North Carolina Newspapers

Page TWO ILOT 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. . Hail To The Litterbag! Southern Pines’ two garden clubs, in con nection with this week’s state-wide anti- “litterbug” campaign for cleanliness in public places, have made available here those auto- iCxsnoiAajd uaaq aAeq leqt a^SBiw a[iqoui mentioned with such approval in these col umns. Orders have been taken for thousands of these bags, we understand. We hope that they find their way eiround among the populace (many were bought by business firms who expect to distribute them) and will be put to use in the great effort to keep North Caro lina’s highways free from trash and litfer. ■ While this is one step short of our advocacy of permanent built-in wastebaskets in all cars, the use of a “litterbag” is a big step ahead of throwing trash out the window— which, if the truth be told, is about all that you can do v/ith such stuff when you’re riding, without 'making your whole car a wastebasket in itself. Herewith our appreciation to these ladies for introducing the litterbag to Southern Pines. We hope many people of this area use them and that the use becomes habit-forming. With the town cooperating fully and addi tional efforts being made by householders to clean up their own property as well as the .streets and highways. Southern Pines seems to be doing its part in the state-wide effort. New Idea For Halloween The linking of Halloween to collecting for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)—something that took place in Southern Pines and many other communities last week—is one of the best developments that has come along in celebra tion of this annual occasion. There are sentimentalists who think that ascribing to Halloween any significance ex cept the tradition of mischief-making is an imposition on carefree childhood. Maybe it is, but v/r know that the happiest,\ brightest and most responsive child who came to our house on Halloween was one who was collecting for UNICEF. By contrast, some of the “trick or treat” visitors seemed shy, confused and almost re luctant to take the goodies heaped upon them. This, vvc thinli: is a tribute to their judgment, for “trick or treat” is, viewed objectively, an elementary form of blackmail. To explore this analogy further, at the risk of being insufferably prissy about the matter, “trick or treat’’ 'involves siipply a threat and a reward, during which process greediness is not only made possible but encouraged. If adults are going to control what children do on Halloween, substituting “trick or treat” for more flamboyant forms of entertainment, w’ny not take the next step, as those sponsor ing the UNICEF project did this year, and take Halloween out of the realm of outlawry altogether and link it to something like UNICEF which appeals to civilized emotions and does not violate what children are told, on the other 364 days of the year, is a good way to behave? There is no serious Halloween behavior problem in Southern Pines, thanks largely to the carnival which has been staged by the Rotarj' Club for many years—an aspect of Halloween with which, even in this hair splitting mood, we can find no fault and which we want to see continued. We congratulate the Southern Pines Meth odist Church for introducing the UNICEF pro ject to Southern Pines and hope that it may become a permanent feature of this occasion’s celebration. Words And Racial Relations Have words used in connection with race - relations been badly chosen? We’ve come up against this question from two different sources recently.’ Pondering it has opened up fresh lines of thinking about this pervading and perplexing subject. Elsewhere on this page appears the state ment of a group of 74 Protestant clergymen of various denominations in Atlanta, Ga., out lining broad principles that should govern, they think, a Christian approach to racial problems. They also make the point; “The use of the word ‘integration’ in connection with our schools and other, areas of life has been un fortunate, since to many that term has be come synonymous' with amalgamation. . . To suggest that a recognition of the rights of Ne groes to the full privileges of American citi zenship, and to such necessary contacts as might follow, would inevitably result in in termarriage is to cast as serious and unjusti fied an aspersion on the white race gs upon the Negro race ” What’s needed then is a word to denote the goal of full Negro citizenship without imply ing amalgamation, as in marriage. “Integra tion” doesn’t fill the bill. “Desegregation.” while a back-handed and negative kind of word, is probably at this stage of racial relations a much more accur ate term to use, lacking the inflammatory overtones and assumptions that “integration” has acquired. * * * Example number two of the use of words is 'found in the summary of a report by a group of Princeton graduate students who conduct ed a survey of attitudes toward Negroes held by white residents of Guilford County in North Carolina. These attitudes, learned by questioning hundreds of people, were exten sively classified as to educational and occu pational background Of the persons, whether they were rural or urban dwellers and a number of other considerations. What the researchers discovered was that a distinction must be made between “preju dice”—the private feelings which a person has about Negroes or other groups.—and “dis crimination,” or the actions he takes in regard to these other groups. The study found that “almost without ex ception” all the ' groups questioned—educated or not, young or pld, rich or poor, urban oh rural—had more “prejudice” toward Negroes than they had readiness for “discrimination.” “Of all our findings,” writes the professor reporting on the project, “this is probably the most important, because it tells us that there . are no necessary connections between what people feel in their hearts and what they will publicly do. Ii assures us that there are inter posed, between private sentiments, and public actions, sets of values and ideals, of cares and considerations, which restrain the individual from trying to make public policy coincide with private feeling. “The gap between private feeling and pub lic action is f.’lled, in short, with social pre cepts, moral injunctions, fear of consequences and positive commitments to democratic rights and community responsibilities. These overreaching, * interposed commitments make it possible for people of very diverse interests to live together in a common framework. And if custom and morality do not intervene ade quately, the resolute action of law can be interiiosed to restrain and impede the trans lation of prejudice into discrimination.” * 4: ♦ Here, then, is an example of how precision in the use of words clarifies our understand ing of a social situation. Th's distinction between prejudice and discrimination—and we think it holds true in most Southern communities as it would in Guilford County—allows us to evaluate the desegregation probem much more realistical ly and to realize with gratitude that the ave rage man is so strongly committed to demo cratic values that, while privately hostile, to Negroes or their aspirations, he will publicly tolerate their actions or even acknowledge the justice of their goals. While the idealist might deplore this divi sion of attitudes, the man of good will must welcome this evidence of the abiding power of our democratic and Christian traditions. And words with their distinctions, are the keys that open the mind to understanding of this very significant aspect of racial relations today. Congratulations! Our congratulations go this week to the Aberdeen Division of A. & M. Karagheusian, Inc., where formal dedication ceremonies and an “open house” tour of the new facilities will take place Saturday. We also welcome the many Karagheusian executives, sales representatives and distrib utors who are in Southern Pines this week for the firm’s annual sales conference, coming here from all over the United States. We hope that these visitors will take back to their homes a pleasant impression of Southern Pines and the Sandhills. In the seyen months or so that Karagheu sian has had the Aberdeen plant, machinery has been installed, employment has steadily increased and the mill is now in production —one of the four Divisions of this outstanding carpet manufacturing company. From the beginning of its Sandhills opera tions, Karagheusian has shown that it is in terested in this area. And residents here have been pleased by their relations with the com- pariy, whether as businessmen, employees or simply citizens who care about the develop ment of the Sandhills. The fact that Governor Hodges will speak on the dedication program is a measure of the importance of this event to the state. tJur best wishes to all concerned. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1957 ‘‘No, We Haven’t Hit The Danger Point ^Not Quite’ Sms jf m: -if % J\ ONE WILL OCCUR NEXT MONTH Friday The 13th—Lucky Or Not? (Louis Graves In The Chapel Hill Weekly) Friday falls on the 13th twice in 1957, 'once in September' and once in December. There were three Fridays the 13th last year, only one each in 1955 and 1954. 'This variation is due to the freakish operation of our calen dar. If the so-called “World Cal endar,” an orderly arrangement of mont'hs, weeks, and days, were adopted by agreement of the na tions of the world, FViday and the 13th would come together the ^same number of times every year. The association of bad luck with Friday arose from the day’s connection v/ith the Crucifixion. But some other faiths than the Christian, for example the' Bud dhist, consider Friday a day of sorrow. Why then did the Scan dinavians of years ago declare Friday to be a lucky day? I don’t know why, but the books say they did. A rhyme of unknown author ship goes this way: “Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace, Wednes day’s child is loving and giving, Thursday’s child works hard for a living, Friday’s child is full of woe, Saturday’s child has far to go. But the child that is born on the Sabbath day is brave and bonny and good and gay.” A character in Daniel Defoe’s famous book was named Friday because it was on that day that Robinson Crusoe saved his life. Crusoe said of him; “I had that fellow Friday jqst to keep the tavern tidy.” 'There appears now and then somebody who is so contrary as to declare Friday a lucky day. Such a one was Sir William Common Sense For Our Time, Too (The Smithfield Herald) “What is your religion?” We have been told that this question will be asked by the Federal census takers in 1960. The Census Bureau apparently thinks the question is a proper Oxie. 'Whether the Bureau will omit the question in deference to increasing objectors remains to be seen. If the Bureau is respectful of fundamental American rights, it will forget this matter and stick to asking the usual questions about age, place of birth, occupa tion, and citizenship. To ask the question about one’s religion is to invade the right of privacy, or as someone has expressed it, “the right of silence.” To ask the question is to violate freedom of religion. The American citizen should be free to proclaim himself proudly as a Baptist, a Methodist, a Pres byterian, an Episcopalian, a Ro man Catholic, or a Jew, if he so chooses. But he should not be forced to declare his religious belief or affiliation. He should be free to believe or disbelieve in •religion, and also free to keep his belief or disbelief to himself. Thomas Paine laid down a sound principle when he wrote in “Common Sense” in 1775: ‘‘As to religion, I hold ft to be the in dispensable duty of government to protect all conscientious pro fessors thereof, and I know of no other business which govern ment hath to do therewith.” In the spirit of Paine, the Con stitution’s First Amendment de clares: “Congress shall make nf) law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise hereof.’* The U. S. Supreme Court'has ruled (in Everson v. Board of Ed ucation and in McCollum v. Board of Education) that imder the First Amendment neither the Federal nor a state government can compel a citizen “to profess a belief or disbelief in religion.” 'The mandate for church and st.ate separation has kept the American nation out of much trouble. The slightest encroach ment upon this bulwark of lib erty should be resisted vigorous ly. The common sense written by Paine in 1775 still rings true as common sense for 1957—or the census year of 1960. Churchill. He said: “Friday is my lucky day. I was born, christen ed, married, and knighted on that day and my best accidents have befallen me on a Friday.” A popular saying is that jay birds go to hell on Friday. . . The English have a proverb that a Friday moon brings foul weather. . . In Scotland Friday is a choice day for weddings. . . “He who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday, sorrow follows the wake of joy” are lines from a comedy by Racine. “According to medieval ro mance,” says Brewer’s Diction ary of Phrase and Fable, “fairies and all the tribes of elves of every description are converted into hideous animals on Friday and remain so till Monday.” Friday was a great day for Christopher Columbus. He start ed on his voyage of discovery on Friday, August 3, 1492; he first sighted land on Friday, October 12, 1492; he started on his return voyage on Friday, January 4, 1493; he arrived in Spain on Fri day, March 12, 1493; on his sec ond voyage to the New World he reached Hispaniola on Friday, November 22, 1493; he discover ed the mainland of America on Friday, June 12, 1494. Among events in United States, history that took place on Fri day were the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775), the battle of Sara toga (1777), the exposure of the treason of Benedict Arnold (1780), and the landing of the first transatlantic cable (1866). ABOUT RACIAL ATTITUDES Ministers Issue Statement (From a statement on ra cial relations issued a few days ago by 74 Protestant clergymen oiE Atlanta, Ga.) “1. Freedom of speech must at all costs be preserved.” No one should be penalized for express ing himself freely and “any posi tion v/hich cannot stand on its own merits and which can only be maintained by silencing all who hold contrary convictions is a position which can not perma nently endure.” “2. As Americans and Chris tians we have an obligation to obey the law.” Those not agree ing with the Supreme Court rul ing of 1954 on schools “have ev ery right to work for an alterna tion in the decree,” through an amendment to the Constitution or otherwise, “but we have no right to defy the constituted au thority in the government of our nation.” “3. The public school system must not be destroyed.” Such de struction, which is a vital part of several states’ legal efforts to evade the court ruling, would ‘•inflict tremendous loss on ful- titudes of children” and would “be a blow to the welfare of our nation as a whole.” “4. Hatred and scorn for those of another rdee, or for those who hold a position different from our own, can never be justified.” “5. Communitration between responsible leaders of the races must be maintained. . . An ex pressed willingness on our part to recognize their needs, and to see they are granted their full rights as American citizens, might well lead to a cooperative approach to the problem that would provide equal rights and yet maintain the integrity of both, races on a basis of mutual esteem and free choice rather than of force.” “6. Our difficulties cannot be solved in our o-wn strength or in human wisdom” but only through prayer and obedience to God’s will and “to such prayer and * obedience we would d^- cate ourselves and summon all men of good will.” Crains of Sand Could Be “Could it be that doornails are dead because they are stepped on so much?” queries Jerry Healy in response to GRAINS’ question last yeek as to why people say “dead as a doornail.” A good suggestion. Any more? We really want to know why a doornail should be deader than any other kind. Anybody Remember? Hi, you oldtimers! Anybody remember the total eclipse of * the sun that occurred May 28, 1900, when Southern Pines boasted an observation post for scientists? 'The eclipse was recalled in a story by Jay Allen in Sunday’s Raleigh News and Observer, compiled from contemporary news items. The Sandhills area was chosen for observations by scientists be- % cause it was in the “area of total ity” and also because weather is usually good around here in May. Other groups of scientists watched the eclipse at Pinehurst and Wadesboro. Southern Pines had observers from Providence, R. I., Cambridge, Mass., and Minnesota. At Pinehurst, a team of 17 men from the Naval Ob- servatory at Washington and from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, set up stations. One fascinating sidelight of the Southern Pines proceedings was the statement of an uniden tified observer that he had got ten “a dim outline of the ‘Lost Planet’ ” while looking at the eclipse. Sputnik’s grandfather, perhaps? . Where were the observation *' stations at Southern Pines and Pinehurst? 'What else happened hereabouts during the eclipse? If anybody recalls, please let us know. All this took place be fore the beginning of any news paper file in this area—at least any file now in existence or of which we have ever heeird. Reminder Writes a friend of The Pilot after a recent trip: “You can’t • even go outside the country and escape reminders of. home. 'This writer recently visited a friend in Bermuda who is nearly blind and is unable to read. The Libra ry of Congress in Washington sends him novels transcribed on records—a service rendered the blind by your government. He ^ never knows what book is com- " ing next from his record player. One came while we were with him. It was ‘Drums’ by the late Jarhes Boyd of Southern Pines.” "A Lot" is Useful It’s always a pleasant thing, when you’re doing something kind of, you know, sloppy. . . such as in an editorial sliding around the edge of statistics, cold ^ hard facts; where you ought to be looking them up and putting them down. . . it’s always kind of pleasant to find some of the big shots doing the same. Such as Governor Hodges at the C and D meeting here. When Dr. Joseph L. Stuckey, of the Minerals Division was reading his report, full of astron omical figures and gravely be- „ wildering facts. Governor ^ Hodges, chairmaning the meet ing, interrupted: ‘"Those really ARE the fig ures,” the Governor told the folks, “I used to quote them in speeches, but then I got scared of those ‘2 billions’ or ‘3 billions’. I thought I must be ■wrong. So I quit on the billions and just said ‘ a lot’ of ihnenite or olivine or whatever it was. But Dr. Stuck- I ey heard me and glowered at me a few times and I went and looked it all up. And it really IS what he says it is: billions.” WeU, biUions IS a lot. You can’t get around that. But a lot isn’t necessarily billions. Just the same it’s a mighty handy phrase when the editorial writer—or the Governor— gets scared. ThePILOT Published Every Thursday by THE PILOT, Incorporated Southern Pines. North Carolina 1941—JAMES BOYD—1944 Katharine Boyd Editor C. Benedict Associate Editor Ifance Derby ..News Editor C. G. Council Advertising " Mary Scott Newton Business Bessie Cameron Smith Society Composing Room Lochamy McLean, Dixie B. Ray. Michael \falen, Jasper Swearingen Thomas Mattocks. Subscription Rales: One Tear $4. 6 mos. $2; 3 moci. $1 Entered at the Postoffice at South- ^ ern Pines, N. C., as second class mail matter Member National Editorial Asm and N. C. Press Assn.