Evening Star Newspaper, September 9, 1928, Page 83

lg nie, Salvador, Serbia, Siam, Spain, § | e ILLUSTRATED, FEATURES MAGAZINE SECTION he Sunday Sfaf. Part 7—8 Pages 4 WASHING O8N, B« SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 9, 1928 FICTION i / WILBUR WRIGHT Landing in his glider/at Kill Devil Hills in 1901. Envoys of 50 Governments to Gather in Washington and Celebrate Achieve- ments of Brothers Who Revo- lutionized Modern World With Their Successful Use of Airplane. BY DON GLASSMAN. OUNDATIONS of the republic will rock with “jubilation in De- cember, when plenipotentiaries from 50 countries arrive in | Washington, dip national colors and doff hats to the memory of an American achievement—the first man flight. Qrville Wright and his brother, the late Wilbur Wright, Yankees | both, tinkerers, dreamers, bicycle mechanics, aeronauts, gentlemen, | scientists, sons of an American small town—these are thg men to be honored by mankind. While a dozen bureaus of the American Government strain nerve | and, fiber in hastening completion of plans for the twenty-fifth anni- | versary celebration of the world's first flight, foreign powers hold | copnsel in privy for the purpose of selecting their. most outstanding | “alir-minded” citizens as emissaries to the first international confer- exce on civil aeronautics. Executives in charge of the international congress comprise a | cabinet committee, consisting of Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis, chairman; Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur and Secretary of | Commerce William F. Whiting. | The Wright memorial committee, born by act of Congress, con- | sists of the Assistant Secretaries o’ Aviation and is subordinate to ! the cabinet committee. The congressional act is being actively ad. ministered by the Assistant Secretaries—W. P. MacCracken, Depart ment of Commerce; Edward P. Warner, Navy Department, and F. Trubee Davison of the Army. | * » P E VERY country having friendly rela- tions with this Government has al- ready been invited to attend the con- | g gress. which begins December 12 and ex- | geo; tends through December 14, The De- | partment of State, through its repre- | sentatives scattered over, the earth. has acquainted foreign governments with the salient purpose of the gathering Where any nation has. transmitted an | bt aviation official reply, it was full of deep inter- | # T remains now the final draft- | _So. three days will be given to speech- | ing of a program to be followed by the | Making, sightseeing about the Capital| congress. This business is in the hands |and an escha of ideas. Just one of the Wright committee, and as soon | ¥eck before Christmas, Washington will as such information is available to|have taken on its usual gayety and | ~merican diplomats abroad, it will be|Color. and Congressmen will ~begin relayed to the proper authorities, who |Prer will thus be guided in the selection of | hon s delegates On_streets of the Capital will be| Some nations already have tendered |seen Orville Wright, actually the first | tiseir acceptance. and riow wait only for n to pilot a heavier-than-air machine. | & transcript of the program d you, he will be seen, for it is! When the list of emissaries is an- he will not be heard. As modest nounced it is expected to include the | e was in 1903, when he and names of leading aeronauts, aces, nav- | brother Wilbur_shocked the natives of igators, designers and manufaciurers.| Dare County. N. C., by winging over Each nation will send its best, and these | the Kill Devil sand dunes. men, assembled. will make up the most| At the end of the fourteenth day of | distinguished group of aviation experts| December, after reverberating orations | in_the world will have died down to whispers, there These countries are expected to be| will remain 72 hours before the end represented | of this great testimonial to American Alban’a, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, | genius. Orville Wright made his flight Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada. Chile, { on December 17, 1903, and, on the| China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, | twenty-fifth anniversary of that date, | Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican | it is hoped to lay the corner stone of a | Republic, “cuador, Egypt, Esthonia, Fin- | perpetual memorial at Kill Devil Hills, land. France, Germany. Great, Britain,| N. C., in the presence of delegates to Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hondura, | the congress and leading Americans. | Hungary, Irish Fr. ' State, italy, Japan Tatvia, Luxemburg. Mexico. Netherland, Nicaragua, Nor a~ Panama. Paragua Persia, Peru, Poland, Portugal. R: den, Switzerland, Turkey, Venezuela and Croatia. American diplomats have been in- cted to inform foreign nations that | gates may speak before the congress | on some topic dealing with civil aero- | nautics, This phase of the celebration | alone is expecte” to crystallize thoughts ! of the best minds into a practical com- | pendium, a sort of guide to the future | Uruguay, Kill Devil Hills, if it materializes, will at best be merely demonstrative. There, along the windy Atlantie coast. hearts' we- of the world will travel ty see the first |a ons for spending holidays with | A close-up of | the Wright plane at Fort Myer in 1908. Photograph taken at Wrigh in 1927. Orville Wright making a and 2% minutes at Fort Myer in 1908. of Orville Wright t Field, Dayton, Ohio, record flight of 1 hour Launching the Wright glider at Kill Devil Hills in 1902. Wright glider and camp at Kill Devil Hills in 1903. Official Photos From Air Corps. or the will erect an enduring shrine, so_that peoples of the earth may; repair there and do homage to the Wrights. So much can be said for the tentative program of the congress, Committees, subcommittees and individuals are roring neither time nor energy in: calTyng out the purpose of Congress and” the Nation. “The national con- science has suddenly felt a painful wound—a retaliatory whack on its, finer inteiligence for tardy recognition’ the stupendous significance of what two mail-fown bicycle mechanics have. done for the honor of their country. ATTERLY, the prestige of the Wrights has risen to nealms re- served for rare spirits, for Michael- angelos, Leonardo da Vincis and Thom- as Edisons. They not only founded science. but gave birth to all salient principles. Tiaey not only theorized, they risked their necks in contraptions that would be ordered instantly off the field of any modern airpor What would be 2 suitable memorial 0 the Wrights at Kill Devil Hills? That simple question has given ris to a debate among aeronaptic, milita civil and architectural experts. While all parties having interest' in this mat- ter are agreed that the memorial is: necessary and should be erected witi out delay, the vast diffezence of opinion has thrown snags inio the plan that stand solidly against compromising forces. Fully to understand, it is necessary to recall a piece of legislation passed by Congress March 2, 1927, introduced in the Senate by Senator Bingham of Connecticut, and in the House by Representative Warren of North Caro- lina. The act reads “That there shall be erectad on Kill Devil Hill, at Kitty Hawk, in the State of North Carclina, a monument in com- memoration of the first successful driven airplane flight, achieved by Or- ville Wright on December 17, 1903; and a commission to be composed of the Secretary of War, Secretary of the Navy [ 1 is | stene laid or the first spade !umed,! and Secretary of Commerce is hereby spot marked, where mankmd‘{ created this act. “Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the said commission to select a suit- able location for said monument, which shall be as near as possible to the actual site of said flight; to acquire the, neces- sary land therefor; to superintend the | erection of said monument; and to make all necessary arrangéments for | the unveiling and " dedication of same { when it shall have been completed. | “Sec. 3. That such sums as Congress may hereafter appropriate for the pur- poses of this act. are hereby authorized to be appropriated. “Sec. 4. Design and plans for the monument shall be subject to the Com- mission of Fine'Arts and the joint com- mittee on the Library.” 1. The phrase “on Kill Kitty Hawk,” might lead one to be- ! lieve that Kill Devil Hill is at the back door of Kitty Hawk. but, in reality, the road separating this famous’ metropolis { of 250 souls and the barren sand dune | is about five miles long. | When the Wrights made their epochal | | power flights, they did not live in the | {town of Kitfy Hawk, but out on the| . sand waste, near the brow of the hill.| And the nearest habitation was a little | {settlement of United States Const | Guardsmen, who manned the famous | Kill Devil Hills Station. The Wrights | did live at Kitty Hawk while making | their glider fiights, in 1900. But they | found power flights were better suited | to the terrain near Kill Devil Hills} Station. to carry out the purposes of | Devil Hill at; 'URSUANT to that act, the Wright ' memorial committee began mak- ing plans for selecting and erecting at ¥ x % i i | | | monument. Treasury Department archi- | { tects, following suggestions of the.com- | mittee, drew a design for a_combina- tion beacon light and Coast Guard sta- tion. 1In such wise, the memoral would be almost wholly utilitarian. When completed, the design met with the ap- The pilgrimage from Washington to| human attempt in all history at power- | Proval of the cabinet committe. The| Secretaries submitted the following re- port to President Coolidge: “In our opinion, it is desirable that' fa L5 T Fe P Gt the purpose of a memorial and at the same time have a utilitarian function connected with aerial flight or with its history. “We recommend that the memorial to the first flight take the form of a combined Coast Guart station and a marine or aerial lighthouse, to be erected in immediate proximity to the site of the present Coast Guard station at Kill Devil Hills. Members of the crew of this station gave invaluable ssistance to the Wrights in preparing ir machine for 1ts wrials in 1903, and e among witnesses of the first flight. “The offices of the supervising ar- chitect of the Treasury Department and Bureau of Lighthouses have prepared a design of a modest but attractive structure, including a high tower—— feet high, and a Coast Guard station | and dwelling of about the usual size to be constructed of native field stone. “We further recommend that there chall be erceted upon the actual site of the first flight, as nearly as it can be determined, a granite shaft or other- wise suitable marker, with a bronze tablet bearing appropriate inscription. This marker would be about one-half mile from the Coast Guard station. “The estimated total cost of the me- morial building and shaft with its tablet is approximately $100,000. (Signed) “DWIGHT F. DAVIS. “HERBERT HOOVER. “CURTIS D. WILBUR.” Representative Warren, acting on be- half of his constituents, noticed a sud- den lapse in official activity, and, upon inquiry, found that the Commission of Fine Arts had disapproved the design drawn up by Treasury architects and the Bureau of Lighthouses. Charles Moore, chairman of the Com- mission of Fine Arts, told Congressman Warren that the commission having charge of acquiring the site and prepar- ing the plans, “adheres to its original proposition that a life-saving station incorporating flying lights and light- house be erected on Albemarle Sound, one-half mile from the place of flight.” Furthermore: “The Commission of Pine Arts has been guided in its rejection of plan: gtructure be erecle’ which will serve for a new life-saving station by the laying d plain wording of the act, namely, that a ‘monument. shall be erected on Kill Devil Hill" The commission does not regard a life-saving station on Albe- marle Sound as complying with the act of Congress, and unless the Secre- taries shall abandon their decision as to a life-saving station and adhere to what seems to be the plain intent of the law, I do not see how a program can be framed, that will produce a monument on Kill Devil Hill. * * * “Nowhere do I find that there is actual need for lights in connection with this monument, although if they should be erected they will be main- tained. (Signed) “CHARLES P. MOORE, Chairman.” A EFENDERS of the lighthouse plan then pointed out that Kill Devil Hill is a mobile sand dune; that it is moving away from the original site of the Wright flight and, if left alone, would soon disappear into the sound, swallowed out of sight. The cost of anchoring this sand dune to mother earth would surely be tremendous, for it would mean erection of a retaining | wall thousands of feet in perimeter. In | fact, the cost of the wall itself might exceed the congressional appropriation. | But wait. F. Trubee Davison, Assis- | tant Secretary of War, acquainted Con- | gressman Warren with another inter- pretation, to-wit: “* « * The duty of initiating the | memorial resides in the Cabinet Com- | | mission and not in the Commission of | { Fine Arts; the design is subject to their |approval from an artistic standpoint | Jonig, . %4« i | “As a matter of fact, the Cabinet ! Commission has already decided on the | character of the memorial and has | | delegated to Assistant Secretaries in | charge of aircraft activities, War, Navy, | and Commerce, the duty of carrying it | !into effect.” | gressional bill came to light. Said the rider: “The office of the Quartermaster | General shall receive appropriation of | 25,000 for the purpose of initiating irveys, gvestigating condiiions and 0 a program for a national ' Then a significant rider in the. con- | stalled AND The Wright glider turning over with Orville Wright aboard. Photo taken at Kitty Hawk, N. C,, in 1911. |open competition, to which architects, | designers and artists should be invited | to submit plans for a memorial at Kill Devil Hills.” The winning design wint receive a prize of $5,000. So the Design Branch, Construction Service, Engineering Division of the | Quartermaster General's Office, was | charged with the specific duty of lay- ing down a program for the competition. Surveying the business at hand, that office drew a suggestive sketch for com- petitors and weighed the merits of arguments advanced by proponents and opponents of the lighthouse plan. The report framed was: “After a thorough investigation by this office, it appears that the opinion of the Commission of Fine Arts is well taken, and there appears to be no need for utilitarian elements entering into the memorial as designed by the Cabinet Commission, except that the Coast Guard would be very glad to, in this way, secure a reconstruction of | their present station. * * ¢ “In the flat Kill Devil country, any memorial to be erected in the shape 10( a tower should take advantage of |elevation and be placed on a hill. The fact Kill Devil Hill is the point from which the first successful flight wes actually launched would make this site | definite. “Our attention has been called to the ! fact that two lighthouses now guard this locality at a distance of about 35 miles apart. Kill Devil is approximately midway between these two lights, and whereas the Lighthouse Bureau has unofficially stated that it would not op- | pose the erection of a lighthouse at this | point, it does not consider that such a beacon would be of any particular ad- vantage. “As to an aviation beacon at Kill Devil Hills, chiefs of the Airways Di- vision, Department of Commerce, and Air Division of the Mail Service have | stated that this point is far from any contemplated or existing alrway. They point out that any well lighted struc- ture at this point would be useful to fiyers following the coast. However, in flying from point to point it is a prin- ciple to avoid the coast if possible. “This office believes that the memorial should be a monument, simple, massive and dignified, and of a height to be Idlstlngu!shed at considerable distances. Such a monument might or might not be illuminated. Lighting could be by | floodlights thrown on the monument or a regulation aviation beacon light in- led as part of the monument design. ‘A simple monument of marble or granite of the kind suggested would cost approximately $100,000. It is further suggested that the designs called for include the superstrucjure only, for which $90,000 .slw‘uld allowed and $10,000 reserved for construction of | suitable foundations. This will relieve | competitors from the necessity of de- | signing foundations.” * | * % X% [W! ELL, what do the people living near Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills | want? They already have formed the Kill Devil Hills Memorial Association. and through their spokesman, W. O. Saunders, president, editor of the Eliza- beth City Independent, vouchsafe the information: “‘The Commission of Fine Arts prop- erly rejected plans of a practical engi- neer to hammer a work of art into | purely utilitarian_structure; the com- mission couldn't by any stretch of its imagination see a Wright Memorial in a boathouse. “The corner stone for the Wright Memorial -should be laid not later than December 17, 1928, commemorating the | first quarter century of aviation prog- | ress. But Washington, with its numer- |ous bureaus and endless red tape, is making little progress in carrying out the act authorizing that monument.” Early this year Representative War- ren, pleading for a Wright Memorial before his assembled colleagues, told of telegram from Frank Stick, Inter- | aken, N. J,, saying: “My associates and I are greatly in- terested in your bill for a m‘::um-. u the first airplane flight. We own Kill Devil Hills and will gladly deed these hills and adjacent land required for | memorial and reservation to the Gov- | ernment without cost.” | Since then, however, this land tract as been deeded to the Kill Devil Hills Memorial Association, which holds it |in trust pending a claim by the Gov- | ernment. I The association boasts three planks 1in its platform: 1. To make the pro- posed monument accessible to el \ America by motor. 2. To provide a | suitable airport at Kill Devil Hills. 1 3. To hold annually at Kill Devil Hills appropriate exercises commemorating the first flight. “I have visions,” Representative | Warren said in the House, “that after i this memorial is erected the Govern- | ment will create there a national park tor a national monument. I na- | tions of the earth will be invited to its | dedication, and that the President of |the United States will be present.” North Carolinians would have near | Kill Devil Hills a model on the very ground where the Wrights ex- perimented, flew and lived. In ad- dition, they want a memorial whose proportions would surely outstretch a mere shaft of marble or granite; in short, a monument magnificent. "1 would be in favor of an airpert . (Continued on Sixth Page.). 1