Friday. May 12, 1950
THE PILOT—Souihern Pines, North Carolina
North Carolinians Discover Pinehnrst,
Famed Resort For More Than 50 Years
The mills of the Gods grind 1^°*^ must discover for yourself,
slowly, but they grind exceeding-Realist
ly fine. I The Tar Heel who pressed his
If it had to have a motto, Pine- together and determined to
hurst might use that one. Richard F®®P that way, is not essential-
Tufts, present head of tho familyUy unprogressive. Like other suc-
which created and has managed business men, he is a calm
one of the nation’s unique resorts, realistic analyst of his mar-
puts it a little differently. He says F^^- the late 30’s, he was told
mildly, “We are not anxious for^i'^otiurst would die because he
innovation.” Or he says: “Ourp®® catering to people who were
clients’like it the way it is.” And P^^’^S out. He didn’t believe it,
then, more practically, he says: ®^*^^ doesn’t. His theory is
‘The way we do it, takes an aw- there may not be room for
long time.” two Pinehursts in this world, but
The way they do it is to take certainly is room for one,
long look, a look so long that f?!; occupy that
resort promoters wouldspace.
s either the patience or the must be acknowledged
•esources to outwait patronage r^®^ wasn’t done by building
And under less .patient andr^® the
killful hands than those of ®°“® t® t*. Richard Tufts
lichard Tufts, Pinehurst long ago 1®”^®® promotion minded,
/ould have disappeared as such grandfather was a great be-
wallowed up by the prompting testimonials, and the old
rgencies of profit and progress,
guest of 50 years ago, returning
this Golf Capital of America,
ould not feel at all out of place,
tie trolley which once ran to
outhern Pines is gone, but its
ght of way still divides a two
me highway. Gone are the hacks,
surreys. But the golf courses ^n editorial writer for the
' as green as ever, and the pfew York Times, specializing in
bby of the Carolina is as sedate, '■he Far East and national defend,
strerts wind tranquilly and Robert Aura Smith has a job that
baffling directions through heeps him at one of the great
ne woods preserved against ex-Perve - centers of foreign news in
oitation. the United States. Mr. Smith will
The village is all but unique inp® heard Tuesday, as a special
is country. Unlike many resort U®^^^^® ^he 15th Annual
wns, it does not have a special convention,
arter, but its perpetuity is guar-1 -As an expert, he brings a rich
teed in all the deeds stemming experience the field with long
jm the original tract. These y®ars of first hand knowledge and
eds specify that the property pn-the-spot reporting,
mer shall pay one per cent ad He had originally intended to
lorem tax to the corporation for follow an academic career after
imcipal services. TThe deeds also his graduation from Ohio Wesley-
3cify that the village shall be an university, where he won the
/erned by a council of ten, Ohio Rhodes scholarship. He re-
ided by the president of Pine- turned to the United States with
■rst’ Inco^orated, the members his Oxford degrees and started in
ireof to be ajmointed by him. as a teacher, but after a short
is benevolent little dictatorship time he found that journalism
s worked for some 55 years. was his niche.
Iher To Son After four years on the Cincin-
was commenced by the grand- nati Commercial Tribune, he set
ler of the present Tufts gener- put for the Far East and began his
B)n, a soda clerk in Massachu- studies of Asiatic politics in Japan
files are full of letters as glowing
as those you see establishing the
■virtue of Hadacol. That’s Promo
tion, too. On its golf events and
in many other indirect lanes,
Pinehurst invests heavily.
Not only that. A few years ago.
North Carolinians shunned Pine
hurst because they conceived it
to be an expensive place where
wealthy Yankees hobnobbed.
When things got tough, Pinehurst
went out after convention and
group-discussion business. The
doctors, textile manufacturers,
auto dealers, and many other
covered their most famous resort,
ings regularly in the viUage. The
desired and natural reaction oc
curred. Those who came to the
conventions began to come back
to play golf and enjoy the Sand
hills.
Tarheels Discover Pinehurst
Today, believe it or not. North
Page Three
Carolinians constitute the second
largest group of patrons of the
hotels. After 50 years, they dis-
groups began to hold their meet-
Visitors to Pinehurst rarely see
the slight, phlegmatic man who
runs the show. Although the cor
poration operates two hotels, aslning
Tufts usually is to be found in a
large, plainly furnished office
down town. Or else he is on one
of his three golf courses,
where he shoots in the low 70’s.
Since golf is the chief commodity
on the Pinehurst shelves, it is
natural that the presiding Tufts
would be interested in it, and he
is. For many years he has been
active in the PGA, and the Pine
hurst North and South tourna
ment is one of the oldest and most
exalted of America’s sport e'vents.
TUfts has few rules about run-
resort which caters to
His rates run a little higher than had breakfast the other day with
as many other enterprises,' ralher dTscrimTAXg cM
comparable accommodations in
New England, considerably lower
than the Florida rates. But he is
a great believer in giving value
received. His golf greens sparkle,
and his hotel menus are abundant
and varied. The plumbing in the
old hotel is of the ancient vintage
—a chain swinging from a water
closet overhead invites you to
yank—but, by golly, when you
yank, it works.
And apparently there are sev
eral thousand people in this coun
try who prefer the kind of atmos
phere which Pinehurst offers. I
a nice gentleman who must have
been down for several weeks, be
cause he had a special breakfast
and was treated with some defer
ence by the waitress, whom he
affectionately palled Queenie.
In the course of my duties as
a reporter, I casually asked this
man how the Pinehurst hotel
service compared with other
places he frequented.
“Don’t know, young fellow,” he
said casually. “Haven’t stopped
anywhere else in 20 years.”
-Bill Sharpe (in State Magazine)
R. A. Smith, N. Y. Times Editorial
Writer, WiU Address NCADA Tuesday
who invented the process of
king carbonated water. Profits
this discovery founded Pine-
■st, originally as a health and
resort, but finally as a golf
irt. Leonard Tufts, son of
les, didn’t know or care any-
ig about his pappy’s Dixie di-
lion until, in 1904, the resort
losing money in such propor-
5 that he was impelled to
down and liquidate this
msical white elephant of his
er’s. He came, saw, and was
luered. Pinehurst became the
ion of his life, and he never
relinquished his interest in
;h Carolina.
ke father, like son. Richard,
of Leonard, born at Medford,
s., went to Harvard and plan-
to be an engineer. Graduated
917, he went into the Navy,
g to the rank of ensign. His
sr needed a steamfitter, and
younger Tufts went to Pine-
in 1919 in that capacity. In
that back and critical year
3 young steamfitter found
elf head of a huge piece of
Tty and a huge accumulation
•oblems.
other person might have
short cuts to salvage the
Young Richard instead
the inherent and saleable
ties in Pinehurst’s status
The corporation whacked
at dead wood, selling off
unprofitable enterprises. In
Tocess, Richard admits -wry-
ley sold off some phases of
peration which later proved
highly profitable.
Of Success
:y were critical 30’s, but
rd laid low as the winds
:d over his head. Sometimes
busted down the door in-
of whistling overhead. An
ote of the period runs like
Richard Tufts a successful
:ss man?”
ccessful? Of course he is.
3dy that owes a million dol-
successful!”
war came, and with it
Fort Bragg, Camp Mack-
d other installations. Rooms
;t a premium, but rent con-
ept Pinehurst from making
nordinate killing it might
nade otherwise. Afterwards,
the place began the kind
om it likes — moderate,
strictly gilt-edge. The bur-
aid on Pinehurst began to
ughed off, in the refined
vhich is appropriate to its
ter.
North Carolinians realize
and Manchuria. From that bleak
introduction he went down to
Manila from Manchmria in 1930
to “thaw out,” and it was at this
time that he joined The New
York Times as a staff correspon
dent for the Philippines, besides
acting as News Editor of’ the
Manila Bulletin. Here, in his
front-row seat, for the next seven
years he cabled his stories to the
United States:—the vital steps
toward Philippine independence,
the administrations of American
Governors-General, the growing
shadow of Japanese aggression
and the defense plans of General
MacArthur.
West and East
In 1937 he set out on a compre
hensive trip throughout the
Southeastern part of Asia, India
and the coastal areas of Africa,
gradually learning the intricate
details of these dependent areas,
colonialism, and the structure of
empires—West and East.
The day before Pearl Harbor,
Mr. Smith joined the Office of the
Coordinator of Information, with
the assignment of setting up an
American information service in
the Far East. He left the United
States on a China Defense Sup
plies ship, enroute to Rangoon to
drive into Chungking over the
Burma Road. While the ship was
still at sea, Rangoon was taken
by the Japanese, and the ship was
diverted to Karachi, India. So, it
was in India that Mr. Smith set
up the Office of the Coordinator,
which subsequently became the
India^Burma Division of the Of
fice of War Information.
He headed that division for two
years, and then was hospitalized
home. After his recovery, several
months later, he went into the
New York office of OWI, -training
other persons for service in the
field, especially the Far East. In
addition to these duties as Chief
of the Training Division, he acted
as the principal radio commenta
tor bn Far Eastern Affairs for
owl’s “Voice of America.” He re
turned to the Foreign Desk of the
Times at the close of the war and
was later promoted to the edi
torial department.
Wrote Books, Broadcasts
These experiences have been
reflected in his writing. In 1940
he brought out his prophetic book
on the forthcoming Japanese at
tack, “Our Future in Asia,” fol
lowed the next year by “Yowr
Foreign Policy.” His book, “Divi
ded India,” brougl^t out in
broadcasts.
The Foreign Policy association
has presented him as a platform
speaker in almost every American
city of size east of the Mississippi
and north of Washington, and his
own courses of lectures have been
a popular feature at the Brooklyn
Institute, the Staff Officers’
school at Yale university, and
Barnard college of Columbia uni
versity.
Recently he pointed out that,
“As a blatter of fact, I don’t be
lieve that there have been 24 con
secutive hours in the last 20 years
of my life in which I have not
been doing something intimately
connected with the problems of
the Far East or American foreign
policy.”
But, despite these crowded
years of writing, broadcasting and
speaking, he modestly protests
the term “expert” when applied
to him. He claims that it Would
be presumptuous for anyone to ac
cept such a term in so vast a
field. Hence, Robert Aura Smith,
who regularly scans a major part
of the world’s news about the
Far East, has chosen his title as,
“Student, and let it go at that.”
Roads Are Bustin’
Out All Over As
Contracts Are Let
_ , 1947,
deals in part with his experiences
Pinehurst means to their during the war and the problem
There are thousands of India and Pakistan.
:ans -who know the name
village who do not know
ime of the capital of ■ our
Carolina. Out of a welter
)rts, ranging from sinful
imboyant Miami Beach, to
Bsperately promoted Sun
Pinehurst stands out
much as what it is. That
Mr. Smith has written a series
of public affairs broadcasts for
the Columbia Broadcasting Sys
tem, “This Living World;” acted
as political consultant to NBC on
their United Nations program; as
well as appearing on The Town
Meeting of the Air, The Peoples’
Platform, and dozens of other
Roads are bustin’ out all over
North Carolina.
The State Highway Commission
has a record-breaking 339 projects
under contract. This is the largest
number constructed simultane
ously in recent years. Last year
at the same time contractors were
working on 266 road jobs.
Of the total projects under con
tract 152 involve work under the
$200,000,000 secondary road pro
gram. That program will reach
peak operational capacity this
summer.
Since January the Commission
has let to contract an average of
56 projects per month. In Febru
ary it inaugurated a policy of
monthly double lettings. These
will continue until the major por
tion of the 1950 paving season
projects are out. of the way.
W. H. Rogers, Jr., State High
way engineer, says contractors’
prices’ have been generally good
this spring and competition brisk.
A slight falling off in competition
was noted in the second March
letting.
In addition to contract work,
the Commission uses its own con
struction forces for some second
ary road work, especially stabili
zation.
As of April 1 it had allocated
$41,125,000 of the first $50,000,000
of bond money to specific projects
and had actually extended, $16,-
250,000. Allocation of part of the
$75,000,000 second segment of
bond money has already begun
in some sections of the state.
BEST WISBIES
North Carolina Automobile Dealers
FOR YOUR
15th ANNUAL CONVENTION
To all of you we want to express
our most cordial and friendly
greetings. It is a privilege and
honor for us to be host to each of
you and we sincerely bid you
welcome to this fair city.
If there is anything we can do
to make your visit more pteas-
anty please be free to call on us
CHEVROLET
CADILLAC
Pinehurst Garage Co
Phone 4951
Pinehurst, % C,