Page TWO
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1957
ILOT
“We Haven’t Really Lost Any Face, Have We, Foster?”
Southern Pines
North Carolina
“In taking over The Pilot no changes are contemplated. We will try to keep this a good
paper. We will try to make a little money for all concerned. Wherever there seems 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.
Barrier of Distrust
There is one sure result from the Khrush
chev diatribe against the United States: John
Foster Dulles is thereby settled for good and
all in his position as head of United States
foreign affairs.
Now that he has been attacked so violently
by the leading Soviet statesman, it is incon
ceivable that this administration will ever
make the change that has for long been so
deeply desired by many Americans.
Khrushchev knew, we may be sure, as well
as every observer of this nation must know,
that the best way to make sure that Secretary
Dulles remained where he was, would be for
Moscow to attack him. And so the Russian
leader achieved two results by his recent per
formance: by his arrogance, his insinuations,
his violence, he humiliated the United States
in the eyes of the world and showed how
strong, how fearless Russia was; and his delib
erate attack on Dulles made sure that the poli-
eies the latter has initiated and carried on in
the field of foreign affairs would gd on.
Why does he want the Dulles policies to go
on? Obviously because the Kremlin considers
them to be harmful to the United States and
the Western World, and therefore good for
Russia and Russia’s hopes and plans.
The tragedy^ is that Khrushchev may well be
right. It seems to many that under the Dulles
leadership, there has been a steady deteriora
tion of the position of this nation in world af
fairs, with the present Middle East crisis only
the last of many. To this picture of “brinkman
ship” must be added the personality of the
man.
Self-righteous, rigidly autocratic and self-
confident, he appears to have a positive genius
for risking people dislike him. His moralizing,
combined with the sudden shifts of policy,
seem insincere and tricky. He infuriates both
friends and foes. A paragraph in Reston’s col
umn in the Sunday New York Times gives a
hint of this.
lYrites the correspondent: “After listening
to and reflecting upon Khrushchev’s har
angues, one has the impression that the nego
tiations of the last year or so had merely bred
contempt on both sides. . . 'the two sides are
not negotiating but needling each other and
the needling is merely increasing the vast
barrier of distrust which lies at the heart of
the problem.”
Surely this last phrase is something to
think about, long and hard. Is distrust in very
truth the heart of the problem? Could a
modus vivendi be worked out and ultimate
peace be achieved if, somehow, distrust could
be removed?
Can a man of John Foster Dulles’s personal
ity ever do the job?
A United Fund: Let’s Investigate It
When the matter of a United Fund charit
able drive system for Southern Pines was
brought before the town council last week,
the council deckled it was not up to a govern
mental body to initiate action on such a pro
posal, But the very fact that it was brought
before the council brings the matter to public
attention and stimulates thought—and no
doubt controversy, too—about the continuing
problem of these drives.
We have heard considerable favorable com
ment lately on the United Fund method of
combining the financial campaigns of a num
ber of groups into one all-out collection
whose proceeds are allotted to the different
organizations and charities by a carefully
chosen board of directors. Opposition to such
a sys^^ern comes here and elsewhere from a
few of the large organizations who have a
national policy for separate drives and who
continue with their own collections whether
or not there is a United Fund. One or two of
these groups, when pressed hard enough by
United Fund sentiment, will join the Fund,
but there are a couple of others—ones con
sidered important by the public—who will
not join xmder any circumstances.
Some communities have rejected the
United Fund plan because of this matter of
conflicting interests, leading to several big
drives, even if the Fund is active. Other
towns have gone ahead with the Fund plan
anyway, counting on financial pressure to
force hold-out organizations in, with the
thought in the background that if this hap
pens in enough towns over the country the
“national policy” against cooperation with
United Funds will be broken down.
Due some consideration in debating this
question, it seems to us, are those civic-
minded folks who do the work on these
drives which are beginning now (two are now
underway, in feet) and will run from one to
another, often overlapping as second and
third '‘appeals” are made, from now until
next siunmer. These drives place tremendous
demands on the time and effort of a great
many people—and it often turns out that
some ('f the same persons have to bear the
load of work in more than one of the cam
paigns.
United Fund drives, in essence, are more
a. matter of saving time and effort than of
saving money—although the acknowledged
fact that money is “tighter” this year than for
several years hereabouts may havo something
to do with the renewal of interest in the Fund
method of collecting. However, we are of the
opinion that most charities and organizations
conducting appeals here would fare as well
under a fund system as under the method of
separate campaigns.
The town council was right, we think, in
not becoming officially involved, pro or con,
in the United Fund question. We would like
to see some group—Chamber of Commerce,
civic clubs or a group of interested individ
uals—investigate the Fund proposal and let
the public know what they find out or what
could be expected should such an undertak
ing be initiated.
We frankly don’t know enough about the
United Fund system to endorse or not en
dorse it at this time. We are interested in the
proposal and we suspect that there is much
such interest in the community. We would
like to hear from readers what they think.
American Youth Not Physically Fit?
Ever since the statistics on American physi
cal fitness produced by the World War 2 draft
examinations were made public, there has
been much comment about the fact that a
great many American young men were not
able to meet the relatively simple fitness tests
required for acceptance by the armed forces.
Recently, the question of American health,
supposedly the best in the world, has been
raised again with some authority’s revelation
that American children proved inferior, in a
widely given series of muscular tests, to Eu
ropean children who generally are not as
well fed, housed or clothed as their U. S.
counterparts.
All this is puzzling to somebody who turns
another page of a magazine or newspaper and
read.s how much taller, heavier and healthier
are youngsters now than were their parents
and grandparents. And, according to the ice-
cold eye of insurance statistics compilers,
these American children who are described
as soft and underdeveloped muscularly are
destined, to live longer, on the average, than
men and women have ever lived before or
will live in any other nation of the world.
In one recent series of syndicated news
paper features about the child health prob
lem, the physical education authority who
■was writing mentioned with horror the com
ment of a school, official that general exercise
programs ,for pupils were not provided be
cause the need for hard physical effort is a-
thing of the past—that is, in our world of au^
tomation, machinery and gadgets, nobody
needs to be in 'what "hitherto has been fcno'wn
as "good physicaT CNindition. Exercise, in this
point of ■view, becomes'a kind of wasted ef
fort: good food, vitamins, vaccines, anti-biot-
ics and the never-ceasing wonders of medical
progress •will keep everybody living longer
la
SOUTHERN PINES CONVENTION POST-MORTEM
Young Democrats & Party Trends
and longer and healthier and healthier. Being
able to touch your toes without bending your
knees or rise from prone to sitting position
without using your hands become for many
persons about as pointless as being able to
kill a bear with a spear. Times, we are told,
have changed.
Being lambasted by people who value
physical education are: (1) television which
encourages passive spectatorship and keeps
children from their traditional active games
and-pastimes; (2) parents who allow (and
even encourage, because it keeps children
“quiet”), such passive pursuits; and (3) educa
tors who provide little or no organized physi
cal traifiing in many schools and who para
mount the achievements of teams rather than
the physical development of all the students.
The federal government is now showing its
interest with its Council on Youth Fitness
which is investigating the whole problem
and presumably will have rcommendations to
make in due time.
Meanwhile what is a sensible person to do
of think? Our Opinion is that many of the re
ports about youth’s poor physical condition are
alarmist. Most of the children we know are
healthy, active and strong. "While we would
avoid like the plague a regimented type of
physical education for its own sake, we do
not think man is yet at a point where he can
count on never again needing the physical
toughness and endurance that have been the
margin of his survival on countless occasions
in the past.
- Certainly the children themselves are not
-to blame.' If there is something ■wrong, it is
something Wrong with the elders who shape
their lives. And if any one quality of mind
can be blamed, we’d say it is the current
American obsession with physical comfort
and material possessions.
(Greensboro Daily Ne'wrs)
Several significant develop
ments, casting their shadow into
the political future and indica
ting the pattern which it holds,
occurred at last week’s annual
convention of Tar Heel Young
Democrats at Southern Pines.
There was, first of all, evi
dence that this organization may
be reverting to its original pur
pose, attracting and marshaling
young Democrats instead of al
lowing oldsters largely to control
and direct its affairs. Two col
lege students were named to key
positions, one to the vice-presi
dency, where he will be express
ly charged with organization of
Young Democrats Clubs in insti
tutions of higher learning, and
the other to the office of treas-
urer. Any organization, political
or otherwise, which fails to ap
peal to youth and to bring in new
strength, ideas and vigor is ask
ing for slow death.
Restraint Shown
Best indication of the way
things are going in North Caro
lina came in the convention’s
tor.ed-dovyn resolution on state’s
rights and avoidance of any
mention of a third party. There
had been widespread speculation
that this resolution would cite
the Little Rock situation and
strongly condemn what had been
done there by President Eisen
hower and the Republican ad
ministration. However, the con
vention followed essentially the
course of moderation and re
straint. It recognized that ‘'"recent
events have raised fundamental
questions concerning the rela
tionship between the state and
end federal governments,” reaf
firmed its belief in the separa
tion of powers in the federal
government, declared that “en
croachments by any of these
branches weaken the fundamen
tal structure of our form of gov
ernment,” and endorsed the
principle that “local problems
are reserved to the governments
of the several states.” That puts
the Young Democrats pretty
much in line with what Gover
nor Hodges has said as the rec
ognized vpice of moderation in
the South.
Stern Reality
This position, coupled with
failure to mention a third party,
shows that the Young Demo
crats wish party harmony and
that they will go halfway to as
sure it. Any third party move
will doubtless start in the Deep
South; and the attitude of North
ern Democrats, how far they in
sist upon going in national
commitments and nominations,
is likely to determine whether
there will be a Southern break
away. The stem reality is that
the Southern bemocrats have no
place to go. Their best hope of
maintaining their point of view
lies in congressional seniority
and committee placements and
chairmanships.
One overtone of the conven
tion Democrats yoimg and old
wjll do well to heed. Delegates
from small counties ganged up
to defeat the candidate for na
tional committman who had bloc
support from the populous Pied
mont counties. This is the same
pattern which has prevailed in
the General Assembly and re
peatedly blocked efforts at reap-
poitionment. Those who shape
the Democratic Party’s strategy in
North Carolina cannot fail to
realize the cumulative effect of
this disregard of proportionate
representation. Enough Pied
mont disgruntlement could bring
the unwholesome situation of a
divided government, ■with the
Legislature Democratically con
trolled on a county basis but the
populous Piedmont, where in
dustrialization is also^ a factor,
sending North Carolina into the
"Republican fold on the state and
national levels.
Young Democrats will soon be
succeeding their elders in high
places; and it thus becomes
doubly, interesting to note the
tack which they are taking. They
may be expected to be more
moderate than preceding gener
ations; but they may also be ex
pected to be more independent.
Not to be overlooked, if the ma
jority party wishes further warn
ing, is the fact that even while
Young Democrats were meeting
in Southern Pines, the Piedmont
Republican Federation was be
ing organized at a banquet here
to capitalize upon eventualities.
DAYS NOT QUITE BEYOND RECALL
Telephone! Somebody! Run!
f
Harry Golden’s good piece
about the urgency of the tele
phone bell brought naemories.
That bell was especially urgent,
seems like, in the old days when
the things were new and myste
rious and not a little frightening.
That’s the feeling we had to
wards the first one in our fami
ly. It was huge and ugly as sin.
It )iad to be stuck up on the wall
"and Mother didn’t like its looks.
Besides, she said, it would ruin
the pine panelling. So she put it
on the back wall in the hall
closet.
This closet was built under the
stairs and had a ceiling that
sloped. In front by the door it
was about five feet ten or so,
but at the back the ceiling height
was only about four feet. ’That’s
where the telephone was.
There was no light in the clos
et and it was one of those catch
all places where everything gets
put. Especially things that lie
NO TEACHER ...
(From North Carolina Education)
Pollyannas are all right in their
place, but there are certain things
that caAnot be glossed over by un
realistic and ill-founded optimism.
Consider this situation.
In the science department of a
certain high school east of Ral
eigh, so says the president of the
PTA, is stored, unopened, $2,000
worth of science laboratory equip
ment. It has been unopened for
two years. "Why? Impossible to
get a teacher who knows how to
teach this particular field of sci
ence. At the very last minute a
teacher was hired last year. She
was a failure, had a nervous
breakdown, and was placed in an
institution for treatment.
.Of course, one swallow doesn’t
make a summer, but I can’t get
out of my mind the conviction
that some^jody must do some
thing—and in a hurry—to help us
provide an adequate supply of
competent science teachers for
North Carolina children. A con
tinued Pollyanna attitude will not
solve this problem.
around loose, such as tennis
balls, racquets, rubbers, umbrel
las, a dogwhip, old garden hats
and gloves. Some of the tennis
balls were always rolling around
on the floor.
Perhaps even more than now,
in those days the high shrill of
the telephone alerted the house
hold.
“Telephone! Someone! Run!”
And someone ran. Wrenched
open the door of the closet, ,dove
into the blackness, stepped on a
tennis ball and pitched forward
to crack his or her skull on the
ceiling at the back. Seeing stars,
the runner frequently collapsed
on the floor just in time to form
a fine roadblock to the next
* householder flying to answer the
still ringing bell. There was often
quite a pile-up in that closet
while the bell shrilled and Moth
er shouted from upstairs; ‘‘Tele
phone! Telephone! Somebody!'
Run!”
An uncle once won everlasting
fame for his valiant conduct in
that closet. Pitching in through
the door, in trying to save him
self from total collapse he grab
bed the telephone, hung on its
great plaque on the wall, and
pulled the whole thing down on
top of himself. It continued to
ring wildly, and, so great was
the urgency of that summons,
that he got the receiver off and
answered it, though, as it devel
oped, he was suffering from two
black eyes, a broken ankle and a
slight concussion.
After that, the telephone was
moved, taking up its menacing
stance in a tiny corridor between
the kitchen and the front hall.
All went well, till a sister, all.
dressed up in her best Sunday
gc-to-meeting bib and tucker,
met the cook head on as both
were dashing to answer the ring.
The cook had a just-opened
quart jar Of raspberry syrup in
her hand.
Mother said she was glad that
it wasn’t a kettle Of boiling
water, but my sister said she
wished it had been. A lot of it
had got onto the cook, too.—^KLB
Grains of Sand
Progress?
Remember the old rollicking
spiritual: “Call That Religion”?
As we remember, the verses
depicted variouf things that
clearly were NOT religion, and
then the chorus would ask in
shocked indignation: “You cad
that religion?” and answer: “Oh,
Lord!” or maybe it was: “No,
Lord!”
Might change that song on a
good many occasions you could
run into today, and sing it: “You
cal! that Progress? Oh, Lord!”
Baffling ''
Fellow came out with a fascin
ating and baffling bit of informa
tion t’other day. Said he: “Have
you heard about the new whis
key mix? You get it powdered,
like coffee—just mix it up and
you’ve got the finest stuff you
ever drank. Comes in two
grades: plain and a better grade,
aged in charred oak kegs. It’s
marvelous.”
But that’s all he’d say.
Couldn’t remember where he’d
heard about it, hOw much it
costs, where you can get it, what
you mix into it or anything
more.,
“Are you sure there is such a
tiling?” we finally demanded.
“"Why, certainly,” he affirmed
vigorously, turning and walking
down the street. ‘"‘"Wonderful
stuff. Heard all about it. Revolu
tionary. Going to ruin the bottie
business eventually. Ought to try
it some time.”
Pitiful story, isn’t it? We think,
so, loo.
Teeth On Edge
In Part 1 of “King Renry I"V,”
Shakespeare wrote the following
words which, says Roy Parker,
Jr., of Ahoskie, in his newspaper
column, can be as well taken as
“an opinion about a modern-day
song-writer and his work”:
“I had rather be a kitten and
cry mew than one of these same
metre ballad-mongers; I had"
rather hear a brazen canstick
turned, or a dry wheel grate on
tho axletree; And that would set
my teeth nothing on edge; noth
ing so much as minching poetry:
Tis like the forced gait of a shuf
fling nag.”
Unfortunate
During Monday night’s panel
discussion of school discipline at
the East Southern Pines P. T. A.
meeting, the talk turned to the
need for pupils to become inter
ested in their studies.
Supt. A. C. Dawson, modera
tor of the panel of teachers and
parents, said that it is often re
marked among school people that
it’s too bad children are exposed
to education at the time of their
lives when they are least anxious
to receive it. ’
He told of students who had
dropped out of school for lack of
interest, but after a few years
had changed their point of ■view
and had come back asking help
in getting into a trade school or
otherwise continuing their edu
cation. One such youth, he said,
even asked to be allowed to
speak to the student body to
warn them against leaving school
before they had attained more
discretion.
Supreme Punishment
Dr. Bruce Werlick, a member
of the P. T. A. panel, quoted his
father—a teacher for many
years—on the subject of disci
pline and punishment.
One first grade student had
become quite a discipline prob
lem and the child’s mother, who
evidently lived way back yonder
in the country. Was called in.
After the problem had been
outlined to her—that the schqol
just couldn’t seem to do any
thing with her son—she said
-.j'/ith finality; “Well, that settles
it. There’s not but one thing to
do now. I’m just going to have
to take his cigarettes away from
him. That’ll make him behave.”
The PILOT
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT, Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944 ~
Katharine Boyd . Editor
C. Benedict Associate Editor
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