H
'Two
THE PILOT. Southern Pines. North Carolina
HE PILOT
PUBLISHED EACH FRIDAY BY
HE PILOT. INCORPORATED
FsOUTHERN. pines, north CAROLINA
' 1941
JAMES BOYD
Publisher
1944
MRS. JAMES BOYD -
PUBLISHER
DAN S. RAY .... GENERAL MANAGER
BESSIE CAMERON S.MITH . . . EDITOR
EDITH P. HASSELL . - SOCIETY EDITOR
CHARLES MACAULEY - - - CITY EDITOR
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
HELEN K. BUTLER WALLACE IRWIN
•staff SGT. carl G. THOMPSON, JR.
•SGT. JAMES E. PATE
•pvt. DANIEL S. RAY. Ill
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
ONE YEAR . . . $3.00
SIX MONTHS .... $1,50
THREE MONTHS . ... . .75
ENTERED AT THE POSTOFFICE AT SOU*
THERN Pines, n. C., as second class
MAIL MATTER.
THE CRIMEA CONFERENCE
No American newspaper can let
these days go by without mention
of the great achievement that took
place two weeks ago. Whether
or not the Crimea Conference is
old news by now is beside the
point.
The obligation of THE PILOT
in this respect is particularly def
inite. For we have consistently
brought before our readers the
vital need for international co
operation. For us to let this oc
casion pass unnoticed would
therefore be less than fitting..
Everyone in America has read
the report of the Crimea Confer
ence. Everyone has rejoiced.
Those who said it would amount
to nothing, those' who disparage
all noble words, all attempts,
even, at nobility, are for once si
lent. In this country, as in Rus
sia and in England, the feeling
about the conference is well-
night unanimous. THE PILOT
joins its heartfelt thanks' with
those of all in our United Nations.
At the Crimea Conference the old
world passed another milestone
on the road -to lasting peace.
—KLB
DEMOCRACY
The belief that leads to democ
racy is this: that every man has
something sacred about him. This
sacredness is held to be inherent
and perpetual: no ruler, no reli
gion, no group of men, no govern
ment is justified in violating it. It
is the first principle of man’s life
and nothing takes precedence
over it. '
This sacredness of the indivi
dual is safeguarded by a series of
rights which have been slowly
developed during the history of
democracy. Not all democrats
agree what all those rights are.
But all agree that they exist. And
all admit that they include at
least the following: the rights to
speak and to write and to worship
and to assemble as a man pleases;
the right to enjoy his property;
the rights hot to have his house
entered without a warrant, not
to be arrested without charges,
not to be punished without a
jury trial.
But as these rights protect the
sacredness of man, so does the
vote, in turn, protect the rights.
Otherwise the rights would- be
taken away by tyrants or by peo
ple who think they know what is
good .for a -man better than he
does. The right to vote is more
widely granted in some democ
racies than in others but in all
it is the keystone of freedom. If
surrendered through indifference
or lost through trickery m: intimi
dation, the loss of other rights
follows.
But democracy is not solely an
idea supported by a set of legal
rights; it is a living growing body
of thought. Just as one right has
been addpd to another in the
past as man’s needs and his cap
acity for self-government became
more evident, and as his spirit
became more generous and dem
ocratic, more willing to trust in
the mass of the people, so in the
future new rights will be added.'
At present, for instance, in most
democracies many people believe
•that the old rights are not enough
for man in the world today, that
they are of little use to a man
who is starving or who cannot
get work. So, since science has
now - made plenty attainable,
there is increasing effort to pro
tect a man against the blind
forces of industry, to see that he
has an equal right to a job if he
can do the work, that he is not
cast aside in poverty when he is
worn out or sick or has been sup
planted by a new invention.
Then since a man’s chance for
a job and for promotion depends
in part on his education and his
health, many progressive dem
ocrats .now feel that every man
and, woman should be given an
equal chance to receive at a cost
within the reach of all the highest
training that he or she can master
as well as proper medical care.
These are some of the aims of
democracy today. Everywhere in
dividuals who have no confidence
in the people oppose those aims
or if they approve, they think
that health, education, the job,
even life itself should be at the
pleasure of the almighty State.
Everywhere those who believe
in the people are concerned about
laws to achieve those ends. In
every case the struggle will be
determined not so much by the
laws that are passed as by the
spirit that lies behind the laws.
At its best, that spirit believes
wholeheartedly that mari is
worthy to create a government
to serve him and competent to
control it: that all men and wo
men have rights which no one
on earth is entitled to infringe;
that not only should their rights
he accorded them but that they
themselves should be accepted
v/ith good will in accordance
with their merits and regardless
of their economic status or their
origins. •
Above all, the democratic spirit
keeps steadily before itself the
source from which all its other
ideas flow; the vision which has
slowly taken shape through the
centuries and which today is ac
tually expanding under the blows
of its enemies, the vision of the
sanctity and dignity of man. Con
fused by moments of self-doubt
and continually obstructed by the
doubting, the savage, the greedy
and the tricky, democracy has
marched at an uneven pace. But
the vision has the power of'eter
nal- self-renewal in the hearts of
mpn. In its light, we are forever
resuming and extending the
struggle, forever finding in all
sorts and conditions of men new
capacities to expand in the "high
air of freedom, forever moving,
now fast, now slowly, towards
wider prospects of equal oppor
tunity and of brotherhood.
(The above article was written
by James Boyd for the foreign
section of the Writers’ War Board
and was widely circulated. On
this first anniversary of his pass
ing (Feb. 25) we reprint it, feel
ing that Democracy as he inter
preted it may well be kept before
the public until “wider prospects
of equal opportunity and of
brotherhood” for all mankind be
come a reality.—Ed)
Friday, February 23, 1945.
as surely as day follows darkness.
And the quicker it passes, the bet
ter it will be for all the people.
• —The Southern Planter
Sand B OX
Being Filled Weekly
BY WALLACE IRWIN
tional legislation. It’s a commun
ity job, however we go at it.
And how about the juvenile de
linquents of Senate Military Af
fairs Committee who have been
holding up the Man Power Bill in
the face of a national crisis? Can
Mr. Hoover suggest a Boys Club
to keep them out of dangerous
mischief?
V
DEBUNKING THE
POLL TAX BUNK
Self-Preservation is the first at
tribute of a politician. That is
why the “machine” politicians in
■Virginia are frantically fighting
repeal of the poll tax as a voting
requirement. They have found in
the poll tax their most useful
tool for perpetuating their term
of office. By disfranchising the
vast majority of people and per
mitting only a pitiful minority
to vote, a handful of officeholders
in every county, through the in
fluence of their “sisters and their
cousins and their aunts” can
swing almost any election. This
is a vicious sort of thing in a
democratic society.
The very fact that politicians
are fighting poll tax repeal is
ample evidence that they are
afraid to face an unhampered
electorate. None of them will ad-
niit this, however. Instead, they
give as their excuse for opposing
poll tax repeal, such bunk as
“revenue from the poll tax goes
to support the public schools;”
‘the poll tax keeps the riff-raff
from voting;” “it disfranchises
the Negro and guarantees white
supremacy”, “it insures a sound
fiscal policy for Virginia.” Any
one remotely familiar with the,
problem knows that all of these
arguments are bogus.
Divorce the poll tax from the
right to vote,, upiversally assess
and collect it, and the tax will
yield three times its present rev
enue for the schools. The so-
called “riff-raff”, if they be de
fined as those who permit their
poll taxes to* be paid in a, block
by politicians and voted accord
ingly, ca'n already vote under the
present system; while many of
our best citizens are being dis
qualified. The racial issue is pure
demagogery. Of the 10,000,000
Americans who are unable to vote
because of poll taxes, at least 6,-
000,000 are white citizens. Less
than a fourth of Virginia’s total
population is colored. North Caro
lina, with a much larger Negro
population than Virginia, abolish
ed the poll tax as a prerequisite
to voting 25 years ago and that
State is a shining example in the
South of everything good in gov
ernment for the common man, of
both colors; And, as far as sound
fiscal policy is concerned, is there
anyone who sincerely believes
that Virginia, South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas,
the poll tax states that polled a
total of 3,113,082 votes in the
presidential election last fall, are
operating under a sounder fin
ancial policy than the other 40
states of the Union that polled
44,856,706 votes, or 94 per cent
of the total? The question is as
ridiculous as the argument that
prompts it.
The whole argument in favor
of the poll tax is a foil, a smoke
screen to hide the ugly fact that
the politicians, now in power,
want a small electorate that can
be controlled by the officeholders.
The poll tax as a voting require
ment in Virginia is doomed just
No use my trying to scoop the
Pilot on a piece of front page
news; but the way I get the story,
Julie Burt Atteberry has just re
ceived the Air Medal. That is to
say, the medal was given to her
Lieutenant Commander George,
and by all the rules of holy matri
mony what is his is hers. Do I
make myself clear? Probably not.
Anyhow, that blue arid gold rib
bon of honor is pinned on George,
who is so modest about himself
that it requires a citation to in
form us that he is one of our
Navy’s top-side flyers. If ever I
have to fly around Greenland
in the dead of winter, I won’t feel
half so scared if I can get George
to pilot me. Greenland was the
arctic albatross that hatched him
from the egg. He has developed
some colored movies of the land
he soared over, which has the
sort of dangerous beauty that
would attract a Viking
Speaking of colors, less flatter
ingly, I wonder what the Sea
board line thinks it’s doing with
its wink-wink red light signals.
As the temporary owner of a
little rolling land-mine which I
call the Freddie Ford, I resent the
way the lights and the-^bang-gong
signals behave at the track cross
ings. They seem to glare the
hardest and ring the loudest after
the train has passed the far hori
zon. Such motorists as have gas
enough to complain about have
gotten so used to this empty hull
abaloo that they’re never quite
sure whether it proclaims real
danger or is just another of the
Seaboard’s little jokes. Not so
good. For whep you try to beat
a Diesel engine train to the cross
ing, you only try it once.
When I opened this morning’s
mail I began to wonder how so
many of our great national as
sociations have learned that I am
on, the Pilot’s payroll. Herbert
Hoover’s Boys Clubs of America,
Emmanuel’s Chapman’s National
Committee to Combat Anti-Semi
tism and Joe Davidson’s Indepen
dent Citizens’ Committee of the
Arts, Sciences and Professions all
urge that I join up and contrib
ute. Or contribute, anyhow. I an^
addressed as Priminent Citizen,
which puts me in a most gener
ous frame of mind.
Now, as I understand it, th#
dutiful citizen should lay aside
one per cent of his salary as his
contribution to progressive causes.
The abovementioned certainly
come under that head; and as I
lay out my weekly blood money,
wrung from the Pilot’s chary
hand, I figure it out that one per
cent of $2.50 would come to
$.0250, which would leave me
$.0050 in the hole, after I have
paid for the postage stamp. To
say nothing of the wear and tear
on stationery and typewriter rib
bon.
Frivolity aside, these organiza
tions I have mentioned at ran
dom, have vital reasons for being.
After we have read sickening
facts about the Nazi murder stalls
in Poland, it is hard to believe
that there are still literate peo
ple in this country who advocate
pogroms in America. But there
are. I’ve talked to them. Maybe
they are few. I hop^ so. But they
should be discouraged before a
poison seed multiplies into a poi
son' crop.
This boys’ club idea sounds a
little tame, on the surface. It is
really very importarit, if it does
only a part of what it aims to do.
The heads of families, by many
thousands, have been called away
to the sort of war work we so
cruelly need. Family discipline
has gone by the board and guer
rilla bands of unspanked brats
are wandering the streets, having
the sort of fun that does nobody
any good. The reports on such
youngsters, aired in the courts,
goes by the clumsy name of “juve
nile delinquency”. It means that
these juveniles are being educa
ted the wrong way; the self-edu
cation of the adolescent, which
too often leads to criminality.
The Council for Democracy,
which also plugs in on my morn
ing mail, reminds me that New
York’s Benjamin Franklin High
School has a good idea. It brings
its more responsible boys and
girls in committee to investigate
something with the high-sound
ing title of Youth Problems.
Among other things they have de
cided that “a fellow has to have
a place to go and something to
do, or he gets into trouble . . .
Most of the guys said they’d like
machine shop work and sports
and the girls wanted arts and
crafts.” They suggested Teen Age
Canteens with, “Gosh, the fellows
and girls would have a place to go
together when they didn’t have
anything else on. . . Now if they’ll
only take serious everything we
told them and do something about
it| the judges in the Children’s
Court will get a break too."
This Youth Problem is some
thing that can’t be solved by na-
home of Mr. and Mrs. John Fidd-
ner, Sr.
Mrs. A. J. Martin and son re
turned home Friday after spend
ing the past month in New York.
Circle No. 4 of the Presbyter
ian Church of Aberdeen met in
the home of Mrs. C. G. McCas-
kill Monday afternoon. There
were six members and one visitor
present. Mrs. J. H. Suttonfield
had the program and Mrs. R. F.
Stewart took charge of the Bible
study.
Refreshments were served.
»
A new book was placed in the
Memorial Fund Collection this
week. “Bread Upon The Waters”
by Bose Pesotta is the autobiog
raphy of one of the leading labor
organizers of the country. She
came from Russia in 1913, took
a job in a shirtwaist factory, join
ed a union, won a scholarship at
the Brookwood Labor College and
finally became the only woman
yide president of (International
Ladies Garment Workers’ Union
with more than 300,000 members.
This is a readable book about
many things in the world of or
ganized labor we should all know.
“The Headmistress” by Angel
ica Thirkell is an utterly delight
ful bit of irony and will prove
again, in Miss. Thirkell’s own
style, there will always (we are
thankful) be an England of vicars,
retired colonels, dons, decayed
gentlewomen, nannies and titled
ladies in tweeds!
“The Secret Diary of William
Byrd of Westover, 1709-1712.”
All students of colonial America
will find this large, beautiful vol
ume of real interest. The amazing
thing about this particular diary
is the fact that it went so long
unpublished. It was written in’
the shorthand of the period and
was only recently translated by
Marion Tinling of the Hunting-'
ton Library. Other parts of this
secret diary will be exposed to
the public soon, it is hoped.
“The Book of Naturalists”. An
Anthology of the Best Natural
History edited by. William Beebe.
“Nothing the airplane has done
to make the world seem small
can match what the microsciope
has done to make* it seem large.”
And so it is in looking into this
wonderful anthology of selections
from 45 of the great naturalists.
The book falls into two parts, the
first from Aristotle (384-322 B. C.)
who was the first great natural
ist, to the second part which ex
tends from Darwin to the pi i— |
ent day. It is wonderfully rest-, Sj
ful in these troubled times to ouen i «
suc^ a book and be faced with K
facts of impersonal research from |
the ta& pole to the stars!
“Murder in Five Column- In
Frank Diamond is a lively .M\s-
tery House story with the stoni
laid in New York.
One of the most intelligent and I..
beautiful children’s books this H
reader has ever seen is a timely
one all adults could well take 11:
time out to read, “My First Geog
raphy of the Pacific.”
Young horse lovers will read
“Heads Up—Heels Down” and
not only learn how to ride but
how to care for a horse.
NIAGARA
Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Hudson aiid
son John spent last weekend vis
iting relatives in Savannah, Ga.
They were accompanied home by
Billy Cannon for a visit.
Mrs. Ernest Bennett spent the
weekend with her husband in
Norfolk, Va.
Mrs. Oscar Seward returned
home this week from the Moore
County Hospital.
Miss Lois Morgan returned this
week from a visit to relatives in
Fort Smith, Ark.
Miss Ruth Sizemore of St.
Louis, Mo., visited friends here
last week.
Mrs. L. D. Williams received a
cablegram from her son, L. D.
Jr., saying he had arrived safely
overseas.
John F. Hudson left this week
for Camp Norman, Okla.
The Boys at the front need all the
help you can give them-
BUY WAR BONDS
Anglow Tweeds
^ r
Mid
and
18 HOLE GOLF COURSE
Open To The Public
FRANK H. COSGROVE
LESSEE—MANAGER
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Dine
Dance
and
AGE INN
Music Corporation of America Presenting
McQuade
Nightly
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PINEBLUFF
Misses Ada Marie Combs and
Ida Combs spent the weekend
in High Point with relatives.
Mrs. Clay Parker arrived at her
home here Thursday after spend
ing the past two months at Ft.
Knox with her husband, Sgt.
Parker.
Mrs. Hazel Allison of Ft. Bragg
was a visitor in town Thursday.
Miss Dorothy Lawrence was a
weekend guest in the home of
Miss Betty Holt,in Raleigh.
Mrs. William C. Dykes return
ed to her home here this week
after spending several weeks in
Baltimore, Md.
Miss Ethel Sharpe of Columbia,
S. C., was a guest in the home of
Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Suttonfield
Thursday.
Mrs. Louis Santo of South Nor-
walk. Conn., is visiting in the
Songs With Accordion Accompaniment
Dinner Served From 6 P. M.
Dancing After 9 P. M.
•
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Ladies and Gentlemen Regardless of Rank
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