Evening Star Newspaper, January 4, 1931, Page 5

. ECKENER MECHANI - INSPECTS THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, PROPOSED LOCAL DBIRIGIBLE TERMINAL D. C., JANUARY 4. 1931—PART ONE. SIMPSON OFFERS SUPPORT OF CHARGE, T HONOR JOFFRE SHOW U. 5. ESTEEM VTS HEARBY e Inspection Bolsters Hope Dirigibie Terminal Will Be Located Near Alexandria. Hopes that the National Capital will be selected by Dr. Hugo Eckener and American associates as the Western ter- minal of a proposed trans-Atlantic dirigible passeng>r and mail line were strengthened by the unheralded arrival in the Capital yesterday of Herman Pfaff, Dr. Eckener’s chief mechanic aboard the Graf Zeppelin during all the flights of the great German airship. Pfaff went immediately to the Hybla Valley site near Alexandria, Va., which was inspected last Spring by Dr. Ecke- ner and concerning which a detailed | daily study of weather conditions now is being made for Dr. Eckener. The German airship man made the irip to Hybla Valley quietly, and not more than two or three people in the Capital knew that he was in the city. He was accompanied cnly by Jack Rab- bitt of tihe Washington Air Terminal Corporation, owners of the Hybla Val- ley area, and Dan Hollenga, manager of the Alexandria Chamber cf Com-[ merce, who is in charge of the weather study now being made at the site. Shows Keen Interest. Pfaff showed the keenest interest in the Hybla Valley area and asked for'de- ding the tract im by Hollenga and Rabbitt. He wanted to know about drainage, the am-unt of grading and other work required, transportation fa- | cilities and other matters. It was indi- cated by his questions that Dr. Eckener has studied the site so carefully that he has determined the cxact site and di-| rectibn of the great airship hangar which must be constructed if the area is selected as the terminal. The site for the hangar, it was indicated, is in the northwest portion of the valley, with the axis of the building in a general east and west line. Pfaff, through Mr. Hollenga as an interpreter, said emphatically that Dr. Eckener’s search has been narrowed to three sites—that at Hybla Valley, one near Petersburg, Va., and the other near Baltimore, . Md. whether he intended to inspect the other two sites, but declined to make & positive answer. He said that he in- tends to go directly from the National | Capital to Akron, Ohio, home of the Geodyear Zeppelin Co. and head- | Guarters for Dr. Eckener's American The chief mechanic cof the Graf Zeppelin has been associated with Dr. Eckener for many years and is one of the most trusted officers of the German crew Dr. Eckener has assembled and trained. When the Graf's fin was torn by gales during the first Atlantic flight, Pfaff was in charge of the repair work and, assisted by Knut Eckener, Dr. Eckener’s tall, blonde son, led a crew out onto the light, narrow girders of the fin to make temporary repairs, with nothing beneath them but the knife- edged girders and the raging Atlantic, | hundreds of feet below. ; Visits Cousin in Capital. | Pfaff said he was visiting a cousin, Mrs, Ida Stanley, in Washington, and that he probably would remain in the United States about iwo months. He would not say whetner he would sub- mit a rsport to Dr. Eckener or American | officials of the proposed dirigible line of his visit to Hybla Valley. Following the inspection of the field uncheon guest of of the organization in connection with the selection of the terminal cite is| being done by Ward T. Van Ormsr. in- | ternationally famcus balloonist and win- ner of the Gordon Bennett International Trophy, who has made frequent visits to the local site. A complete set of automatic record- He was asked | sai .| area, however, is about five feet above | =hips, which probably will equal in size | red by Dr. Hugo Eckener as a \ of the Graf Zeppelin, yes terday inspected the site at Hybla Valley, near Alexandria, terminal for proposed transatlantic airship service. ager of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce; Herr Pfaff and Jack Rabbitt of the Washing- | «yoct® amazing admission” the Farm , owners of the tract. Left to —Star Staff Photo. | ing of these instruments, together with | observations of cloud conditions, fogs, condition of the ground and other facts are taken down daily by Mr. Hollenga and sent to New York for tabulation, comparison and study. ‘The weather study, which is to cover a period of eight months, probably will be concluded in March, Mr. Hollenga id. Upon ‘the resuits of this study will depend, in large measure, the final | selection. Eckener Enthusiastic. Dr. Eckener visited Hybla Valley and the Petersburg and Baltimore sites early last Spring. He was accompanied by Comdr. Jerome C. Hunsaker, his Amer- | ican representative and a vice president of the International Zeppelin Transport Corporation. At that time Dr. Eckener expressed himself as enthusiastic over the possibilities of the Hybla Valley site and indicated that he thought it better for his purposes than any he had seen in America. A study of rail transportation fa- cilities in the Hybla Valley area is being made by Comdr. Hunsaker, Mr. Van Orman, and Mr. Hollenga. The studies show that the best rail connection to the hangar site will be theeextension ot a 2-mile spur from the R, F. & P. R. R. west of the field. Estimates ere being made of the cost of construc- tion of such a spur, including track, right-of-way and grading. Mr. Van Orman, during a recent visit to the site, made a study of drain- | age problems which indicated that most of the area is- naturally drained and that only a wooded and swampy portion toward the southwest corner of the flat is 2 miles long by a mile attention. This marshy area, w] wide, will n the level of Dogue Run, he found, and \11’:11::&;;31r be easy and effective. Dr. announced during his last American visit that he hopes to com- mence ~oceanic ble service some- :lme next b{m, (ormhh service our ~ dirigil exceeding size the Graf Zeppelin. Enormous Hangar Needed. On the American t¢rminal field there | must be erected a hangar to house the | the giant airship dock at Akron, Ohio. | the worid’s largest building under a single roof. ‘There also must be in- stalled servicing facilities for the purifi- ing instruments has been set up on a 50-foot tower at the field, and the read 800 Thirty Five and Forty Dollar New M N \ NN AR X ,§~\\X\\\‘§\\\ Buy 'Em on the Budget Plan—Only Y4 Cash—Balance, 10 Weekly—or 5 Semi-Monthly Payments cation of lifting gas, the reinflation of lifting ges celis in the ships, the fueling | WELL, FOLKS Starting the New Year " Right!!! Suits The Lowest prl'CE and Greatest Values Since 1920 Famous Kaufman o > and supplying of the air giants, repairs to motors and structural members and | the repairing of the outer cover and the | gas cells. According to plans for the service be- tween the United States and Germany outlined by Comdr. Hunsaker, Germany will furnish two of the fleet of dirigibles and the United States will provide two. The two American ships are to be huilt at the Goodyear plant at Akron fol- lowing completion of two immense dirigibles now under contract for the United States Navy. The of these, the U. 8. S. Akron, or ZR-4, is to be | ready for trial flights during the early Summer, it has been announced. It will be the size of the Graf Zeppelin and Los Angeles combined, making it by far the mightiest aircraft ever built. V;rgim‘n Bank Crl;:-ex‘ RICHMOND, Va., January 3 (#).— ‘The State Banking Department was informed today that the Bank of Jar-| ratt, at Jarratt, Sussex County, had failed to open. [—— . T Wright Co. ture were brought'to light that must be cleared at once. Ends, Floor Samples, etc. ‘An extraordinary bargain opportunity DIEKEMA BODY IS HOME Senator Vandenberg to Deliver Oration at Funeral Monday. HOLLAND, Mich,, January 3 (®).— The body of Gerrit John Kiekema, who died at The Hague while serving as Minister to the Netherlands, arrived to- day under the escort of honor provided by the State of Michigan and the city of Holland, his birthplace. Funeral services for Mr. Diekema will be held here Monday afternoon, with burial in a local cemetery. The services will include an oration by Senator Ar- thur_H. Vandenberg. The service of the Reformed Church will be read by Rev. E. D. Dimment, president of Hope College, assisted by Rev. J. M. Vander Meulen of Louisville, Rev. J. Bergen of Minneapolis and Rev. P. P. Chief of Omaha. Rev. Vander Meulen will de- liver the funeral sermon. Natives of Tangankika are learning to smoke cigarettes. Asserts Legge Told Senate Group Board Caused Break in Wheat. | By the Associated Press. HUTCHINSON, Kans.,, January 3.— In support of his charges that Chair- man Legge of the Federal Farm Board was opposed to an increase in the price of wheat and cotton, John A. Simpson, farm leader, made public today a re- port that Legge testified last November in Washington the board had caused & break in wheat prices. Simpson gave out & letter from Sen- ator Elmer Thomas of Oklahoma, which said ‘the Farm Board chairman gave the information to the Senate Agricul- ture Committee at an executive session November 22. Legge was quoted as saying the board had sold 3,500,000 bushels of wheat in | Chicago because it did not desire to see the price go higher after an upward trend had been started by Farm Board purchases. Spokesmen for the board were repre- sented as testifying it was their wish to keep wheat prices within buying reach of the public in depressed times, to make the grain economical as feed for live stock, instead of corn, and to pre- vent deliveries on a rising rket when the board already had insufficient stor- age space for the hundred million bush- | els it had contracted to buy. o | The Thomas letter said the board | advised the committee it had a loss | of $40,000,000 on cotton and $25,000,000 on wheat and had paid a quarter of a | million dollars in brokerage fees in | purchases on the Chicago Exchange. | “Mr. Legge admitted it would be an | easy matter to force the price of wheat to at least a dollar and could be done any time he desired,” the letter stated. Senator Thomas characterized as a | Board testimony in regard to keeping wheat prices down and told Simpson in the letter that unless the board “changes its attitude and represents the farmer directly, not other inter- | ests, T am sure it will be only a ques- tion of & very short time until the law is repealed and the board discharged. THREE DIE IN WRECK szenty-Beven Injured in England by Derailment of Express. | CARLISLE, England, January 3 (). | —Two trainmen and an unidentified woman were killed and 27 persons were “n]ul’ed, 5 of them seriously, when the Edinburgh-London express jumped the | track at a sharp curve mear here today. One of the injured was thought at first to be dead, but it was later found, according to police who gave out the Teport, that he was merely suff from severe lacerations of the head. The locomotive buried its nose in an embankment and the first two coaches were telescoped against the tender. Heavy frost on the rails was believed to have caused the wreck. Wright Co.s Once-a-Year Clearance After Inventory We've just finished taking stock and many items of good furni- Odds and —but act immediately, as ALL. QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED! Sensational Reductions—to Sell These Items at Once! (2) $122.50 4-pc. Maple Bed Room Suites ............$77.50 (1) $195 4-pc. Bed Room Suite, large pieces in oak.....\. .$135 (2) $52 Large Mahogany Chests of Drawers ...........$29.75 - (1) $275 4-pc. Bed Room Suite. Green enaniel decorated. .$150 (1) $59 Overstuffed Sofa, denim upholstery....... (3) $18 Solid Walnut Coffee Tables ........ - .. $12.50 (7) $2 Pottery Base LAamMpPS. . .. ...ooovveeeezan@.oacsonens . $1 (9) $10 Smoker Stands....... (2)$49Mah0ganyLibrafy Pesles ......0.. oo s e r i (7) $18 Occasional Chairs. Tapestry or velour. .. (4) $35 Coxwell Chairs. Large and comfortable (9) $2 Rayon Damask Pillows. ................ (2) $16.50 Maple Butterfly Tables ...........cu. (9) $19 Web-Bottom Boudoir Chairs ......... ‘... .$9.75 ....$19.75 ....$1.35 .....$11.00 -....$10.50 Upholstered in satin and rayon damask in blue, orchid, gold, green and rust. (11) $7.50 All-Metal Beds. 2-inch posts, wood finish.....$3.99 (7) $8.50 All-Cotton Mattresses. Art ticking. All sizes. ..$4.95 (6) $15 All Layer Felt Mattresses. 4 rows of stitching. :$9.90 ° Low Terms 7NRIGHT 905-907 7th St. N.W. Convenient Weekly or Monthly Payments World Mourns Passing of Hero of Marne on Eve of His 79th Birthday. (Continued From First Page.) sald that the old soldier had often ex- pressed the wish that Chestnut Grove would become .another Mount Vernon, and that there his collection of mili- tary relics, E-umu in more than 40 ynr-d of military life, might be pre- served. ‘Tonight his body lay in the bare, white-plastered room in which he died at the hospital of St. Jean-de-Dieu, clad in a white dolman and the golden- buttoned uniform of the French colo- nial armies. Tomorrow it will be trans- ported to the chapel of the Ecole Mili- taire—old French army school— where on Monday and Tuesday it will lie in state so that poilu and general, the average man of France and her states- men, may flle past it and give a final lux\;t’awuwkmdlylmmtul oved. ‘The funeral will be on Wednesday. As they did for Foch, church and state will unite in ceremony and pageantry to publicly express the nation’s grief. The service will be held in the Cathedral of Notre Dame and then through streets lined by the men who fought under him the body of Joffre will be taken to the Invalides, where it will be temporarily placed in the chapel that shelters Na- poleon, Foch and a whole host of France's greatest dead. Will Rest Beside Unknown. To some the most impressive moment will be in the dusk of Tuesday night when, on its way to Notre Dame, the body of the marshal will rest for a mo- ment beside that other hero of France, the Unknown Poilu. ‘The ceremony will be brief, for Joffre wished it to be that way. There will be silent salute, the bugles will sound ‘Aux Champs” (To the Field) and the cortege will pass on. ‘The condolences of the entire world poured in today to Mme. Joffre and to the French government. Kings, govern- ments and private individuals have sought o express their sorrow. h- out Paris and Frarge flags were at half staff. At Rivesaltes, Joffre's birthplace, all work was suspended and the town went into mourning. But none could be more grateful to the memory of the marshal than the people of the Marne Valley, where he won the great victory of his career, or of the Parisians, for whom he turned away disaster. Thou- over the coffin, leaving ible. At the foot of the bed will be placed Joffre's baton as a marshal, the insignia of the nd cordon of the Legion ef Honor, I""‘ll‘- rior’s breast plate and other emblems. Great torches of the empire will be placed at the four corners of the couch ATy Wil stand suasd day and might st Y night until the funeral. Here and thzn‘:l.u flags of regiments which served in the great war. Ceremony on Barge. a converted river barge where Marshal Joffre spent mux nights dur- first battle of the Marne, a his devoted followers met to- salute the memory of the be- wihib died today. t, which was tied to a the Marne in 1914 and was cleverly camouflaged that the enemy might not see it, is now anchored in the River Seine at the Quai de la Con- ference, between Concorde Bridge and the Bridge of Alekander III. ‘The boat is called the Marechal Joffre and. is used as the headquarters of a nautical club, while & movément has been begun to Mave it transformed into & river museum. iMarshal .Joffre was guest of honor at a luhcheon on the barge in 1928, but, faithful to his trait of modesty, he al- ways refused permission for a com- memorative tablet on it. ACTOR UNDER KNIFE Louis Mann, 65, Had Been in Hos- pital for Two Weeks. NEW YORK, January 3 (#)—Louis Mann, character actor, underwent an operation in Mount Sainai Hospital to- day, the nature of which his physicians O Kk, "o 1. 66 old, . , Wl years old, has been in the hospital for about two weeks. It was said tonight that his condition was serious, and that the operation had been satisfactory. A s Tt the 1031 census in England and Wales will cost $660,000. Semi-Annual Woover Cables Message of Condolence to France at Warrior’s Death. By the Associated Press. Through all the official messages of condolence sent to Prance yesterday on news of Marshal Joffre's death ran a note which showed the esteem in which the old warrior was held by American leaders and people. President Hoover, who was in nearby {London when Joffre saved France at the Marne, cabled President Doumergue that in the name of the American people and in his own name he wished “to express to your excellency the deep sorrow which is felt in this country at the passing of this great patriot.” Gen. Pershing grew to know him well while commanding the American Army abroad. “As the ‘Rock of the Marne’ he saved the Allies defeat,” Pershing’s mes- sage said. “Under the most trying eir- :umnuneu he never lost his calm o 3 “He had a deep friendship for | America. My association with him was always most delightful. I was honored to call him my friend." Gen. Douglas MacArthur, chief of staff, and Secretary Hurley, both of whom served abroad, expressed their sympathy to the French Army. Other messages were sent by Secretary Stim- son and Secretary Adams, while from his home in Florida, Maj. Gen. Charles P. Summerzll, who recently retired as chief of staff, said the marshal’s visit here in 1917 was a factor in crystalliz- ing sentiment for a larger American Army in France. Jofire came here in April, accom- panied by Rene Viviani, French min- ister of justice, to tell the United Stal that the situation was critical. He made a brief tour of the country, his sturdy figure and genial imperturb- ability catching the fancy of the peo- ple. Crowds met him everywhere and shouted “Papa Joffre.” The Prench soldiers called him that when he wasn't around. With the marshal as his aide was Lieut. Col. Jean Fabry, the “Blue Devil of Prance.” Fabry saw his com- mancer just before he died and the marshal knew him. Pleased at his reception, the said that he was coming back. in April, 1922, and was ente: Pe In 1917 Joffre came up the Potomac River on the presidential yacht, the Mayflower, during bright, sunny weath- | er.” He said then and on his return that | the countrysice re: him of the ! south of France where he was born. marshal He did by CLEARANCE —SHIRTS— Formerly $3.50 & $4. $5.00 & $6. $7.00 Silk.. NOwW .$1.95 $1.50 $2.00 $2.50 $3.50 $5.00 Silk ‘Flgnnel and Rayon —CRAVATS— Formerly NOW : .$L15 o .$145 & $3. Lounging Robes.. . . less 25% ~—PAJAMAS— . Formerly 82150 . oo @0 Saede $5.00 & $6. $7.50 & $8. $10.00 & $12 $15.00 & $18 $22.50 & $25. Now .$1.85 Formerly Velve Were Cloth : House Jackets ~ NOW $1500 .........3780 $25.00; .. 4....-31250 t House Jackets NOW $30 & $35.....$2250 ; Fancy Silk_.Mufflers ...less25% SUITS Formerly $35 40 45 50 55 60 NOW —$26.25 30.00 33.75 37.50 OFF — 41.25 45.00 $65 70 75 85 100 Alterations ' at Cost 125 Formal Wear Excepted Formerly Entire Regular Stock of and OVERCOATS INCLUDING FRUHAUFS ’ NOW —$48.75 -— 52,50 56.25 63.75 75.00 93.78 ~Sidney West, i EUGENE C. GOTT President 14th..& G Sts. 3 3 pis