I The Alleghany Times Alleghany County’s Only Newspaper Published every Thursday by the Gazette Printing & Publishing Co. 117 West Grayson Street “ Galax, Virginia H. B. Zabriskie, Galax, Va. Editor Mrs. Sidney B. Gambill, Sparta, N. C.. Local News Editor Sparta Office in Sheriff’s Office in Court House Subscription Rates—Strictly In Advance One Year $1.00 Six Months .50 Entered at the Post Office at Galax, Virginia, as Second Class Matter under the Act of Congress of March 8, 1872. _ Thursday, June 18, 1936. _ Who Makes The News —The Citizens Or The Newspaper? From time to time the Times office is called on the telephone, or visited in person, by someone who asks that certain news items be withheld from the news columns of the paper. All kinds of rea sons are put forth by these persons, some even say ing that if news is published they may lose their jobs. Such requests cannot be granted by this newspaper. We appreciate the reasons they give, and can understand why they make the requests, but if we granted the request of one single person we would feel honor bound to grant it for all persons. And if we were known to have granted it to one single person we would be besieged with similar requests from dozens of other persons. The Covington (Tennessee) Leader, in a recent issue, commented upon the request “Please don’t print my name” as follows: “Perhaps it is neces sary to state once more that this paper does not make the news—and if citizens of this city or com munity do not wish their names printed under adverse circumstances, the best protection they can obtain is to quit making the news themselves. If their names are placed on police dockets, they have made the bad news, not the newspaper.” We think that the Covington Leader’s comment explains particularly well why newspapers cannot grant requests that names be omitted from news stories even though the publication of names may be unpleasant to the parties concerned. The Farmers’ Real Enemy —The Drought Throughout the age-old discussion of the farm ers’ problems, blame for the trouble of agriculture has seldom been put in the right place, says Dr. Isaiah Bowman, president of Johns Hopkins Uni versity. The villian really to blame for most of the recurring difficulties of the farmers is not Wall Street, or the railroads, the packers or the Board of Trade, Dr. Bowman says. The villian’s real name is Drought. The drought in the high plains of western Kan sas and eastern Colorado, which began in 1892 and lasted until 1896, was the cause of a great economic depression which resulted in political unrest and upheavals. But only a few years of rain changed the picture and brought prosperity back. In 1900 the U. S. Geological Survey could see no agricultural future for the high plains of Texas, but a few years of normal rainfall started a new movement of settlers into what proved a fertile land, given enough water. Every agrarian rising in the world’s history is possibly traceable to drought. In Australia seven years of drought killed 40 million sheep, and reduc ed wheat production by two-thirds. But when the rains came at last, wheat crops multiplied six-fold and cattle and horses doubled in, three years. Farming is, in a real sense, a business of gamb ling on the weather. In that sense, the farmer is a more daring speculator than the plunger in Wall Street. Give him plenty of rain and he wins great profits; withhold the rain and he loses even his farm if he has not protected it with a large enough “margin” of reserve capital. There is no political way, however, of guaran teeing rain. The American Voter’s Supreme Function —Casting His Ballot For A Presidential Candidate Now that the Republicans have nominated Gov ernor Alfred M. Landon, of Kansas, as their candi date to oppose Mr. Roosevelt and his policies, the people of the United States will have to make up their minds whether they want one or the other as President for the coming four years. Of course, we are cognizant of the fact that Mr. Roosevelt hasn’t been renominated and that the Democratic convention, which meets next week, has not, as yet, endorsed his program. However, the reader may take both for granted in surveying the political scene. , * The success of the American government de pends, in f\nal analysis, upon the ability of the voters to make such a choice. In exercising that function they are entitled to have, and should have, a fair presentation of the arguments of both sides. They should be fair-minded enough to listen to the President and his advocates and to give equal at tention to the efforts of his Republican opponent and his supporters. Few public questions have ever been correctly solved through invectives, insinuations and abuse. Reasonable individuals, whose interest is the welfare of the United States, will appreciate intelligent debate of the issues as framed. Any writer or speaker, who aids the public discussion by enlarging the information at hand, will be performing a public £ aervice. a.*®**-** You can figure out for yourself what kind of would be if every citizen was just like r t/ianajf-Worts “It is easy for a woman to de velop her chest and All out hol lows on her neck,” says a promi nent health specialist who has taught hundreds of women to gain as well as to reduce. Ac cording to him, a few simple exercises, practiced regularly, will do the work. Here is one experience that is particularly recommended: Stand erect with feet together. Clench your fists, making the muscles in your arms quite tense anu stretch them at shoulder level out in front of you. Now, keep ing the muscles in hands and arms stiff and uncomfortable slowly force your hands up over your head and down toward the back as far as they will go. Then try to force them down and back a few more inches. Feel the muscles in your neck and shoulders stretch and pull. Keep head up and chest expand ed. Inhale as you force your arms from front to back. Ex hale as you bring them forward again. Repeat twenty times. The breast stroke you used when you learned to swim is ex cellent for a flat chest and hol lows in the neck. Hold arms at shoulder level in front of you— palms facing each other. Then slowly bring them backward as far as you can. Keep on forc ing them back until your should ers actually hurt a little. A movie Actress noted for her lovely hands, reveals how she keeps them smooth as satin and white as snow. She says she never fails to rinse, them in very cold water after each washing and that, after a careful drying during which she pushes back the cuticle around her nails, she always ap plies hand lotion. “In ad dition,” the star added, “once a week I go to bed wearing rubber gloves into which I have put damp bran or moist com meal. Either of these tends to remove cigarette and other stains from my fingers.” XXX To help mold the chin into a slimmer line, here’s a good night routine: After washing your face and neck with warm soapsuds, rinse in warm water and dry your skin. Apply cold cream, and then pick up the soft flesh under your chin, kneading and rolling it firm ly between your forefinger and thumb. This will help to chase away the fat cells. XXX Remove the cold cream, splash on cold water and dry your skin. Then apply your favorite astring ent lotion or skin freshening tonic to your neck and chin. In the morning bathe your face and neck 'again with cold water. XXX An exhibition of recently dis covered letters from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to her poet husband has attracted consider able attention. These letters were written on thin note paper like the familiar “onion-skin” which was in vogue in the 40’s. This same type of crisp, sheer notepaper is sold at many of the stores now for personal letters and especially for air mail pur poses. And the envelopes are lined in the foreign manner in dark blue or gray tissue. If you like something witn a little more body than taffeta to trim your ooat, grosgrain is a good choice. It’s especially good for stand-up collars and to bor der the pockets and front of a ooat. One of the shops has such a coat in black, which is swagger cut, with patch pockets, and it’s the new seven-eighths length. XXX Household Hint: A few tiny pieces of ginger, grapefruit or orange peel or candied fruit will 1 give an added flavor to fruit J salad or fruit cup. XXX “Certainly it’s intoxicating,” ! says Harmony Gal, Mae Mitchell, I about Harry Von Tiller’s new song hit, “In Our Cocktail Of Love,” "and so easy to take— darling!” concludes Mae. Wise and Otherwise .' i i i i ■ ■ Definition Enthusiasm—Another name for hysteria.—Lucifer** Lexicon. Where’s The War? If we believe each nation’s re ports of its own casualties, there never has been any Ital ©-Ethio pian war.—Life. Weather Proverbs When on her fourth day the moon appears spotless, her horns unblunte