Page Two
THE PILoT
Published every Friday by
THE PILOT, Incorporated.
Aberdeen and Southern Pines, N. C.
NELSON C. HYDE, Managing Editor
BION H. Bt’TLER, Editor
JAMES BOYD STRUTHERS BURT
RALPH PAGE
Contributing Editors
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Address all communicationg to The
Pilot, Inc., Aberdeen, N. C.
Entered at the Postoffice at Aber
deen, N. C., as second-class mail mat
ter.
THE PILOT, Aberdeen and Southern Pines, North Carolina
“WHAT FOOLS
THESE MORTALS BE.”
Old Brother Shakespeare
gauged the human race about
right when he wrote that head
line. A stranger too size us up
would reach the conclusion that
the entire brain accumulation of
the whole world is hardly suf
ficient to make a good meal for'
a pup. At least we show little
evidence of any brain action. 1
Here we are, soft-soldering our-!
?^elves with the nonsense that
we are wise beyond imagination,:
yet without sense enough to put'
ourselves at woi’k and make the'
things we need for our comfort
and necessities, and simply be-i
cause we lack the intelligence to;
devise and supervise a workable
plan. All the brains of the i
whole human race, and we can’t <
fill our bellies and keep clothes |
on our backs. A more gigantic i
failure can not be conceived.;
And the grossness of our failure '
is all the more striking when we:
remember that we have all the;
facilities and resources to care
for ten or a hundred times as
many people as we have on
earth, but we lack merely the
plain horse sense to do the job.
The trouble is we all think we
know too much, and we all want
to run the show. A republic is
always that way, and that it es
capes complete failure is a
wonder, ^’e can not have re
sponsible authority in a repub
lic. The government is always
wondering v.’hat el’fect it will
have on tlie vote.
If Ave could turn this })roblem
of can-ying on our iiulustries
over to say Andrew IMellon or
Charles Sidnval) and give them
complete control they would put •
us on such a ])lane of thrift and
comfort that we cannot imagine.
Just one thing would tje lacking.
We would all put in i)iu' spare
time kicking about the results
no matter how excellent, and ^
stirring up insurn'ction against ■
the me' hcd of operation, for all
the wisf oiit's wou'si jjoint out
that Schwalj or Melinii would
run :'very thing to make money
for themselves, whully forget
ful of the fact tluit men like
these have no more j.-e fui' more
money than a vviial.- in tlie
ocean ha-^ for mure watiT. 3Iost
of us Ihink tliat we
want nioHfV .Mellon and o+liers
whi; liavi' Odflles of it ,vant
more. Ignorance is what raises
the troubU* with us. We want lit
run the show, and w;- vvanL
everything we see another fel
low have, whether we have any
need for it or not.
Ue all work like thunder to
have enjoyment, provided I hat
what we (lo is not something we
are paid for. But the minute we
get a Jo!) that has wages attach
ed we watch the clock to see
that we quit at the Ihvst minute
allowable, we begin at the last
miiuite, we dodge everything we
can that is to be done, and we ■
assume at the start that the
employer is a crook and that it
is legitimate to beat him at|
every turn and get out of him'
all that is possible. Put a bunch i
of football players at work as
this country, and we constantly
protest that we can’t make
I enough things to keep life in us,
I and we resort to all sorts t)f
i schemes to improve conditions,
I but most of them without any
I sense in their planning or oper-
;ation. A colony of ants, or rats
' or peach worms show more
sense and industry, for they
keep the human race on its toes
all the time. Did you ever think
what a lot of incompetent nin
compoops we are, with all our
boasted intelligence, all the
vast resources, all the ma
chinery of production and trans
portation and everything else,
but we can’t nm it intelligently
enough to keep folks from being
hungry and desperate and mis
erably unhappy. Yet the preach
ers tell us God made man a little
lower than the angels. And do!
you know the reason? Because!
we spend too much time and!
energy showing how the other}
fellow is a crook and hogging
the game and trying to take ad
vantage of all the rest of us,
and because, individually, we re
sort to every device to avoid do-'
ing our own honest share in the'
world’s jobs that are to be done.
Our whole philosophy is to get
the most and give the least in
return.
Friday, August 11, 193S.
UNTIL WE LEARNED BETTER
Until we learned better, we used to mix wood and steel in our car
bodies and wheels. ^ ^
It was the best way to make bodies—then. But the state of the art
has advanced.
Of course, it is more expensive to make an all-steel body than to
wooden frame and nail steel panels on to it. The better way in
initial expenditure of several millions of dollars for new dies,
x-i.. Qa,rs. especially large expensive cars
because the dies
hard and dangerous and xough;
as football any place but in a;
game and they would strike in
the first five minutes and the
whole human herd would want
to mob the employer who had so
little consideration for his
hands as to ask them to do that
sort of work. We don’t want to
work. We don’t want to do
what we are told. We don’t want
to do anything that earns
money if we can avoid it, and
when we earn money we hurry
down town at the first opportu
nity to find a place to drop it for
some useless nonsense. Now we
are to be barred from working
more than forty hours a week.
But we can play as many hours
as we want to, and no matter
how violent the play.
Here we are. A hundred and
twenty-five million people in
A THANKLESS
RESPONSIBILITY.
During the campaign which
has been waged over the extra
month of school in Southern
Pines the subject has been dis
cussed pretty thoroughly in The
Pilot, with some warmth and
with more or less information
on the subject along with some
, misinformation and some un-
I necessary antagonism. But that
i is the custom of the citizen in
I this land of the free and the
; home of the brave,
i However, one phase of the
' matter was permitted to criti-
: cize the school board in a way
The Pilot thinks is not justified.
There is a group of men who
: have on their hands t«he man-
I agement of the public schools,
'and they have a task that is as
' thankless as can be imagined.
They have a lot of work, a lot
; of complaint, a lot of struggle to
I make both ends meet, and the
I greatest possible difficulty in
i making a thirty-itieli belt,, go
around a forty-inch waist. ]\fay- j
! l)e it does not always reach, but
if any man in the district can
recall a school board that <lid!
not I’eceive its full sliare of criti
cism that man ought to say who
coniposcd tliat board. ’ '
A I’ocollection of thii’ty years'
discloses tliat we were just as
ready to kill the umj)ire then as
we ai’e now, which being inter
preted means that the school
i)oards in this district have had
their share of rude words since
the first l)un(‘li of chiUh'en gath
ered in the first session in school
in this community. We refuse to
I)ay the school board a salary so
no'noily will try to get the job
for the sake of any gjvift tliat
may go with it. Henc(‘ no matter
what the board does it earns all
the salaiy it receives and we
have no kick in tliat ciuarter. To
nross this statement, what is
done for us as a “harity is not
open to any further demands
either lo ([uality c>f s('r\ii e or
quant^y. If we did not pro]io.se
t(» abide l;y the public officials
“hoseii it was the mistake of the
V(;.er and not of the town board
that created the school board.
Kut the fact is that both town'
‘ '■uncil and .school board have in
the main done as good a joli as
about any bunch of busy men
can do as a thank-you job on the
side, and if they have not done
what some of us de.sired po.s-'
sibly the board was nearer right
in its efforts than those of us
may be who criticise them. i
The Pilot has been pretty
steadfastly for the “ring” in’
public administration, -for it is'
the responsible operating ma
chine of govei'nmenl, and to dis
credit it is to discredit the offi
ciating authority. There is no
sense in hiring a management,
even if you don’t pay anything
for the work, and then discred
iting what it does. If you like
the attitude of the board you
are happy. If you don’t like it
stand by anyway, for it is they
who have to get us out of any
mess they ever get us into, and
they can do it better if we all
help than if we pull their hair all
the time
make a
volves an —
which renders a change very costly. „ .
which are produced in small volume, cannot afford this, because the die.
cost as much for one car as for a million. That alone explains why all-
steel bodies are not used in all cars. v 4.+ «
But our basic policy from the beginning is to make a good car better.
regardless of cost. 44.
For example, when we discarded wood-steel body construction, it was
not because we lacked wood. We still have some thousands of acres of the
best hard wood in America. Economy would urge us to use up the wood
first, and then adopt the better all-steel body. But we decided that
quality was more important than,expense. , .u v.
We weighed the reasons, for and against, before we made the change.
We could see only one reason for retaining a mixed wood-and-steel body
—nailing the metal on, instead of welding an all-steel body into a
strong one-piece whole. That.reason was, it would be cheaper—for us.
Our reasons for adopting an all-steel body were these: A wood-steel
body is not much stronger structurally than its wooden frame. ^11
American climates, wood construction weakens with age. Every used car
gives evidence of this. Rain seeps in between joints and the wood decays.
A car may have a metal surface, and yet not be of steel construction.
Under extreme shock or stress the steel body remains intact—dented per
haps, but not crushed. ™ ^
Steel does not need wood for strength or protection. Wood is fine
furniture, but not for the high speed vehicles of 1933.
In the Ford body there are no joints to squeak, no seams to cracK
or leak. .
The all-steel body is more expensive—to us, but not to you.
Bv all odds, then, steel bodies seem preferable.
Wheels also have become all-steel. No one argues that an electrically
welded one-piece steel wheel, such as the Ford wheel, needs to e
"strengthened" by adding wood to it. ^,Ho+Aes+ most
The one-piece all-steel body is the strongest, safest, quietest.
durable body made. That is our only reason for making them.
August 7th. 1933
ROBIN HOOD AND
HIS SUCCESSOR
The enchantment that years
throw about anything accounts
for some of the delights we find
in the old romances of our boy
hood days when we read the
tales of Robin Hood and his
merry outlaws. Yet at that a
difference distinguishes those
, knights of Liiiiroln Green from
:the machine gun toughs of the
present time. Little John and
Friai- Tuck and Allen A. Dale,
and the other poa'/hers in the
king’s forests coidd relieve a
wealthy pilgrim of some of his
silver, and an al)l)ot of his jewel
ry, but thr>)ugh all the story
of their a(i\entures ran a tlii'cad
of consi|ieratioii for at least
some of the less prosperous
folks, and tlu'se men of Sher
wood had to their credit many
things that gave them a host of
friends in all their romances.
There they differ fi'oni 1h(‘
modern outlaw, who shows little
to commend him to anybody,
either as a romantic adventurer
or in any way a benefactor of
any one. .vhidern mcketeering
and crime has pml.iably reached
a (‘limaA tluit has not been
equalled any place in civilized
existence, for the old timers, the
'I’urks, the Kurds, the Italians,
•the tartars, the Cossacks, and
tho.se other light-footed murder
ers and looters never had the
l»enefit of modern inventive
genius to help them in their as
tonishing development of devil-
, ishness. Yet the ^vhole thing
seems to be in the air. We have
no longer the regard for the
; law that prevailed in earlier
‘ days. Possibly the trouble start-
; ed with the complete junking of
: the regard for the Sabbath day.
Then the contempt for the pro-
i hibition law put another large
I portion of the people on an in-
1 different footing. Today nobody
(sees much to criticise when a
I man carries a gun, although
I everybody knows a gun is made
i for one single purpose, which is
i to kill. W'e have become without
doubt the most lawless people in
the world, and the most effi
cient in our lawlessness. We
laugh at the courts and shrug
our shoulders at the daily crimi
nal records. Every one of us is
a habitual and daily violator of
any law that does not meet our,
personal approval. Our system,
of laws has broken down, and no
man is bold enough to assume i
that it is to be any better. We'
are becoming individualized in
all our relations to each other,
doing as we like and knowing
that the courts are powerless
because the people show no con- i
cern. The outlook is not good.
The remedy lies with the ))eople,
l)ut the difficulty is that in our
determination to regard our in-
(u'viduality we have passed the
point where we admit any au
thority of law. and we all do as
we like. Therefore we are power-
le.ss against the criminal, for he
has el'feclive organi/,ati(m in
many of his wor.st attacks on
tlii* individual and the ino'hidual
is powerless. Possibly we need a
dictator for our sahation. That
would be l)etter in some ways
that! anaivhv.
HIT SOME FOLKS
ARE WONDERLNr..
We all know when we go to
tl,e show and see the .sleight-of-
hand man bn'ak some eggs in a
silK hat, and (h-oj) in a watch or
twf). and maybe a live kitten
and .some other things, that
when he gets ready he will take
' out may be a lawn mower and a
hound pup and a pair of silk pa
jamas and some other truck,
and the hat is not hurt in the
least. Yet a lot of folks persist
in wondering how he does it and
what becomes of the eggs and
the kitten.
So it is no use to be impatient
because Roosevelt and Johnson
are apparently scrambling the
eggs. Neither does it seem that
they liave dropped in all the
things that are to go in the mix
ture. The cotton folks are ask
ing that rayon products be tax
ed eight cents a pound because
rayon yarns compete with cot
ton, and the bus folks are ask
ing that the railroads be denied
the privilege of reducing pas
senger fares to one or two cftits
a mile because it will compete
with the bus, and towel manu
facturers are asking that the
paper mills be taxed on paper
towels, and from all sides show
ers are pouring down with the
demand that they be dropped in
the hat with the eggs.
Of course Mr. Roosevelt tells
the audience that the show has
not yet begun and that he has a
lot of tricks up his sleeve, and
more fun is ahead than has
come, and still the wonder
grows as to how he is to do it.
An intelligent Jimtown darky
asks The Pilot where he gets his
when he pays more for flour
and for various other things
when tie not only gets no raise
and doe.sn’t want any shorter
hours for they are so short now
that much of the time “they
aim no hours a tall,” and t»v
farmer who iloes not happen to
l)(‘ a cotton farmer is wondering
wheie he gets his with every-^
thing going up in price, ami thei
big number of folks who still |
lia\'e no jobs are asking where;
.Mr. Roosevelt is expecting lo|
dro]) them when the eggs come|
out aiul how .soon they are coin-i
ing, and a lot of curious inquisi- j
tors are asking who is going tO'
]>ay the bill when the three or'
four billions that the govern-!
inent is issuing to start ])ublic|
W'li'k ami things of that kind
have to be paid for in the final;
run.
I'olks who have been to tlie!
shov.s say to he patient; that
the high jirices are going to
make business, although .some,
of the Thomases insist that
raising ]»rices never yet had
111 u c ii influence in making
■eople buy more things, es
pecially when they have no
money to buy at low prices, and
so the ai'gunient goes on. - But
Lhe interest in the show is keen,
and there is this to be said, that
if ]\lr. Ixoosevelt Ciin not un
scramble the eggs toward the
close .of the performance he is
staging a pt'rforniance that will
f>e about as exciting as this
world has ever seen, and all the
tolks are watching tin* things
on the side as well as the main
part of the program. He needs
all tli<> backing this country can
.'-rive him, for a man juggling
with eggs has in his hands
things that are easy to break,
and mussy if they break. The
TMlot is an optimist, but it has
great regard for old General
i’utnam in his advice: “Trust in
God, but keep your powder dry.”
GRAINS OP' SAND
Now come on, you folks from the
north. F'ully accredited nine months
hi)jh school, respectable salaries for
teachers, commercial course, steam
heat.
“No fancy dancing,” though says
Principal Webster. One opponent of
the longer term used “fancy dancing”
as an argument against .the supple
ment.
I Bion Butler has written a book
about this section that every citizen
! will want when it comes off the press.
Grosset & Dunlop in New York are
publishing it under the title, “Old Be-
thesda. ’ Mr. Butler has been at work
on it for three years and has amassed
a fund of information, incidents and
events which have occurred here that
few knc.v df, as well as an historic
and geographic story of your neigh
borhood.
The vote Wednesday was an anti
climax to an exciting campaign. The
predictions were all for a close con
test. Nearly six to one was a surprise.
North Carolina cotton growers who
signed acreage reduction contracts will
get $2,817,036 from generous old Un
cle Sam. Moore county growers have
$3,189 coming. Watch the advertise
ments for bargains, boys.
Farmers are raising Ned over to
bacco prices in the opening' Georgia
markets. Twenty mass meetings were
scheduled in Eastern North Carolina
yesterday, urging relief.
It’s good news that local labor will
be employed on the new road from
Aberdeen to Hoffman. Unemployed
must enroll at Carthage to get their
shovels and picks.
Water is flowing into the Aberdeen
Lake after its long dry spell. The dam
is finished. Swimming will be postpon.
ed for a time even after the lake is
filled, however, to let the debris that
accumulates flow over the dam.
Contractor Weaver, who supervised
the dam job, tells a couple of stories
about the boys who hung around
watching construction. One of them
asked what he was sharpening the
tops of the posts along the beach for,
the usual weathering process of treat
ing posts. He told them “so you boys
can’t sit on ’em.” Among the debris
taken from the lake were’some old
radiators which Weaver piled below
the dam. One boy asked him what
they were there for. “To heat the wa
ter,” he said. The lads swallowed
both tales.