an eye-opener
ington will be hurried forward in to the world. The new electric
the new improvement, and on trains will be built for the serv-
I the whole one of the greatest ice, and it is safe to suspect that
transportation /sdhemes known the Pullman equipment which
to modern progress has been set comes out from New York and
I in motion. To convert 1,500 miles Boston and Pittsburgh'and else-
i to electric operation is about w^here on the new trains will in-
xt
tt
:ininiB(op
ICE ORE^a^M
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
TO
AN OPEN HOUSE RECEPTION
AT THE NEW
BUTTERCUP ICE CREAM
PLANT
HAMLET, N. C.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 3,1931
FROM 3:00 TO 10:00 P. M.
BILLY HAMILTON
CHINA ROYAL
AND HIS
AND WBT
ORCHESTRA
ARTISTS
;BIHIE8aiP:
ICE CRB^SkM
::
It »•
! three times as much mileage on
: the system as from here to New
I York, and that means that the
imain part of the Pennsylvania
I in New York, New Jersey, Penn-
, sylvania and Maryland, will be
rebuilt into a marvel of modern
I transportation efficiency. The
j proposition is of interest to the
I Sandhills country, for the Penn-
I sylvania road is the,great feed-
i er of the southern rail lines that
I serve this section. The Pennsyl-
'vania delivers the traffic that
elude through cars to Pinehurst
just as the through cars now
come tothis section, and that the
service and equipment will be as
fine as Solomon in his most elab
orate period reveled in. The
work is expected to be complet
ed in about two and a half years,
the favorable conditions for con
struction, the low prices of ma
terial and the ability of the fac
tories to turn out equipment and
supplies helping to hurry along
the undertaking.
GRAINS OF' SAND
THE FINANCIAL
DEPRESSION
i When will financial conditions
i improve is a question about as
frequently asked as any, >'and
the answers are like the sands on
the sea for number. What is the
depression? Illustrate the situa
tion with the price of cotton.
About nine cents at the present
time. In 1909 and in 1910 cot
ton went up to 13 and 14 cents,
which figure was not touched in
any other year between 1875 and
1916, a period of 41 years. In
1914 coton sold for less than five
cents, and in all those years from
long before 1875 to recent days
cotton was king of American
agriculture. On ten-cent cotton
or less cotton plantations devel
oped and the South held its
place, furnishing the greatest
factor of the American export
trade. In fact in the forty or
more years since 1875 cotton has
sold up to 11 cent? only four
t'mes until the influences of the
recent war commenced to be felt
in 1915.
The Pilot does not know when
the depression will end. But it
does know that the world refuses
to pay more than ten cents for
cotton. North Carolina made last
year about $40,000,000 worth of
cotton. That more than paid for
the gasoline we bought. Let us
ay as a guess probably too liber
al that it paid for the gasoline,
the oil, and the tires. It is use
less to bring in the cost of the
new cars that are replacing the
old ones, for that would mean
some other big crop as big as the
cotton crop, of Which tobacco is
the only one that could do the
act. But cotton is just now the
thing in mind. Twenty-five years
ago we did not need the revenue
from the cotton crop to buy gas
oline. Possibly that is why 10-
cent cotton meant prosperity.
Anybody who wants to can
take this line and work it out for
himself. We have had to buy
automobiles, phonographs, radio
outfits, electric contrivances,
new school houses, good roads,
and you can add to the list as
many things as you care to. We
have built a number of mills and
factories to help in carrying
these new loads we have taken
on our shoulders, v^iich is of
much benefit. But somehow de
mands for new things spring up
and high-powered salesmen kind
ly show us how much more we
need to buy with the money we
get until ten-cent cotton is about^
as useless as a gallon bucket in
bailing out the sea.
Probably the depression will
end wTien we find out how to
make ten-cent cotton pay for 20-
cent gasoline and leave a margin
chief of police, is quite an advertiser.
He has one of those cars with a
spare wheel on each side, and on each
spare is a tire cover. And on each
tire cover the chief has painted:
“Southern Pines, the Mid-South Re
sort,’^ with accompanying illustra
tions, a horse, a bag of golf clubs, a
tennis racket and a hunting dog.
Someone called the telephone opera
tor in Pinehurst recently and shouted
excitedly, “Send the fire truck.” Then
she hung up. The operator had no idea
where to send the fire truck.
Telephone officials here say this
happens frequently. Another error
people make in attempting to get the
fire department is to look up the num
ber and call the fire house. Don’t do ;
that. Tell the operator there is a fire, Maude Parker has a serial starting
and where, and she will do the rest, in the current Saturday Evening Post.
Any other method loses valuable time. ' Maude Parker is Mrs. Edmund Paven-
I stedt, of Southern Pines, formerly
Approximately $12,000,000 has been Mrs. Parker Child,
sent to North Carolina veterans of the
World war under the adjusted compen-
I sation service certificate act since it
was put into force several months ; barometer of business, conditions are
ago, J. S. Pittman, manager of the j getting better. The number of adver-
Charlotte regional office of the vet- | tising pages has been increasing
erans’ bureau, states. | steadily of late, and George Horace
I He said the sum may exceed $12,- | Lorimer, editor of the magazine, says
000.000 since this figure represents | he sees an improvement in general
only loans paid out of the Charlotte ; business conditions.
office, and a number were probably |
arranged through the Washington i The grass in The Pilot’s side yard
headquarters. jwas getting too high for cutting with
Out of 60,000 North Carolina veter- j a lawn mower, and we haven’t a
ans entitled to loans, money was sent ' lawn mower any way. We solved the
s
s
Speaking of the Saturday Evening
Post, if its advertising pages are a
BRADLEY
BATHING
SUITS
Men’s, Women’s and
Children’s
Newest colors and
styles, one, two and
three-piece types.
$1.30 to $0.00
Bradley Sun Suits
for the little folks
Get yours before
they are picked over.
0. B. FLINCHUM & SONS
ABERDEEN CARTHAGE
to about 35,000.
Negroes are more numerous than
whites in six North Carolina coun
ties, Edgecombe, Halifax, Hertford,
Hoke, Northampton and Scotland.
There are more Negroes than whites
in the city of New Bern.
The status in Moore county: whites,
18,146; colored, 9,795.
problem by turning three cows out to
pasture there last Tuesday, and now
we look pretty swell.
m
i
CLEAN, SOFT AND FLUFFY
“What is more uninteresting look
ing than an unoccupied house,” she
asked us the other day, and we dodg
ed just in time when we replied, “An
unoccupied woman’s bathing suit.”
This fellow Beasley, Southern Pines’
Don’t miss the Cotton Show at Vass
next week.
Correspondence
THANKS FIREMEN
j'To the Fire Departments of
Southern Pines, Pinehurst,
Aberdeen and Carthage—
Through the columns of The Pilot
1 wish to express to all of the mem
bers of your companies my apprecia
tion of your spirited efforts to save
the Southern Pines Hotel on the
night of the 18th, and to thank you
for your heroic devotion to duty
through the long, dangerous and te
dious fight necessary to subdue the
flames.
—FRANK HARRINGTON.
Southern Pines,
May 23, 1931.
THE TWELVE
And as they went they wept,-
The twelve we did not save,
The law had been defied,
The mace must leave the stave.
And who are they that sob?
Remember not the name;
For they are soon forgot.
The mercy of ill-fame.
Nor read me now the towns
Where innocent, they played.
For there the blame must lie—
To them the blame be laid.
i Mankind gathers there, for
Protection and for gain,
But these they have cast out
And hold them in disdain.
Nor say we none shall be,
Where life is oh, so kind,
The vilest actions come
Oft from a fetted mind.
But when poor Eve gives way
To Nature’s pounding call;
Oh, do not drive her forth,
To weep out-side the wall.
—ROBERT E. DENNY.
Pinehurst, N. C., May 22nd, 1931
upon the conviction of twelve delin
quent girls, inmates of Samarcand for
attempted arson.
BENEFIT BRIDGE
For Summer Storage
DURING MAY AND JUNE
We will wash
2 cotton blankets for 60c
2 wool blankets for .80c
THE FAMLY LAUNDRY, INC.
Telephone 6101 Southern Pines
H
♦4
::
I A benefit bridge party will be given
I at the Community House Tuesday
evening, June 2nd, at 8:00. The pro-
I ceeds will go to meet expenses of the
I Association. Those wishing to attend
, are requested to get in touch with
Mr. Ralph Caldwell of Mrs. Grady
I Burney.
Time to Plant
Field Peas,
Soy Beans,
Otootan Beans,
Sudan Grass,
Carpet Grass.
WE ALSO HAVE FERTILIZER
BURNEY HARDWARE CO.
Aberdeen, Phone 30 North Carolina