Evening Star Newspaper, January 22, 1932, Page 17

Che WITH SUNDAY MORM Foening S NING EDITION faf —3 = WA SHINGTON, 10,510 FRIDAY, JANUARY PAGE B—1 MOTOR MAGNATES TELL HOOVER TAX WOLLD HALT GANS Employment and Industries Would Receive Setback, Leaders Declare. GRAHAM TO TESTIFY ON SALES LEVY PLAN Motor Officials Hold Session Here to Draft Protest at Hearing in House Tomorrow. The administration proposal to levy | & 5 per cent sales tax on automobiles was denounced before President Hoo- ver this afternoon as “restrictive” and | “discriminatory” by seven leaders of | the automotive industry. 1 Calling at the White House at the| conclusion of an executive meeting at the United States Chamber of Com- | merce Building, at which was drafted a protest to be lodged tomorrow with the House Ways and Means Commit- | tee, the leaders told Mr. Hoover the proposed tax would seriously hamper the industry in recovering from the economic_depression | Alfred P. Sloan, president of General Motors, said the delegation had told the President their industry considered it| unfair to impose such a sales tax at| this time. M Adverse Effect on Jobs Feared. “We feel that we have made our con- tribution,” Sloan said, “through bet- tering our product, continuing volume production and in many cases reducing | prices “We feel definitely that such a tax would put the brakes on continued vol- ume production, thereby affecting ad- versely employment and the sales of industries allied with our own “We are willing to pay our part of any general tax. But we feel that a 5 r cent sales tax on automobiles alone B discriminatory against our industry.” Those who talked with the President were Sloan, W. C. Cowling of the Ford Motor Co. Roy D. Chapin, Hudson Motor Co.; Alvan Macauley, Packard Motor Car Co.; chairman of the Nation- al Automobile Chamber of Commerce; C. W. Nash, Nash Motors; George Graham, Rockne Motors, and Robert Graham, Graham-Paige Co Graham to Testify at Hearing. George Graham has been selected by the group to represent their industry before the Ways and Means Committee hearing _tomorrow. The industry reccgnizes unemploy- ment as the now isolated germ of de- pression, according to these leaders, and | is subordinating consideration of profits | for the time being to that of giving | Jobs. A fair program of taxation, in their opinion, will enable the industry to carry out its plan for increasing em- loyment, while discriminatory excise Jevies will increase autcmoblle prices to such a point as to nullify application of “the only possible remedy for the depression.” The motoring public will be repre- sented before the Ways and Means Committee, by Thomas P. Henry, presi- | dent, and'Samuel Waldon, chairman, | American Automobile Association, and J. Borton Wecks, president, American | Motorist Ass tion. P. W. A. Vesper, treasurer, National | Trade president Hudson Motor Co.; Al Automobile Chamber of Commerc general business conditions. RUSH WORK URGED Trade Board Tells House and | Senate Memorial Span | Project Is Needed. : An urgent request that Congress speedily approve the measure providing for construction of the stretch of high- way necessary to connect Arlington M morial Bridge with the State highw; system of Virginia and the South is made by the Washington SBoard of in letters to membess of the House and Senate. Placing the matter in the rlass of emergencies, the trade body declares “Unless this connection is provided there will be the worst traffic ‘am in history across the river duc to the in- flux of millions of automobiles using the highways during the Becentennial cele- bration.” On the occasion of the dedication of | the Tomb of the Unknown Soldicr, the traffic congestion was so great that President Harding was delayed several hours and was compelled to travel over a lengthy detour in order to return to the White House by way of Chain { Bridge, the board points out “The detour that must be used until the connection is made forces travel 4 Automobile Dealers' Association, will present the views of the dealers, many | of whom will be present from various | sections. Allied industries will be represented | before the committee by J. O. Tew,| president, Rubber Manufacturers' As- | sociation; T. W. Litchfield, Litchfield | Rubber Co.; Harvey Firestone, jr., Fire- stone Rubber Co.; F. B. Davis, jr., vice president, Rubber Manufacturers' Asso- ciation; William O'Neill, General Tire & Rubber Co. and W. H. Lalley, Kelly- Springfield Tire Co. | Sloan Hopes to Restore Buying. Voicing a sentiment corroborated by his fellow motor magnates, Maculey explained this policy of the industry as recognizing “the fact that we are only as close to prosperity as we are to relieving the distress of unemployment. There is but one remedy for this de- pression. No matter how long we de- lay its application, that remedy is one of creating jobs.' That a restoration of public confi- dence is the vital need of the moment was_the opinion expressed by Chapin. miles out of the way over' rough, nar- row and dangerous streets of Arlington | County, with right-angle turns and even acute-angle turns,” the board ex- plains. “The actual loss in dollars and | cents due to the operation of motor ve- hicles in a single year over this detour, including the waste of time and other items, would be in excess of the cost of meking this connection. Many to Lose Jobs. “With completion of the Memorial Bridge and the Mount Vernon Boule- | vard, & ccnsiderable number of persons | will be thrown out of employment, un- | less the Bureau of Public Roads can be- gin at once the construction of -the bridge approach. If, however, Congress | acts promptly, the bridge approach can be ready for use by Midsummer.” The board points out that the project was considered at & hearing on the Sen- | ate bill about a year ago, before the | Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, and that the bill was passed, but too late for action by the House “We have been talking a great deal during the last two years about mak- ing the most of a bad situation,” he asserted. “In the automobile industry | we have become convinced that this is a profitless procedure. The thing | to do is to change the situation from | & bad one to a good one. Tax Held Penalty on Industry. “Every unit of the industry has sought to create confidence by setting | the stage for better conditions of em- | ployment—a project achieved by the | development of automobiles that those who have money will want to buy. Start | consumption on the part of those whose capacity to consume has not been re- | duced to a minimum and it will pro- | vide employment that will make every- body a consumer | Oord and Nash contended enactment The highway requested would provide a connection from the Virginia end of the Memorial Bridge to the Lee High- way and with the Shenandoah National Park. DOOR SHUT ON BANDIT Southeast Resident Armed Visitor to Police. Herbert S. Webber, 27 Eighth street southeast, knows what to do when a bandit visits his home—he simply slams the door in the robber's face! Webber was in the basement shortly after midnight when the doorbell rang. Opening the door a few inches, he found a strange man, who asked “What's your name?” As he Webber saw the Describes OUR leaders of the automobile industry Commerce today to draft a protest against the proposed automobile excise tax. president General Motors; Alvan Macauley, Motor Car Co., and W, C. Cowling, ger BRIDGE APPROACH | | SERERE: | fred P. Sloan. e they calle Dies Here MRS. GRACE ROSS CHAMBERLIN. MRS CHAMBERLIN, “CIVIC LEADER, DIES Funeral Services for Widow | of Government Scientist to Be Held Tomorrow. Mrs. Grace Ross Chamberlin, promi- | nent Washington clubwoman and civic | leader, died last night at Sibley Hos- pital after a sudden attack of pneu- monia. She was the widow of William E. Chamberlin, a Government scientist, who died here five years ago. A native of this city, Mrs. Chamber- lin was a past president of the Women's City Club, Housekeepers' Alliance, th | former College Women's Club and the | Columbian Women of George Wash- ington Unive She also was Association of Congregaticnal ganizations ) active niversity Women, First h and other or- been a deacon- ess and member of the choir at the church many years. and had been as- sistant probation officer of the Juyenile | Court. At the tim her death she was a member of peakers' Com- mittee of the Community Chest. The Juvenile Court will be closed all day tomorrow out of respect to Mrs. | Chamberlin She is survived by her mother, Mrs. | Ella Ross, and_two brothers, George | H. and Wallace Ross, all of Rutland, Vt. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 | o’clock tomorrow afternoon at the First | Congregational Church, with Dr, A. H | Stockdale officiating d Burial will be in al sales manager Ford Motor Co. °d on President Hoover at the conclusion of the meeting to discuss in the American | who met with other members of the National Automobile Chamber of Roy D. Chapin, president Packard Together with fellow members of the Left to right BRUTALTY TRIAL OFF TILL MONDAY Score of Witnesses Yet to Testify.in Case of Brem- mermann‘and Clark. The trial of two suspended police- men, Charles R. Bremmermann and Hollis H. Clark, on brutality charges growing out of the Department of Jus- tice investigation into alleged third- degree methods, stood adjourned today | until Monday morning at 10 o'clock. With about a score of witnesses re- maining. it is doubtful whether the de- fense will be in a position to rest its case before next Friday. Policemen called to testify in behalf of the two accused patrolmen, who are specifically charged with _assaulting Thomas McKeever Williams, 17-year-old colored prisoner, have given an entirely different version of the alleged brutali- ties imposed upon Williams and his associates during their incarceration at the old second precinct station. Instead | of being beaten with a club or black- jack, the boys were given ‘“cake and cigarettes,” according to the testimony of one of the privates, James Lowry The various police witnesses also were unanimous in_testifying that the boys were always “laughing and joking” and smoking in the locker room where third-deegree methods are alleged to have been used. Private C. H. Tucker, who drove Wil- liams and eight other boys to police | headquarters to be photographed, was positive in his testimony that none of the boys bore signs of bruises or cuts When confronted by Williams in the court room, however, he could not neys. He qualified his testimony by ex- plaining that if Williams was one of the boys at the station house or in the pa- trol wagon, he showed no marks of pun- ishment then The Government scored one of its | most important points in attempting to break down the testimony of police of- ficers in the case of Lieut. John T. Wittstatt. After he had testified as to | minute details of what went on in the | locker room the occasion he had to visit it, counsel for the Government con- fronted him with a sworn statement he | “at no time” had seen Bremmermann | and Clark bring any boys into the sta- tion on the day he had testified about. Hotel Guest Is Found Dead. Robert Lynch, about 50, of Crople | Md., was found dead in bed today in & {room in the West Washington Hotel. | 1236 Wisconsin _avenue. A colored | maid, Gertrude Selby, made covery and notified police. Sergt. B. C | Beach, who investigated, was told Lynch | registered at the hotel about 10 days ago. Death was belleved to have been | the result of natural causes had signed in September, saying that he \ the _dis- | BUREAU CHECKING ‘USEQFU.S. CARSBY FEDERAL WORKERS ;Representative Byrns Asks Survey to Ascertain if Privileges Are Abused. [MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF GOVERNMENT STUDIED Report to Cover Types and Num- ber of Passenger Vehicles Now Being Operated. | | | With a view to establishing the mini- mum number of passenger automobiles actually needed by each department of the Government, a sharp inquiry is being made by the Bureau of Efficiency of the use and abuse of such official cars at the request of Chairman Byrns of the House Appropriations Committee. | The survey is being conducted by a personal canvass of the whole Govern- ment machine by several members of the staff of the Bureau of Efficiency. One of the most difficult things to as- certain, it was learned, is the abuse of official cars.by Government employes who use them for their own personal convenience. Complaints Made. Although it apparently is against the rules to use official cars for transpor- tation between offices and homes, it is known that several complaints recently have been received by Government offi- cials who were seen riding back and forth from their own homes. | Among the questions asked the heads | of all departments and establishments | are the types and numbers of passenger | vehicles in use, how they are operated whether by a chauffeur or by the Go ernment employe himself, and where | the car is stored in a garage possible, the Bureau of Efficiency is ob- taining the mileage of each department and is examining the records to obtain other information. Asked how the survey was getting at | the facts in’the abuse of official car: an official of the bureau said this was a difficult matter, and most officials were replying that unofficial use of | Government _automobiles was strictly prohibited. Investigators, however, are | making effort to examine, where pos- sible, the records’of specific trips made by Government cars outside of office hours, where the car went to and what was the occasion for its use. Seen on Highway | Disclosure of this unusual inqui today resulted in general discussion of the question both in Government cir- cles and outside, with the result that decided opinions one way and another already were discovered to have been formed. For instance, one person not connected with the Government re- | ported that he had frequently seen Government automobiles with the offi- cial labels being driven late in the eve- | ning far from the National Capital, and a distance of 14 or 15 miles away from the office whose name was print- ed on the car. A recent letter to a cabinet officer from a woman is known to kave pro- tested in vigorous language against the practice of one of her neighbors who, she charged, had a Government chauf- | feur come to get him in the morning | and bring him home in the evening in an official car which was marked “for official use only.” The survey will be concluded as soon | as_possible, s being made by the personal canvass instead of resorting to a mailed questfonnaire. Crairman Byrns, it is understood, will use U information in connection with the ap- propriation bills of next year, which are now before the committee, DOUBLE HOLD-UP " NETS $53 AND TAXI | | identify the boy for Government attor- | Armed Pair Rob Fourteenth Street Food Store and Escape in Com- mandeered Cab, | | _ Holding up two clerks in the Libert; | Food Shop, 906 Fourteenth street, oo armed bandits last night robbed the cash register of about $50, com- | mandeered a taxicab, robbed the driver | and drove away. The robbers took $3 from the driver before pushing him from the cab. The abandoned taxi was found a few ‘mjnulvs later by police at Georgia and New Hampshire avenues. The cab driver was Warren D. Wade, 1300 block | of Columbia road | Before robbing the cash register the robbers fired several bullets | floor to impress Sam Abraham and another clerk. Several customers in | the establishment remained quietly in | their seats during the robbery. Police | were furnished a description of the men. | 'RUINS RECALL OLD GAS PLAN&' THAT SERVE D CAPITAL IN 1840 ‘Where | into the | Dog Hunts Lions at Zoo FOX TERRIER PUTS ANIMALS IN UPROAR. Although he but followed in the foot- steps of his master, D. C. Gruver, when | he took up big game hunting, “Spot” had better leave those lions and leopards alone in the future or he may be ar- rested—again. Some people might have supposed Spot was only running away when he streaked off from 1434 Shepherd street several days ago, while, as a matter of fact, the fox terrier, small as he was, had undertaken big things. He was on his way to the National Zoological Park to get a lion. But for intervening bars Spot would have got- ten several lions and 2 few leopards, or at least Spot and the lions and the leopards would have gotten together. “If this is your dog out here” a keeper telephoned the Gruver r sidence a little later, “please come and get him What? No, that's not a peor connec- | tion. I'm telephoning from the lion | house. It's in an uproar.” The keeper had found Spot charging the lions and leopards, and the lions and leopards charging Spot. Spot was barking, the lions were roaring and the leopards were—well, the leopards were making an audible contribution anyhow. The keeper identified Spot from histag. When the Gruvers called for Spot they found him a captive in a cubb hole at_the lion house, and he was re- turned home, much disappointed at the | failure of the hunt. Yesterday, however, he set forth again, but the lions and leopards were saved by the.traffic officer at Mount Pleasant and Eighteenth streets, who arrested Spot and sent him home in a taxicab. Curiously enough, Spot, the baiter of lions and leopards, has a thoroughgoing | respect for members of the moose fam- il When Mr. Gruver, a local real estate man, brought home a moose and | mounted the antlered head in _the| library Spot ran wide circles about | the trophy, although he had a lively | I interest in it. OREGONIANS WANT CONCORD RENANED | Tell Planning Commission‘ Change Would Honor State More. Concord avenue, from Georgia ave- | nue to North Capitol street, would be re-named’ Oregon avenue, under a recommendation adopted today at the instance of Representatives of the State of Oregon, by the National Capi tol Park and Planning Commission. An act of Congress will be required to bring about the change. The present Oregon avenue, only a couple of blocks long, extending from | New Hampshire avenue to Nineteenth | street is too insignificant for the sov: | ereign_State of Oregon, Senator Stel. | wer, Republican of that State, wrote | | the comimssion. Lieut. Col. U. S. Grant, 3d, vice chairman and executive officer of the dommission, read a communication | from the Roosevelt Memorial Associa- tion, advising it officially of the pre viously published purchase of Analos tan Island, downstream of Key Bridgs. and expressing the wish that it be preserved in its natural state, as a bird sanctuary. Legislation is now pending in Congress designed to permit the Federal Government to accept the |island as part of the National Capital’s | | park system, and changing its designa- tion to Roosevelt Island. Underbrush to Be Cleaned. Underbrush will be cleared away, so that picnic parties may use Analostan Island, and bridges will connect the island’ with Columbia Island and up- stream with the George ‘Washington Memorial Parkway development The commission put over until the next meeting the problem of deciding whether Constitution avenue shall be 72 or 80 feet in width between Vir- ginia avenue and the Potomac River. Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect of Brookline, Mass., & member of the commission, is a proponent of the 72-foot width, but it is understood that most of the commission favors 80 feet, The opening of the Arlington Memorial Bridge will mean that this problem will have to be solved imme- diately, and the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission is now at work pre- puring plans for the widening The commission voted in favor of a stadium at the end of Bast Capitol street at the Anacostia River, voicing its opposition to the location of a sta- | dium in.the central portion of the city. | The commisison decided to recommend to Maj. Joseph D. Arthur, jr, District engineer for the War Department for the Washington area, that the United States Engineer Office proceed with the | {filing in along_the adjacent bank of | the Anacostia River, as recommended by the Co-ordinating Comimttee, with | a view to future development of the stadium. A number of recommendations for a | stadium on Government-owned land in the downtown section was placed before the commission, but it turned thumbs down on these. The commis sion likewise urged that there be no | university or other stadium on the} Brightwood Reservoir, but suggeswd} that in the future, some sort of recrea- | tional treatment might be accorded that area. University Plan Opposed. George Washington University, it 1s | | wage rate will be determined, and by 1 WASHINGTON CITED BY CAPT. STAYTON INDRY SYMPOSIUM League Stand on Candidates Would Have Eliminated Heroes, Debater Says. DR. WILSON SAYS LAW HAS ACHIEVED 6 THINGS Lists Curb of Traffic, License Sys- tem and Saloon and Political Reforms. Prohibition pro and con argumen harking back to George Washington |and the “Boston Tea Party,” echoed in J‘Lhe Eighth Street Temple last night | when Dr. Clarence True Wilson, execu- | tive secretary of the Methodist Board Doris Little, one of Spot's friends, o lives next door, holding the ven- some fox terrier - Mr. Gruver, however, donated the trophy to his eountry club, and Spot set, forth immediately to bag a new one. Incidentally, the photographer who went to get a picture of Spot nad to come away with a family snapshot Spot, it seemed, had gone hunting again. CONTRACTORS AS HOOVER PAY VIEW Order for Prevailing Wage on U. S. Project Brings Re- quest for Specific Rate. The executive order by President Hoover yesterday on Government building projects from paying lower wages than other em- ployes in the same community today brought to the White House an appeal n behalf of the contractors for a pre- determingtion of just what are the “prevailing” wage Scales. The Hoover order was that stipulat- tions of wage law shall be written into all public building contracts along with a | | clause permitting cancellation of the contracts if the prevailing community wage scales are not paid. Existing contracts do not include the cancellation stipulation or the prohibi- tion of rebates, as will be incorporated in the new contract agreements. Specified Rates Asked. A letter from the National Associa- tion of Builders' Exchanges, having a national membership of about 7,000 contractors_and _subcontractors, tions the President to incorporate in the specifications on public projects the rates to be paid to the building | mechanics. The letter, signed by Earl Stokes, executive secretary of the as- sociation, declares that this is neces- sary so that contractors would know on what basis to compile their bids. Organized contractors, it has bsen argued for some time, are potential “vietims” of the Bacon-Davis act, since it prescribes that the “prevailing” wage scales of a community must be paid by the contractor, but sets up no ma- chinery for determination of these scales before the contractor submits bid. Then, it has been argued, if it is found later that the scales p not up to the “prevailing wage” levels the contractor must pay the increased sums without receiving any addltional compensation from the Government for the work done. he National Association of Builders’| Exchanges declares in its letter to Pres- ident Hoover that on Government projects the contractors are not con- cerned with what wages shall be, so Jong as he can know before bidding what they are, because the wages are computed in the bid price. Doak Ruling Requested. The letter adds that the association, representing both contractors and sub- contractors interested in Government building projects, has requested a rul- ing on the wage scale question from Secretary of Labor Doak, who is desig- nated in the Bacon-Davis act as the final judge of what shall be determined to be’the “prevailing” wage scales, Secretary Doak, however, 2 con- sistently replied that he could not pre- determine a “prevailing wage rate,” the association informs Mr. Hoover ‘We are writing to ask how the exec- utive order will affect the position taken by Mr. Doak, and how the prevailing whom,” the letter continues. The association suggested “that the Supervising Architect’s Office be charged with the responsibility of incorporating on page 1 of all Federal specifica- tions, that the ‘prevailing wage rate’ would be considered the rate being paid by the majority of the contractors or to keep contractors | the Bacon-Davis prevailing | peti- | id are! of Temperance, Prohibition and Public | Morals, and Capt. W. H. Stayton, | founder of the Assoclation Agalnst the | Prohibition Amendment, met in a spir- | ited symposium on the probibition issue, arranged by the Brotherhood of the Washington Hebrew Congregation. George Washington was drawn into | the lively but friendly tilt when Capt. | Stayton attacked the announcement |three days ago of the Anti-Saloon | League to the effect that it would not | support any political candidate who would not vote for the eighteenth | amendment. ~ Capt. Stayton declared | that this policy set up a new and single standard for American public men. Would Have Had No Leaders. | “If this single standard set up by the | Anti-Saloon League had been in force | for the 150 years of our governmental existence,” Capt. Stayton asserted, “we would have had no George Washing- ton, no Abraham Lincoln, no James | Madison, no Thomas Jefferson to lead us to national existence. In fact, cnly two Chief Executives in our history would meet the Anti-Saloon League’s requirements—Rutherford Hayes and Herbert Hoover.” At the close of the symposium, which occupied 90 minutes of continuous talk- ing by both of the two leading prota= | gonists of the opposing sides of the prohibition question, Dr. Wilson was |asked by a member of his audience { whether he believed it possible for the drys and the wets to meet in quiet conference and arrive at any common ground. “If all prohibitionists and the antl- prohibitionists could discuss the ques= tion in as friendly a fashion as Capt. | Stayton and I have tonight,” Dr. Wil- | son replied, “I believe we could find many things on which we could agree.” During the same period Dr. Wilson answered a question as to why the buyer of bootleg liquor is not as guilty of law violation as the seller, with the assertion that he is convinced that the | buyer is guilty, and that, as a matter of fact, the law prohibiting the sale of | liquer actually should be so construed. He based this view, he said, on the assumption that a sale cannot be con- summated without both parties, each | of whom is a party to the unlawful transaction. Holds Law Applies to Buyer. | “As a matter of fact,” Dr. Wilson ad- | mitted, “we firmly believed that by this | time we'd have a decision holding just | that. As for me, I firmly believe the | law does apply to the buyer as well as | the seller.” Dr. Wilson was the first speaker to take the platform, He was presented to the audience by Rabbi Abram Simon |of the Washington Hebrew Congrega- tion. Dr. Wilson prefaced his address with the assertion that he would not claim that prohibition has been ‘“suc- cessfully administered and enforced or | that it has dried up the sources of supply of liquor.” He asked his audi- { ence, however, not to believe that the amendment should be repealed because of this fact. any more than it would expect the Ten Commandments to be scrapped because they are being broken daily. He asserted that prohibition never was intended “to prevent men from drinking or to make men total abstainers,” but that it was designed to break up the liquor traffic. He then cited categorically what he ‘co?tvnded prohibition has done. He said: 1. It has outlawed the liquor traffic in America which formerly “ruled us, tainted our judges and wrote our tickets”; it has dome away with the | “red-nosed bipeds—many of whom were ex-convicts—who ran the saloons,” and has left in their places “the puny boot- leggers.” 2. It has system. 3. It has removed legalized tempta- tion, which was the corner saloon, from the paths of men Who strove to live right. 4. It has made “news” of liquor man- ufacture, so that “one man with a hip- pocket flask gets more attention han all the thousands of saloons which formerly existed.” Gave Us Prosperity. 5. It gave the United States its great- est prosperity for the 10 years after the war—a_prosperity which gambling in Wall Street destroyed. 6. It gave more aid to the cleaning (Continued on Page B-13). | 1 | annihilated the license replied, P! | subcontractors to the various building of a discriminatory tax on motor ve-| | trades crafts in that particular city or hicles, parts and accessor at this| stranger draw a pistol from his pocket. | Cedar Hill Cemetery G oneaina sesking!ia Wineatianiitor time would represent a penalty upon| industrial initiative and courage. Jows We believe that the automobile become 0 indispensable a part of Amer- ican life that a tax on automobile own~ | ership in addition to the license gasoline taxes now levied would con- stitute a highly discriminatory action against millions of American citizens chiefly of the working class.” CAPT. JOSEPH A. MURPHY DIES ON WEST COAST Former Assistant Chief of Navy and Medcal Bureau Victim of Cerebral Hemorrhage. Capt. Joseph A. Murphy Corps, U. S. N., who served here during the war stant chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Depart- ment, died yesterday of cerebral hemor- rhage at the Naval Hospital at Santiago Calif. Naval records show his address as 1622 P street here For distinguished service in the line of his profession as assistant chief of the bureau he was awarded the Navy Cross. Capt. Murphy was a native of Philadelphia, where he was born Janu- ary 17, 1876. He entered the Navy in 1900, and came on duty to Washington in the bureau in October, 1916, being appointed assistant chief in_January, 1918, and serving in that capacity u 1 1921, His widow, Mrs. Julia Murphy, was with the captain when he died. He slammed the door and the bandit,| Cowling quoted Edsel B. Ford as fol- | has | Medical | after a moment’s hesitation, turned ahd ran. Fourth precinct police searched the neighborhood, but found no trace of the robber ‘l’oli('('mm.l Called | When 3-Year-Old Washes His Ear {Richard Julius Spends Hour Locked in Bath Room; Door Jimmied. If it was hard to get 3-year-old Richard Julius into the bath room to wash his ears this morning, it was harder still to get him out again. Richard locked himself in on the second floor of his home, at 723 Ritten- house street, and then found he could not reopen the door For almost an hour his mother, Mrs. John L. Julius, and neighbors talked to the young prisoner through the door telling him how to turn the key They telephoned police when this proved futile, and an_emergency car was dispatched from No. 13 precinct. minutes later and found Richard none the worse for a bad fright. The official report failled to say if Richard’s ears were clean. [ TRUCK OWNERS PLAN FIGHT ON MAPES BILLS Board Invites Other Groups to Join in Co-ordinated Campaign Against Tax Measures. The Board of Governors of the Com- mercial Motor Vehicle Owners' Associ- ation will ask other groups interested |in technical phases of the Mapes tax- | ation bills to join with them in a co- ordinated effort against the bills, it | was decided at a meeting vesterday at |the United States Chamber of Com- merce. Officials explained the invitation of the other groups, if accepted, would lead to co-ordinated attacks on the bills, each dealing with a different one of the several proposals for increased taxation, such as private automobiles, trucks and busses, income, gasoline and | others. The group expressed itself as g to the tax on motor vehicles nndm;?:li | proposed in a bill now before Con- gress. John W. Hardell presided at the | meeting. Others present included Mark | Lansburgh, W. Spencer Brenizer, Paul The policeman jimmied the door a few (Lum, Joseph B. Trew, P. R. Balley, A. | called that prior | Biederman, C. E. Pries, W. N. De Neale. ll"ord Young, L. P. Field, Charles B. Buck, Charles P. Maloney and Francis |J. Kane, Excavators Find Foundation of Tank Where Fuel, Made | From Logs, “01d foundations uncovered during ex- cavation work on the new Department of Justice building &t Tenth street and | Constitution’ avenue, recalled today the | existence of a pine log gas plant, the | first to supply lights to the White | House during the administration of President Tyler in 1840 The foundation, it developed today. was that of & g2s storage tank, similar in construction to the familiar cylin- ‘dncal black tanks still used for the | storage of gas. ‘Built in the early 40s §t symbolized the dreams of & pionee: in the public utilities field who set | Sbout _the production of illuminating | gas from pine logs. It stood at the foot | B Tenth street on the banks of Tiber | ek, a sl Eg:\:kpormuon for the logs from which | gas wes distilled. ~Functioning for a | time, the process according to an early commentator, 4 | lglrr(‘)lxghoul the entire vicinity." . The pine log method went into the discard with the perfection of the Drocess of extracting gas from coal, and | foday even the name of the man who | sponsored the local plant is forgotten. | *PThomas Holden, 218 Eighth street | southwest, a rethf;ihfn(g:lnec: dc;ry tr):c as g 0., toc - Washington 8 18" 648, when the s Light Co, was char- ‘ongress, there stood at this L?.i"‘.?fi.f was known to early in- habitants as the old resin gas plant, Washington Ga: tream affording convenient | was offensively odorous | Was Stored. where the distillate of common pine was piped from retcrts to a storage tank and thence to a few optimistic | consumers. ~ As events marched for- ward, the plant, financed by private capital, went out of business, and the area in which it stood, including the old canal, was filled in. This process hid all physicial evidences of the exist- ence of the old plant and it lay for- gotten until uncovered the other day. Large for its day, the old tank had a capacity of about 30,000 cubic feet. The holders 1n use in Washington today have capacities up to 5,000,000 cubic feet, witir 3,000,000 representing the average size. No reason for the massive con- struction of the tank’s base existed, ac- cording to present-day gas engineers, save that those who designed the old tanks attributed to gas a power for ex- pansion it did not possess and were tak- ing no chances on a flimsy holder that might at any moment explode and de- | molish everything in the nearby ter- ritory. The process by which gas was ex- tracted from pine logs, according to the Washington Gas Light Co.s engineers, was almost identical with that now in use to extract the illuminant from coal, Sections of log, cut into stovewood lengths, were tossed into a closed re- tort, which was heated from a wood fire below. Gas so generated was car- ried to a storage tank, and the residue | of charcoal, tar and pltch was utilized i{in other branches ¢f industry, a stadium and suggested the possibility of the Brightwood Reservoir site. At/ one time the university was considering the use of Analostan Island for this purpose, but the Roosevelt Memorial As- | sociation has since purchased this land | and will donate it to the Federal Gov- ernment for parkway purposes. The commission arranged for future conferences with the Washington Gas Light Co. over the erection of gas tanks at Fort Totten in the Northeast, near the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tracks. The commission has the least objection to the low type of gas tank, its engineer, Capt. E. N. Chisolm, jr., said vesterday, and feels that the type | of tanks proposed by the gas company is objectionable, particularly if they violate the zoning regulations, as seems indicated. The commission conceded that it is at & loss to suggest at pres- ent a place better suited for the gas | tanks. | Low Tanks Advocated. | The tanks the company suggested are | 130 feet high, but the low type of tank is within the zoning regulations, com- mission officials said. Should erection of the gas tanks at Fort Totten go forward, they will be set back off the street. There will be a highway change on Hamilton street, as recommended by the Co-ordinating Committee. Gets Cadet Appointment. Alfred W. Brown, jr. 3745 McKinley street, has been appointed by the Pres- ident as a cadet at large at the United States Military Academy subject to qualification at the entrance exam- ination at WRst Point in March. community in which the work was to be done, on the day that the Super vising Architect’s Office asked for b@; The contractor’s body declared: “It not a question with the contractor or the subcontractor what wage he has to pay on Federal work, as that is the Government’s burden, but he does want to know what figures to use before he begins to figure a Federal project, so he may be assured, if he should be the successful bidder and started the work, that some one would not change the figures, because some certain group thought they were not what they should be.” MOTHER CLAIMS POLICE PICKED UP CHILD, 6 Georgena Condola;, ~ Lost Short While, Makes Friends of Sec- ond Precinct Officers. Georgena Condola, 6-year-old daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Condola, 635 L street, was safe at home today after a policeman had taken her in tow early last night when she became lost near Fifth and M streets. The little girl was claimed by her mother at the Receiving Home several hours later. Meanwhile, she had be- come a steadfast friend of Officer C. Matheny, second precinct, who had found her. She also had & good word for & number of other policemen at the A. C. SMITH ELECTED BY BUSINESS MEN | Federation Members Discuss Mapes Tax Measure, but Take No Action. Arthur Clarendon Smith, president of the Central Business Men’s Associa= tion, was named president of the Fed- eration of Business Men's Associations at a meeting in the Logan Hotel, Thir- teenth street and Logan circle, last night. Other officers chosen were: Robert W. McCullough of the Northeast Busi- ness Men's Association, first vice presi- dent; Eugene Minoux, Georgia Avenue Business Men’s Association, second vice president; Theodore Saks, Southeast Business Men’s Association, treasurer, and Hubert Newsom, Northeast Busi- ness Men’s Association, secretary. Following a discussion of the Mapes tax bills affecting gasoline, motor vehi- cles and real estate, the matter was referred to a subcommittee for investi- gation and report. The federation urged the issuance of interstreet car company transfers at Seventh and G and Fifteenth and G streets. Public peddling of merchan- dise, including gasoline, on city streets was protested by the merchants’ group. station and attendants at the Receiving Home, ‘where she was taken before her mother found her. ‘The next meeting will be held the third Thursday in February in the board room of the District Building. 3