Page TWO
THE PHLOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1964
ILOT
‘‘Nobody Here But Us Extremists
99
Southern Pines
North Carolina
“In taking over
paper. We will
an occasion to
treat everybody
Pilot no changes are contemplated. We will try to keep this a good
to make a little money for all concerned. Wherever there seems to
our influence for the piblic good we will try to do it. And we will
ike.” — James Boyd, May >13, 1941.
I
Pesticides: National and Local Problem
President Joiinson has asked Congress
for $30 million jfor a program in pesticide
research, reguption and education, re
flecting a nation-wide concern with the
hazards— to wildlife and to man—of the
present massive and often indiscrimiate
use of cherm<ial poisons to kill insects or
vegetation.
The Pilot, which has long warned of
these hazards, citing the investigations
of the late Rachel Carson and others,
hopes that the federal program can be
pushed through quickly so that the
slaughter of fish, birds and animals can
be stopped and that much more informa
tion can be brought to light on the effects
of such poisons on human beings.
We are pleased to see that the pr@gram
anticipates research in the use of non
chemical and less persistent pesticides
and in the life-cycles of the insects to be
controlled. We note with interest that a
project along this line is now going on
in North Carolina, under direction of the
Department of Agriculture, in which
“black light” lamps placed at intervals
over a wide agricultural area are trapping
homworm moths before they can br^d
and produce tobacco hornworms which
cost tobacco farmers heavily in leaf
damage and in insecticides. The experi
ment has shown that a pattern of lights
over a 113-square-mjile area cut the horn-
worm population in half. Success of this
sort of program not only cuts costs for
the farmer but reduces insecticide resi
dues on tobacco. These residues, we have
often thought, might be a key factor in
the tobacco-cancer relationship.
Closer to home, there is the municipal
insect spraying program—the subject of
an interesting letter on this page, pointing
out proven dangers of chemical poisons
to human beings.
In year after year of expressing op
position to this program—both as a likely
health hazard and an unwarranted, un
pleasant fouling of the good clean air
with which this community is blessed—
The Pilot has stressed the point that
nobody, anywhere, really knows what
regular contact with modern chemical
insecticides will do to human beings, be
cause these poisons have not been in
general use for more than two decades—
one third of a lifetime. No one can say
that after 30 years of exposure, for
example, there will not be the most dire
and widespread effects on people. None
of us have lived with them that long—
though we are told, now, that nearly all
animals, including food animals, and all
persons, too, have varying amoimts of
DDT stored in their fat.
It is our conviction that breathing
clean air is as much a right of human
beings as any of the rights named in the
Constitution and that, some day, such a
right will be recognized in law.
If others in Southern Pines share this
conviction, they should let the Town
Coimcil know it. The council can stop the
spraying, at any meeting. And they
should. The residents of Southern Pines
have played guinea pig in this experi
ment long enough.
Tull of Sound and Fury.., ’
Senator Goldwater’s acceptance speech
at the Republican National Convention
wouldn’t have rated a passing grade in
a high school freshman English course.
The whole point of writing or speaking
is the transference of exact meaning, as
freshman English students are told. And
the absolute essential in the transference
of meaning is to be specific.
The Goldwater speech was a mass of
generalities which could—and apparently
did—have different meanings to a variety
of listeners. There were few clarifying
illustrations.
The no\v-famous extremism and mo
deration sentences formed the most glar
ing example. The candidate said; “Ex
tremism in the defense of liberty is no
vice . . . Moderation in the pursuit of
justice is no virtue.”
Can there be any doubt that the great
shout in the Cow Palace, after the words
were spoken, came from those who were
convinced that the candidate was putting
his blessing on extremist elements in the
Republican Party, including the John
Birch Society, about which the wrang
ling had just taken place in the conven
tion? When “extremism” had been de
fined in those terms, by speaker after
speaker, during the convention, what on
earth did Goldwater expect his audience
to think he was saying, if not that?
Yet when he was asked later what he
meant, he said he was thinking in terms
of a soldier goiftg to the extreme of
giving hi^ life for liberty or of such
national tictions as declaring the Spanish-
American War.
Could a freshman English student
have gotten by with any such lame ex
planation?
For our purpose here, let the one
example suffice, though sentence after
sentence in the Goldwater speech seemed
to us fuzzy and inconclusive, lacking a
clarifying link to the actual world in
which the senator proposes to fill the
shoes of the most powerful and responsi
ble hvunan being on earth.
The point is this: we cannot have a
campaign for the Presidency in which
one candidate is widely, consistently mis
understood. And, if Senator Goldwater
should be elected President, it is un
thinkable that he should say one thing
and mean another.
The senator’s decade of public life is
strewn with statements that he has with
drawn, corrected, modified or, even more
puzzling, has stuck to in the face of
overwhelming contrary evidence.
Perhaps the nation can benefit from
the great Conservative versus Liberal
debate that is foreseen in the coming
campaign. But it will be pointless if what
Senator Goldwater says means one thing
to him, another to his supporters and
something else again to his opponents.
“Sound and fury,” indeed!
A delegation from the Jaycees appear
ed before the town council last week with
a poignant query: “What, oh what, can
we do about Christmas lights?”
In thus jumping Christmas when it’s
still July, the local Junior Chamber of
Commerce is well in line with its patron
saint. But while the stores are already
beginning to stock up on their wares,
these community-minded young men are
talking but doing: nothing. And what’s
more they ain’t agoin’ to neither, accord
ing to the group that laid their plaintive
tale of woe before the city fathers. “We’ve
done all we can,” they said. “We’ll help
put up the decorations, but somebody
else must take on the job.”
They had seen the need; they had tried
to fill it with the noble purchase, paid
by local merchants, three years ago of
those sort-of-lanterns; had himg them up
in strategic locations in full view of the
populace and neither said populace nor
the Jaycees themselves lik^ them very
much, and less and less as time went on.
It was discouraging. Last year the lant
erns really gave out and now not all the
king’s horses or all the king’s men can
make the Jaycees put them up again. As
they fully informed the council. And
they put the question: “What about the
Town?”
Well, the town is busy right now, put
ting uniforms on the garbage collectors
(with “Southern Pines Garbage” stencil
led on the uniforms, or maybe “Garb
age Southern Pines”) and so, quickly, an
alert councilman, with tongue-in-cheek
politeness, hurried to reply.
“We are deeply grateful,” he said, “for
0 Little Town Lights
your hard work and great talent in this
matter of the Christmas lights for our
town. So grateful are we that we would
not THINK of depriving you of this noble
and devoted task”. To which the reply
was a groan of utmost anguish.
Seriously, this matter of the Christmas
lights does need advance planning and
the Jaycees, or whoever takes up this
task of making the town bright and beau
tiful at this very special time, must have
help and plenty of it. The council suggest
ed that the Merchants’ Council be ap
proached: the hushed interruption “if we
can ever find it” was passed over with
out comment and the advertising com
mittee, as appointed by the council, was
mentioned as another possible source of
help.
The Pilot, ever generous with sugges
tions, has these to offer: (1) Abandon at
tempt to cover the whole of Broad
Street’s two sides and concentrate on a
few of the prettiest parts. (2) Decorate
two or three of the finest trees and light
them with strong spotlights, as the holly
at the post office is lit; (3) Decorate with
garlands and wreaths the town hall en
trance, the library entrance, the two
banks, making generous use of spotlights;
salt to taste; add sugar, beaten into whites
of egg, cinnamon, raisins; pour over rum
sauce just before serving ... but we seem
to have wandered into the plum pudding
field. Oh well, we’d better start early on
that problem, too.
Apologies and hurrahs to the Jaycees
who have worked hard and well. May
they live long to put up many Christmas
lights in our town, but only if everybody
.—Town and merchants—is ready to help.
'ZscHiE.cHe'
The Public Speaking
Extremists Always Say
They Act For Liberty
To the Editor;
Once again the San Francisco
convention proved that the sure-
est way to win a political fight
is to mobilize the “gut-fighting”
professionals, as Charley Halleck
calls fliem.
Though there are some
liberals with statesmanlike
qualities in the higher echelons
of the Republican party, its rank
and file are moderately conserva
tive. The Goldwater nomination
is as much a victory over .these
moderates as over the t forces of
liberalism. Though Barry had
the support of moderates at the
convention, he won primarily
through the steamroller tactics
of the very far right. He may not
be proud of the members of the
John Birch Society, but he needs
their votes. Only thus can one in
terpret his far-fetched quibble to
the effect that by “extremism be
ing no vice” he meant the send
ing of United States Marines
to Lebanon. Even a college drop
out (Barry quit college in fresh
man year) ought to have doubts
as to whether so utterly stupid
an evasion could possibly be
bought by even one of those
wicked political reporters and
commentators who, as he claims,
so consistently slant their report
ing against him.
As to when “extremism in the
cause of liberty” may be justi
fied, even a Senator who is con
sidered uneducated by other
Senators of his own party ought
to know that most of the ex
tremist tyrants of history, from
Caesar and Napoleon to Hitler
and Stalin, acted in the name of
liberty and justice. The Birchers
think they do the samej as do
also the white extremists in Mis
sissippi and the black extremists
who follow Malcolm X.
This philosopher - statesman
was wildly applauded by his fol
lowers when he and his hand
picked speakers defended the
right of the John Birch Society
to dissent. Then the same follow
ers howled in protest against the
same right of dissent being allow
ed that section of the American
press which cannot swallow
whole the cancerous doctrines of
this “conservative” madman.
With Barry’s gang it depends on
who dissents from what.
As one newspaper editor put
it, “the nomination of Goldwater
is a turning of the back on Re
publican tradition, on the prevail
ing views of the rank and file
Republican voter, on sensible
foreign and nuclear policy, on
sound relations with America’s
friends and allies, and on com
mon sense.”
As one Republican Congress
man put it, “With Goldwater
heading the ticket, the truth is—
let’s face it—we become the
party of Kookism.”
DONALD G. HERRING
Southern Pines
Spraying Program Poses
Dangers To People, Too
To the Editor;
There is an old saying: “The
only thing left to tax is the air
we breathe.” Now it seems that
even this freedom is being taken
away from us by the Town’s
chemical sprayer.
This spray machine comes
around every week spewing its
Reward For A Tired Musician
“Words are for wasting” is the
final phrase in the following edi
torial from the Asheville Citizen.
To which we add: And good
words are for printing and re
printing.
This picture of the player in
the Asheville Symphony could
double for a picture of all dedi
cated artists, amateur or profes
sional, whether in town orches
tras or in the State Symphony,
In salute to the spirit of his
subject, the Asheville editor en
titles his piece, “Just Say It’s A
Mild Surrender:”
We don’t even remember her
name.
She was pretty. She was brun
ette and beautiful, married, musi
cal.
She plays with the Ashevillq,
Symphony. It’s hard work. It
requires long hours of practice
and rehearsals that divert a lot
of housewives from their house
wifely duties and frequently
cause them to wonder if the im
pact is worth the effort.
She thinks it is. She wondered
if maybe we’d write a little some
thing explaining that it is.
We said “No.” The clock hands
neared noon and we still lacked
“little somethings” to fill the
yawning space of these three om-
niverous columns.
“I just thought maybe—” she
said.
We said “Sorry.” Her recent
experience was too personal, we
explained—too personal and too
emotional—^for editorial treat
ment.
She had gone home, blue and
beaten from the last Symphony
performance, debating the pro’s
and con’s of this labor-of-love, al
most convinced the con’s had a
walkaway lead. ’The day had been
hot, the program demanding, the
audience restive. Eyes are for
weeping.
’Then a neighbor appeared—a
woman with several children and
many family responsibilities.
The neighbor brought flowers and
a message:
“Thank you,” the neighbor said,
“for a wonderful afternoon.”
Our caller sighed. “A thing like
that makes it worth it,” she said,
“not only for me but for the other
members of the Symphony who
maybe owe more time to their
other obligations.”
We expressed our sympathy,
and our regrets.
“You see,” we explained, “an
editorial needs to be ... an edi
torial must have. . .”
Oh, to heck with it. Words are
for wasting.
chemical tottgues of death first
up one street and down the other.
Chemical spraying kills bugs
just fine and dandy (if it catches
them). It also knocks off birds,
squirrels, rabbits and, according
to statistics noted below, a few
people now and then.
Here is the nature of the in
gredients in this chemical dragon
that stalks the streets of South
ern Pines during the prime of too
many of our lovely evenings:
Beta Butoxy Beta ’Thiocyane
Diethyl Ether, 19.8%; Malathion
(O, O-Dimethyl Dithiophosphate
of Diethylmercaptosuce Inate),
44.7%; Petroleum Distillate,
32.5%; and Inert Ingredients, 3%.
The cancer business is booming
here as elsewhere! Ask your
doctor to check the following
statements. Ask the Town Coun
cil to look into it.
Two Mayo Clinic physicians
have reported four cases of
leukemia which they suspect
were caused by heavy exposure
to insecticides. The doctors state
that a spray blew through an
open window and caused a mo
ther and her son to cough and
choke for 15 minutes. Eight
months later leukemia was diag
nosed in the son. The mother de
veloped leukemia 4% years later.
Drs. Karl H. Kolmeir arid Edwin
D. Bayrd also report that leu
kemia developed in two cousins
eight months alter exposure to
insecticide spraying.
Many cases of mysterious “virus
infections” and neurotic condi
tions can be traced to the potent
insecticides now in widespread
use, suggests Dr. Douglas Camp
bell, associate professor of psychi
atry at the University of Cali
fornia. Speaking before a San
Francisco Medical Society panel
on chemical poisons. Dr. Ccimp-
bell said that case files in his
own practice show that many
complaints of strange ailments
come alter a gardening stint
during which flowers were spray
ed for pests. Most of the modern
“miracle” pesticides. Dr. Camp
bell said, contain residual solids
that can be salted away in our
own body fat. These stored pois
ons frequently reintoxicate per
sons who go on a low-calorie
diet. They are, in effect, made
ill by their own poisoned fat. Re
ferring to virus as a “useful word
to hide behind,” Dr. Campbell
reported that “virus infection”
patterns that have closed entire
schools can be traced to pesticidte
spraying in the neighborhood.
This letter ends on one note
of hope. If the Town Council
doesn’t come to their senses, there
is an antidote drug that will
counter the effects of parathion,
malathion and other organic
phosphate insecticides, in both
severe and mild poisoning. Or
ganic phosphate insecticides are
derivatives of German nerve
gasses and disrupt the body’s nat
ural enzyme system. ’The drug
reactivates the enzyme damaged
by the insecticides.
This is the tax we may have
to pay for freedom from our
chemicalized air!
TOM O’NEIL
110 Highland Rd.
Southern Pines
Quite A Week
Last week was the week dedi
cated to the ^Hamburger. And to
ham this year, we take it, as the
week was captured, body and
soul, by the Republican conven
tion that ended in the nomina
tion of Barry Goldwater.
Tempted to a smarty crack
about “a ham of the first water,”
we practice restraint—no extreme
ism, Pat!—and merely point to a
few other curious things that
happened in the week of July 12
to 18 in other years as well as
this one:
On July 13, 1865, Horace Gree
ley told everybody to go west and
then only went to Washington.
But he got himself nominated for
president on the tickets of both
the Liberal Republican and the
Democratic parties. Thereby go
ing Barry one better.
Julius Caesar was bom in this
historic week, and the French
busted up the Bastille OQ the
Fourteenth and let out all the
prisoners except a few scared
frogs who preferred to remain
inside. On July 18, Nero set Rome
afire—^though he always denied
it and said he was fiddli^ away
hoping to attract attention and
get help. 'They asked him why he
didn’t blow the sireen or at least
a bugle but be said he didn’t
know how.
To go back to Greeley: Mr.
Richard Armour, who thought up
most of these tidbits, claims that
when Greeley did finally go West
he was editor of the New York
Tribune and got an interview
with Brigham Young. The patri
arch told him a whole lot of
things but, unfortimately, he was
not able to print them.
Let’s see: Brigham had 15-
wives, didn’t he?
So Be It '
On the banks of the tiVer
Windrush, that winds through
Burford in the Cotswolds coun
try of rich farmlands and villages
of almost magical beauty, is one
of the oldest chruxhes in Eng
land.
As the river flows through the
town it passes under a Roman
bridge, hump-backed, narrow;
just below the bridge, in its
waterside garden, stands the old
stone church.
Following the twisting banks
of the stream, the garden is a
maze of little paths bordered by
low creeping flowers, of tangles
of every old-fashioned plant im
aginable, of plots of herbs and
and ferny nooks in the shade of
the willows and great oaks that
reach their branches across the
water. In the graveyard, back of
the church, the paths are crossed
at frequent intervals by arches of
climbing roses.
Here under the black shadows
of ancient yews, stand the tomb
stones in wavering lines, leaning
a bit this way or that. The dates
go back to the fourteenth century.
'The lettering covered with lich
en-tracery is often almost illeg
ible, but if the visitor persists
in trying to decipher the inscrip
tions, he will be well-rewarded.
Among much that is of interest
and human wisdom, he will find
the poem printed below. Tender,,
simple, yet with a strength of
love and faith that is like the
rush of a great wave, her€ &
epitaph that is also, and forever,
a love-song.
EPITAPH
In bliss is hee.
Whom I lov'd best.
Thrice happy sliee
With him to rest
So shall I bee
With him I loveC
And hee with mee.
And both us blessed.
Love made me Poet,
And this I writt.
My heart did do yL
And not my wit.
Anon I
(In Bxirford Chiirchyardi).. >
From "A Book of Marriage,"
selected by Ivor Brown (H^ ^
mash Hamilton. London),
THE PILOT
Published Every Tbursdaf by
THE PILOT, Incorponted
Southern Pines, North Ohroline
1941—JAMES BOYS—1944
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