Page TWO
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1960
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.
As The Election Approaches
The Pilot is supporting the Democratic
Kennedy-Johnson ticket at the national
level and Terry Sanford for Governor of
North Carolina, along with the Democrat
ic ticket for all other state and county of
fices.
If there is one word on which the 1960
issues hinge, we would say that word is
“responsibility.”
In all of the appearances of Senator
Kennedy and of Vice-President Nixon
and in the many statements and speeches
made during their campaign, we have
been increasingly convinced that Ken
nedy is concerned with ideas, a bed-rock
and undeviating devotion to the welfare
of the United States, while Nixon, a man
with a history of contradictory loyalties
and fluctuating opinions, simply wants to
be elected President of the United States.
Of course, it’s not that simple, but it’s
on this matter of responsibility that the
paths of the two Presidential candidates,
which admittedly run parallel on many
phases of proposed government, turn in
opposite directions, allowing voters to
judge them as they walk alone. And, on
Tuesday, it’s up to the voters to choose
in which direction and under what type
of leadership, they want to proceed.
Responsibility is the key word, too, at
the state level.
Hundreds of thousands of voters chose
Terry Sanford as the Democratic party’s
candidate in the primaries and he repre
sents a party that for six decades has
given the state good and honest govern
ment.
The Republican candidate, Robert Gav
in, chosen by a small group of politicians
to be the standard bearer of a party that,
on its own, could not possibly come to
power, has recklessly attacked his oppo
nent and Democratic state officials while
welcoming the support of “conservatives”
of either party. We Qall this an irrespon
sible bid for power.
And, for the final word, how responsi
ble is a party which, like the Republicans,
cannot provide candidates for a full tick
et at either the state or county levels?
Their county ticket, for instance, lacks
candidates for judge, solicitor, one of five
county commissioners; two of five mem
bers of the county board of education;
and county surveyor.
If the Republicans, as a party, wish to
advance themselves as ready to govern'’
hiorth Carolina and Moore County, they
will have to do better than that.
A two-party system is one thing—and
a good thing—but campaigns that attempt
to rally the disaffected, the disloyal and
the dissident, in an attempt to slip into
power by whatever door is found un
locked—that’s another.
So, this preselection endorsement of
the Democratic tickets carries with it a
plea that Democrats remain loyal to
leaders who have proven their responsi
bility and who ask for no votes other
than those due them from people of their
own political faith.
Express Office Should Be Kept Here
The town council has done well to ap
prove and forward to the North'Carolina
Utilities Commission a resolution asking
the Railway Express Agency to withdraw
its request to close its office here, and ask
ing the Commission to deny any petition
for such a closing.
The Express Agency’s proposal is to
close the Southern Pines office and con
solidate it with the Aberdeen office.
No public announcement of this pro
posal has been made, but representatives
of the company have discussed the matter
with various business people in the com
munity.
The proposal was presented, we are
told, as an economy move on the part of
the company, in that the services of one
employee could be eliminated and that
the company owns its own office in Aber
deen but pays rent here. (This rent, by the
way, is said to be $15 per month.)
The fact that Aberdeen is a railway
junction (Seaboard, Aberdeen and Rock-
fish and Norfolk and Southern) was also
advanced, it is reported, as an argument
in favor of the move.
While we do not at this writing pretend
to know or understand the company’s
financial problems with the local office,
these arguments, on their face, seem
trivial compared with the loss of service
to this community that the move would
entail. While it is understood that deliv
eries would be maintained in Southern
Pines, out of the Aberdeen office, that
in itself would seem an uneconomical
move by the company, entailing much
more transportation expense. Many per
sons who would send off packages or
pick them up, if the office were in South
ern Pines, would be unwilling to go to
Aberdeen for these purposes, or, if go
ing, would resent the time and trouble
involved.
The council’s resolution points out that
Southern Pines is the county’s largest
town and that industrial activity and
population here are growing. If this
trend continues^ and if the office were ta
move, the company might be faced with
the necessity to move it back here in a
few years, a situation that could present
even more complications.
The council has acted with the best in
terests of the town in mind.
Voter Interest At New High
sidered remarkable at the time. So it ap-
Newspapers are accustomed to urge
people to vote—often feeling that the ap
peal is futile in view of voter apathy—
but in Moore County this fall, it appears
that the folks don’t need much urging, if
the interest in registration can be taken
as a guide.
Some 2,000 new registrations were plac
ed on the books of the county’s 18 pre
cincts during the three-week period that
ended Saturday, more than 400 of them
in Southern Pines. This is, or is close to,
a record, for a year in which there was
no all-new re-registration.
Four years ago, for instance, in the
lively second Eisenhower-Stevenson com-
paign, the new registration increase
amounted to about 1,000. This was con-
‘Sincere Appreciation’
Why is there a shortage of teachers in
North Carolina?
A report just released by the Hartford
Cormty Board of Education at Bel Air,
Maryland, to Tar Heel colleges may give
one indication.
The report states that of the 50 new
, teachers employed this year by the Mary
land school system, 13 of them (26 per
cent) came from North Carolina colleges
and universities.
These 13 are graduates of Appalachian
State Teachers College, Catawba College,
Duke University, Greensboro College,
Guilford College, Meredith College, North
Carolina State and the University of
North Carolina.
Salary for beginning teachers in the
Bel Air, Md., system is $4,300 annually.
Maximum salary is $7,700.
Salary for beginning teachers in North
Carolina is $2,946. Maximum salary for
teachers is $4,556.
The Bel Air Board of Education in its
report expressed its “sincere apprecia
tion” to the colleges of North Carolina.
“Oh, Silent One Upon The Wall, Who’s The Fairest
Of Us Aiir
I
#0
vo
iAt-O CSS'S
KENNEDY. NOT NIXON. IS LEADER
* Evading The Real Task*
pears that the Kennedy-Nixon battle is
evoking keen voter interest in this
county.
Also indicative of voter interest is the
large number of absentee ballots process
ed by the Moore County board of elcteion
—over 300 by yesterday and more wait
ing attention.
We hope all the new voters and all
the old voters, too, turn out on election
day next Tuesday. The reasons why cit
izens of the United States should vote are
known to everybody from seventh grad
ers up. Anyone who has read the news
papers or listened to radio and TV in the
past few weeks knows them almost to
distraction, for the din that has been
made about voting.
But we don’t know a better subject to
make a noise about. We’re looking for
a record vote to be cast in Moore County
Tuesday.
Small Pools Hazardous
The drowning of a child in a 12-inch-
deep garden pool at Pinebluff points out
again the hazard of these simple installa
tions that all too frequently become
death traps for toddlers.
These pools seem harmless to adults
and they add to the charm and beauty of
a garden, but they should be protected
or fenced off in some way, in a neighbor
hood where there are little children.
Custom, and in many communities, law,
sees to it that private swimming pools are
fenced to prevent their unauthorized
and possibly dangerous use when there is
no' adult supervision there, but the pro
vision does not apply to smaller pools
which can be every bit as dangerous to
little children.
Persons who have such pools or con
template building them should use some
• method to eliminate the hazard they pose.
la a recent column, the na
tionally syndicated. news
analyst, Walter Lippmann,
voices a strong indictment of
Vice President Nixon and an
equally strong endorsement of
Senator Kennedy.
This column by Mr. Lipp-
mann—who is known for his
conservatism, probity and
vast experience in govern
mental matters—indicedes the ,
effectiveness of the Kennedy
campaign, as does also the
support for Kennedy an
nounced last week by the in
dependent and highly re
spected New York Times, Mr.
Lippmann's column follows:
Last Friday Mr. Nixon made a
speech at Beverly Hills on “The
Gravest Problem Confronting
America,” which is how to “win
the struggle for peace and free
dom.” But there is not one word
in the speech saying what Mr.
Nixon intends to do to win the
struggle. The whole spfeech is de
voted to describing the machin
ery by which Mr. Nixon hopes to
find out how to win the struggle.
The machinery consists of a
series of committees and confer
ences, and of two individuals, Mr.
Eisenhower and Mr. Lodge.
There is to be first of all a
committee in the Defense De
partment consisting of all the sec
retaries and the chiefs of staff
Vvho will tell him, presumably un
animously, , what he should do
about defense. No mention is
made of the fact that what the
defense establishment and the
country need most of all is not
another conference and more in
vestigation, but decisions by the
President, decisions about how
much to spend, decisions about
which of the services is to do
what. This proposal to sit back
and hope to be told by the secre
taries and the chiefs of staff is a
promise that we are going to have
more of the^ery same executive
passivity and weakness which we
aig now suffering from.
tite for committees and confer
ences, he would have a series of
regional conferences of all the
tree nations of Europe, Latin
America, Africa, and Asia. Their
task would be to strengthen the
Dnited Nations and the free na
tions “politically, economically,
socially, and militarily.”
Next, he would ask the NATO
states to strengthen NATO and to
coordinate and direct aid to the
under-developed countries.
Next, he would have a confer
ence of the heads of government
of the American republics.
Next, he would have a confer
ence with the heads of the new
African states.
Next, he would have a confer
ence with the heads of the Asian
states.
To make all this fruitful and
constructive and devastating to
our' adversaries, he and Mr. Lodge
would participate in all these con
ferences, and so, too, would Gov
ernor Rockefeller if he can find
the time.
device for postponing and evading
the real task of the President
which is to judge and to decide.
The oldest and most hackneyed
device of a weak government is
10 appoint a committee and call
a conference.
This disclosing speech confirms
the impression that has grown
stronger since the TV debates be
gan. It is that Mr. Nixon is an
indecisive man who lacks that
inner conviction and self-confi;
dence which are the mark of the
natural leader and governor of
men.
This is the way Mr. Nixon pro
poses to find out what his foreign
policies ought to be. It is a bad
way. For committees and confer
ences do not propose policy. At
best, they produce the proposals,
the issues, the choices, among
which the genuine executive
makes his decisions. It is highly
significant that never once does
Mr. Nixon face the fact that the
foieign policy of the United
Slates is formed by the decisions
of the President.
This extraordinary array of
committees and conferences is a
The Public Speaking
This has appeared most clearly
in the Quemoy-Matsu affair. Mr.
Nixon has exhibited a lack of
knowledge of the facts of a great
question of war and peace, about
which he is Supposed to have had
first hand knowledge. In the sec
ond debate he did not know what
the Eisenhower policy was, and
he had to be re-educated for the
third debate. This is most signifi
cant because it discloses such a
weak, infirm, inaccurate grasp of
a great issue.
The contrast with Mr. Kennedy
has become very sharp. It. has
been truly impressive to see the
precision of Mr. Kennedy’s mind,
his instinct for the crucial point,
his singular lack of demagoguery
and sloganeering, his intense con
cern and interest in the subject
itself, the stability and steadfast
ness of his nerves and his coolness
and his courage. And through it
all have transpired the recogniz
able marks of the man who, be
sides being highly trained, is a
natural leader, organizer, and
ruler of men.
This passivity pervades all the
rest of Mr. Nixon’s proposals. He
wants to have Mr. Lodge, not the
President himself, act as supreme
commander in all the non-mili
tary aspects of the cold war. Be
tween the President and the Sec
retary of State, between the
President and the Secretary of the
Treasury, there is to be Mr.
Lodge. He will have no legal au
thority whatsoever to conduct the
foreign policy of the United
States. This is a recipe for build
ing into the administration jeal
ousy and confusion.
Next Mr. Nixon would convene
an “extended meeting with per
haps a hundred men and women
lepresenting a cross section of
American life.”- This mass meet
ing would be supposed to review
and survey and assess the nation’s
foreign policy which, says Mr.
Nixon, “would have a significant
impact on the global struggle!”
Republican Party Too
Sacred To Be Criticized?
To the Editor:
The most sacrosanct organiza
tion in the country today is, with
out a doubt, the Republican Party.
Any attempt at honest criticism of
Republican policies is equated
Next, with an insatiable appe-
'OUR INDICTMENT'
“Let me make one thing clear:
Our indictment of this adminis
tration is not with a lack of loy
alty but with a lack of judgment;
not with an absence of good inten
tions, but with a failure of fore
sight. We do not charge that it is
responsible for all our difficulties
in the world.
“But we do hold it responsible
for failing to anticipate the tides
of change, for never moving with
enough speed, enough imagina
tion, and enough generosity of
spirit to conquer manageable
problems before they became un
manageable crises. . .
“In an age when decisions made
in Washington could mean life
or death for people everywhere,
there is growing apprehension
about the competence of Ameri
can leadership to deal with
crisis ...”
—^Adlai Stevenson
with treason, or at the very least
termed damaging to the national
welfare. An Administration too
scared to be criticised seems to be
exclusively Republican property
—I can remember that a favorite
Republican epithet during Roos
evelt’s Administrations was “that
madman in the White House,”
even after we were engaged in the
global conflict of World War 2.
Also, the Korean War was refer
red to by Republicans as “Tru
man’s War”—exactly the term ap
plied to that conflict by Moscow.
It was “catastrophic nonsense”
for Adlai Stevenson to suggest
suspension of nuclear tests, but
it was quite all right for Eisen
hower to adopt the proposal a
year or so later and present it as
his own.
While the present Administra
tion has referred to the Democrats
as the “spenders,” the fact re
mains that this Administration
has spent more of the taxpayer’s
money than any other Adminis
tration in history, and would have
spent more had not Democratic
Congresses pared almost ten bil
lion dollars from the President’s
budget requests.
How much more of this hypoc
risy can we stand?
RUSSELL E. POWELL
Southern Pines
Grains of Sand
You Don't Say!
Here is another 'gem of wisdom
comparable to last week’s quota
tion in this column, telling young
men how to fold handkerchiefs
—from the Division of Agricul
tural Information at State Col
lege: “The telephone is made, to
carry words spoken no louder
than in ordinary conversation—
so come a little closer to the
phone and don’t shout. Your lips
should be from one-half to one
inch away from the mouthpiece.
It’s just as important to speak di
rectly into, and close to the
mouthpiece of the telephone as it
is to keep the receiver close to
your ear. When you speak right
into the mouthpiece, there is no
need to shout or talk loudly. . .”
Again we ask: why should state
and federal taxes be spent to
write, mimeograph and distribute
such “hints to farm homemakers”
as this?
Noel! Noel!
Our ornery mood inspired by
the Division of Agricultural In
formation was not improved by a
release from that old joy-killer,
the National Safety Council.
“Don’t give your child a booby-
trap this Christmas!” snarls the
Council. “Some of the toys given
youngsters as Christmas gifts can
be lethal weapons. . .”
After reading about what might
happen if you give a five-year-
old a chemistry set and dire hints
involving “eye-threatening pieces
of metal,” we’ve just given up on
Christmas gifts for the kiddies.
It’s like the time, two or three
years ago, when we were starting
on a vacation just as a batch of
releases came in from the Safety
Council telling what terrible
things happen to vacationers—
boats turning over, campers fall
ing into the fire, fish-hooks catch
ing in the ears of people stand
ing behind you when you cast.
After that and a set. of releases
about how most crippling falls oc
cur in the home, we just stayed
in bed for two weeks. It was
awful.
Problem
For some time now, Americans ’
have been informed by the can
nier social scientists that the au
tomobile is no longer a status
symbol. In other words, driving
a big, shiny, new car doesn’t
prove that you’re a big shot as it
once did or was said to have done.
This has been worrying us:
what’s going to take the automo
bile’s place if the great tradition
of American snobbery is to be
preserved?
BATHROOMS, that’s What. It
says so right here in something
tiiat’s just come in: “Bathrooms
are becoming gayer and more in
teresting and some designers feel
that they have replaced the au
tomobile as a status symbol. . . In
some homes bathrooms are built
on a grand scale, decorated with
oil paintings, wood sculpture
etc. . .”
But how frustrating! The whole
world can see you riding around
in your automobile, but how are
you going to get people to see
your bathroom status, assuming
you go ahead and fix it all up
with paintings and sculpture?
Suppose somebody who you
feel really must be apprised of
your status comes to your house
and makes no move toward the
bathroom where the great revela
tion awaits him. Suppose he (or
she) just sits in the living room
and doesn’t ask to see the house
or anything. You could hardly
ask, “Wouldn’t you like to go to
the bathroom?”
On the other hand, you’d have
people who were curious about
your status coming to the house
]ust to try to get to the bathroom,
to see how you rated. They’d
hardly get in the house and they’d
ask you where the bathroom was.
That would be a nuisance, too.
No, no. Not bathrooms for stat
us. Anything but that.
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
Mary Evelyn de Nissoff Society
Composing Room
Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen, Jas
per Swearingen, Thomas Mattocks
and James C. Morris.
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