Page TWO
THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1963
IF PROPOSED AMENDMENT IS APPROVED
ILOT
Southern Pines
North Carolina
“In taking over The Pilot no chauiges 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 be
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.
The Blood Program Must Be Saved
No more powerful testimony to the
worth of the Red Cross blood program
could be imagined than the true incident
related in a letter on this page—^how a
-member of one Moore County family
received 18 pints of blood of a needed
type, at Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill,
because that family had donated at visits
of the bloodmobile in this county. (ANY
Moore County resident could, of course,
also have received that Red Cross blood
—so long as this county is associated with
the program; and in return they would
only have been asked to get replacement
donors to give at leisure when the blood-
mobile next visited the coimty.)
The Pilot, in recent weeks, has publish
ed, again and again, the figures that
spell doom for the Red Cross blood pro
gram, unless unprecedented donations are
received in next week’s two visits of a
bloodmoble to this county--and in a third
and final visit for this year, later in the
month.
Here’s the sad story again: Residents
of the county used 1,397 pints of Red
Cross blood in the year ending June 30.
But they gave only 879 pints—meaning
that 518 pints used in this county were
given elsewhere. And the Red Cross says
it cannot continue on that basis.
The plain fact is this: unless 434 pints
are given in the next three visits (see
news story for places and dates), Moore
County will lose the program.
Only those who, like the writer of the
letter on this page, have seen Red Cross
blood—plenty of it and all free except
for service charges—save lives close to
them, can understand fully what a catas
trophe such a loss would be. But the rest
of us, with very little imagination, should
be able to grasp the point. And, unless
we are content to live with butterfly
heedlessness, we should see to it, without
fail, that the blood program does not go
by default.
Meeting A County-Wide Problem
The matter of garbage and trash dis
posal over the county came before the
county commissioners this week, with an
apparently favorable prospect of action.
Here is something that affects the
health, welfare and appearance of the
entire area and it is fitting that the com
missioners assume responsibility for areas
outside municipalities.
The immediate impetus comes from the
Town of Southern Pines whose mayor
and manager told the commissioners Mon
day that an estimated 25 per cent of the
volume of garbage and trash that is
handled at the Southern Pines “sanitary
landfill” originates from outside the city
limits. They rightly believe that the coun
ty should share in cost of the landfill’s
operation, a cost estimated at $20,000 per
year. It was suggested that the county
bear about one-quarter of this cost—all
figures being subject to a more detailed
study to be made by Town Manager
Rainey. . .
We are pleased that the commissioners
apparently agree with local officials that
the goal is not to ban out-of-town people
from the Southern Pines disposal facili
ties—because that would only mean more
garbage and trash would be dumped
along the roadsides and in the woods.
The goal is rather to make it economically
feasible for town workers and machines
to handle the increased load.
Southern Pines has successfully operat
ed its landfill disposal system for more
than 10 years—remaining the only town
in the county with a modern and sanitary
garbage disposal method. We’d say it was
time the other communities instituted
more effective and acceptable methods
and we hope that they can find it possi
ble to both improve their systems and
cooperate with the county-wide effort to
eliminate unsupervised rural dumping
places.
Why Allow Needless Cruelty;
It is shockling that the American Medi
cal Association is opposing the moderate
bills to insure humane treatment of ex
perimental laboratory animals, now pend
ing in Congress. .
These are the Clark-Neuberger Bill in
the Senate (S.533) and the Ashley Bill in
the House (H. R. 5430).
The bills do not oppose use of animals
in medical research. The AMA Journal—
from all the evidence presented to us—is
unwarranted in making extrerne state
ments that lead its readers to think they
do. Nor is there anything in these
bills to justify the inflammatory con
clusion in Today’s Health, the magazine
published by the AMA for lay readers,
that cures cannot be discovered for
diseases, if the legislation is enacted.
The proposed law—long sought by
many Americans who are no less concern
ed with human than with animal wel
fare—is designed to prevent NEEDLESS
animal suffering in laboratories support
ed wholly or in part by federal funds, by
providing for licensing, inspection and
record-keeping; for setting up minimum
standards of feeding, watering and rest
ing places; and for humanely disposing
of animals that continue to suffer after
an experiment has been completed.
The only antidote to powerful AMA
opposition is widespread, enthusiastic,
popular support for these bills being held
in Congressional committees—the Senate
bill in Sen. Lister Hill’s Committee on
Labor and Public Welfare; and the House
bill in the Committee on Interstate and
Foreign Commerce, of which Rep. Orren
Harris of Arkansas is chairman. (The two
North Carolina Congressmen on this com-
mttee are Horace R. Kornegay and James
T. Broyhill).
These legislators may be addressed at
the Senate or House Office Building in
Washington. They should be urged that
the bills be brought up for hearings and
favorable action.
Wanted: More Facts, Less Drama
It is important in assessing the con
tent of UP and AP dispatches to remem
ber that the wire services, like everything
else that is competitive, must make their
wares attractive to the buyer. In other
words, the temptation to play up the
dramatic in a news story and to play
down or ignore less stirring items, tend
ing to minimize the dramatic, often
proves irresistible.
A case in point is Tuesday’s wire ser
vice handling of the blocking of a convoy
crossing East Germany.
The dispatch starts with the phrase
“the latest incident involving Soviet stop
page ...” implying that this is one more
in a long list of such interference with
American troops. A quote from “a U. S.
army spokesman” states that the block
ing was “a flagrant violation of the west
ern allies’ unrestricted right of access to
Berlin, for which the Soviets must bear
the full responsibility for any consequen
ces.” A Soviet spokesman is quoted as
saying that only the Russians determine
convoy procedures and Major General J.
H. Polk, U. S. Commander in Berlin, is
quoted as saying that only the U. S. de
termines such procedures.
This is the first time the reader of
this article has an inkling that there are,
in fact, “procedures” agreed upon, ob
viously, by both sides. A paragraph to
wards the end of the AP article supplies
an idea of what such “procedures” are:
“the Russians were told that troops would
dismount,” (to be counted) “if a convoy
carried more than 30 passengers. Only
20 of the 44 men in the convoy were
passengers.”
So we find the whole picture has chang
ed. Convoys must be running back and
forth across East Germany fairly con
stantly and it appears from the above
that, contrary to the “U. S. Army spokes
man,” their rights are not unrestricted
and that a good many of them would
be halted. For that paragraph clearly
implies that only convoys carrying under
30 passengers would be allowed to pass
without challenge and possible dismount
ing to be counted. In other words: If
there had been more than 30 passengers
instead of 20 in this convoy it would have
halted as a matter of course.
What lay back of this incident? Was
it part of the Soviet’s sinister maneuver
ing, as hinted by the AP article? Or was
it, perhaps, simply a mix-up? There were
44 men of whom, as was admitted by
everybody, 20 were passengers. That left
24 men to drive the 12 vehicles in the
convoy; two to a car. Could it be that
the Russians count only one man to a
car and therefore termed the second man
a “passenger”?
There is little gain in such speculation.
What it would be really interesting to
know is: how many convoys are halted
for inspection as a matter of course, ac
cording to the rules of procedure agreed
upon by both sides. Only with such in
formation would it be at all possible truly
to guage the potential danger of the in
cident or, conversely, to tell whether, as
we suspect, the AP’s handling of the
story, aided and abetted by official
spokesmen, was not indeed recklessly in
flammatory.
Small Counties Would Dominate
By ROBERT E. WILLIAMS
In Raleigh News and Observer
The real issue in the election
January 14, 1964, on the “little
federal” State Constitutional
amendment will be whether
North Carolina will turn over
complete domination of the most
powerful legislature in the Uni
ted States to its backward coun
ties.
By making the amendment the
price of the first genuine Senate
redistricting since 1921, by mis
representing the effects of the
amendment and by stirring up
unwarranted fears about “big
cities” taking over the State, pro
ponents of the amendment were
able to squeeze it through the
Legislature.
Actual Issue
Now the matter goes before all
the people and the actual issue
should be made clear. Rural
North Carolina has 60.5 per cent
of the State’s population. So long
as that is true any claim that the
“big cities” are about to take over
the State can be no more than an
effort to arouse prejudice.
Under the present Constitution,
however, the smallest counties
are assured of representation in
the House equal to the same num
ber of counties of a much larger
size. The Constitution provides
for “two distinct branches, both
dependent on the people.” But, in
what was almost a meaningless
gesture at the time, another pro
vision stipulates that “each coun
ty shall have at least one repre
sentative.”
When the size of the House was
first fixed at 120 members, nearly
half of the membership represent
ed counties having more than
one seat in the House. Now (and
since 1911) the extra votes have
amounted' to only one-sixth of
the membership. Moreover in
1868 the difference in member
ship between the largest and
smallest counties was only a tiny
fraction of what it is today.
In the 1963 Legislature the 61
smallest counties, with a total of
27 per cent of the population,
could, and sometimes did, control
the House. Moreover, the Repre
sentative from Wayne County
represented 18 times as many
peo.ple as the one from Tyrrell.
Effects Noted
To understand the potential ef
fects of the “little federal”
amendment, it is necessary to un
derstand precisely what the pro
posal would do, if adopted by the
people. The fact that the amend
ment would not change the size
of the General Assembly (it
would remain at 170 members)
makes it easier to see what would
happen to the House and the
Senate. Reduction of the House
membership from 120 to 100 (one
for each county) means that the
small counties in their greediness
for more power would get tighter
control of the House so as to re
quire only 51 counties with 19
per cent of the people to out-vote
the remainder of the State.
It would also mean that the
largest 12 counties, which now
cast 32 of 120 votes, would be re
duced to 12 votes. This is the
same number that would be en
joyed by the 12 smallest counties
—with a total of less than two
per cent of the population. And
the large county in the controll
ing 51 had not much more than
one-half of one per cent of all
North Carolinians. Significantly,
38 of the 51 counties lost popula
tion in th.3 1960 census.
In the Senate Mecklenburg
would swap the four House mem
bers it would lose lor one senator
and only two of the top 12 coun
ties would come out even. The
group as a whole would' get less
than 10 new senators in exchange
for 32 House members—^probably
eight and one-half.
Uncertainfy
The uncertainty as to what ac
tually would happen in the Sen
ate is due to the fact that the
“little federal” amendment would
aband'on the present requirement
that each senator represent, “as
near as may be, an equal num
ber of inhabitants,” and substi
tute a requirement that the popu
lation of no district shall vary
from the average district by more
than 25 per cent. This could mean
that the population of the large
county districts would be as close
“as may be” to 125 per cent of
the average with the small coun
ty districts bordering on 75 per
cent.
Anybody who thinks that the
small counties would not take
full advantage of powers given
them by the amendment simply
have not seen the small county
men at work in the Legislature.
They gave a good preview of
what might be expected from
them under the “little federal”
amendment at both the regular
and special sessions this year.
For Example
In the regular session,- small
county men brought forward at
the very end of the session and
shoved' through the Assembly
the “anti-Communist speaker”
bill which has made the State’s
universities and colleges look
ridiculous. The bill could not be
stomached even by the Alabama
Legislature. This measure was
passed within 24 hours of its in
troduction with a minimum of de
bate as it was evident the votes
were on hand to pass it.
At the same session small coun
ties played a less prominent but
decisive role in pushing through
the $100 million school construc
tion bond bill, which for the first
time in the history of such legis
lation makes no reference to need
on the part of the counties and
even permits some counties to use
their share of the proceeds of
such bonds to reduce local taxes
by retiring old bonds.
At the special session the small
counties, joined by a few of the
better than average counties
which have lost House members
in the last three House reappor
tionments, managed to delay a
Senate redistricting bill imtil
enough of its proponents surren
dered their own convictions and
agreed to vote for the amend
ment.
Surrender Control?
The issue is shall the forward-
looking people of the State who
want the State to grow and ad
vance surrender control of legis
lation to a small group of county
officials andl legislators of like
mind to preserve “courthouse
rings” in all their ancient glory
despite the fact that many of the
counties are too small to maintain
a standard school system or carry-
on othe r essential functions of a
county.
The fight is not with the peo
ple of the counties involved. They
have some of the finest citizens in
the State and some of their legis
lators at every session (1963 was
no exception) are capable and
forward-minded legislators.
The light is with those in politi
cal power in most of the smallest
counties who place an advantage
for “my county” above the wel
fare of the State as a whole.
Thoughtful citizens in every
county and an overwhelming ma
jority in most of the counties
should and very likely will vote
to reject this amendment.
The Public Speaking
18 Pints ARC Blood
Sa'ved Husband's Life
To the Editor:
You may be next. Your
child, your wife or your hus
band may, after an accident or
surgery, lie in a hospital, bleed
ing dangerously. If the hospital
is served by the Red Cross blood
program, blood will be available
quickly.
I know. After a recent op
eration at Chapel Hill, my hus
band required 18 pints of blood
within 24 hours—more blood than
the body contains at one time. If
I had gone into the streets with
fists full of money, I could not
have found enough donors of the
right blood type in time to save
his life.
Because we are Moore County
residents and because I have
been a donor, this perishable live
fluid was supplied for no more
than the cost of collecting, classi
fying, preserving and distribu
ting.
The Red Cross is in the busi
ness of saving lives. It is not in
the business of selling blood.
Therefore, it does not want
money for blood. It wants a pint
of blood for a pint of blood.
Already many of our Moore
County friends have offered to
help replace these precious pints.
They will not need to travel to
Chapel Hill as they would have
done before the bloodmobile from
the Red Cross Center at Char
lotte started coming to Moore
County in 1958. They may give
blood conveniently when the unit
comes to their neighborhood.
But these eighteen pints are
a very small percentage of the
blood owed' by Moore residents.
In the year ending last June, the
county drew 518 more pints than
it had deposited with the Char
lotte Center. Unless a sincere
effort is made to replace this
blood in the three November vis
its of the bloodmobile, Moore
County may lose its Red Cross
blood service.
In that case, the hospitals
would go back to the outdated,
catch-as-catch-can system of find
ing donors when needed—or, per
haps, of not finding them.
Can you afford to take this
risk for your family and your
self? For the small premium of
one pint of blood you can obtain
the best of all health insurance.
The bloodmobile will visit Pine-
hurst on November 14, Aberdeen
on November 15 and West End on
November 27.
EDITH FALLS
(Mrs. Laurence E. Falls)
Eagle Springs
Courageous Nurse
Should Be Commended
To the Editor :
May I commend you on your
editorial, “Race and Reason,” in
the October 17 Pilot, regarding
the recent outrage committed
by a Negro man near Aberdeen?
However, it would seem that
the actions of the courageous
Negro nurse who defended her
white charge, possibly at the risk
of her own life, merit at least
as much comment and publicity
as those of the attacker.
Surely this aspect of the inci
dent should forward race rela
tions.
JEAN S. (Mrs. J.
Roderick) BUCHANAN
Pinehurst
The University: Creative Shrine
Playwright Paul Green of Chapel Hill has long been one of
North Carolna’s most eloquent voices.
Before the state was even conscious of a race problem, he
was calling attention to it in his plays, “White Dresses” and
“In Abraham’s Bosom.” He tackled the tenant farm problem
in his novel “This Body the Earth.” While most of the state
was blithely unaware of conditions on our chaingangs, he
wrote a play entitled “Hymn to the Rising Sun,” which laid
open the festering sores. His outdoor dramas like “The Lost
Colony” have been surging songs in praise of American de
mocracy.
On the 170th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone
of the first building at the University of North Carolina, Paul
Green followed such University Day speakers of other years
as President Pusey of Harvard, President Goheen of Princeton
and President Kennedy.
“The business of the University,” he said, “is the making
of men. There can be no greater enterprise on the face of this
earth, and by ‘men’ here I mean free and creative men, and
men who because they are free and creative are responsible
men and have a care and concern for the world.”
The University, he declared, “is a creative shrine, where
something great has happened and something great is hap
pening and something great will happen. Alumni come back
here to recharge the batteries of their souls.” And, in paren
thesis, he added: “I wish politicians would come oftener and
stay longer.”
For what was giving concern to Mr. Green was North
Carolina’s gag law, which he forthrightly termed “an error in
lawmaking.”
This is his reasoning: “In the shaping and building of
creative free men the imiversities must also be free. Nothing
is to be forbidden for study and inquiry by the free intelligence.
For thus the intelligence grows strong, affirms itself a wit
ness to the truth and the true opponent of error and evil. How
can the students have a chance to know the truth, to examine
and see the world as it really is if they are to be denied the
chance to hear points of view from all sides?”
Green’s own words were proof that there is indeed a
creative shrine at Chapel Hill — with an outspoken guardian
and interpreter.
—The Charlotte Ne'ws
Important Date
The Seventh of November is a
day honored by our Republican
friends; at least by any who hap
pen to know about it.
According to our mentor, Rich
ard Armour, of “Armour’s Al
manac,” it was on November
Seventh that the elephant first
appeared as the emblem of the
Republican Party. That was in
1894 and he was in a cartoon in
Harper’s Weekly. He was chosen,
says Mr. Armour, “because an
elephant never forgets, except
maybe a few items like the Tea
pot Dome Scandal.”
’The Democrats, on the other
hand, (The Pilot gives equal
space now and then) chose the
donkey with typically heedless
Democratic zeal before they
looked up its definition in the
dictionary: “1. an ass; 2. a stupid,
silly or obstinate person.”
Necking? What Next?
Poor old Harvard seems to be
getting it in the neck these days!
All those girls in bedrooms—Tut-
tut!
Remember how those Boston
Puritans used to sigh; and won
der: “What’s the world coming
to?” Just as well - they didn’t
know.
Fire! Fire!
When the fire alarm blows, idle
curiosity impells lots of people
to rush to the telephone and call
the Department.
Resist that impulse, folks! You
take up the time of the man who
has to answer and you may be
keeping someone else, reporting
another fire, from getting
through.
Of course, there are some
reasons for calling. If you’re
working somewhere and the chil
dren are home and the fire truck
sounds as if it was headed for
your block, you can’t be blamed
for dialing that long-suffering de
partment number.
But when the siren sounds,
take a second or two to think:
“do I really need to call,” before
you start dialing.
Not So Wise Guy
Speaking to the Princeton un
dergraduates Sunday, Evangelist
Billy Graham took for his sub
ject: Solomon. He enumerated
the great king’s aims and show
ed how they resembled the aims
of today.
Solomon had great possessions,
great power, he knew more than
anyone else. He had security, ap
parently the chief aim of the
young today, and certainly he
knew all about sex! and Dr. Gra
ham followed the laughter of his
audience by giving the exact fig
ures of wives and concubines in
the harems of the ancient king.
So Solomon had everything—
all these things and ideas that we
seem to crave today—and where
did they get him?
'There Was I . .
See where one Leslie Williams,
over in England, got fed up wait
ing to get married, cracked under
the strain and beat it out of the
church.
Later he pulled himself togeth
er and survived the ceremony. “It
was the waiting that got me
down,” said Leslie.
It calls to mind the old song:
There was I, waiting at the
church.
Waiting at the church, waiting at
the church.
Couldn’t believe he’d leave me
in the lurch.
Oh how it did upset me!
Then he sent a snippy little note,
Here’s the little note, the very
note he wrote:
“Can’t get around to marry you
today,
My wife won’t let me!”
Said Leslie’s spouse: “I realize
it was just nerves.”
THE PILOT
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT, Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Boyd
C. Benedict
Dan S. Ray
C. G. Council
Bessie C. Smith
Editor
Associate Editor
Gen. Mgr.
Advertising
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Mary Scott Newton Business
Mary Evelyn de Nissoff Society
Composing Room
Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen,
Thomas Mattocks, J. E. Pate, Sr.,
Charles Weatherspoon, (jlyde
Phipps.
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