Evening Star Newspaper, July 12, 1935, Page 21

Wash ington News he Foening Star WASHINGTON, D. C., FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1935. They Took Up Their Beds and Walked—To the Parks Last Night FLOOD CONTROL WORK 10 BEG Gartside Announces Plan Ready for Capital Project. ‘The flood-control program for Wash- Ington moved a step nearer realiza- tion today when Frank T. Gartside, acting superintendent of the National Capital Parks, announced that plans are now ready for execution and are expected to be underway the latter part of the coming month. The procurement division of the! Treasury Department is opening bids July 26 for construction of the new Interior Department at Eighteenth and E streets, that will include demolition of existing structures as well as exca- vation and the construction of the new building. Earth from that excavation will be utilized by the park authorities in building the flood-control dyke, which will run at the rear of the Munitions | and Navy Buildings, from the Lincoln | Memorial to the northern section of | the Washington Monument grounds. Originally, the Treasury proposed to open the bids a week from today, but in order to give prospective con- tractors more time to make up their estimates, the opening has been post- | poned until 1 p.m. on July 26. To Be One Contract. The interior operation of changing the present situation into a completed new Interior Department building will be in one contract, unlike the con- struction of other public buildings | here, where demolition, excavation and construction were each separate | operations. | Gartside made it clear today there will be no levee effect, with a mound | of earth sticking up like a sore finger, but that the flood-control dike will be molded into the landscape and be as unobtrusive as possible. The program is expected to consume a year for the building of the dike and the placing of top soil and landscaping. Plans for flood control have re- ceived the indorsement of the United States Engineer Office, the Fine Arts Commission and the National Capital Park and Planning Commission.. The general level of the northwest section of the Washington Monument grounds will be raised to act as a permanent dike. Punds for this job will come out of the $1,000,000 of the old Public Works Administration money, recently allocated for the improvement of local parks. This particular operation will take $55,000. The Federal Govern- ment is particularly fortunate in being able to get the earth from the new Interior Department excavation for nothing. This serves a mutually ad- vantageous purpose, Gartside ex- plained, as the contractors’ problem of finding a place to dispose of the sur- plus earth will be solved and flood control will be insured. To Rebuild Section. The grade of the short section of Sixteenth street, south of Gonstitu- tion avenue, will be raised in the flood-control program and this neces- sitates rebuilding that short stretch of highway. Wells will be placed around the trees, as was done in the Mall and elsewhere. From the present grade, Mr. Gartside said, the northerly sec- tion of the Monument Grounds will be raised about 8 feet from a little south of Constitution avenue from Seventeenth street toward the Wash- ington Monument. In the rear of the Navy and Muni- tions Buildings, the dike will be but a few feet in height and will also be worked in with the existing grounds. It will be constructed in the rear of the parking area at the south fence and be raised some 3 feet. Pools to Be Replaced. The flood-control dike will be lo- cated on the site of the present Municipal Swimming Pools near Sev- enteenth street and Constitution ave- enue. But park authorities have promised that these pools will not be interfered with during the current season. They are to be torn down after the end of the season and will be replaced by next Summer by new swimming pools in the Southwest, near the Hoo- ver Playground, and in Georgetown at an unannounced location. Ac- cordingly, for the present, the earth ‘will be utilized in the flood control pro- grom on the site of the municipal pool, and will be piled up there tem- porarily, to be put in permanent posi- tion later. QGartside explained that the contours have been carefully studied, so that the flood control program will be worked in to become a permanent part’ of the Washington Monumen Grounds: ’ . Child Labor Opposed. South Africa has a campaign sgainst child labor, | the Bureau of Public Roads defraying U. S. Scout Cars To Survey Routes Of Scenic Road Ickes Approves Allot-| ment of $2,500 for Initial Study. Scout cars of the national park po- lice are to be sent out in a short while to survey various routes for & Washington-to-Worcester parkway to | serve as a connecting link between the New England resort section and the Shenandoah Great Smoky Moun- tains park system in the South. Approving the idea of making the South’s most-famous scenic region more accessible for Northern tourists by boulevards protected against com- mercial encroachment, Public Works Administrator Ickes yesterday ap- proved an allotment of $2,500 for the preliminary survey. The reconnois- sance will cost a total of $5,000, with the balance. While thé plan has been advanced from time to time during the past year, no definite route has ever been | decided. Government landscape en- | gineers will take two or three months to do the job. They will explore sev- eral routes to determine the possibili- ties for a scenic parkway. When the route is selected, Admin- istrator Ickes will take under advise- ment the cost of building a parkway with a Government right-of-way on each side averaging about 100 acres to a mile. At Washington Northern tourists would have a direct route to the Shenandoah National Park re- gion and then through the great scenic regions of North Carolina and Ten- nessee. The national parkway in these | sections already is under construction. | EXPORTS TO EUROPE SHOW BIG SLUMP Account for Approximately All of Decrease in Foreign Trade in Five Months. By the Associated Press. Large decreases in exports to Europe were shown by Commerce Department figures today to have accounted en- tirely for the decline of American ex- port trade for the first five months of this year as compared with last year. Exports to every other section of the world increased some $50,076,000, while those to Europe decreased $61,- 822,000, leaving a net decline in ex- ports of $11,746,000. May figures showed that Southern North America, Asia, Oceania and Africa made slight gains in purchases from the United States compared with May last year. Imports for the month were generally larger from every sec- tion of the world, the total gain being $109,070.000. As shown by previously published foreign trade figures, the United States still had a favorable trade balance for the five months, having sold some $16,000,000 more in that period this year than she has bought. OPERATION SUCCESS Senator Couzens Reported Im- proving at Mayo Clinic. ROCHESTER, Minn., July 12 (#).— Senator James Couzens of Michigan, operated on yesterday in the Mayo Clinic for a gall bladder ailment, was “improving satisfactorily” today, his personal physician stated. “The Senator's condition is very g0od,” the physician said. It is ex- pected Senator Couzens will be con- fined in the hospital at least two weeks. 2 TRUGK RVERS KLLED N CRagH Carolina Vegetable Carriers Collide on Washington- Richmond Road. By a Staft Correspondent of The Star. DUMFRIES, Va., July 12.—Two drivers were killed and two truck owners injured when two North Caro- lina vegetable trucks collided on a curve of the Richmond-Washington Highway here early today. The dead are: W. T. Fraley, 52, of Cooleemee, N. C., and Parker Connor, 24, of Orangeburg, N. C. Ira T. Bailey of Cooleemee, owner | of the truck driven by Fraley, and | Cecil Bonnette of Orangeburg, owner | of the second vehicle, were injured. H Fraley was instantly killed in the crash. Connor died an hour later in | the post hospital at the Quantico Marine Barracks. The truck operated by Fraley was en route north with a load of to-! matoes. Connor's vehicle was return- | ing empty to North Carolina. | Following an investigation of the| accident, Dr. E H. Marstellar, Prince William County coroner, at noon is- sued certificate of accidental death for Fraley and Conrer. The owners of the trucks were not ordered held. Connor is a son of Dr. A. W. Con- nor of Orangeburg. Arrangements are being made to send the bodies to North Carolina tonight. DETECTIVES MUST SUBMIT REPORTS Order for Comprehensive Weekly Account Step in Efficiency Drive. Headquarters detectives were under orders today to make comprehensive weekly reports on their activities to Chief of Detectives Frank §. W. Burke. This was another development in Police Chief Ernest W. Brown's drive for efficiency in the department. Form blanks containing questions 1o be answered by the detectives were issued to the 60 headquarters men last night by Burke, who explained how the questionnaires must be filled out. The new system will enable the de- tective chief to keep complete statistics on the number of arrests, unsolved cases, hours and official activities of each member of the force. Burke said that while good detective work is something too intangible to be revealed by “cold statistics,” the sys- tem should act as a ‘“reminder” to each detective to cover the whole field of his duties. DU PONT GLIDES 30 MILES May Have Set New Altitude Mark Also in Flight. ELMIRA, N. Y, July 12 (A— Richard C. du Pont of Wilmington, Del,, was credited with the longest flight made to date at the sixth an- nual national soaring contests here yesterday when he piloted his sail- plane to West Franklyn, Pa., approxi- mately 30 miles by air. He soared at an altitude of between 6,000 and 7,000 feet and may have broken the national record of 6,224 feet, which he himself made last year. His official altitude will not be known until his barograph has been cali- brated. Six-Inch Observatory Transit To Be Guarded by Sun Screen ‘The Navy Department today an- nounced the signing of a contract for a canvas sun-screen at the Naval Observatory here to prevent heat from affecting the instruments used in celestial observations in the 6-inch transit building, in conjunction with the correct time service. The $793 contract was awarded to the Baltimore Machine Works, 421 ‘West Camden street, Baltimore. It will be executed under the direction of the Bureau of Yards and Docks as part of a $117,878 public works program for various parts of the country, just| announced. * Capt. Andrew S. Hickey, acting superintendent of the observatory, ex- plained today that the sun screen will be 4 feet wide and will run on & track in the shape of a Roman arch. It will be 50 feet in length and around » 15 feet high. It will cover the 6-inch transit in the center of the building, which is an extension of the clock house, the vault in which the valuable time clocks are kept. It will be elec- trically driven. Observations made with the 6-inch transit are used for the correct time service which is flashed all over the world from the Naval Observatory. Recently a Chinese sclentist was in Washington from Nanking and told Capt. Hickey of receiving the observa- tory’s signals there. At present, Capt. Hickey sald, the sun 5o heats up the floor that some- times the scientists cannot even lie down to take tleir ohservations . The heat rays floor and affect the Teading of the L % These photographs were taken by a Star photographer about midnight last night in West Potomac Park, where scores of people spent the night in search of water-cooled breezes. slept in their cars, parked around the driveway at Hains Point. Society and General PAGE B—1 'BUS PLANS RUSHED!CRINE COMMITEE Others MENINGITIS CASE DISCOVERED HERE Investigation Begun to Pre- vent Renewal of Epidemic in City. With the discovery of a new case of | epidemic spinal meningitis in a local hotel, District health officers today be- gan an investigation of the victim’'s | home surroundings and his working conditions at the hotel in an effort to check any threatened renewal of the outbreak of the disease here. They said, however, they are not particu- larly alarmed by the finding of the new case. Arthur Jenkins, 38, elevator operator at a local hotel, and who lives at 905 H street, the new victim of the epi- demic disease which has had a wide range of spread in Virginia and the Carolinas recently, was taken to Gal- linger Hospital Wednesday. Attaches at the hospital said he had all the symptoms of epidemic spinal menin- gitis. The total number of cases in the District this year, since January 1, has been 174 from which 61 deaths resulted. Two of the deaths occured last week, health officers said. For the same period in 1934, only seven cases of the disease were reported and only two deaths resulted. The height of the epidemic here was during the Winter and early Spring months when the disease broke out in the Transient Bureau and transients were quarantined several days. SRR PO $166,000 CONTRACT LET FOR SCHOOL ADDITION Hugh M. Browne Junior Project Must Be Completed Within 240 Calendar Days. Contract for construction of an ad- dition to the Hugh M. Browne Junior High School, at Twenty-fourth and H streets, extended, northeast, was awarded today by the Commissioners to the Highway Engineering & Con- structing Co. for $166,000. The contract allows the contractor 240 calendar days for completion of the work. The Commissioners also awarded a contract to the George Hyman Con- struction Co. for $98,000 for con- struction of additional units for the new adult tuberculosis hospital being built at Glen Dale, Md., under a loan to the District by the Public Works Administration. The new contract covers construc- tion of a warehouse and garage build- ing and additions to the heating plant. The work is to be finished within 180 days. BODY FOUND IN RIVER Frank N. Blatt, 33, Veteran, Had Been Missing Since Wednesday. The body of Frank N. Blatt, 33, of 1205 F street northeast, who had been missing since Wednesday, was found yesterday in the Anacostia River near the foot of C street southeast. It is believed that Blatt, & World War veteran and a victim of sleeping sickness, was drowned while swimming. ‘The day of his reported disappearance, police were told, he was seen playing with & ball'in the river. a Judge Given Plans Real Rest After 42 Years in D. C. Service| Hopes to Enter Private Law Practice. | Chase Lake. Passed Judgment on 100,000 Cases in 62 Years on Bench. BY LESTER N. INSKEEP. A panorama of the seamy side of life such as few persons have beheld passes before Police Judge Ralph Given as he prepares for the first rest, other than regular vacations, that he has enjoyed for the past 42 years. The rest is the one thing Judge Given has promised himself as he waits to step from the Police Court bench after six and one-half years, which followed 36 years in the district attorney’s office here, to give way to the recent appointment of Walter S. Casey to the Police Court bench. Judge Given also faces another un- usual situation, for, in his 67th year, he probably will engage in the private practice of law for the first time. ‘While he has not definitely decided what he will do after his rest, he thinks it probable that he will prac- tice law, to be joined later by his son. Ralph Given, jr., who has just com- pleted his first year at the George Washington University Law School. Joining the district attorney’s office in 1893, first as a clerk and later as an assistant district. attorney, Judge Given has come into contact and dealt with a side of life which most people are fortunate enough to have missed. He has come into contact with the sordid, the vicious, the weak, the strong and the broken, cruelty and kindness and, most of all, ignor- ance, to which he attributes most of the troubles of the world. Both Kind and Just. The retiring judge radiates fairness, kindness and a sense of humor. Dur- ing his many years as prosecutor and judge he has released or succeeded in having personal bonds taken in the cases of thousands of persons ‘whose redemption he believed depend- ed upon kindness. At the same time he has shown no quarter to confirmed criminals. Discussing his service to the District of Columbia, Judge Given said yester- day he felt he had served the people well, and this made it easier for him to turn the position over to another. ‘When Judge Given first entered the district attorney’s office in 1893 there were 4,000 cases handled annually by one assistant district attorney and himself, then an 18-year-old boy. Studying law while he performed his own duties he was admitted to the bar in 1901, continuing his clerkship until he was made assistant district attorney, in charge of the office in 1904. He was assigned one clerk and one helper from the Police Depart- ment. During this time the number of cases had grown to between 6,000 and 7,000 a year, where they remained until 1921, when national prohibition came into effect At that time he was assigned sn assistant to handle pro- hibition cases and later two more were added, one for prohibition and another to assist him in the general prosecutions. 10,000 Cases Yearly. At this time the number of cases handled in his office had increased to approximately 10,000 a year, the average when he accepted the ap- pointment to the bench. With the repeal of prohibition the mmlutmwc.m'uh six District attorneys and 4 two clerks in the office to handle them. Since Judge Given has been on the bench he has disposed of approxi- mately 100,000 cases. The two things which stand out the most forcibly in Judge Given's mind as having occurred during his years as a prosecutor are that he assisted in the prosecution of Coxey’s Army in the early part of the century and that he prepared the first information against a prohibition law violator, se- curing the first conviction for this of- fense in the entire country. The pro- hibition law went into effect one mid- night, an arrest was made 10 minutes later and at 10 o'clock the next morn- ing Judge Given was in court to se- cure the conviction, which he did. Judge Given is married and has two sons, Harvey T. Given and Ralph Given, jr. His principal hobby is fish- ing in mountain streams of West Vir- ginia, where he has spent his annual vacations for years. AUTO HITS GIRL, 3; FOUR HURT IN DAY Traffic Accidents Include Injury of Two Boys and Man of 61. Three-year-old Elizabeth Anne Fon- niti, 1214 U street southeast, was one of four victims of traffic accidents yesterday. The child was struck in front of her home by a car driven by Madeline H. Day of 605 Raleigh street southeast, receiving injuries to her head and leg. ‘Two other children were treated for slight injuries as the result of acci- dents in front of their homes. John S. Lane, 5, of 156 Sixth street south- west, was injured about the head when struck by an automobile driven by Elmer Barber, 821 Maryland avenue northeast. He was treated at Provi- dence Hospital and returned home. John Brown, 5, of 480 I street south- west, also was treated at Providence for slight injuries when struck by an automobile operated by Pearl A. Grif- fith, 816 F street northeast. Brant Bowman, 61, of 901 H street received injuries to both legs, his right shoulder and face and hand, when he was struck by a car driven by Hen- rietta Wilhelm of Boulevard Heights, Md., as he attempted to cross the street against the traffic light. He was treated at Providence Hospital. CITY NEWS IN BRIEF. TODAY. Meeting, Military Service Legion, Mayflower Hotel, 8 p.m. Meeting, Capital Canary Club, 712 Twelfth street, 7:30 p.m. Dinner, General Electric ‘Wardman Park Hotel, 7:30 p.m. Meeting, Guflm Co., Hamil- ton Hotel, 4 pm. Meeting, A. F. G. E, District de- partment, Thomson School, Twelfth and L streets, 8 pm. 4 Co., Change on Anacostia Run to Be Made Monday, Firm Announces. With plans complete for substitu- | tion Monday of busses for street cars | on the Anacostia line, Capital Transit | | Co. officials today turned to the mat- | ter of bus schedules on upper Con-" | necticut avenue and on Wisconsin | | avenue, north of the District line, | | where street car service also will be | abandoned. Through busses probably will con- nect Garrett Park, Md., with dovm-i town Washington and possibly with Anacastia, W. B. Bennett, assistant to the president of the transit company, declared. Other busses from the center of the city will have their terminus at Chevy | Still others will run only as far north as Chevy Chase Circle. Bennett said it is likely that all| the Connecticut avenue busses start- ing or ending their run in Maryland will be expresses, with stops only in prescribed sections. Some time ago the District Public Utilities Commission authorized sub- stitution of busses on Connecticut | avenue from Calvert street to the circle, effective September 1, and yes- terday the Maryland Public Service Commission approved abandonment of the street car line in Maryland. At the same time, the Maryland commission authorized abandonment of the Rockville trolley line. This means the company will go forward immediately with its plans to erect a combination street car and bus terminal on Wisconsin avenue at the District Line. As soon as this structure is completed the Rockville street car service will be stopped and a bus line put into operation connect- ing the Maryland town with the Dis- trict by way of the Old Georgetown be taken out of service. In addition, the Montgomery County bus service along the Rockville Pike will be continued. This hourly serv- ice will be staggered with old George- town road busses so that there will be transportation available every half hour to Rockville along one of the two Toutes. Busses in Barns. Twenty-three new busses for the Anacostia service were in the Capital Transit Co. barns today being touched up with paint and made ready for operation. The new bus line will connect Ana- costia and Congress Heights with the downtown business district, with add- ed rush hours service along Constitu- tion avenue to the new Government buildings. The route of the Anacostia busses will be from I street south on Tenth to H, west to Eleventh, south to Pennsylvania avenue, east to Sixth street, south to C southwest, east along C, Canal and E streets to Fourth street southeast, south to Virginia avenue, east along Virginia avenue and K street to Eleventh, thence across the Anacostia Bridge and along Nichols avenue. SECRET A. A. A. HEARING HIT BY MILLS OFFICIAL Producers, Processors and Con- | sumers Denied Light on Amend- ments, Says Davis. By the Associateu Press. MINNEAPOLIS, July 12.—Donald S. Davis, president of General Mills, Inc., yesterday criticized what he de- scried as “the arbitrary and un- precedented action” of the Senate Committee on Agriculture in holding closed sessions or the amendments to the agricultural adjustment act He asserted hearirys were refused to producers, processors and con- sumers on the amendments, rotably that which would increase wheat processing taxes as wheat prices ad- vanced. He described ke alleged act as “un- fair, un-American and subversive of fundamental principies of demorracy.” PRICES UP 6 PCT. IN YEAR Wholesale Level 18 Pct. Above Two Years Ago. ‘Wholesale commodity prices yester- day were reported-6 per cent higher on July 6 than a year ago and nearly 18 per cent above the level two years ago. ‘The Labor Department added that there was an increase of three-tenths of 1 per cent during the week. road., The Alta Vista cars also will | PLAN 5 REECTE Commissioners Doubt Worth of Suggestion; Other Changes Approved. Proposed creation of a permanent citizens' advisory committee on crime was disapproved today by the Board of Commissioners in passing judgment on a number of recommendations made a week ago by a committee of District officials, appointed several months ago to digest results of the work of the Housing Crime Investiga- | ting Committee. The Commissioners approved several other suggestions of their committee, including the following: That steps be taken to form a small body of interstate detective work, in co-operation with Maryland and Vir- ginia; That captains of the metropolitan police force be held strictly account- able for crime conditions and crime enforcement in their districts; Would Limit Paroles. That the Parole Board consider | adoption of “stringent restrictions” against the granting of paroles to | “habitual criminals”; and That the system of examinations for promotions for the Police Depart- ment be revised so that 70 per cent | of the credit be given to experience | and efficiency and 30 per cent to writ- ten and mental tests. The last recommendation already had been covered in a proposal sent to the Civil Service Commission. The Commissioners rejected another | proposal of their committee which | would have abolished competitive writ- ten examinations for promotions of | police officers to the rank of captain. The city heads agreed this should be | continued. Their fear is they will be overwhelmed with political arguments | for the promotion of this or that lieu- | tenant if the tests are abandoned. Doubt Effectiveness. Members of the Commissioners’ com- mittee were Corporation Counsel E. | Barrett Prettyman, chairman; Assist- ant Engineer Commissioner Howard F. Clark and George W. Offutt, head of the Alcoholic Beverage Control | Board. Commissioner Melvin C. Hazen said the board had failed to find there would be any great amount of good accomplished by the permanent oper- ation of a crime committee. Another proposal of the committee, for the complete rewriting of the Dis- trict criminal code, was greeted fa- vorably and Prettyman was asked to consider an item of necessary expense in framing his estimate for his office for the next fiscal year. GIRL SPY AWAITS TRIAL MARSEILLE, France, July 12 (#).— A beautiful girl spy, charged with tempting to ferret out French air service secrets, is waiting trial here, police revealed yesterday. The girl, who gave the name Bur- gue, and her age as 26, was alleged to have been hired by a foreign con- sular official who had fallen into dis- favor. Recalled by his government on account of his marriage, he sought to regain the confidence of his chief, police said, by using the girl's serv- ices. Mouse Hampers Delivery of Mail; U. S. Asked to Act Woman W ho Finds Him in Box Wants Some- thing Done About It. Frances Lundquist, who resides on a rural route outside of Brookfield, Conn., has field-mouse troubles and wants the Government to do some- thing about it. Her plea, addressed to “Uncle Sam, U. 8. Post Office,” showed up at the department today. “Dear Uncle” (she wrote): “What shall I do about it? A field | mouse with long ears and big eyes has made a nest in my mail box, and’ every time I lift the top I disturb him and he disturbs me—and how! I have to leave this post card on top. “Affectionately, you niece. “FRANCES LUNDQUIST.” Postmaster General Farley, unable to do anything about the problem, is going to turn it over to the Agricul- tural Adjustment Administration and recommend that a field mouse redue- tion program be inaugurated in the ‘Brookfield. i neighborhood of