m
Page TWO
THURSDAY, JULY 7, 1960-
“Beware Of False Prophets”
ILOT
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.
The Press and the Primary Campaign
Attacks on the North Carolina press by I.
Beverly Lake during his unsuccessful cam
paign for the Democratic gubernatorial nom
ination have brough*^ the press and its func
tion—its purpose and its responsibilities—into
the spotlight. While some newspapers have
ignored these attacks, others, feeling they
were entirely undeserved, have taken the op
portunity to review their treatment of the can
didates in the campaign and to reaffirm the
press’s freedom in a democracy.
The North Carolina press was almost uni
formly against Lake in the second primary
campaign—a circumstance that should have
given him and his supporters cause to wonder
and worry about their campaign, we would
think. And apparently it did cause them to
worry—but instead of asking themselves what
it was in their program that so stirred up the
press against them, they lashed out at the
press, assuming that there was some sort of
conspiracy against Lake or that somehow
Terry Sanford had managed to intimidate the
dozens and dozens of daily and weekly news
paper editors into supporting him.
The press of North Carolina is remarkably
devoted to the health and well-being of the
state and has, as noted in a Pilot editorial
during the campaign “for many years helped
to shape, nourish and define the special char
acter of the state.”
This is a phenomenon that may or may not
be true in other states, but we feel that it is
especially characteristic of North Carolina.
This sense of The State is remarkably appar
ent, for instance, when newspaper folks from
Manteo to Murphy gather for their N. C. Press
Association conventions.
The plain fact, was that the vision of the
future, the ideals and aspirations (or rather,
the lack of vision, ideals and aspirations') that
Lake projected during his gloomy, race-con
scious campaign was in conflict with the
image of the state that Tarheel editors share
with such remarkable unanimity. So they op
posed the man they held responsible for this
threat.
On the state level. Lake held no regular
press conferences and Sanford did—s» natur
ally, Sanford appeared to ge getting more at
tention from the press.
This newspaper used all the news given it
of Lake activities in Moore County and this
area, yet so silent were the Lake supporters
that The Pilot had to obtain even some of the
major Lake news items of interest indirectly.
This newspaper printed a large number of
endorsements of the Sanford candidacy, from
leading citizens Of the county, and it would
have printed similar endorsements of the Lake
candidacy, but none was offered. It seemed al
most as though Lake supporters wanted to
keep their names out of the newspapers,
whereas many Sanford backers eagerly step
ped forward to endorse their candidate.
The very fact that Lake appeared to dis
trust the press and launched an attack on it
was a powerful ar.gument against his nomina
tion, in the minds of many observers who
have nothing to do with t.he newspaper busi
ness but who saw in this attitude a potential
authoritarianism that repelled them.
The people of North Carolina can be proud
of the part that the press took in the primary
cpmpaign. With few exceptions, the press pre
sented the news of the campaign and the posi
tions of the two candidates fairly and fully.
That an overwhelming proportion of the press
chose to support Sanford editorially does not
constitute bias. That was the way the editors
—who are as independent and honest as any
such group of editors anywhere in the nation
—saw the campaign. It was not they that the
Lake forces attacked, but the freedom which
is their constitutional right and privilege.
Air Pollution: Now’s the Time to Act
The fact that North Carolina is in an area
with relatively small air pollution problems is
an argument not for complacency but for
strong and effective action before such prob
lems do mount to serious proportions.
Some Tarheels were no doubt surprised to
read in a recent report by the State Board of
Health—made afeer a nine-months’ study—
that “air pollution is a matter of increasing
concern in North Carolina.”
The industrialization that North Carolina
seeks brings with it the threat of more air
pollution—though it must be pointed out that
a large proportion of the industries moving
into the state or being set up or expanded here
now use electricity as a major source of power.
This is, happily, true of almost all the indus
tries in this area.
Yet the report lists property damage and
vegetation damage from asphalt paving ma
terial plants, and threats to air purity in vary
ing degrees from smoke (industrial and mu
nicipal establishments), dust and smoke from
lumber and wood plants and odors and proper
ty damage from pulp and paper mills, as well
as complaint about open dumps and poorly
operated sewage disposal plants in several
cities. ^'
From the founding of the Sandhills as a
resort area more than a half century ago—
when the “ozone” of the pine-sbented air
hereabouts was credited with mir'aculous cur
ative properties—to the present when visitors
from smog-stricken areas still breathe deeply
and happily here, good air bias been one of
this area’s most valuable coimmodities.
Sandhills residents, therefore, should' make
f
every effort to defend and maintain the purity
of the air here and should support legislation
recommended by the State Board of Health
to prevent air pollution throughout North
Carolina. {
We should be thankful in this state that
we are spared the Almost insurmountable air
pollution problems that plague some areas of
the nation. Let’s 'lo all we can to make sure
these problems w'ill never arise in this state.
<
Moral Aspect of Traffic Aci^idents
'The order by a Catholic bishop in Louisiana,
denying Christian burial tq persons found
criminally negligent in highway accidents,
may be received with varying degrees of ap
proval by Catholics and non-Catholics—but
the action does serve to point out in a dra
matic way the moral factor in operating an
automobile.
Driving is such a commonplace action and
most drivers violate minor and major traffic
laws with such impunity that operation of an
automobile becomes dissociated from the re-
'Theatre in the Pines’
The organization or preliminary organiza
tion of the “Theatre in the Pines,” an amateur
community theatre group, has The Pilot’s best f
wishes.
It has been about 10 years since such
group was active nere, with the exception
shows like the auTiual “Scandals of the Sai
hills” at Pinehurst which uses amateur talfjnt
with professional direction..- Success -of hhe
“Scandals,” in fact, bodes well for the pro
posed Theatre in the Pines effort. /
The folks interested in the theatre aroup
will meet again, July 18, when further .‘plans
will be made. Mrs. Nancy Sfamey, the Rtaleigh
drama specialist v/hose visit here fori three
days under the summer recreation program
sparked and helped organize local /interest
in a community theatre, pointed out tchat such
a theatre would have special significance in a
resort area where it should prov* an added
attraction to winter visitors. f
Reports indicate plenty of taW;nt, interest
.organizing ability available. Y^ith commu-
_venture shoMdd not lack
(
sponsibility for'life and death that is civilized
man’s top iter^ in the moraMaw.
A person who would never walk down a
street poinlnng a loaded gun at each person
he passes jt^ll perform acts of equivalent irre-
sponsibiljfllj. on the highway and not relate
them to / any moral consideration. It is a rare
driver ^ho has never endangered the lives of
himselff and others by some action on the high-
way-^yet do any of us feel the shame and
guil/t, because of such actions, that we would
fegfl if we had threatened others with a gun
other weapon?
It is puzzling, but all the more striking, to
[the layman to note that the bishop’s order-
does not apply to persons involved in acci
dents which result in the death of others, but
only to those guilty of criminal negligence
in accidents in which they themselves die. In
the account of the order which we saw, this
was not explained. Of course, actions so neg
ligent that a driver is killed would, on the
open highway, almost automatically consti
tute a threat to other persons on the road.
The great number of one-car accidents and
the many such accidents that result in death
of the driver seem, to indicate that people have
even less feeling of moral responsibility when
driving alone than when driving with others.
Many such accidents, in fact, might well be
listed as suicides, so flagrant has been the
neglect of considerations of self-preservation.
It has been said over and over that moral
responsibility will be, in the end, the only ef
fective deterrent to traffic accidents, but
never has this point been made with such
conviction and effectiveness as in the Louisi
ana bishop’s order. No matter what we think
of the order, it should cause us all to ponder
deeply the moral issue involved.
I
Wmr'
A Dangerous Jeffersonian
By GERALD W. JOHNSON
The staid and decorous city of
Baltimore is not in a class with
Tokyo in the matter of uproarious
academicians, but at that it did
pretty well last week when the
learned Dr. H. Bentley Glass, of
the Johns Hopkins University,
took to the warpath. Oh, he didrn’l;
go rioting in the streets, noi. did
they have to subdue him with a
fire hose, but he s .artled the na
tives all right ^y-iVn an unexpurgat
ed opinion of that triumph of
Mulylutwi statecraft, the Ober law.
The Ober law is among the first
and among the most vicious of
that flood of hysterical enact
ments precipitated by the epidem
ic of McCarthyism of ten years
ago. It was a paternal effort on
the part of the Maryland legisla
ture to'" protect the United States
Government which, in the opinion
of the legislature, obviously lack
ed the wisdom and energy to take
care of itself. Eventually, as re
gards federal employes, an un
grateful Supreme Court slapped
down such efforts on the theory
that protection of the Union is the
business of Congress, not of the
solons at Annapolis; but it re
mains in force as far as the state’s
hired hands are concerned.
Hit the Ceiling
Dr. Glass is a biol-ogist who for
many years has specialized in the
study of the effects of radiation
on the human organism. In that
capacity he has been for a long
time an adviser to the Atomic
Energy Commission and a mem
ber of the National Academy of
Sciences committee on the genetic
effects of atomic radiation. Few
if any Americans know more than
Glass about the effects of radia
tion, so when the state decided
recently to set up a Radiation
Control Advisory Board, Gover-
He’ll Wave Back
(New York Herald-Tribune)
The sight of a dirt road leading
away from black asphalt is an
irresistible invitation to many
drivers and to many walkers too,
if many there still be. What scene
of hidden charm lies behind the
leaf-fringed curves winding away
into the back country? The slow
cruise of the car through the
trees, the whisper of the bumper
grazing the grasses of the tufted
uown, the brush of over-reaching
branches, the crunch of pebbles
—these are the sounds of peace
and solitude. The prospect ahead
is never distant; dirt roads do not
run straight.
Peace, solitude—and timeless
ness. If there are telephone poles
they are unnoticeable. This is the
real wayside once more, no bar
ren shoulders, no ugly signs, no
gas stations, none of the agitated
boredom of the modern highway.
The natural history books used to
speak of “wayside” flowers and
•■‘wayside” birds. Well, here they
are. And if you meet another
traveler, perhaps a boy coming
home from a country school, it is
quite proper and natural to wave
to him. He will wave back.
nor Tawes as a matter of course
appointed Dr. Glass as a member,
and Dr. Glass intended to accept.
But it appears that membership
on the board is an,o.iiice within
the meaning of the statute, so to
qualify each-, t.iember must take
an oath/ that he is not a spiritual
-heir of Judas Iscariot, Benedict
Arnold and Vidkung Quisling, and
when given that information the
Johns Hopkins scholar hit the
ceiling. If he had to take any such
insulting and ridiculous oath, said
Dr. Glass in effect, the Governor
could get himself another boy.
Triply Suspect
The wrath of Dr. Glass merely
as a gentleman and a scholar is
understandable, but it does sug
gest that he has spent so much
time in the laboratory that he is *
out of touch with what has been
going on in this country. By the
standards now prevailing in
American public life, he, far from
being above suspicion, is triply
suspect.
For he is by training a scientist,
by political affiliation a Democrat,
and by religious persuasion a Bap
tist. 'Well, a scientist is supposed
to know something, and in these
days anybody who knows any
thing is presumed to be highly
susceptible to Communist wiles.
Then we have the word of the
Heir Apparent for it that the
Democrats perpetrated twenty
years of treason; and wasn’t it the
Democrat, Wilson, who lost Russia
to the Communists in 1916? Fin
ally, the Baptists — or at least
the Southern Baptists, much the
larger group — are so violently
opposed to having their con
sciences bound that they will not
affiliate even with the Federal
Council of Churchds, let alone the
Eisenhower Administration.
Under the law as it stands in
Maryland a man who is learned
is suspected; a man who is learned
and liberal is indicted; and a man
who is learned, liberal, and inde-
The Public Speaking
Will Man Use the Atom
Selfishl'y or for Others?
To the Editor:
A complete new horizon of un
limited wideness has been open
ed to mankind by, the smallest
known particle of an element, the
atom. I have often wondered how
a particle of substance so small
is able to possess so much poten
tial energy; energy which may
make or break the very world on
which we reside.
How does man intend to use the
atom? Will he use it selfishly, for
the enrichment of his own mater
ial wealth during his short reign
on Earth? Or will he use it for
enriching the health and suste
nance of his fellow man, that he
may live in peace' and prosperity
with all? Let us hope that man
will overcome his selfish, sinful,
attitude and nourish instead of
demolish the goose who hatched
the golden egg, for we are merely
renting this home on which we
live, and it, nor anything in it, is
ours to destroy. But instead, as
did the man with five talents who
increased the five to ten, we
pendent is for all practical pur
poses convicted of being a Com
munist agent. In.theory he might
be acquitted if he coula ■'ge*'a ■■
panel of Ku Kluxers to testify
that he is one of their own; but
the Kluxers are certainly not go
ing to testify for such a man.
Patriotic Duty
To cap it all Dr. Glass convict
ed himself of being miles beyond
Communism. He said that if any
administration, duly elected, after
gaining power should proceed to
destroy civil liberty and substitute
intolerance and suppression as its
policy, “I shall regard it as my
highest patriotic duty to be sub
versive of the recognized consti
tutional government . . . and to
undertake to overthrow it by
whatever means are necessary in
order to restore our civil liber
ties.”
But this makes the ordinary
Communist look like an original
Nixon man. This is nothing short
of “hostility against every form
of tyranny over the mind of
man,” hostility to Khrushchev as
violent as hostility to Hitler. This
man isn’t a Communist, he is a
Jeffersonian, the one political type
that is more terrible than the
Gorgon’s head to Communist and
Fascist alike.
Oaths and Honesty
Oh, well. Governor Tawes un
doubtedly will find somebody
else to go on the Radiation Con
trol Advisory Board even under
the Ober law, for, as Dr. Glass
observed, “the loyal need no
oath; the disloyal will swear any
way.” They may not know any
thing about radiation; they may
not know anything about self-
respect; they may not know any
thing about loyalty '— but how
they can swear! And if oaths are
more important than honesty,
what more should you ask?
—Reprinted from The New
Republic. June 27.
Grains of Sand
In A Bad Way "
The nation, according to a
spokesman for the U. S. Chamber
of Commerce, is in a bad way.
Here’s how he described these
times, as quoted in The Chapel
Hill Weekly:
“It is an age characterized by
moral flabbiness, degenerate in
dulgence and rationalized dishon
esty, and countered by great hu-
manitarianism, great generosity
and deep desire for peace.”
There’s a combination for you!
Flabby humanitarians! Degener
ate pacifists! Dishonest philan
thropists!
Nice Touch
The speaker went on' says the
Weekly, “to cite the rise in crime,
juvenile delinquency, divorces,
abortions, suicides, insanity, bank
ruptcies, drunkenness, drug addic
tion and the use of tranquilizers.”
That’s a nice touch at the end
there—“the use of tranquilizers
...” Who wouldn’t want a tran
quilizer after hearing what he had
to say!
What tickles us is all this com
ing from the U. S. Chamber of
Commerce or rather from its “In
stitute Department,” whatever
that may be.
But then the U. S. Chamber of
Commerce never has been the
blue-sky and sunshine variety, as
most people picture local cham
bers of commerce.
Gloomy
It’s been gloomy all along. For
20 years of Democratic adminis
trations, while the nation contin
ued to grow more and more pros
perous, the U. S. Chamber of
Commerce was mumbling dire
warnings about government dom
ination of business, socialism and
so forth.
But where does all its new in
terest in morality fit in? There
seems to be no explanation but
plain frustration. The Chamber of
'Comn.or.ee spokesmen, whose
bread is buttered by big business,
can’t criticize the Eisenhower ad
ministration; their predictions
have all fallen flat; so now
they’re just cutting loose and call
ing us all a bunch of degenerates
—or, to soften the blow, generous
degenerates.
Backfired
The U. S. Chamber used to pic
ture the American people as rug
ged individualists who were be
ing corrupted by government
hand-outs, beaten senseless by
government regulations and
drained of their lifeblood by gov
ernment taxes. But degenerate—
never!
That line backfired and now
the Chamber is slashing out every
which way.
Please, gentlemen of the U. S.
C. of C.,^don’t tell us that those
millions of rugged Americans you
used to protect so valiantly have
now become soft and flabby, been
divorced, gone bankrupt, taken to
drugs or what have you.
Wouldn’t it be awful if there
weren’t any good, 100 per cent
Americans left for you to protect
any more?
Romance Is Dead
If you are a maiden harboring
an unrequited love, don’t have
yourself delivered to the door of
your dream-boat in a basket:
that’s the moral from an actual
occurrence in England recently.
All other methods failing. Miss
Theodora Eagleden, 31, spent 10
pounds for the basket and five
pounds for a van (truck) to be de
livered to the door of Gerry Bur
row, 37, her beloved.
That sort of thing is supposed
to inspire any male with one whit
of imagination and humor into
a declaration of affection, if not
a proposal of matrimony.
But all Gerry said was: ‘‘That
woman has really made me ill.”
Farewell, romance! Could a
story end worse than that?
should make the Earth yield forth
its best for the good of our Mas
ter, who said, “For inasmuch as
you have done it unto the least
of these, you have done it also un
to me.”
If all the money on the research
of the atom was put into the en
richment of man’s life instead of
the small portion being spent, the
rest being spent on a mad useless
race against never ending space
and time, mankind would be near
ing the horizon of perfectness,
which the Master intended in the
beginning. In a few years there
would be little or no disease and
the cost of living would be split
many times, thus enabling us to
feed the hungry, and 'care for
those who are unable to care for
themselves. With this we would
be able to set the example for the
entire world and win all of hu
manity for the Master.
Then, and only then, will we be
able to justly say, “Master, you
have given me five talents, be
hold, I return you twofold.”
RALPH C. HENDREN III
Southern Pines
The PILOT
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT, Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Boyd Editor
C. Benedict Associate Editor
Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr.
C. 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.
Subscription Rates:
One Year $4. 6 mos. $2. 3 mos. $1
Entered at the Postoffice at South
ern Pines, N. C., as second class
mail ihatter.
Member National Editorial Assn,
and N. C. Press Assn.