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ALLEGHANY STAR*'TIMES OVER HALF A CENTURY OF SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE OF ALLEGHANY COUNTY Thursday, January 16, 1941. 52nd. Year. No. 21. Sparta, N, C. pjiintnmmu 1 PETTENGILL "The Gentleman from Indiana’ The Appeal To Fear About 44,000, : 000 Americans have become of j age since World :War No. 1 ended \ in 1918. Few of | them have had ■ occassion to (study the propa (ganda that sent ^American soldi ers abroad in 19 17-1918. Those who were of age at the time have also forgotten much. Twenty-two yjMuw is a long time. Propaganda has reached new heights of effectiveness, but it is as. old as war itself. In 1870 Bisnarck deliberately altered a telegram so that the Prussians thought their King, and the French thought their ambassador, h$d been insulted. This made both nations mad and set them at each other’s throats, which was just what Bismarck wanted. , In 1898 President William Mc Kinley asked Congress to declare war on Spain. But he concealed from Congress and the country the text of the latest Spanish note - -Which promised the independence * of Cuba. And a good many thou sand Americans died of bullets, tropical fever and canned horse. When that war was over a com mission of naval and army officers investigated the blowing up of the Maine. Not a single officer was convinced that the Spanish gov ernment had had anything to do with the explosion. However, it gave us an emotional jag, a small war and the Philippines. The plain people who do the dying never hear the truth about war propaganda until the archives are opened to historians. And so, "in peace the sons bury their fathers; in war, the fathers bury their sons.” Then there is the propaganda ■of perfectly sincere people who believe what their own minds conjure. They fear their fears. Although there is no case in history of a nation conquering across an ocean another nation of anywhere nearly equal streng th, the fears of conquest of this country from overseas is as old as timid souls have been in our ‘ Trtfffgt. The' Milquetoast family tree is ancient. In 1807 Fisher Ames dipped his pen into the future and, far as human eye could see, wrote, "Great Britain is fighting our battles, and France is combating for the power to enslave and plunder us and all the world.” France that time! During the Ci vil War, in violation of the Mon roe Doctrine, France tried to con quer Mexico. In 1808 United States Senator Pickering got the heebie-jeebies and rushed into print with , “Na poleon is the most ruthless tyrant that has scourged the European world since the Roman Empire fell. Suppose the British Navy were destroyed and France tri umphed over Great Britain. To the other titles of Bonaparte would then be added that of Emperor of the Two Americas.” And these now familiar words, although first employed by Pick ering 182 years ago, “For what legions of soldiers could he not send to the United States in the thousands of British ships, were they also at his command.” The fact that Britain with all her thousands of ships had not daunted the iron courage of George Washington was overlook ed by the shaking Senator. This same old scarecrow was dusted off very effectively in 19 17. We had an official propaganda department then, called the “Com mittee on Public Information.” The story of George Creel and. his committee has just been pub lished in a book “Words that Won the War.” On page 98 of that book is a reproduction of an advertisement issued by Creel’s Committee in 1917. It is called “The German Idea.” It shows a map of what was once a proud United States. It is now “New Prussia” with cities renamed “New Potsdam” (New York), “New Berlin” (Washington, D. C.), “Hyphen burg,” etc. t Below the advertisement you read, “Shall this war make Ger many’s word the highest law in le world? The German idea must so completely crushed that it will never again rear its veno mous head. It’s a fight, as the President said, ‘to the last dollar, the last drop of blood.’ Then ap pear the words, “George Creel, Chairman, The Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, the Secre tary of the Navy.” It was for stuff like this that our „ government spent taxpayers’ money 23 years ago. This book and several others ought to be read. So much as a sidelight on to day’s propaganda to get us in a second time. As propaganda to keep us out, I quote Winston Churchill’s advice to his own people in 1934: We must be safe from undue foreign pressure. We ■ ■ ■ Our wo r I d Greatest Naval and Air Battle London.—Three British warships, including the 9,100-ton cruiser Southampton and the 23,000-ton air craft carrier Illustrious, were damaged off Sicily on January 10 in the war’s greatest air-naval battle, an admiralty communique reveals. The armiralty said Italo-German forces lost 12 or more planes and one destroyer in the engagement in which the British 1,335-ton destroyer Gallant also was damaged by a mine or torpedo, but safely made port. The British claimed victory in the engagement, asserting that the Italo-German attack failed in its purpose* which was to destroy a large and important convoy of war ma terials for Greece. “The convoy . . . was carried out according to plan,” the admiralty said. The four day delay in the admiralty communique indicated that the Illustrious and Southampton as well as the Gallant reached port for repairs. • • • Home Brand of One-Man Power Atlanta.—Shock-haired Eugene Talmadge return ed to Georgia’s governorship Tuesday and drove swift ly toward one-man domination of state affairs by invoking an obscure statute to nullify powers of hold over officials. • • • Hot Words Over Lend-Lease Washington.—Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D.), Mont., leader of the Senate non-interventionists, in a radio discussion Sunday night, said that the New Deal’s foreign policy as embraced in the lend-lease bill, is to “plow under every fourth American boy.” President Roosevelt, at the Tuesday press confer ence, said two or three foes of the lend-lease bill had employed the expression and that he felt it was time to kill it. "I regard it as the most untruthful, as the most dastardly, most unpatriotic thing that has ever been said,” he declared, his face grim and his eyesi flashing. “That really is the rottenest thing that has j been said in public life in my generation.” He gavel correspondents permission to quote him dircelty. j Wheeler promptly countered that “apparently the j President has lost his temper.”* • • • British Hopes and Courage Rise London.—An air ministry statement that R. A. F. night fighters are “beginning to show results” against nocturnal raiders and the admiralty’s announcement of one of the smallest week’s shipping losses of the war bolstered hopes of Britons last night of overcomingj eventually the two chief menaces to their embattled I island. Monday night’s massive fire-bomb raid on the i southwest port of Plymouth, the target of 10,000 j incendiaries and “many tons” of high explosives, show ed, however, that Britain has far to go in coping with the night raiders—and the air ministry admitted as much. • • • Grand Roundup Without Horses Cairo, Egypt.—The crew of a British motorboat, directed by patrolling aircraft, has snatched the Italian Blackshirt General Francesco Argentino from a hiding place by “the water’s edge” in north Africa near Tobruk, Libya, British middle eastern headquarters announce. The number of Italian general declared to ] have been seized in the fighting in Egypt and the Brit ish counter-offensive in Libya thus was increased to eleven. A twelfth and the most picturesque of all, General Annibale “Electric Whiskers” Bergonzoli, is reported still hunted through the desert and along the Mediterranean coast. A hurricane pilot sighted “a small party of Italian officers hiding by the water’s edge” two days ago, the statement said, and advised a naval unit, which captured the party, including Argentino. A single British pilot also was declared j to have spotted 150 armed Italians near the coast, fired warning bursts and “ushered the captives to a British military unit” much in the manner of a cow pony rounding up steers. • • • Keep Those Plants Running Washington.—The government stepped into a labor dispute involving a defense industry yesterday and demanded that strike-closed plants in Ohio and Michigan be re-opened. The government’s position in the Ohio and Michigan strikes, involving five units and about 3,500 employees of the Eaton Manufacturing Company, was stated by James F. Dewey, a Labor Department conciliator, who said that he would insist as a “defense measure” that the plants be re-opened and that differences be adjusted after the plants were running. “Billy’s Goat,” This Saturday Night at 7:30 The Sparta school faculty play this coming Saturday night prom ises bo be something of what you’d guess from the title, with some surprises added that you wouldn’t guess. So the school auditorium should be well filled to witness a sparkling perform ance. She Kisses Them Off to the Army From Knoxville, Tenn., comes the story of a pert brunette who strode into the railroad station on the arm of a draftee leaving for Fort Oglethorpe. , There was a long embrace and 'a farewell kiss. The train pulled away. The girl patted her curls in place and remarked? “Well, that’s the second man I’ve sent to the army in less two weeks.’’ Better draft her for a recruit ing sergeant. cannot afford to confide the safety of our country to the passions or the panic of any foreign nation which may be facing some des perate crisis. All history has prov en the peril of being dependent upon a foreign state for home Another New Business Block I For Sparta At long last a part of that space between Governor Dough ton’s office and Sparta Garage is to have a new business build ing. The ground has been brok en and is being prepared for the foundations of a building spon sored by Ben Reeves and his father, it is reported. In the building line the new sandwich shop and eating place at the Shell Station down near the Prison Camp road is com pleted and in full operation. Also, not so spectacular but very important, are four addition al new work benches in Castevens Motor Company’s shop, as well as a mezzanine floor storage room that will greatly increase their capacity for stocking parts and for caring for service jobs. Sparta sees considerable build ing month by month, and it all helps in many ways. The grading around the new County Office building helps the appearance greatly, and the Wo man’s Club plans their next meeting in the new building next week. defense instead of upon one’s right arm.” SAMUEL 6. PETTENGILL Gov. Broughton Inaugurated in Colorful Ceremony Last Thursday North Carolina greeted a new Governor when J. Melville Broughton was inaugura ted in a colorful ceremony at Ral eigh. Police estimated that 125, 000 persons gathered in the state capital to witness the mammoth parade which followed the ad ministering of the oath of office. The new cheif executive, a red carnation in the buttonhole of his morning coat, took his oath of office before more than 4,000 per sons who filled every available im;h of floor space in Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium. Then, in deliberate, careful terms, he outlined a legislative program for his four-year admin istration, pledging his support to President Roosevelt’s social pro-, gram and urging the legislature | to adopt a resolution praising Mr. J Roosevelt’s stand on aid to Brit ain and for national defense. The 52-year-old attorney, first Raleigh native to become Gov-; ernor, took over the leadership' of state at ltf)4 p. m., when j he answered “1 do” to an oath : administered by Cheif Justice! Walter P. Stacy. Immediately following the cer- J emony, the new Governor andj his party left the auditorium with: a 19-gun salute booming and he | took his place on a reviewing j stand to review the inaugural i parade. A squadron of booming obser-i vation planes and a blimp flew I overhead. A police estimate placed the | crowd at 125,000-—perhaps the' largest throng ever to gather in Raleigh. At the conclusion of the pa rade, Broughton received the state’s great seal and the keys to the chief executive’s office from the retiring Governor, Clyde R. Hoey. The ceremony in the Capi tal building was Hoey’s swan song. He was described by Broughton as one of North Caro lina’s most popular and capable governors, and a few moments later left Raleigh as a private citizen to resume the practice of law in his home-town of Shelby. Broughton’s inaugural speech was optimistic, but contained many so ber references to the world crisis. It left no doubt that the new Governor will co-operate with Mr. Roosevelt’s internal and foreign policies. The 31st North Carolina chief executive elected by the people made 46 specific recommenda tions to the General Assembly. He asked that the sales tax be removed from food bought for home consumption; urged that slot machines be banned and for tified wines restricted; advocated a retirement plan for school teachers and all other state em ployees; said he favored the ad dition of a 12th grade and a ninth month to the school system; and expressed his opposition to the diversion of money from the high way fund to the general fund. Some highlights of his speech: “I have no panaceas to offer, no magic formulas to propose. Sound government is the truest liberalism; sane progress the best conservatism.” “I believe wholeheartedly in the constructive form of govern ment given the people of North Carolina by the Democratic par ty.” “1 am free from any obligation of commitments that can hinder me ... I shall be actuated by no partisan or factional spirit.” “If there are feuds, factions or blocks that will hinder or thwart the work of the General Assembly, I have not heard of them and do not believe that they exist.” “I . . . urge you gentlemen . ... to conclude your session as early as may be, expedient in keeping with the interest of the' state.” “North Carolina operates on a balanced budget. We do not pro pose to deviate in the slighest degree from this sound policy.” “I do not recommend that there be any material or substantial changes in the levies fixed by the 1939 assembly.” "Much of our primary road sys tem must be entirely revamped or rebuilt if we would meet the ex panding business and traffic con ditions of our state.” “Above all, we should adhere strictly to the principle of a state I highway system.” I “The relationship between capi tal and labor in North Carolina THE NEW HOUSEKEEPER Fire Destroys Three Blocks In Avery Town Most of the business district! of Newland, the county seat of Avery, was destroyed by fire last i Thursday night. The blaze started about 8:30 o’clock in a cafe and quickly spread to other buildings. The structures along three blocks of one side of Tittle street, the main 1 thoroughfare, were destroyed. No casualties were reported. Damage will run into many! thousands of dollars, town of ficials said. The fire raged for about an hour before a fire truck arrived. An engine, with firemen, arrived about 9:30 o’clock from Spruce Pine, about 20 miles away. About 10 o’clock a truck arrived from Boone, 25 miles away, and about 10:30 o’clock one arrived from Elizabethton, Tenn., 40 miles away. Newland, the Avery county seat, has practically no fire de partment. A volunteer fire de partment has no truck but has been using a hose that is kept at the jail. By 10:30 o’clock the blaze was under control. Completely destroyed were Craven’s Store, C. L. Hughes’ Store, the Daniels Cafe, the Cal loway Store, the Hughes’ Funeral Home, the Skyland Chevrolet Company, the Yates Barber Shop, the local Masonic hall and the Sanitary Cafe. Much of the contents and equipment of the business struc tures burned were saved. Although no residences burned, ithe contents of numerous ones located on Tittle street were tak en out for fear fire would spread from the business district. is remarkably harmonious. In creasing growth of our industrial establishments makes it important that such relationship shall con tinue.” “I am of the opinion that the highway patrol should be relieved of any tax-collecting duty and; should devote its attention ex- ( clusively to patroling the high-; ways ... I shall also urge that| the highway patrol . . . be re moved wholly from the realm ofj politics.” “I urge upon the General As sembly and upon all the agencies of the state the fullest co-opera tion with the federal government! in those undertakings which effect the welfare and progress of our state.” “North Carolina believes in . . . that great humanitarian and bril liant* exponent of social reform, the President of the United States.” "Strikes affecting essential war or defense industries are properly under condemnation. . . I pledge my fullest co-operation to capital and labor in helping to preserve fair and harmonious relation ships.” The governor-elect and the re tiring governor rode in an open car to the auditorium. Behind them, in another car, came Mrs. Some Highlights Of the President’s Bill in Congress Following are some highlights of the bill introduced in Congress last Friday to carry out the j President’s plan of lending or leasing military equipment to the j democracies: “Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, the President i may, from time to time, wThen i he deems it in the interest of national defense, authorize the Secretary of War, the Secretary: of Navy or the head of any other department or agency of the. Government: “1. To manufacture in arsen- j als, factories and shipyards under ; their jurisdiction, or otherwise, procure any defense article for the Government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States. “2. To sell, transfer, exchange, lease, lend or otherwise dispose of to any such Government any defense article. “3. To test, inspect, prove, repair, outfit, recondition or other wise to place in good working order any defense article for any such Government. “4. To communicate to any such Government any defense in- j formation pertaining to any de fense article furnished to such Government, “5. To release for export any defense article to any such Gov ernment.” “The terms and conditions upon which any such foreign Govern ment receives any aid authorized . . . shall be those which the President deems satisfactory, and the benefit to the United States may be payment or repayment in kind or property, or any other direct or indirect benefit which the President deems satisfactory.” “All contracts or agreements made for the disposition of any defense article . . . shall contain a clause by which the foreign Government . undertakes that it will not, without the consent of the President, transfer title to or possession of such defense article . . . by gift, sale or otherwise, or permit its use by anyone not an officer, employe or agent of such foreign Government.’’ The Secretaries of War and Navy are hereby authorized to purchase or otherwise acquire arms, ammunition and implements of war produced within the juris diction of any country . . .when ever the President deems such purchase or acquisition to be necessary in the interests of the defense of the United States.” Broughton, Mrs. Hoey and Miss Isabel Hoey. The big guns and troops from Fort Bragg, and some 2,000 other marchers, preceded i members of the legislature and state officials in the parade. A clean windshield is as nec essary for driving as a clear head. Fire Tragedies Take Three Alleghany Lives Last Friday, January 10, twai lives perished in flames which de stroyed Emory Edwards’ home, and Sunday night another life wag claimed by the ravage of fire, all three in Edwards Cross Roads section north of Sparta. Friday, around two o’clock Em ory Edwards went to visit his son James, three-fourths of a mile away, and was gone about half an hour. On his return he found his home in flames, and in the flames there perished his invalid wife, Betty, 66, and an invalid daughter, Mattie, 33. The house was a two-story frame structure and the Wife and daughter were in their beds on the lower floor, but unable to leave them. No furniture or clothing was saved from the burning house. One neighbor saw the fire, but too late to save anything. Funeral services for the mother and daughter were held by Revs. Handy, Shaw, and Moxley at the old Nichols home Sunday morning, and interment was in the Nich ols family graveyard near Bay wood. On Sunday night in another Edwards home, (though no kin to the former) right at Edwards Cross Roads Mrs. Lena Gentry noticed smoke coming from her brother’s room on the second floor of the home where she and her brother, Charlie Edwards, lived. She rushed upstairs but was unable to gain entrance to the rooms. She then called to the neighbors for help, and they suc ceeded in entering and extinguish ing the flames, but not before Charlie Edwards hed been burned badly aftetft his legs and body. He was taken at once to a North Wilkesboro hospital but passed away in spite of all that was done, at the age of 50. It is supposed that the fire started from a burning cigarette falling on the bed or possibly from coals from an open fireplace. The room Mr. Edwards occupied was the only part of the house damaged. He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Lena Gentry of Edwards Cross Roads and Mrs. Zollie Carson of Raleigh and Sparta, and one brother, Eidridge Edwards of Galax. Funeral service was held at Zi on Primitive Baptist Church on Tuesday afternoon by Rev. L. F. Strader and Rev Charlie Kilby. Burial was in the Edwards family graveyard. Alleghany Men To Armed Services Of the five men from Alle ghany to be inducted into the U. S. Army on January 20 it seems that three will be volunteers and two will come from the regis tration list. Registrants who have express ed a desire to volunteer for the army include William Claude Farrington of Glade Valley; Ray Columbus Greene of Ennice; Rex Lee Parsons of Piney Creek; Joseph Mack Andrews and John Solomon Choate of Sparta. This makes a total of five pros pective soldiers, but it is reported that Andrews has already enlist ed in the army for a period of three years, and Choate, who is a Negro, will not be eligible to go along in this second group. The following men have volun teered for service in the navy: James Maynard Landreth of Piney Creek; Connie J. Wright and Troy Wagoner of Ennice, and Charles Shepherd of Scottville. Lucille Ford Circle Met Tuesday Night The Lucille Ford Circle of the Baptist W. M. U. met Tuesday night at the home of Mrs. T. Roy" Burgiss. Mrs. Ben Reeves was program leader and those taking part on the program were Mrs. J. G. Mitchell, Mrs. J. C, Reli han, Mrs. R. L. Hickerson, Mrs, Clennel Richardson, Mrs. V. W, Sears and Mrs. Hugh Choate. After the program a short social period was held and refreshmetttf were served by the hostess. February meeting will be held «f | the home of Mrs. V. W. Sears, with Mrs. T. Roy Burgess ift | charge of the program.
The Alleghany News and Star-Times (Sparta, N.C.)
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Jan. 16, 1941, edition 1
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