Tobacco Growers: Welcome to Aberdeen
MOORE COUNTY S
LEADING
NEWS-WEEKLY
THE
A Paper Devoted to the Upbuilding
VOL. 15A, NO. 42.
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FIRST IN N»EWS,
CIRCLLATION &
ADVERTISING
of the Sandhill Territory of North Carolina
Southern Pines and Aberdeen, North Carolina, Friday, September 13, 1935.
FIVE CENTS
STATE PROTESTS
HOLD-UP OF PWA
PROGRAM BY U.S.
Only $€00,000 Construction
Work Approved of $20,000,-
000 in Projects
N. C. ASKS SQUARE DEAL
Following a conference in
Washington Tuesday with Works
Progress Administrator Harry
Hopkins, Senator Bailey, Gov.
ernor Ehiiiignous and Represen.
tative Doughton issut*d a joint
statement In which they said
they had i)een “positively” as.
sured that North Carolina would
receive its full share of the $4,.
000,000,000 work relief fund and
that ‘•there would be no dls.
crimination as between states for
pollticul purposes or othenvlse.”
This means, according to the
slatemcnt, that around $70,000,-
000 will go to North Carolina
but just how It will be divided
between WPA and PWA Is yet
to be determined.
Governor Ehringhaus, Treasurer
Johnson, Highway Commissioner
Waynick, Secretary of State Wade,
other state officers, and several
hundred representatives of county
and municipal governments assem_
bled last week in Chapel Hill in re
sponse to an emergency call from
Herman G. Baity, State Director of
the Public Works Administration, to
hear from him that the P. W. A.
•program was in North Carolina in
danger of being wrecked by Wash
ington’s disapproval of applications
sent in from this state.
Projects calling for a total expen
diture of about §20,000,000—mostly
school buildings, water works, and
sewage systems—have (^een |iub-
mitted to the P. W. A., and only
about $600,000 worth of construction
has been approved.
Rules Changed
The trouble is that the Govern,
ment changed the rules of the game
while the game was in progress. The
North Carolina applicants complied
with the Government’s requirements,
and then, after the applications were
checked by the State administrator,
found satisfactory, and sent on to
W'ashington, the requirements were
stiffened. And this happened when
the deadline for the filing of applica
tions was near at hand and there was
not enough time left for applications
to be returned to applicants and re
vised.
In his address at the meeting Gov.
ernor Ehringhaus made a spirited
protest at the scurvy treatment
North Carolina had received in the
distribution of the public works mon
ey appropriated by Congress.
Loyal Democrats that they were,
(Please turn to page 5)
Just a Couple of Unconfirmed
Stories That Drifted in to Ye Ed.
Extra Copies
The Pilot Goes This Week to
Tobacco Growers in the
Aberdeen District
More than 500 extra copies of
The Pilot are being distributed
this week to tobacco growers
throughout the Aberdeen tobac.
CO belt. If you are not a regular
subscriber and receive a copy of
the paper this week, you will
know it is sent to tell you some
thing about the opening of the
Aberdeen tobacco market next
Tuesday, and something about
Aberdeen and the Sandhills. Come
see us.
ENROLLMENT IN
SCHOOLS INDICATE
NEW RECORD HERE
Total in Southern Pines is 434
After Third D-iy, With
Many More to Come
opening
terms:
Elementary
H. S.
1931-32
274
107
1932-33
335
117
1933.34
319
117
1934-35
.329
119
1935-36
311
123
Bell Wins Honors
With Auto Patent
The registration figures of South
ern Pines School showed a total of
434 pupils at the end of the third
day of the new Fall term. School j
opened on Tuesday. Superintendent j
Frank T. Webster believes this to
tal means that within the next week
or two the registration figures will
top all previous records here, as
many children have not yet arrived
in town for the winter and will be
enrolling late.
The total compares very favorably
with past years. Here are the fig
ures showing the enrollment at the
end of the first month of previous
Total
381;
456 I
436
448;
434 I
The break-down in enrollment by ]
grades shows the following figures
for this new term:
First grade, 47; Second, 43; Third,
45; Fourth, 42; Fifth, 41; Sixth, 46;
Seventh, 47; Total—311.
High School, Eighth grade. 43;
Ninth, 33; Tenth, 31; Eleventh, 16;
Total, 123.
School opened Tuesday without
any formal exercises, the faculty
putting the children right to work.
All members of the faculty were on
hand for the opening day.
RELOC.^TE RO.XD BETWEEN
C.\RTH.\GE AND SANFORD
Pinehurst’s Liquor Supply Re
ported Wrecked in Fayette
ville, and Gargas’ Eagle Eye
We haven’t been informed just
when the Alcohol Beverage Control
store, more familiarly known as “the
liquor store," will open in Pinehurst,
but there’s a story going the rounds
that a liquor laden truck was wreck,
ed in Fayetteville the other day, and
that aboard her was most of the
stock for the new Pinehurst shoppe.
The rumor is unconfirmed but be
lieved to be true. The truck was
headed in this direction, and there
just ain’t no other store in this di.
rection except Southern Pines’, and
the shipment was not for Southern
Pines.
Anri here’s another tale:
The story goes that when the last
truckload of beverages for the
Southern Pines store arrived here
Chief of Police Gargas fouiid some
corn likker under the driver’s seat
and arrested the driver for possession
of illegal liquor. The fact that he
had a truckload of legal liquor is
no excuse for having that old moon,
shine unstamped and now’adays
frowned upon as socially unethical
since we have a perfectly good le.
gal liquor dispensary, under the
front seat or anywhere c se in your
car, and the poor driver alleged to
have paid the penalty of the law.
This rumor is also unccnfirmed for
the reason that it was such a good
story we didn’t dart try to confirm
it. It might have spoiled everything.
But it is believed to be true.
Mrs. Lillian Miller
Weds in New York
Well Known Resident of South
ern Pines IMarries Dr. Simp
son, 75 Years of Age
Southern Pines Man Invents
Device To Measure Distance
Per Unit Gallon of Gas
The Industrial Promotions Co., of
New York City has recently made a
survey of the United States Patent
Office to appraise the Fuel Consump
tion Meter patent obtained by John
B. Bell of Southern Pines and report
that the device has won first honors
in its particular division and due to
its simplicity, economy and uniquity,
it will probably be one of the most
important inventions of the decade
in the automobile industry.
Bell reports that his device will op
erate on the dash beside the speed,
onieter and will relate the actual dis.
tance per unit gallon of gas. The
mechanism of the fuel consumption
is of such a nature that no danger
in service or costly repairs will ever
present itself. The life of one should
be equal at least to that of the au
tomobile.
In spite of the numerous congrat
ulations Bell is receiving each day,
his usual modesty is not lessened.
Blue prints are to be found on the
wall of the Court House calling for
changes in the location of sections of
the highway between Sanford and
Carthage. Engineers have made the
survey for the changes in this road.
Coming out of ^arthage the road will
be relocated for quite a distance and
the new stretches of road will all be
on the north side of the Moore Cen
tral Railroad.
There will not be a grade cross,
ing between Carthage and Sanford.
Changes will be made in the location
of the road much of the way from
Carthage to the filling station on
Federal Highway No. 1, where Ed.
wards and the Birdsongs were killed
a few years ago. It is reported that
this road will be hard surfaced. It is
not known when construction work
will begin.
FOUR LOCAL. PROJECTS
APPROVED BY STATE
Moore county projects approved by
State PWA officials and awaiting ac
tion in Washington include $56,.
954 for the Moore County Hospital,
$192,500 for Hemp’s proposed water
and sewer system, $27,273 for water
and sewer system in Cameron and
$58,181 for water and sewer im
provements in Carthage.
Mrs. Lillian Haver Miller, widow of
the late Prof. William A. Miller who
died in Southern Pines August 7th,
1933. and Maxwell Simpson, 75 years
of age, a retired physician in New
York City, were married yesterday in
the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York.
Dr. Eoen Cobb of Elizabeth, N. J.,
officiated.
Mrs. Miller has lived in Southern
Pines since 1923 and has been promi
nently identified with the Southern
Pines Baptist Church where she has
long taught the kindergarten class
in Sunday School. She has made her
home on East Vermont avenue and
owns another house adjacent to the
one she occupied. She is the daught
er of Wilson and Sarah Cadmus Ha
ver.
The news of the wedding will come
as a great surprise to Mrs. Simpson’s
many friends in Southern Pines. She
left here last week without announc
ing her intentions. A marriage li
cense was issued at the Municipal
Building in New York on Tuesday,
Mrs. Miller giving her age as 53. Dr.
Simpson makes his home at the Ho
tel Pennsylvania. His first wife died
in 1931.
ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCED
OF MISS PATRICIA C. HYDE
U. S. FUNDS FOR
NATIONAL PARK
PROJECT ARRIVE
Sub-Marginal Land Develop
ment in Sandhills Assured
by Exercise of Options
PURCHASE 60,000 ACRES
Aberdeen All Prepared For
Opening of Tobacco Season;
First Sale Tuesday Morning
The engagement was announced in
Syracuse, New York last Saturday
of Miss Patricia C. Hyde, daughter
of Nelson C. Hyde of Southern Pines,
to Edward Benedict Fonda of Syra.
cuse. Miss Hyde is a graduate of
Southern Pines High School and also
attended Oldfield’s School at Glen
coe, Maryland and Miss Hourigan’s
School in New York City.
Mr. Fonda is the son of Mr. and
Mrs. George Arthur Fonda of Syra
cuse. He was graduated from Deer_
field Academy at Deerfield, Mass., in
1933 and attended Syracuse Univer
sity. He is now associated with the
Fonda Motor Car Company in Syra
cuse, distributors of the Packard
car. No date has been set for the
wedding.
Dr. Willian! C. Mudgett returned
yesterday from a hunting trip in
Canada.
The government is starting to ex
ercise its options on land selected in
this section in the sub-marginal land
development project, B. G. Downey,
State administrative offficer in
charge of the work here announced
this week. One U. S. Treasury check
said to be drawn far an amount in
excess of $25,000 was received here
during the past week to take up one
large tract of the 60,000 or more
acres to be acquired for a national
park and fisheries.
The government, under n prog
ram said to have been conceived in
the mind of President Roosevelt
himself, set aside isome time ago
$25,000,000 to retire land below nor.
mal for farm purposes, to remove
families from such lands and set
them up on land from which they
might make a living. /Under the
program the Sandhills was fortunate
in being selected for the experimen.
tal work, and Mi'. Downey and a
crew of young men under him have
been making their headquarters in
the Patch Building, Southern Pines,
carrying out the experiment. Their
work has met with the full favor of
Washington authorities who have vis_
ited the land selected in this vicinitj’,
and plans have been drawn for a
park on a large scale, mv.ch of it on
the property of Glenu Ford McKin.
ney in the Hoffman section.
.Series of Lakes
The development calls for a se
ries of lakes, a fisheries project,
with a hatchery for warm water
fish, and a tree nursery project, as
well as the beautification of the
park for recreation pui’poses. The
nursery has been well under way for
some time, on the old Broadacres es
tate. There shipmast locust has been
planted and some loblolly and long|
leaf pine. i
Something like $2,000,000 is said
to be involved in the Sandhills pro-'
ject, under a three.year program, j
Twenty.one sites for lakes have been I
selected, with necessary dams and!
the clearing of tributary streams, j
Most of the land to be acquired lies
in Richmond and Scotland counties,
adjoining Moore, but some will be
purchased in this county near the
Eldridge Johnson estate.
The exercising of the options on
some of the land which Mr. Downey
and his cohorts had chosen was good
news to the efficient staff which has
been hard at it in the Patch Build
ing headquarters and around the
country here £or many months.
Practically all the preparatory work
on the development has been com
pleted and Mr. Downey and his fel
low workers have been fearful that
in the maze of governmental finance
the fund set aside for the sub-margin
al land project might become over
looked. It was therefore a welcome
sight to the boys when last w'eek
a United States District Attorney
put in an appearance with the first
of the money necessary to acquire
optioned land and assure the car.
rying out of the fine work which
they have been doing here.
The project should mean much to
the Sandhills, ultimately giving
this section a fishing ground to add
to the many and varied sporting ac.
tivities. The planting program will
also mean a sightseeing objective for
old and young.
Aberdeen Market
Opening—Tuesday morning, Sep.
tember 17, 9 a. m. (Toss
of coin will determine
warehouse holding open,
ing sale).
Warehouses— Aberdeen Ware.
house, operated by
Claude Covington and
the Smothers Brothers,
all of Reidsville. Saund.
ers’ Warehouse, operated
by B. B. Saunders of
Aberdeen.
Buyers—American Tobacco Com
pany, Joe DeBerry.
Liggett & Myers, L. T.
Avery.
Export, John G. W’ebb.
Imperial, Ivy Winston.
Reynolds, Clarence Boles.
Independent Companies—
Several Buyers.
Warehouses Await Rush of
Weed from Crop Estimated
at 20'; Above 1934
LEADING BUYERS ON HAND
New Operators in Charge of
Aberdeen Warehouse and B.
B. Saunders Back “at the Old
Stand.” — Merchants Look
For Busy Season in Aberdeen
Stores.
COMPROMISE ENDS
LONG FIGHT OVER
U. S. HIGHWAY 15
State Agrees to Route Through
Sandhills. With Alternate
by Fayetteville
MAGAZINE PICTURES
MORK OF LOCAL YOUTH
The magazine, “Popular Meehan,
ics,” in its October issue carries a
picture of William E. Cox, Jr., 18-
year old Southern Pines youth,
standing beside a grandfather clock
and lawn chair which he built from
blueprints and plans published in a
previous issue of the magazine
After a long and bitter sectional i
fight, the Sandhills is finally getting,
back at least a portion of the tourist'
traffic that moves north and south
on U. S. highway No. 15, as a result ^
of a hearing before the State High- i
way ar.d Public Works Commission
in Raleigh last week. The commission
ordered erection of Highway 15 signs
along the Creedmoor, Durham, Chap
el Hill, Pittstaoro, Sanford, Pinehurst,
Aberdeen and Laurinburg route,
which is essentially the same as the
original route, but “alternate” mar,
kers will be erected along the Creed,
moor, Raleigh, Fayetteville course, j
The new routing will leave out
Rockingham, which w'ill permit the *
highway to enter South Carolina at:
the point highway officials of that ^
state have demanded it enter. At j
present, the route will be marked
through Southern Pines, but will be .
changed to Pinehurst when the new
Sanford.Pinehurst road now under ;
construction is completed. |
Senators W. P. Horton of Pitts,
boro and U. L. Spence, Carthage, aid.
ed the Durham delegation, which
formed the spearhead of the attack in ,
seeking to persuade the commission ;
to re-establish the original rout. I
ing. Attorney W'. Duncan Matthews I
and Charles W. Sadler represented
Southern Pines. j
It is assumed that the markers
through here will be erected at once. |
Pinehurst Gets Rate
Reduction For Power
Caroina Power & Light Cuts
Wholesale Price For 15
Municipalities
The Carolina Power & Light Com
pany has reduced wholesale power
rates effecting an annual saving of
about $35,000 to 15 municipalities,
the State Utilities Commission an
nounced on Wednesday. Among those
affected are Pinehurst and Fort
Bragg. Both these municipalities buy
at w’holesale from the company for
re.sale at retail.
“These reductions should and like
ly will mean a reduction in the bills
of the retail consumers,” Stanley
Winborne, utilities commissioner,
said in making the announcement.
“However,” he added, “the commis
sion has no authority over rates
charged consumers buying from
municipality power companies."
With 20 percent more tobacco to
be sold than last year, »\'ith two
warehouses ready and waiting, with
buyers on hand from all the leading
tobacco manufacturing companies in
the United States, the Aberdeen to«
bacco market opens next Tuesday
morning prepared as never before to
handle the several million pounds of
leaf expected to find their way here
during the next few months.
Aberdeen expects a fine season.
The warehousemen have had the
whole-hearted support of the mer_
chants and citizens of Aberdeen in
all activities leading up to the big
day of the season, and the Aberdeen
Chamber of Commerce has been busy
broadcasting the merits of the local
market for the large crop to be auc_
ticned off this fall.
Operators new to Aberdeen have
taken over the Aberdeen Warehouse
for the season, men who come here
from the important Reidsville mar_
ket with the highest of reputations,
Claude W. Covington and the Smoth
ers brothers, Tom and Reuben.
These men have been active in put
ting this warehouse in the best pos.
sible condition for the marketing sea_
son, installing new skylights to
brighten the floors and making other
alterations to care for a maximum
of leaf.
B. B. Saunders, who has become an
Aberdeen institution over the years
of his warehousing here, is back on
the job in the big Saunders Ware
house. This house is all set for the
season and Mr. Saunders anticipat
ing one of his best in Aberdeen,
.^bundiint Crop
There is an abundant crop though-
out the section which feeds the Aber_
deen market. Some good tobacco,
some only fair due to the early sea
son drought followed by too much
lain, is ready for the auctioneers’
hammers, prices, judging from mar
kets in the Border and new Bright
Belt markets, may be sumewhat
lower than last year, t)ut the mini
mum average expected here is 20 to
21 cents. Most tobaconists believe,
however, that the season average will
be well above these figures. Ther«
seems to be a general opinion that
Middle Belt prices will be higher than
others, as was the case last year.
Many grower? have hesitated to sell
on the relatively unstable border anc
eastern Carolina markets unless thej
just had to have cash, and that prob
ably means offerings here will be
both large and of good quality.
Full Set of Buyers
A full set of buyers, representingr
all the leading manufacturing com.
panies, will be on the floors here.
Representatives of the big cigarette
concerns are already on hand, in fact,
and only awaiting the first callings
of “Gene” Majoiard, and other auc
tioneers who will lead the pro_
cession through the aisles of piles.
Aberdeen merchants are prepared
for the incoming rush of tobacco
growers. Stocks in the various stores
have been replenished, new lines put
in, extra clerks put on. With better
prices for farm products and for la_
bor, there is a feeling that buylng^
will be heavy in Aberdeen during
the marketing season. Aberdeen
merchants say they are going the
limit this year to give customers the
very best values possible. Quality at
a reasonable price is being stressed in
all stores.