Page TWO
THE PILOT—Southern Pines. North Carolina
THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 20. 195S
Southern Pines
North Carolina
“In taking over The Pilot no changes are contemplated. We will t^ to keep ttas g
papCT. We will try to make a Uttle money for all concerned, mere foere •
Sion to use our influence for the public good we will try to do it. And we will treat everybody
alike.”;—James Boyd, May 23, 1941.
Public Must Support Industry Committee
Out ol last week’s meeting of Southern Pines
businessmen with representatives Of the State
DepMtment of Conservation and Development
came one firmi conclusion; if Southern Pines
is to get new industry, it must be clear to in
quiring companies that they are wanted here—
always assuming of course that such companies
have the light, clean type of operation that is
suitable for this community.
Because Southern Pines has many residents
who are not directly involved in the business
life of the community, there may be less un
derstanding than there would be in some towns
as to the economic crisis that looms in the near
future. Because they do not stand behind a
cash register daily, these residents may nox
realize what it me£ins for a town to lose a pay
roll—something that has just happened with
the departure of J. Bishop and Company’s hy
podermic needle plant and may happen again
on an even larger scale if the USAF Air
Ground Operations School does not renew its
lease, which expires next May 1, on the High
land Pines Inn.
Business here is now geared to these payrolls.
That business will suffer, if replacements are
not found for them, is an obvious conclusion.
It is a situation that all residents of Southern
Pines, whether or not they are members of the
business community, must face with a sense of
personal involvement and personal responsibil-
ity-
Formation last week of the Southern Pmes
Development Committee, to work with the D^
partment of Conservation and Development in
bringing here a type of industry that is suitable
to the community, is the first step in meeting
the payroll problem.
We are frankly optimistic about the outlook.
The new committee is capable and widely rep
resentative. Its relations with the Department
of Conservation and Development are close and
cordial—and the C & D Department is making a
special effort to attract to North Carolina the
light, ‘'science type” of industry that would be
preferred here.
In itself. Southern Pines provides- in abun
dance those good living conditions that are
sought by industry for employees and their
families—far more of such facilities than many
an otherwise suitable community has to offer.
Fvill public understanding of the payroll
problem and full public acceptance of indus
trial development of the light, non-offensive
type can now give the new committee’s efforts
the backing that will insure success.
Mobs Are Made By More Thau Agitators
The situation symbolized in today’s cartoon
on this page—^the part being played by per
sons who make a living or at least a hobby out
of stirring up racial strife—was brought to na
tional attention recently by Senator Kefauver
in a Florida speech.
The senator and vice-presidential candidate
said:
“If we permit agitators and seditionists to act
without regard for law and order, if we permit
them to inflame lawlessness and violence, then
lawlessness and violence will soon become ends
in themselves.
“Wte must maintain the peace if we are to
steadily progress in the solutions of problems
which lie before us. . .”
The ugly violence and threats of violence
which have attended some school integration
attempts in Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky
have been traced in part to the influence of
unscrupulous persons who have come in from
outside to fan the flames of hate, bigotry and
fear.
Forthright action was taken at Clinton,
Tenn., where an agitator from Washington was
jailed for contempt of federal court because of
his rabble-rousing actions in opposing the inte
gration of a school there. Anywhere that such
persons appear to ply their despicable trade,
they should be held legally accountable.
Senator Kefauver oversimplified the prob
lem, however, in putting the lion’s share of the
blame for school integration troubles on “out
side” agitators. No one can say, of course, how
communities resorting to violence and threats
would have reacted if the “outside” visitors
had not appeared at trouble spots. But it is still
true that the appeal of the agitators apparently
fell on sympathetic ears.
It takes more than an agitator to make^ a
mob—a point that all Southern communities
will ignore at their peril. No matter how un
willing they are to face the fact and no matter
how many legal or quasi-legal schemes are
evolved to evade or delay school integration,
all Southern communities are potential sites
for a school integration controversy, thus mak
ing them the potential scene of agitation and
violence.
Civic leaders, churches, schools, the press and
all mediums of communication now have a
great responsibility in fostering everywhere in
the South respect for legal procedure and con
tempt for mob action.
Town Center: Compromise Called For
The services of' a Solomon are needed in
Southern Pines to resolve. the disagreements
that have arisen about the architectural design
of the proposed municipal center to be located
on the park block.
Last week’s hearing brought forth a conflict
of opinions that are unquestionably sincere
and deeply felt by both those who favor and
those who oppose a contemporary design.
The disagreement is not simply one between
those who look forward with contemporary
and those who look backward with traditional.
Some of the persons who do not think the cen
ter, as designed in contemporary style, is suit
able for Sbuthern Pines or for the specific site
chosen for it here understand and appreciate
modern functional architecture and might well
approve the design if it were to be placed in
a different setting.
The architect himself acknowledged the
beauty of the traditional colonial style, but
pointed out that he could give the town a much
better building—in the sense of serviceability,
efficiency and usefulness—for the money, with
a modern rather than a traditional design.
In the background of the discussion that -took
place at the hearing last week is the realization
that we may be at a turning point in the gen
eral architectural style and, appearance of our
town. Therefore, many people seemed to feel,
much future development may depend on what
is done with this major public building now.
It is quite understandable that persons who
have helped to guide the destiny of Southern
Pines during the past half century and have
seen it change from a bleak and barren sandy
village into a town widely known for its,charm
would hesitate to approve something that they
feel clashed with public and business struc
tures already here—buildings which we know
have won appreciation and approval from great
nunibers of visitors and with which we our
selves feel comfortable and at home.
It is the old question of changing horses in
the middle of the stream. Those who oppose
the contemporary design know that what we
have here now in architecture has been well
received and has brought to the community
continuing appreciation, if not fame. It is no
wonder that they hesitate to depart from a
style that has proved its appeal and is a ma
jor factor in that “atmosphere” which a town
Birth Of A Salesman
Crains of Sand
MANY FOUND IN SOUTHERN PINES
Gray Squirrels—How They Live
builds up, for better or worse, over the years.
Also understandable is the viewpoint that
sees contemporary design not as “clashing”
with good architecture of former styles but
simply as providing a comfortable, efficient
and useful structure through the use of modern
building materials and methods. From their
viewpoint, good architectre of any period of
history is intrinsically good and will be recog
nized and appreciated as good by all who view
the productions of different periods in the light
of abiding architectural principles rather than
personal tpste for a style produced during a
certain period. Most old communities, they
point out, display “good” architecture from va
rious periods in time—evidence that the com
munity has developed through time to suit the
needs and tastes of succeeding generations.
The opposition voiced against a contempory
design for the town center seems to show, then,
that the needs and tastes of a number of per
sons, whose lives prove their devotion to this
community, have not changed enough to accept
a different architectural style for this im
portant building.
There are others, whose tastes and needs are
changing, who feel that we should build for the
present and future and that a contemporary de
sign will one day win the same affection ‘ and
recognition now accorded the traditional build
ings. I
Our personal taste and preference tend to
ward the traditional. We hesitate at this stage
of the town’s development to api^rove a change
that may disrupt an “atmosphere” which has
won recognition—a recognition that ■ we see as
a solid asset to the town, something that is a
known and provable fact.
There wUl have to be some compromising on
all sides if this is to be accomplished. But we
refuse to believe a compromise is impossible.
A feuniliar sight in South
ern Pines is the gray squirrel
which can be found in most
sections of the town, attract
ed by the many trees, gar
dens and wooded areas' with
in the city limits. A writer in
"Frontiers, A Magasine of
Natural History," which is
published at Philadelphia,
describes interestingly the
life and habits of the ^ay
squirrel which, he points
out, is "so common that we
tand to overlook him in our
studies of nature." This ar
ticle follows, in part:
The gtay squirrel is a rodent,
which means that he is a gnaw
ing mammal having strong inci
sor teeth, as do rats, mice, beav
ers and the like. He needs these
incisors to open nuts and to peel
I bark from saplings.
During the winter months the
I gray squirrel lives in a hollow
of a tree. He does not hibernate,
but takes naps during foul
weather and wakes up for a
stretch and a yawn when the
sun shines brightly and the earth
I is warm. Immediately the weath
er changes again he scrambles
[back home.
During these infrequent out-
lings, when there is no snow on
1 the ground, he may hunt for
cached during fall, in hundreds
of odd corners in the ground and
under tufts of grass. If snow is
thick, he satisfies himself with
the seeds from hanging pme
cones. Then having his fill, or
I pressed by a threatening storm,
he will return to his warm home,
not directly but by way of the
overhead branches of a neigh
boring tree. Presumably, this is
[to keep his home a secret.
Busy Mother
The female bears four or five
pink young born in very early
spring. The nest may be in an
bak, probably twenty-five feet
ings and goings from overhead (squeezing with his incisors at
branches. She is a very busy ani-1 every stop, testing for cracks. If
mal, doing all the chores herself
while her mate sits in a fork with
his tail curled up behind his
back, munching on a delicacy
Her appetite for work never re
laxes her caution when she
leaves home on a hunting expe
dition.
I have watched her many
times. At first, two beady eyes
glisten from the hole, the head
blending with the bark. Then,
moving out a few inches, her
forefeet resting on the rim, she
surveys the scene, possibly for
weasels, hawks and owls, foes
she would prefer not to meet. Re
assured that the area is safe, she
runs along a limb to the maple
next door with a pause just lor
enough to chew flowers. Never
theless, as she moves around, the
nest is well guarded; mother be
ing continuously on the alert for
danger.
It would seem that the gray
squirrel detects danger by sound.
His eyesight must be very poor
compared with his senses of
hearing and smell. Many a time,
in the initial stages of forming a
friendship, I have thrown a nut
in his path where the grass was
short. But did he see it? He
would hear it drop and hunt in
circles first until his nose bump
ed into it, more by luck than
judgment.
Tests His Food
Discriminating between good
and bad food is a serious business
for the squirrel, yet a delightful
one to watch. Very deftly, while
it is in good shape he will bound
off out of my sight.* In spite of
this I have found him scraping
away the earth from the roots of
grass, placing the nut in a
trough, covering it over and
thumping the earth back again.
This thumping^ action he does
with an arche'd back, rear legs
firm and a few hefty pushes of
the forefeet.
As spring advances, the young
grow and crowd their hollow
tree home and the mother must
look for a larger place. This sec
ond home is selected with care
and near the first; perhaps in a
hickory, fifty feet up. Actually,
it may be an old summer home
left from last year. From the
ground it looks like small leafy
branches matted together. If it
needs repairing mother will
spend a couple of hours on this,
filling in the cracks and rebuild
ing a twig roof.
“Here comes Persimmon Tech
but of the huddle. They swing
into that familiar split-T forma
tion, facing a tight fiye-four-two
defense thrown up by Swishdish
U. Gargoyle takes the pass from
center, swings wide to his right,
fakes a handoff to Salami and
cuts over tackle. He moves past
the 35, the 40, the 45, and is
finally thrown down by Peetzapi
on the Persimmon 48 for another
first down.”
And that, dear friends, is the
familiar (to some) and bewilder
ing (to others) chant of the foot
ball announcer you will be hear
ing on just about every Saturday
afternoon from now through
Thanksgiving. The strange
sounds will emanate from radios,
television sets and loudspeakers
at the games.
Those of us who will be fol
lowing the play on television
those Saturday afternoons will
either find the commentator’s
descriptive dialogs helpful, or as
confusing as a calculating ma
chine would be to a Chinese
abacus operator.
Here, for the benefit of all, is
a glossary of terms which might
be helpful and wiU, if followed
,(carefully, clear away some of
the shrouds of confusion that
might otherwise prevail:
SINGLE WING—This has
nothing to do with wounded
birds, crippled airplanes, or
three-toed sloths; it’s an offen
sive formation built around a
halfback who stations himself
four to five yards behind the line
and is flanked by the three other
members of the backfield. It was
popular years ago but lost out
to announcers who found that
split-T, modified-T, or just plain
T was a lot easier to say.
T-FORMATION—Another of
fensive formation built aroimd
the quarterback, who stands di
rectly behind the center and
either passes or hands the ball
off to one of the other perform
ers who arrange themselves in a
horizontal row behind him, ttas
giving the appearance of a T .
Very good for scoring touch
downs and satisfyirig die-hard
alumni who have been try mg to
get rid of the “old-fashioned
coach.
Great Moment
I up in a hollow. This position af-' sitting on his haunches, he takes
fords the mother a good view of 1 the nut between his front paws
[her domain and assists her com- and rolls it around and around.
I not forgetting the SHIRTTAIL
New Definition Of Yankee
(From The Sanford Herald)
ON CONFORMITY
“Our dangers, as it seems to me, are not from
the outrageous but from the conforming; not
from those who rarely and under the lurid
glare of obolquy upset our moral complaisance,
or shock us with unaccustomed conduct, but
from those, the mass of us, who take their vir
tues and their tastes, like their shirts and their
furniture, from the lifnited patterns which the
market offers.” —Judge Learned Hand
In a little exploration of the
I word “Yankee,” the Chicago
Tribune notes that the designa
tion is given all Americans by
I persons in other lands; that to a
Southerner a Northerner is a
Yankee; that Northerners say
I Yankees are from New England
states; that people in New Eng,
land say it is the Vermonters
who are Yankee; and that Ver
monters reply a Yankee is just
someone who eats pie for break-
Ifast.
The Tribune fails (perhaps out
1 of sensitiveness) to examine
“Damyankee,” a word formerly
I heard often in these parts. What
is a Damyankee?
You may have your own def
inition. We have ours. To us a
Damyankee is a motorist with li
cense plate of Pennsylvania or
New York or Connecticut or New
Hampshire or any other North
ern state, but probably New Jer
sey, streaking up or down U. S.
Highway 1 at 80 miles an hour,
contemptuous of all the land sep
arating home and Florida, and
prepared to denounce as a rack
eteer the Highway Patrolman
who may arrest him and save his
zisck
And, oh yes. He wears his
shirttail outside his pants.
Then the great moment arrives
for the removal. But mother first
takes a small well earned rest
before tontinuing with the next
dangerous task. She must exe
cute this job in the shortest pos
sible time. Returning to the
youngsters, she picks up one in
her mouth by the loose under
skin and, at high speed, scaihpers
down one tree, across the inter
vening space and up the tree
where the new home waits. She
then returns for each child and
again follows the lower path to
the new home. No doubt she
could carry her young by the
aerial route but her love for the
infants must be greater than her
daring. If she slipped at the end
of a leap and fell 50 feet, no harm
would come to her. She would
spread her body, legs and tail
flat to the wind and land without
a broken bone. With a thild in
her mouth, the plunge could end
up unhappily for both. *Three,
four, fivQ and the transfer is
complete, except that she takes
a last look at the old home to
verify that all her children are
accounted for.
Curious
With the warm weather,
events move fast. Her youngsters
are grown and she prepares her
self for a second litter in a maple.
By the end of the summer her
second group are running about
and the spring group are build
ing their own nests. By fall they
all have one thing in' common—
storing food for the winter.
It is at this time of year that
they are least shy and are cer
tainly one of the most curious
of animals. Just try leaving food
of any kind, anywhere in the
vicinity of a family of squirrels.
In short order you will hear a
scrabbling noise and see a pair
of bright eyes looking hungrily
I'at any food you put out.
STATUE OF LIBERTY—a de
ceptive, though age-old, play, in
which a back or an end takes the
ball from another back who has
assumed a passing stance. Corny,
but it works more often than a
lot of losing coaches like to make
themselves believe. The nex
time you get a chance to see the
old lady in New York Harbor
with her torch aloft you might
recall her likeness to a frantic
halfback looking for a friendly
campaigner who will take the
pigskin off his hands before he
gets himself smeared by a hard
rushing line.
flat pass— a short paM to
either side of the field which
travels a greater distance lateral
ly than it does beyond the line
of scrimmage, at least in many
instances. Great play, if you have
a receiver with either a big stom
ach or big hands and an easy
going attitude after being slam
med to the ground.
1
mousetrap—An offensive
maneuver in which a defensive
tackle or guard is lured across
the lines of scrimmage, only to
be uprooted from either side by
offensive linesmen. This gentle
touch Of humor is probably the
most “down-to-earth,” literally
speaking, of all practical ]okes
known to man.
Of course, the above will not
answer all questions that come
to mind during a game. Its a
complicated sport and so far has
failed to get any simpler.
But, if the glossary doesnt
help, there are two other altM-
natives open to you; give up the
game, or ask your 10-year oid
son to give with the explana-
tions. .
He probably can, and will.
The PILOT
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT. Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1*-
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Bo^d Editor
C. Benedict Associate Editor
Vance Derby News Editor
Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr.
C. G. Council Advertising
Mary Scott Newton Business
Bessie Cameron Smith Society ,
Composing Room
Lochamy McLean, Dixie B. Ray,
Michael Valen, Jasper Swearingen
Thomas Mattocks.
Subscription Rates:
One Tear $4. 6 mos. $2: 3 mos. $1
Entered at the Postoffice at South
ern Pines, N. C., as second class
mail matter
Member National Editorial Assn
and N. C. Press Assn.