THE WEEKLY PILOT
Published every Friday morning
by the Piloi Printing Company.
STACY BREWER, Manager
Entered at the Postoffice at Vass,
N. C., as second-class mail matter
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1922
BEGINNING THE
THIRD YEAR
The Pilot is entering on its
third year. Those who regard
ed the venture as a flight in the
face of providence when it was
begun two years ago are not so
outspoken now, for although it
transpired that about the time
The Pilot was started financial
difficulties overtook the nation
the spring the paper came
through and is today an estab
lished institution in the Sandhill
life.
Modesty has been one of the
traits of character of the paper,
and it has never undertaken to
reach higher than its limits. So
it has not missed its hold. It
has endeavored to guage its field,
and occupy it. In its two years
it has gained a place and a name,
and though not the biggest pa
per in the state it certainly has
the blue ribbon that says it was
credited by the committee that
decided the contest at the state
fair as presenting the best edi
torial page of all the papers sub
mitted. The Pilot has not been
puffed up with vanity. It was
a committee of newspaper men
passing in judgement on the
merits of the competing papers
that gave the blue ribbon.
But that is only one testimoni
al. Another which is perhaps
of more force is that in the coun
ty The Pilot has the confidence
of the people as being honest in
its purpose to help along with
the progress of the community
and in doing its work in a
reasonably intelligent and help
ful way. The Pilot makes no
pretense of anything but what it
is, a country paper in a rural vil
lage, remote from the influences
of the populous centers. But it
has the conviction that the vil
lage and the surrounding coun
try neighborhood has its place in
human affairs as well as the big
towns with all of the importance
they assume for themselves.
The Pilots starts off in its
next year satisfied that it has
been of use in its sphere, hold
ing its head above water, and
what is of more general value,
holding its course in the direc
tion of continued usefulness in
the community. It has made no
promises and asked no favors,
preferring to be judged as it
goes along, and to pay for what
it gets and to get what it pays
for. The two years that are
gone have been years of some
effort, but withal two years of
much satisfaction and genial re
lationship with the people and
the world. And the memories
of yesterday justify the expecta
tion in tomorrow.
THE
MANLY CANNERY
A big bunch of men promi
nent in the affairs of the coun
ty are arranging for a big
ning .factory-at Manly. The
si^s all indicate that the pro
ject will work out, for the right
type of men is behind the ven
ture, and the conditions here in
the fruit belt are such that
something of the sort is neces
sary to help get the product of
the community into the most
available shape.
Much of the high cost of liv
ing is due to the difficulty in dis
tributing the things we buy.
Sandhill peaches go to market
in a costly fashion. They must
be sent in iced cars, in fancy
packages, and sold _ through
hands that take a tool that helps
to make the price high to the
buyer. The same fruit in tin
cans would not be perishable
material, and would not have to
be marketed in a hurry, but
could wait for months, and in
that time be distributed around
the world, and to markets big
or little wherever the demand
could be found or created.
There the can has the advan
tage over any other manner of
distribution. Fruit taken from
the orchard to the cannery with
out expensive packages or ex
pensive hands to pack it, and
put in cans that can be moved
by the slowest and least expen
sive trains, and that can be sold
in small packages, a can at a
time if desirable, will reach a
market much bigger than fresh
fruit can ever hope to encounter.
If Moore county will put its
fruit in cans far greater outlet
is open to the producer than is
the case now. A beginning in
that direction would stimulate
further production, and also
bring into cultivation many
other things that are easily
made here. The culture of
string beans would be one, for
beans will grow and mature
through several months of the
year. It is doubtful if any place
exists that will make better
yields of string beans than the
Sandhills.
It is wise for the fruit men
and the farmers and gardeners
and everybody to keep in touch
with this movement, and to join
in in providing the material to
keep it under way if it gets in
motion, for it is through these
commencements that big indus
tries arise. It takes a prophet
to say what will be the future
of this section of the state if
canning once becomes success
fully established at Manly.
mobile repairing has drawn a lot
of young fellows but too large
a portion of them are smatters,
for the old fashion of thorough
training has long passed from
popularity.
The vocational schools are
trying to bridge over the gap,
and they do a lot of good, but
they are not like the old ap
prenticeship system. Perhaps
it is all right. We are becom
ing a machine-made nation, and
everything that we buy seems
to have come from the factory
where men simply tend auto
matic machines, and if we want
repairs the old hand workers are
gone, and we buy duplicate
pieces at the hardware store or
the grocery and in many cases
make the adjustments ourselves.
Maybe that is a better way,
but it looks as if we are becom
ing a nation of machine tenders,
losing the skill that generations
of careful effort gave to men,
and ambition to excel is giving
way to the desire to get through
so many hours of doing a cer
tain uninteresting stunt of
watching the machine. Ordi
nary machine tending stimulates
no individual initiative or excel
lence, and the result is that the
employers who want men of cer
tain skill and character hunt m
vain for sufficient of that kind
of labor. In the last week The
Pilot has heard three big em
ployers of the county deplore
the situation, but they had no
remedy to suggest. Skilled men
in the trades are apparently be
coming extinct. Human effi
ciency is supplanted by machine
efficiency. It does not look like
a wholesome change, although
it may be.
THANKSGIVING
Thanksgiving finds this part
of the footstool in pretty fair
shape. Finances are not run
ning on the high plane of war
time days, but conditions are
getting to a more steady basis,
and things are going smooth
with the most of us. The mag
nificent climate of the Sandhills
has given an illustration of what
this marvelous region can do, for
this fall time weather has been
so nearly ideal that the man
who would ask for anything bet
ter could hardly be trusted. Of
course that overlooks neighbor
McQueen who wants a little
more rain for his dams, but even
at that he has had a reasonably
fair amount of water during the
summer, and he is not a kicker
anyway.
The crops are abundant, and
the prices are reasonable. Vass
has had a summer that has been
prosperous. This is indicated in
the substantial expansion of the
village. The road work is grati
fying. We have not all grown
rich, but poverty and fear of
want has not come to this com
munity in any form that has
been hard to bear. General con
ditions are stable, and the fu
ture seems entirely hopeful.
The tax statement drops in
about Thanksgiving time, but
probably that is about as good
a time as the Sheriff could hold
out his hand for this necessity
of civilized life, for a promising
table ought to make the taxpay
er come over with a smile on his
face, especially as he has to
come any way. And with his
smile he can fortify his philoso
phy with the better schools and
better roads, and the fine new
court house, and the other
things that we are getting for
the money.
It is not a bad old world to live
in now that the harvests are in,
and the wood pile is careJ for,
(at least it ought to be), and the
shoofly is back on the road again,
and we have a right good force
of state and national and county
officials, and sugar is no longer
25 cents a pound. Gasoline is
down to twenty-five and tires
are so cheap that it no longer
pays to vulcanize them. It is
not a bad old world to live in
now, and you old kickers wmt
to keep that in your head for at
least one day, if perhaps it hurts
you to keep it there any longer.
Incidentally if you happen lo
know of some fellow pile^rim
whose sun is temporarily behind
a cloud at this season slip him
a glint of light from your own
bit of sunshine. Such things
never hurt you a bit.
LAND FOR SALE—50 acres, one
mile and a quarter of Vass; 14 acres
cleared, 2 acres in dewberries. Mrs.
W. D. Wilson, Vass, N. C. (It)
A LOST
ACCOMPLISHMENT
Fifty years ago the young
man had an ambition to leam a
trade, and a system of appren
ticeship was in vogue all over
the country. The boy put in a
term at learning his trade, and
he came out from his appren
ticeship a skilled artisan, with
a knack of doing well one line of
work on which he could depend
for his living for the rest of his
career if he wanted to continue
at the trade. Skilled men were
numerous then, and good work
in every line was the rule.
The old system has gone. Per
haps it served its usefulness,
but we have not provided any
thing in its place that is half so
good. Skilled men are few now,
and the young men who have
trades that they can look to
with confidence are rare. Auto-
LAKEVIEW STORE COMPANY
The Place where QUALITY Cannot be Beaten
We carry the famous
Feeds
CHECKERBOARD
and the BALANCE
of the LAKEVIEW MILLS with a Guarantee on Every Bag.
FANCY GROCERIES, FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
A fresh stock on hand at all times
Oxiild^ng Supplies
Lime, Cement, Brick, Extra Clear Cedar Shingles, etc.
S-Cr* ABRUZZI RYE and
^ FULGUM TURF OATS
LAKEVIEW STORE COMPANY
LAKEVIEW, N; C.