PAGE TWO
THE PILOT. Southern Pines. North Carolina
Grains of Sand
FRIDAY. JULY 30. 1954
Southern Pines
North Carolina
We will try to keep this a good
"In taking ova The Pilot no change! ^her. thete aeon, to be «i occ.
^0“S‘we wilTtSdo it. And we wlU »,.t everybody
paper
sion to use our
alike.”—James Boyd, May 23, 1941.
Society And Bad Actors
Sfo«rt!rwr.- bn. . na «..v sound
Sey “o“d do in a ntomen. ol criala. like pretty good aenae. _
i:: the lirat caae. last Decend.er, a n«n with ^th^ ,™ati»
m^rwi^ rdTiSd‘“had“Ld the .nan Who cone «-ie^with a swinging
three times at officers who were called to the
neighborhood by terrorized residents.
Last month’s case parallelled the December
incident to an amazing degree. A man with a
long record of offenses against the law was
threatening and abusing people in the area;
officers were called; and the man advanced on
blade? Also; what might have been done for
the other Carthage man whose attack on offi
cers resulted in his death and who had pre
viously been in a State mental institution for
only a short while and had been released?
Since the dawn of history, there have been
bad actors” among the human race, despite
the officers cursing and wielding a swinging the general efforts of people to be decent and
wL. Warning shots fired into the ground law-abiding. Once thought to be Possessed of
failed to stop him and he was then shot and demons and looked on as outcasts, sue p P
woundS,tit not killed, by an officer. He has now are considered a responsibility of society
now recovered and faces trial for assault with _all of us. Through the pressure of the Chris
«~P«n and raikUng ar™.. ti.n philosophy .nd thtongh sconUI.c studies
Botrol principals in the Carthage cases ol the workings ol the ».nd, Urey are no long-
were Negroes. As we ponder society’s responsi
bility for such persons—what might have been
and what can now be done for them—we think
also of Charles Gales, the Hoke County white
man who beat his wife to death with a gun
barrel in a cotton field while their three chil
dren looked on.
Gales is quoted at being disappointed at Gov
ernor Umstead’s action last week in commu
ting his death sentence to life in prison. Be
fore the commutation, the prisoner had declar
ed he hoped “they will send me to an institution
for my mind. If they can’t have anything done
for my mind, I would rather just go ahead and
be put to death because I would never be any
good to anyone in the condition I am in now.”
On another occasion he told a caller at his
death row cell; “I don’t want my case changed.
er considered beyond redemption.
North Carolina’s great program of expan
sion and improvement in mental institutions
offers hope, but there must be close cooperation
with physicians, public health workers, wel
fare workers, ministers and all of us to assure
that persons in need of mental treatment get
it before their illness breaks out in criminal
behavior.
There must be a new approach to mental ill
ness so that eventually such people as Charles
Gales will submit themselves for treatment as
willingly as they would go to a dentist for a
toothache—which might not be “willingly”
but at leas't’^would not be interminably de
ferred by the incorrect assumption that noth
ing can be done.
In prison. Gales chose death jf he could not
Sitaplia Gigantea
A rare cactus plant about
which The Pilot carried an item
about a year ago has been bloom
ing again st Howard’s Bakery.
Mrs. M. L. Howard didn’t know
a year ago what the name of her
unusual plant was or where the
species originated. Since then a
friend in Durham sent her a
newspaper photo and clipping
that solved the mystery—the
plant is Staplia Gigantea, a na
tive of South Africa. Its common
name is Giant Star Flower. The
type of plant is known as a
“succulent.”
The cactus has been blooming
again and has been on display at
the bakery. The two blooms on
the plant, 10 or 12 inches across,
are star shaped, their huge petals
creamy yellow striped with pur
plish-red. An interesting thing
about the flower, Mrs. Howard
says, is that the petals unfold
from a bud, stay out in star shape
about a day, then curl around
backwards, then unfold to star
shape and finally fold back to
bud form before the blossom dies.
If our camera is working all
right, we will have a picture of
the plant in The Pilot next week.
In A Hurry
From a report of a case in Lee
County Court, in which a man
was fined $100 for speeding 90
miles per hour near Sanford.
Upon questioning by Judge
Teague, the defendant said he
was a truck driver for a ware
house and that he had no reason
for speeding except that he was
going to Southern Pines.”
Aren’t we popular?
Fire Service
The new fire service law, under
which property owners outside
the city limits can get fire pro
tection by the Southern Pines de
partment only if they pay an
annual fire service charge, has
beeen the subject of much atten
tion recently.
Frank Kaylor, resident fireman
Tobacco Harvest Iri Full Swing Over Area
Harvesting of tobacco is in
full swing throughout this
area where the “golde^ leaf”
is the chief money crop.
Pictured here is H. W.
Doub, Aberdeen business
man, standing in one of the
finest non-irrigated fields of
tobacco in this section, part
of 17.3 acres on Mr. Doub’s
Deerfield Farm” five miles
out of Southern Pines in Up
per Hoke County.
Tenant families on the
farm, which has about 165
acres under cultivation, are
Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Atkins
and Mr. and Mrs. Wallace
Underwood.
Moore County Farm Agent
E H. Garrison, Jr., said this
week that a survey of crop
conditions throughout this
county shows tobacco in re
markably fine shape after re
cent rains. The crop was
threatened wfth serious dam
age as the result of prolonged
dry weather, but, said the
farm agent, “has come back
much better than we expect
ed.”
Moore County, Mr. Garri
son thinks, can look forward
to a “good average crop.”
The two Moore County to
bacco markets, Aberdeen and
Carthage, along with other
Sandhills Belt markets, San
ford, Ellerbe and Fuquay-
Varina, are due to open
Wednesday, August 25.
(Photo courtesy The Sand
hill Citizen, Aberdeen)
We Can't Turn Back The Clock
I will be better off to go to the gas chamber get mental help. Whose fault is it that he
because of the physical and mental shape I didn’t get such help long ago?
Tree Planting Along Highways
the future where trees could be planted as they
Withdrawal From UN On Red China
Issne W’ onld Disrupt Peace Effort
The Pilot will go along with Governor Um-
stead in his suggestion that the State plant
trees along the rights of way of major high
ways to help beautify the Tar Heel landscape.
Here and there around the nation, there will
be found reads along which some foresighted
person planted trees 50, 75, or even 100 years
ago. There is a special pleasure in driving on
such roads—although the foresight of the tree
planters usually did not extend beyond the
concept of horse and buggy traffic and nearly
everywhere that trees have been planted they
are now too close to the roadway. Many such
avenues of trees have been destroyed in order
to widen roads and rights of way in line with
modern traffic requirements.
Pines planted along highways in the Sand
hills only about 25 years ago—at the edge of
the right of way along the narrow two-lane
highways that were then thought the ultimate
in road building—have now become more a
liability than an asset. They are growing up un
now exist.
North Carolina already has a highway beau
tification program to which landscape experts
have been assigned—a fact we learned when
there was a ruckus hereabouts last year in con
nection with tree-trimming by power company
crews on Midland Road and elsewhere. We
were highly impressed by our conversation
with one of these gentlemen and were interest
ed to hear the extensive landscaping plans
that are being made for the broad rights of
way that border the newest highways.
The State, as we heard the story then, is con
centrating on low-growing trees and shrubs
which will beautify but not block a view be
yond the right of way—especially where a
pleasant view exists that can be seen fromi the
road. We presume the Governor’s suggestion
takes this policy into consideration.
It is very easy for a newspaper to take a
kick at outdoor bill-board advertising, since
both media are in competition for the adver-
der power and telephone lines and have had to Rising dollar, but The Pilot has long been on
be topped so drastically that they are deformed gg an advocate of highway beautifica-
and, in many cases, unsightly. Highway widen- including elimination of unsightly bill
ing means that many such rows of trees will boards and signs.
have to be removed altogether. rpjjg Governor specifically mentioned this as-
How a planting program now would affect pggt of his beautification program in his recent
highway conditions 25 or 50 years from now, statements. The newest highways, with their
By James P. Warburg
In The New York Times
The majority and minority
.■ j leaders in the United States Sen-
at the fire station and a member teaueis 111 V 2^
«.e sou^en. Pin.. adtS .0“. UnSd
for over 25 years now has to pay . advocate with
th. fir. «v Av.“ £ that nrganlaatlon.
hoi^e he owns on Manly Ave.,1 nonparti-
]ust out of the town linu . challenges Republicans
Setting an example for other Democrats alike to support
butside property owners Mn 1 repudiate a proposal which af-
Kaylor—who in his tune has l Ameri-
helped fight many a fire in and family. The following facts
out of town—has paid the charge, ^ depart-
we are informed. ’
The fire department was con-
suited and favored the new law
before it was adopted by the| strengthening of the United
At End Nations as a .universal organiza
^ have ..v,r ban .v.rly «on te pr.ajvatl™ of
only if it is found to have dis
qualified itself by aggression. Not
all of the non-Communist mem
ber-nations agree that such is the
such, is granted to Red China by
the majority in spite of our con
trary view, why should we deny
ourselves a benefit merely be-
case; some hold that Chinese in- cause we believe that it has been
we don’t know, but it would seem that the
State is safe in planting tree borders along new,
dual-lane highways where the extremely wide
right of way now considered essential has been
acquired and where the highway has been en
gineered to modern traffic standards.
There might be other less-used roads with
no apparent outlook for heavy traffic loads in
broad rights of way beyond which signs n^ust
be placed, take care automatically of nfuch
unsightly billboard advertising because the
edge of the right of way is so far from the road.
On reads with narrower rights of way, the
tree planting would undoubtedly help the bill
board situation by screening much of the avail
able sign area.
Grammar Ain’t Too Important
After reading an “essay on toads allegedly
written by Zebulon B. Vance, governor of
North Carolina in the momentous years, 1862-
’65, we are very graphically shown that spell
ing, punctuation and “correctness” are really
minor considerations in writing.
Recently dug up and republished in The
Smithfield Herald—one of the state’s best non-
d^ly newspapers, that comes to our desk each
week—the little one-paragraph essay has since
been reprinted here and there with admiring
comments.
First, the essay, supposedly the great man’s
first composition as a schoolboy;
You told me to tell what I knowed about
toads. Well, toads is like frogs, but more
dignity, and when you come to thing of it
frogs is wetter. The warts which toads is
noted for cant be cured, for they is cronick
but if I couldent get weU I’d stay in the
house. My grandfather knew a toad that^
some lady had trained till it was ],ike folks,
wen its master whissled it would come for
flies. They cetches ’em with their tong
which is some like a long red worm, but
more like litenin, only litening haint got no
gum onto it. The fli will be standing a rub
bing its hind legs together and a thinking
what a fine fat fli it is and the toad is sittin
some distance away like it was asleep.
While you see this fli as plane as you ever
see anything all at once it aint there—then
the toad looks up at you solum out Of his
eyes like he said. What become of that fli?
But you know he et it. That’s what I know
about toads.—Z. B. Vance .
If we could write as smoothly and naturally
as that, picturing what we were talking about
that effectively, we’d almost be willing to un
learn all the rules.
Commenting on the toads essay. The
Greensboro Daily News sagely points out that
such writing is not easy. A person has to come
by it naturally, through a touch of genius with
words and one’s thoughts, or it has to be care
fully and cleverly contrived to turn out simple
and powerful. •
In the Vance essay, you get a clear under
standing of the personality of the writer and
a wonderfully clear picture of what he is writ
ing about^the toad, the fly and their behavior.
The whole thing is real and human. Perhaps
the tonclusion could be that writing, like the
toad that came when its trainer whistled,
should be "like folks.”
sympathetic with the supposed
rule that a sentence should not
be ended with a preposition and
were pleased recently to run
across, a disquisition on this sub
ject in a letter to the Chapel Hill
Weekly from John P. McKnight,
a member of the staff of the
American Embassy at Rome, an
thor of “The Papacy” and a gen
tleman whomi we heard with
pleasure and intellectual profit
when he addressed Tar Heel
newspaper folks at the Press As
sociation Institute in Chapel HiU
last winter.
Mr. McKnight cites Fowler’s
“Modern English Usage” where
the preposition at the end busi
ness is called a “cherished super
stition” and where Jonson is quo
ted; “Prepositions follow some
times the nouns they are coupled
with.”
But most .amusing is Mr. Mc-
Knight’s effort in which—inspir
ed by a poem of Morris Bishop
that does something the smne
thing—he contrives to get eight
prepositions at the end of one
sentence.
Leading up to this feat, he in
voked an imaginary situation in
which a man is having some ex
cavation done under his house.
The opening to it is small and he
sends his small son down to in
spect the work, rather than go
himself. While the boy is down,
something falls off the roof and
the father takes alarm! and hol
lers for the boy to get out of
there. The boy who has seen and
heard nothing, calls back:
"Pop. what do you want me to
come on up out from down in
under tor?"
peace. The bloody sacrifices of
the Korean war were made to
preserve its authority in restrain
ing and punishing aggression.
In addition, the United States
has taken the lead in peeking to
forms within the framework of
the United Nations Charter a
coalition to halt the encroach
ment of Communist imperialism.
The United Nations is a univer
sal organization—not an anti-
Gommunist association. The
Soviet Union and some of its sat
ellites are members. One satellite
Czechoslovakia — joined as a
democracy and is now under a
Communist dictatorship which
came into power by means no
miore and no less legitimate than
those by which the Mao regime
seized power.
Basis for Membership
Red China can be denied mem
bership in the United Nations
tervention in Korea was pro
voked by McArthur’s march to
the Yalu; others feel that Red
China can qualify by agreeing to
just settlements in Korea and In
dochina. The decision is up to the
majority.
It is proposed that if we do not
like the majority decision we
should withdraw from the world
organization. The advocates of
this course are obviously aware
that Red China’s membership in
the United Nations would not
materially affect the balance of
power. (Even on the Security
Council—which is not at issue,
because the United States could
block Red China’s admission-
two Comm.unist vetoes would be
no more obstructive than one.)
Senators Knowland and John
son apparently have in mind two
objectives; To punish Red China
for aggression by denying it a
valuable privilege; and to keep
open the possibility of a Nation
alist reconquest of the Chinese
mainland.
undeservedly conferred upon an
other nation? This would be
childish behavior unworthy of a
great nation.
Core of Dissension
The primary motivation of the
Knowland-Johnson proposal is
apparently to keep open the pos
sibility of a Nationalist restora
tion. If so, it is high time that
this question be openly faced and
debated; for here lies the core of
the dissension which threatens
the anti-Communist coalition.
Our European allies recognize
that a balance of power in Asia
can be created only with the as
sistance of the presently uncom
mitted peoples and that their al
legiance will not be won so long
as the anti-Communist coalition
toys with the idea or restoring all
or any part of the past. Britain
has been slow, and France even
slower, to accept the fact that
only a graceful retreat of the col
onial powers and generous sup
port of Asian independence will
halt the tide of Communist im-
It is open to question whether European
T ^ .
membership is an advantageous
privilege or a renunciation of
self-interest entailing the as
sumption of burdensome obliga
tions. If it is a renunciation. Red
China’s acceptance of the re
straints and duties imposed by
the U. N. Charter would further
the interest of all nations desiring
to preserve peace. If membership
is deemed a privilege and.
McCarthy And The Senate
Give Us Time
Maxine Swalin told us a story
a while ago, illustrating the
moony sentiment musicians feel
for their favorite instruments.
It seems she and her husband.
Dr. Benjamin Swalin, director of
the state orchestra, were staying
in the same hotel, when on tour,
with the great cellist, Piatagorsky
The concert artist had a new cello,
with a huge tone about which he
was much excited. Betty Short,
viola player with the orchestra,
heard him playing it in his room
and crept in to listen. When he
stopped, she asked;:
“Mr. Piatagorsky, have you
tried the cello out in a big hall
yet?”
“Oh no,” said the ceUist, "Not
yet. We’re still on our honey-
(Frotn The Smithfield Herald)
Why is Senator McCarthy a
disgrace to the Senate and to
America?
He has persistently used the
great power granted him as a
means of ruining the reputations
of citizens with unfounded accu
sations. He has shown an utter
disregard for truth as he has em
ployed the “big lie” technique of
dictators to achieve his goals. He
has flouted the processes of dem
ocracy. He has sought to stamp
out dissent in America by
branding those who oppose his
ideas and his methods as traitors
to their country. He has sown
fear and suspicion and distrust
among the people ol the nation
activity that is indefensible any
time, but especially indefensible
any time, but especially indefen
sible in a time of international
moon.
n
Not the First
Recently, The Pilot said that
Miss Saradee Davis, who became
associated with Brownson Mem
orial Presbyterian Church July
1, is “the first full-time education
Southern Pines Church.”
We are reminded by an old-
timer that around 25 years ago,
during the pastorate of the Rev.
E. W. Seri at the Church of Wide
Fellowship, a Miss Ruth Sargent
was associated with that church
and not only was she an educa
tional director—although we
don’t think she was caUed such
at the time—^but she also enter
ed the pulpit and preached in the
absence of the pastor.
crisis.
If all this isn’t enough to qual
ify McCarthy as a disgraceful
senator, there is more to the case
against him. A Senate committee
has raised serious questions
about some irregular financial
operations engaged in by McCar
thy. But McCarthy, who insists
on punishment for those who re
fuse to answer questions he rais
es, gives no answers to the coin-
mittee which investigated his
own shady transactions.
Certainly, the Senate as well as
the voters of Wisconsin must ac-
ceept responsibility lor the Mc
Carthy abuses of legislative pow
er. The Senate is responsible for
safeguarding its own integrity
from those who debauch it. The
Senate is so responsible consti
tutionally and morally.
Certainly, the Senate should
pass the resolution offered by
Senator Flanders to censure Mc
Carthy.
More than that. The Senate
should do what Mr. Flanders
originally proposed (before the
political strategists of the Repub
lican Party toned him down). The
Senate should strip McCarthy of
his investigating committee
chairmanships.
More than that. The Senators
would be doing their duty under
the Constitution if they ousted
McCarthy from his Senate seat.
friends have been reluctant to re
linquish long-held possessions,
we have been even more reluc
tant to relinquish recently ac
quired miisconceptions. Among
these, the most dangerous and
the most stubbornly held is the
notion that we can turn back the
clock in China. If China is freed
from Communist dictatorship it
will not be by Chiang Kai-shek
or by foreign intervention. Our
allies know this; so do the
uncommitted peoples of India,
Burma, Ceylon and Indonesia.
If we follow the Knowland-
Johnson course we shall destroy
both of the structures we have
been trying to erect. We shall
undermine the United Nations as
once we undermined the League.
We shall wholly disrupt the anti-
Communist coalition in Europe
as well as in Asia. We shall iso
late ourselves in a world in wWch
isolationism has become an illu
sion. We shall put our nation on
record as believing in the demo
cratic process only so long as that
process is given its own willful
way.
The PILOT
Published Every Friday by
the pilot. Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
Katharine Boyd Editor
C. Benedict News Editor
Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr.
C. G. Coimcil Advertising
Mary Scott Newton Business
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Composing Room
Lochamy McLean, Dixie B. Ray,
Michael Valen, Jasper Swearingen
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