THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1957
ILOT
“Heavy, Heavy Hangs-
Southern Pines ' North Carolina
“In taking over The Pilot no changes are contemplated. We try to th^ goM
paper. We will try to make a little money for aU eoncemed
M^L»sion to use our influence for the pubhc good we wiM try to do it And we wfll
treat everybody afike.”—-James Boyd, May 23, 1941. . —^
Learn, Think-And Vote On Tuesday
It is hoped that the rather P9or turnout of
voters in Monday’s municipal primary is not
an indication of the interest that will be taken
in the election itself next Tuesday, May 7.
There are more than 1,800 names on the
registration books, but fewer than 850 per
sons went to the polls Monday. There are an
estimated 200 or so “dead” names on the
books, leaving perhaps 1,650 persons actually
eligible to vote in the primary and election.
So only about half turned out this week.
It is presumed that many voters assumed
Monday that, with only one candidate out of
11 to be eliminated, the strong contenders in
the race would aU be approved, regardless of
the number voting. But that is a poor way for
a good citizen to approach any election. A
vote is a vote and it carries weight and im
portance under whatever ycircumstances it is
cast. The old maxim is a true one: “'Bad offi^
cials are elected by people who don’t vote.’
From the slate Of candidates who will face
the voters of Southern fines Tuesday, it
should be possible to choose a capable and
representative group of officials. ,
We urge every registered voter to go to
the polls. A council chosen by a large turnout
can act with greater confidence. And the
people, in turn, can place in such a coimcii
more confidence than can be accorded a
group picked by a minority Of the registered
citizens. Both types of confidence are neces
sary if Southern Pines is to have good gov
ernment for the next two years.
We urge, also, careful evaluation of the
(iandidates by all who will vote. We like to
hear voters discussing an election—^with can
didates or among themselves, thereby gaining
and giving information. The short sketches
about each candidate, appearing in last week’s
Pilot, may be helpful, but it is up to voters
to supplement such information with any
thing else they can learn.
So—learn all you can, think hard about
your choices and then VOTE on Tuesday!
SYiyA.
V-
\
\
ISRAEL'i
Music, Miisic Everywhere
Events of recent weeks and at least one
event to be held soon testify to this area’s
interest in music—an interest that this news
paper has long sought to encourage and rec
ognize.
There was the Picquet Cup contest for high
school glee clubs. We are thinking, too, of the
many Easter musicpl events, including an
unprecedented and impressive cantata given
in the little village of Pinebluff, with assist
ance from a few singers in other Sandhills
commimities. There was recognition for the
half-year-old boys’ choir at the Episcopal
church, a new departure and a promising de
velopment in the religious music of this area.
And then last week, , there was a splendid
concert by the fuU North Carolina Symphony
Orchestra, directed by Dr. Beniamin Swalin.
And there was the pleasure aroused in hun
dreds of the county’s school children who
came here for the Symphony’s afternoon con
cert.
It is gratifying that the^usical interests
of Moore County extend not only to listehing
but to playing. In a well-attended concert.
also last week, the Southern Pines School
Band, directed by Lynn Ledden, performed
most creditably. Beginners of only a few
months’ experience with their instruments,
in one section of the program, displayed an
eager and earnest devotion to their task.
Soon, on May 11, the annual Young Musi
cians concert, sponsored jointly by the Sand
hills Music Association and the music teach
ers of the county, will be held. As in former
years, this event will show again, we feel
sure, that talented yoxmg pianists are play
ing in every commvmity of Moore County.
Vocalists who otherwise might not be heard
out of their communities, but who deserve
a larger audience, are also usuaUy heard on
these programs.
Whether the performer is a highly skilled
musician, as were those who played with, the
ssnnphony, or a boy or girl just gaining com
mand of an instrument and just beginning to
understand the formidable but rewarding
business of musical interpretation, there is in
Hiusic—especially in a performance by “live”
talent before one’s eyes—a deep and univer
sal appeal. ;
SAUBI A
EGYPT!
TORWOVV
mm
c
lyt-
POLITICAL
PHPJECtlON
EXCELLENT WATER SUPPLY IS STRESSED
Moore Resources Told In Brochure
‘This Sceptered Igle . . . This England’
Attention has been so exclusively directed
at the military angle of Britain’s recently
publis’ned White Paper, that another aspect
of it, perhaps as important militarily as well
as morally, may have escaped notice.
It is a fair guess that seldom, in the his
tory of state documents, has the character of
a great people been so strikingly revealed as
in this stark, clearcut statement of the facts
of the atomic age. Long before Winston
ChurchiU told his people to expect “blood,
pweat and tears” from, the ordeal that lay
ahead, this great nation has shown an ability
to face crises, and not only the crises them
selves but the fact that they were going to
have to face them, perhaps the more diffi
cult feat of the two. And so, it is not surpris
ing, of course, to find this White Paper com
posed in the same vein of truth-telling, of
looking the challenge in the face.
There is the quality of remorseless logic
expressed without the trimmings of an extra
word—again, to be expected of a people rais
ed on the literary fare of Shakespeare, Mil-
ton, Burke, and their great company. Above
aU, there is the forthright insistence, inherant
in this document—the demand, even—that no
punches shall be pulled, that the people shall
be told the truth.
Says the White Paper, after neatly sum
ming up, better than any government has
done, the full destructive quality of the atom
ic threat
'll must be frankly recognized lhat
there is at present no menas of providing
adequate protection for the people of this
country' against the consequences of an
attack with nuclear weapons."
There you have it; and there the British
people had it, as, over the breakfast table,
next morning, they read the statement issued
by their government.
Disregarding entirely the pros and cons
surrounding the practical wisdom of the is
suance of this paper, we submit that the at
titude ^t presents is something to lift the
heart. And that statement will seem odd to
describe the apparent acceptance of doom. But
surely it shows a courage, an ability to take
it, psychologically as well as physically, that
is infinitely reassuring.
And does not the fact that a government
has such coididence in the stamina and forti
tude of its people, that it has no fear of panic
reaction, no fear, even, that it may be swept
out'of office if it tells the people the truth-
does not this indicate a unity and un under
standing between government and people,
that should be infinitely reassuring to the
allies of such a nation?
This is not the first time the words and
actions of Britain have made proud her fel
low-members of the human race—nor will it
be the last/
'The brochure recently issued
by the Moore County Industrial
Development Committee con
tains much information of gener
al interest to the people Of the
county, as well as to the business
executives to whom it will be
distributed to urge consideration
of the county as an industrial
site.
Because of the expense of the
brochure, however, it is not be
ing widely distributed to the
public. Therefore, The Pilot is
nrinting some excerpts from the
booklet, in order that more per
sons may read some of the infor
mation it contains.
The brochure has this to say,
for- instance, about the water,
forest and mineral resources of
the county.
‘Sumer Is Icumen In’
The first warm day, everybody looked ex
cited.
The second warmer day, everybody looked
thoughtful.
The third warmest day, everybody began
to walk slower and stand in doorways long
er.
Then came the first hot day, and they start
ed to creep along the street close to the waU
to stay in the shade of awnings, they ducked
into the cool of air-conditiolned interiors;
they started that summer call: “Hot enough
for you?”
And then somebody said: “D’you suppose
it’s really beginning NOW?”
The thought that summer has come to stay
is a surprising one to have when it s only
just past April and into May. When it was
jjgxt to no time ago that folks were fearfully
reminding each other that it was just two
years ago we had the big “freeze” and won
dering if the peaches were safe yet. (But the
lovely fragUe things are never really safe
till they’re in the store, poor darlings. Or in
the mouth.)
This warmth has caught a lot of folks un-
iprepared—with their winter clothes down
still, instead of up in the cedar closet in the
attic. They were going to get all that done
while it was still bearable up there. Now they
will go through the yearly horror: struggling
up into the inferno, staggering back down
again on the verge of total collapse.
* It isn’t only household chores: some of
those seeds they were going to plant early,
before the ground baked to a crust are still
in their packets. Too late for this year.
And now the dog starts to scratch. The fleas
can’t be starting.
Oh yes, they can. Also the poison oak. Also
gnats getting through the screen at relaxing-
reading-in-bed time. And the flicker drums
on the tin gutter at 5 instead of 6 a. m. and all
the birds sing and sing around him in the
trees. Only now they start that about 4:30.
And thoughts of the beach creep in and are
turned firmly aside. Not yet. Time for that
when it’s REALLY hot. Meantime, just loll
along a bit and wait for the good old Sandhills
climate to perform one of its usual quick-
change acts. You’ll be pulling up the blanket
again most any night.
Sumer may be icumen in, but don’t go
cuckoo yet.
Ample Water
Water is available from num
erous natural springs and a
number of large spring-fed
streams. 'The countryside is dot
ted with man-made lakes, and
deep wells provide ample water.
Because the water passes
through a great natural sand fil
ter, it is relatively free of min
erals and other impurities. It
would not be diffjfciUt to obtain
a supply to meet the require
ments of many thousand people
practically anywhere in the
county.
There are only two unpolluted
streams on the entire Seaboard
Air Line Railroad, both of which
are located in Moore County.
Forest Resources
Moore County has approxi
mately 305,400 acres estimated to
be in forests. In 1938 (latest fig
ure available), the stands con
sisted of 239,700,000 board feet
of softwoods and 78,100,000
board feet of hardwoods. In 1942,
five to seven sawmills were
counted with an estimated pro
duction of 33,299,000 board feet,
most of it hardwoods.
In 1950, 13,920 cords of wood
were cut for the pulp miUs and
in the period 1927-1951, 1,117,600
seedlings were planted from
State Forestry Department
stock.
These figures show that, in
comparison with some other
counties, Moore’s lumbering
operations are not huge. Never
theless, the county ranks sixth
(among the 100 counties of North
Carolina) in the value of stand
ing timber, and at the present
there are seven planing mills,
each supplied by from six to
eight sawmills.
Moore regards its forests as its
greatest natural resource and an
nually appropriates an amount
topped by only one or two
moimtain coimties, for forest
conservation and fire fighting.
Geology and Minerals
(Information supplied by Dr.
J. L. Stuckey, state geologist).
Geologically, Moore County
can be divided into three basic
divisions, plus the sands which
overlie' part of these basic divi
sions.
The northwestern part of the
covmty is underlain by ancient
volcanic rocks. . . The central
part is imderlain with Triassic
sediments. These sediments are
reddish to chocolate brown in
color and consist of conglomer
ate, sandstone and shales. The
Southeastern portion of the
county is xmderlain by uncon
solidated sediments of Creta
ceous age. They consist in gen
eral of sand clays and sand and
clay only partially consolidated.
Overlying parts of these for
mations come the sands of the
Sandhills. The sands extend as
far north as a line roughly
drawn from south of Carthage
through Big Oak (south of Rob
bins) on the western border.
Pyrophyllite
The volcanic rocks which un
derlie the northwestern part of
the county contain the most im
portant pyrophyllite deposits in
the United States. The “talc” is
being mined near Robbins by the
Standard Mineral Company and
near Glendon by the Chatham
Contracting and Engineering
Company In 1949, over a million
dollars worth of pyrophyllite
was mined in Moore County.
The Triassic sediments are not
producing minerals of value.
Sandstones were formerly pro
duced there. The predecessor of
the present courthouse at Car
thage was built of local sand
stone.
Shales such as are being used'
around Sanford are present, but
are not now being produced. The
Deep River Coal Field extends
into the area north of Carthage,
where coal of economic impor
tance may be present. ...
Crains of Sand
Smoking vs. Boaching
A friend who’s Been smoking
around a pack and a half of cig
arettes a day decided to quit. ^
How to do it? --Recalled the ^
maxim: whenever you want a
smoke, reach for a sweet, or
something, instead.
Carried on for a few weeks on
that system and then junked the
v/hple idea: too hard on the
pocket-book. Here’s how he said
it worked out:
Two chocolate sodas a day.. .40 '
Six Hershey bars 30
Large can salted peanuts 40
After dinner snalk of
good cheese and crackers 60
$1.70
Yearly Cost of Smoking: $109.80
Yearly Cost of Reaching: $620.50
Well. And oughtn’t he to add
the cost of buying a whole set of
new clothes two or more sizes ^
larger? Not to mention soda bi- '
carb and doctors’ bills.
That Guilty Feeling
When, two weeks ago, the
Post Office Department was
coming in for a bit of razing, so
to speak, it occurred to our own
P. M. to suggest, in the politest
way imaginable, that this might
be a good time for the public to
piend its post-office ways. . . and ^
he sent in a little list to the press
to publish so that folks wojild
see what he was talking about.
Were we the only post office
patron to cringe with guilt as we
read? The first two items, es
pecially, hit home.
“Do not,” wrote P. M. Pierce,
‘■‘engage clerk in social conversa
tion.” ^
All very well, P. M. Pierce,
but the trouble is: it isn’t
“clerk”; it’s Alden, (or even
“Peewee”) and Dwight and Ola
and Broadus and the rest
—and Frankie, till he got
sick (and by the way, we
hear he’s doing well up there at
Oteen, and we hope he’ll be back
soon, because he’s missed around
here. . . and there we go: conver- ^
sation again!).
Trouble is P. M.; all your folks
down there are so NICE. The
post office is such a pleasant
place to visit.
I BONEYARD |
People stiU living can remem
ber when southern small towns,
however sleepy and non-progres
sive, were so well shaded that
one could traverse their main
street as if under an arbor. Then
came municipal improvers who
razed everything in ' favor of
paving and poles, and now a man
driving a car hurries through
them as if through a boneyard.
—Phillips Russell in The Chapel
HiU News Leader
Wanted: B. Karloff
And what about this one:
“Bring postbox key when pick
ing up mail; do not ask clerk to
get it for you.” <■>.
Ouch.
Well, we promise not to ask. In
fact, we never do: just look
stricken as we fumble madly in
our bag, the whjle standing
firmly in the center of the win
dow. Tin “clerk” groans—not
too audibly—and gets it. And
doesn’t even say: “Here, TAKE
your mail,” while he hands it to
you. §
Garland, you’ll have to get you
some Frankensteins back of
those windows if you want us to
take your pleas to heart.
*Lost’ Car Proves Problem
Writing in The Franklin Press,
Weimar Jones—who visited
Southern Pines a few weeks ago
as speaker at a League of Wom
en 'Voters meeting—relates an
experience that has been under
gone by most of us, in some de-.
gree: •'‘losing” one’s automobile.
But perhaps most of us are not
as willing to confess our absent-
mindedness as is Mr. Jones:
Aren’t peoplfe funny? No mat
ter how naturally a man acts,
they seem to think what he does
is strange.
I am reminded of that almost
every time I am on Main Street.
Having finished my errands up
town, I am ready to drive back
to The Press office. So I start
walking up one side of the
street, looking; then I go down
the other side looking.
Friencls Puzzled
lYiends seem puzzled; so I
explain;
“I’ve lost my automobile.”
Now what, I ask you, could be
more natural than'that? But they
don’t seem to understand.
“Do you mean,” they ask in
alarm, “that it’s been stolen?
. . .or just what do you mean?”
“Just what I said: I’ve lost my
autohaobile.”
They don’t literally shake
their heads; they’re too polite for
that. But I can see from their
faces they’re doing a job of men
tal head-shaking.
Then I’m the one who is puz
zled. . . and a little irritated.
“I can’t remember where I
parked the darned thing!”
Surely that ought to clear the
matter up; surely they ought to
say, “Oh, I see”; surely their
tone ought to suggest that noth
ing could be more natural, that
everybody does that every day.
Bu you should see their smiles!
Continue To Look
So I continue to look. “Let’s
see, did I park it here in front
of the post office. No; it isn’t
here. . .
“Maybe on the other side of
the street; no, that was yester-
,day. - . But it must be on the
other side, because it’s not on
this one. . .
“Maybe the Main Street park
ing places were all full, and I
left it down by the jail.” And
sometimes I find it there; some
times I don’t.
' It’s an awful nuisance, of
course, this business of never re
membering where you’ve parked.
But it’s not a new nuisance.
I’ve done it aU my life. Twenty-
five years ago, in Asheville, I
often walked the three quarters
of a mile from the office home,
was surprised to find the car
wasn’t there—and then remem
bered I’d left it parked within
a block of the office.
Got Home With It
Then there was the time I
sold our car; planned to walk for
a while and save money. But the
very next day I saw a car that
looked just Uke the one I had
sold, and got home with it be
fore I remembered I didn’t own
a car.
As I say, that sort of thing is
an awful nuisance. But, if, as I
suspect, everybody does it, why
are folks so all-fired amused
vihen I do it?
As I said before:
Aren’t people funny? No mat
ter how naturally a man acts,
they seem to think what he does
is strange.
Something New
New to us was the “wild black
berry syrup” served on griddle
cakes by the Sir "Walter Hotel in
Raleigh — encountered during a
breakfast recently before a leg- ||^
islative committee hearing.
This fragrant delicacy may
weU start the day auspiciously
for many a legislator, promoting
peace and harmony among the
lawmakers, a great_ many of
whom reside at the Sir Walter.
The wild blackberry syrup alone
was ample compensation for the
painful process of arising at 5 to
be in the capital for breakfast.' )
We feel sure this syrup—which
is light and not too sweet--is in
fluencing North Carolina history.
No lawmaker could vote for a
harsh tax measure or other ob
jectionable legislation after
breakfasting thereon.
The PILOT
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT, Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Boyd Editor
C. Benedict Associate Editor
Vance Derby News Editor
Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr.
C. G. Council Advertising
Mary Scott Newtwi Business
Bessie Cameron Smith Society ||
Composing Room
Lochamy McLean, Dixie B. Ray.
Michael Valen, Jasper Swearingen
Thomas Mattocks^
Subscription Rates:
One Year $4. 6 mos. $2: 3 mot. $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.