VOLUME
4
MITMTITO
IN VrllJiLMtC
34
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.
BaNBLISS IAS A
WORD FW JOHNSON
Cottim Co-operative Leader Files
a Protest Against
Lawyer
X. \V. Chambliss, of the Cotton
Co-orerative Association, writes The
Pilot as follows:
In the Moore County News, June
is a letter addressed “To the High
Ups of the Co-ops,” by J. McN. John
son, of Aberdeen.
In the article in question the com
parisons made and the arguments
stated against co-operative marketing
by Mr. Johnson are ridiculous and
with ^0 little foundation that it is
questionable whether a reply is really
worth while. There may be, howev
er, somebody in Moore county who
would mistake silence on the part of
the co-operative association as sug
gestive that the charges and insinua
tions made in the article were true.
For this reason and this reason alone
I write this letter to show that the
position taken by Mr. Johnson is un
tenable.
This is a country of free thought
and free speech. Any man and every
man in Xorth Carolina has a right to
his opinion. The writer of the article
to which I reply has the right and
privilege of differing with me or with
the North Carolina Cotton Growers'
Co-operative Association on the ques
tion of co-operative marketing. When
one differs with another on a question
you naturally prefer to believe that
the proper motive is behind the opin
ion and that your opponent will ap
proach the subject from a standpoint
of fairness and justice.
Mr. Johnson sought to compare
methods of the Co-operative Market
ing Association with so-called “Gold
Brick” schemes and swindles. The
comparison is ridiculous. No member
of the Association has been called up
on to do anything which may be liken
ed unto the incidents used as illustra
tions by Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson admits that he sold his
“little dib of cotton last fall for 27c.”
He does not state in his article that
every member of the Association re
ceived at the time of delivery one-half
of the value of his cotton in cash and
other payments since the delivery of
the cotton that brought the total ad
vance to the members of the Associa
tion at the present time to 24c the
pound, and within a period of approx
imately thirty days from this date the
Association will have made a final dis
tribution to its members, and accord
ing to the information which I have at
this time I am quite sure that this
final payment added to what has al-
ready been paid the members will
equal at least the 27c received by Mr.
Johnson for his cotton when he sold
it.
Does this appear to be anything
similar to a Gold Brick scheme ?
Reading the article carefully I must
acknowledge that the ignorance of the
subject disclosed by Mr. Johnson in
liis discussion is appalling. I cannot
believe that the statements which he
^as made and which are not true were
premeditatedly and maliciously writ
ten for the purpose of misleading, but
the writer of that article was either
ignorant of the facts or actuated by
^ slack intention to do some individual
or cause a rank injustice. Mr. John-
son says the Association refused to
s^ll cotton. This statement is abso-
^tely untruG. Any man who knows
the basic principles of co-operative
Marketing would know better than to
^^ke such a statement. Mr Johnson
’^ent further—he said that people
'vere “begging” for cotton at 33c per
pound. This statement is absolutely
untrue. ]^o manufacture is ‘‘beg-
for cotton at 33c a pound or
other price anywhere in that
^^Jghborhood. No cotton broker or
^ ^PPer is begging for cotton at 33c
any pi^ce in that neighbor-
I^ersonally determined to impress
iifr^ people of Moore county his
ornate knowledge of conditions both
®|ae and outside the Cotton Grow-
Grs p
'^o-operative Association, Mr.
Johnson stated further that the As
sociation had sold cotton for 21c a
pound. This statement is absolutelv
untrue.
In several instances in the article
Mr. Johnson ridiculed the principles of
orderly marketing.” He states that
the Association is endeavoring to
“overturn the law of supply and de-
mand”--in connection with his ridi
cule this statement is merely another
evidence of the ignorance of Mr.
Johnson in reference to the basic
principles of co-operative marketing.
The purpose of the Cotton Growers*
Co-operative Association is to mar
ket the crop from time to time as the
demand will consume it as opposed to
the old time method of dumping the
crop on the market within practical
ly ninety days from the time the pick
ing of the cotton begins. The Asso
ciation has followed the plan of order
ly marketing^selling the cotton of
its members throughout the season
and at this time has a small amount—
a few thousand bales and if Mr. John
son knows anybody, anywhere, who is
“begging” for cotton at a price any
where near 33 cents a pound he can
earn a neat commission by closing a
deal for the Association.
Farmers who produce cotton, tobac
co, grain, fruit or any other farm pro
duct have the right to form themselves
into an Association and feed the sup
ply of their product to the world in an
orderly manner if they so desire rath
er than to dump it on the market and
let it go into the hands of speculators
when the supply exceeds the demand.
I notice that Mr. Johnson reserves
from his criticism of co-operative mar
keting perishable products such as
“butter and fruits” and noting this
reservation I wonder “upon what meat
doth this Caesar feed,” whose home is
in the center of the peach industry
where organization is very profitable
and where his neighbors have learned
by experience that the orderly mar
keting of their products means their
financial salvation and freedom. It
is passing strange to note that this
Aberdeen attorney stops and weeps
and wails over the condition of the
“poor in the great cities, when their
ragged children naked, are begging
for it (cotton) at 33c a pound.” It
may be possible, but there is no sug
gestion in the story, that Mr. Johnson
feels just as keenly interested in the
“poor and ragged children” who have
for years gone without as they labor
ed side by side with their parents on
the cotton farms of North Carolina
and other Southern States while the
process of dumping on the market
left nothing after debts were paid at
the selling time.
It was quite popular at one time
(Continued from page one)
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 1924
CAMERON URGES
BEnER SCHOOLS
County Superintendent of Edu
cation Talks to Kiwanis
Club
per work, he stalled the audience with
a few inconsequential generalities af
ter naming Sam Richardson as the
man to enter the confessionel next
week.
EUREKA ROAD IS
DAMAGED BY RAINS
Talk of Rebuilding While Road
Crew is in this Section
of Sandhills
The road running out of Vass by
way of the Eureka neighborhood and
to Carthage has suffered materially
by the continued heavy rains of the
last few weeks, and will have to be
rebuilt in many places. It has been
proposed by many of the people that
now while the road force is in this
part of the county, on the job at Cam
eron, it would be a good time to have
them turn to this job and rebuild it
right rather than to patch up the
road to rebuild it later.
It has been stated that Mr. Jackson
is to take his force into soipe of the
upper section when he finished at
Cameron, but it may be the highway
commissioners will change the instruc
tion and keep him on the Vass road
and clean it up before he leaves. Cit
izens of the territory along the route
are asking that this be done, and will
bring the proposition before the com
mission in the hope that it may be the
policy of the board.
Wonder if we’re coming to the time
when a man will have to wait in a
barber shop for his wife to have her
hair bobbed?
The Kiwanis Club held its weekly
meeting at the new hotel at Lakeview,
A. B. Cameron being the chief speak
er. Mr. Cameron presented a com
parison between school conditions in
the upper side of the county, and in
the townships that border the Sea
board Air Line road, and the compari
son was startling to the club.
It appears that Sheffield which has
the largest school population of all
the townships, has in the first grade
223 children, while McNeills has in the
same grade but 138 children. The
progress in the two townships is whol
ly different. In the seventh grade
Sheffield has 65 children, and McNeills
58. In the low grade Sheffield had 85
more children in the schools than Mc
Neills, but when the seventh grade
was reached the difference was only
seven, while both townships had fal
len far down from the number at the
start. But even that was a slight
fall as compared with the next one,
for when the high school grade was
reached Sheffield had but two children
in the public high school grade while
McNeills had 194. Some of this was
no doubt from increase in population
but the significance is marked.
From these figures Mr. Cameron
proceeded to show the need of a better
school system for the county for he
argued that Sheffield is backward in
the progress of its children through
to the higher grades because the
schools do not have the proper schools,
nor the needed money to develop go6d
schools and schools with proper teach
ing force and equipment. He referred
to the greater financial prosperity of
the townships along the Seaboard
which collect from the railroads a con
siderable amount of taxes, the money»
being applied locally, but in Shef
fields the railroads are not so accessi
ble, and the revenue must come from
the farms and the other less produc
tive property. He argued that the
outcome of the situation is a count j
system of schools. While we have a
number of high schools in the county
they are not situated so that they are
available to all the children, and while
we have pretty well-equipped schools
in certain sections of the county we
are not provided with good schools
that all the children can reach. And
so it comes that the children of the
upper part of the county are without
sufficient school facilities, and in no
way likely to have good schools un
less we have a common school unit
through the whole county backed by
the resources of the entire county.
Mr. Cameron asked the aid of the
club in bringing about a better school
system, and aroused a lot of enthusi
asm in the matter.
Another thing that was brought up
was the subject of a National park in
the mountains about Blowing Rock.
The government is creating-national
parks in the far West in liberal nuia-
bers, and is asked to utilize some of
the natural opportunities here in the
North Carolina mountains, which are
much more accessible to the great ma
jority of the people than the western
mountains are. The club recommend
ed that the government be urged to
take up the subject in a way that
might result in a National park in
North Carolina on a broad scale where
the people might indefinitely have ac
cess to a bit of outdoor scenery and
mountain forest which can be reached
by the people of the East without
driving two-thirds of the way across
the continent to be reached.
Bion H. Butler was called on to tell
something about himself, but beyond
saying that he was like all the rest of
the assemblage, not quite honest
enough to tell very much about him
self that they would care to hear, and
thaf his only distinction was that he
had probably been in more jails and
penitentiaries than all the others
there, and had spilled an awful lot of
paper in his half century of newspa
TWO OF NEW “FAMOUS FORTY”
AT CAROLINA THEATRES
The new year’s output of the Fa
mous Players-Lasky Corporation be
gins in August with what is known as
the “Famous Forty” and which prom
ises to be the finest series of special
pictures every produced by Famous
Players or any other concern.
The Carolina Theatres liave been
granted the privilege of pre-releasing
these subjects about two weeks^ahead
of the release dates and the first one
is Gloria Swanson’s splendid picture,
“Manhandled” adapted from the Sat
urday Evening Post story.
If there are any doubting Thomases,
who are still of the opinion that Gloria
Swanson is merely a fashion plate, we
bid them rush right over to the Caro
lina Theatres where “Manhandled will
be shown Friday and Saturday. We
absolutely guarantee that all doubts
as to her histrionic ability will vanish
when they see Gloria combining mim
icry, broad comedy, tears and pathos
in one of the character delineations
she has yet brought to the screen.
In “The Humming Bird” and “A So
ciety Scandal” you have seen a new
Swanson, one who could do more than
just wear clothes well. Now she
blossoms out as a comedienne of the
first rank.
Tom Moore heads an all-star cast
supporting Miss Swanson, having the
role of John Hogan, mechanic by day
and a taxicab driver by night.
The picture was directed by Alan
Dwan, who injected several unique
touches that will delight and amaze
the most blase movie fan.
“Manhandled” is a corking good
picture.
The second of Famous Players’
“Famous Forty” is an adaptation of
the Saturday Evening Post story,
“Face” under the title of “Unguarded
Women,” featuring Bebe Daniels,
Richard Dix and Mary Astor. “Un
guarded Women” is an unusual story.
It is far away from the usual run of
stereotyped plots and hands our pa
trons something new. It is a plot
that holds the interest to the last
and up to the last reel it is a mystery
as to what twist will bring forth the
logical solution of the play. The sub
tle twist is furnished and the result
is an exceptionally interesting picture.
The story is human and modern and
(Continued on page eight)
SCHOOL BONDS GO TO
HANCHEH BOND CO.
Chicago Concern Pays Over
Three Per Cent Premium at
Six Per Cent
On Wednesday the school board of
the Vass District sold its bonds for
the proposed new school building. The
successful bidders were the Hanchett
Bond Company, of Chicago, which of
fered a premium of $1,535.89 for the
issue, making the total sum realized
$51,535.89. The bonds were duly
signed Wednesday afternoon and turn
ed over to a representative of the
company to be forwarded to the buy
ers to be delivered on payment of the
sum involved, and the money is ex
pected to be in hand in the school fund
in Vass within the next four or five
days.
The construction of the new school
house can now go forward promptly,
as the plans have already been drawn
and money will be available as fast
as the work progresses. It is doubt
ed if the work can go ahead swiftly
enough to make the new building of
use this fall, but it may be far enough
along to use it before the school term
is ended next spring.
Four different concerns were after
the bonds, all of them willing to of
fer a premium, but the Hanchett com
pany overreached the others, and
made the winning offer, which is much
higher than bonds were selling for
two or three years ago.
SUBSCRIPnON $2.00
TOBACCO GROWERS
MUCH BENEFITTED
Overseas Expedition Successful
Big Companies to Buy More
Co-ops Keep up Prices
Tobacco farmers of Eastern North
Carolina were the first to hear from
the head of the commission sent by
250,000 associated tobacco growers of
America to Europe, when Oliver J.
Sands, of Richmond, who directs the
financial affairs of the tri-state as
sociation, declared that agencies in
England and Continental Europe will
now be established to sell the standard
grades of tobacco delivered to the To
bacco Growers’ Co-operative .Associa
tion in addressing the Fourth of July
gathering of North Carolina farmers,
who celebrated the new economic inde
pendence gained thi*ough their mar
keting association, as well as that
which was declared by our ancestors
148 years ago.
The European markets for the to
bacco of the associated American
farmers will unquestionably be en
larged as a result of the commission’s
visit to Europe, according to Mr.
Sands, who stated that contrary to
recent rumor, the directors of the to
bacco association have not conaidered
legal action against the Imperial To
bacco Company of Great Britain, to
whose officials they made clear the
advantages of purchasing the standard
grades of tobaccos from the co-opera
tive associations.
The most impressive statement of
the tobacco association’s progress and
strength which has been made at a
public gathering this year was con
tained in Mr. Sands’ address to the
Eastern Carolina farmers on July 4th:
“Your tobacco association two years
ago was an experiment. Now it is an .
assured success,” declared Mr. Sands.
For the first time in history the
farmers of North Carolina are bor
rowing money from New York banks
at 4 1-2 per cent interest. While 31
pounds of tobacco would buy a hun
dred pounds of barbed wire in 1914,
20 pounds of tobacco will buy the
same amount today, although it takes
more wheat and corn and products of
the unorganized farmers to buy even
less of the necessities of farm and
home than was the case before the
war, according to Mr. Sands. -
The Richmond banker pointed out
that most members of the Tobacco
Growers’ Co-operative Association are
financially a full year ahead of their
neighbors and backed up this state
ment by citing the fact that 80 out
of every 100 farmers who received
their second payment last month from
the association warehouses, took home
clear money with which to harvest
their 1924_crop and still have another
substantial payment coming to them
on last^year’s crop.
Put' ing the success of their own as
sociation squarely up to the farmers
themselves, the man who has guided
the financial destinies of the tobacco
association, reminded the:Ti that 148
years ago there were men who hid
behind their wives' skirts and let oth
ers fight for their political indepen
dence and that the only menace to
the permanent prosperity of the
Southern tobacco farmer today is the
man who is too cowardly to join his
neighbor farnjers in a movement for
their common welfare or the contract
breaker who delays the good which
will come to the Southern farms, by a
thorough organization of his business
along the lines of modern progress.
More of the big American manu
facturers of tobacco will supply their
needs through the products of the to
bacco association this year according
to Mr. Sands, who stated that this
fact will continue to increase its
strength.
Miss Elizabeth Kelly, who recently
left her position in the North Carolina
Department of Education to take over
the tobacco association’s new depart
ment of women’s work, affirmed her
belief in the co-operative marketing
of tobacco and cotton as the only
chance of the North Carolina farmer
for a lasting prosperity.
S. D. FRISSELL.