■page TWO
THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1957
ILOT
Southern Pines
North Carolina
“In taVing over The Pilot no changes are contemplated. We will try to keep this a go^
paper. We will try to make a little money for all concerned. Wherever ftere se^s to
an occasion 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.
Editors Find Something Special Here
« . . -fKa rtf rivw* inte
The newspaper and magazine editors who
toured North Carolina over a long week-end,
spending Simday in the Sandhills, were ob
viously pleased with their reception here and
elsev/here.
Routine gratitude for hospitality, was to be
expected, but the enthusiastic reaction of the
editors—^to the State in general and to the
Sandhills specifically—was not forced. They
just plain liked it hereabouts.
A distinguished mem'ber of the party—one
of the top editors on one of the world’s most
famous newspapers—confessed that he had
never before been in North Carolina. The im
plication was that he had no idea that there
existed such places, such people and such ac
tivities as he had been meeting and seeing.
It’s always wonderful to be admired and
praised, most notably so when those bestowing
the kind words are persons of intelligence, exv
perience and perception. We are pleased that
the editors found in the Sandhills during their
brief visit a measure of that “something spe
cial” that we who live here recognize and en
joy.
The lesson in all this, if any, is that we in
the Sandhills must realize that, over the years,
a very fine way of life has been built up
through the exercise of civic interest, friendli
ness and tolerance by people with a generally
unpretentious and democratic outlook.
Native Scotch thrift, piety and persistence
have blended here with New England indus
triousness and energy—lightened and enriched
with the leaven of persons who have had im
agination and a wide variety of skills and with
those who have had musical, literary, artistic
and intellectual interests. Moreover, these
Blrills and interests were not aloofly held but
were integrated into the community and play
ed their important part in the making of the
“something special” that is ours.
So, while seeking to put a sounder economic
base of industry and business under the Sand
hills and while making those changes that are
inevitable with the years, we must also be
alert that the virtues of our special way of
life are preserved.
We do not think that these aims are incom
patible and we consider that those who hold
this view do the Sandhills a great disservice
whether they disagree from the point of view
of those who want changes or those who don’t.
What people everywhere want more and
more, it seems to us, is good living, a satisfy
ing way of life. This people can find in the
Sandhills.
President Friday and Academic Freedom
While the main emphasis on the outlook
for the University of North Carolina and
other State institutions of higher learning has
been on the need for increased faculty sal-
iaries, vre are pleased to note that President
William C. Friday, in his inaugural address
a few weeks ago, spoke out very strongly on
the matter of academic freedom.
Every ’ member of the faculty, he said,
should have “that freedom of teaching and
research which is an essential condition of
the proper and effective discharge of his
duties as a member of the faculty.”
And he noted: “. . . Faculty members, like
Americans everywhere, have the freedom to
speak as responsible citizens on the issues
before the people.”
These assurances are in the great tradition
of Dr. Frank Graham whose long administra
tion of the University was characterized by
such freedom. A number of faculty members
lost by the University in recent years have
left to take higher-salaried posts elsewhere—
but, according to a source close to the Uni
versity, “What much of the public may not
realize is that some of the migration of pro
fessors from' the University campuses may
have been due to fear of a trend away from
the University’s traditional academic free
dom.”
A university profes^r’s freedom to speak
his mind on controversial matters is some
what remote from public interest and under
standing—^yet it is a vital aspect of the sys
tem jf higher education in which North Car
olina takes pride and which over the years
shapes the thinking and the attitude of thous
ands of the State’s citizens who attend these
institutions.
Automobile Power: Thriller or Killer?
Apparently, the trend toward greater speed
and power in automobiles has not reached
its end in the lOO-miles-per-hour cars that
are on the roads today. Reports from Detroit
tell about experimental and also 1958 models
which top the performance of 1957 models,
by the use of “fuel injection” engines. This,
we suppose, means more speed and more
power.
This is a gloomy outlook—although, if the
auto makers are right in their estimate of
public opinion, it must be a thrilling outlook
to millions of Americans. Wte can’t see what
sense it makes to manufacture cars contin
ually bigger and more powerful (not to men
tion more expensive). We must be dreadfully
out of tune with the times.
Safety features are stressed by the manu
facturers who go happily along making cars
less and less safe for the simple reason that
they are more and more powerful. Now there
is talk Of hydraulic bumpers that would ease
the shock of colliding vehicles. Question for
the research department: would two super-
powered cars colliding with hydraulic bump
ers at 80 miles per hour kill more or less oc
cupants than two old-fashioned, regular-
bumper cars colliding at 40 miles per hour?
■fhe questions that keep nagging at the
back of the mind are:' Do people really want
all the extra speed, power and expense that
the development of the American automobile
entails? Or have they .been convinced that
they want it because the auto makers have
been so glitteringly telling them that they'
want it? Or are a large proportion of them,
who really don’t care about size and power,
buying because they fOel they should keep
up with a standard or pace set by a smaller,
more flamboyant group of enthusiasts for
super-this and super-that?
If the question were only a matter of
taste, it wouldn’t be worth much thought or
discussion. The main point is that big, speedy
cars are killing and injuring thousands and
thousands of persons in this coimtry every
year—a good many more persons, we believe,
than if most of the cars on our highways
were smaller and slower models. When hu
man lives are involved, the good sense of the
public and the responsibility • of the auto
makers should both be questioned.
In Praise of Wasting Time
A book with a most arresting title has been
attracting attention—Robert Paul Smith’s
“Where Did You Go?” “Out.” “What Did
You Do?” “Nothing.”
Since the book is an argument for wasting
time, we are at once prejudiced in its favor,
albeit the volume refers to wasting time in
childhood. While thankful that somebody has
had the wits and courage to challenge the
notion that children always have to “do”
things, we await with eagerness the still more
courageous writer who will extql a similar
policy for adults. But now we are talking
about the children.
Several items printed on this page in recent
weeks have questioned whether life today,
fOT both adults and young folks, is not too
highly organized. The book with the arrest
ing title is the most elaborate attemipt we
have yet seen to expound this thesis.
Mr. Smith recalls, for instance, some of the
delights of an implanned youth:
“Many, many hours of my childhood were
spent in learning how to whistle, how to snap
my fingers. In hanging from the branch of a
tree. In looking at an ant’s , nest. In digging
holes. Making piles. Tearing things down.
Throwing rodts at things.”
Various adult supervisors, counsellors, di
rectors, instructors, coaches and so forth that
hedge in a child’s existence today may serve
“Care To Sign Up For A Quick Ride Home, Kind Sir?”
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Billboards On Federal Road System?
Legislation to control billboard
and similar detrimental construc
tion within at least 750 feet of
main highways is being advocat
ed by Thomas B. Watkins, presi
dent of the N. C. State Automo
bile Association.
The motor club president is
urging federal and state legisla
tors and other officials in Wash
ington and Raleigh not to let
highways be made into “billboard
alleys.”
“It is true that motor clubs such
as ours have been guilty in iso
lated cases of erecting billboards
bearing safety messages along the
state’s cluttered highways. Per
haps they also distract instead of
making the driver safety-con
scious as intended. The N. C.
State Automobile Association, al
ways ready to help in promoting
highway safety, is willing and
eager to go along with any legis
lation to control their location or
even abolish them,” says Mr. Wat
kins.
Indiscriminate erection of bill
boards will blight the new 41,000-
mile federal Interstate Highway
System, he believes. He points
cut:
A Minnesota study showed an
increase in the number of high
way signs was accompanied by an
increase in fatal traffic accidents.
A Trendex News poll reported
tjiat of those interviewed on a
nationwide basis, 65.9 per cent
favored billboard control and
only 25.9 percent were against ft.
A Maryland study showed that of
9,869 Maryland motorists quizpd,
9,408 said they favored elimina
tion of signboards within 1,000
feet of the highway and only 461
said they did not favor billboard
control.
Secretary of Commerce Weeks
has asked for Federal control of
billboards* and roadside structures
over the Interstate road system
that is to be built in the next 13
years.
Any value that land adjacent to
highways ma/ have for rental for
billboard purposes is the direct
result of the building of the high
way itself, so as to bring motorists
within viewing distance of the
proposed billboard.
North Carolina has started con
struction on a small part of the
712 miles of Interstate Highways
to be located within its borders at
a cost of millions of dollars.
In the last two months, the
State Highway Commission has
let five contracts for as many
links in the Interstate System,
and more such work is scheduled
to be put under contract this year.
The Interstate System will be a
free public road system with no
toll charges in North Carolina.
The U. S. Bureau of Public
Roads has definitely located and
approved for construction a total
of 446 miles of the 712 in North
Carolina. The state plans to
spend $500 million on the Inter
state System during the 13-year
construction program. The cost
of constructing only one mile of
this system ranges up to $500,000.
The federal government is paying
90 percent of the costs and the
state 10 percent.
The Pilot believes that, in the
public interest, this matter of
eliminating billboards and other
unsightly developments on the
new Federal highway system
should be given the most careful
consideration by Federal and
State authorities.
FISH SCALES. FLY PAPER. LAMP CHIMNEYS. ETC.
Unpleasant Tasks Of Housewife Recalled
(Rena B. Lassiter in The Smithfield Herald)
a useful purpose but we cannot help but feel
that they are too numerous and that they do
not inspire a great deal of that quality which
is childhood’s special province, carrying a
special 'meaning of its Own: “having fim.”
An editorial in the Raleigh News and Ob
server rounds out this subject with a disqui
sition on the old-fashioned back yard (“likely
to be untidy and aU cluttered up with horse
shoes and fishing poles and balls and bats
and dogs and cats. . . a high board fence
around it and usually a large tree that was
excellent for climbing”), as contrasted with
back yards since landscaping has come in
and that area ha^ become “a pretty place for
tired adults to rest in deck chairs. . . And the
boy meets his friends in a public park or
asks them into his house to watch television.”
Is all lost, then, for childhood? Of course
not. All children are miade of more wonder
ful stuff than that. We suspect that, despite
and in some cases even because of, organiza
tion, children still have plenty of fun. And
each generation, we suppose, has its own
pleasures or types of pleasures. But we see in
Mr. Smith’s book and in nostalgic reminis-
tences like that of thi News and Observer a
warning to parents ttat children often should
be let alone to find and make up and enjoy
their own kinds of entertainment. “Wasting
time” and “doing nothing” remain honored
.occupations in our scale of values.
An article in the Morganton
News-Herald about changes that
have come about in the marketing
of chickens set me to thinking of
all the unpleasant household
chores that this generation of
housewives does not have to con
tend with.
Of course wringing a chicken’s
neck, mentioned in the aforesaid
article, was one of such chores. I
thought when I began keeping
house that I never could kill a
chicken, let alone do it by wring
ing its neck. But I found out on
occasions it was necessary to be
head a chicken in some manner.
When the cook in the kitchen was
too chicken-hearted to manage it,
somebody had to do the gory job.
Spoiled Appeiite
Another unpleasant chore for
me was cleaning fish. I could
spatter scales over as wide an
area as anybody, and it seemed to
me that the fish odor clung to my
hands for days and days. The
fact is whenever I had to dress
either fish or chickens, I ate little
fish or fowl.
Another unpleasant job was
taking care of the garbage. With
no way of sending greasy dish
water down ^drain, or grinding
scrap food i^jjk “disposall” in a
sink, there wfl|PisuaUy a slop pail
somewhere on the outside for
such waste. There was no water
and light system in Smithfield
until 1913. Before that time,
colored men with their mules and
wagons would make daily rounds
to some of the residences to col
lect slops for their hogs which
they kept on the outskirts of
town. But what a chOre to keep
that slop pail anyways decent!
Back in those days our tax money
did not provide for garbage
trucks.
Another unsightly and unpleas
ant part of housekeeping before
folks began to screen their win
dows and doors was putting out
sticky fly paper to catch as many
flies'as possible. Every neighbor
hood had its cow lot and chicken
yard and flies were everywhere.
Fly paper was a necessity. Even
flit and the flit gun had not come
into use in those days.
Then of course there was the
task of washing lamps and lamp
chimneys and filling the lamps
with kerosene. At least one day
a week at our house all the lamps
in the house would be assembled
on the kitchen table. A pan of
hot, soapy water, the kerosene oil
can, scissors lor trimming the
wicks and tissue paper for polish
ing the lamp chimneys kept one
busy for an hour or so.
And then those hearths that
had to be clayed. No pretty tile
that could be washfed in a jiffy.
It took a bucket of Spanish brown
and a mop, or a can of black
paint and a brush to make the
brick hearths presentable.
Marvelous Age
These are just a few of the dis- ^
agreeable chores that housewives
40 or 50 years ago had to cope
with. Housewives of that day
would have thought our modern
kitchens heaven. And to have
been able to buy chickens and
fish already dressed would really
have taken much of the drudgery
out of cooking.
Come to think of it, this is a
marvelous age lor housewives to
live in. Never has there been
such a wealth of modem conveni
ences, and though housekeeping
is still a never-ending job, most
of the really dirty, distasteful
chores have been done away with.
Grains of Sand
Fooled Again
Folks who patronize the Sun
rise 'Theatre, reaped a bonanza
from the credulity of some of
their fellow-men , . . ^nd wom
en.
Before the showing of the
movie, “Baby Doll,” the manage
ment slyly made use of an ad
gimmick that proved, apparent
ly, most effective. "ITiey issued
postcards purporting to be sign
ed by the heroine of that re
markable script, the pitiful, rid
iculous child-of-a-girl named
Caroll. The card carried a tantal
izing message suggesting a date
with the receiver at the stage
door. All in good (ad) fun, BUT:
When one local movie-fan call
ed up his wife, to ask a simple
question about dinner that night,
he was stunned to have his loved
one reply: “That’s a-a-a-aU right!
'There won’t BE any dinner to
night. And just WHO is ‘Caroll
B.’?”
But the free passes from the
management received by all pa
trons “in apology” were surely
appreciated.
A good gimmick—even if
rather old stuff, having been
used by the trade, (and, we be
lieve, about that particular
movie) a good many times dur
ing these years. But why not? A
good gimmick is a good gimmick
so long as it works.
Caw-Caw. Yourself!
Do birds have a sense of hu-
nior?
UntU the other morning we
would have sniffed at such a
thought. Birds. . . those hard
eyed, sharp-beaked creatures
with a sense of humor? '
But then came the other morn
ing.
This is the time of year when
you wake up early. . With the
birds. We woke up with the first
cardinal, located just a few feet
away (drat him). He whistled.
Then the wrens began; then the
summer tanagers, chuck-chuck
ing down the scale; then the
yank- yanks of the pair of nut
hatches, to be seen any hour
inching up or down the pine-
trunks. Then they all got to go
ing together, with others joining
in. Such a jubilation for Old
Sun as he came up!
But about the sense of humor.
After the crowd ‘had hushed,
came the crow. THE crow. He
sits on top of the biggest tree
and makes an infernal cawing.
Or sawing. Just as regular as a
■ good carpenter, in the groove:
“saw-saw-saw-saw-saw.” Five
saws, or caws. No more, no less.
He went on and on: “caw-caw-
caw-caw-caw,” then a pause and
then, monotonous, dull, boring:
and LOUD to deafen you: “caw-
caw-caw-caw-caw.”
We lay in bed and thought:
that loud loud-mouthed bore, out
there. Sitting on his tree, deaf
ening everybody: orating. If he
does it just once more we’ll stick
our head out and yeU “Hush!”
And then it came. There was
one more: “caw-caw-caw-caw-
caw” and then, from a nearby
tree, a chickadee let go: “Dee-
dee-dee-dee-dee.” Way up in
high treble.
We lay back and laughed and
laughed. They went at it one
more time: “Caw-caw-caw-caw-
caw” and, right after it, way up m
high: “dee-dee-dee-dee-dee.” *
It was too much for the crow.
He gave one furious squawk and
flounced away. You could hear
his wings batting with indigna
tion in each swoop. Oh my, what
wounded dignity!
The chickadee? Not another
peep out of him. He’d said his
say and that was that. But was
he laughing? Wouldn’t you love ^
to know!
A dog would have laughed. . .
maybe a cat, (we aren’t cat-wise
. . , yes, we regret it; apologies
to the cat-people and all that
But it’s a fact.) A horse would
have laughed, obviously. But. . .
a bird?
t V
Murder By Television
The PILOT
(From The Stanly News & Press)
The blood-curdling story of how
two young boys, ages 11 and 13,
killed their father, after the fash
ion of television murders, was
spread throughout the nation re
cently.
The boys admitted that they
got the idea for killing their fath
er and disposing of his body from
watching television.
That admission is indeed an in
dictment of the television indus
try. It is not the first crime we
have heard of among juveniles
which was said to be traceable to
television drama.
We dp not mean to infer that
television, itself, is bad. Just like
radio, newspapers, motion pic
tures and other mass communica
tion media, it is good in itself and
can serve a worthwhile purpose.
That juveniles are getting ideas
for such terrible crimes from tel
evision programs, however, is a
clear indication that more atten
tion needs to be given to the sort
of programs which are sent out
over the air.
It is inexcusable for those plan
ning the programs to permit ma
terial to go out over the air which
wiU teach boys and girls in their
formative years how to commit
crimes and escape detection. So
long as the television industry
does not do a'better job of self-
discipline it will be open to criti
cism and will be. inviting the ire
of these who would use regula
tory means of keeping its stand
ards high.
It will be much better if the in
dustry leaders will take steps to
improve their standards than to
have outsiders dictate the terms
of the censorship.
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 Newton Business
Bessie Cameron Smith Society .
Composing’Room '
Lochamy McLean, Dixie B. Ray,
Midiael Valen, Jasper Swearingen
Thomas Mattocks.
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