Page TWO
THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1963
Southern Pines
ILOT
North Carolina
His Master’s Voice
“In taking 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 aU concerned. Wherever there seems to
^^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^ ~
Basic Step: A Bi-Racial Committee
If an amendment to the “impacted
areas” federal school funds bill is approv
ed as voted recently by a House Educa
tion subcommittee in Washington, the
Southern Pines school district tvould have
to carry out, within the next year, a
plan of racial integration of the district’s
schools, or lose $12,000 to $15,000 of feder
al funds now paid to the district to help
educate children of armed forces person
nel living here.
That’s the gist of recent news from
Washington—although the legislation in
question apparently has not yet been ap
proved and it is not clear exactly what
it would mean here were it made an inte
gral part of the impacted areas program.
However, this is only one of the many
straws in the wind these days, indicating
that many communities are facing show
downs on school integration. "The Su
preme Court made it clear this week
that further delay in implementing its
1955 decree (that integration be carried
out “with all deliberate speed”) would
not be tolerated imless it “imperatively
and compellingly appeared unavoidable.”
The marches and demonstrations by
Negroes on behalf of theatre and restau
rant integration, ending of em^oyment
discrimination and other civil rights show
which way the wind is blowing. No com
munity can long expect to be exempt
from these evidences, in one form or
another, of Negro unrest.
Governor Sanford’s suggeston early
this year, that North Carolina communi
ties set up “Good Neighbor Councils
with white and Negro members, to in
vestigate ways in which Negroes can get
or train for better jobs, anticipated the
present state of crisis. Yet no such coun
cil, to our knowledge, has been formed
or even discussed here. And the same
situation must prevail in many North
Carolina communities.
This community must be prepared to
meet what is sure to come. And the
establishment of a bi-racial group, dedi
cated to full and frank communication,
is an essential basic step in preparations
the community must make.
One Outstretched Hand...
There could be no disagreement with
what the clerk of court told the judge in
a recent session of Moore County Record
er’s Court, about a 15-year-old boy who
was charged with cashing bad checks in
Carthage; “Your honor, he’s never had a
chance. . . ”
Child of a broken home, son of parents
who were each murdered, in separate
cases, within a year, apparently rejected
by relatives, unaccepted by any home
in which the Welfare Department tried
to place him, veteran of incarcerations
and escapes from juvenile training insti
tutions, this boy had been living in the
woods, sleeping there or in cars or trucks;
a nightmare world, a tale from the
depths, something that might have hap
pened in the slums of a bombed-out city,
not here, an existence bearing no rela
tion to life as we know it in Moore Coun
ty.
And then this, to touch, if ever it were
touched, the conscience of us all; this
waif, it was testified, had been attending
school regularly and appeared in court,
according to an eye-witness, “neatly
dressed, his fair hair combed smooth. . .”
What can be done with this child? He
is charged with a felony—forging checks
to get money to buy food—and he has
to be tried in Superior Court. And he
had to go to jail, meanwhile, though this
decision was made unwillingly by the
judge and the hoy was placed in the
vacant women’s cell, rather than with
the other offenders.
Public welfare services exist because
private generosity and kindliness can
never catch up and keep up with all the
need and misery in this world. Yet, pond
ering this boy at Carthage, we wonder
if we are not becoming too dependent
on public aid. We say; why can’t they do
something about this boy? Maybe the
only answer will be for somebody to ask;
why can’t I do something?
Maybe this is a case that all the tax-
supported institutions and agencies in
the world can’t solve but that a single
love-supported heart could.
One hand stretched out in affection and
welcome, from all the 36,000 persons in
Moore County; that, it seems to us, is
what is needed now.
Expert, Impartial Opinion Needed
Many thoughtful citizens of Southern
Pines appear to be more and more con
cerned about the problem of high school
consolidation—whether the effectiveness
of this community’s high schools will be
best served by remaining small schools
or whether their lot should be cast with
other small schools of this end of the
county to provide facilities that could
provide a broader curriculum, including
non-academic trade and vocational
courses.
Petitions asking for a public meeting
to hear .a discussion of consolidation pro
posals by educators began to circulate
in Southern Pines this week, reportedly
arousing an eager response, as told in
Let’s Be Civilized
According to the Travel Information
Division of the Department of Conserva
tion and Development, there is a bill in
preparation—if not already by now in
troduced in the GeneralAssembly—to re
gulate possession of game birds and
animals in captivity for commerical pur
poses.
While admittedly of far less importance
than the big problems facing the legisla
ture, this issue is one in which we take
a particular interest, having long ago in
these columns entered our protest on the
display of caged wild animals under
inhumane and unsanitary conditions.
A display of bears in the North Carolina
mountains brought national unfavorable
publicity to the state. The North Carolina
Travel Council, with cooperation of C. and
D., wisely responded with the proposed
legislation.
Regardless of legislation, the traveling
public can be influential in controlling
unfortunate displays of wild animals by
refusing to patronize places featuring
such displays and by directly letting pro
prietors of such places know the disap
proval that they merit.
Our opinion is that wild animals should
be displayed in captivity only in public
ly operated zoos and parks where the
animals are assured of expert care. And
we note again that the treatment of
animals—wild and domestic—is a meas
ure of civilization. Let’s be civilized.
Crains of Sand
QUESTIONS ABOUT TAX PROGRAM ANSWERED
Cuts To Aid Business, Industry
today’s news columns.
Members of the board of education of
the Southern Pines administrative district
have repeatedly told the county commiss
ioners and many individuals that they are
convinced the sentiment for continuing
as a small independent unit is held by a
large majority of the citizens of the Sou
thern Pines community. Yet one frequent
ly meets persons who say they wish they
knew more about what consolidation
would mean, who say they know others
who are for consolidation or who_are un
happy about letting the status quo pre
vail unquestioned.
Our guess is that people are not so
much uninterested as they are perplexed.
They wonder if they are qualified to
judge what should be done. They wish
that somehow an expert opinion—an un
biased expert opinion—could be obtained.
Consolidation of the Southern Pines
high school with those of Aberdeen and
Pinehurst was long ago recommended by
two survey teams of experts who made
a county-wide study for the county board
of education. Yet the “experts,” skilled
and honest thought they might have been,
were from groups—the State Board of
Education and a University education de
partment—known to be promoting school
consolidation.
Would it not be possible to obtain a
committee of education experts totally
unrelated to the controversial background
of Moore County school proposals, to
make a survey or study of the Southern
Pines district schools and how the educa
tional needs of this community can best
be met? It is a suggestion that we hear
more and more advanced by local people.
The petitions for a public meeting to
discuss consolidation are a good start.
But, whatever is done must be done
quickly. A large bond issue for consoli
dated schools and a community college
is in the offing and its details must be
settled soon, if it is to be presented to
the voters of the county this fall.
This community may not, in the end,
choose the path of consolidation. But we
are convinced that there will be regrets
and recriminations for years to come if
the choice that must be made soon is
not made on the basis of full information
and full participation by all the thinking
people of the district.
(Editor’s Note: This is the
second of two articles by U.
S. Sen. Dale McGee of Wyom
ing on proposed federal tax
cuts. In the articles, the sena
tor—who is a member of the
Committee on Appropriations
and Commerce — answers
some of the questions most
frequently asked him about
the proposals. He is consider
ed an authority on the feder
al government tax structure.)
BY SEN. DALE McGEE
Responding to critics of the de
ficits and tax cuts, Secretary of
the Treasury Dillon said “there
can be no question that if our
economy were at reasonably full
capacity, our tax system would
today be producing more than
enough revenue to finance our
current national needs with a
balanced budget.
“The deficit we now face is the
result of an economy which pro
duces too little—rather than of a
Government which spends too
much. This provides even more
reason for reducing taxes.”
To put the problem in economic
terms, there is not enough pur
chasing power in the economy to
buy the goods and services our
labor forces and industry can pro
duce at the prices charged.
A Federal tax cut would release
new economic forces that would
bring new energy and confidence
to the whole economy.
A large portion of the tax cut
will be for business and industry.
A reduction in personal and cor
porate taxes raises profit margins
for businessmen and enlarges the
supply of “internal” business
funds available for investment.
There is an increased supply of
money for plant expansion, re
search and product development
and modernization. Couple the
direct benefits to industry with
the increased purchasing power
of the consumer and there is the
impetus for full scale economic
growth.
Question—“Why don’t we cut
out all those unessential civilian
programs?”
Answer — Unfortunately, there
just isn’t enough money in those
civilian programs to cut. After
eliminating the cost of defense,
debt interest, space programs and
costs of past wars, there is only
$20 billion left in the budget. To
make it balance this year would
require a cut of about half of the
funds for all civilian programs.
It should be obvious the result
would be chaos. We in the Con
gress will indeed cut the budget,
but we will use a surgeon’s scalpel
rather than a meat axe.
And it should be noted that
while the Federal government re
ceives nearly 21 per cent of our
total national income, it pays out
9 per cent in loans, grants, bene
fits to needy persons, corpora
tions, local government, etc., and
actually uses less than 12 per cent
to purchase its own goods and
services, of which nearly 10 per
cent goes for defense.
Question—“If you could get
those millions of government
workers on the job for a change
we wouldn’t have any financial
problems.”
^Answer — Government em
ployees are by now quite used to
being the butt of many a joke,
liowever unearned this reputa
tion is. I would like to point
out that the federal govern
ment employed 1.6 per cent
of the population. In 1958 the
percentage was 1.4 and now
it is about 1.3. And of the total
Federal civilian employment 72
per cent work in defense, Post
Office and Veterans Administra
tion.
Siilybilly
If Castro expects to get some
where in a big way in the dicta
tor line, he ought to work up a
more alarming appearance. With
that curly beard, busty figure
and humorless, complacent smile,
he just looks plain silly.
Even Mussolini at his most pom
pous never looked really silly.
The Side Of Life
In his weekly article, “Speak
ing About Books,” in the Times
Book Review section, J. Donald
Adams mourns the passing of so
many of this nation’s outstanding
writers during the past year.
In a paragraph especially de- ,
voted to the writer and critic.
Van Wyck Brooks, he says that it
was Brooks’s conviction (voiced
also by William Faulkner in his
Nobel Prize acceptance speech
and by Adams himself) that “the
great writers have always been
on the side of life and that they
have always been able to pass on
to others their zest in living, even
with the knowledge every great
writer must have—^that human
life is essentially tragic.”
Watch Out!
Read the other day of a new
gimmick to bring more people to
this state.
The idea—^believe it or not—is
to invite 25 New York city taxi
cab drivers to come to North
Carolina and see the sights: all
free, of course. Then they’re sup
posed to go back to taxidriving
and spread the news among their
fares. Our newest beauty queen
is supposed to be up there, ride
around in taxis and hand out the
invitations. All the while bedaz
zling the drivers so they’ll want
to come.
Our experience with these
characters convinces us that it
wont work. They are the most
unpredictable, ornery, wise guys
on the face of the earth. Oh, they
may take the trip, but will they
follow through? No. ’The whole
thing will boomerang. They’ll
come back to the big city all het
up with the new topic. And what
do you bet they sit behind their
wheels and carry on a monologue
on the general lousiness of states,
all states, N. C., of course, the
lousiest.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
It’ll backfire, sure as shooting.
In relation to the total pop
ulation the civilian employees
of the Federal government have
been reduced by 3 per cent in
the last ten years. In contrast,
the employees of state and local
governments have increased by
63 per cent.
In the economic race we are
running with the Soviet Union,
the victory will go to the swift
and daring. To those who fear
to borrow against the future of
this democracy I would say that
to build a solid structure it is
necessary to first dig for a firm
foundation.
THE U. S. AND LATIN AMERICA
The Force of Conviction
(Christian Science Monitor)
There is a sense of frustration
in Washington news reports over
the outcrop of military regimes
in Latin America and there
needn’t be. Washington is doing
the right thing by its own con
victions and by the morale of the
inter-American compacts. It has
every right to show confidence in
its actions.
These are (1) to refrain from
armed or clandestine interven
tion, (2) to seek collective action,
(3) to use all available means of
persuasion and non-violent pres
sure openly, before the world, on
behalf of a return to elective
government.
This was the course in dealing
with the new military regime in
Guatemala.
The United States sought and
obtained a commitment to hold
popular elections, probably with
in the two years, before it recog
nized the regime headed by Col
onel Peralta. It carefully consult
ed the other American states in
advance. And it has publicly re
stated its convictions and policies
in a strong speech by Edwin M.
Martin, Assistant Secretary of
State for Inter-American Affairs,
before the Pan American Society
of New York.
“Our interdependence,” he said,
“makes it important that we in
this hemisphere put to one side
traditional attitudes which are
obstacles to promoting represen
tative democracy.
“We must recognize that fail
ure of the democratic process in
any one of the member states is a
matter of concern to the entire
community; that interruptions of
democratic and constitutional
governments in one country in
evitably encourage antidemo
cratic elements elsewhere.”
He argued with telling effect
that past fears of U. S. interven
tion do not justify a reluctance
to mobilize the forces of popular
government in the Americas to
discharge autocratic coups. Inter
dependence has now become po
litical, social, economic, and mil
itary, he said.
Many of the American coun
tries hang back, justifying this
with an outmoded concept of
self-determination. The way to
convince them is by the force of
conviction.
NO MAN SHOULD
DENY THE FUTURE
Before the General Assem
bly killed recently proposed]
bills penalizing illegitimacy
by withdrawal of welfare
funds or by making it a
criminal offense, Harry
Golden of Charlotte was one
of the most vociferous op
ponents of the proposals.
The quotation below—which
makes a point that is valid)
and pertinent at any time—
is from a letter he sent to
newspapers of the state.
“. . . The teacher of Cicero was
Molon and in one of his letters
from exile on Rhodes in 55 B. C.
Cicero revealed that Molon had
been an illegitimate child, and
the cold, unsmiling Cicero un
bent long enough to bless the
mother of Molon.
“If North Carolina, and all the
ether states, including the Fed
eral government, abolished all
welfare, illegitimacy would not
abate one whit. In fact before
the first public charity was in
troduced in ancient Chaldea,
there were “illegitimate” chil
dren. The birth of illegitimate
children has nothing to do with
welfare funds—it has everything
to do with self-esteem and proof
of individual worth. There are
many reasons for children being
born out of wedlock, one of the
reasons being a sense of hope
lessness such as, ‘All they will
ever let me become is a domestic
or a janitor, so what’s the use. .’
“If there is one thing we get
out of the philosophy of Cicero, it
is that no man ought to try to
deny the future. . .”
Storm Brewing
See where two great power
plants. Con. Edison and General
Hudson Gas and Electric are all
set to ruin the most scenic part
of the Hudson River valley, They
have chosen sites on either side of
the river at the Storm King
Mountain gorge. The plants will
face each other across the water.
The great stony mountain, with
adajeent Bear Mountain Park,
and West Point just around the
bend, is the mecca of tourists as
well as thousands of city folks
and there is general agreement
that this stretch of the Hudson
Highlands rivals in beauty any
thing comparable in this country
or Europe. The site also has great
historic interest. It was here that
the British officer. Major Andre,
was captured when he was on his
spying mission to persuade the
traitor, Benedict Arnold, to de
fect.
Conservationists everywhere
are rising to the defense of the
famous Highlands and army en
gineers question the dangers to
navigation and further stream
pollution. More power to them
all!
Talk Is Out
“Conversation in this country
has fallen upon evil days. . . It is
drowned out in singing commer
cials by the world’s most produc
tive economy, that has so little to
say for itself that it has to hum
it. It is hushed smd shushed in
dimly lighted parlors by televi
sion audiences who used to read,
argue and even play bridge, an
old-fashioned card game requir
ing speech.”
—Whitney Griswold
The PILOT
Published Every Thursday by"
THE PILOT. Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941-JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Boyd Editor
C. Benedict Associate Editor
Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr.
C. G. Council Advertising
Bessie C. Smith Advertising
Mary Scott Newton Business
Mary Evelyn de Nissoff Society
Composing Room
Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen,
Thomas Mattocks, J. E. Pate, Sr.,
Charles Weatherspoon.
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