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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"'<tftt"\he 'east'
coast today two enemy aircraft
were later observed .on the north
east coast and were attached by
royal airforce fighters. Both
weie shut down by our fighters
and feU into the sea.”
PRESIDENT ROQSEVLT
CALLED ON THE CIVIL
—Service assembly of the United
States and Canada, in a message
Monday read at the assembly’s
meeting in San Francisco, to
“prove that democracy can work
even in such critical times as
these.” * ....
—
Bomb Proof Sitting Rooms .
LONDON, ENGLAND . . . Families are shown framed in the
entrances to air raid shelters adjoining their homes in Southwest
London. Emergency shelters, of brick and concrete, can be con
verted into comfortable “sitting rooms.’’
Senator Byrd
said the U.S.
can avoid war
—if the will of the people
for peace continues. Vir
ginia’s junior senator, a sup
porter of the arms embargo
repeal, issued a statement in Rich
onond Sunday explaining that
he favored revision of present
neutrality legislation on “a strict
cash and carry plan of commerce
with belligerent nations” as less
likely than the existing law “to
involve us in war.”
The senator gave “a word of
comfort to the many who have
written me to protest against
America entering the war.”
His stateme*** said on this sub
ject :
“We can stay out of war if
the will for peace continues to be
as strong as it is today in the
hearts of our people. Reflecting
the sentiment of the American
people, congress today is unani
mously against war. It is for
congress to remove those things
that may incite the people to war.
“Therefore, to me the very
essence of preserving American
peace is to keep our commerce
and our citizens out of combat
and dangerous war zones and to
avoid credit in the purchase of
war materials.”
Senator Byrd announced his
intention to vote to amend the
present bill to eliminate the 90
day credit clause and substitute
for it strict cash payments.
“Cash and carry should liter
ally mean what it says,’’ he stat
ed. “If we begin with a 90-day
credit, it is likely and probable
that longer and more credit will
be extended, so that the same
conditions which existed in the
last World War will be repeated.”
Asserting that the United Stav
es must have adequate defense to
protect both Atlantic and Pacific
shores, Senator Byrd said “we
must have the power bo resist
any and all aggression.”
Ten-year-old
Guida Vaughan
was found Friday
—night, after having dis
appeared from her home at
Gossan Mines, near Galax,
early last Thursday night—
of all places—asleep in bed at
home. The disappearance of the
child prompted a wide search in
the Gossan Mines section and in
formation concerning the occur
rence was sent to radio stations
WDBJ Roanoke, and WBT, Cher
;lotte, for broadcasting. The
child had given scores of search
ers—including three troops of Ga
lax Boy Scouts, school children,
^neighbors and members of her
‘family—die slip, entering the
Chouse unseen Friday afternoon,
‘going to her room and to bed.
Bloodhounds, belonging to T.
P. Crockett, Pulaski, had also
been pressed into service in an
effort to find the missing child.
Her father, S. D. Vaughan,
chief clerk for the General Chemi
cal, company at the Gossan Mines
offices, said the child left home
about 7 p. m. after her mother
had scolded her for a minor mis
deed.
National And World
NEWS
At A Glance
WAGE-HOUR HEAD QUITS
Washington, Oct. 17.—Elmer P.
Andrews stepped out as wage
hour administrator today amid a
chorus of conflicting explanations
j for his departure.
Praise for the way he had put
(the year-old wage-hour act into
j operation mingled with conten
tions that he had not been tough
enough, that he had been too
tough and that he hadi clashed
with Secretary of Labor Perkins.
DELAY IS CHARGED
Washington, Oct. 17.—Casually,
but directly, Senator Gonnally,
(D., Tex.), accused opponents of
I the administration neutrality bill
j of “filibustering” against that
I measure today during a spirited
! senate debate.
He made the accusation as a
: play on words and in a manner
| so offhand that it went virtually
! unnoticed by the opposition group,
i and for the time being it went
j unanswered.
WARREN K. BILLINGS FREE
Sacrameton, Calif., Oct. 17.—
Nearly a quarter of a century
of imprisonment ended today for
Warren K. Billings, associate de
fendant of Thomas Mooney in
the 1916 San Francisco prepared
ness day bombing cases.
He stepped from the governor’s
office, a free man, his sentence
commuted to time served1.
He left immediately for San
Francisco to meet the woman he
announced he hoped to marry,
Miss Josephine Randolph.
HOLLAND SEES FIGHTING
The Hague, Oct. 17.—North
eastern Netherlands got a taste
of war today when British bomb
ers attempted to attack Emden,
important German mine sweep
ing base, and when German anti
aircraft guns fired on Dutch
planes.
From 7:00 a. m. (1:00 a. m.
EST) to 11:30 a. m. (5:30 a. m.
EST) heavy firing was heard
along Dollart bay in Groningen
province. Witnesses said they
saw clouds of white smoke made
by bursting shells and could dis
tinguish the British insignia on
the planes. The number mention
ed varied from four to 40.
HURRICANE HITS BERMUDA
Hamilton, Bermuda, Oct. 17.—
The first hurricane here in 13
years late yesterday brought 100
mile-an-hour winds, ripped up
trees, swamped small boats,
smashed windows and interrupted
public utilities.
TAFT JS ENDORSED
Oolumbus, O., Oct. lL—Ohio’s
Republican state central com
mittee today unatwndaqly in
dorsed Senator Robert £. Taft
for the Republican presidential
nomination and Governor J,ohn W,
Bncker for reelectidn. 1
. The committee appointed a sub
committee of five to select a sec
ond choice favorite son candidate
for the presidential nomination!
THE STUDENT BODY OF
glade Valley high
—School enjoyed a picnic supper
on Monday, October 16, in the
Thompson grove, the event being
sponsored by the faculty.
Weiners, marshmallows and
other tasty “eats” were served.
French artillery
brought a halt
to the German
—advance on the western
front, it was reported Tues
day night in Paris, where
the general staff reported
there were “sharp infantry en
tanglements at certain points” and
“local activity on the whole
(western) front,” although the
fighting failed to bring any
change in positions.
The communique added that “a
German merchant ship has been
captured by our Atlantic patrol,”
but gave no details.
Reference to infantry fighting
was taken by military observers
to mean that small groups of
both French and German troops
were continuing activity of pure
ly localized character following
the French repulse of two Ger
man attacks Monday.
Military informants said the
first French lines of defense, sup
ported by artillery from the rear,
caused the Germans to halt their
localized thrusts abruptly. These
outposts, the French said, were
well-armed.
The fierce, constant fire, it was
i said, held the Germans back so
that they could not get near
enough to toss hand grenades.
The only thing left for the Ger
mans to do, the French said, was
to dig in and wait for new orders.
Premier Daladier and General
Maurice Gustave Gamelin confer
red at the war ministry during
Tuesday afternoon.
The general staff’s assertion
that the front remained, without
change would establish the Ger
man lines at the same place where,
fighting ended late Monday.
These positions were known in
at least one sector where the
French said the Germans were
forced to retire north of the Lor
raine village of Apach-after pene
trating into French territory for
the first time in the war.
Military authorities estimated
six Naz. divisions of at least
10,000 men each took part in the
two attacks between the Moselle
and Rh ne rivers which shoved
French advance posts off German
soil at some points.
Fire from the Maginot line
forts shattered the German at
tacks “on the line as foreseen,”
the Fiench reported. General
staff authorities said the long
considered war plan was to man
outposts on German soil with
small forces while massing heavy
concentrations in the major de
fenses of the frontier.
Talks between
Russia and
Turkey failed
—(after having been in prog
ress for several days, ac
cording to Prime Minister
Refik Saydam, who said
Tuesday night, in an official com
munique issued in Instabul, Tur
I key, that the negotiations had
failed because the Soviet demands
were contrary to Turkish secur
ity.
It was reported reliably that
definite agreements with Britain
will be signed' in Ankara this
week, probably today (Thursday)
or Friday.
The official communique said
the Prime Minister, in a statement
to a parliamentary group of the
Republicans peoples party, declar
ed the Soviet government had sug
gested to Turkey proposals en
tirely different from those prev
iously agreed upon.
The prime minister said the
Soviet demands were incompat
ible with the Turkish policy re
garding the Dardanelles, proved)
incompatible with Turkey’s en
gagements which the Soviet gov
ernment knew had been assumed
ffownrd Britain and France, were
contrary to Turkish security and
f^e guarantees offered' did not
compensate for the obligations
which Turkey was asked to under
take.
Re said, however, that although
it had been impossible this time
to conclude an agreement with
Soviet Russia, relations between
the two countries were still
friendly.
REV. R. L. BERRY WILL
DELIVER A SERMON SUNDAY
—morning, October 22,
o’clock, in the Sparta
ian Church, of which he is
eleven
Hitler, alone,
made the decision
to start a war
—according to t'he “final re
port” of Sir Neville Cham
berlain’s ambassadorship to
Berlin, made public Tuesday
night in London, and in which Sir
Neville recounted in picturesque
phrases the last days of peace,
the “tragedy” of Adolf Hitler and.
sidelights on “yes men’’ around
the Nazi chieftain.
The 12,000-word white paper
stressed repeatedly that Hitler
alone made the decision to go to
war, Sir Neville writing that
“though he spoke of his artistic
tastes and his longing to satisfy
them, I derived the impression
that the corporal of the last war
was even more anxious to prove
what he could do as a conquering
generalissimo in the next.”
Of Hitler’s personality, he as
serted “geniuses are strange cre
atures and Herr Hitler, among
other paradoxes, is a mixture of
long-headed calculation and vio
lent and arrogant impulse pro
voked by resentment.”
Referring to the “bombshell” of
the German non-aggression pact
with Soviet Russia, Sir Neville
! said:
“It is to be devoutly hoped that
it may prove as pyrrhic as are
most diplomatic victories.”
“I have some reason to be
lieve—though I cannot confirm it
—that the order for the German
army to advance into Poland was
actually issued for the night of
August 25-26,” the former am
i bassador asserted, and added that
'his flying trip to Hitler’s chalet
! at Berchtci gaden “may after all
| have postponed the, disaster for
a week.’’
j S'r Nevile continued that it
I might well have been Prime Min
;iste- Chambetlain’s letter which
! gave Hitler "nne last hesitation”
i and caused him to countermand
| the orders to his army to march.
| “But it was not the horrors of
'war which determined him,” the
! British diplomat asserted1. “His
1 hesitation was due rather to one
i final effort to detach Britain frmi
Poland.”
Recounting with colorful de
scriptive touches some of the
exchanges detailed1 in the blue
book Britain published September
21, Sir Neville said Hitler was
“friendly and reasonable,’’ Aug
ust 28 but was “far less rea
sonable” on the following day.
“I was therefore somewhat dis
appointed,” Sir Neville wrote.
“I would mention incidentally,”
he added, that on both occasions
“nothing was left undone to en
hance the solemnity of the oc
c as von.
“A considerable but quite ex
pressionless crowd was waiting
outside the chancellery and a
guard of honor awaited me in the
courtyard of the main entrance.
“In view of what has been re
ported to the contrary, I desire
to bear witness here to the fact
that throughout the whole of these
anxious weeks neither I nor my
staff received anything but the ut
most courtesy and civility from
all Germans, except on one oc
casion”—his final interview with
German Foreign Minister Joachim
von Ribbentrop whom he describ
ed as showing “intense hostility.”
“He kept leaping from his
chair in a state of great excite
ment and asking if I hadi any
thing more to say,” Sir Neville
recounted.
“I kept replying that I had,
and if my own attitude was no
less unfriendly than his own, I
cannot but say in all sincerity
that I had every justification for
it.
“When I told him that I would!
not fail to report his comments
and remarks to my government
he calmed down a little and said
that they were his own and that
it was for Herr Hitler to decide.
Henderson said he believed Hit
ler had come to consider von Rib
bentrop “a second Bismarck” and
that the Nazi foreign minister
“probably shared” the opinion.
WPA
WPA HEADQUARTERS IK
UGH APPROVED
ently a road project in Al
THE
RALEIGH
—recently
leghany County that wm com
$55,058.00 and give employment
to 149 persons.
Announcement of the
of this project was anno.—
Raleigh by C. C. McGinnis,
state administrator.
ELDER TROY
PREACH
—Baptist
o’clock, “