VOLUME
THE
I
NUMBER
Is a Paper Devoted to the Upbuilding of the SandhiU Territory of North Carolina
Address all communications to
the pilot printing company. VASS. N. C.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1923
SUBSCRIPTION $1.80
0
JOHNSON’S LETTER
NUMBER FIVE
Still in Mexico and Writes In
terestingly of His Trip
My last letter was choked in its
completion by the ruthful sense of
worship there explained; but there are
times when one must lay aside even
religious reverencc to gi’v^e the public
the cold facts, and before leaving the
subject of Albuquerque, I will linger
to tell just this much:
The town has a population of about
25,000, and maybe a few more. It
is located on the Rio Grande river,—
but far above the reach of that river
where it forms the dividing line be
tween the United Stares and Mexico.
It is the county reat of Bernalillo
county, and was founded in the year
1701 by an old Spaniard, a part of
whose name was Don Pedro (and then
some) thirty-fourth viceroy of New
Spain, Duke of Albuquerque etc. The
old Plaza is too far awaj' from the
railway station for us to see, but the
people seem proud of it, and tell me it
was erected in 1735, and contains re
mains of a very old and very sacred
Catholic church known as San Felipe
de Neri,—whatever that is.
Prior to the Mexican War this was
the site of an important Mexican Fort,
and still farther back, before Mexico
became independent of Spain, an event
that dates about the year 1820, this
was an old Spanish Fort.
Albuquerque is headquarters for the
sheep raising industry in New Mexico.
The town handles ten million dollars
worth of sheep and lambs annually,
and wool to the amount of seven mil-
lloTi pounds. I was forced to admit,
though reluctantly, that in this re
spect they are ahead of Mossgeil.
The University of New Mexico is
located at Albuquerque; its campus
covers sixty acres, and the buildings
are on the style of the Indian Pueblo.
There is also a Presbyterian school
here, that is said to be doing a great
work among the conglomerate mass
of humanity that form the population.
It is quite a long distance from Al
buquerque to Gallup, but I do not
have any notes of this stretch. I do
remember, however, passing the town
of Wingate, where is what is called
the greatest natural monument in
America, called Inscription Rock. On
its walls are hundreds of inscriptions
extending over three hundred years,
the earliest of which, still deciperable,
recites some deed of prowess of an old
Spaniard in the year 1606.
Arriving at Gallup, we were inform
ed that we had thirty minutes, and
that all who wished to do so could go
to Fred Harvey’s fine eating house
for lunch. And this was the first
time I put my foot on the ground
after leaving Chicago. I had tired
of the dining car meals, and was glad
to become acquainted with Harvey’s
great meals.
Gallup is a town of about 5000 in
habitants; is the county seat of Mc
Kinley county, and is near the west
edge of New Mexico. It is in th midst
of the greatest coal mining section in
western New Mexico. They told me
nearly a million tons of coal is shipped
from Gallup annually.
Large numbers of Navaho Indians,
still nomadic in their habits, roam the
country, and come into this town to
trade. These Indians own great
flocks of sheep, which they drive with
them as they move from pasture land
to pasture land; and the women car
ry their crude looms with them, with
which they weave very superior
blankets. I was told that an Indian
Woman could set up her loom in two
ttiinutes, and in another minute she
would be nonchalently weaving a
blanket. These Indian women are
anything but attractive. They have
the appearance of being cowed, and
beaten into utter hopelessness, with
all the sentiment of life gone, with
no thought but to bear the burden
like a farm mule.
The wonderful discoveries of Astec
i*emains by the American Geographi
cal Society, are round about here; but
a distance from Gallup.
(Continued next week)
TBE milTER-PRESIDEin' HAS PASSED AWAY
The strife-torn world has learne<i that it has lost
a sincere friend; the nation an honest and earnest
public official; the printing craft its most illustrious
member.
President Harding was typical of the best in the
American nation. He would have been glad to call
himself an average American. He rose to the highest
position in the gift of the greatest nation on earth by
hard work, conscientious and honest dealings with his
fellowmen and a knack for making friends that
characterized all his public deeds.
Like Lincoln he was a “small town” man by birth
and upbringing. And the rugged honesty and con
servatism generally attributed to the “small town”
population guided him all through life—as a farmer,
as a newspaper man, as a politician and as the presi
dent of the nation.
May his memory long live among us!
SOLD) CAR U. S.
FANCY PEACHES
THE LAST OF
THE PEACHES
Crop Held Longer Than Expect
ed—Prices Take a Rapid
Rise
The peach crop, which was expected
to be over with, except for late Hales,
is holding over into this week. Mon
day there were still quite a few Belles
coming in, and the Hales are just be
ginning to come in full. There seems
to be no orderly sequence in the ripen
ing of the fruit this year. In some
orchards Belle trees were stripped a
week or ten days ago, but we know of
one orchard near Aberdeen where the
Belles are just coming into their
prime. The Elbertas, which should
have followed the Belles, ripened with
the Belles in some orchards. In other
orchards the Hales were extremely
early.
There seems to be quite a lot of
fruit still to be marketed and as there
are no peaches to the north of us,
an eager bid is being made for all of
it. Prices bid fair to exceed any
prices ever paid for our product. Mon
day’s market quotation ranged
around $3.00 to $3.50 per crate.
CAROLINA CO^PS
MAMG GAINS
Increased Deliveries, High Ad
vances and Record Meetings
Mark Second Year
the great legacy of economic free
dom.”
Senator J. A. Brown, of Columbus
county. North Carolina in a bitter
denunciation of those who fight the
marketing association for selfish rea
sons declared, “The man who thinks
that he can drink all the cream and
leave all the skim milk to his neigh
bor hasn’t good sense and isn’t a good
citizen in any community.” Reproach
ing his hearers for their short mem
ories, Senator Brown asked the farm
ers to compare the 11c tobacco of
1921 with the 17c tobacco of 1922, and
pointed to co-operative marketing as
the reason for the increased prices
which have brought prosperity back
to this section.
President H. N. Snyder, of Wofford
College, South Carolina declared,
“Under the old system the cards have
been stacked against the individual
grower. It seems to me I would join
anything which woulld save me from
the humiliation of having somebody
else always tell me what I must do.”
Staling that the farmers have become
the most dissatisfied class of peop'e in
America, president Snyder described
the contract of the tobacco and cot
ton associations as a new declaration
of independence by the farmers of
South Carolina.
Every member of the Tobacco Grow
er’ Co-o erative Asso^ia'ion from
Pitt county, Norlh Carolina, who has
sought to avoid de ive'iiig his 1923
crop by suing his own association for
anulment of his contract, now finds his
crop tied up by injunction procesdings
and facing the hearing se‘ by Jrdge
I Calvert of Wake Coun'y, for Augi’st
20th, in Raleigh.
S. D. FRISSELL.
J. JOHNSON
ARRIVES HOME
Glad to Be Back in the Sandhills
—Says “Bread and Milk”
For Him
Col. J. McN. Johnson, who with Mrs.
Johnson left Aberdeen about a month
ago for a tour of the Western states,
is back again none the worse for the
trip. He has already delighted the
readers of The Pilot with accounts of
the early steps off his tour, and will
continue to do this in the succeeding
issues.
Mr. Johnson is enthusiastic about
the West, but when asked if his trip
had in any way lessened his first love
for the Sandhills, he replied that he
was much like the man who with a
sumptuous banquet spread before him
asked for bread and milk.
The Pilot is glad to welcome Mr.
Johnson back and it knows that he
has gained impressions on this trip,
which when applicable for adoption
and improvement locally, will have in
him an able sponsor. This from the
personal enjoyment and edification
that he with Mrs. Johnson got out
of the trip.
CANNING PLANT
FOR ABERDEEN
Hopes Perhaps to Locate-^Good
Prospects that it Will
Materialize
Enthusiasm for co-operative mar
keting reached a new high level
among tobacco farmers throughout
South Carolina last week when deliv
eries to the co-operative markets in-
creased at almost every point and
thousands of organized growers left
their urgent harvesting to attend the
great mass meetings and barbecues
at which a United States Senator,
S,ngressman, a State Senator from
North Carolina and a College presi
dent urged the members of the to
bacco and cotton co-operatives to con
tinue steadfast in their successful
marketing through their own associa-
tions. _ _
United States Senator, N. B. Uiai,
at the meetings of tobacco farmers
from Florence, Darlington and Dillon
counties counties urged °
see to it that the prices of their cot-
and tobacco are not fixed by a British
J. J.
ed, “This is a flght in peace time by
the farmers for their
welfare of their children and ^
TwiS Zeal akin to missionary
Sit s«rs our farmers today but we
must have the endurance to fight f
the five years of the
deathbed the man wtio has foug
s. SSTgb. 1«V. M.
The above is a photograph of the
Cup won by The Pilot for being the
best printed paper in the State. The
Cup is now on display in the window
of the Vass Mercantile Co., where
it will remain for a few days only.
j Mr. W. M. Ketchum, of Kinston, N.
' C, spent several days in Aberdeen last
, week looking over the situation with
a view of establishing a Canning
plant there. Mr. Ketchum inter
viewed several Aberdeen business
men and fruit growers, and before
he left exDressed himself well satis
fied with the prospects in this section
and with Aberdeen as the best loca
tion for central canning plant. He
did not divulge any detailed plans,
but we understand that he has gone
as far as to look into the possibilities
of two or three sites in Aberdeen for
his plant.
Mr. Ketchum, we understand, was
at one time assistant manager of the
Charles Sumner Canning Plant at Bal
timore, Md. This plant has a national
reputation and we take it, therefore,
that Mr. Ketchum is an A-1 canning
plant man and fully able to discern
the prospects for such a plant in this
section. While he was very reticent
about his plans and seemingly not in
terested in local finaneial help or
other assistance, we are expecting a
return visit from Mr. Ketchum to ar
range more definite preliminaries to
ward the starting of this plant. But
Mr. Ketchum has ample time to do
this as he will not be ready for can
ning operations until the next season.
Grown at McGraw’s Orchard
Near Aberdeen—Packed Un
der Supervision Gov’t
A solid car of U. S. No. 1 Fancy
Peaches of the Hale variety was pack
ed at the McGraw Cherokee Orchards
just out of Aberdeen last Thursday.
To our knowledge this is the first
solid car of Uncle Sam’s highest stan
dard that has ever left this section.
Government inspectors stood over the
packers and a most rigid inspection
was observed. Every peach that was
not 90 percent colored was culled, as
were also all the peaches which were
not properly shaped or had other
blemishes.
Mr. McGraw sold this car where
it stood when loaded at $3.75 per
bushel, a price considerably above the
market that day. To show how close
ly the fruit was inspected, people from
everywhere flocked out there as soon
as some of the culls began to come in
to town. They eagerly paid $3.00 per
bushel for the fruit that had been re
jected by the Government inspectors
and there was a scrimmage for it at
the wind up.
The McGraw Orchard has produced
some exceptionally fine fruit this
year. It has also produced an abundant
crop, all of which has brought good
prices. With the attainment of filling
a solid car with U. S. Fancy No. 1
grade, it achieved outstanding distic-
tion among the orchards in the en
tire section this season.
Prof. C. V. Kelly, last season mu
sical instructor at Edinburg, Virginia,
schools, spent Monday of this week in
Aberdeen, where he was induced to
come by Prof. J. E. Redfem, who is
hoping to secure him for the next
season for the Aberdeen Consolidated
Schools. Prof. Kelly has made a rep
utation for himself in the teaching
of music and also as a band and or
chestra leader. We understand, too,
that he is an adept on the pipe organ.
Prof. Redfern introduced Prof. Kel
ley to a number of our citizens and
the general impression is that he is
a happy combination of the genius and
the practical man.
Sometime ago The Pilot urged that
steps be taken toward the organiza
tion of a band in the Sandhills. Tak
ing up that point with Prof. Kelly, he
said that he had at other places and
that he could at Aberdeen organize
an orchestra unit so that he could at
anytime pick out of it the band instru
ments and have a‘complete band. Very
little additional practice would be ne
cessary to keep the band proficient.
Aberdeen has the talent and it re
mains for someone to organize it into
one unit for our delectation and the
good of the community.
The Rexall Sale put on by Carter’s
Drug Store last week is going at full
gait. The ad appeared in last week’s
Pilot and is again repeated in the is
sue of this week.
Rodney Page who has been attend
ing business college at Raleigh spent
Sunday with his folks here. Rodney
I has completed his course and secured
a position with the R. J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company at Raleigh.
Mr. and Mrs. Clifton Wilson, newly
married, are temporarily at home at
L. B. Townsend’s residence. They ar
rived here Saturday morning after
having visited several points after
their marriage at Ahoskie. Mrs. Wil
son was formerly Miss Margaret Ses-
soms, well remjembered here from
former years when she taught at the
Aberdeen Graded School.
The house party in progress ft>r a
week at Mrs. J. R. Page’s home for
her niece, Miss Etta Reid Wood, of
Asheboro, broke up on Wednesday.
All the young ladies, Converse Col
lege classmates of Miss Woods, left
for their respective homes. On Mon
day the party enjoyed a basket pic
nic and a days outing at Blue’s Bridge.
On Tuesday the party was entertain
ed at Asheboro, returning at night
for a dinner party here.
Aberdeen’s Semi-annual report
made to the Bureau of Vital Sta-
(Continued on page 10)