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Want To Sell Something ? Try a Want Ad The Alleghany Times You Will Profit If You Always Read Times’ Advertisements DEVOTED TO THE CIVIC, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF ALLEGHANY COUNTY Vol. 13 GALAX, VA. (Published for Sparta, N. C.) THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1938. Number 40. By Hugo S. Sim*, Washington Correspondent THE SPENDING DRIVE Advocates of a spending pro » Pram> designed to offset business repressions, recently conferred ■with President Roosevelt tnd re ported that he would apply a self liquidating test*1 to future construc tion projects. While the Chief Executive was not represented as urging any immediate program, his present thought is that spend ing projects should create “new wealth” and eventually return to the Treasury any money advanced by the Government. He specifi cally mentioned as meritorious projects, the building of toll bridges and highways, rural elec trification and other potential rev enue producers. Among those failing to meet his objective were school houses and other public buildings and battleships.. War ships, in particular, he said, should not be constructed as reemploy ment objectives. TOLL HIGHWAY SYSTEM Among the most ambitious pro posals in the category of “pump priming” is that of Senator Bulk ley, of Ohio, who would construct an $8,000,000,000 system of transcontinental toll highways, to be financed by bonds issued by a new Federal Highway Corpora tion. The Ohioan is drafting a bill now along this line, with the help of engineering and financial experts. While the details of the proposal are to be determined, Senator Bulkley thinks the sys tem could be constructed in three years. It would include at least three super-highways crossing the continent East and West and six North and South. 20,000 MILES OF ROADS The Bulkley plan would provide for the elimination of all grade crossings, a neutral strip to divide, traffic so that vehicles on each pavement would move in only one direction. Freight and passenger vehicles would use separate paver ments. The highways would be built on a 300-foot right-of-way at a cost of between $300,000 and $500,000 a mile, with a total of about 20,000 miles. Highway officials who have dis cussed the proposal with Senator Bulkley feel certain that a way could be found to finance the system, guaranteeing the Govern ment against loss and assuring in vestors of a fair return and at the same time providing a “fill ,4 in” program of road building dur ing curtailment of regular high way appropriations and thus as sist in solving the unemployment problem. Senator Bulkley esti mates that interest and amorti zation at two per cent, plus the cost of maintenance, policing and administration would cost about $220,000,000 nnually. If ten per cent, of the motor vehicle traffic uses the highway system, he figures the return to the Cor poration would be about $245, 000,000 a year. Readers may be interested in the amount of tolls which would be charged users of such a sys tem. Naturally, those have not been worked out in full but for estimation purposes, the toll used has been twenty-five and fifty cents on passenger and freight vehicles, respectively, plus one and a half mills a passenger mile on passenger vehicles and four i mills a ton mile on freight ve hicles. On this basis, the toll for four passengers in an automobile would be forty cents each for a 225 mile journey and $2.30 for a two-ton truck covering the same distance. In his discussion with a group of congressmen, the President spoke favorably of the trans continental highway project which could be worked upon during times of business depression and stopped during normal employment. Mr. Roosevelt described a Government constructed six-lane highway out side London. He told how the British Government condemned a right-of-way one-half mile wide, sold highway frontage for busi ness purposes and small trade tracts behind at $500 an acre and recovered two-thirds of its expenditure in seven yeans. HULL DENIES PACT Secretary Hull last week defi nitely, pointedly and categorically denied that the United States had or contemplates any “alliance, agreement or understanding . . . with Great Britain relating to war or the possibility of war.” That there was “any understand ing or agreement, express or im plied” for the use of the navy of the United States “in conjunction with any other nation” and that there was any such understanding or agreement that . the United States navy “should police or patrol or be transferred to any (turn to page five, please) “Odd” McIntyre died suddenly Sunday in N. Y. —where he had written foi several years the popular newspaper column, “New York Day by Day.” O. O. McIntyre, familiarly known as “Odd,” is said to haye been the most widely read newspaperman in the world. He Is said to have earned 35 cents every time he knocked out a word on his type writer. “Turn your face toward me so I can see you,’’ he said to his wife in their Park avenue apart ment. Then he died. He had been in uncertain health for weeks and the last “New York Day by Day” that he wrote was done in bed. Heart disease was the cause of death. McIntyre counted his friends by the thousands and they in cluded many newspapermen who valued his friendship while un appreciative of the things he wrote. His audience was any where in the United States ex cept New York although his col umn appeared daily in the New York Journal-American. He may have had as many as 7,000,000 readers on the 580 newspapers that subscribed to “New York Day by Day.” His full name was Oscar Odd McIntyre and he was born in Plattsburgh, Mo. When he was a child his family moved to Galli poli's, O. There he met the girl who Was tb become his wife and also got a job as reporter at $5 a week. He moved around a bit on small newspapers and one day he sent ten collect telegrams to ten newspaper editors asking for a job. The Dayton, Ohio, Herald hired him for $12 a week. Then he moved to the Cincinnati Post and a shoit time later he and Ray Long, struck out for New York. Long became editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine. McIntyre became press agent for the Ma jestic Hotel. It was then that the idea of “New York Day by Day’’ came to him. He wrote it and his wife mimeographed it, offering it to out-of-town newspapers for $5 a week. There were no takers at first, but McIntyre plugged along and soon was. making $600 a year from the column. Then $200 a week. Part of the time he was Flo Ziegfeld’s press agent, but soon he was able to give up all publicity connections and devote all his time to his column. Only his wife, the former1 May belle Hope Small, was at his bed side when he died. He had re fused a doctor, saying he woull soon be up and “feeling chirky.” The couple would have cele brated their 80th wedding anni versary, also his 54th birthday, on Friday. Funeral services will be held, at Gallipolis, O., probably today! (Thursday). McIntyre, the lantern-jawed cos mopolite—the “small town boy,” as he frequently described him self, who rose to fame and riches as the epitome of the nation’s idea of a “typical New Yorker” —will return at last in death to the never-forgotten Ohio river town of his boyhood. Often, in nostalgic paragraphs in his column, he said he was go ing to leave the metropolitan scene forever and return to Galli polis, to the fine home called ‘IGatewood” where he courted young Maybelle, and which he bought for her on their silver wedding anniversary. Sparta H. S. was closed Tues. afternoon —until Monday, February 21, in order to avert the possibility of a serious epidemic of scarlet fe ver. Because of the fact that sev eral new cases of the disease have developed recently, the school au thorities deemed it wise to close school, for this period of time. The Young Women’s circle will meet \ —tonight (Thursday), at seven o’clock, in the home of Miss Marie Perry. Mrs. P. H. Thompkins, Jr., will be associate hostess with Miss Perry, and Mrs. James Toms will have charge of the program. Senator Bailey introduced a joint resolution —Tuesday in the r United I States senate in Washing j ton, D. C., fior a “non I partisan administration” of relief funds by a new federal board of five members. Accord ing to the resolution offered by the North Carolina senator, the board would take over all relief activities except those of the civilian conservation corps and the public works administration. It would elect its own adminis trator who would be paid $12, 000 a year. The preamble to Bailey’s reso lution declared there is a “grave danger’’ that relief funds may be used for political purposes. The senator would make it a misde meanor, punishable by a fine of $500 oi' a year’s imprisonment, or both, to solicit the votes of per sons receiving relief or to use ! any relief office for political pur poses. The resolution also called for an investigation, state by state, of past relief expenditures. Care of “normally unemploy able” persons would be left to the states and their subdivisions. Relief projects would be designed to avoid competition with private :' enterprise. Wages and hours : would be fixed with a view to ending federal relief as rapidly ■ as possible. i The resolution declared unem- ' ployment is primarily the concern ' of state and local governments. 1 It would fix funds, available to : the new board up to January 15, i 1939, at not more than one-third of the expense of administering the WPA for the fiscal year end- ) ing June 30, 1938. i Request that Congress appro- ; priate $250,000,000 immediately to fneet increasing demands for relief came today from the House < appropriations committee. i The committee said there had been a “drastic” decrease in pri- < vate employment since September There is no indication, it added, ’ of a business improvement suf- i ficient to “justify a lesser amount.” President Roosevelt proposed i the appropriation last week, say- i ing in a letter to Speaker Bank- ; head that available funds were in- , sufficient. 1 Mme. Perkins Quizzed WASHINGTON, D, C. . . Summoned by Senate Commerce Committee to discuss her handling of maritime labor disputes, Secretary of Labor Frances L. Perkins confers with Senator Royal S. Copeland (D-, N. Y.), over he*- handling of secret documents taken from files of Harry Bridges, militant West Coast Union Chief, w’hich are alleged to prove that Bridges is an active Communist under an alias and that as an Austrian non-citizen he is a deportable alien. The addition of a 12th year in N. C. schools —was advocated by Gover nor Clyde Roark Hoey Tues- * day night in an address delivered in Durham under the sponsorship of the Central ! Junior high school Parent-Teacher association. The governor also called for alult education courses and a pro gram of vocational training, de claring that the rich resources of North Carolina needed only i the application of intelligence to ; make this one. of the greatest | states of the nation. I The governor said he was aware j that “Noith Carolina is not a rich state . . . and therefore we I must proceed as the ability of our people, can justify it.” He said, however, that nothing is more worthy of taxation than edu cation because it lies at the basis of progress. Governor Hoey_ who spoke Sun- j day in Chicago, said that during, his trip through the North he! was impressed by the effort that is being made to grapple with current problems. He said that modern education should meet practical as well as cultural needs, and he called for a program of adult education in order “to stamp out illiteracy in this state.” Galax Bowlers were victorious Tuesday night —-in a match with the Sparta men’s team, in Galax. The Galax team won by a margin of 359. The total score for Galax was 3,375, and that for Sparta 3,016. Individual Scores were as fol lows: Sparta—George Reeves, 532; John Tom Upchurch, 654; Glenn Shepherd, 713; Charlie Tompkins, 555, and Dick Gentry, 562. Galax—Edd Reavis. 741; A1 Reavis. 604; B. C. Lineberry, 800; A. H. Peddy, 588, and Dr. V. O. Choate, 642. Elzie Osborne was returned to his parents —-Mr. and Mrs. Lester Osborne, Piney Creek, last week by Sher iff Walter M. Irwin, after ap parently “vanishing into thin air” several months ago. Sheriff Irwin learned of the young boy’s whereabouts from an Elkin man. In a conversation with the Al leghany county sheriff, the man disclosed the information that a boy answering the description of the Osborne lad was working on his father’s farm near Elkin. Sheriff Irwin, who has followed up every clue that has been found since the boy’s disappearance last fall, immediately went to this place, found the boy, and brought him back to his parents. He de clares, however, that he Will not remain at home. How to End The "Recession" Roger W. Babson Answers President’s Plea For Co-toperation From Business Babson Park, Florida. Feb. 11. —When Joseph Kennedy speaks to businessmen, they sit up and take notice. In Boston several weeks ago the able new Ambas sador to England spoke for the President of the United States. He said that business ought to stop complaining about the New Deal and suggest a program of its own. Criticism is always healthy. But criticism should be constructive, as well as destruc tive, Mr. Kennedy said. Since his comment was made, however, the only slump-killing program that has been put for ward by businessmen has come out of the Capitol Little Capital Business Conference of a week ago. But because of lack of time for thorough discussion, their resolutions were incomplete and fragmentary. Hence, to start the ball rolling, I am put ting forward a rough formula. I believe it would restore busi ness confidence, break up the credit jam. release buying in heavy industries, and boost ac tivity overnight. 1. CHARACTER: America needs a spiritual revival. Each group must see the other fellow’s point of view and try to apply the Golden Rule. This is the [basic need of today, i 2. SPENDING: Federal spend ing must be curtailed. Public spending represents a cost of production just as labor, mater ials, and overhead. With’ the de sire to “freeze” wages and yet cut selling prices, other costs be sides overhead and materials must be lowered. Government expenses are the result of unpro ductive costs. They are the logi cal item to slash and the quick est way to cut them is by some real old-fashioned public enemy. To cut off spending abruptly now, however, would be deflationary and dangerous. Here is my thought: a. A Five-Year Plan calling for a graduated halting emergency “aid” should be enacted now to be put into effect as soon as the current situation clears up a lit tle. b. Local economies should be inaugurated on a similar plan and program. Local budgets as well as federal must be balanced to avoid public bankruptcy. 3. TAXES: Along with reckless living and spending, taxes are the worst of our troubles. We can commit national suicide by tax ation. An immediate “fax reform program is essential. Consider the following: a. Repeal the vicious undivided profits tax. b. Broaden the income tax base by lowering exemptions. c. Ease up on certain taxes in the high income brackets. d. Cut out the capital gains tax which discourages' initiative. e. Eorce all public employees to pay same income taxes as does John Q. Citizen. f. Make new government and municipal bonds subject to taxes as are all other securities. g. Put Social Security on a pay-as-you-go basis with annual assessment based on actual cost. h. Abolish state “tariffs” by scrapping local business taxes. i. Lighten the tax load on over burdened real estate. j. Allow money spent out of net earnings on new building, plant repair, machinery, to be free of taxes. 4. RAILROADS: At the head of the list of sick industries' stands the railroads. There are $25, 000,000,000 of carrier securities in the hands of savings banks, insurance companies< hospitals, colleges, and individual investors. Their huge investments must be protected. a. Freight rates should be boosted temporarily—for say three years—about 12 per cent. Pas I. ******* senger fares should be upped 1A cent per mile. Pullman should not be changed, but should in clude cost of parlor chair or berth. Pooling of equipment and terminals should be hastened. Un profitable branch lines should be cut off. b. Th* unwarranted 1937 wage increase for railroad workers should be cancelled immediately provided that 50 per cent of the laiid-otf workers are rehired now —50 per cent a year from now at the latest. c. All receiverships should be terminated by July 1, 1938. Noth ing is so depressing as doing business with, or working for, bankrupt concerns. New capitali zations should be based on 1936 earnings so that further receiver ships will not be necessary. d. Extend R. F. C. loans to prevent -any more unnecessary railroad defaults this year. 5. UTILITIES: The heavy in dustries could get a substantial stimulant from utility construc tion if the power companies were not tormented to death. My “formula” for enlisting the utility industry’s aid in ending the “re cession” is; a. Enact legislation so holding companies can be eliminated with out receivership. b. Declare a moratorium on unforced rate reductions for two years. Publicly commend and encourage voluntary reductions. c. Announce that there will be no “loans” or gifts to municipali ties to build tax-free public sys tems to compete with and destroy private companies unless existing systems refuse to sell at a fair price-r-fixed by an unbiased arbi tration board. d. Until good business returns, sell power at wholesale from big gopernment dams only to the pri vate companies to retail under rates supervised by Federal Bow (Turn to page five, please) Benefit claims for unemployed persons will be received —in the Alleghany county court house by representatives, of the North Carolina Unemployment Compensation commission each Thursday from ten to five o’clock. Checks will be delivered to all those eligible as soon as possible, although the exact date is. not yet known. Only men who have worked from January, 1937, through September 30, 1937, for covered employers will receive checks. This does not apply to WI’A or CCC workers, or to those who have worked for or received re lief from the government. Two scions would have the |U. S. sponsor I —a conference on limiting navies. Increasing congres sional concern over world armaments resulted in such proposals Sunday by Representa tive Maverick (D.-Tex.), and Senator King (D.-Utah). I Others in congress have ad-; vanced similar proposals inform- > ally, among them Representative 1 Fish. (D.-N. Y.), ranking minor-! ity member of the house foreign affairs committee. Maverick took the view that Ja pan’s refusal to divulge its- in tentions with respect to the size of future warships did not neces sarily preclude, a naval agree ment among the world powers. The United States has designs ready' for building superdread-j naughts if the future brings no J change in Japan’s attitude. Commenting on the Japanese | offer to abolish “capital ships,” Maverick inquired. “Who then wants them? Eng land? Let’s ha^e a naval con ference, however irritated na tions may be. It may save aj war.” Despite denials by Secretary Hull and Admiral William D. Leahy( chief of naval operations, that the United States has any understanding, real or implied,; with any other* power) some con- j gresfemen continued to question | whether the administration’s naval expansion program was for some use other than defense. Senator Borah, (R.-Idaho), said j yesterday he would support the administration program for in-1 creased naval armaments if he I became convinced that it “would j be for the use of the United States alone.” The Idahoan joined in senate conjecture last week whether the United States had a secret mili-i tary understanding with Great Britain. Meanwhile, Senator Johnson (R.-Calif), predicted “develop ments’’ soon might disclose that there had been some conversations between American and British of ficials over possible joint use of the navies of the two countries in case a crisis develops. He said he believed Secretary of State Hull acted “in good faith” when he denied any under standings existed, but hinted that he believed other officials might have entered into such conver sation without the secretary’s knowledge. On the other hand, Senator Norris, (Ind.-Neb.), scoffed at i reports of a secret agreement. “I don’t think there’s a thing! to it,” he said. Sylvia Sidney, film star, —was annoyed Sunday in Holly wood when there came to her from New York a report that she was going to marry Luther Adler, stage star, now appearing in “Golden Boy’ on Broadway. “There is nothing to it,” said Miss Sidney in a slightly irri tated tone of voice. In New York, Adler denied he was engaged or that he in tended to marry, and that caused Miss Silney to observe: • “If he said so, you certainly don’t expect me to say the story is true, do you?” The Methodist W. M. S. will hold a meeting —tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, at three o’clock, in the home of Mrs. R. H. Hackler. This will be the regular monthly meeting of the organization. Governor Hoey spoke Sunday night in Chicago —at a meeting of the Sun* day Evening club. In his speech he said faith in Gad ar,d “faith in a great people will continue to be the, essence of our marching orders.” The chief executive of North Caro lina said he believed patriotism and Christianity would unite to soi-ve the- dispute between capital and labor and other “problems i of our complex civilization.” The. “dominant passion” of the | American people today, he said, as in the' days of the Pilgrim fa thers, “is love of liberty and freedom, with an even higher appraisal of religious freedom.” Should an attempt be made to deptive the American people of the right to follow their religious convictions, an almost unanimous revolt would follow, the North Carolina executive asserted. “I am not unmindful of the. greed and graft, turmoil and strife, discontent and hatred, vio lence and disorder, injustice and oppression, poverty and .suffer ing, vice and crime, prevalent in this nation,” Governor Hoey said. “Yet a conservative survey of the progress we have made and the advances of our, civilization jus tifies the confidence that the heart of America is sound,” The., governor compared the ca reers of Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee, asserting both were, outstanding citizens whose lives., “have been beacon lights, leading us onward and upward.” “The rugged Lincoln of the North, whose honesty, patriotism and consecration to his country’s good, has so enriched the annals of the nation and inspired count less millions to struggle for the heights, was matched by the peerless Lee of the South, whose glorious heroism in war and un selfish dedication in peace, lifted his people to an elevation where they could see. the everlasting things that matter to an individ ual or a nation.” he said. "Both combined to give Amer ica examples of citizenship, su preme illustrations- of the attri butes and virtues of the perfect citizen working and serving in a democracy. “The whole history of America should inspire us with hope, There is full warrant for opti mism. Every age has had its pes simistic outlook, but any intelli gent appraisal of the assets' and liabilities of this day should im press us with the progress made and the success achieved in ma terial and humanitarian endeavors, and give us fresh courage for the future.” The object of the NYA program in Alleghany —has been defined as aim ing to fit boys and girls for future life, and to enable them to earn a living. The age limit for NYA workers is, 18 to 25 years. The NYA program is a pro gram of education rather than of relief; the wage is a minor consideration and the training the major one. So. no one need feel embarrassed to work on the NYA projects, any more than he would if he were enrolled in any other kind of training course, it is said. In Ashe and Alleghany coun ties there are handicraft or home projects where the girls are taught to sew, make rugs, and are taught various other handicrafts which are used in the home. In both counties, a number of girls have been placed in offices' and are receiving good training under trained supervisors. There is a carpenter project in Ashe county for the boys, where they are trained to make furniture for the schools, seat cabinets, bookshelves, tables, etc. These boys are taught by competent foremen who have had years of experience as carpenters. Mrs. Margaret C. Ray, super visor of the NY A projects in Ashe and Alleghany, is anxious to start a project of the same kind in Alleghany county, if there are (turn to page 8, please)
The Alleghany News and Star-Times (Sparta, N.C.)
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Feb. 17, 1938, edition 1
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