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VOLUME
1
THE PILOT
NUMBER
Devoted to the Upbuilding of V&ss &nd Its Surrounding Country
SUBSCRIPTION $2.00
$500,000,000 ADDED TO COTTON
VALUE
In the last 60 days the advance in
cotton has made the new crop and the
carry-over worth nearly $500,000,000
more than they would have been
worth at the prices then prevailing.
Moreover, the gambling bears were
bent on beating prices still lower,
but fortunately they have been caught
in their own trap and are being right
gloriously punished.
This $500,000,000 means a change
difficult to exaggerate. It will
wonderfully affect the whole atmos
phere of the South’s business and
agricultural interests; it will save
many a man and many a business
from bankruptcy; it will revive trade;
it will nourish every industry with
new life blood; it will quicken the
hopes of the disheartened; it will put
new courage into all the people; it
will show the tremendous blunder
committed when the former adminis
tration curtailed credit and killed the
War Finance Corporation, and it will
prove the power for good of the freer
credit and the re-establishment of the
War Finance Corporation by the
present administration.
This advance will also show the
wisdom of a reduced cotton acreage,
with an increase in foodstuff produc
tion. In this lesson the South should
find the road to permanent prosperi
ty greater than it has ever known.
If the South will, now and forever,
be independent and rich, let it cut
its cotton acreage heavily for all time
to come and intensify the acreage it
does cultivate in order to reduce the
cost of production and then concenT
trate on foodstuffs for itself and for
the country. Then home-made fertil
izers will enrich its soils; grain,
grasses, cattle and hogs will diversify
its agriculture, enlarge the horizon of
its farmers and add enormously to
their prosperity. Never was there a
better object lesson than the present.
If the South had raised 12,000,000
bales of cotton, the price would prob
ably have gone to Q cents a pound;,
but with a crop of only about
7,000,000 bales the price has gone to
more than three times that figure and
many a farmer will now live who at
6 cents would have been hopelessly
bankrupt and in poverty for years to
come. A crop of 12,000,000 bales with
a carry-over of, say 8,000,000 in round
figures, or 20,000,000 bales at <5 cents
would have been worth only 600,000,
000, which would have meant bank
ruptcy for the entire cotton-growing
interests. A 7,000,000 bale crop and
a carry-over of 8,000,000 bales at
even 18 cents a pound—and it should
go higher—would be worth $1,350,000,
000.
Let the South reverently thank
God for this increased wealth, take
courage and go forward with new
zeal and energy.—Manufacturers’
Record.
VASS, N. C, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1921
PIGS AT THE FAIR
The Sandhills of North Carolina
are very proud of the active support
that the Moore county Boys’ and Girls’
Pig Club will give the Berkshire Show
to be held in connection with the
Sandhill Fair and the Southern Berk
shire Congress Sale, at Pinehurst,
November 16-18 inclusive.
Early in the spring Mr. Leonard
Tufts’ Pinehurst Farm offered to sell
Berkshire pigs to local boys and girls
for $15.00 each, $8.00 to be paid
down (50 cents of this to be for in
surance up to $10.00) the balance of
the $7.50 to be paid at the Sandhill
Fair in November, at which time the
farm will buy up these same animals,
if desired, at the market price for
pork on that day. The farm further
agreed to allow a credit of $10.00
on the purchase of second pig in
ease the first pig died. Eighteen
pigs were sold under this arrange
ment; only one of these died and an
other has been substituted for it.
The boys and girls are planning to
exhibit at the small local fairs this
fall, as well as at the Sandhill Fair,
and are going after the money in a
seriously systematic and businesslike
fashion that makes an efficiency ex
pert look like a corner loafer.
They are getting results, too. On
May 3rd the pigs weighed from 26
to 42 pounds. In the first two months
they gained as high as 82 pounds,
this maximum having been establish
ed by a sow barrow owned by W. H.
Marlette, of West End.
The next best gain was made by a
barrow owned by Bertha Williams,
of Pinehurst; a gain of 76 pounds.
The following month Miss Williams’
barrow made a gain of 49 pounds,
the record gain for that month.
The plan of action followed in
establishing and conducting this pig
club was laid out by Mr. James E.
Downing, the very efficient field sec
retary of the American Berkshire
Association, and like most of his
plans, it works. Credit, too, must
be given Mr. Wall, the Moore County
Demonstrator, for the support he has
given the undertaking.
Not only has much local interest
been arc^ised by this club; the boys
and girls expect to be in a position
to send, if they wish, five or six
barrows on to Chicago in the Pine
hurst to Chicago Southern Berkshire
congress carload of barrows, upon
which President Jackson and Secre
tary Tufts of the Southern Berkshire
Congress have set their hearts.
JURY LIST FOR OCTOBER COURT
The following have been drawn as
jurors for the October special term of
Moore county Court:
Carthage Township: T. C. Cagle,
J. L. Cagle, D. A. Morgan.
Bensalem: J. M. Cole.
Sheffield: W. G. Carter.
Ritters: J. A. Howard.
Deep River: J. W. Brady, J. H.
Matthews.
Greenwood: Chas. C. Jones, M. D.
McLean.
McNeill: Alex Cameron, J. T.
Wilson.
Sandhills: H. A. Campbell, E. J.
Bethune, R. G. Ferrell, W. G. Smith.
Mineral Springs: W. A. Johnson,
Alex Black.
BIG FIRE OUT
Last week one of the most de
structive fires that ever burned in
this section raged over a big part
of western* Hoke county, ranging
down around Endon up toward the,
river in the Piney Bottom country
and along the west side of the road
between Lobelia and Raeford. It
burned the trees to the ground, and
burned the vegetable matter of the
soil, and probably left the land more
a desert than any fire has done in
the central part of the state in many
a year. Lightning was the cause.
Several thousand acres was burned
over. It is all in the camp area.
Capt. J. R. Hutchings, of Carthage,
was in Vass Tuesday.
ANNUAL PARADE
One of the main established fea
tures of the Sandhill Fair is the an
nual parade. When the Premium
Lists were distributed the Secretary
was not prepared to announce just
what the nature of this year’s parade
would be. He is pleased to state now,
however, that after due deliberation,
it has been decided to have each
float represent one of the well known
fairy tales. The possibilities for a
beautiful parade representing these
tales are almost unlimited and it is
bound to interest the children of all
ages. Among the scenes to be repre
sented are: A float representing
Fairyland with the Queen of the
Fairies, “Briar Rose of Sleeping
Beauty,” “Cinderella.” “Snow White
and the Seven Dragons,” “Little Red
Riding Hood,” “Clever Elsa,” “Jack
and the Beanstalk,” “Hansel and
Gretchel or the Gingerbread House,”
“The Fisherman and his Wife,”
“Mother Hulda,” “King Midas and
the Golden Touch,” “The Three Bears”
many others.
Committees from the different
towns will be asked to take charge
of these floats and the arranging of
the parade will be in charge of Miss
Betty Topley of the Farm Life School.
$25.00 will be offered as the first
prize, $15.00 as the second and $10.00
as the third.
The secretary expects to make a
very interesting announcement next
week in connection with this parade,
and hopes to be able to say something
definite about the annual pageant.
PRICE FWE CENTS
COTTON STILL ADVANCING
The tendency of cotton is still to
go higher. Last week it had a small
backset, but twice it crossed the
twenty cent mark, and while no one
can guess what is ahead the opinions
seems to be that it will slowly crawl
up a little farther, while some of the
bolder ones argue that much higher
figures are in sight. As far as can
be seen the crop is so small that the
supply of cotton will not be as big
as is desired, and the reports from
consuming centers says that the call
for cotton goods begins to come in,
with an outlook that the prices of
textiles will be higher. Mills are
selling better and wholesalers and re
tailers are said to be low in stocks
to meet an increased call for goods.
Sales are not very free yet, as many
of the holders of cotton are of the
opinion that it will go higher, and it
seems that the need to sell is not so
great as. was imagined. Those who
hold cotton appear to be in position
to hang on to it a little longer. Time
will tell if they are right. Those
who are selling go on the theory
that it is better to get a fairly good
price out of their stocks than to take
chances on another slump and be
without the money for another period
of months. Not much is said about
what the market will do when the
early crop begins to come in, and as
it is about due some of the discreet
cotton men are not making many
predictions as to its results.
ALL THE WATER WE NEED
Many of the towns of the state
have been close to a water famine
in the last few weeks, and they are
not sure but that they will see more
drastic conditions yet before winter
has filled the springs and streams.
In the Sandhills country we have had
some dry weather, but here is one
favored section where the streams
are rarely dry, for the sand is a
great sponge that takes up the rain
as it falls, and holds it to filter it
out slowly into the streams all the
season round. The sandy belt is
more uniform in its water flow than
any other section of the state and
probably the whole country. This is
why the small streams of the Sand
hill country are such valuable water
powers compared with their size.
When streams twice as big in the clay
country are wholly dry the Sandhill
streams are still making power, and
neither the electric plants nor the
springs, nor the town supplies of
water are worrying any in this sec
tion, although in the clay territory
it is a question where sufficient water
is to come from, and the people th^re
are on short water rations.
It is far easier to chase a camel
through the eye of cambric needle
than it is to pass an amateur wheel
man who has just arrived at the
wobbling stage.