Page Two
THE PILOT—Southern Pines. North Carolina
Friday, April 18. 1952
THE PILOT
Published Each Fridw
THE PILOT. INCORPORATED
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD. PubUsher—1944
KATHARINE BOYD Editor
VALERIE NICHOLSON Asst. Editor
OAN S. RAY General Manager
C. G. COUNCIL ■ Advertiamg
Subscription Rates:
One Year $4.00 6 Months $2.00 3 Months $1.00
Entered at the Postoffice at Southern Pines, N. C.,
as second class mail matter
Member National Editorial Association and
N. C. Press Association
“In taking over The Pilot no changes are con
templated. We will try to keep this a good paper.
We will try to make a little money for all con
cerned. Where there seems to be an occasion to
use our influence for the public good we will try
to do it. And we will treat everybody alike.”
—James Boyd, May 23, 1941.
Beauty Brings Them
It’s a pity that some of the people around
here who tend to turn up their noses at the idea
that trees and flowers and natiiral beauty in
general are important assets of this community
did not take in the Garden Club tour last week.
They would have been obliged to change their
minds. For they would have seen more than
400 people who had come to our town from
all over the state and beyond its borders for no
other reason than to enjoy some of its beauty
spots.
If they had gone on the tour they would
have seen lovely sights and heard much favor
able comment to make them proud of the at
tractiveness of this town, and they would have
seen in action our Southern Pines Garden Club.
Remembering what this organization has al
ready done in planting the school grounds and
other localities, they would have noted the fine
job of promotion accomplished in bringing so
many people here. The receipts from the tour
will doubtless go for further town beautifies^
tion.
It’s a pity that the doubters didn’t take a
look at the tour and even more that no member
of the town board or Chamber of Commerce
took this opportunity to give the women of this,
organization the compliment and encouragement
of their presence.
We submit that they deserve such recognition
and we include the many who worked so hard
at the Shaw House serving lunch to the visitors.
The whole thing was an outstanding success. It
proves that the beauty of our town is still one
of its most important assets and is proof, too,
that wc have, in the Garden Club and Shaw
House members, wotnen whose public-spirited
interest in their home town makes these groups
outstanding as citizen organizations.
North On East; South On West
In choosing Easter Monday to start the one
way traffic trial the town commissioners have
taken the bull right by the horns. Certainly if
the plan works now, when the town is as
crowded as it is likely to be this year, it will
continue to work as the seasonal visitors thin
out. Those who are pessimistic about the success
of the idea will have the full weight of all pos
sible difficulties right on their side from the
start, with police, townspeople and visitors all
leiarning together.
However, this newspaper is not on, the side of
the pessimists. We don’t see why it wont work
here just as well as it has worked elsewhere. We
think our people are just as quick to catch on
to something new as any other people and that
our town police force is entirely capable of
handling the situation. Furthermore, the fact
that the two one-ways of Broad Street are in
view of each other, separated only by the rail
road tracks, ought to make it easier. In most
towns, you have to drive around at least one
block before you can get going the other way;
here you only have to cross the tracks. And that
goes, too, for being able to park, reasonably
near the store you’re headed for.^
People have been divided on this plan, of
course. There has been a lot of discussion, most
of it, however, pretty good natured. There are
good sensible people on both sides of the ar
gument. The fact that this is announced as a
trial effort, with a three-month limit at which
time it will be decided whether or not the plan
is a good one, has reassured thoSe who are
opposed to it. That is certainly a very fair way
of doing it and we believe our people will re
spond in kind. Patience is called for, and tol
erance of each other and the other fellow; in
fact, restraint all ’round and, especially, a light
touch on the gas till we get used to things the
new way.
Gne-way is starting as this part of the paper
gets written; by the time our readers have it
in their hands, we’ll aU be rolling up East and
down West, for better or worse. We predict it
will be for better.
Stop! LoQk! Listen!
Our hat is off to Vice-President C. E. Bell
of the Seaboard Airlines’ public relatiqns office
for the courtesy of his reply to the letter of a
visitor in Southern Pines who complained bit
terly of the amount of whistling his railroad’s
trains carry on at night. As we read the ex
change of letters as reprinted in last week’s
PUot, we made up our mind that Mr. Bell is a
master practitioner of the slogan that the public
is always right.
As to the question at issue of the whistling
trains, we are moved W offer a few observa
tions, and if they happen to conform somewhat
to what Mr. Bell would like to have said and
didn’t, we imagine that will be all right, too.
So, with a bow in the vice-president’s direction,
here it is;
First of all let us say that we feel the utmost
sympathy for the disturbed sleeper: sleep is
certainly made difficult by the whistling, and
we agree that some people are probably kept
from coming here, or go away when they do
come, because of the noise, but let’s look at the
thing squarely. If you were the engineer of :
Diesel, weighing a good many tons, at the ham
mer end of a train of sixty, seventy, eighty cars,
weighing goodness knows how many more,
coming through a town where the busiest street
runs on both sides of the track with eight cross
ings, and where a considerable number of au
tomobile drivers make it a practice to pay no
attention at all to the signal lights, what would
you do? Would you whistle or wouldn’t you?
Add to that the fact that quite a few cars and
people here have been hit by trains, and the
answer is pretty plain: you’d whistle and you’d
whistle a lot.
We have seen cars cross the tracks in front
of an approaching train time and time again.
Ask any of the engineers and they will tell you
that they are constantly scared out of their
wits, corning through Southern Pines, by cars
darting out in front of them. And it happens at
night even more frequently, they say.
Now one reason for this is the old saw: famil
iarity breeds contempt; we get careless about
our trains. But there’s another one, and maybe
something could be done about it that would
help the situation. There are tiihes when a train
is dropping off cars and switching back and
forth and the red signal lights are going, and
yet you can cross in safety. So, those of us who
live here get in the habit of creeping up close
to the track to see if a train is really coming
or if its only an engine switching. Then, too
often, even if a train is coming we think we
can make it and we go on over. Perhaps if it
were possible for a switchman to disconnect
the signals at such times, it might get people out
of the way of this sneaking across.
There are, 'it seems to us, several things
M|r. Bell might well have pointed out and
courteously didn’t. And there’s another. We
have always felt that our town should carry
out its part of the bargain made with the rail
road when it promised to close the New York
avenue crossing it the road would install signals
at the other crossings. The road kept its promise
but Southern Pines did not. Incidentally, Mr.
Bell might also have pointed out that it would
reduce the whistling to have one less crossing,
a point also made in Mr. Ruggles’ letter.
We appreciate what the Seaboard Railroad
has done for this town. We think the way they
have cooperated in putting in signals, in fixing
up the station, in arranging to save our fine
shrubbery, and in helping to promote this sec
tion has meant a lot to us and we’re deeply
grateful. We feel sure, now, that the road will
do eveiytliing possible to abate the whistling,
but we know, too, that it will always put safety
ahead of comfort, as a railroad must. It has
already, of course, changed the tone of tife Die
sel whistles to make them much less objection
able though we do not minimize the nuisance
they still are as sleep-destroyers. However, if
a town builds itself along both sides of a busy
through railroad and then goes skittering back
and forth across the tracks regardless of signals,
we don’t see what the railroad can do except
whistle.
But there is something the town can do: it
can cultivate patience and restraint. If no
body ever crossed the track in the face of the
signal lights, the whistling would be unneces
sary. A little education in not taking chances,
and taking on our own shoulders a full share
of the blame for the whistling nuisance is clear
ly in order. It will be another hard job for our
already hard-pressed police force, but we would
like to see a few people pulled in for crossing
the tracks against the lights. Though we sup
pose the Law would have to jump over the train
to catch them.
It fell to our lot a couple of
weeks ago to phone in to the daily
papers a news story involving the
name Stevenson ... The phone
connection to the News and Ob
server at Raleigh was poor, and
the reporter at the state news desk
had difficulty getting the name
. . . Finally we gave up trying to
spell it and said firmly, “Steven
son—as in Adlai!” ... That solved
the problem promptly, and we
went on from there.
Speaking of Adlai, in whom we
are much interested (his local con
nections are too well known for
us to go into them here), we were
amused by a picture in last week’s
Life which showed Senator and
Mrs. Robert Kerr in their hotel
room in Omaha, Neb., as the pri
mary day closed bringing defeat
for Kerr and victory for Kefauver
in the presidential primary . . .
These two were the big contest
ants that day, the only ones named
(for Presidential nominee) on the
Democratic ballot . . . Mrs. Kerr*
is shown glancing dismally at a
newspaper . . . The paper’s big
headline concerned neither Kerr
nor Kefauver . . . But Governor
Stevenson of Illinois.
An odd happening in the Pilot
office last June has resulted in the
boosting of the school bus activ-
ties fund by $13.
Somebody left a canvas bank
bag in the office containing 26
silver half-dollars ... It was dur
ing the big rush for rooms and
apartments which took place
when maneuver preparations got
under way . . . Soldiers were in
and out of here all the time, hunt
ing housing information, grabbing
papers and scanning the ads, then
rushing for a telephone . . . When
the bag turned up we felt sure it
must belong to one of these men,
and that he would soon be back to
claim it.
Nobody came . . . We ran sev
eral stories about it in this col
umn and some classified ads . . .
Showed the bag to banker friends
and everybody else we felt might
identify it . . . A PX officer from
Fort Bragg heard about it and
came to see the bag, but said it
was not theirs.
We put it away in the safe . . .
And the other day decided those
were truly orphan dollars and a
good home should be found for
them ... The school bus fund was,
by general consensus, the best. . .
So the 26 half-dollars were turned
over to Supt. A. C. Dawson as the
most anonymous gift the fund
could possibly have.
In the Mailbag: “Dear Piloteers:
Each day I have hoped to drop in
at your office, to thank you for
the pleasure The Pilot has given
me this past year. Each day
something has prevented, so I en
close my check and Easter greet
ings to you all. Sincerely, Juli
ana F. Busbee<>, Steeds.” . . .
Thanks, dear Lady of Jugtown . .
We love having your renewal and
Easter greetings, but even nicer
would be that visit from you, so
please keep it in mind and come
when you cari ... It would make
us very happy!
DMVE CAREFULLY—SAVE A LIFE
The Public Speaking
LIKES BOOK REVIEWS
To the Pilot.
I want to extend my congratula
tions for the inspiring and refresh
ing book reviews by Constance J.
Foster.
May we have this interesting
section continued as a permanent
corner. Sincerely,
Pinebluff. ANN GRAHAM.
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
The fiddlers came to town Monday night; also
the guitarists, the banjo-pickers, and the buU-
fiddlers, not to mention mouthharp artists and,
for all we know, jug-blowers, virtuosi on the
saw, the triangle and other rare instru
ments. And did we say the drummers? Un
doubtedly the drummers were there.
This passel of musicians turned up and tuned
up at the Legion Hut and mighty sorry we were
that we couldn’t be there. We are told that
everyone had a fine time and there was a
mighty elaborate set of pigeon wings, sashays,
do-si-does, and swing-your-partners when the
folks cut loose.
One thing about the announcement intrigued
us and we wish we might have been there to
see how it came out. The entrance fees were
set down as: “Couples $1.25; Gents Sole $1.00”
and then, below, it said: “Ladies and Scholars
50 cents.”
We’ve given this considerable thought and we
are puzzled: how did they know? That is, how
did the one who took 'the money at the door
make up his mind? You could fix up an I. Q.
test for the Scholars, maybe, but how about
the Ladies? Ticklish business this. And why
that difference in price? Ladies might possibly
stomp and wear out the floor less than the rest,
though that wouldn’t be true of some we’ve
seen in action in a square dance figure, but the
Scholars, now: you can’t beat some of these
grinds for tearing things to pieces when school
is out.
Yes, we regret missing that Legion hi-de-ho
Monday nght, though it would have been
hard to decide whether to go in and cut capers
with the folks or stay outside the door and
watch them rassling with the Ladies and the
Scholars.
TRIBUTE TO HOOVER
To the Pilot:
I read with much interest the
report in your issue of April 11 of
my purchase of a home in South
ern Pines. In the past 45 years I
have travelled a great deed all
over the world, and I have found
nothing more to my liking than
the Sandhills of North Carolina
for permanent residence, with the
possible exception of the Karls-
bad-Marienbad region of Czecho
slovakia — now, unfortunately,
“out of bounds” for the Western
world.
Your report referred to my long
association with Former President
Hoover in the Department of
Commerce, and in some of his
many relief activities. Few Amer
icans know how much of his life
Mr. Hoover has given to humani
tarian work, and I would say
without hesitation that he is the
foremost humanitarian of the 20th
century. His outstanding attri
butes are humility and compas
sion.
I recall an incident in Lithua
nia in the winter of 1939-40 when
the Commission for Polish Relief,
the organization of which Mr.
Hoover had inspired, was aiding
destitute and homeless refugees
who had fled before the advanc
ing German army. A premature-
ly-old lady, in great distress, came
to my office one day to say, in
Polish, “God bless Mr. Hoover.
He saved my life 20 years ago
when I was a refugee in Eastern
Poland; now he is doing the same
for my children.”
Relief from the U.S.A. to this
woman, and to countless others in
Central and Eastern Europe, al
ways meant “Hoover Relief,” al
though as a matter of fact it was
never announced as such. By and
large, the people of the United
States seem to have little knowl
edge of Mr. Hoover’s manifold
and never-ending activities in the
humanitarian field, but I believe
he prefers to have it that way.
I had the pleasure of renewing
acquaintance with him in New
York only a week ago. Despite
his 70-odd years, and his daily toil
of 12-14 hours, he appeared to be
in excellent health and spirits,
though naturally somewhat de
pressed over the current Washing
ton scene and the international
outlook. He is now at work oh
the third volume of his Memoirs.
The first volume (covering the pe
riod 1874-1920) was published
about six months ago; the second
came out this month; and the
third volume, I understand, will
probably be ready for the pub
lisher by midsummer.
These Memoirs should be re
quired reading for every student
and adult in the United States.
Not since Abraham Lincoln has
any American had such a record
of honest hard work Eind accom-
ilishment to report. This world
would have been much poorer but
for Herbert Hoover, and, to me,
it is amazing that a people so
warm-hearted and generous as the
American appear to have been so
tardy in recognizing his greatness.
It would have been a complete
fantasy if Mr. Hoover had gone
down in history as the man who
happened to be at the helm when
the world-wide economic blizzard
struck in 1929, and it is interesting
to speculate on what might have
been the course of history if A1
Smith, a great politician, had de
feated Mr. Hoover for the Presi
dency in 1928, and then been suc
ceeded by Mr. Hoover in 1932. In
that event, in my humble opinion,
there would today have been no
Russian menace, no staggering na-
ional debt, no reckless squander
ing of public money, and no rub
ber dollar. Respectfully,
GILBERT REDFERN.
Pilot Commends
Student Effort
In Speeeh Contest
LaNeile Kirk won third place
for Southern Pines in the district
speaking competition of the World
Study high school group which
took place at Asheboro Saturday,
April 5. The coveted first place,
bringing a trip to New York and
the chance to compete in the na
tional contest, went to Ruth Rush
of Asheboro, with Martha Sue
Robinson Of Biscoe in second
place.
We note with pride this achieve
ment by one of bur students.
While it would have been fine to
have her come in first, we feel
she did extremely well. But be
yond that competitive matter lies
the real benefit not only to our
students but accruing to the com
munity through their participa
tion in this sort of study and con
test. LaNeile is surely right when
she says that individual under
standing and assumption of re
sponsibility is desperately needed
to implement the foreign policy
that will bring peace.
LaNeile enjoyed her trip to
Asheboro and was enthusiastic
in her praise of the wirmers.
“They were rqally wonderful,”
she said. “Their speeches were
splendid and their delivery
couldn’t have been better.” While
generously maintaining the su
periority of the winning speeches,
the local girl attributed part of
her own failure to the fact that
both winners spoke without pa
pers or notes, while she had read
her speech.
“They knew their speeches by
heart,” she said, “and spoke easi
ly and naturally. You couldn’t
help but be impressed.”
LaNeile won the local contest,
held at Vi^eaver Auditorium the
previ-ous week on the subject:
“Building World Peace; How to
Combat Communism.” After
listing the various steps this coun
try has taken to implement for
eign policy, from economic and
military angles, including the
pacts entered into through the
UN, LaNeile turned to commun
ism itself, describing how it pene
trates the minds of men, especial
ly the poor and discontented. She
spoke of the need of Asia and the
grave danger that communism
may gain a foothold there,
through its appeal to the under
privileged masses. “We must help
Asia,” she said, “to create for its
people a decent and hopeful life
that will keep them from turning
in desperation to the easy prom
ises of communism.”
In closing, the speaker stressed
the role of youth in being willing
to accept responsibility as future
citizens. “We, the youth in Amer
ica,” she said, “hold in Our hands
the hope of the world and the
fate of the coming years. Let’s
make that fate a strong union of
all the countries in the world
combined to promote an interna
tional peace and the, material
well-being of every human being,
as God would have it to be. Don’t
let this be a dream; let’s work to
gether to make it a reality.”
—KLB
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Golf,,.
Aberdeen, N. C.
on one of Donald Ross’ finest 18-hole creations
in the heartland of American golf.
Ride,..
through endless miles of scenic splendor in the
fabled Sandhills of North Carolina.
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ytlib Ipirtts Club
SOUTHERN PINES
where your hosts are the eosgroves