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Page TWO
THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1962
Southern Pines
ILOI
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. ,
Law: Safeguard of Liberty
The essential meaning of the whole
Mississippi nightmare during the past
week was succinctly stated by the Presi
dent in his dignified address to the nation
Sunday night:
. . Our nation is founded on the
principle that observance of the law is
the eternal safeguard of liberty—and de
finance of the law is the surest pa,th to
tyranny . . . Americans are free, in
short, to disagree with the law—but not
to disobey it. . . ”
That is the heart of the matter. That
is the noble guiding principle that was
challenged by the governor of Mississippi
in refusing to honor the rulings of federal
courts as to the admission of a Negro
student to the state university; the princi
ple that was trampled by the rioters on
the campus and in the town of Oxford;
and the principle grossly and dangerous
ly ignored by General Walker, the self-
appointed patriot who is now quite pro
perly undergoing mental examinations
to determine the condition of his sanity.
As we asked in these columns two
weeks ago: what in the world did Missis
sippi hope to do? It is utterly inconceiv
able that this nation could long harbor
and condone a pocket of lawlessness with
in the federal Union. The sequence of in
citation, violence, bloodshed and ultimate
failure of such a rebellion could have
been predicted by a child, from the out
set of the affair.
Hazards of Ridge Street
The owner of a much-valued pet cat
that was killed by one of two apparently
racing cars on N. Ridge St., called us
Tuesday to point out the frequency and
extreme hazard of speeding on this street
that is one of the main arteries leading
to and from the East Southern Pines
school buildings.
Another resident of Ridge St. reports
that a boy on a bicycle on Ridge was very
nearly hit recently by a car entering
from the downhill Orchard Road in
tersection where a “stop” sign on Orchard
is reportedly frequently ignored.
Several streets intersecting with Ridge
run into dead ends or private driveways
on the east side of Ridge, forcing an
automobile entering Ridge from a cross
street to turn left or right, giving it less
time to get out of the way of a speeder
on Ridge than if the cross-street car
could shoot straight ahead and get out
of the way in a hurry.
Enforcement of the speed laws on this
street, of course, is the province of the
police department and we feel certain
that, once the situation is brought to the
department’s attention, measures will be
taken to check the street, especially at the
places where offenses are worst: the north
end of the street from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m.
and the Orchard Road intersection.
We mention the matter here to alert
parents of school children of the Ridge
St. hazards which apparently include
both cars speeding on Ridge and cars
entering Ridge without stopping as in
dicated.
Words of caution are in order to chil
dren using this street to get to and from
school, either on foot or on bikes. Words
of warning likewise are in order to adults
who have been driving carelessly either
on Ridge or the intersecting streets.
They Can’t Seem To Learn
The brazenness and stupidity of some
traffic law violators never cease to shock
observers of the courts. Some drivers
can’t seem to learn to stay out of trouble,
no matter what penalties are threatened
or placed on them.
Second, third and even fourth of
fenses of drunken driving have all turn
ed up in courts of this county during the
past few months, with some of them
ending in prison sentences. We can under
stand how a person can get drunk re
peatedly, but not how he can get drunk
and then take to the roads, knowing that
he faces a fine up into the hundreds of
dollars or time in prison if he is caught.
Recently, in the local recorder’s court,
a young driver was in real trouble on
a hit and run charge and was also charged
with having no valid operator’s license,
careless and reckless driving, no registra
tion plate on his vehicle and no liability
insurance. But that’s not all: in February
of this year, in the same court, he had
been given a suspended three months’
sentence for (guess what!): no valid opera
tor’s permit, using an expired license
plate, having no liability insurance and.
foir dessert, so to speak, possession of 20
per cent wine with the seal broken.
On his recent appearance in court, he
was bound over to Superior Court for
trial on the hit and run charge and was
given eight months in prison for his
other offenses—a judgment none too
harsh under the circumstances.
The state’s “point system” has combed
numerous such drivers out of the traffic
melee and has sent the worst offenders
back to driving school to try to inject
some sense into their heads. Officers
watch especially for known previous of
fenders and do a commendable job in
calling the turn on them. In fact, we
marvel sometimes that chronic law-break
ers obviously so determined to flout the
law at all costs are rounded up as fre
quently and effectively as they are.
If there is any answer to the appalling
irresponsibility of some drivers, including
young drivers’ frequently tragic and
fatal impulse toward speeding, it is in
taking away more licenses and taking
them for lesser offenses, before offend
ers hit the big league of hit and run,
manslaughter and the rest.
Television or Running Water?
Some startling figures on living con
ditions in Moore County were revealed
at this week’s meeting of the county com
missioners in Carthage.
Census figures presented to the com
missioners by the county’s two home
economics agents showed., that:
About half of the 9,866 dwelling units
in Moore County don’t have complete
plumbing facilities.
About one-third have no inside toilet.
About one-quarter have no running
water.
One third of these dwelling units use
wood for heating fuel and nearly a quar
ter of them are without gas or electricity.
But:
Nearly three-quarters of the dwelling
units have television. More homes have
television than washing machines. Only
16.4 per cent of the homes lack automo
biles.
The Negro home agent told of seeing
a television in a home without running
water, where the family noted that it
had been given to them.
How much better it would have been,
the agent observed, if the donor of the TV
had given the family a water system!
Human nature, no doubt, was ever thus.
One can picture a cave man (or cave wo
man) more intent on a string of beads
than on a needed stone skinning knife. It
is a cold person, indeed, who cannot un
derstand with sympathy, if not logically
approve, this mentality, who cannot see
why .a TV’s gateway to entertainment,
music and other voices and other faces
can mean much to a lonely impoverished
^Thanlis, Loads!”
m
FOURTH GRADER'S FATHER CONFESSES
How Do The Birds Travel South?
rural household. Which of us can say that,
in the circumstances, we would not choose
TV over a water system?
Yet, steadily, all over the county, living
standards are improving. The Negro
home agent gave an impressive report on
how she tries to help low income rural
families spend their money wisely and
undertake improvements in living condi
tions that will make life not only easier
but pleasanter. (The goal for kitchens,
she explained, is “the four C’s—clean,
comfortable, convenient, cheerful.”) It can
be understood that in the bottom quarter
of the county’s families, reaching this
goal can be a meaningful achievement—
something like buying a Cadillac for
those in the top brackets.
Again it was brought out in this report
how important it could be to have a Negro
agricultural agent in Moore County—a
request that has been made to the com
missioners a number of times but has
always been turned down. Usually, the
Negro home economics agent noted, the
men of low income families control what
little money there is, and a woman agent
cannot as effectively explain needed farm
and home improvements to them as could
a male agent.
This statement was an eye-opener for
us and convinced us even more thorough
ly that a larger proportion of the federal,
state and county Agricultural Extension
Service funds should be spent in the
guidance and encouragement and practi
cal education of this lowest-income quar
ter of the county’s citizens, many of whom
live in rural areas.
By ROBERT WELLS
Willing from, Milwaukee in
The Christian Science Monitor
My daughter is no longer in
the fourth grade, so it’s all right
now to make this confession: I
really don’t know how the birds
get South.
The episode of the migrating
birds began simply enough.
Nancy announced that unless she
had exact details on how certain
species make their vacation
jaunts from Wisconsin to warmer
climates, her life would be ruin
ed. She would have to remain in
the fourth grade forever, which
would interfere with her ambi
tion to own a ranch and raise
mustangs.
I assumed the birds probably
flew, but this turned out not to
be a satisfactory answer. The as
signment called for specific in
formation. Did the ruby-nosed
pipsqueak travel in flocks or
alone? Did the yellow-throated
dowager eat seeds or hamburgers
on the way? And would the pur
ple-toed flycatcher accept insects
not approved by Duncan Hines?
The men who wrote the ency
clopedia apparently had given as
little thought to the migration de
tails as I had. The bird books
available in the house were con
cerned mainly with how you tell
a robin from a duck, and vice
versa, not how they travel. Even
the ultimate authority on contro
versial matters, my wife, was of
no help.
Inspiration
A child’s faith in her father, a
rather shaky commodity at best,
was at stake. Miss Alpenstock had
to have the answers by tomorrow.
Despair reigned. But then came
inspiration. If the men who wrote
the books didn’t know exactly
how birds get from Wisconsin to
Florida, maybe the teacher didn’t
either.
It was quite a migration we
staged that night. One bird—I
think it was the bobtailed flush,
although it may have been the
double-breasted grosbeak—left
Milwaukee promptly at 7:36 a. m.
each Oct. 18, traveling by way of
Route 41, skirting around the Illi
nois Tollway to save money.
It stopped first at an abandoned
cornfield in Triune, Tenn. Then,
refreshed and full of vigor, it
took wing for a cottonfield in
Alabama, from which it journey
ed to the outskirts of Kissimmee,
Fla., averaging 36.8 miles to the
gallon because of a strong tail
wind.
Some of the birds ate only
specified seeds—^the lesser sap-
sucker, for example, would touch
nothing but barley. Others pre
ferred boll weevils. Some flew in
flocks that darkened the sky. Oth
ers skittered along singly, hiding
in a bush if anyone looked at
them. The lapwinged introvert
was one of these and the account
of his tribulations when he blun
dered into the midst of the
Georgia Tech-Alabama football
game would have made a fine
novel.
By midnight, Nancy’s manu
script was full of facts never be
fore imagined by ornithologists.
Sk.3 had one last question: “Dad,
do you really know anything
about birds?”
“Do I know anything about
birds!” I said indignantly. “I know
things about birds even the birds
don’t know.”
“I guess it’s all right,” my daugh
ter said, doubtfully. “One more
year in the fourth grade may not
be so bad, after all.”
Doubts
’The next morning, doubts
arose; but it was too late to
change anything Suppose Miss
Alpenstock really had inside in
formation on the private life of
the ivory-billed crosshatch. Sup
pose she knew that the little fel
low didn’t really hitchhike rides
on southbound helicopters.
But the fears were needless.
The paper came back with a large
red “A” scrawled on top, and a
comment in Miss Alpenstock’s
firm hand.
“Very interesting,” she wrote.
It was an ambiguous statement
The Public Speaking
Crains of Sand
if I’ve ever heard one—and, be
ing married, I have. But Nancy
accepted it at its face value and
I kept my own counsel.
The months passed. We sur
vived questions calling for the
names of the men who rowed
Washington’s boat across the Del
aware; problems involving the
time spent by a man driving be
tween Paoli, Pa., and Ashtabula,
Ohio, at an average speed Of 83
miles an hour; the question of
how much interest a husband
would pay on a $63' time purchase
if he miss-sd the first seven pay
ments.
Confident
In the spring we graduated,
Nancy and I, to the fifth grade,
which would pose a new set of
problems. But we were confident.
After the migratory bird episode,
nothing a teacher could ever ask
would make us miss a stride.
And so it has all ended happi
ly. But once in a while, generally
about 3 a. m., I stare at the ceiling
and wonder: How do you suppose,
the cost of transportation being
what it is, those birds really do
get South?
To the Editor:
I have been asked on several
recent occasions, by both young
people and adults, about the pur
poses and goals of the newly
formed Teenage Democratic Club
in Moore County, and what one
might expect to gain by being a
member.
We are all politicians if we
vote, if we discuss politics with
our friends, if we contribute to a
party, or if we support a candi
date. Furthermore, this is more
than an opportunity; it is a duty
and a responsibility that we show
'All Mankind
. . . Minus One'
“If all mankind minus one,
were of one opinion, and only one
person were of the contrary opin
ion, mankind would be no more
justified in silencing that one
person, than he, if he had the
power, would be justified in si
lencing mankind. . .
“The peculiar evil of silencing
the expression of an opinion is
that it is robbing the human race;
posterity as well as the existing
generation; those who dissent
from the opinion, still more than
those who hold it.
“If the opinion is right, they are
deprived of the opportunity of
exchanging error for truth: if
wrong, they lose, what is almost
as great a benefit, the clearer
perception and livelier impres
sion of truth, produced by its col
lision with error.”
—JOHN STUART MILL
“On Liberty” (1859)
our beliefs and ideals through the
candidates and party we support,
and through the domestic and
foreign policies of government we
uphold. And yet, how many
people go to the polls today,
ignorant of the policies for which
their candidates stand; how many
people shirk the responsibility of
voting altogether; how many
people can tell you much more
than the names of the two parties
on whose shoulders rests the de
stiny of this country?
The “Teen-Dems” realize that
we need to know more about
politics and government in order
to fulfill our roles as citizens of
America, and that we need to
start now, as young people.
The Moore County chapter of
Teen-Dem Clubs has grown in
membership to over seventy
young people, from all over the
county. The club elects its own
officers, who conduct meetings
and plan programs. There should
be many opportunities to hear
well-known and well-informed
speakers. The club also provides
a way of getting to know other
high school students throughout
the county and state.
Young people who would like
to know more about their country
and its way of government, and
the responsibilities that go along
with citizenship, as well as to
make many new friends and as
sociates, are invited to join with
us. Inquire at your school or
write: Democrats, Box 324, Sou
thern Pines.
RALPH C. HENDREN
Chairman, 8th Congressional
District Teen-Dem Clubs
Southern Pines
AUTUMN
World, I cannot hold thee close
enough!
Thy woods, this autumn day,
that ache and sag
And all but cry with color . . .
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
"Singing Words"
A weekend in Chapel Hill al
ways means good talk. It may be
about music or plays, or the
Wilderness Bill, foundering in its
false amendments, or about capit
al punishment or the Congo trou
bles or the mess in Mississippi.
Whatever it’s about, it is always
to the point and sometimes it
gets somewhere.
Not always, though. In the
parlous complexity of these times,
conversation is apt to come to a
sudden stop. No one sees the way
ahead and few are ready to come ,
forward with suggestions. Then
perhaps, someone will sigh and
say: “We need a Lincoln; we
need someone who can speak with
the right words; someone with
a vision who can make it live.”
That was said this last weekend
in Chapel Hill, and someone spoke
up: “There’s only one man who
can fill that bill: Adlai Steven
son.”
The columnist of The New Re
public had that idea last week
and wrote a good piece about it.
We reprint below T.R.B’s urgent
words from the October 1 issue.
“The high point for us last week
was Adlai Stevenson’s comme
morative speech on the Emanci
pation Proclamation before the
Lincoln Memorial. It was Steven
son at the top of his form; it was
magnificent. In essence what he
said was that Lincoln, even in the
depth of the Civil War, never saw
opponents as all-bad, his own
side as all-good. He never stooped
to the cheap rhetoric of the
patriotic occasion! Consequently
he was, as Stevenson recalled,
accused of weakness, even of
treachery, because he could not
go along with the single-minded
jingoism of much of the propa
ganda of his day.
“What is it about Stevenson
that is so very special? It is, I
think, that most of us still yearn
for the American Dream (whether
we know it or not) and that
Stevenson can touch the chords
that evoke it. So many try and
fail! — self servers say the words
and make us want to retch; lesser
figures say them but lack the
richness, fervor and power.
“The man who writes songs for
a nation is more important than
nation is more important than
the man who writes laws; Steven
son does have that rare power of
uttering singing words.”
Effective Advertising
Dear GRAINS:
My little grandson, Tommie
Meadors, age 2, was looking at
last week’s Pilot when his eye
caught a restaurant advertise
ment picturing a meal on a plate
and he piped up with “Supper’s
ready!”
Cornelia Vann
Insult To Injury
It’s bad enough when a good
Democrat—or a good anyone else
—lands in the hospital with a
heart attack, but when our friend,
Roscoe Prince, was whipped off
to Moore Memorial this summer
and told the nature of his ail
ment, he got an extra shock.
“I’ve had a heart attack,” says
he to the doctor.
“Hum?” hummed the physician,
“You’ve had an Eisenhower cor
onary, Mr. Prince.”
“Oh-oh,” said the good Demo
crat. (Only he probably said
“Ouch!” by that time.)
So Good
Little Mary came in to her Ma,
after spending a good half hour
watching the men who were
working on the road in front of
the house.
“Ma,” said Mary, “those men
must be awfully good. They’re
always talking to God.”
The PILOT
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT, Incorporated
Southern Pines, Norfh Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Boyd
C. Benedict
Dan S. Ray
C. G. Council
Editor
Associate Editor
Gen. Mgr.
Advertising
Mary Scott Newton Business
Mary Evelyn de Nksoff Society
Composing Room
Dixie B. Ray. Michael Valen,
Thomas Mattocks, J. E. Pate, Sr.,
Charles, Weatherspoon and John
E, Lewis,
Subscription Rates
Moore County
One Year .l. $4.00
Outside Moore County
One Year $5.00
Second-class Postage paid at
Southern Pines, N. C.
Member National Editorial Assn,
and N. C. Press Assn.