Newspapers / The Pilot (Southern Pines, … / Aug. 23, 1946, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page Two THE PILOT. Southern. Pines. North Carolina THE PILOT PUBLISHED EACH FRIDAY BY THE PILOT. INCORPORATED SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA 1941 JAMES BOYD Publisher 1944 KATHARINE BOYD* .... EDITOR DAN s. RAY .... General Manager THOMAS G. JOHNSTON. ASS’T EDITOR BERT PREMO . . . ADVERTISING CHARLES MACAULEY . . . CITY EDITOR •S SGT. DANIEL S. RAY, III SUBSCRIPTION RATES ONE Y-EAR . . . $3.00 SIX MONTHS .... $1.50 THREE MONTHS 7S ENTERED AT THE POSTOFFICE AT SOU. THERN Pines, n. C., as second class MAIL MATTER. "DON'T QUOTE ME!" A newspaper is an organ of the public. It serves the public and in a way it belongs to the public, yet very few people realize that such relationship, to be effective must be a two-way proposition. If the paper is to do a good job for the public, the public, in its turn, must try to do a good job for the paper; the cooperation must be mutual. In the obvious fields, the pub lic depends on its newspaper for certain very definite aids. The columns are open for the placing of advertisements of every- type, from the purely commercial no tices of goods for sale, through the "classified”, the “lost and found”, the notices' of church sales or charity bazaars- Informa tion as to coming events: con certs, races, movie programs, baseball games, enable the read er to make his plans in advance and to miss nothing of the enter tainment life of his community. Town and county tax lists muk be printed in the paper; the bank publishes its account of financial soundnes.s for all to read. The let ter column of a paper is always open as a public forum wherein readers may express their views, and their pet grievances, or en thusiasms or may put forward some idea for town improvement. From a political angle, a news paper offers, next to personal contact, the best medium for can didates and public to get to know each other. These are only some of the more obvious of the services per formed by a good newspaper. Added to them, should be the greatest service of all: keeping the public abreast of the news- A good paper should keep its readers informed of events as they happen and should offer, for their guidance or their re jection, constructive editorial guidance on the issues of the day. In all these fields, the public plays an important part- This is, of course, obvious in the matter of advertising, but, actually, it is quite as true in the business of news gathering! and reporting. -And it is here that, too often the essential two-way coopera tion fails. How does a reporter get the news? Few people stop, to think- There are, of course, certain events that he automatically covers: things like ball-games or Chamber of Commerce’ meetings that he knows are going to hap pen- He attends them and gets his own story. But the newsy happenings, the items that make a paper colorful and up-to-the minute are not the planned af fairs. Once in a dog’s age, a re porter has the luck to be at the right corner when the two cars crash, or to meet the town “char acter”, high and happy, on his picturesque gambol down the street, or he has a hunch that a certain expression on a certain man’s face means something, and, following his hunch, gets his story. But those are the lucky times. In between are the hun dred times when he was not there and therefore has to depend on someone else for his report. These are the times when the public’s cooperation is essential to the fur nishing of news- And this is the part of a paper which, nine times out of ten, the public not only does not understand, but is com pletely unsympathetic to. The number of times a news paper man hears the phrase: ‘‘Why don’t you have more news in your paper?” is only equalled by the number of times he is told, in tones of anguish: “For heavens’ sake, don’t quote me!” If a reporter is present at some news-worthy occurence, he can write his own account of it, but if he gets it through someone else, it is essential to good re porting that he quote his source. Suppose our Postmaster, for in- Friday, August 23, 1946. stance, to choose one who does understand this principle and is a prize cooperator, has some in teresting news to tell about a new post office, perhaps, to be opened in a neighboring town, or even something interestingly new about our own office: he tells it to the reporter. If the re porter simply retells it in his own words, without quotation, it loses much of its force. The in teresting thing is that the news is official, not something just pick ed up; it is being told by one who knows what he is talking about. In the same way, if Wilbur Cur rie, for example, tells a Pilot re porter some interesting items about the county, they become twice as valuable as news by the fact that they come from an au thority on county affairs- Good reporting combined with public cooperation makes a story that is authentic and that is colorful be cause it has behind it the per sonalities of these well-known men. But if the “Don’t quote me” phrase is tacked onto them, the stories lose half their point. It is here that the public so often fails the newspaper. When asked by a reporter to tell his tale, the eyewitness or the au thority, nine times out of ten, simply quits. This attitude is only too under standable, but if it were univer sal it would mean that many pa pers would be almost nothing but cut and dried re-hashes of things that people already knew or could find out for themselves. To be really good, a paper must have the active cooperation of its read ers- That means that the readers, as well as the staff of the paper, must be willing to take a chance, occasionally, to stick their necks out, to have the courage of their convictions. If they want to get the news, they must be willing also, to give it. Congress as soon as they recon vene. We must use the moral and physical power which we now posess to prevent a race of atomic armaments in which the whole world would go down in flames. We must, in fine, set our faces resolutely toward the light, in the direction shown us by this new line of hope. It is time, now, to demonstrate our sincerety and our moral purpose to use this great force for the benefit of the world. Sa n dB OX BY WALLACE IRWIN RANDOM REMINUISANCES OF AN EX-TOWN FATHER On a certain Fourth of July during the long and glorious reign of Mayor Stutz the town fathers faced the dilema of a civic and moral obligation and the apparent lack of means for its fulfillment. For if the obser vance of the Fourth as a holiday hunter if you called a hound a ‘‘dog” or with a yachsman if you “tied” instead of moored a boat to the dock. , What could be done about that? 'Very simple. We would stage a ^evolution. of our own. In a ringing statement we has a serious purpose it must be | declared our inde.nendence of all that of recharging one’s spiritual; rules and regulations. We solemn- SWORDS TO PLOUGH-SHARES Last week, the first bit of radio active substance was sold to a pri- |Vate hospital for use in research into the cure of cancer. So begins what may prove to be the first step on the road away from death and destruction, toward a better life. This start on the way to con structive use for good of this ter rific power took place when the reports of the latest test of its lethal force were coming in. Des cribing the effects of the Bikini under-water explosion, the eval uation commission appointed by the president appealed for inten sive research into many new as pects of the bomb, shown in this last experiment. The commission stated that the demonstration at B^ini |“Atrongly indicates that future wars employing atomic bombs may well destroy nations and change present standards of civilation.” While the first test against surface ships seemed to have destroyed more ships, the second appeared to have released far more of the deadly radio active particles. A combination of the two types of explosion would be simple enough to carry out, surely, and the results of that would, equally surely, do away with any qualifying phrase ology in subsequent reports. In fact, the existence of any report ers. after such a double event, might well be in doubt- The last Bikini report contains, toward its close, the devastating- ly simple statement that the best defense against the bomb is dis tance- The sentence which comes after it is so much unnecessary repitition. For, if the best de fense is distance, it follows clear ly that the only way to get that distance is not to have any atomic bombing. Or, as the report goes on to state: “It is evident that if there is to be any security or safe ty in the world, war must be eli minated ...” In other words, the ‘distance” must be complete- And, now that this second test has been made, what is to hap pen? Baruch makes his commis sion’s report to the United Na tions- Our civilian committee, headed by Lilienthal, goes on rec ord as agreeing with his plan! And a tiny speck of radioactive substance is to be used to cure a dread disease. These are welcome moves in this great drama, this test of man’s use of this fruit of the tree of knowledge. But we go on adding to our stockpile of bombs, and it is now a year since the first bomb was dropped and we were told it would take the other nations only five years to learn the so- called secret. Time presses- America, the pos sessor of the bomb, is the only one which can act. We must in sist that the Baruch report be im plemented by approval by our When I opened my copy of the Pilot last week I was moodily complaining that nobqdy [ever writes to me, however hard I try to rouse the Sandhills into a pass ion of correspondence. Then I tore open the Pilot--and there wa^ Windham L. Clarke’s friend ly reply to my comments on art as reflected upon billboard adver tising. It cheered me up so that I forgot to pay for a three cent stamp which Mrs. Danowski, our obliging postmistress had just handed out to me. Now I feel that I have a colla borator; what an advertising com bination Clarke and Irwin will become, once we get our heads together. Windham, of course, will furnish the art and the ideas, and I ...well. I’ll have to think up something that will be useful to the enterprise. My partner’s sug gestions have put my original so far in the background that they don’t seem to be plans at all. His dream of Cleopat ra’s barge, scooting along a bill board Nile, might do something better for us than merely to point out the mileage to Southern Pines, Miami and Havana- The Serpent of the Nile might have a 89 foot crown on her head, sparkl ing with the legend: REVIVE YOUR SPINES AT SOUTHERN PINES!!! Maybe we should go in exclus ively for mechanical billboards. I have a vision of a Frankenstein giant, twice as big as the presi dential portraits which Gutzon Borglum used to hack out of solid granits cliffs- The monster would have four arms on a central hub,; windmill fashion, and in each hand, when the wind blew, he would wave realistic pictures of the Southern Pines postoffice, t^ Moore County Hospital, the ABC store next to the police sta tion and the Seaboard train steam ing in with a full load of golfers- Legend (in red light, please): DON’T GO BEYOND ABER DEEN! IF YOU’VE SEEN SOUTH ERN PINES YOU’VE SEEN EVERY THING!!! Expanding our business, going in for state-wide advertising, how’s this for a smash-hit eye knocker at our northern border? You’ve seen those endless chain gadgets they have in shooting galleries, something that makes a long line of rabbits move along, forever pursued by an image that looks a little like a dog. This de vice would be 1,001 times larger than shooting gallery size and the rabbits — or maybe dinosaurs always running southward, franti cally. The dog would be furnished with a radio recording device so that he would bark at intervals, day and night: THEY’RE RUNNING AWAY FROM VIRGINIA! THEY’RE GOING TO SOUTH ERN PINES!! . HAPPY RABBITS!!! BOW WOW!!!! The partnership of Clarke & Irwin is formed. The partnership of Clark & Irwin is dissolved. These structural wonders would cost quite a lot of millions. But that wouldn’t discourage me. I could go up to Washington and lobby for it. However, I mustn’t get myself involved. I’ve been thinking so much of what could be done with pickles, nylon hose, pepsi-drinks and bubble gum that I’m running quite a temperature. I’m not sleeping well. If I keep on working with these imagina tive ideas they’.ll have to tie me down under pads. I think I’ll taper off by giving easy language lessons to Mr. Mol otov- Something that will teach him how to say “I agree.” batteries—best accomplished, no doubt, by reading and pondering on the Declaration of Indepen dence, either alone or in company with one’s fellow citizens, and by solemn contemplation of the blessings of liberty. But look around you on any Fourth and what do you see? Instead of stay ing at home and recharging its spiritual batteries the average family is more likely to be burn ing up the road in its car in a desperate effort to escape any thing resembling serious thought. Or the old man has left the family at home to fulfill the civic and moral obligations of the day and is at the ball park flinging in sults and pop bottles at the um pire and ill-mannered remarks at the visiting team or is pursuing a little white ball from hole to hole with a golf club and a stream of sulphurous language which would put to shame any fire spitting dragon of mythology. Shades of Washington!—what a way to celebrate the nation’s birthday. Fully cognizant of the deplor able state of the nation in this respect the town fathers realized that a definite obligation rested on them to observe the occasion in some fitting way. But hov/? That was the question. No group of normal human beings could spend the whole day reading the declaration of independence, singing America, even if in dif ferent keys, and in solemn con templation of the blessings of lib erty. They would end up by scratching each other’s eyes out or by resorting to other violent means of relieving the tension. And so, after prolonged discus sion it was agreed that a part of the day should be devoted to golf. At least thgt would keep us amid surroundings conducive to the contemplation of the blessings of jiberty. But another, problem thqn con fronted us- Here we were propos ing to celebrate the blessings of liberty with a game “which was itself the very opposite of lib erty. It forced you to follow a rigidly prescribed course. It bound you hand and foot with an intricate system of rules, regula tions, restrictions, prohibitions, and penalties. It even denied you freedom of speech. Either you consented to make exclusive use of a lot of mediaeval terms when speaking of clubs and shots or you forever lost the respect of the golfing frater nity, just as you did with a fox ly resolved to strike from this ancient and honorable game its mediaeval shackles, to bring it into conformity with the princi ples of individual freedom. At tached to the statement were a few simple rules observance of which was, however, optional. The course could be played for wards, backwards, or sideways. A disheartened player was allowed to put the ball in his pocket and walk to the next hole merely es timating the number of shots he might have made it in- If com pletely demoralized he could play the entire eighteen holes in this way. Instead of the foolish cus tom of declaring the player with the lowest score the winner, the highest score won- This made for free hitting and e 1 i m i n a t.e d delays usually caused by some fanatic waving his club back and forth over the ball before making a shot—for what purpose I could never figure out. I ,was told he was “addressing” the ball—pre sumably with some mystic formu la similar to the crap shooter’s ap peal to his dice. Since we had no desire to be followed by a gallery the hour for the' game had been set at 6 a. m. and promptly at that hour His Honor and the commissioners were on hand at the first tee. I had never had a golf club in my hand I was allowed the honor of teeing off first. The little white sphere was placed in front of me, I was handed a stick with a curiously formed appendage at the lower end and was told to hit the ball. This I did in magnificent form but poor direction, driving it through a window of the club house. This seemingly impossible shot both astonished and alarm ed His Honor. He went into a huddle with chief of police Kelly, who had come along as referee, as the result of which my brand of golf was declared a menace to life and property and I was relegated to the ignominious sta- tusof official kibitser. I went home long before the match was ended. I never knew who won but I understand that some of the scores reached astronomical pro portions. But we had accomplish ed our revolutionary purpose. We had brought the ancient and hon orable game into conformity with the principles of indivibual liber ty. We had demonstrated that the spirit of golf as played by the town fathers of Southern Pines was not incompatible with the spirit of the glorious Fourth. Next week: Spring Festival. Bynums Hold Ninth Family Reunion, First Since '41 Ninety-Eight Gather in Dunn's Park At Lake view The ninth reunion of the des cendants of Joseph and Mary Ann Bynum, pioneer settlers in whose honor the community which now makes up the town of Vass was originally called Bynum, was held in Duncan’s Park at Lake- view on Sunday, August 11, with 98 persons attending. When the annual reunions were begun in 1933, there were eight daughters of the pioneer couple living. Three of the four remain ing “Bynum Sisters” were pres ent Sunday. A fifth, Mrs. Minnie Bynum Patterson of Philadelphia Miss., passed away the day be fore the reunion, ./pother, Mrs. Lydia Bynum McDonald of Ham let, has die^ since the 1941 re union, the last one held. Miss Retha Mae Cox of Vass was in charge of registration, and T. Rj. Moffitt of Sanford gave the invocation. A picnic dinner was served. A brief memorial service for Mrsl. Miimie Bynum Patterson was held, with Dr. T. E. Davis of Southern Pines offering a prayer. E. B. Keith of Sanford, presi dent of the clan, conducted a business session. J. R. Thomas of Raleigh was elected president and Mrs. S. R. Smith was retain ed as permanent secretary. The group decided to send a “love gift’” to the bereaved family of Mrs. Minnie Bynum Patterson, and the session ended with the singing of the Bynum Song and a benediction by the Rev.. T. D. Mullie of Niagara. Clan members attending were the three sisters, Mrs. Sue B. Cameron of Vass, Mrs. Catherine B. Shaw of Southern Pines, and Mrs. Florence B. Thomas of Ra leigh. Friends present included Dr. and Mrs. T. E. Davis and family. Southern Pines, Wayne Brooks, Sanford; the Rev. Troy D. Mullis, Niagara; Miss Frances Reed and Arthur Reed, Southern Pines; Pete Federoff, -McDonald^ Pa^; Mrs. W. D. Matthews, Southern Pines. Moore &)unty Victory Celebration Committee Thanks All Who Helped Make Day A Success :: ♦♦ ♦♦ n n :: § tt n tx I ♦« •• *♦ H The Moore County Victory Celebration H Committee wishes to express its grateful H thanks to each and every one, who helped to | make the first Victory Day Celebration to | honor the VETERANS of WORLD WAR II, a | success. p 11 Practically everyone, who was asked, gave p generously of their time and means. Many | p without solicitation. Without this freely given | I help the Committees would have been unable | I to function. It is impossible to name persons or S g organizations, but from the general committee | g members who toiled on it from the beginning n |j to those who could only help in the actual last | g minute preparations, all did their part. | The idea for the celebration was born at | a meeting of Sandhills American Legion Post | I last March and was originally planned as a local | affair, but soon expanded to include all veterans I organizations and every civic and public group | of Moore County. H The entire County cooperated to the full- | est, and showed to all that Moore County can | act as a unit and does so when called upon. This g I county, with its varied population, soil, climate I “ and industrial facilities has tremendous poten- || talities and by working together—as it did to | celebrate Victory Day—(;an become one 9f the greatest in North Carolina and thereby' pro vide a decent living and home for its over 2,000 returned veterans. The one sour note in the whole affair came after the day was ended. Namely:—The sneer ing, sarcastic, sadistic story of the day’s cele bration as written by the acting editor of the Southern Pines Pilot. His odious comparisons and remarlffi about principals in the celebration and speakers—other than himself—were un justified, uncalled for and ungentlemanly, and the members of the Celebration Committee are apologetic for the ungracious remarks, though they had no knowledge of them until after the paper was published. VICTORY CELEBRATION COMMITTEE By D. D, SHIELDS CAMERON, Chairman Dresses made of aluminum yarn will be on the market soon, manufacturer reports. Yam is made of fine aluminum -with a plastic covering. S.H. LEA Painting & Wall Papering CONTRACTOR Fayelieville, N. C. Dial 5954 Southern Pines, N. C. Phone 8742 Pinehursi. N. C. Phone 4933 fREEf New road maps are back — we have them now, ready for yoor next trip— with a handy trip record form in each one! Ask for yours. Fine Pure Oil lubricants, plus our own “know-how” and equipment equals longer car life and safer driving. Better be safe than sorry—better be sure with Pure-Sure lubrication— every 1,000 miles! Is your car due? Be sure with Fire Johnston’s Service Station
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
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Aug. 23, 1946, edition 1
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