Newspapers / The Pilot (Southern Pines, … / July 9, 1959, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
c D Page TWO THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1959 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. Making Polio Shots More EJfective Public health officials continue to urge that burden. everyone under 40 get SaUc shots for immuni zation against polio, with the recently added recommendation by the U. S. surgeon general that persons in this age group who were first vaccinated with three shots, a year or more ago, now get a fourth, or booster, shot. As time goes by, statistics on polio shots become more revealing. The latest report from the U. S. Public Health Service, for instance, shows that the probability of contracting par alytic polio has been reduced on the average of 75 per cent for individuals who received the three shots, as compared with nonvaccin- ated persons. For some groups of children, the reduction in probability goes as high as 90 per cent, for those who have had three shots. Some thoughts about polio at this mid-sum mer period: We are gratified that the General Assembly has made Salk shots compulsory for children entering school this Fall and in years to come. This program assures eventual immunization of nearly 100 per cent of the population. Shots for children six years Old and under are available free from the Moore County Health Department. This fact should be brought to the attention of all persons for whom having their pre-school children vac cinated against polio would be a financial Vast Amount More Must Be Done “No private program and no public pol icy, in any section of our national life, can now escape from the compelling fact that if it is not framed with reference to the world, it is framed with perfect futility.” So wrote Henry L. Stimson, former U. S. Secretary of State, in 1947. Chester Bowles, former ambassador to India, recently used the quotation in a remarkable article about the American racial segregation problem, appear ing in The New Republic. In India when the Supreme Court school segregation decision of 1954 was announced, Mr. Bowles saw “how spectacularly American prestige rose.” . He reminds us again that two- thirds of the world’s people are colored. We MUST find a successful solution to our racial troubles. This is not only a Southern problem, Mr. Bowles points out: - “Almost any Northern community that honestly examines its own racial relations will realize how far it is from living up to its professed ideals. And ‘once we see what is missing in our own cities and states, we will be less inclined to feel that it is enough to de nounce the fool-hardy actions of white ex tremists south of the Mason-Dixon line.” Mr. Bowles recognizes the “demoralization” of the Negro (and of some white people, too) in many areas of the nation, because of sec ond-class citizenship and inferior schools, houses and jobs. More Stable Police Force Needed Riddle: why is a policeman like a school teacher? Answer: because both school teachers and policemen frequently resign from their posi tions “to enter private business.” Those are the words they usually use: “to enter private business.” Meaning: the job doesn’t pay enough to keep my family and me in the standard of liv ing to which we feel we are entitled. Southern Pines recently has lost both good school teachers and good police officers who resigned “to enter private business.” The teacher resignation problem has had much attention, even on a national scale. The police problem, less. The importance of a town’s getting good officers and holding them doesn’t make the headlines. It all comes back to money—money that is controlled, ultimately, by the public. If the public is willing to pay, a town can have and keep good teachers and it, can have and keep good officers. Experience and maturity rriean much with an officer, as with a teacher. The training problem is acute. A teacher goes through four years of col- A Personal Matter A substantial reduction in traffic deaths over the July 4 weekend, as compared with the appalling “record” toll during a similar period when the nation marked Memorial Day, is encouraging to all who are interested in highway safety. Yet we are faced with the fact that in the first four months of this year, 420 more peo ple died in traffic accidents than in the same period last year. Many Pilot readers soon wiU begin vacation trips by automobile. May we urge the utmost alertness to highway hazards and the utmost caution at the wheel? Safe driving is a per sonal matter. Nothing counts but what each driver does on the road. SMOOTHING THE WAY FOR OFFICIALS League Serves N. C. Municipalities In connection with the Health Department program, there is a regrettable situation: the State provides funds for free polio shots for children six years old and under, but none for children over six. We are informed by the Health Department that there is plenty of vac cine available, but clinics are not allowed to buy it for use on children over six. This, in effect, discourages the vaccination of children over six in families who feel they can’t afford to have the shots given by a physician. A relatively small proportion of the population would be affected by this sit uation—but still it is unfortunate that any child should be denied free polio shots. Finally, we urge parents not to ignore the basic health requirements that were widely recommended for prevention of polio, before the Salk shot era. Parents should realize that children can still contract polio, bven the par alytic variety. Still important are the old ad monitions: don’t let children become exhaust ed with summer play; avoid letting them get chilled, especially after hard exercise; and see that thepf observe all normal sanitary practices suCh as washing well before eating. We can all be thankful for the revolution in the polio situation caused by the Salk vacs- cine. Let’s be alert to making its use contin ually more effective. His conclusion: that the South and the whole nation must do “many more remedial things than integratiing schools.” And he wisely adds: “The New South that is now taking shape has no room for low and inhuman standards of Ufe for anyone, and in stead of using demoralization as an excuse for doing nothing about integration, it should cause the Southern moderate to insist that a vast amount more be done in a number of fields.” Ih other Words, Mr. Bowles is saying that, instead of opposing school segregation because of the high rate of ignorance, disease and crime in the Negro population, we should strive to get at and eliminate the causes of these social ills. Only then can the South ask the Negroes, the courts and the rest of the country to accept a realistic pace for school integration. We hope that the purport bf this fine article can be widely circulated in the South. Its arguments are not unknown—indeed, many persons Of good will thoughout the South are working, often with pitifully limited resources, to attack the basic problems to which Mr. Bowles refers. Only by showing definite progress in “do ing many more remedial things” than inte grating schools (on which things the success of the school integration program itself de pends) can the South and the nation reach beyond that “perfect futility” to which Mr. Stimson referred. lege, teaches a few years, acquires experience and ability and skill and then—resigns “to en ter private business.” That’s wasteful. Sad. We then have to turn our children over to an immature, inexperienced teacher. It’s the children who reflect the loss. A bright young man joins the police force and begins to acquire experience—and we think it takes at least as long as the four years a teacher spends in college to make a trained officer: longer than that to acquire' the re straint and good judgment, in a crisis, that are the mark bf a really competent officer. Then comes the sad day: he “enters private busi ness.” ! A new man comes in. The training begins again. It must take time. But so rapid is the turnover in many small-town police depart ments that a town has the benefit, for years at a time, of only a small percentage of train ed men on the force. In the average, peaceful small town, this situation may prove to be of no great signifi cance. In a crisis, an outbreak of violence, it could be. Then there is the point that a spirit of dissatisfaction among officers is reflected, if only in minor ways, in their dealings with the public. That’s true in any organization, but policemen are constantly in the public eye and people are quick' to criticize them. In the wake of several officers’ resignations here, we think the town council should ex amine its scale of police pay, despite the fact that it compares favorably with many other small towns, and concentrate on building up a police force that can' hold its men longer. Southern Pines has a good jolice depart ment: a good chief and a good, training pro gram which is undergoing further improve ment. Southern Pines is not a violent nor a corrupt town. It is a town where being an officer could be a rewarding career. We earnestly hope that a program can be worked out—not overnight. Of course, but in the next few years—that will result in a stable, well-trained and satisfied police force. In an editorial last week, we recognized the 25th anni versary of the North Csiro- lina League of Municipalities and paid tribute to the League's service to North Carolina towns and cities. We noted then that the League's work should be bet ter known to the thousands of Tarheels whose lives are directly or indirectly affected by its work. Here, then, is a brief summary of the League's history and func tions. All over North Carolina, as a re sult of local elections, hundreds of newly-elected officials have taken their places in town and city governments. Nearly all of them are new to municipal administration. All of them feel they can help make their communities better places in which to live. Those who have not had prior experience in the intricacies of municipal govern ment will find it a strange pro cess at first. Fortunately, the way is smoothed for them by the help that is avail able from the North Carolina League of Municipalities, in which 350 towns and cities are banded for the sole purpose of improving municipak government and services on every level. Reorganized, 1934 The League is now celebrating the 25th 'anniversary of its re organization in 1934 when it went on a full-time basis of help to North Carolina municipalities. It grew out of the North Carolina Municipal Association, which was formed in 1908. 'fhe Association operated on a part-time basis un til municipal business in North Carolina grew so big and complex that a full-time, strongly-staffed League became necessary. At the time of the reorganiza tion 25 years ago by those far sighted municipal officials who recognized municipal government as a growing and complex science, the League had 34 members. To day it has '350 member towns and cities, all of which have a dazz ling variety of services and a vast storehouse of information available to them simply for the asking from League headquarters in Raleigh. The League is rated throughout the country as one of the top State municipal associations in the nation. Its primary responsi bility is to see that urban resi dents of North Carolina get the best municipal government pos sible. Complex Matters It provides individual help to municipalities in such complex but necessary matters as traffic engineering and planning, codifi cation of ordinances, house num bering systems, finance, annexa tion and zoning. It maintains a purchasing ser vice, through its contact with State Prison Industries, for such municipal necessities as traffic signs, motor vehicle license tags, traffic paint, street-name signs, police record forms and other items. This central purchasing sys tem saves taxpayers’ money. It maintains a Legislative Ser vice, the only official voice of towns and cities before the Gen eral Assembly. This service has been responsible over the years for many benefits including, to mention one, the Powell Street Aid Bill. It keeps members abreast of aU State-wide legisla tion affepting municipalities in any way. It administers group hospital and life insurance plans for mu nicipal employees. It maintains a Municipal In quiry Service which answers daily by mail, telephone and per sonal consultation inquiries of of ficials throughout the state on every conceivable municipal prob lem. Also this Service keeps of ficials informed of current prob lems and their solutions. The League is the policy making agency of the town and cities, and it is through this Service that it is able to formulate state wide municipal policies which more often than not must be translated into legislation by the League’s Legislative Service. At the League’s biennial reg ional meetings thijjoughout the State, and at its annual conven tion, programs are designed to be of specific practical help to each category of municipal of ficials—mayors, governing board members, clerks, city managers,- attorneys, finance officers, direc tors of planning, public works superintendents and all the rest. Nationally recognized experts in municipal affairs are the speakers. ‘Those Guys Have Funny Ideas About Americanism — They Hit You From The Front” s. V- e JS «-O I If It’s Good For The Farmers, Why Not Good For All Of Us? (By Dave Morrah in the Greensboro Daily News) ■WTiat I have in mind is a writers’ surplus, parity and paper bank program. It will work as follows in my own case: I write 52 columns per year— one each Sunday—for this fine newspaper. I believe I could write, say, 96 columns, but there aren’t enough Sundays. Under my program, I would be declared a Sunday shortage area, and I. could dispose of the 44 columns to the government at 90 per cent of parity. I also write about 30 pieces a year for the Saturday Evening Post, but I could easily do 60. The Post, however, doesn’t want 60; it wants 30. This is clearly a case of surplus, rather than short age; thus, I would be declared a distress area and allowed to sell ' to the Office of Excess Humor for 90 per cent of parity at the Post, which is a dandy parity. Now, occasionally I run out of ideas and use in this column a piece I have done for the Post. In such'cases, which are rare, all I would claim is the differeneJe in parities, after being declared a mental drought area. The paper bank plan is the best of all. There are hundreds of magazines and newspapers for which I don’t write at all. I would be willing to continue this practice at a most reasonable rate. Of course. I’ll want to choose the publications I don’t write for. You won’t see me not writing for some cheap journal that ‘ prints on course paper, be- caus.e I want to maintain my rep utation. Then, too, if we’re going to save paper we might as well save the best. I’ll even not write a book once in a while. ‘We’re Not Gonna Be Stampeded” > A- kC0(*<iP Summer (From The New York Times) Summer begins this evening, on the charts at least; and after last week’s weather it’s high time. Farmers ' back in the hills say they never saw such June weath er. Who ever heard of having to wear a winter jacket while you were trying to make hay? And up in Vermont and New Hampshire they even had snow. Not even the Old Farmer’s Alfhanac foresaw that. But the “hot” full moon oc curred last night and the, summer solstice arrives tonight. July is just around the corner. From here on the daylight will grad ually begin to shorten again and in another month we will have lost almost half an hour to the darkness. It’s one of those peculia^-ities of nature that brings what we know as the height of summer at the time when the days begin to lean toward autumn. But the trees know the season, and so do most of the wild plants. They did their hurrying early, achieved most of their season’s growth, and put out their energy traps, those- green leaves, in time to' catch all the sunlight available. From now on their goal is maturity and in surance for the winter months. The birds know it, and the ani mals, who do their hatching and birthing for the most part before the solstice. Summer for them, too, is a time of maturing, of preparation for the days to come. So here comes summer, in the lexicon of man, signaled by a solstice that actually is a forecast of autumn. Summer, the ripen ing berry, the fledgling spreading its wings, the farmer’s hay in the mow. And the rest of .us wonder ing how it’s possible that the year is already almost half gone. 'What happened to spring? 'What hap pened to June, for that matter? EMPIRES IN CONFLICT • Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness; on the confines of two everlasting hostile empires, necessity and free will. —THOMAS CARLYLE Grains of Sand C-ynical One cynical response to news that the county commissioners plan to 'air-condition the court room: “Why don’t they just ask the lawyers to take off their coats?” Not So Simple Alas, it’s not that simple. ’There are not only lawyers, but de fendants, witnesses, spectators AND newspaper reporters. “Tell ’em all to take off their coats”—^probably that would be the cynic’s answer. Well, we’ve seen the court ses sion when they all did have their coats off—maybe not the jtidge —and brows continued to be mopped. Destiny The county commissioners must have been looking into the future, toward the possibility of air conditioning, when some years ago, . they put Venetian blinds on the courtroom windows but no screens on the outside. Subsequent summers may go down in history as the “6-12 Era” in Carthage. This name, of course, is derived from the sticks of in sect repellent passed around among the court officials, law yers, officers AND reporters, in order to make life bearable in the courtroom. So all we can figure out is that the commissioners were reason ing: why buy screens if we are going to air-condition the court room . five years from now? Good-bye to the 6-12 era! And we must add, it’s about timfe! Disadvantages Of course, there will be disad vantages to the new cool comfort in' the courtroom. Many’s the time, for instance^, when a pause to mop his brow has afforded a lawyer just those ex tra few seconds of time he need ed to muster choice words for his final argument in a case. We’ve a notion that lawyers like to mop their brows: an ex cess of perspiration indicates to a client that a lawyer is working extra hard in his behalf—literal ly sweating for him. It will take some effort to work up such ob vious fervor in a cool courtroom. Against A Rainy Day Dogs are surprisingly cautious people. At least some are. Our Tuffet, now, thinks of the mor row. You’d be surprised. Every morning we have break fast out on the perch, before it gets too hot. She joins us imme diately and watches each bite. We are implacably opposed to feeding her but after a while the thing is too much. We hand her Over a piece of our bacon. Does she eat it? Well she might be un able to resist the first piece with its delicious salty smell, but the second—yes, we give her a sec ond, AND third, AND fourth— she takes it, turns deliberately around and trots away, with “business” written all over her. She goes over to the edge of the woods, scratches furiously at the hard ground till she has made herself a hole, then buries the bacon. And swings quickly around with her nose all sandy, to race back for some more. And everything she gets, bacon or toast, goes into well-dug little holes all along the edge of the woods. And probably every squirrel on this hill-top sits watching her do it. We’ve never seen her dig the food up, but we have an awful fear that, come 1929 again, or the flood or the atom-bomb or what ever she’s expecting, she’s in for a terrible disappointment. Then there was that airedale we had, Bobby. We used to take him on picnics and everywhere we went he’d bury a bone. It was useless to tell him we’d prob ably never be in just that spot again: he was bound to store up something for the morrow. The PILOT Published Every Thursday by THE PILOT. Incorporated Southern Pines. North Caroling 1941—JAMES BOYD—1944 Subscription Rates: One Year $4. 6 mos. $2. 3 mos. $1 Katharine Boyd Editor C. Benedict Associate Editor Vance Derby News Editor Dan S. Ray Qen. Mgr. O. G. Council Advertising Mary Scott Newton Business Bessie Cameron Smith Society Composing Room Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen, Jas per Swearingen, Thomas Mattocks and James C. Morris. Entered at the Postoffice at South ern Pines, N. C., as second class mail matter. Member National Editorial Assn, and N. C. Press Assn.
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 9, 1959, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75