K
Page TWO
Southern Pines
North Carolina
“In taking 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. Wherever 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. ==z=zi=
Abandonment: A Basic Social Problem
Increasing frequency of abandonment and
non-support cases in Moore County Record
er’s Court was noted recently on this page,
with the observation of court officials and
others close to the problem that reciprocal
agreements with other states about appre
hending and trying non-support defendants
had not been working out well.
Those who are most familiar with this situ
ation, it was noted, feel that use of regular ex
tradition procedures would on the average be
more effective in the cause of justice. But
there seems to be difficulty in obtaining coun
ty funds to send officers on trips to bring
such defendants back here for trial.
The point we want most to get across now
is that this problem is everybody’s business—
not oily as taxpayers who must foot the bill
for welfare payments to abandoned families
(or for officers’ trips to bring back irrespon
sible husbands), but also simply as citizens
who sho’-ild be concerned about whatever
flaw or lack or sickness it is in our society
that lies at the root of the matter.
For a man to abandon his wife and chil
dren—especially when he knows they are de
pendent on him for food, clothing and shelter
—apnears to be a violation of something fim-
damentrtl in human life. Indeed, it is funda
mental in almost all life, since the male of
many species of animals often shows much re
sponsibility in the care of his mate and their
young. And history tells us that the basic unit
in human society is the family, a primitive
organization from which spring the larger,
more meture and more complicated organiza
tions of tribal, then community and then na
tional life.
Brought down to these bedrock terms, the
very ordinary and now considered routine
legal charge, ‘‘abandonment and non-support”
a charge that is made almost every week in
Recorder’s Court at Carthage—reveals a
shocking breakdown in the social order, a dis
ruption of normal life that has wide reper
cussions throughout the community, in a va
riety of ways, and so should be a matter for
the thought and concern of all good citizens.
(Second in a series of editorials about the
abandonment and non-support problem.)
Fortune Tellers And The New Law
Itinerant fortune tellers who have been
operating in Moore County have felt the
pinch of the new licensing law that was en
acted fm this county by last year’s General
Assem.bly. They have been denied licenses
because they could not show residence of one
year here prior to application. For other for
tune tellers, however, the residence require
ment has been met, the fee of $200 paid and ■
they remain in business.
Regulation of fortune tellers is a confused
picture in this state. It is a matter for each
county to determine, either through its own
licensing laws or through a “local bill” pass
ed by the General Assembly.
In our opinion, it is not enough to charge a
high license fee and to require a year’s resi
dence and a record free from a felony con
viction (for that matter, in how many cases
could a fortune teller’s record really be
checked?). If we must have fortune tellers
among u.s, we think the fees they receive
from patrons should be regulated by law.
The difficulty of bringing unethical fortune
tellers to court is the heart of the matter.
When some ignorant person pays a fortune
teller large amounts of money voluntarily,
usually no law has been broken. Often, for
this money, nothing is promised, so fraud
does not exist. Persons who hand over large
amounts of money to fortune tellers also hesi
tate to make a legal complaint, through fear,
ignorance, superstition or other such reason.
We must now wait and see how the new
Moore County law works out in practice. Will
there bo, as the county has experienced in
the past, spectacular cases of extracting
'money, legally or illegally, from' patrons? Law
enforcement officers and all citizens must be
alert for signs of such developments. Any one
who is duped snould not hesitate to go to the
police. The burden of proof of good citizen
ship is now on the fortune tellers themselves.
Ingenious Aid-To-Education Proposal
Speaking in New York Monday, after his
inauguration as chairman of the National Cit
izens Council for Better, Schools, Robert’ Hel
ler—a Cleveland management consultant—
advanced an ingenious plan to make possible
Federal aid to schools without Federal inter
ference with local control.
He suggested that taxpayers be permitted
to deduct state and local school taxes on their
Federal income tax returns. It was pointed
out that this proposal would primarily bene
fit taxpayers in the lower income brackets.
The National , Citizens Council for Better
Schools, whose monthly newspaper comes to
this office regularly—though we don’t know
how widely it is read by the public—is a non
profit organization founded in 1956 for school
im.provement over the njation. It is financed
by foundations and corporation grants.
'This proposal comes at a time when North
Carolina is giving more attention to educa
tion. as evidenced by the remarks of Gover
nor Hodges quoted on this page today. It has
been the Governor’s contention for some time
that more responsibility for schools, financial
and otherwise, mdy have to be shifted jfrom
the State to local communities. If such a plan
as that advanced by the Council’s chairman
should be put into effect, this trend, of course,
would be greatly encouraged.
This Heller oian is a fascinating suggestion.
It would: 1) provide for an expression of fed
eral concern on the problem of education; 2)
preserve the traditional right of local deci
sion: 3) provide a means lor greater financial
assistance to less wealthy areas; 4) offer a
means of taking full advantage of increasing
individual willingness to be taxed for educa
tion.
There may be some serious drawback to
this tax deduction plan for federal aid to edu
cation but for the life of us we can’t see what
it is. Mr. Heller seems to have hit on one of
those ideas that astound one not only with
their simplicity but with the fact that no
body ha,s thought of it before.
Honoring Carl Sandburg
Here in the Sandhills, we are not so close
to the Flat Rock home of Carl Sandburg, poet
and biographer of Lincoln, as are residents of
the upper Piedmont and mountain counties—
but we join other newspapers and individuals
of the State in paying tribute to this man wha
has made North Carolina his home and base
of operations for the past decade and who has
just marked his 80th birthday.
We go along with Henry Belk of Goldsboro
in his recent suggestion that there ought to
be a Carl Sandburg Day in North Carolina.
Mr. Belk thinks such a day should center at
the University of North Carolina and “upon
that day all Tar Heels who have been touch
ed and lifted by the poetry of the prairie
town boy should have a chance to show their
appreciation.”
Chapel Hill is okay (you see, when you
mention Sandburg, you start to write and
think in the American language). We have ,a
memory of Sandburg in Chapel Hill address
ing the graduating class of 1942, weaving his
magic patterns of words even in a type of
speech where stuffiness is a pervading char
acteristic.
It was in the open air and the poet, ad
dressing young men who were soon to change
from cap and gown into uniforms, created, in
that early year of the war, such an atmos
phere cf both foreboding and faith, of stress
and calm confidence, that Tor the first time
the full meaning of the conflict—^its meaning
for youth, especially—^was brought home to
our understanding.
‘‘Bouquets, Pshaw! YouVe Got \ (vun
To Fight CoTninunism”
H
7y
^ ^
V
l/,
GOVERNOR TELLS ACCOMPUSHMENTS, GOALS
State Seeking Better Education
After the ceremonies, in the warm evening,
we sought out Mr. Sandburg to satisfy a long
held ambition to shake his hand. With us
was a friend whose right hand had been cut
off at the wrist. When this friend was in
troduced, Mr. Sandburg, without a second’s
hesitation, put out his left hand instantly,
firmly and warmly, without batting an eye,
and apparently without even glancing at the
stump where the right hand should have
been. But he had seen and understood.
. What Mr. Sandburg said then was good,
too: “It was kind of you to .speak to me.” Thus
he put himself in the position of the one to
benefit by the encounter, further erasing any
embarrassment that the handicapped man
might have felt. So, in the instinctive reaction
of an instant, does greatness of heart and
spirit show itself.
On Carl Sandburg Day, if it should be held,
all the school children of the state should be
assembled in their respective buildings and,
for an hour or so, somebody should read from
those marvelous books: Smoke and Steel;
Slabs of the Sunburnt West; Good Morning,
America; The People, Yes.
Some of them—how many we don’t know,
but we’ll bet it’s more than you’d think—
would go out of those gatherings with their
first understanding of what poetry is: a magic
pattern of words creating the mystery of
beauty, and changing the world—trees, flow
ers, wind, water, sky, streets, buildings, ani
mals and most assuredly people—so that it is
never quite the same again.
Continuing our first-of-
yoar aUenlioit to the subject
of education, a subject which
is in the minds of man’y per
rons over the State amd na
tion. The Pilot quotes here
with from Gov. Luther H.
Hodges' recent television and
radio address, detailing some
of the things North Carolina
is doing or ought to do to im
prove education in this State:
It is readily apparent that a
great many more dollars will be
required in the years ahead
simply to maintain our present
educational standards, and to
provide the additional teachers
and classrooms for the thousands
of new pupils entering the pub
lic schools each year. This does
not take into account any im
proved or new program to raise
our educational standards and
performance. During the present
year, State expenditure per pu
pil for the nine-months’ school
term is $153. For each $1 increase
in per-pupil cost, the State puts
up to $1 million dollars.
We must also recognize that in
some respects, especially in clas-
room facilities, we are far short of
hieetirg present minimum needs.
A recent survey of school build
ing needs shows that several
schools are forced to operate
double shifts to take care of en
rollment and more than 36,000
children are now being taught in
improvised classrooms.
These are problems which must
be solved. But instead of talking
about them in Washington, D. C.,
we are trying to do something
about them' in North Carolina.
Loan Fund
A loan fund of approximately
$300,000 has been put into oper
ation for prospective teachers. A
practical industrial training pro
gram at high school level, to
’.noet modem needs, is being im
plemented with an appropriation
of $500,000. In 1957, salaries for
teachers were increased 15 per
cent, to make the average annual
pay for school teachers in North
Carolina $3,644.80 for the nine
months’ term.
With this increase, the aver
age teacher’s salary in North
Carolina is higher than the aver-'
age in the other Southeastern
states, with the exception of
Florida. Unfortunately, we still
rank far below the wealthier
states in the Nation in average
school teacher pay; but we must
keep in mind that North Carolina
ranks 44th in the Nation in per
capita income
Financing
The 1957 General Assembly
■wisely provided for the appoint
ment of a special study commit
tee to look into the entire prob
lem of public school financing.
This Committee will study the
resources we have available at
the State and local government
level to meet our public school
needs, in line with ability to pay.
It is my- sincere hope that the
Committee will have ready for
the 1959 Assembly a program
which will give our schools and
our teachers adequate financial
support and one which will re
ceive the wholehearted approval
of the people of tl^is State.
A further accomplishment in
our educational program in
volves the public school curricu
lum. I know that many of you
have, at times, had questions in
your o'wn mind as to whether
our schools have been giving the
proper em.phasis to the right sub
jects. And further,' should our
schools, particularly at the high
school level, afford more oppor
tunity to the specially talented
students to advance to their full
potential, rather than simply
meet the curriculum' standards
prescribed for the average stu
dent.
All of these questions will be
the subject of a special curricu
lum study made under the su
pervision of the State Board of
Education. This study is made
possible by a grant of $50,000
from the Richardson Foundation,
and is especially timely in view
of recent international develop
ments ^phasizing this Nation’s
relative ■weaknes in important
scientific areas. Many prominent
citizens are now telling us what
a few lonely prophets in the past
often said: that our public schools
should be places of more study
and more learning, and less play.
Ixioking briefly now at the
field of higher education, we
foresee an even greater percent
age increase in student enroll
ment than in ihe public schools.
V/e have nine State-supported
colleges, with the three-unit
Consolidated University occupy
ing a justly famed and beloved
role in the life and progres of our
Statq.
Growing Field
Under legislation enacted at
the last Session, the State will
give further financial assistance
and encouragement in the devel
opment of community colleges.
This is a growing field which
should interest the larger towns
and cities..
Further, the State has author
ized the establishment of a sec
ond Technical Institute iri the
State. This will furnish courses
in engineering and related sub
jects to meet modern demands.
The tremendous challenge and
opportunity confronting us in the
field of higher education make
ever more necesary the wise use
of our resources, proper appor
tionment of available funds, and
planning ahead with sound and
intelligent vision; and the Board
of Higher Education, working
with oiir fine colleges, will try
to achieve these goals.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1958
Grmns of Sand
Doornail Is Still Dead
It appears that others besides
GRAINS have puzzled over the
derivation and qjeaning of the '
phrase: “dead as a door-nail.”
J. Donald Adams, who writes the
grand page, “Speaking of Books,”
in the New York Times Sunday
Book Review, quotes a corres
pondent of his as follows:
“This correspondent volun
teered a little light on the pos
sible origin of the old saying,
‘dead as a door-nail.’ He points
out that door-nails were and are,
driven over their heads into the
door jamb, and the holes left by
the sunken heads filled with put--
ty to be fiainted over, thus leaving
no trace of any door-nail. He sug
gests that carpenters are more to
be relied upon in this matter than
grammarians.”
Mr. Adams quotes another
reader of his column as claiming
that one of the first uses of this
phrase is to be found in Shakes
peare’s “Henry IV,” (Part 2, Act
5, Sc. 3) where Falstaff exclaims
“What! Is the old king dead?”
and Pistol replies: “As nail in
door!”
But another reader found the
quote farther back than that, in
a poem dated 1350, about the
hunting of a deer. The poet
hunter writes:
It happened that I hitt hmy
Be-hynde the left sholdire.
Dede as a dornayle
Was he fallen.
That first rhan has a plausible
explanation. Still and all, we’re
not satisfied. “Dead as a door
nail” is an intriguing phrase.
'There must be more to it th"
that.
Comparison
Ike London, veteran Rocking
ham editor, makes an astute
comment in the Rockingham
Post-Dispatch which he edits:
“Back with Christmas in 1937,
we recorded no less than six chil
dren injured by firecrackers in
Hamlet. . . That is a good law,
banning firecrackrs now. But
just think of the ‘progress’ in the
last few years—^for instance,
we’ve outlawed firecrackers and
developed the hydrogen bomb.”
The Public
Speak inff
Expresses Appreciation
To The Editor:
Through your newspaper I
would like to thank the people of
Southern Pines for their support
in our Christmas mail appeal.
The contributions they sent en
abled The Salvation Army to
provide Christmas gifts at the
Veterans Hospitals, our Mountain
Mission and the Home and Hos
pital for Unwed Mothers, located
in Durham.
ROBERT ROSE
Divisional Commander
511 E. Morehead St.
Charlotte, N. C.
TO HELP MAKE 1958 HAPPY AND HEALTHY
Seven New Yearns Resolutions
"Women can play an important role in safeguarding the
health and hearts of their husbands in the year ahead, accord-
in,g to Dr. John B. Hickam of Duke, president of the North
Carolina Heart Association.
Pointing out that the family breadwinner is more vulner
able to heart disease. Dr. Hickam has suggested that wives
follow these seven New Year’s resolutions to help their hus
bands to a happy and healthy 1958:
“I resolve that in 1958; I will—
“1. Persuade my husband to stop worrying about ‘symp
toms’ which may or may not indicate heart disease, and to
clear away doubts by consulting a doctor;
“2. Serve food that will give proper nourishment without
adding excess weight, remembering that overweight over-
\YOFks th© h©&rt*
“3. See to it’that he gets plenty of rest, to ease the work
load on his heart;
“4. Encourage him to exercise regularly and moderately
so .that he can keep physically fit;
“5, Get him to agree to take an adequate vacation, to quit
going to the office on Sundays and holidays, ^d, if possible,
to stop him from bringing work home at nighf;
“6. Do all within my power to let him enjoy peace of
mind and to help him avoid tensions and anxieties; and
“7. I will set a good example by applying all these rules
to myself, maintaining the good health and good spirits that
are so vital to my job as homemaker.”
Jail Is Belter
A man who' some time ago
startled observers in Recorders
Court at Carthage by answering, ^
“Fifteen head at the last count ^
I made,” to the question, “How
many children do . you have?”
again exercised his originality
before Judge Rowe on Monday
of this week when he chose to re
main in jail rather than submit
to the problem of going home
and getting back to court Satur
day morning.
In jail for the previous week, ^
awaiting trial on a charge of be- "
ing drunk and threatening his
wife with a knife, the man pro
tested ignorance of why he had
been confined and innocence of
the charges. His wife was not in
court Monday, having previous
ly notified the clerk she could
not be there, requesting a con
tinuance of the case to Saturday.
Judge Rowe, perhaps because
ho, too, has raised a large fami- 0
ly—though not THAT large—
seemed to feel some sympathy
with the defendant’s predicament
as he faced nearly another week
in jail.
“All right,” said the judge,
“you go on home now and be
back here Saturday morning.”
Immediately the smiling de
fendant’s face fell. “But how can
I get back up here Saturday?” he v
asked plaintively. “No way to
travel. . . all that way. . .” His
voice faded off.
“Would you rather stay in jail
than go home?” inquired the
judge in a tone of .disbelief.
Again smiles: “Yes, sir. I like
it here. Yes, sir. I’ll stay.”
The PILOT ^
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT, Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Boyd Editor
C. Benedict Associate Editor
Vance Derby News Editor
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C. G. Council Advertising
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Bessie Cameron Smith .. Society
Composing Room
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Michael Valen, Jasper Swearingen
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