MOORE COUNTY’S LEADING NEWS-WEEKLY THE A Paper Devoted to the Upbuilding VOL. 13, NO. 26. EACLC SPRINGS d ILAKEVICW W»ST E.NO mahl^v aOUTMBPN JACXSOH SPRinos PINCS Xp»M66LUFP PILOT FIRST IN NEWJj, CIRCULATION & ADVERTISING of the Sandhill ^ ^ory of North Carolina Aberdeen and Scuthern Pines, North Carolina, Friday, May 26, 1933. - r>- r> FIVE CENTS Officials of BankofVass Are Indicted W. F. Junge Led Nigration of the Pennsylvanians to the Sandhills Born in Schleswig-Holstein, He Has Spent Many of His 80-Some Years Here Charged with Accepting Depos its After Insolvency and Mak ing Illegal Loans By Bion H. Butler A feature of life in the Sandhills is the diversity of people encounter ed. Last week on my front porch I discussed with a man from Japan the difference between the American and the Japanese attitude of thought and TRIAL AT AUGUST TERM i habit of observation. A few days pre viously a visitor who was familiar Officers and directors of the Bank of Vass, which closed its doors on September 10th, 1931 and has been in Tiquidation under the State Banking department since then, were indictcd on Tuesday by the Grand Jury for the May term of criminal court, in session this week at Carthage. J. A. Keith, president of the insti tution; D. A. McLauchlin, cashier, and with English jurisprudence, sitting in the same spot, told me his experience in the courts in London. A short time ago a man prominent in affairs told me of things in Greece, things of which he had close personal knowl edge.. A woman called me one day by telephone to say she had not seen me since 1 was at her house in Asia. A day or two ago an old time friend leaned over the desk in the postof fice and incidentally referred to the days when he was in the German Musical Thief Enters Home of The Misses Schwarberg in Southern Pines and Steals the Radio A burglar with a flare for mus ic slashed his way into the home of the Misses Schwarberg on New York avenue. Southern Pines, the other night while the owners of the house were visiting friends in Aberdeen. We say slashed his way in advisedly.! He gained admission by cutting great gashes in the screen-in porch. His loot—oh, yes! He walked off with the family ra dio; that was all except an empty pocketbook. CAMERON RECITES I Plans Set ii’t lotion for PROBLEMS FACED BY LEGISLATURE Fears Sc4iools Cut May Be Too Drastic; No Funds for New Highways Orderly Liquidation of Page Trust Company J.H. Gardner, assistant cashier, were with Napdeon of . , I trance in 18<0. He was W. r. Junge, indicted for allegedly accepting de posits knowing the bank to be insol vent. D. A. McLauchlin, A. D. McLauchlin and P. L. Gardner were indicted for one of the oldest settlers of South ern Pines, and one of the most enter taining and intelligent of its inhab- some : ars past eighty and has lived much of his life in Moore county. He came from Schleswig-Holstein, up there on the Danish frontier of Germany soon af ter Germany had tied hard knots in 18 GET DIPLOMAS, MANY WIN PRIZES AT ABERDEEN fflGH Graduation Exercises “Broad cast” From School Auditor* ium on Tuesday Night H. LEE THOMAS SPEAKER all6g^dly making loans to them selves and others to the amount of 20 percent of the bank’s capital. A. D. McLauchlin and Gardner were directors of the bank, as were the of ficers mentioned above. Bail was fixed by Judge J. P. Harding of Charlotte, presiding at this week’s term here, for appearance. . , „ , , i j j j • j n ^ I United States about the same time, ridors and filled every window .Bill. of the defendants at the August term curiously enough they both came! After the members of the gradnat- With a stage setting to resemble the ears of' the French in the brief' « broadcasting station, “Station of “The Year of Slai’Vfhter.” j A. H. S.,” eighteen Seniors of Aber- war Soon after leaving the army the young , deen High School put on their grad-1 man came to the United States, land- uation exercises in the school audi- ^ ing in New York. A young woman, torium on Tuesday night before a from Deutschland also came to the ■ crowd which overflowed into the cor-^ of court. Meanwhile, Charles S. Gay, liqui dating agent, is offering for immed iate sale the real estate owned by the closed Bank of Vass, consisting of the bank building and the Paul Joyner house in Vass. Mr. Gay is de sirous of paying the depositors as early as possible, hence this offer of immediate sale. The depositors have received one five per cent dividend since the bank closed more than twenty months ago. 44c ;’.o A'oi^h Carolina Sandhilb about' class had completed their ex- the same time. | ercises, H. Lee Thomai, county super- But before coming south they went i intendent of schools, with a few fit- up into the wilderness of Potter , ting words of congratulations and ad- Dewberry Market at Vass Opens Monday Chadbourne Marketing Associa tion to Have Charge of Sales of Local Crop Monday, May 29, has been set as the date for the official opening of the Vass auction market, and all is in readiness for handling a large volume of dewberries. As was previously an nounced, the market will be operated by the Chadbourne Marketing Asso ciation, an organization with some thirty years experience in marketing strawberries. Lacy Tate, secretary of the asso ciation, will have general 'supervis ion of the marketing here. H, Wal lace will be the auctioneer, W. F. Smith, Jr., will 'be in charge of the paying office, and W. C. Edmund will assist in the selling shed. These men are from Chadbourne and are exper ienced in auction market business. L. H. Furr, Vass business man, will be at the shed again this year to assist with the work. The Chadbourne Association has erected a new selling shed a short distance below the one used last year, and a paying office only a few yards away where the farmers will receive their cash as soon as the sales are made. Enough buyers to take care of the first offerings have been here daily since Wednesday of this week, and Mr. Tate expects to have many more on the floor by Monday, the official opening date. Market reports will be received by wire daily and every ef fort will bei made to procure top prices for the farmers. There will be no state-federal inspection of ber ries on this, market this year, it is announced. Crates to supply the demand will be kept in the brick tobacco warehouse, county, Pennsylvania, back there where Ole Bull, the famous Norwe gian violinist, had founded an enor mous colony, although the Junges hit Potter county long after the time of the experiment. Mr. Junge was a mil ler and he found a grist mill that needed an operator and he promptly secured it and as it was the only thing of its kind and quality in the neighborhood he soon had his mill running night and day, and he pros pered. Big Real Estate Deal A little later the marvelous oil fev er of the Bradford field broke out and he went there and began teaming for the contractoi*s. He added to his pos sessions, and then one day Frank Goodyear, who had been cutting tim ber from the vast Potter county for ests which Goodyear brothers owned, suggested to Mr. Junge that he would like to arrange with him to cut that land into small tracts and sell it for farms. The oil country contmctor edictory. signed up for the job, printed a big stack of circulars and went down to New York on one railroad and came back on another, leaving a liberal number of circulars at every station vice, presented diplomas to the fol lowing: Flora Lee Freeman, Nell Pryor, V'era Paul, Charlene Parker, Made line Folley, Hazel Palmer, Katharine Johnson, Mozell Darnell, Drewry Troutman, Norfleet Pleasants, Mere dith Park, Jim Gailey, Allen Freeman, Fred Weaver, Raymond O’Cain, Clif ton Blue, Henry Page Wilder and Jesse Carter. Meredith Park opened the exer cises by announcing through the mi crophone the purpose of the gather ing and by calling on the various class officers for their “broadcasts.” Miss Freeman ^uve the president’s ad dress, Miss Pryor a recitation, Miss Darnell the class poem, Raymond O’Cain the class prophecy, Drewry Troutman presented the gifts to the Seniors, Fred Weaver gave the class history, Jim Gailey the class statis tics, Henry Wilder the last will and testament, and Jesse Carter the val- After the diplomas were presented Superintendent of Schools R. C. Zim merman called upon John W. Graham, ■J. Vance Rowe, J. G. Farrell and Dan L McKeithen to present the prizes awarded students for excelling in studies during the past year. Many Prizes Awarded Mary Margaret Burney received the $2.50 prize given by G. C. Seymour for the child making greatest im- Representative A. B. Cameron, back j provement in the fifth, sixthj and from the long session of the General ^ seventh grades. Max Wicker receiv- Assembly where he looked after the j ed the $2.50 prize given by Dr. and interests of Moore county, told mem- Mrs. H. E. Bowman to the boy show- (Please turn to page 4) CAMERON TELLS KIWANIS ABOUT GENERAL ASSEMBLY bers of the Kiwanis Club some of his experiences in Raleigh at the club’s meeting on Wednesday. The meeting was held in the new community hall at West End, an attractive building and a splendid adjunct to the social life o} that section. Ai fine luncheon was served “by the ladies of West End. M. C. McDonald, a Kiwanis alumnus, welcomed the club, and Herbert Vail, Kiwanis president, responded. Mr. Cameron’s talk was much in line with his statement made to The Sentinels and published in another column of this week’s Pilot. PREPARE FOR COMMENCEMENT Seniors of Southern Pines High School are busy rehearsing their parts for the- commencement exercises to be held the week of June 5th. A com- given by the Masonic Lodge for the ing the greatest improvement in the second, third and fourth grades. Katharine Rowe and Marjorie Brooks tied for the $2.50 prize given by Bry an Drug Store for the girl showing greatest improvement in the second, third and fourth grades. Carol Bowrman and Helen Clarke Capps received the $2.50 prizes given by Flinchum’s, Standard Store and Sanitary Market for making' the greatest improvement in Mrs. D. I. McKeithen’s music class. Raymond O’Cain received the $5.00 prize given by Dr. A. H. McLeod as a memorial to his mother for the pupils excelling in Latin. Elbridge Park received the $5.00 prize offered by Page Trust Company for the pupil excelling in mathematics. Fred Weaver received the medal FORCED INTO SALES TAX Angus B. Cameron, Moore county’s representative in the General Assem bly, has issued a statement telling how he voted on various important meas ures during the session just adjourn ed and explaining the reasons that ac tuated him in casting his votes. This statement hag been made or the in-1 formation of all his constituents at the request of The Sandhills. The statement is as follows: When the Legislature met Januai-y 4th, it was confronted with a deficit | of something more than $10,000,000.! Practically every member was pledged to cooperate in removing the fifteen-cent ad valorem tax for schools, a general lightening of the burden of tax on real property, and to provide for a balanced budget. The treasury was empty, the State’s credit was prostrate, and the usual sources of revenue were practically exhausted. Economy was the slogan, commit tees were appointed to investigate the different departments to determine what reductions could be made, both as to number of employees and sal aries, without impairing the essential service. A committee was appointed to work out a plan of reorganization, whereby the non-essential would be eliminated, and consolidations made wherever practicable. There were two schools of thought in that body. One advocated most drastic cuts even to the extent of eliminating or shutting down some departments and closing the public schools for a period of two years, if necessary, to balance the budget. The other advocated strictest economy at every point, but felt that it would be false economy to destroy or let go to waste those things which had been built up through the years at con siderable cost and were serving a good and useful purpose, and w'e felt that, while every possible economy should be practiced in operating the schools, the children were entitled to their opportunity, and to cut the schools below the point of essential efficiency w'ould be an irreparable wrong, not only to the children, but to the State as well. It soon became evident that a compromise was the only solution. It also became evident that some form of sales tax was in evitable. Sales Tax Only Solution The appropriations committee work ed long and diligently in an effort to reduce appropriations to the low est possible limit consistent with ef ficient functioning of the departments- and institutions. The House rejected the committee’s report, and by amendments, cut down a number of items. The Senate rejected most of the House amendments, and restored most of the items to the committee figures, even raising a few. The House refused to concur in the Sen ate amendments. A con' ence com mittee was appointed. In due course of time the conference committee sub mitted a compromise report which, af ter considerable debate, was adopted. This compromise report carried in it provisions for an eight months State supported school to *be financed by a sales tax, and the elimination of lo cal ad valorem tax for that purpose. In round numbers the 1933 appro- Vote Opposition Forty Depositors of Raleigh Branch of Page Trust Op pose Merger Idea Forty representative depositors of the Raleigh branch of the Page Trust Company Wednesday voted unanimously their desire that the bank be liquidated in stead of included in a proposed new bank. The action was tantamount to re jection of the plan approved by Gurney P. Hood, Commissioner of Banks, /hich would include the batik in the organization of a new bank to include the North Carolina Bank and Trust Company and the Independence Trust Company. The chairman of the meeting, Charles E. Johnson, was directed to file protest to the proposal with the clerk of court in Moore county, where the Page Trust Company is incorporated. Holders of an aggregate of one- third of the deposits in the bank, w'hich has branches in 14 North Carolina communities, must protest he plan in order to secure its aban donment. Meetings of depositors of other branches are in progress. Objections were based on the provision that $300,000 of the best unpaid assets of the existing bank must be converted into common stock of the proposed new bank. Commissioner Hood Believes De positors Greatly Benefitted by- New Merger Prc^osal 20% DIVIDEND RETAINED BEST OUTLOOK IN YEARS FOR CROPS ALONG THE A. &R. Grain, Oats, Wheat, Corn, Wat ermelons, Poultry, Etc. in Fine Condition, Says Blue TRAFFIC HEAVY ON ROAD I In accordance with plans for the I liquidation of the three large State I banking systems involved in the plan I of reorganization approved last week by Gurney P. Hood, State Superin- ' tendent of Banks, S. J. Hinsdale ^ Asheville liquidating agent took charge of the Page Trust Company’s foui’teen offices, including Aberdeen and Carthage, this week. Local assist ant conservators were named for each branch, Dan I. McKeithen for the Aberdeen office and P. K. Kennedy for the Carthage office. Formal notice is being given depos itors this week of the complete reor ganization plans for a new bank to take over selected assets of the Page Trust, the North Carolina Bank & Trust Company and the Independence . Trust Company of Charlotte. Plans are finally worked out for the merger of the three banks into a State bank with initial capital and paid-in sur plus of $1,500,000 were approved by Commissioner Hood last week. Objectional features of original plans have been eliminated and only a few objections have been filed, while none of the various depositors’ or stockholders’ committees have object ed, Commissioner Hood states. Depositors Benefited I Approval was given. Commissioner ; Hood said, because he feels that the I depositors of the banks will be great- 1 ly benefited when plans become ef- I fective. These plans provide for a 100 per cent assessment of stockhold ers: a waiver by the R. F. C. of its rights to share in the first distribu tions to depositors of 20 per cent; distribution of all available cash to depositors; sale of selected assets to the new bank and distribution of pro ceeds to depositors; no assets of the old bank are encumbered by pledge or lien of any kind to the^new banks; after organization, all assets of the old bank will be available for distri bution to creditors and depositors of the old bank. The plan, Mr. Hood points out, does not provide direct or immediate relief for the present stockholders, but there is a fair chance for ultimate benefit to them. It provides for order ly liquidation w'ithout the loss which accompanies forced liquidation. Par ticularly beneficial will be the early provision of banking facilities for communities now without them. The banks will continue to receive deposits, holding them for immediate withdrawal, and will continue under restrictions until reorganized. Depos its will not be subject to action of the liquidating agent, which will be named merely for levying the stock assessment. Depositors will select the majority of the members of the new' board, which will liquidate the old “The best outlook in ten years for farm crops along the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad,” is what Will Blue says of conditions out their line. Cot ton is practically a perfect stand, the crop is bigger than last year. On every farm the tenants have good crops of grain, and oats, wheat, corn and other provender is abundant and in good condition. Di»rersification of crops is probably carried to a greater extent than has ever been known, and S. C. Olive, the Hoke county demonstrator an A. and M. man, is doing excellent work. To bacco looks good, with a good stand, and with a little rain should be all that is desired. Gardens are sweet to look at, while the poultry crops are taking an entirely new hold on things out in that section. A big acreage of watermelons has been planted, with a prospect of about banks, the depositors thug directing (Please turn to page 4) MASS MEETING TONIGHT TO PLAN NEW ABERDEEN DAM and S. W. Johnson of Chadbourne is' plete schedule of the program will be in charge of this end of the business. | published in next week’s Pilot. ' (Please turn to Page 8) A mass meeting of citizens of Aber deen has been called for tonight, Fri day, at 8 o’clock to hear plans for the re/building of the Aberdeen dam and to arrange for proper supervision of the recreational features once the lake is filled. Work of grading and cleaning up the bathing beach has been completed by the unemployed and everything is in readiness for the water except the important es sential, the dam. It is understood that funds for this purpose have been raised, provided supervision of the bathing beach is arranged . 1,700 cars, and probably 250 to 400 cars of cantaloupes will be market ed. A new variety of cantaloupes has 'been planted on many of the farms, a type that has proven good in the past experiments, and the vines are prom ising all along the line. Chickens are attracting much at tention. The Robinson brothers have about 4,000 young chicks coming on, and the scheme of hatching and feetr- ing the little chicks is on a wholly new basis, with hatching houses and feeding trays that heat with electric ity and all the modern tricks. Good Market Hugh Archy Cameron, head of the Upchurch Mills at Raeford, has been introducing some novelties there in his methods, and as the big mill far mers can bring in their oats, com, wheat, soja beans and anything that will make feed and have it worked up int6 any kind of barnyard bill of fare that mules, cattle, hogs or poultry can call for. This makes a market and controlling the liquidation, with' aid and advice from Commissioner Hood and his department. Due notice will be given to depositors, creditors, stockholders and others interested in each community ir. which one of the banks is locate<^, Mr. Hood states. Highlights of the plan included in Hood’s statement follow: 1. A lOft-per cent assessment of the stockholders. 2. A waiver by the Reconstruc tion Finance corporation of iio right to share in its first distribution or distributions to the depositors in the sum of 20 per cent. To Distribute (3ash 3. To distribute all available cash to the depositors and provide for the sale of selected assets to the new bank and distribution of the pro ceeds among depositors. 4. None of the assets of the old !>ank will be encumbered 'by pledge of lien to the new bank, and all pro ceeds derived from assets of the old for a lot of local farm stuff and sup- bank will be available for its deposi- plies the local farm needs. Properly balanced feeds of all sorts for all the farm stock is made at the mill which (Please turn to page 8) tors. 5. The plan does not provide any direct relief for stockholders, but it (Please turn to page 8)