Southein Pines
North Carolina
“In toV.iTig over The Pilot no changes are contemplated. We will try to keep this a good
paper. We will try to make a little money for all concerned. Where there seems to be an o^a-
sion to use our influence for the public good we will try to do it. And we will rea every
idike.”;—James Boyd, May 23, 1941.
Eventually-Why Not Now?
Toll-free or -‘extended area” telephone serv
ice between Southern Pines, Pinehurst and
Aberdeen would be, as we see it, a major step
forward in the development of the Sandhills.
The towns are literally growing together and
a good many telephone subscribers are now or
soon will be faced with the necessity to pay
a toll fee to call their neighbors, because they
live on the borderline of zones served by differ
ent phone companies or in different toll zpnes
of the same company.
Residents of one town or nearby area are
working more and more in another town. This
state of affairs has be'en greatly stepped up by
the expansion of Amerotron Corporation at
Aberdeen, whose executives, office personnel
and plant workers have homes throughout the
Sandhills. Residents of all the towns patronize
business establishments in all three of the
towns. And there are other important links in
the business and social interests of all three
communities.
Toll-free service, of course, would have to be
made possible by an increase in rates to make
up the loss in reVenue, but many more calls—
all for the business and social benefit of the
area—would probably be made if toll-free serv
ice were set up. *
United Telephone Company is ready and
wining to go ahead and put in its application
with the State Utilities Cpmmission to operate
toll-free service, if they are given a general
idea that the area is for it.
While rates for the new service would be set
by the Utilities Commission, these rates would .
be on the basis of figures submitted by the com
pany and the company has already deduced ten
tatively from their figures that the Southern
Pines-Pinehurst extended area service could
be provided for a $2 per month rate increase on
one-party business phones, at $1 increase on
one-party residence phones—lower on party
phones in each category.
It is common sense that a toll-free telephone
service between the three towns of this area is
bound to come some time in the future. The
United Telephone Company is preparing to put
in inter-city dialing and its officials say it will
be a great help to them in planning this work
if they can know soon whether toll-free service
equipment must also be installed. For. techni
cal reasons, this is important.
We urge th^ people cf the Sandhills to sup
port this toll-free service proposal and to speed
it along by letting the United Telephone Co.
know how they feel about it now.
Whether or not it becomes a reality—and how
soon—is almost entirely a matter of public
opinion. We trust that this opinion will be fav
orable and do not see how it can be otherwise
if vision and foresight are brought to bear upon
the proposal.
Looking Toward Airport Improvement
A broad hint that Moore County had better
begin to give thought to installing paved run
ways at the county-owned Knollwood airport
was given by the president of Piedmont Air
lines in his talk to three civic clubs here last
week.
Thomas H. Davis told how Piedmont is going
to get new and better airplanes of a different
type than it is now using. Then, in mpst diplo
matic language, he added:
“Paved runways will be much more of a re
quirement with the new planes we plan to get.” ■
We know that this hint was not lost on the
county and town officials present and we trust
that they will investigate what improvements at
the airport will be needed and how and when
they can best be carried out.
Mr. Davis revealed that Southern Pines is one
of the two qr three smallest communities in the
nation to have scheduled service. As such, we
probably do not need to feel woefully behind
the times that the airport is no better than it is.
Against the background of Piedmont’s assur
ance that it will do all that it can to improve
local air service—^the two main goals being
north-south connections and year-round flights
—it is doubly important that the airport com
mission ..and the county commissioners give
thought to what may have to be done to retain
the airport as a scheduled stop.
Homecomings Hold Their Popularity
It seems to be an accepted fact that people
generaUy are abandoning ‘‘old simple pleasures”
in favor of a faster-paced, more complicated,
more intense mode of living, yet it strikes us
that this is not the case in at least one kind of
old-fashioned activity—church homecomings or
ingatherings.
This is the season for these meetings, the best
known of which in this area was held at Old
Bethesda Church near Aberdeen recently, and
it appeals to us that they are becoming more,
not less, popular and that more and more
churches are having them each year.
Except that folks attending arrive in automo
biles, a church homecoming is probably the
least changed social function that we know.
Once the autos are parked underneath the trees.
Provocative Quaker Viewpoiut
The Society of Friends, with its absolute re
jection of violence and absolute commitment to
love as the guiding force in human affairs, is
making its voice increasingly heard. And it
seems to us, this voice is making more and
more sense.
The threat of nuclear weapons offers an ulti
mate in violence that must, it appears, be met
by something more powerful than violence. It
does not take the Quakers to tell us now that
the ultimate in violence means universal anni
hilation.
We are going to have to do some more think
ing before we can go along with the Quakers
on complete abandonment of militarism. If all
the world were composed of such highly sensi
tive, uncompromisingly committed and unswerv
ingly courageous persons as the Friends, per
haps we could throw away our guns. But that is
not the way it is.
Meantime, however, the Quakers are giving
us the benefit of some of the most provocative
thinking being done in the nation today—think
ing that is salutary regardless of one’s conviction
on the central question of the total rejection
of violence.
“Speak Truth To Power,” latest in a series of
booklets that present the Quaker view of the
world today, points out how steadily our moral
standards have been debased in the past 20
years by our acceptance of militarism:
“In 1936 the Italians bombed the Abyssinians,
and a sense of shock swept over an America
outraged by such barbarism. In 1940 came the
Nazi bombardment of Rotterdam and again we
cried out against wanton destruction and the
needless loss of Dutch lives. But this was war in
which our own interests and later our own men
were involved, and somewhere in between the
attack eh Rotterdam and the utterly unjusti
fiable destruction of Dresden four years later,
we experienced the utimate horror that there
they might just as well be teams and wagons.
The morning and afternoon services, separated
by “picnic dinner on the grounds,” are almost
unchanged from similar occasions held years
ago. It may even be that progress has helped
these events in that the automobile enables
more persons to attend and to come from great
er distances.
We are constantly told with such assurance
how much the world has changed, maybe we
are blinded to some of the ways in which it has
not changed. There is nothing new, but of a
certainty there is something very wonderful,
about these church homecomings. It is good to
see that they are gaining, not losing, the interest
and participation of people in these modem
times.
weapons.
This Is National Newspaper Week
Newspapers Wage Battle For ‘The Right To Know*
was no horror. Dresden perished almost unno
ticed, and we were ready for Hiroshima.”
The booklet reveals what a hold militarism
is getting on this nation. “Film series. . . are de
signed to prepare young people for conscription
and establish military points of view in the
minds of thirteen-year-olds. Shall we discover,
as Hitler did, that thirteen is also too late, and
that be must begin our drilling and shaping with
five-year-olds?”
The booklet quotes an Asian visitor to the
effect that the most important feeling in the
United States is hatred of the Russian totali
tarian system, but the most powerful process in
the United States is imitation of that system.
So the Friends say: “We believe therefore
that the commitment to violence inherent in oim
containment policy can only be carried out at
the expense of the very democracy we seek to
protect.”
The Quakers are sensible enough to see that
the best they, can hope for now is a growing
minority of persons who reject violence and live
by love at all levels of experience—personal,
community, national and international.
We do not pretend to present the full solution
as they see it. It is enough here to note that
their point of view, apparently remote and
idealistic, appears more and more realistic to
anyone with an open mind.
Regardless of how we feel about complete
rejection of violence as international policy of
the United States, the point that has an immedi
ate and pressing significance for us all is that
.acceptance of violence can mean, and i^as al
ready meant, increasing loss of freedom and de
basement of morality.
That is a process we can oppose all along the
line. For if we lose our freedom and our con
viction of the dignity and value of human life,
we have lost the battle before we use our
This is National Newspaper
Week. The Pilot joins other
newspapers in North Carolina
and across the nation in
drawing the public's attention
to the theme of this year's ob
servance: "Your Newspaper
Fights For Your Right To
Know." In the article below,
written especially for Nation
al Newspaper Week, Dr. Har
old Cross, author of the book.
"The People's Right To
Know," summarizes the
meaning of this theme for the
American people today.
“Let the voice of the people be intelligent exercise of the free-j to Know” headlines the ever-old,
the law.” So, in Latin and wisely, | doms of speech and of the press ever—new story of journalism’s
says an inscription on Missouri’s | guaranteed by the Fifth Amend-
Capitol. If the voice is to speak ^ment.
with the authority of knowledge. It is natural, then, that the
the people themselves must speak Uheme of this liberty always aris-
out more vigorously for their
es in discussion of newspaper
right to know and the “law” must
listen more intently to its master’s
voice.
The right to know by means of
access to public records and pro
ceedings is an attribute of the'obtain information
liberty guaranteed against wrong-1 opinion,
ful deprivation by the Fifth! So it is that the theme “Your
^Amendment. It is fundamental to Newspaper Fights for Your Right
jfunctions and responsibilities. The
freedom tire newspaperman wish
es and needs is not one restricted
to his own profession. What he
demands is the right of all men to
and share
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“Dear Dorothy Dix
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'SOUTHERN PINES—PLANS FOR ACTION'... (1)
Land Use Plan Determines Function Areas
(This is the first of several
reports on the recently issued
booklet, “Southern Pines—
Plans For Action.”)
During the spring of 1951 a
special Mayor’s Planning Commit
tee made a study of the town of
Southern Pines with the aid of
two graduate students from the
Department of City and Regional
Planning of the University of
North Carolina. This study exam
ined the possibilities of a com
prehensive planning program for
Southern Pines. The resulting re
port outlined a planning program
and offered some generalized
ideas for the future development
of the town.
In 1955 a second study was
made, again with the help of
graduate students from the Uni
versity of North Carolina, to in
vestigate conditions as they have
changed since 1951, and to formu
late a tentative land use plan in
more detail than that offered in
the first report.
The object of the report is to
present the results of the studies
made in 1955 and to outline the
tentative land use plan based on
these results. It is hoped that the
approach will serve as a guide to
ward the formulation of a long
range plan for Southern Pines.
The land use plan determines
fhe areas where the various func
tions of the city cem most effec
tively be carried out. It sets forth
where shopping districts, indus
trial areas, residential areas, rec
reation areas, and the like should
be located, and approximately
how much land would be needed
for each. The plan is based on
what is termed the “planning
period,” usually about twenty
years, and recommends the most
desirable pattern of land develop
ment during this period. An im
portant adjunct to the land use
plan is the thoroughfare plan,
which recommends
fqr the future. j
The land use plan is based on
the results of a wide range of
studies of conditions and trends
in the town. The most important
of these are the economic base.
Some Thoughts For
Newspaper Week
“A sign of a free government, a
free press is a primary source of
that government’s strength.”—
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
“The basis of our government
being the opinion of thq people,
the very first object should be to
keep that right. Were it left to me
to decide whether we would have
a governmnt without newspapers,
or newspapers without govern
ment, I should not hesitate a mo
ment to prefer the latter.”—
Thomas Jefferson.
“The country editor is more
than a journalist. . . he is an edu
cator. . .” —Roy E. Larson, presi
dent of Time, Inc.
“Newspapers should keep in
mind constantly that no people
have lost their liberties so long as
their press remained free.”—Gen
eral George C. Marshall.
‘Tt is probably inevitable that
errors should occasionally appear
in the papers. When the volume of
news covered every day is consid
ered, it is rather astonishing that
so little misinformation appears.”
—Allen B. Kline, American Farm
Bureau Federation.
“A newspaper is freedom
print.”—Samuel Adams.
in
“Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech or of the press;
or the right of the people peace
ably to assemble, and to petition
locations for I the government for a redress of
major and minor thoroughfares grievances.”—^Bill c-f Rights.
population, and land use studies.
Studies of the urban economy
provide a basis for estimating
growth in trade, services, and in
dustry. Studies of the size and
composition of the population by
the end of the planning period
provide the basis for the amount
of, space required for residential
use and community facilities.
Thus space needs are based up
on present and future business ac
tivity and population size and the
extent to which existing develop
ment should be expanded or mod
ified to accommodate estimated
growth and change. Future loca
tions for commercial, industrial,
residential, and recreation areas
take into account the present lo-
,cations of these uses, the har
monious relationships of each land
use to the others and the topo
graphic qualities of land required.
, This study of Southern Pines
has not been limited to the area
within the corporate limits. All of
the surrounding area which is
considered to be dependent on the
town, and into which the corpon-
ate limits may be extended in
the future has been included in
the planning area, and all studies
and estimates have been based on
this area.
It is hoped that the results of
this study will provide a basis for
local discussion and further de
velopment. The land use propo
sals need to be firmed up, and
modified On the basis of local re
view and more detailed studies
In the same way the major street
proposals need to be further re
fined on the basis of detailed
traffic surveys and analyses.
Periodic re-examination cf
economic, population, and land
development trends will need to
be made. Adjustments indicated
by these periodic checks will
perve to keep the plan as it is fin
ally developed up to date so that
changing conditions will continu
ously be reflected in the plan.
struggle in the cause and of legis
lative, judicial and official re
sponses. The story for this Na
tional Newspaper Week is one of
intensified efforts by all news
papermen and organizations and
of mixed good fortune and mis
fortune for the people.
Anti-secrecy statutes with
forceful impact on “closed meet
ings” and ‘‘executive sessions”
have been passed in California,
Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mary
land, South Dakota, Utah, Ohio
and Washington. Newspaper ad-
ivocacy was less fortunate in such
states as Kansas, Illinois and
Massachusetts. While the cause
thus gained on balance in the
states, it was losing ground at the
national level. Congressional
committees, in 1954, closed 41 per
cent of their proceeding as
against 34 per cent in 1953.
Newspapers saw the need to
combat a disquieting trend to
ward enforced secrecy in judicial
proceedings, especially in the con
troversial phase of news coverage
and photography. The most im
portant single event of the year
was the adverse ruling in New
York in the Jelke litigation that
the right of public trial is person
al to the accused and can not be
invoked by members of the pub
lic, including the press.
The impact of this was soften- tt
ed by recognition of the need for
press attendance to constitute a
“public trial” in the same court’s
simultaneous ruling that Jelke’s
right threto was violated by ex
clusion of the press during pre
sentation of the prosecution’s
case. It was dulled still more by
Ohio court decision that the
right is not personal to the accus
ed and that the people have the »
right to force court proceedings
out into the open.
The Ohio courts in another case
supported in a measure the view
of many members of Bench and
Bar that courtroom photography
ipso facto interferes with the ad
ministration of justice. They rul
ed that a court order barring pho
tography was a proper exercise of
judicial discretion and did not
abridge press freedom, that its Ql
violation constituted contempt of
court. Fortunately an increasing
number of judges, apparently
dubious of the poll-parroted
opinions adverse to photography
and seeking to ascertain the facts
of the matter, allowed photo
graphs to be taken and found that
decorum was not disturbed.
The campaign for freedom of
information, led by the organized ^
newspaper press of the nation,
faces the conflicting facts that
while the need for secrecy in mil
itary affairs is greater than ever
before, the dangers of secrecy and
^the need for knowledge have also
become greater than ever before.
In opposing extreme secrecy
proposals under the Department
;0f Defense directive of March 29,
1955 and the Office of Strategic
Information, set up in the Depart- tt"
ment of Commerce, J. R. Wiggins,
The Washington Post and Times
Herald, chairman of the Freedom
of Information Committee of the
American Society of Newspaper
Editors, said:
“The newspapers of this coun
try have cheerfully consented to
an orderly, carefully defined, vol
untary censorship in two wars. I
am sure they will continue to co- ^
operate voluntarily in safeguard
ing classified information involv
ing the country’s military securi--
ty. I am equally certain that they*
will not join in a conspiracy, with
this or ahy other administration,
to withhold from the American
people non-classified information
which citizens need in order to
make sound judgments on nation
al policy.”
He ended by quoting Thomas n
Jeffersou: “Your fellow citizens
think they have a right to lull
information, in a case of such
great concernment to them. It is
their sweat which is to earn all
the expenses of the war, and their
blood which is to flow in expia
tion of the causes of it.”
The PILOT
Published Every Thursday by
' THE PILOT, Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Boyd Editor
C. Benedict News Editor
Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr.
C. G. Council Advertising
Mary Scott Newton Business
Bessie Cameron Smith Society
Composing Room
Lochamy McLean, Dixie B. Ray,
Michael Valen, Jasper Swearingen
9
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