Page TWO
THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
ILOT
Southern Pines
North Carolina
“In taking over The Pilot no changes are csmtemplated. We will try to keep this a good
paper. We will try to make a little mone> tor all concerned. Wherever there seems to ^
an occasion to use our influence for the piblic good we will try to do it. And we will
treat everybody alike.” — James Boyd, May 1'.3, 1941.
A New Proposal
The proposal of the Mjoore County
board of education, that the county be
re-districted for election of a seven-man
board to head an all-county system of
schools, merits due consideration and
serious study at this time.
With five members elected from two
contiguous school districts each, one from
Southern Pines as the most populous
district and one as a member at large
from the county as a whole, the result
would be far more proportionate repr^
sentation of the more heavily populated,
lower end of the county.
Appointing and working with five-man
school committees in each of the 11 dis
tricts, the seven-man board would provide
an excellent 'measure of local control in
itself, and through extension, in the
committees. , „ t,-
Writing this before the Southern Pines-
Pinehurst merger meeting at the Armory
Tuesday night, we must say we feel
this is the best plan yet presented to
assure the fullest future development of
our schools. IVorked out by the county
board of education, it has the full en
dorsement of that board, which is ready
to support the necessary legislation.
It is possible, of course, that the
Armory meeting may produce a counter
plan of equal value, but we doubt it, as
the two city units, planning their own
consolidation apart from the county
system ,appear to us to be on a collision
course.
They are going to collide soon with the
firm objections, already expressed, of
the county commissioners to approve the
expenditure of tax funds for the con
struction of a second consolidated high
school, costing $1 million or more, in the
lower end of the county.
Funds have been voted and plans are
Worth Studying
moving ahead fast for the building of
the Area III high school for Aberdeen
and West End in the county system, and
these districts have invited Southern
Pines and Pinehurst to join the county
system and share this new facility with
them. While declining to do so, the two
city units have indicated they would be
happy to accept Aberdeen and West End
into their separate unit.
The county commissioners, informing
all three units that “We want you folks
to get together,” has set a second meeting
for discussion of ways to coMolidate the
four high schools in one building. They
have asked each of the interested boards
to come up with a proposal “either for
an all-city or all-county unit.”
As for the “all-city unit,” the county
board of education has set itself firmly
against weakening its system by such
secession, and we have reason to believe
the State Board of Education would
never approve such action either.
Nor will the State Board, we firmly
believe, ever approve the construction of
a second big high school for this area,
any more than the county commissioners
will appropriate capital outlay funds for
it
Those are some of the things with
which the city units are going to collide
on the way toward their merger, and we
believe it is time they appraised the situ
ation realistically.
We hope they will have some proposals
to offer August 18 which vdll open the
way to an agreement, and to which the
county commissioners—concerned with
the good of all the children, and fairness
to all the taxpayers — can profitably
listen. In the mteantime, we believe the
county board of education has taken a
giant step.
After a visit to Princeton, up in New
Jersey, it is just about impossible to
avoid commenting on the extraordinary
beauty of the town.
The town itself is lovely, beyond words,
it is, as always, the great beauty
of Princeton’s trees that make the old
town such a paradise.
Lining all the streets, the great elms
and oafe reach out over the asphalt to
form long, cool archways, their gnarled
trunks towering like the pillars in a
colonnade.
Quite evidently, Princetonians treas
ure their trees. They see that they are
carefully tended by experts and every
thing is done to keep them in good condi
tion. This includes protection from dam
age, from whatever source. We refer
especially to wires.
In Princeton the trees are not shaved
off or tuneled through for the passage of
electric or telephone wires. The wires are
put in big cables and rim through the
branches. As far as can be noticed, there
is practically no trimming at all.
Now: if Princeton can do this, why not
Southern Pines?
We have always claimed that Southern
Pines people cared as much about their
Why Can’t Southern Pines?
trees as Princetonians or anybody else.
We have always thought that Southern
Pines people are as one in considering
their trees and shrubbery to be a prime
factor in bringing people here to live. But
though a great many certainly do feel
this way and there is strong dislike and
grief over the constant heavy trimming
and disfiguring of the trees, it seems
doubtful that this feeling is getting over
to the authorities and those directly re
sponsible.
After all, and harking back: Princeton
has its great university, a host of leading
schools and institutions for special stud
ies, many great industries are in its
suburbs and its location is strategic in
the center of the Eastern economic com
plex. Yet, with all this, Princeton spends
much time and effort to win the cooper
ation of the utilities and thereby save its
trees. Princeton cherishes its trees as if
they were pure gold. As in a certain sense
they are.
Southern Pines has no college, alas, but
it has its trees. And they are just as fine
as those in Princeton. Or would be and
can be if they are given the same pro
tection.
Again we say: if Princeton can do it,
why can’t we?
Parks: A Priceless Asset
The dedication of the municipal swim
ming pool in West Southern Pines em
phasized the excellent playgroimd which
is its site, and which is being developed
as a real center for community recrea
tion.
We commend the town council, town
manager and citizens of West Southern
Pines for the cooperation which has pro
vided such a center. With the pool, tennis
courts and ball field, it still has wide
open spaces for numerous other acti vities.
Much of it is raw ground and there is
need for beautification, but this will un
doubtedly come in time.,
This gives rise to the thought—if the
Town should ever build a pool on the
east side, where would it be? The first
suggestion would, no doubt, be, “The
town park.” But then the whole move
ment would probably die a-borning, for
it is obvious that there just isn’t that
much room left on the town park, even
before the new fire station is built there,
as may soon be done.
The Town Park was never very large
to begin with, just one city block, and
the Milliken Building occupies one cor
ner of that. We decry none of the instal
lations and activities which are there—
the Mimicipal Building, four tennis courts
and small children’s playgrovmd. But
there is hardly any breathing space left
any more.
It is strange that Southern Pines, so
progressive in other ways, should have
been so backward through the years in
the matter of park space. We admit it
takes real foresight to put current tax
"TW KtUiM* O' THEM THREE AOITATORE AtH'T
NOTHIN' BUT JEST A HOAX.
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Our Compromise Alphabet Not Bad
There is a lot of yack these ed
days about how hard it is to
teach Johnny how to read—and
one of the reasons for the diffi
culty undoubtedly is the fact
that we do not use the twenty-
six letters of our alphabet phon
etically.
In other words a person who
learns to read English has to
learn the “special” sounds of let
ters in more than two thousand
different ways.
As the National Geographic
Magasane points out the sound
“I” has 22 different spellings in
such words as eye, aisle, buy by,
style, choir and island.
this new alphabet, quite prop
erly is a grandson of Sir Isaac
Ktman, who invented the phon
etic shorthand system which
bears his name. It employs the
basic phonetics of Sir Isaac.
Phonetics as a substitute for our
present hodge-podge spelling is
nothing new. It was advocated
years ago by an as eminent an
American as President Theodore
Koosevelt, who believed that
words should be spelled like they
sounded.
This is emphasized in an ar
ticle describing a new phonetic
alphabet which has been design
ed by an English educator to
help children learn to read mere
quickly. Instead of the 26 letters
in our present alphabet it con
tains 44 letters, each letter rep
resenting one basic sound. The
idea is that it is easier to teach
children an additional 18 letters
than to teach them two thousand
special sound-applications of 26
letters.
Incidentally the new alphabet
would be spelled “nu alfabet” in
the special system.
Sir James Pitman, who design-
And there are languages in
which every letter is pronounced
almost the same way in every
word, the most notable being
German.
Another is the Japanese kata-
kana, which undertakes to "jp-
resent each consonant-vowel syl
lable with an individual letter,
as an escape from the ideograpiic
kanji, inherited from the Cninese
and in which each world is rep
resented by a single ideographic
symbol, some of them very com
plicated. Thus the Japanese stu
dent to become complete literate
in kanjd must learn not 26 letters
as in English, or some 50 or 60
letters as in the katakana alpha
bet, but literally thousands of in
dividual ideographs
It is quite easy to understand
Rights Are Rights... That’s Right!
money into projects which might not be
badly needed for 20 years, but that is
about the only way these days that grow
ing towns can assvire themselves of
parks.
We will forever deplore the loss of the
Millen tract, five forested acres just two
blocks west of Broad Street off New York
avenue, which its owners gave to the
town as a park in 1928. If no public use
were made of it in 20 years, it would
revert to the owner. By 1948 not only
had the Town done nothing at all with
the property, but it had grown into an
unsightly and dangerous jimgle, a nuis
ance of which neighbors complained.
The fact that storm waters drained into
the central ravine was seen by the town
fathers as an obstacle too costly to sur
mount. State and district foresters visit
ing the spot declared it salvageable and
well worth the cost, for the beauty of
the woods and the number of recreation
sites which offered within them. They
said that parks in most towns were so
far out as to be almost inaccessible to
most of the population, and that any
town with a chance at park space so close
in had a treasure beyond price.
Mrs. Edmimd Millen rightly requested
the neglected acres back, and the Town
deeded them to her. Now is it just about
the most valuable land left close in, as
the town has grown, and the present
owner plans to subdivide and sell it for
house lots.
This particular opportunity will not
come again. We should look for another
and not let it slip away.
When an organization often
called “radical” or “leftist” goes
to the defense of another organ
ization called “right wing ex
tremist,” seems like that’s news.
In the case in mind, the one
that is called “radical” has as its
business and the only reason for
its being in existence at all, the
legal defense of individual rights,
as defined in the Bill of Rignts.
adjunct of the U. S. Constitution.
This organization, of course, is
the American Civil Liberties
Union.
This society has defended the
rights of individuals, whatever
their circumstances, race or color,
ever since its foundation, nearly
a hundred years ago. It has de
fended those to whose opinions
many, perhaps most of its mem
bers are implacably opposed al
most as frequently as it has those
who may share its views as to the
rights of the individuaL
Latest customer appealing to
the Civil Liberties Union for as
sistance was Dr. Edward Fields,
an official of the National States
Rights Party, a strongly segrega
tionist group whose rights to free
speech and assembly the ACLU
had previously taken to the U. S.
Supreme Court, resulting in the
Court unanimously setting aside
a conviction of the group on
charges of violating an ordinance
of the town of Fairfield, Ala. dur
ing segregationist activities there
It was natural then that when
Dr. Fields and the Party got into
difficulties again, they would ap
peal to the ACLU. This time the
difficulties were fomented by the
John Birch Society. So here we
have the so-called radical ACLU
in the position of middle-man on
the seesaw between two red hot
extremists of the Right. Here’s
the unusual story as told by ex
cerpts from Dr. Field’s letter;
TO THE ACLU:
“In the Feb. issue of American
Opinion, Robert Welch, head of
the John Birch Party, states flat
ly that I and Robert Lyons are
definitely ‘Communist agents’
because we let the ACLU defend
the Fairfield case. . . We are go
ing to sue Welch. . . for millions
of dollars. In his article, Welch
charges that the ACLU has never
defended any other ‘right wing
er.’
“Could you send us information
as to past right wing individuals
and groups defended by ACLU?
I believe you have defended Gov.
Barnett, Gen. Walker, Gerald L.
K. Smith, Joe Beauhamais (Chi
cago White Circle League), and
others. (ACLU EDITOR’S NOTE:
Fields is correct.) Dates, etc,
needed! My lawyer needs this in
formation for our legal action
against Welch. We will prove in
court that Welch lied when he
wrote ACLU never defends Tignt
wingers, and we will let him
show in court how he uses this
to ‘prove’ we are ‘communists.’. .
“It will receive national pub
licity and will put a stop to
Welch’s many careless attacks
calling all sorts of people com
munists. I am probably the first
to pull him into court to account
for his outrageous charges. . .”
All the material Dr. Fields ask
ed for was sent to him.
No word yet about what hap
pened.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Watch It!
See where a baby’s high chair
was used aS a missile in a recent
Moore County affray. Without
success, however, either in the
fight or in the court room. ‘The
judge over-ruled the defense at
torney’s plea that it be classed as
a deadly weapon.
This raises a question. In our
opinion, it all depends whether
or not there was an occupant of
the high chair.
It is our experience that a high
chair with a baby in it, armed, as
is usual, with a large spoon, is
as deadly a weapon as one would
care to encounter. If he has a
cup, too,—watch yourself!
Termites: Hot and Ckdd
The News and Observer car
ried an extraordinary news story
that emanated from Chapel HUl,
the other day.
We realize that both these lo
calities are suspect in the minds
of some, and there’s no doubt
but what the subject of the ar
ticle concerns subversive boring-
from-within that is pretty exten
sive. Termites is the subject; No
Speaker Ban; no editorial slant.
how this proliferation of letters
is quite a handicap to mechanical
methods olf communication
through type-setting machines,
typewriters, and forms of teleg
raphy. You just can’t make a ma
chine which must employ more
than a thousand characters nad
than a thousand characters and
expect to get any kind of speed
out of it.
The English language confess
edly is very much like the Chi
nese in that we have a great
many words pronounced iden
tically but spelled differently.
These words really amount to
ideographs, which must be learn
ed separately. Our advantage is
that we create these words cut of
individual letters and do not
have to create different letters
for each individual word.
This fact casts some doubt over
the wisdom of enlarging our al
phabet so as to represent more
sounds and simplify spelling. The
more letters you use the slower
yo uare gong to be able to com
municate.
The English language thus can
be seen ta represent a compro
mise between the ideological and
the phonetic systems. Words
which have the same sound but
different meanings, we spell dif
ferently: to, too, two; I eye,aye!
aisle, isle ; sea, see; in, inn; by,
buy, bye, bi-; and so forth.
In the case of “to, too and
two” each combination of letters
pronounced alike, is essentially
an ideograph, a Chinese word-
character, which must be learned
separately by the reader inde
pendent of phonetics. If they
were all represented in a phon
etic alphabet by ‘tu” the reader
would be compelled to differen
tiate between them by context,
which could slow reading.
We may put some additional
strain on the memory of the
learner by spelling them differ
ently, but by so doing we keep
our working alphabet low and
thus add great speed to all our
means of mechanical communi
cation.
Just give a stenographer a
typewriter with 100 characters
on it instead of 41 and see how
fa,St your letters get out!
—^Fayetteville Observer
Termites as a tribe have con
sumed more than $1 billion
worth of U. S. property in one
year, says the article, and a lady
zoologist, named Dr. jEHizabeth
McMahan, has decided it is time
to do something about it. Under
a grant from the National
Science Foundation, she is mak
ing a fierce attack on termites in
her Chapel Hill laboratory. It
seems that the late Rachel Car
son’s book, “Silent Spring,”
sparked much study of means
to combat destructive bugs
through biological methods in
stead of the dangerous pesti
cides.
It turns out that termites are
like bees, living in an organ
ized society of three castes. One
of these is devoted solely to re
production. Immediately you’U
say: O. K. Put the kibosh on those
and you’re fixed! Not so. The
termites get around that, in their
subversive way. If a reproductive
pair dies, two termites from an
other caste instantly develop the
necessary wherewithal!, quit their
worker jobs and go in for family
life.
So then, what? Dr. McMahan
has a better idea. Banking on the
social conscience of the termites,
who have a passion for CMistant-
ly feeding each other, she de
vised a grisly plan. She subjects
a termite to radiation then puts
the “hot” termite in with the
gang. He immediately goes to
work exchanging food with the
others and thus irradiates the
whole kaboodle. Result: no more
baby termites.
That’s the idea; at least as far
as we were able to understand
it. The article is extremely inter
esting and if anyone wants te
see it, call GRAINS. It just could
be more informative (accurate?)
than this.
There’s a picture ’(Sdth the
story, too. According to the cap
tion, it shows “a soldier blocking
the entrance to the termiteria
(cafeteria) while being fed
through the hindgut by a
nymph.” The picture isn’t really
very interesting.
'Pink." Did You Say?
THE PILOT
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1964 i «
Another patriotic society has
been organized, taking its place
beside the Birchites, Minutemen,
and the rest. ’The new one is call
ed the Nathan Hale Society and
•its members regret that they
have but one life to give for their
country.
According to Gore Vidal, who
with Joshua Logan is doing a
film about the flag wavers and
fringe groups from all points of
the compass, this last crowd is
suner-natrintic. It is friendly
with the John Birch Society but
avers that, while the members
are “nice people,” it considers
them to be “a trifle pink.”
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT, Incorporate
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1841-^AMES BOYD—1944
I have always been among
those who believed that the great
est freedom of speech was the
greatest safety, because if a man
is a fool, the best thing to do is
to encourage him to advertise tlie
fact by speaking.
Second-class Postage paid at
Southern Pines, N, C.
i 9
i ^
Katharine Boyd Editor
C. Benedict Associate Editor
Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr.
C. G. Council Advertising
Bessie C. Smith Advertising
Mary Scott Newton Business
Gloria Fisher Business
Mary Evelsm de Nissoff Society
Composing Room
Dixie B. Ray, Michael Talen,
Thomas Mattocks, J. E. Pate, Sr.,
Charles Weatherspoon,
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-WOODROW WILSON
Member National Editorial Assn,
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