TOWN TALK Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ogletrec and son, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Thomp son and children, and Mrs. Sam Thompson spent Wednesday ir Richmond. Miss Emily Dunning and Miss Ann Campbell Taylor of W.C.U.N C., Miss Margaret Hines of Mere dith College, Miss Lillian Lee and Miss Sara Crawford Towe of Duke University have arrived to spend the holidays here with their par ents. Mr. and Mrs. Ed Smith of Ra leigh visited their sisters, Mrs. R. I. Starke and Mrs. W. E. Hawkins, Sunday. Mrs. Mildred Fulghum, Mrs. Char lie Smith and Mrs. W. E. Hawkins spent Wednesday in Rocky Mount. Miss Helen Hedgepeth and Mrs. Stafford Bolton spent Saturday in Richmond. They were accompa nied home by Miss Doris Hedge peth. Miss Mable Williams spent the Christmas holidays in Newport News, Va_, visiting Mr. and Mrs. George Pruden. Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Stokes and son, Donald, spent Wednesday in Durham and Hillsboro visiting friends. Misses Margaret Williams and Laura Jane Epperson spent the Christmas holidays in Richmond, Va., visiting friends and relatives Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Stokes and son, Donald; Mrs. M. C. Ben nett; Mrs. G. H. Stokes, and Miss Juanita Stokes spent Friday in Washington, D. C., visiting friends. Miss Juanita Stokes spent Fri day in " Washington, Drc.f visiting Mr. and Mrs. Edward Barlowe. Larry Tucker Meade spent the week-end with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Meade. Mr. and Mrs. Marion Parker spent Christmas with relatives in Wallace. We pledge ourselves to this cause A Statement by The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company We make this pledge publicly to our national government and to the people of the United States: That we will cooperate unhesitatingly in every effort of authorized govern ment agencies to prevent unwarranted rises in prices of foods. That we will continue our efforts to reduce the spread between prices paid to the grower and prices charged to the consumers. That to this end we will continue to do everything in our power to assist the farmers and growers of America in the prderly marketing ef their products at the fairest possible prices to them* That we will make every effort to hold our inventories at the lowest point con sistent with good service to our customers because hoarding, whether by whole salers, retailers, or consumers, will cause higher prices. That we will endeavor to continue to pay our employees the highest wages and to give them the best working conditions in the grocery business generally. That we will make every effort to continue to sell food at retail at the lowest gross margin of profit in the history of the retail grocery business. Today we are providing food for our customers at the lowest gross profit rate in the history of the retail grocery business. This means that we have achieved efficiencies in the distribution of food never before attained. More of your food dollar goes for food and less for overhead expenses than ever before. No other great retail business in the United States in any field is operated with such a low cost of distribution. No one in the food business can control the wholesale price of food. Only the government of the United States has power to do this, and for the protection of our people this power in the government is now a necessary power. Today, with the nation at war, we believe that no private interest has any rights in conflict with the general public interest. The armed forces of the United States are today receiving more and better food than ever before in our national, history. It is equally important that all of our people working and living behind the lines, men, women and children, shall be better fed and better nourished than ever before in our national history.