VOLUME
THE
PILOT
NUMBER
15
Is a Paper Devoted to the Upbuilding of the Sandhill Territory of North Carolina
Address all communications to
the pilot printing company, VASS. N. C.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29,1924
SUBSCRIPTION $2.00
VALUABLE LANDS
ON SALE AT VASS
jIcNeill Property Goes Under
the Hammer To Satisfy
Claims
The announcement last week of the
proposed sale at auction of the prop
erty of Daniel Hector McNeill next
week is an event of considerable im
portance in this vicinity, for the tract
of some 1,700 acres which lies just
outside the village to the south is one
of the biggest tracts ever sold in this
vicinity in this manner. The proper-
ey has to be sold to satisfy claims, and
the buyers will make the price.
The tract is on the new road lead
ing from the cotton mill out across
the liver and out past Sweetheart
lake towards Aberdeen. The land is
largely what is called second bottom,
meaning that it is high enough to be
above the swamp, and low enough to
be in the fertile sandy loam that
brings excellent crops when under cul
tivation. It is close enough to the vil
lage to be highly desirable farm land,
and would no doubt have been made
into farms long ago except that the
owner had so much land that he was
kept busy with the farm he tilled in
the lower end of the tract and did
not care to sell.
'\Iueh timber is on the property, as
well as a large quantity of the best
wood for fuel that is left in the coun
ty. The tract is approached from the
clay roads leading down toward Lo
belia as well as from the roads that
pass through Vass and Lakeview.
Very little of it is cleared. It has the
making of fine dewberry vineyards,
peach orchards, cotton and tobacco
farms, and is excellent for stock and
grazing. A. Cameron, a man familiar
with the country around Vass, says
that if he had the money needed to
buy the place he would not hesitate
to take it without debate, and that he
thinks it is worth $50 an acre. Much
of it closer to the village is worth
more. But he also says that it is not
desirable that it should fall into the
hands of any one man, but that it
should be cut into a large number of
farms and put into the hands of men
who will develop it and make the here
tofore unused acreage a big asset to
the community.
It is pretty well understood that the
lands of the Little River valley are
among the best Sandhill lands in the
state. The soil is loose, yet heavy
enough to possess more than the or
dinary fertility. It is exceptionally
well watered, springs being abundant
and strong. Health conditions are ad
mirable, as is the case throughout this
sandy belt. The constant call from
the resort towns for farm stuff gives
a steady market, while the cotton mill
and the tobacco warehouse at Vass
takes care of those products. Vass is
one of the best cotton markets in the
South, as the cotton delivered at the
gin is already at the market, and has
no freight to pay. Hence it brings
the full price paid for the lint, and as
it arrives in good condition and is in-
spi f-ted at the gin the farmer always
^-ts a better grade for his cotton than
he can get at many other places.
Dewberries and peaches are sold at
the local stations or delivered there
for shipment along with other con
signments from the other vineyards
and orchards of the neighborhoods. A
gOf.d demand for beef cattle is found
in Vass and at the other towns, and
PROGRAM
For the week of the
CAROLINA THEATRES,
Piixehurst and Southern Pines
“The Song of Love” — Finehurst,
Friday, Feb. 29th. Matinee Sat
urday at 3:00 p. m.
Southern Fines, March 1st.
‘ Flowing Gk)ld”—Finehurst, Mon
day, March 3rd. Matinee Tues
day at 3:00 p. m.
Southern Pines, Tuesday, March
4th.
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”—
Finehurst, Wednesday, March
5th. Matinee Thursday at 3:00
p. m.
Southern Fines, Thursday
March 6th.
Pinehurst is crying for good hogs to
make into that famous Pinehurst
sausage that has a call everywhere.
ggs and poultry and butter and milk
are m demand all over the district.
ihe nevir district school at Vass will
be convenient for settlers in the new
neighborhood, and all the other village
conveniences are of easy access. Elec
tric current will be available at any
time that a few farmers care to bunch
ogether to get a wire into their com
munity, as is being done now by farm
ers in some parts of the county. Rail
road, bank and highway are all con
venient at Vass. In every way the
McNeill land is desirable.
Information as to this property can
be obtained from A. Cameron at Vass
or from John R. McQueen at Lake
view. It will be sold at auction, and
Mr. Cameron says he supposes it will
sell far below its real value, as a big
tract of land is a right big project
for ordinary individuals to take on.
REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
A Republican County Convention is
hereby called to meet at the Court
House in Carthage at 3 o’clock p. m.
on Saturday the 15th of March, to
elect delegates to the State Congres
sional and Senatorial Conventions, and
transact such other business as may
come before it.
The precinct will meet in the re
spective precincts of the county at the
voting places ta 3 o’clock p. m., Sat
urday, March 18th, 1924.
Done by order of the Executive
Committee. COLIN G. SPENCER,
Chairman.
MORE CO-OP CASH
FOR S.C. GROWERS
Tobacco Assn. to Pay IVi Million
—Bows to N. C. Supreme
Court
Members of the Tobacco Growers’
Co-operative Association in the South
Carolina belt will receive more than a
million and a half dollars before April
1 when the second cash payment on
all deliveries of the 1923 crop will be
made, according to the decision of the
association Directors at the recent
meeting of the board in Richmond.
This payment will represent one-
half of the amount of the first advance
paid to the Palmetto co-ops upon de
livery of their tobacco and will bring
their total receipts on the 1923 crop
up to 75 per cent of the bankers valu
ation placed upon the South Carolina
belt deliveries.
Virginia members of the association
in the dark fired belt of Virginia will
receive a third payment on the crop
of 1922 as soon as sufficient sales of
the association dark tobaccos have
been made to warrant another dis
bursement according to F. D. Wil
liams, manager of the association’s
Dark Leaf Department.
The Supreme Court of North Caro
lina settled a difficult point of law in
the case of the Tobacco Growers Co
operative Association vs S. S. Bissett
when it decided last week that land
lord members of the association are
not liable under their contracts for
liquidated damages of five • cents a
pound for their non-member tenants
part of the tobacco raised on their
land and sold by such tenants outside.
The association had lon^ since stop
ped the collection of liquidated dam
ages on non-member tenants’ tobacco
and returned all such damages pre
viously collected following decisions in
the lower courts which were upheld
last week in the Supreme Court. ^
Last week’s case in which the Su
preme Court defined the rights of non
member tenants is one of several cases
involving rights of the co-operative
association which are being heard this
week at Raleigh.
Deliveries to the co-operative ware
houses reached 162 million pounds of
1923 tobacco last week, and are ex
pected to pass the total deliveries for
last season by many million pounds
before the closing of all bright tobac
co receiving points in the old belt o
Virginia and North Carolina and the
Dark Fired markets of Virginia on
March 28.
OPPORTUNITY IN
RAI^G HOGS
Tufts Gives Reasons For Hog’s
Value as Farm Crop; Needed
at Sausage Factory
Of all the crops that we can grow
in Moore County the value of the hog
crop IS probably the least appreciated.
The fact that other crops—cotton,
peaches, and tobacco particularly
make an unusual profit or loss in any
one year, gives them prominence out
of proportion to their average earning
capacity per acre. For example, af
ter a good year in the tobacco market
our farmers are inclined to gamble on
the return of similar conditions the
following year and plant the maxi
mum possible acreage in tobacco. If
fortune favors them and the market
is high, tobacco is given the credit
for their success, when in reality not
good judgment but really “luck” de
serves the full credit. But year after
year, while money is being lost or
made on other crops, the farmer who
raises hogs for pork is making a
steady and consistent profit on the
best of all methods of marketing his
product. His success can justly be
credited to good judgment.
There are many reasons for the
hog’s great value as a farm crop, par
ticularly where he is used in conjunc
tion with other crops. Under proper
management he is not affected by
weather conditions. The demand for
his flesh is a steady one for we must
have meat in order to live, and the
supply is equally constant for it is ob
viously impossible to very greatly in
crease the hogs raised all over the
country in one year. A constant de
mand and supply insure reasonably
steady prices for the product.
Hogs lend themselves very well to
use “on the side” with other ciops.
The rotation of crops is an important
and difficult problem for every farm
er to solve and by the use of such hog
crops as rape, rye, chuffas, corn, peas,
etc., planted in alternation with the
more important crops in this county,
a farmer is able to increase the annual
yield from his land of his ir?ajor crops.
Again, there is no better fertilizing
agent for your land than a bunch of
hogs grazing on the field you plan to
plant in cotton the following spring.
It will enable you to obtain double
use of your land at the same time
that you improve its producing ability.
Regarding the market for hogs dur
ing 1924, government surveys of the
situation seem to indicate a slight
falling off in the number of hogs in
the country, which would in turn point
to somewhat higher prices for another
year. The corn situation in the west
has helped this along and as farmers
will doubtless plant cotton lieaviiy
next spring, there will probably be a
further shortage of hogs in the south.
The packing plant which was open
ed in Finehurst this fall has proven to
be even more successful than we anti
cipated and the demand for our pro
duct has been very strong. We shaH
have to make some improvements -for
another year, but the important thing
is that we have decided to continve
with it and expand as rapidly as the
supply of hogs will enable us to. This
fact should be of great interest to the
farmers in this county for it supplies
them with a sure market for their
hogs in small quantities as they be
come ready to market. The fact that
we have few farmers in Moore Coun
ty who are in a position to feed out
a carload lot for shipment to market
has made the hog, as a crop, imprac
ticable in the past, there being no oth
er good method of bringing him to
market. The establishment of our
packing plant therefore makes it
profitable for every farmer to add
hogs to his list of crops, regardless
of whether he has a foundation herd
of one or of twenty brood sows.
On the acreage that we have Avail
able at Finehurst it is obviously im
possible for us to raise a sufficient
quantity of hogs to even partially sup
ply the demand for our products. It
is therefore our hope that the farm
ers of Moore county will co-operate
with us in this enterprise and we as
sure them that they will participate
with us in the profits.
Twenty-one years ago we purchased
three Berkshire hogs because we be
lieved him to be the best hog. Among
the reasons for this selection was his
very superior quality of meat and the
higher percentage of yield of desirable
product from the live weight. These
reasons are even more true today than
then and enable us to put up a very
much higher grade of product by us
ing only Berkshire meat. With the
experience gained from this year’s op
eration, we plan another year to put
out even a higher grade product and
this improved quality should enable
us to obtain a higher price. This ad
vantage in price we shall always want
to share with the farmers of this sec
tion who will bring us Berkshires and
it is for this reason that we are able
to offer a higher price for this breed.
However, we feel that hogs of any
breed can be raised for a good profit
at market prices, on any farm in this
county. We shall, therefore, always
be glad to purchase hogs of any breed,
but give preference in price to Berk
shires for the reason stated above.
In conclusion, we want to say again
that the value of the hog as a supple
mentary crop cannot be overempha
sized. We are sure that every farm
er in this section who is enough of a
live stock man to care for a hog and
a good enough farmer to raise the
crops that he eats would be well re
paid to add pork to the list of crops
that he markets next fall. If you are
unable to make a trip to Finehurst to
find out about this, ask Marion Wall
if the above isn’t true.
RICHARD S. TUFTS.
PINEHURST HONES
SHOWN ID WORLD
Big Paint Company Has Two
Pages of Pictures in Satur
day Evening Post
One of the most interesting adver
tisements of the Sandhills ever shown
in any place was a recent double page
advertisement of the Sherwin-Wil
liams Paint Company in the Saturday
Evening Post. The two full pages
were occupied with fine cuts of Fine
hurst homes and public buildings tha^
had been painted with the product of
the advertising concern.
The exhibit is unique, and it cost a
lot of money, which fortunately for
the Sandhills country, the advertiser
paid. Several thousand dollars was
required to pay the bill. Undoubted
ly the Sherwin-Williams Paint Com
pany found that it could show a finer
collection of homes and public build
ings in Pinehurst using its paints ihan
in almost any other small village, and
I that it could present a bigger mass
! of testimony than it could gather from
I any other community of anything like
I similar size, and in that way create
I stronger impression as to the virtues
I of their products. Pinehurst is a
I mighty interesting assemblage of fine
I buildings, with attractive surround-
I ings, and afford a good subject for il
lustrations, especially when grouped
as they are in the big advertisement.
Sherwin-Williams did the work as
an advertisement, purely, but The
Pilot appreciates the job sufficiently
to give them this little bit of further
advertising, and to say also that Fine
hurst Warehouse sells their paints, and
sells a lot of them and to satisfied buy
ers. That a million and a half dollars’
worth of buildings in Finehurst are
painted with these paints is no bad
recommendation as to their value, and
especially the type of buildings that
are shown.
if
Hrs LOST
&
Looii for what you lose—adver
tise what you find in THE
PILOT Classified Column
MR. TUnS FAVORS
FARM LIFE SCHOOL
Wants Country Children to Have
Advantages Like City Chil
dren Have
The proposition of the Kiwanis Club
that the county should take the Farm
Life School on the generous basis of
fered by the men who have made the
institution has brought out much talk
in the last week. Next Monday the
matter will go before the county com
missioners for a decision. A number
of ar^ments have been offered by dif
ferent people concerning the school,
one being that with the increasing de
velopment of the orchard and dewber
ry interests in this section the school
should be linked up with the work
the governments are doing now to
keep track of insect and other pests
in the orchards, and of other efforts
to broaden the knowledge of orchard
and other agricultural work in this
part of the state. An experimental
station in the Sandhills orchards will
likely be a continuous thing: before
much longer, and the advocates of the
government help in the peach and cot
ton farm work think the Farm Life
School could work in to advantage
with the expert agents in broadening
the farm knowledge of what is at
tempted here in practice in furthering
fruit and farm progress.
Leonard Tufts, who was one of the
men who founded the school and the
hospital tells the motive for establish
ing these institutions, and the reason
why they ought to be continued. He
says:
“The late Walter Hines Page gave
some of us the idea that we should try
to duplicate the advantages of the city
in the country. We therefore organiz
ed the Farm Life School, the object
of which was to teach the country
children how to make a better living
in the country just as the city school
tries to teach the city child how to
make a better living in the city.
“Knowing the entertainment ad
vantages of the city over the country
we arranged with Mr. Clyde Davis,
(who was then secretary of the Board
of Trade) to go around from school
house to school house and give magic
lantern lectures and talks in the eve
nings to try to approximate the city
advantages in entertainment. The
culmination of this entertainment fea
ture was to be the annual Sandhill
Fair.
“The city has a tremendous advan
tage over the country in this—that
one can go to the hospital in case of
an emergency, and has the advantages
of free clinics. This we intend to du
plicate in the shape of the McConnell
Hospital and we arranged to have
hundreds of children examined for ad
enoids and tonsils, most of whom
were afterward operated upon in the
James McConnell Hospital.
“This property has cost something
between $60,000 and $70,000 and has
been financed by private subscription.
Both the hospital and school are now
on a self-supporting basis. There is
a debt on the property of something
like $40,000. Arrangements have
been made for paying off all but $16,-
000 of this indebtedness and it is sug
gested now that the County pay this
and take over the ownership and man
agement of the two properties.”
A committee from the Kiwanis Club
will present the subject to the com
missioners at their next meeting, and
will go into detail in the case, show
ing why the club sponsors the idea,
and why it would be wise for the
county to accept the offer made by the
men who own the property.
Weymouth Road,
Southern Fines, N. C.
February 22, 1924.
Mr. Stacy Brewer, Editor
The Pilot,
Vass, N. C.
My Dear Mr. Brewer:—For the
first time, last week I saw a copy
of your paper. The Pilot. In its
mechanical makeup it seems about
perfect. In its news and editorial
it covers the field of a weekly pa
per far beyond what I had imag
ined. I congratulate you and the
town of Vass on the publication
of such an excellent weekly paper.
Yours truly,
THOMAS P. IVY.