Newspapers / The Pilot (Southern Pines, … / March 17, 1950, edition 1 / Page 2
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Friday. March 17. 1950 THE PILOT Published Each Friday by THE PILOT. INCORPORATED Southern Pines, North Carolina 1941—JAMES BOYD. Ptablisher—1944 KATHARINE BOYD • Editor VALERIE NICHOLSON Asst. Editor DAN S. RAY General Manager C. G. COUNCIL . . Advertising Subscription Rates: One Year $3.00 9 Months $1.50 3 Months 75c Entered at the Postoffice at Southern Pines, N. C., as second class mail matter Member National Editorial Association and N. C. Press Association The Bloodshed Boxscore Grows North Carolina is ahead! But this is no cheer ing matter. This score that our state has made to date is not something to be proud of; rather it is a matter for the deepest regret. North Car olina is ahpad by ten deaths, this month, over her score for last year’s fatal automobile acci dents. Where the number of deaths stood at 134 last year, the bloodshed boxscore shows 144 for 1950, with 1,849 injured in place of last year’s 1,392. Here is a situation that calls for more than talk or editorials, There has been a surfeit of both. State Highway Patrol Commander Tolar is the la.st of many officials to admit that the record is “very alarming.” Almost every news paper has carried warnings of the situation. The state has increased the number of pa trolmen in the highway service, but, except for that, its handling of the problem has been neg ative, not to say actually retrogressive. The one bill which might have reduced accidents some what, that proposed by Moore County’s former state senator, Wilbur H. Currie, was repealed after only a few months’ trial. An irresponsible legislature, needled by the protests of voters an noyed by the bungling way dn which the pro visions of the bill were carried out, allowed it self to be rushed into imprudent action. The bill was good and necessary; properly adminis tered, it would have eliminated many old wrecks and faultily-equipped cars from the highways. The periodic checking of safety aids, which it called for, is an obvious necessity in any safety program. Here, then, is one. thing to do: revive the motor inspection law, rewritten to provide for more efficient administration. Beyond that- more and still more patrolmen and better law enforcement all round. Officials should go on the assumption that where there is an accident someone or something is to blame. Investiga tion should be prompt and thorough, with everyone treated alike. There are too many cases where people of wealth or prominence are let off. The rules against drinking and driving, it would appear, should be strengthenedr In Sweden, the high fatality rate was sharply reduced when a jail sentence was made manda tory for anyone involved in a traffic accident who could be proved to have taken so much as one drink before starting out. • Safety programs, such as that being carried on here, which make the public safety conscious and teach driving to the younger generation, are of value. All these things .will help to reduce the num ber of aacidents but probably the thing that would help most will never be done. That is: to cut down on the speed of motors. How willingly, during the war, did we all stick to the speed limit of 40 miles an hour. Driving was delightful, and it is unlikely that ' the nation’s efficiency was reduced by this extra time spent on the roads or any individual’s af fairs seriously hampered. But, in peace time, to install governors in cars to control their speed would be termed interference with personal lib erty; it would be politically impossible. Yet it is probably the only sure way to eliminate a good part of the road accidents. For until our people attain a degree of ma turity and good sense which they clearly do not now possess, accidents with high-powered cars •are almost certain to happen. We may and we must try to reduce their frequency, but they will continue to take their toll of lives. John Willcox If anyone had gone out through the county, last week, alon^ the streets of the towns or out among the farmers and countryfolks and asked for the names of the two or three men who best represented-the finest of Moore County citizens, it is a certainty that on every list would have been the name of John Willcox. This man, who died Stmday, who served the county for so many years as Clerk of the Su perior Court, was truly beloved. His friends were legion and they represented every walk of life. He knew the poor as well as the rich, he had an equal interest in their problems. His sympathy was quick and warm; his kindly cour tesy was never failing. During his long tenure of office in Carthage, he came to know more than perhaps anyone else about the affairs of his fellow-citizens. Yet never during all those years was there a sug gestion of breach of confidence; he was a true guardian of his post of trust. His duties included acting as judge of the juvenile court and no man could have been found more suited to such a position. His inter est in the young offenders was striking. There is not a doubt that, through his kindliness and understanding sympathy, many of those brought before him received their first glimpse of a good way of living and, because of this influence, took the first step along a better road. One of' Mr. Willcox’s chief interests was Moore County. . . perhaps it was his greatest interest. He knew its history and gloried in it; he knew and loved its countryside, the rolling farmlands and pine forests and the wild coun try along Deep River, where he used to live. It was here that all his children were born, in the famous House in the Horseshoe, the historic pre revolutionary house and plantation which was his home for so many years. There is grief in Moore County today, but there is also a profound sense of gratitude. There is sorrow for the loss of one who will be sorely missed by those with whom he worked and by the countless numbers who called him “friend.” But beyond this there must be, always, a deep thankfulness to the kind Providence who placed him here among us, to enrich our^ives with the benign influence of his kindly pres ence. Grains of Sand An amazing array of front pages is greeting customers at Ha3«s Book shop this Week. Stand Up And Be Counted Montgomery Memorial Hospital Our sincere congratulations go to our neigh bor county, Montgomery, on the realization of the long-cherished dream of a county hospital. Appropriate ceremonies Sunday, March 4, marked the opening of the $480,000 40-bed structure of handsomely functional design, on a beautiful hilltop site near Troy, completely furnished and equipped. Now for the first time Montgomery citizens may have modern hospital service within the borders of their own county. They may well feel proud of their Montgomery Memorial hospital, and also of the long history of endeavor which has brought it into being. For no hospital comes easily into existence. Even when state and federal funds are avail able for part of the cost, as they were here, it is a tremendous job entailing great labor and sacrifice—and that is sacrifice in the truest sense, made for the sake of others, many^ of them yet unborn. The Montgomery Herald fittingly commemo rated the great occasion of the hospital’s open ing with an impressive 52-page special edition, filled with a wealth of interesting details about the hospital. In the salutes to those individuals and organizations who have worked together to get the hospital built, we discern a story of splendid cooperation and a spirit qf true selfless ness. Nor is their job done, for a hospital as it serves and grows continues to require the full support and cooperative endeavors of those whom it serves. Yet we know of no other chan nel of human effort which so richly rewards those who work together in its behalf. W. Lament Brown, of Southern Pines, and others of the hundreds of district supervisors of the 1950 U. S. decennial census have taken on onfe of the most important jobs facing this coun try today. When the enumerators start out April 1 on the biggest nose-counting operation in his tory, it is incumbent on each of us to cooperate fully. The vital statistics this census will reveal can now only be guessed at. It is important that they be arrived at truly and accurately, for no pre vious decade has wrought such sweeping changes as that of 1941-50. In the normal course of events a decade’s changes can be pretty ac curately mapped on the basis of what has gone before. Hardly so this time, when the strong tides of the war and postwar eras have caused sweeping population shifts, accompanying an unprecedented population growth. I'The current guess's that the normal growth of North Carolina has been interfered with by the pull of industry, which has taken thousands of families to western and northern centers. These displaced Tarheels, with those of other states, may cause a shift of political weight from east to west. It appears our State may lose a congressman, and redistricting is going to cause some stresses and strains. However, once we had only seven congressmen, instead of 12. In Southern Pines, the signs of. growth are everywhere, in the need for a new water plant, the enlargement of the business district, the growth of the schools, the churches and all the organizations. Yet this burgeoning of popula tion has gone on largely outside the city limits. I With no extension of these limits, and the im'- possibility of much growth within them, we pre dict the census will not show us as much bigger than 1940’s 3,225. Too bad. There will be other changes. Cook’s Cross Roads, as it was called in the last census, will show up under its name of today—^Kannapolis. Some small towns will be shown to have shriv eled up as cities have fattened upon them. Legis lation on agriculture, industry, old age, marriage and divorce, education and housing will depend on figures produced by the 1950 census. Without accurate statistics, our government is working “by God and by guess.” When the time comes, each man, woman and child should stand up and be counted. If you can’t be anything else, you can be an accurate statis tic. Their headlines are the kind to make history and in fact, they did . For these are reproductions, sent out by the New York Times, of papers which recorded some of the world-shaking events of this nation’s past. Awful Event. President Lin coln Shot,” screams the. headline on a paper dated April 15, 1865 . . . “All San Francisco May Burn” is another—date April 19, 1906. . . The Times of February 16, 1898, tells of “The Mhine Blown Up”. . . and, with date Sep tember 9, 1909, “Commander Peary’s Revealing Account of His Successful Voyage to the North Pole” with another story on the side—“Cook Not Near Pole, Says Peary.” The fifth paper, of May 16, 1919, tells of the first non-stop trans atlantic flight, made by Alcock and Brown (dja think it was Lind- berg? You’re wrong!) The stories themselves, samples of journalism at its roost dramatic heights', are well worth the read ing. . . They carry no bylines, and we wondered if the graphic story of San Francisco’s fire was that written by Will Irwin, brother of Southern Pines’ Wallace Irwin . . . Will, who later became one of the country’s great journalists (as also did Wallace) first estab lished himself as a rising young reporter by his account of the San Francisco fire. The Sandhills Woman’s Ex change will have another rum mage sale, second of the season, Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1, and no April Foolin’ —they want all your contribu tions of things for sale, clothing, household goods arid so on. AmUng clothing items especially wanted are shoes in the larger sizes. Mrs. George A. Smith, who is staying at the Carolina hotel, is directing this sale, which is ex pected to get wanted goods to peo ple who need them, provide a profit for the benefit of the Ex change—and help you get rid of all those excess items you’ll be wanting to pass on. Call Mts. Smith, or take the things right on over. This has been a conspicuous fact about the whole business from the beginning. . . If the “saucer” tale could be pinned on show-offs it could all be easily laughed off, but it can’t. . . Nor are they people who ordinarily suffer'from hallucinations. Here in the Sandhills, disks have been recently reported by Mks. P. G. Shearman, of the Mid land road, a lady of intelligence, character and judgment, who saw five or six of them in a row across the skies. . . And also by Bob Caviness of Carthage, who saw a “silver-colored object” flying high in the air over the county seat. .. Bob is a bright young man who has had considerable news paper experience as reporter and photographer, and would be miore than ordinarily skeptical. . . We’re sure if he said he saw the thing, he saw it. Some day, we hope, we’ll get a convincing explanation of the flying saucers. . . Something more than “optical illusion.” Unprecedented Action in Winnetka Even as we join in the editorial applause for the mayor of Winnetka, Ill., who wrote the gov ernment thanks for approving a $316,000 post office but please to save their money, we are wondering how many of those who applaud are sufficiently approving to go and do likewise. There are plenty of questions for people to ask themselves when they sound out for econ omy in government, and yet fail to let up even one little bit on the pressures which cause it. For our government is truly a government of, by and for the people, sensitive to their wishes and to their pressuring touch, with the strong est pressures getting the most results. There is hardly any citizen now who does not know how to start pressing, or has not participated in one or many pressure movem'ents. Pressure is the only way a democratic gov ernment knows how to operate. When are we going to learn to use our privileges—or pres sures—only for the greatest good for the great est number? And when are we going to learn not to talk one thing and do another? Governor Scott drinks his cof fee black, it was observed by Madeline Prim, who was .seated near him at the luncheon meet ing of the N. C. Credit Women’s association directors, held Sunday at the Alamance hotel at Burling ton. . . Requested by some of the girls, who did take cream, to “chase the cow” over their way, the Chief Executive grinned and admitted, “I’m a lot better at shooting the bull.” He made the gals a nice speech, and so did our Madeline, who as secretary of the Sandhills Mer chants association was present to extend a gracious invitation to the Credit Women to hold their an nual convention here in May. They’re coming, along with the N. C. Merchants association, their big-brother organization. . . And you can look out for a bunch of lively, up-to-the-minute business women. . . Women who are hand ling big jobs every day in busi nesses all over the state, and do ing it well. “Detroit Tigers will train two of their baseball farm teams in the Sandhills.” notes the State Ad vertising Bureau in its memo to travel and resort interests all over the states. “They are Jamestown, N. Y., and Butler, Pa. . . The two teams will bring about 50 play ers in April. This is the result of Chamber of Commerce activity, and it’s not only good for South ern Pines hotels, etc., but will mean exhibition games and added attraction for visitors.” Judge J. Vance Rowe officiated at the swearing-in ceremony of the Aberdeen High school’s first Student Council, on the inaugura tion of the honor system there the other day. . . And in-so doing inducted into office his own son, Arthur, who had been elected president. Other officers are Iris Mat thews, secretary; Sue Swaringen> recording secretary, and Nancy Averitt, treasurer. . . Each high school grade has a representative on the Council. Judge Rowe made them a little talk on democracy in government, and offhand we can’t think of a better example than a high school Student Council, nor one better devised to give us good govern ment leaders in the future. And we’ll keep an eye out for young Arthur Rowe, who made a good start by being born a Rowe and is improving his position on his own. Those “flying saucers” still have us mystified, especially sirice the accounts of them almost inva riably come in from unimpeach able sources, people whose last thought would be to make up a tale for startlement or attention. Bemoaning the fact of having been hard-up this winter, one of those rare souls—God bless them! —who can see something funny in almost anything, has this to say: “Not only was the wolf at our door all.winter—she had a litter of pups on our doormat.” In the Mailbag; from Casper, Wy., —“The paper has been co’ming very regularly aind I look forward to it every Monday. We have had a mild winter and a lovely one— just enough snow to make it in teresting. Imagine from all I hear, it’s a good bit colder there right now than it is here. Hope the peaches and lovely flowers won’t be hurt. “Want to tell you, too, how much I enjoyed the Resort edi tion and how glad I was of the pictures it contained that I could show my friends here. I think this year’s edition was one of the nicest we have ever had.’’ Thank you, Lois H. Haines. . . Those words mean a lot tn US, and we appreciate your kindness in writing them. But we’d like to know whom you’ve been listen ing to, to think our weather might be colder than Wyoming (well, of course, there WERE those three or four freezing nights, but we’ll just skip them!) It makes us very happy, to get compliments on our Resort edi tion each year till it’s time to get out a new one. . . And all year long people keep coming in to buy copies. ‘If our new gym never did any thing else, it would justify itself in bringing together such groups as that at the county basketball tournament,” was the opinion of Dr. G. G. Herr enthusiastically expressed last week. “It was splen did to see people from all over the county enjoying -themselves together here, and it’s a sight we tod seldom see. “The games, too, were excellent to watch. Such fine-looking, clean-looking young people—and such fine sportsmanship! It was an inspiration to watch them.” The same thing is going on this week, with the All-State Girls’ tournament, in which the basket ball - playing lassies of 16 high schools all over the state are prov ing they can carry the show on their own and make a fine thing of it. There’s some mighty good basketball going on every evening at the-gym this week, and our ad vice to you, if you haven’t been, is to get right on over there to night. The eyes of the whole state are on the semi-finals tonight and the finals tomorrow night, so' don’t let anything stop you. 'The tournament has brought not only the teams, but a goodly following of parents and fans from all the participant towns, to cheer their favorites on. Many of them are seeing Southern Pines for the first timen-and we hope every one will come again. Citizens .Anionymous To The Pilot: The Chamber of Commerce is to be congratulated on its recent ly-issued folder for visitors. It is attractively designed and printed, and contains a wealth of informa tion for travelers. It is regrettable that no mention is made of the library. That at tractive building, with its com fortable reading room, and large selection of current magazines; and the Memorial wing, with its historical treasures, and ever- changing exhibits, are points of interest for many visitors. Authorities in the library field consider this one of the finest small libraries in the state, and bring many guests to view it. It is an asset of which the town may well be proud. Yours sincerely, CITIZEN ANONYMOUS. Fields Plumbing & Heating Co. PHONE 5952 PINEHURST, N. C. All Types of Plumbing. Heating, (G. E. Oil Burners) and Sheet Metal Work Photography and Custom Framing HENRY H. TURNER Studio 675 S. W. Broad St. Phone 6452 Southern Pines, N. C. NOW OPEN PIINE GLEB Formerly Pine Valley Inn On old Pinehurst Road A Bit of Old France in the Pines LUNCHEON DINNER ENGLISH BRIDGE TEA SUPPER MIDNIGHT BREAKFAST—WITH MUSIC Cosmopolitan Cuisine with Wines For Reservations Call Blanchette Southern Pines 6864 DR. DAVID W. WHITEHEAD OPTOMETRIST EYES EXAMINED GLASSES FITTED Hours 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. daily except Saturday (Wednesday afternoon, close at 1 p. m.) Telephone 6982—Hart Building—Southern Pines. N. C. TYNER & COMBS CONTRACTING Painting and Wall Papering SOUTHERN PINES. N. C. O, C. Combs Pinebluff 313 G. W. Tyner Southern Pines 5804 ANTIQUES ALLIE McINTOSH Southern Pines 675 South West Broad Street Telephone 6452 DRY CLEANING SERVICE 1 PROMPT MODERATE Valet V P. C. JENSEN "M/ voice means ny career.The SO-d^y mildness test proved Camel is -the cigarette-that agrees with my throat. RADIO AND _ RECORDING ARTIST YES, CAMELS ARE SO MILD that in a coast-to-coast test of hundreds of men and women who smoked Camels—and only Camels—for 30 days, noted throat specialists, making weekly examinations, reported Not one single case of thieot irrH due fo smoking CAMEIS
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
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March 17, 1950, edition 1
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