1 Want To Sell Something? Try a Want Ad The Alleghany Times You Will Profit If You Always Rend Times' Advertisements DEVOTED TO THE CIVIC, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF ALLEGHANY COUNTY Volume No. 15. GALAX, VA. (Published for Sparta, N. C.) THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1939. Number 23. This Week in * Washington Washington, Oct. 18 (AS)— After the first two >oi' three days of debate in the Senate on the Neutrality bill, Senators began to take off their false mustaches and show their faces. In other words, the pretense that the purpose of the Congress and the President is to keep the nation neutral in the European w^r has been all but abandoned. The clear purpose, which is be irjg disclosed as the discussions go on, is to be about as un neutral as a nation can be with out actually going to war. It is to help the Allies, Britain and France, by giving them every assistance short of actually tak ing part in hostilities. That is the purpose of the lift ing of the embargo on the ship ment of arms and ammunition to nations at war. In spite of the efforts of Administration oppon ents to retain the embargo, it is> considered here a practical cer tainty that it will be washed out. The protests of the vast num ber of people who have written to their Senators and Congress men urging the retention of the embargo are not being disregard ed, but the attitude of members of both houses, with some excep tions, is that these protests come from people who honestly believe that the embargo is the only way, or the best way, to keep the United States out of war. There is no let-up in the de termination to do everything, hu manly possible to accomplish that end, but the conviction is gain ing strength in Congress that the United States stands back of the Allies with a steady supply of fighting airplanes, guns, ammuni tion and the other implements of war. Hoover’s Aanalysis One thing which has greatly strengthened that conviction is the carefully-prepared analysis of the ^relative strength and resources of the warring nations, prepared by former President Hoover and giv en out far publication by him. Few question Mr. Hoover’s ac curate knowledge of European af fairs, none dispute his ability as an analyst of statistical informa tion. Therefore, £hen he mar* shalled all the facts and drew from them the positive conclusion that Hitler cannot win and that the French and British can carry on to victory without the aid of American soldiers and battleships, provided they can obtain the necessary fighting materials from this and other countries, his state ment provided ammunition for the proponents of repeal of the em bargo of which they are making good use. Nobody thinks of questioning Mr. Hoover’s sincerity when he declares that he wants to keep America out of war. Few non combatants saw so much of the horrors of war from 1914 to 1918 as did this, Quaker whose religious tenets prevented him from bearings arms but whose work on the fighting front of Bel. gium won him the acclaim of the whole world. Mr. Hoover is out of politics in the sense of not desiring or seek ing further public office, but he is a powerful factor in shap ing the policies of his own party, arid more than one vote for em ibargo repeal, when the show .down comes, will be attributed to his influence. Now that the question of the miscalled ‘.‘Neutrality” law is be ing discussed mare realistically than emotionally more attention is being -paid to the growing de mand from business interests for repeal of the arms embargo. Encourages Business Once American business is free from legal restrictions upon the production and sale of any kind of supplies to the Allied govern ments, it is reasonably certain that a considerable increase in business activity in this country will follow. That does not necessarily mean “profiteering.” It is more than probable that the lifting of the embargo will be accompanied by legislation which will effectively prevent anything more than nor mal business profits being taken down by anybody from the manu facture and sale of arms. The benefits which business foresees consist mainly in the probable rodijctifln in unemploy ment, more people on payrolls and hence a broader purchasing pow er by which nil kinds Ojf business may expect to profit. The «bad ahead pf the Pittmaiji bill ia not, however, entirely clear. It contains “cash-and carry” provisions vhiph have yet to he fought out after the em bargo has been disposed of. Whether the United States would be surrendering one of the nation’s inalienable rights by re stricting the travel of American ships, their cargoes andi passeng (tura to page 8, please) Methodists are now gathering in Greensboro —for a conference unique in the history of Methodism in North Carolina, which is to convene today (Thurs day) and close Monday, October 23. It will be the occasion when three annual conferences, the Western North Carolina Confer ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; the Blue Ridge Atlantic Conference of the Metho dist Episcopal Church, and' the North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, will be merged into one conference to be known as the Western North Carolina Conference of the Metho. dist Church. Rev. L. F. Strader, pastor of the Sparta charge, left yesterday (Wednesday) for Greensboro to attend' the conference. The three conferences will meet separately at the beginning of the sessions. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, conference will be presided over by Bishop Clare Purcell, of Charlotte, in West Market Street Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church con ference will be presided over by Bishop Wallace E. Brown, of Portland, Ore., in Centenary Church, and the Methodist Protes tant conference will convene in Grace Church, with Bishop J. H. Straughn, of Baltimore, presid ing. Tomorrow (Friday) night, at 7 ;30 o’clock, the great union of these three groups will be effect ed, with all ministers, 4e'eKates and visitors gathering in West Market Street Church. It is expected that pastoral ap pointments will be read at the closing session Monday. ■ ^ To Speak Near Here Governor Clyde Roark Hoey (above), North Carolina’s chief executive, who has accepted an invitation to speak at the cele bration to be held at Norvale Crags, near here, Wednesday, October 25, marking the comple tion of the new Galax-Mount Airy highway by way of Low Gap. Governor Hoey said Monday that better business —conditions Had reduced greatly the unemployment load in North Carolina, and pointed out that the state /had a cash balance of $16,320, 071.68 in its unemployment insur ance fund. “It is gratifying to know,” he said in a statement issued in Ra leigh, “that industries are running now on full time, and hence pay ments from the fund to claimants have decreased, the unemploy ment compensation commission, h now keeping all of its payment) current.” The commission, established in December, 1936, has accepted ap proximately 600,000 origins! jclaims and almost 4,500,000 con tinued claims from unemployed individuals, he said. “Claimants have received payments totaling $12,024,681.94, and covering 2, 600,000 weeks of employment.” “In addition to its responsibility of paying benefits to unemployed individuals, the commission main tains a system of 56 public em ployment offices throughout' the state,” Governor Hoey added. ... . Governor Hoey is to be heard at jNorvale Crags I —Wednesday, October 25, on top of the Blue Ridge Mountain, a few miles south of Galax, near the North Carolina-Virginia line, at the big /barbecue and road celebration to be held marking the completion of the new Galax-Mount Airy highway, by way of Low Gap. Persons officially responsible for arrangements for the celebration have received advice from Gov ernor Clyde Roark Hoey, in Raleigh, that his previous engage ments had been rearranged' so that he could be present and deliver an address. Communications were forward ed to Governor James H. Price, of Virginia, in an effort to have him attend also, as the site where the celebration is to be held is almost on the Virginia-North Carolina line. However, Governor Price has indicated that he would 1 be unable to be present because of a previous engagement for that Jay. Among other notables who are regarded as virtually sure to at tend the celebration and partici pate in the ceremonies are Con gressman R. L. Doughton, of the pjinth North Carolina District; Congressman Thomas G. Burch, of the Fifth Virginia District, and Chairman Frank Dunlap, chair- \ man of the North Carolina State Highway Commission. The celebration will be held under the sponsorship of civic organizations of Galax and Mount Airy, and with the cooperation of community leaders and public spirited citizens of Low Gap, Sparta, Pilot Mountain and other neighboring towns. German warplanes i struck twice at British seapower —Tuesday, at the Sciapa Flow lair of the English fleet, hitting and damaging the training ship Iron Duke. The Nazi planes ranged over the east coast of England and Scot land in widespread scouting raidjs. Four German planes were re ported shot down, bringing their 'losses to eight in two days. The attacks followed Monday’s raidi on the Edinburgh and Firth of Forth area, in which three British naval vessels were slight ly damaged, 16 sailors and offic ers killed and 45 injured. They came as the government disclosed that the heavily-defend ed Scapa Flow harbor was the scene of the U-boat sinking Sat urday of the battleship Royal Oak, with 786 men lost. In the first attack Tuesday, at 10:30 a. m., (4:30 a. m. E. S. T.), four German planes damaged the Iron Duke, Adimiral Jelli coe’s flagship in the World War. Scapa Flow was the scene of one of the most dramatic incidents in naval history when the German high seas fleet was scuttled there June 21, 1919, by German sail ors who opened the seacocks rath er than let the British have the surrendered ships intact. One of the four planes was said by the British to have been shot down in this first attack, andi another damaged. The second attack was from 12:30 to 2:00 p. m. and was by “two formations of six and four aircraft,” the admiralty said. No damage was dione and one German plane destroyed, the ad miralty reported. An official announcement ac counted for the other two Ger man planes reported shot doyrp by , saying that “subsequent to reports of enemy activity"'