Newspapers / The Alleghany News and … / Nov. 30, 1939, edition 1 / Page 2
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The Alleghany Times Alleghany County’s Only Newspaper Published every Thursday by the Gazette Printing & Publishing Co. 117 W. Grayson St. Galax, Virginia Sparta Office In Transou Building H. B. Zabriskie . Editor Mrs. Robert M. Gambill . Local News Editor Subscription Rates—Strictly In Advance In Alleghany County . One Year $1.00 Six Months $ .50 In North Carolina (outside of Alleghany County) and Virginia . One Yeas- $1.25 Elsewhere in United States .... One Year $1.50 This paper charges for the insertion of Obitu aries, Resolutionsi Cards of Thanks, etc. Obituaries occupying not more than eight inches of space, $1; longer ones in proportion. Cards of Thanks. 35 cents. Cash or stamps must accompany the coo? Entered at the Post Office at Galax, Virginia as Second Class Matter under the Act oi Congress of March 8, 1872 I Sparta, N. C., Thursday, Nov. 30, 1939. Presidential Campaign Waits For Roosevelt Declaration By Hugo S. Sims Following the adjournment of Con gress, after repealing the arms embargo and enacting the cash-and-carry pro visions of our neutrality legislation, Wash ington settled down to a period of rela tive quiet. It is the calm that heralds the approaching political storm. Just now the 1940 campaign is in the background but developments await the expected declaration of the President in regards to his intentions. Neither political party can make much progress with campaign plans until it is definitely decided whether Mr. Roosevelt will re nounce, or accept, a third term. Silence Causes Uncertainty The Republican strategy in 1940 de pends upon whether the Democrats re nominate the Chief Executive. Even the anti-third-term Democrats do not yet know how much energy to give to the fight against breaking past traditions. So long as the President keeps his counsel there is . no certainty about the nature of the battle that will decide the outcome of the elec tion next Fall. Mr. Roosevelt, it may be readily ad mitted, is playing a smooth, political game in maintaining his silence. Not only does he manage to retain influence in Con gress and among all Democrats, but he scores an advantage in delaying the framing of issues. This leaves his oppon ents, in both parties, out on a limb until they can ascertain where their attack must be delivered. F. D. R. Is Probably Undecided The general idea today, as near as we can gather, is that the President’s family prefers that he retire, and there is reason to suspect that Mr. Roosevelt himself has no overwhelming desire to run again. He does intend, very definite ly, to arrange that, in the event he retires, the party to which he belongs shall nomi nate a liberal and a New Dealer. He will not surrender nor willingly acquiesce in the abandonment of what has been called “his program.” This, then, is the cardinal fact with which to approach a solution of the third term issue. If the Democratic party is thoroughly New Deal in its platform and willing to select a candidate who has the ability and the intention of carrying-on the Roosevelt reforms, there is a good chance that the President will retire from office. If, on the other hand, hard-boiled conservatism makes a show of strength among the Democrats and there is doubt about what will happen to the Roosevelt program, then, or, as the lawyers would say, in that event, Mr. Roosevelt will allow himself to become a candidate for re-election. Democratic Party Squabble There is no way of telling today just how long it will take for the trend of the Democratic party to become appar ent. Until it does the indecision will con tinue. There will be, in our opinion, no removal of the President from the ranks of possible candidates until his party makes definite and certain its attitude in 1940. As long as his critics attempt to | deny his leadership and hamstring his program uncertainty will prevail. Of course, it ought to be apparent to Democrats, as it is to others, that the party cannot hope to win in 1940 except it win upon its endorsement and continued approval of the Roosevelt administration. Should it take another position it will inevitably lose the support of the Presi dent and many of his ardent followers as well as the support of independent liber als, and find itself hopelessly divided in the face of the enemy attack. May Give Victory To G. O. P. Just how bitter anti-Roosevelt Demo crats are and whether they prefer to see their party defeated in 1940 rather than go back into office on the Roosevelt coat tail is unknown. There are signs that point both ways. We do not mean to say that the Democrats have the election in the bag, even under a Roosevelt pro gram, but we do not hesitate to say that, under any other policy, the Democrats will present the Presidency to the Repub licans. The developments that occur in the European war may cause all Democrats to coalesce. They may present new issues for the people of the nation to determine. These issues may cut loose party lines. They may divide the Republicans as well as the Democrats and throw the entire political 'situation into a massive puzzle that cannot be solved until the votes are couniea. War May Influence Election The prospects of the Republican party are much better than in 1986 but it has its problems. There are differences that divide the members of the party and while they may be submerged in the com mon desire to unseat the Democrats they will come to the surface whenever a plat form is written or the party attempts to write principles into legislation. In fact, it is apparent to students of American political life that both of the parties are divided into groups that can be roughly labelled conservative and liberal. The long-predicted realignment of the voters into new groupings is still far off and the political battle of 1940 will find the ancient foes at grips again under the same general party desig nations. What Other Editors Say Doing something for the farmer—it is now the popular slogan. A better name for it would be—DOING the farmer. Uplifts, they go in waves, but the finish, it is always the same—somebody gets elected to some thing. I know a farmer down there in Illinois, above Cairo—they call it Egypt—and brother, he has ideas on the Govt, doing something for the farmer. He is a regular guy. Jo, he says, do you know what I’m goin’ to do? And I says, no. Well, he says, maybe they will put me in jail, but I don’t give a hoot; I’m fed up on supervision, I’m going ahead and just farm. The rules on farming, he says, coming from the swivel-chairs i there in Old Spendthrift-Town-on-the-Potomac, you j gotta have a slide rule and a calculus, and; even | then you can’t tell what they want you to do or vice versa. Everything is uplift and supervision. Showing 'a boy how to roll a hoop, that is the play ground J Supervising Commissioner’s job. Boy, we are a ! hot bunch. Goose-stepping is around the comer. Yours, with the low down, JO SERRA Two Sides To Every Question by Lytle Hul1 CLASS HATRED There is too much misuse, in the American vocabulary, of the term “Class Hatred.” There can be no class* hatred where there are not two or more classes, and aince the abolition of slavery in this country there has been but one class. Fortunately for our progress, there is the opportunity for every man and woman to rise as high in the financial, political and soc ial rank as his or her ability and energy warrant. Take a look at “Who’s Who in America” and in vestigate the antecedents of the men and women whose names are inscribed therein. You can prob ably count on the fingers of one hand those persons of wealth or political eminence, whose families have been in possession of either, for more than four generations. Yon will, on the other hand, dis cover that the vast majority are men who have “risen from the ranks” entirely through their own efforts. At one time or another every boy is told that he can be Presi dent of the United States. Almost any one of them can be Presi -V1- -YirYrr ir irn-i dent, and a number of them will be. It depends upon what he is willing to do to “get there.’’ This same principle applies all through American life. Hundreds of poor boys of today will be the big business executives and politic ians of tomorrow. Their daugh ters will be glamor girls and their wives will be society lead ers. There are only two great coun tries on earth where this quick transition is possible and is the rule—Erance and America. Every week a farmer invents a new harvesting appliance and a worker in a chemical plant dopes out some undreamed of process for making life easier. The homeopath makes a fortune with bread pills; someboly coins mil lions by shaving com kernels without lather; an automatic can opener means a yacht for a guy who never even saw a rowboat; a railroad brakeman becomes president of the company which he used to strike against; a new type oif carburetor creates an automobile magnate; and so on ad infinitum. What a wonderful country to live in, where every man and woman with half a brain and lots of ambition and energy and a realization of its possibilities, can go roaring to the top in a quarter of a lifetime. No class barri cades to hold him down socially: no political gates through which he is forbidden to enter, and no law, except that of honesty and straight dealing, to exclude him from the roster of financial somebodies. Today this country and its citi zens, through the misfortune ol others, is offered a tremendous op. portunity. The European nations are at war. Their markets arc being lost because they cannol supply them with goods and al the same time meet their own war needs. Neutral European na tions are beginning to feel the pinch, and the greatest producing country in the world is waiting to fill the gap. Fortunes will be made anl lost; hundreds of nev names will appear among the "successful," and many of those who are today being beguiled inte talking Class Hatred—by the caporings of some crack-brainedl self-styled intellectual who prob (turn to page 8, please) Just A Reminder r .<1 1 Weekly Washington Merry-Go-Round (Trade Mark Registered) by Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen FDR Circumventing Morgenthau, Altmeyer To Increase Old-Age Pensions; British People Grousing. About War Regulations But Not At War Itself; High-Pressure Selling, Small Pay To Agents Shown In Insurance Probe; No Peace For Newlywed Labor Conciliator; McNutt Magnet At Hyde Park. Washington—The ham-and-eggs vote in California and the Bigelow Old-Age campaign in Ohio have caused secret consideration of new pension plans inside the New Deal. This is the tip-off to the meet ing of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Economic Security. Nobody paid much attention to it, but it was one of the most significant meetings held recently. For it discussed ideas of interest ■ to every oldster throughout the United States—namely, an amend ment to the old age pension act at the coming session of Congress. It was this same Inter-Depart mental Committee on Economic Security which drafted the first social security bill in 1935. Rea i son Roosevelt has now received the committee is to draft new plans, and especially to sidetrack his Secretary of the Treasury. Henry Morgenthau, and his Social Security executive, Arthur Alt meyer. Few people know it, but Roose velt favored more generous old age pensions at the last session of Congress. He wanted to in crease government spending; also he wanted to head off “funny i money” schemes in such States as California. However, Morgenthau and Alt meyer were opposed. They are strong for piling up huge pen sion reserves, and did not want to see these reserves evaporate through increased pension pay ments. And before Roosevelt learned what was going on, they | had axed any loosening of old ’jage pensions. Henry Morgenthau is a close friend of Roosevelt’s and the last thing the President wants to do is humiliate him. So instead of reversing Henry at last year’s congressional session, , Roosevelt waited, and revived the Inter Departmental Committee to work out a new plan for pensions. So it is a pretty good bet that something will be done about old age pensions shortly after Con 'gress convenes in January. Paul McNutt Next to Franklin Roosevelt, the man who attracted most attention at the corner-stone laying of the new Roosevelt archives library at Hyde Park was blond, statuesque Paul McNutt. He stood at one side of the room, while various guests clus tered round him—Vincent Astor, Mayor Kelly of Chicago, and Mayor Hague of New Jersey. Glancing toward them( Eugene Casey, of Maryland, remarked: “That man McNutt certainly can turn on the political sex appeal.” British Grousing British censors do not let it get into the news dispatches to the United States, but there is a lot of British criticism of the Chamberlain government. However, it is a unique sort of criticism, and not directed at the Chamberlain policy of delaying the offensive against Germany. In fact, the British people generally concur in the policy of not wast ing lives by wanton attacks .against Germany, but o<f slowly starving Hitler out. Criticism, therefore, centers chiefly around domestic problems. One of these is the red tape surrounding the purchase of gaso line. British motorists have to fill out a lot of blanks and go through various motions when ever they buy a gallon of gas. Another sore spot is the fact that important hospitals and school buildings have been emp tied in order to receive wounded soldiers, and now no soldiers are coming from the front. An other, sorer point is the fact that all the children of London re main separated from their famil ies outside the city. This was done in anticipation of air raids. But there have been no air raids. And while people generally think it is wise to keep the children outside of London, they do an awful lot of British grousing because they can only see their children on occasional week-ends. No Peace Steelman Honeymoons are supposed to be peaceful, but John Steelman’s wasn’t. H« had a serious dispute on his hands, though not with the bride. Steelman is Labor Department’s conciliator. After hi9 recent mar riage he took a trip to the West Coast, and was enjoying the first days of conjugal bliss when the telephone jangled. The longshoremen’s strike had flared up again, and Steelman got into action. By the time he was through with it, his bride greeted him with: “Very glad to meet you, Mr. Steelman.” i Insurance Investigation The Monopoly Committee has investigated a lot of highly con troversial subjects, but probably the most controversial is the ques tion of “industrial insurance.” This is the type of insurance which some firms call “coffin money,” and which is collected in instalments of as low as five and ton cents a week from domestic servants to protect them in case of sickness or death. A ftood of mail regarding the Monopoly Committee’s disclosures came from home-town insurance agents—so many that Senator O’Mahoney, of Wyoming, chair man of the committee, told mem bers of Congress that he would answer the protests. Senator O’Mahoney aid not specify just how the committee would reply, but he has now tak en pains to get the answer into the printed record of his com mittee. It is in the foam of testi mony from two outstanding insur ance executives. Hi p h pressure Boy* The testimony of President Parkinson of the giant Equitable company was highly revealing. Under cross-examination, he ad mitted : That he receives $75,000 a year; that 6,000 of his agents earn an average of only $1,500; that over 31 per cent of them in the New York area make $7,500 or less. That in 1938, Equitable dis charged 2,721 agents and hired 2,045 new ones, many of them working only part-time. Equitable refused to join an inter-company agreement to eliminate part-time agents. That new agents are taught high-pressure sales methods; that in a recent sales contest, nearly $2,000,000 of new insurance, termed “hooey” or “phoney” by the company’s own employees, was written by agents in an effort to win a trip to Miami. Used in the Equitable sales training courses is a company booklet called “Simplified Selling.” It teaches four methods of deal ing with customers: the “boomer ang,” the “admission but,” the “head on,’ and the “passing up.” Some of the advice to insurance salesmen contained in this volume was: ‘“If a prospect says he will take $5,000 and you are trying to sell him $20,000, stop right there and write his application for $5,000. The reason you didn’t sell him $20,000 was due prob ably to your proposal. Close him for $5,000, order out $20,000, and try to deliver it when you •deliver the $5,000.” “When you ask for the signa ture, a good way to make the request is to say, ‘Write your name here as I have written it above.” You note in this state ment we have put two ideas for ward/ writing a name and writ ing it as written above. Since you give the prospect two ideas to think about, he doesn’t give all his attention to the question of signing his name.” Parkinson’s testimony disclosel that Equitable has an abnormally high lapse rate as a result of these practices, and that its in surance has a high net cost. No-Pressure Boys In vivid contrast to this record was the testimony of Arthur Co burn of Southwestern Life. He stated that through careful selec tion of agents and business, Southwestern had cut its lapse Kite by 50 per cent in the last six years and increased the aver age income of its agents from $1,002 to $2,643 a year. Southwestern, the witness de clared, considers sales contests and high pressure methods “detri mental.” It requires agents to keep their lapses below 25 per cent Of the policies they write. As a result( some of the agents chalked! up records of no lapses last year. “Has the net cost of your insurance increased as a result ©f these policies?” Coburn was ask “It has not,” he replied. “We are selling life insurance at a lower cost than vfe would! other 'wise, $1 a thousand. It is defi nitely good business, for us and our policyholders.” Note—Several days after this grilling, Parkinson addressed a group of leading insurance of ficials in New York, and assaileL the Monopoly Committee as a group in which the power of the Government had been placed in the hands of “reckless young men.” Three of the committee members, Senator Borah, Senator King, and Representative Sum ners, are over seventy. Merry-Go-Round In the four years of its oper ation, the Rural Electrification Administration has organizel 681 farmer cooperatives, which in turn have erected 240,000 miles of power lines, which supply cur rent to 750,000 rural homes, schools, churches and business places. , . Handsome, gray-haired Oswald Ryan of the Civil Aero nautics Authority won’t eat in the special restaurant reserved for officials in the Commerce Depart ment building. He takes his noon day victuals in the main cafe teria because “it’s the only place I can get any privacy.” . . . Another big shot who pushes a tray is Admiral Emory Land, chairman of the U. S. Maritime Commission. . . Representative Sol Bloom, of New York, former director of the George Washing ton Bi-Centennial Commission, believes ip atmosphere. There are 22 pictures of the Father of Hie Country in Bloom’s office—all different. (Copyright, 1939, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.) THE byW.E AUGlimmiim ■afc as-■---__ DOGS The most unselfish friend in this selfish world—the one that never deserts a man and never proves ungrateful or treacherous —is a dog. I think it was that sage and philosopher, Voltaire, who said, “The best thing about a man is his dog.’ My old and good friend, Albert Payson Terhune, the dog fancier, who has written much about these good friends of the human race, insists that dogs are “four-footed gentlemen,” and man’s most ac ceptable companion. As a dog lover I agree with all these sentiments, but as a physi cian, there is another side to the ; picture, which I am also forced to observe. Dogs do carry disease, and the | very fact that they are so close | to man makes them all the more • j dangerous. For that reason, their | masters should attend them prop erly, and watch them closely. Dogs can infect man with a form of mange, with a species of tape worm which may cause cysts, and with a less dangerous type of the same worm which can prostrate one. They carry fleas unless kept clean by frequent baths, and these baths and these insects frequently are the cause of epi demics, such as the bubonic plague. Dogs should not be encouraged in any affectionate demonstrations such as licking the hands and face of their owners. Rabies or hydrophobia is a most dangerous disease which dogs can convey to human beings, and the mortality rate is exactly 100 per cent. I have never known a case to recover, unless immedi ately treated with the Pasteur serum, which was discovered in 1884 by the French savant of that name. j Dogs are responsible for 85 per icent of the hydrophobia cases; wolves, through bitten dogs, cat | tie and men, for 14 per cent, and cats for 1 per cent. I The germs after entering the body ultimately reach the brain, causing convulsions and death, usually in from three to five days. As a rule paralysis precedes death. 1 once traveled in a first class compartment on a train from Bombay to Lanowli, where the Indian Government maintain ed a Pasteur Institute. My only companion was a Brit ish army officer, who said to me, after we were locked in for the night, “Old chap, you know I was bitten by a wolf while hunting, and am going to the institute for the Pasteur treatment. I feel a bit queer, and if I start to act strange do not shoot me, but see that I get to the hospital.” He did act queer, in that he was very nervous, so I remained awake all night watching him, not knowing what to expect, but I delivered him safely in the morn ing. He ultimately recovered, due to the work of Pasteur, whom the world never sufficiently appreciat ed for what he did for his fellow I men. “None love their country, but who love their home.” —Coleridge.
The Alleghany News and Star-Times (Sparta, N.C.)
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Nov. 30, 1939, edition 1
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