Evening Star Newspaper, February 7, 1937, Page 54

F—6 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON. D. C., FEBRUARY 7, 1937—PART FOUR. PEDESTRIAN CONTROL HELD URGENT :—: AVIATION NEW L3 13 January Victims Held Ignoring Traffic Rules Deaths Said to Be Result of Careless Walk- ing—Income Tax Notes—Sixth Street Closing Protested. By G. Adams Howard. more apparent every day. be properly safeguarded they mu T HAT something is needed to be done to control pedestrians is becoming 1t is obviously true if the walkers are to ust be protected from their own mis- doings. The only way it appears is to evolve certain traffic regula- tions for them with fines for convictions by the court. Last month there were 14 traffic fatalities. Thirteen out of this number ‘were pedestrians and in each case the automobile driver was blameless. All 13 pedestrians were doing somethingee: they should not have been doing at the time of the accident. Traffic Bu- reau records cite careless walking. Eight were crossing the street in the middle of the block. Four were cross- ing against the red light. One was walking down the side of the street. Of course there is no excuse for a driver to collide with a walker just because he is in the wrong. But any one who drives knows that in the ma- Jority of cases it is impossible to see & walker in time to avoid hitting him 1f he darts out into the street beween parked cars at the curb. The driver may be going at the rate of 22 miles an hour or 4, the result is the same. People even have been injured in walking into the side of a slow- moving vehicle. No one could hold the driver responsible for that accident. So, something must be done to help the pedestrian to protect himself against himself. This is urgent. Warnings and educational drives ap- parently do mnot suffice. The Com- missioners must put some regulations into effect and see that they are en- forced. The courts will do well to do their part in meting out fines. The fatality tolls must be reduced. Other large cities have seen the necessity of pedestrian control. Washington must Tealize it. The wonderful art collection gift of | the former Secretary of the Treasury | is hailed by all residents of the Na- | tional Capital. It is to be hoped, | however, that if the gallery is to be | erected on the suggested site off Con- stitution avenue that it will not neces- sitate the closing of Sixth street to traffic. This need not be done if an underpass is made underneath the proposed building. This underpass can be accomplished without harming the beauty of the building itself. It can be done much easier before the building is erected and at a considerable less cost. Con- gress in approving the plans for the gallery should see to it that an under- pass be made. Sixth street is one of the few through streets running north and | south from Pennsylvania avenue to | the Potomac River. It carries more | traffic than any other street except | Twelfth. It would cause great con- gestion and inconvenience to thou- sands if it were closed. There is no | necessity for it. Many citizens have | protested the closing of the street. | The underpass plan will eliminate all E difficulties. 1t is to be desired that the new plan to eliminate parking on certain main arteries throughout the Winter will be found legal. It is not a New Deal | conception. Its purposes are to re- | 1lieve congestion, allow access to gut- | ters for snow removal and make the | streets more safe. It would seem that Congress has| given the Commissioners and traffic | director power and authority to say what streets and at what time park- ing is to be restricted. A Police Court decision believes otherwise. If this belief was carried further there would not be any traffic regulations enforce- able throughout the entire city. A court in California ruled a short time ago that police could not legally put tickets in a car. To be legal they had to be handed to the driver, and then only if he was seen by the police- man in the process of violating a reg- ulation. That decision, if carried to the extreme, would allow a man to park his car on a street-car track and be immune unless a policeman actually saw him doing it. An apepal of this California ruling is expected. For the benefit of motorists labor- 4ng under the annual duty of figuring income-tax returns, the following is published: Explicit information for the motor- ist with respect to deductions under | the Federal income-tax law is given | Yy the Keystone Automobile Club in & statement prepared by Harrison G. Kildare, counsel for the club, and | made public recently. | “Subject to ironclad restrictions | and possible review by the collector of internal revenue,” said Mr. Kildare, | “owners and operators of motor ve- | hicles may deduct taxes paid, uncom- pensated loss to theihr vehicles, inter- est on financed loans and expenses | incidental to the actual business use | of vehicles. “Specifically, full deductions may be made for: “(a) Registration fees paid by the taxpayer (under ‘Taxes paid,’ which 1is item 8, schedule H, on form 1040A). “(b) Operators’ license fees paid by the taxpayer, both for himself and | members of his family if he foots the | bill (item 8). “(¢) Gasoline and oil taxes paid in States where local laws impose these taxes directly on the purchaser and not on the dealer. Deduction may be made for fuel taxes paid in Connecti- cut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hamp- shire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia. This group is also deductible under item 8 (form 1040a). “No such deduction is allowed, how- ever, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, California, Colorado, Ne- braska, Washington, Utah, ‘Wyoming or Alabama. The Federal tax of 1 cent on a gallon of gasoline cannot be credited. As long ago as 1931, the Keystone Automobile Club asked for & liberal construction of the Pennsyl- vania fuel act to permit deduction. ‘This year the club has announced its determination to seek new legis- lation on this subject at Harrisburg or in Washington, so that the motor- ist may take credit for the gasoline taxes which he now pays under the guise of a higher retail price. “(d) Loss by accident is deductible except when the owner has been com- pensated for the loss. Deduct under “Losses” (Item 10, Schedule J). | uary 30. est. Deduct under “interest” (Item 9, Schedule L). “No other deductions are allowed to a taxpayer who uses his car for pleasure purposes only. No allowance | is made for the amount of fines or court costs paid for violations of motor laws, nor for money paid to others in settlement of damage claims. No credit may be taken for operating ex- penses unless the car, is used in busi- ness. “Vehicles operated entirely or in part in the business of the owner en- title him to certain additional credits. These deductions may be grouped un- der one head as ‘“expenses paid” (Schedule A-3) and titled, “automo- mobile—business use,” an . deducted from the total amount of income de- clared (Schedule A-2). If the tax- payer receives an expense account from his employer for the use of his car in business, the total declared in- come for the year must include :ms‘ figure. “If the vehicle is used partly for pleasure the taxpayer may deduct as “business use” the proper proportion ol his total operating expense. Thus, if the car is used for business 80 per | cent of the time he may take credit | for 80 per cent of the tota! operating | expense for 1936. Proper items for consideration under this head include: | “(1) Operating cost, covering (a) full cost of fuel, (b) maintenance and repair costs, (c) garage rent, (d) in- surance premiums (net)) and (e) au- tomobile club dues. In States where | the fuel tax may not be deducted as | a tax the price increase is included in the cost of fuel. As already stated, | this applies at present to both the Federal and the Pennsylvania tax. “(2) Depreciation is allowed on some reasonable basis. On the theory that the average motor vehicle has a usable life of four years, a deduction of 25| per cent of the list price is considered | reasonable for pleasure cars. Allow= ances of 10 to 30 per cent may be accepted on trucks. “(3) Loss in trade on a new car, | if any. “Acquiring title to a motor vehicle by purchase, gift or inheritance does not constitute income. But if title | is received in consideration of services rendered, or s a prize in a compe- tition or in a lottery, it must be de- clared under “Income (item 5). “Federal manufacturer’s taxes are levied on the manufacturer and may not be deducted by the purchaser of a new vehicle, even though he pays for them in the price of his car.” Production of cars and trucks for the week ending February 6 was down to 70,495 units, according to an esti- mate made by Automotive Daily News | in its mid-week digest of the industry. This compares with a revised estimate of 73163 for the week ending Jan- Total January production is mated by A. D. N. at 321,559 units, compared with 377,306 in January 1936, and 519,132 in December, 1936. With General Motors divisions out of the picture as far as passenger car production is concerned, Ford is the week’s largest producer, with about 30,000 units, says A. D. N. Output of other companies, as estimated by A. D. N, follow: Plymouth, 10,500; Dodge, 7,000; Hudson and Terraplane, 2,800; Packard, 2,800; Studebaker, 2,585; Nash and La Fayette, 2,350; De Soto, 2,200; Chrysler, 2,000; Willys, 1,800; Graham, 420; Cord, 400, and miscellaneous companies, including truck makers, 6,000. As February begins, Chrysler units continue to show strength and Ford is holding up and showing indications of lifting production in the near future. Several independent manufacturers have been slowly increasing their out- put rates and it is expected the trend will continue unabated and perhaps increased for some time, A. D. N. re- ports. Effect of the flood on automobile production became noticeable this week when one or two plants cut output because of a pile-up of completed units unable to be shipped to points South. While this may temporarily slow production in some instances, A. D. N. points out that companies faced with large banks of unfilled orders will probably maintain pro- duction in the hope of cutting down delivery delays in sections unaffected by floods. Charlie Brooks, vice president and treasurer of Adams Brooks, Inc., Dodge and Plymouth dealers, announces the opening of a new sales room and serv- 1ce station at 8521 Georgia avenue in Silver Spring, Md. Complete facilities for sales, service and used cars are housed in this new building. Chrysler and Plymouth dealers from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, recently attended a busi- ness meeting and luncheon at the Shoreham Hotel. Several new models were presented and merchandise plans for this year were discussed-by J. W. Frazier, vice president and general sales manager of the Chrysler Corp. S. W. Monroe, Eastern sales manager; H. O. Doyle, regional sales manager, and F. L. Dickerson, District sales manager. Whitney Leary, president of H. B. Leary, jr., and Brothers, Washington Chrysler distributors, was toastmaster. Frank Mordsen, general manager of the Leary Co., discussed sales plans. All Hudson and Terraplane dealers in the Maryland, Virginia and Dis- trict of Columbia territory attended a luncheon and merchandise meeting held by the Washington zone office of the Hudson Motor Car «Co. J. T. Powell, Washington zone manager, and Charles Molster, Washington City sales manager, officiated. Merchandise and sales plans were discussed by George H. Pratt, Hudson general sales . esti- | “(e) Interest paid on personal in- | manager; C. G. Beeching, sales man- debtedness, including finance com- | ager in charge of zones, and C. W. pany loans, Consult your finance |Collins of the sales promotional de- fmpany for the exutfinh of inter- | partment. YOU AND YOUR GAR AIDED BY RUSSELL Hydraulic Brake Owners Advised to Test Pedal Regularly for Safety. BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL. Judging by the caliber of some peo- ple’s driving leaky heads are not con= fined to engines. . Owners of cars with hydraulic brakes can make a simple test daily to con- vince themselves that everything is well with the system. It is merely a matter of making sure that the brake pedal has a solid feeling. If the pedal suggests a squashy action, it is well to suspect leakage or insufficient supply of fluid in the master cylinder. Too Much for Granted. Reading over some recent comment on automobiles I chanced upon a statement to the effect that today's motorist takes the reliability of his car for granted. That is probably true, as far as it goes, but it is apt to blind us to the fact that as yet there is no justification for taking for granted the car’s reliability in the top-speed bracket. Most cars are capable of operating with a fair degree of stamina | even though neglected, but to add the | additional burden of high speed is re- | calling the story of the extra straw | that broke the camel’s back. No speedway star would think of | stepping on the accelerator without first making certain that everything is in shipshape. Not so with the aver- age motorist. The car may have been | ailing for weeks and virtually suffering from all manner of neglect, yet he feels assured that all will be well when he puts it to the supreme test of being opened up on the highway. perform with an amazing degree of reliability when they daily grind along | in close traffic of our modern cities, but it is one thing to count on this sort of service and quite another to assume that the car will be just as trustworthy at the other extreme of its performance range. It is always dangerous to take too much for granted, especially with an | automobile. When a driver starts out with the attitude that “anything goes” | he 1s multiplying the possibility that | anything can go wrong. . For Trailer Travelers. As a postive check against that seasick feeling when walking around a parked trailer the thing to do is to carry along four special jacks to sup- port the rolling home at its four cor- ners. Incidentally these jacks come in handy if you find it necessary to make an emergency adjustment to the car's brakes when on an extended trip. By jacking up all four wheels at a time the whole process is greatly simplified. And as an after-thought, why not tighten up the wheel bolts? | Such bolts always seem tighter than they really are when the wheels are on the ground. Mechanic Joe Speaking. “A reader writes me to say that directly following service work on the | clutch the oil pump developed a | knock. He cannot understand why something new should develop during the work on the clutch, and as a re- | sult he feels that the mechanic may | not have done a good job. | car owners that new troubles can | develop in a service station quite as | readily as in one’s own garage. Then | there is also the fact that owners give | their undivided attention to the major trouble, that seems to develop after the re- pair work, but which was there all the time. I remember keeping a car | in the shop for a week while straight- | ening a badly swayed frame. When | we tried to start the engine a valve | stuck so badly that the cylinder head had to be taken off.” Keep Front Wheels Straight. ‘When trying to back up or go for- ward on an icy road remember that | the rear wheels will get better trac- | tion if you set the front wheels for | the straight-ahead position. With the | wheels cut one way or the other there is increased drag and more inclination for the rear wheels to spin. This rule also applies when the car is standing in snow. Helps Traction and Brakes, Partially deflating the tires in order |to obtain better traction when the roads are slippery is a smart idea to ! recall in a pinch, but don’t overlook the | fact that the softer tires increase the effectiveness of the brakes. There will be better traction for braking, of course, but the increased braking power is something which should be carefully compensated for by handling the brake pedal more guardedly. Driver... 9 Can You Answer This AAA TRAFFIQUIZ 1. How many State now have safety-responsibility laws for control of proven reckless and irresponsible operators of motor vehicles? (Check right space.) ) Forty-eight States. ) Twelve States. ) Twenty-seven States and District of Columbia. d () Thirty States and District of Columbia. 2. How many persons are annually charged with violation of the traffic laws? a ( b ( a( b ( e ( ) 2,000,000. ) 1750,000. ¢ () 1,500,000. d () 800,000. 3. What is the maximum width for commercial vehicles recommended by highway authorities and safety groups? ) Eight feet. ) Ten feet. ) Nine feet. ) Eleven feet. What is an easily distinguished of an impatient motorist? ) Weaves in and out of ) Crosses streets on caution ) Constantly blows horn. ) Yells at pedestrians. 5. In which of the las four years was the motor death rate per 100,000 population the highest? Cars do | DOWN THE ROAD—Things to Worry About. N 12 4 / 7 it V0 = e = ") ——~THE AFFECTED INDIFFERENCE 7 70 YOUR EXPOSED POSITION. f/ -7 Fortune Telling nued Prom First Page.) | In four months. Well, I was glad to | hear that, because in the meantime I can put other jrons in the fire. “Now, what's your lucky number?” inquired the seeress. I thought my fee included informa- tion on that subject from her, not me, but I said: “Seven.” “Seven it is!” she exulted. | Did I play the numbers? No, I didn't play the numbers. Play them and play seven. Since this was the | fortune teller who predicted I'd make a “fabulous” sum on a small invest- ment, I think I'll take a chance on the numbers game—once, anyway. We concluded the interview with a little homely philosophy on love and how to make it. 'HE next move in my excursions into | the future took me to a house in | the Dupont Circle neighborhood where | dwelt a mystic called, variously, “rev- | erend” and “madame,” who adver- | ‘!Lsed “circle readings, Wednesday aft- | ernoons at 2:30.” | The rev. met me at the door, where | she had just concluded a very earthly | discussion with the ice man. She had carrot-colored hair which owed its tint not to the vegetable but to a bot- tled product from the corner drug | store. Brass earrings dangled against | her neck. She said the Wednesday | circle readings had been concluded and that, anyhow, they were “for la- “It is always difficult to convince | overlooking something eise | dies only.” But she had 'em on Tues- | days and Fridays and I could come ' then or she would give me a private | | crystal gazing for $2. With gay dis- | dain for U. S. currency. of which Seer No. 1 had just said I would soon have | | 50 much, I told Seer No. 2 to go ahead | | and gaze for $2. “Comg in, dearie,” she said. ‘We arranged a little tete-a-tete at a | small writing table, and the seeress took out her crystal ball, which was like an oversized glass marble, and set | | it on a frayed piece of black cloth. She | instructed “dearie” to clasp the sphere | between his hands and “think of your | future—concentrate on your future.” I thought of the yacht, the three chil- dren and the importance of being ear- nest. I haven't concentrated so hard since I tried to solve an algebraic | equation in high school. Then I put the ball down, according to instruc- tions, cupped my hands over it and made my wish. I wished I would be- come president of the company. That was pretty mean of me, for here I was, on the company’s time, trying to wish the president out of his job. Whilst I was wishing, the woman with psychic powers said some sort of a prayer and snapped her fingers. I looked around to see Whether a dog had answered the finger-snapping, but none did. he reverend glared at the glass globe and right away commenced seeing things. Gosh, what she didn't see! Troops in uniform, Annapolis, West Point, airplanes, ships, the Hudson | River, two girls with “dark hair and dark eyes,” one girl with “auburn hair and hazel eyes,” Bermuda, Havana, the Argentine, Australia, two keys, & “dark man with olive skin” and the initials J, C, L and W, in fact, just about every letter in the alphabet. I am going to travel all over the place, that’s clear. I want to watch out for the olive-skinned man—he’s & bad one! But the girl with the au- burn hair and hazel eyes—I'm-going to meet her on the first of my many trips and, oh, boy! There are two other women, one young, the other with a gray streak in her hair. They're interested in me” in & busi- ness way.” (Darn it!) One is an “instructure” of some sort. Then, there’s a man with iron-gray hair and a “nice” face. He's going to be very important to me. He’s going to offer me another job and I'm going to take it (so long, boss). EER No. 1's predictions as to my economic future were nothing as compared with Seer No. 2's. The money is going to start “pouring in” in three weeks. Seven dollars to have my fortune told three times, $50,000 for my yacht—poof! The oracle with the carrot tresses said she heard a buzzing noise which indicated I was interested in electric- ity, probably electrical engineering. I told her I wasn't & bit interested in electricity; that I couldn’t even repair a worn-out connection on &n electric toaster. She decided, then, that maybe the buzzing noise was made by air- planes. She exbendedd her arms and fia) em up and down. ‘Pl:p::e%mn,!lhe exclaimed. “Air- planes! That’s that humming noise.” She also saw an American flag and men in uniform with “lots of gold braid and all.” The uniformed men were saluting the flag and so was L She saluted to show how it was being done. It looked to me more like & “Viva, T1 Duce” or “Heil, Hitler” salute than that used by United States mili- tary forces. First she thought she saw Annapolis, but it changed to West Point when she saw “things sticking up in the hats” of the men in uni- form. I told her I didn't see the con- nection; that the only uniformed men with whom I had had any association were theater ushers and hotel door- should have been, it seems. She didn't | private planes, but Lieut. Near got “see much of the M. D.,” but got some | tough on that score—he grounded kind of vibration that sugegsted news- | them for the stage of the extreme paper work. Just as I thought she was | emergency, and took their precious gas | | getting warm she changed the subject | for relief ships. They soon stopped to the auburn-haired girl. coming. For my $2 I also got medical advice.| “Until the middle of the week there The crystal ball diagnosed me and | was no post office. We kept a big mail determined that I shouldn't eat sweeis |sack in the station hall and people —plenty of vegetables, but no sweets. | put their letters in tha(t, t“ “"5“; long until we ran out of stamps an Some member of my family should | % be careful about signing his or her | then we took money for postage. Some name to papers of any sort. I'm going | % the senders could pay and others bttt T bers | couldn’t. It finally got so that when :en‘:t. e;he“ in;h.‘;;::nc?ow:féé | we couldn’t make change for some one = = ! | who had cash that we just let them Nould cepsemct? o would be non- 10,0 the balance to take care of the payment of rent. In view of the riches | ones who didn't. We were just 2 cents about to descend on me like p'““"”short when the post offics took over from heaven I can't see why that | again. Some of the emergency letters should bother me, but anyhow I'm . Lipids : | out were even written on brown wrap- going to move. The crystal ball said so. | ping paper, but we sent them any- . way—the planes carried them to In- ESUPPLIED with money that's dianapolis and GChicago and turned | going to return to me like bread | them over to postal authorities there. cast upon the waters, I made ready for | Newspaper men had no way at first my last soul-baring episode. The seer, | to wire stories, so we took those out, a man, this time, answered the phone | too, and delivered them at the nearest | himself. It was pretty unnerving to | telegraph office that we reached. A talk over that worldly instrument of | few of the larger papers sent in their modern civilization with a fellow who [ own chartered planes, and every one claims to be in league with very un- | of them brought supplies and where worldly forces. | they had space in going out took ref- Up a steep flight of stairs I went, to | ugees. Eaclh day we had reports from the male clairvoyant's “‘cave’—three ;lhe Mayor's Committee of what was rooms and a bath. The opening of the most needed, and those were the things door caused a bell to tinkle in the | that were brought in on the next ship mysterious distance as if touched by | cOming through. i a spirit hand. I felt as if in a dentist’s | _“The morale of the city has been waiting room. tremendously helped by the work here The seer came forth and greeted me '3t the airport, and nothing too fine in & velvety voice. The “cave” was Can be said for thu spirit of co-oper- New Type of Recognition For D. C. Flyers Is Planned Certificates of Merit to Be Awarded Under Proposal of Aero Club of ‘Washington. By Joseph S. Edgerton. be completed at a meeting of P ciution headquarters, Dupont Circle. LANS for a new type of recognition for local flyers and aviation personnel who make unusual contributions to the advancement of flying will the officers and trustees of the Aero Club of Washington Tuesday night at the National Aeronautic Asso= The recognition will take the form of a certificate of merit, somewhat similar to the certificates presented to- those who establish official aviation records. The first presentation of the new awards is scheduled to take place this month at the annual Famous Flyers’ meeting, at which the certif- icates for new records are presented. Arrangements for the annual gath- ering, which will bring together many of the noted American pilots who have established new world and United States aviation records during the past year, will be completed at Tuesday night’s meeting. At this meeting, the outstanding local aviators and avia- tion enthusiasts will be given recog- nition for the first time. L!EU'X‘. COL. ROSS G. HOYT, Army Air Corps, internationally known as an authority on pursuit avia- tion and famed for a number of out- standing Army flights, will be relieved of duty as assistant chief of the Infor- mation Division, office of the chief of | Air Corps, next June and will go to | Barksdale Field, La., for a tour of ac- tive field service with the 3d Wing, | General Headquarters Air Force. | Col. Hoyt was pilot of the refueling plane in the famous endurance flight ! of the Army transport Question Mark | in January, 1929, when was estab- lished the first of a series of world | . records for en=- M durance with re- i £ fueling in flight. He made the } arrangements for the famous Army good - will flight around South America and as a result of the # Z irecord he made i B | on that difficult ¢ mission he was selected as ad- vance officer on the record-break- | Col. B. G. Hoyt. ing formation | flight to Alaska in 1934 by 10 Army bombardment air- planes. He established refueling bases | and temporary Oper: g bases for the formation. | "In March, 1820, Hoyt established what then was an outstandinz record |in a double “dawn to flight between Washington and San Antonio, | Tex., completing his round trip at | Bolling Field in the teeth of a 60- | mile gale which lifted his plane off men. Taking another tack, the seeress at me with: “Why wasn't you o lawyer?” Well, I just wasn't. I b decorated a la Egyptian, with tapes- tries showing ancient Egyptians pos- ing as only ancient Egyptians do. Even the radio had a couple of assorted Pharaohs on it. The seer, beckoning me to a seat in a sort of inner reception room, disappeared toward the rear—to com- mune with the spooks, no doubt. After a minute or two he called me to his sanctum sanctorum and we talked prices. He wrote his fees down in Roman numerals, like this: II, III, V, X. Showed he was in touch with the past. On the excellent theory that one shouldn't count their chickens be- fore they're hatched or their money before it's pocketed, I disregarded previous predictions of financial good He asked for my ring, wrapped it in a mystic cloth, snapped out the desk lamp and went to it. With his left hand he held the cloth, with my ring | sandwich and his interview, “Pop"” | inside, against his left temple, while with his right hand he spun a crystal ball. In a low and rapid voice, eyes closed, the “man who knows all” poured out my destiny. He went so fast I got the impression he was delivering Form Forecast No. X-10314. If he was, he had certainly gotten it down pat. He talked about “the leaves of Spring” and “the year 19 and 38.” He, too, sald I was going to move from one house to another and warned against incautious signing of papers. I'm going to be sick, but it won't be serious and all will be well when “the leaves of Spring come to the trees.” Travel? Oh, my, yes! ‘Wealth? You bet! The research, however limited, which resulted in the aforesaid ex- _periences, would have been totally in- complete without at least an effort to see the Washington woman who is one of the Nation's most renowned fortune tellers. The effort died a-born- ing, for so famous is this clairvoyant that she was “dated up” for two weeks hence, from 8:30 a.m. throughout the day and evening. After my researches were concluded I went to a parking lot, but no one could look in a crystal ball and tell me where to find my car. o Floods (Continued From First Page.) the Department of Commerce put in a generator, gasoline driven, but it was the wrong kind and it blew out all our sets. We rushed in a new one, covering the floor of the plane with planks so that its 1,000-pound weight wouldn’t break through. Until Tues- day night, our only chance to get messages out was by long-distance phone—one line which averaged three hours to a single call—and the out- going ships. After our new generator and the one American brought were installed, we both worked with Air Commerce in getting weather reports through. IT WAS on Monday that hysteria began to run high. The office phones were ringing constantly, night and day. Sick babies, sick old people, frantic mothers who offered anything to get out. We tried to hold our space for them, and the only men we sent out were engineers, who had to buy supplies for the gas and electrical company. Our company brought out even its older equipment, honorably retired to freight service, but still per- fectly safe and fiyable. Every ship that came in had supplies on board— in one flight, for example, we brought 1,400 pounds of blankets. No passen- gers, except relief workers, were brought into the city, however, unless absolutely necessary. A few morbid sightseerers did come in on chartered - ation. To both American and to Us|the ground and blew it away after came telegrams from anxious rela- | his first landing. In August of the tives asking us to find members of | same year he blazed a 4,500-mile trail | their families and evacuate them on | from New York to Nome, Alaska. e ships, passage prepaid. Where it| 4 pative of Michigan, Col. Hoyt was humanly passible to find them We | epeereq the Army as a Coast Artil- | did and sent them out. One Red Cross | nurse was brought down from Chi- | cago with instructions to locate an | 80-year-old husband and wife. We | gave her all the help we could, but | couldn’t get results. Finally she dis- inppenred for two days. She turned up then, bt triumphantly bringing the old peo- | ple with her. They were dispatched |on the next trip. ~Frankly, I never | knew an airline could be such a versa- | tile organization—our men all worked | night and day, towards the last of the week practically ‘out’ on their feet, i HEN Mr. McConnell of American came into the restaurant for his | sald, as he served us, “I'm even mak- | ing sandwiches in my sleep—I could really get along pretty well if I never | saw another one for the rest of my | life.” But he grinned as he said it. “We are pretty proud of the fact,” said McConnell, “that we had the first relief ship in—it brought serum and food from Nashville. Our Washing- ton-Louisville run was canceled and the ships serving it turned over to Louisville needs. Others were taken off other runs, and in addition to our 14-seat Douglas we even had some of our small Stinson mail planes and two or three of our 21-place flagships. Our regular schedules were for 4 a day, emergency. We landed at night in spite of the wet field until the lights and the radio range went, and as soon as they were working again we re- started night flying. We never com- promised with safety. Our steward- esses, all trained nurses, worked hours overtime, but our pilots stayed within the legal requirements of the Depart- ment of Commerce—that was vital. It was interesting to us to find that at least 50 per cent of our passengers were what we call ‘first ride’—that is, had never flown before. “Our Chicago office tells us now that up to today, Tuesday, our line alone has carried over 100,000 pounds of emergency supplies into the airport here. We have evacuated over 1,000 people, two-thirds of them women and children. We brought in police and firemen from Toledo, Akron, Phila- delphia and Boston, and C. R. Smith, our president, has stated that all sup- plies and workers were to be carried without charge as the company’s con- tribution to the emergency.” ‘The emergency is not over yet, even though the waters are receding at this city. Down in Memphis, where I went yesterday, planes are standing by to help in every possible contingency, with the Coast Guard on the job there also. The Red Cross reports that it has only had to ask once iv: help and the help was forthcoming, while in some cases outside the flood area it- self commercial companies which had no immediate contact with the situa« tion offered their services to supple- ment those that had. United Airlines was one of these, its president, W. A. Patterson, wiring Cary Grayson in ‘Washington that it would stand by for anything needed. It did one special piece of flying in addition to its trips into Louisville with supplies later, carrying a national broadcasting oute fit and & plane full of newspaper and cameramen on &. 9-hour non-stop flight over the flood area so that & completely adequate description could be sent out to the country at large. If the-disasters of nature are ever to be conquered, man has found in his fledgling wings s powerful new mzpmmm. 1> looking pretty bedraggled, | but we have averaged 20 through the | leryman, acting for a time as an in- | structor in telephones, fire control, | gas engines and electrical engineer- }mg as applied to the military service. | He began his aviation career in April, | 1918. He is rated as both an airplane |and airship pilot and as an aerial observer. Bolling Field at about the same time will lose its engmneering officer, as a result of the transfer to Maxwell Field of Maj. Aubrey Hornsby, who |1s scheduled to report to his new | post June 26. | ]PURSUIT aviation will be the sub- ject for discussion at the Feb- ruary instruction session of local Army | Afr Corps Reserve officers at 8 p.m. Tuesday in room 1057, Munitions Building. ‘The name of the instructor has not | been announced. Capt. Jack C. Hodg- | son, operations officer at Bolling Field | and instructor to the local Air Corps Reserve, has received orders transfer- ring him to Rome for duty as assistant tary attache for air, with additional duty as assistant military attache for { air to Greece. He will take the usual | course of preparatory duty with the | General Staff, War Department, before | leaving for Europe. | The problems concerning the most | effective use of pursuit aviation have | been greatly increased during the past | few years by the tremendously in- creased speeds of bombardment and | attack aviation and by the greatly in- creased range of the bombers, which requires their operation on long-range missions as independent units capable of self-defense as well as offensive power. FFORTS are being made to have the Soaring Society of America qualified legally as an educational or- ganization, so that it may be in a po- sition to receive subsidies which will be non-taxable. ‘The society, well represented in ‘Washington, is the only national body in America sponsoring motorless fly- ing. It is working in competition with the great European -oaring and glid- ing societies, which receive government subsidies and which are regarded as invaluable adjuncts to national avia= tion development. During the past week the Soaring So- ciety held its annual meeting in New ‘York and planned to make the eighth annual soaring contest, to be held next June at Elmira, N. Y., the largest yet held in this country in the number of attending pilots, prizes to be awarded and, if possible, in outstanding glider and sailplane flights. Harris Hill, Elmira, has been made into the finest glider base in America as a result of & $110,000 improvement program, just completed. Competing pilots next June will find cabins in place of tents, a large administration building replacing small temporary structures which hitherto have housed soaring fleld offices, a new glider hanger, a newly paved road to the hill and a smooth-rolled take-off runway 2,000 feet long. There is a large con- crete swimming pool and running water at the cabins. Donald Hamilton of this city is national secretary of the society and a member of its board of directors. ALTHOUGH ships have been oper- ated across the seas for hundreds of years, yet today when the weather closes in the captain orders the ship to proceed at five knots, he stays on deck night and day and he is tremen- dously concerned about his responsi- bility, it is pointed out by Jerome Led- erer, national authority on aviation insurance, & military attache and as assistant mili- | “Airplane dispatchers and pilots therefore should not feel obligated to | ‘get through’ weather which still | hinders another system of transportae | tion after hundreds of years of experie ence—remembering that an airplane | cannot slow down to five knots once | it is in the air.” Lederer said. | “Even train schedules suffer from weather, and as train speeds increase they will suffer more,” he added. “The safety record of the airlines is very impressive, but trains will soon be going from coast to coast in 48 hours (as against about three and a half days now), giving the airlines 'and the traveling public something to | think about. Safety will probably be the governing factor in the minds of | the transcontinental travels, who will evaluate the loss of two business days against the relative safety of fast trains and airplanes.” THE next step in aircraft regulation probably will come through State aviation commissions, Lederer bee lieves. There is little doubt, he said, that the National Association of State Aviation Officials is alive to the probe lems now before them and that meme bers will do their best to adopt unie form regulations based on common sense rather than on an unrestrained desire to regulate. The work of some of the more ac- tive commissions already is showing results, he said. He cited Connecti- cut, where monthly inspections of aire craft now are made by State inspece | tors and where, it is claimed, the accident rate is 20 per cent below nor- mal, as compared with the country as a whole, “While no definite conclusion can be drawn from this fact” Lederer commented, “nevertheless it indicates what intelligent regulation can achieve.” He said the New Jersey Commis- sion also has drawn up “very wise regulations which ke at the sources of airplane acciden No operator is allowed to carry passengers unless his moral and financial responsibi has been checked and approved the co n. Barnstorming pilots from other States are not permitted to compete at a field where an ap- proved operator is located. Lederer also cited the commissions of Illinois, Michigan, Florida and Ne- braska as outstanding. “Inasmuch as these commissions are usually intended to protect the general public as well as the public that flies,” Lederer said, “it would seem logical that the expenses of the | commissions should be shared by the whole pecple rather than by aircraft owners. Furthermore, the commis- sions should be composed of men of impartial judgment who will select ine spectors on the basis of their experi= ence, character and personality. A | good corps of inspectors can be of im= | measurable assistance in developing | greater safety in aviation. On the | other hand, an inefficient corps of men can do immeasurable harm.” } RANCE now has a new “popular | aviation” system, replacing the old plan of governmental bonuses to individuals purchasirg airplanes of | the private-owner types. The new | program, according to a report from Assistant Trade Commissioner Les- trade Brown, at Paris, to the Com- merce Department, has as its aim pre- liminary training in aviation, at the expense of the state, for young men and boys from 14 to 21 years of age. The plan calls for a course of ele- mentary technical instruction, to be | followed by practical mechanical ap- plication, with examinations in both the theoretical and practical branches; practice flying for boys who have cone pleted the preliminary course, and, | finally, special training for the best candidates leading to qualification for a tourist pilot's license. The program includes creation of special aviation sections, to be incor- porated in the various aeronautical clubc already in existence and affili- ated with the Federation Aeronautique de France. There are approximately 180 of these clubs, with a total of 150,000 members and with 1,300 air- | planes owned by individuals or groups. | “The role of the state in the de- | velopment of the popular aviation pro- gram will consist of financial aid, to be accorded through the donation of airplanes to the clubs participating and the allotment to such organiza- tions of credits for the upkeep of fly- ing material and the training of pupils,” it was reported. | Allotments for 1937 for this purpose | are $2,373,192. | o | Turn to Wild Life. ‘THE value of wild life to agricul- turists is becoming a matter of | more and more concern. In fact, s0 | great has the interest become the | Biological Survey-has turned its at- tention seriously to the problem and will aid farmers now in developing | programs for their farms. | It is pointed out that wild birds, | for instance, have a great value in insect control. More important, however, is the fure bearing animal future. Fur farming, of course, has become a recognized business, but wild animals, given a | certain measure of protection, also | pay dividends, for in the late Fall and ‘Winter months, when other farm work is not so time-consuming, the farmer has opportunity to hunt and trap fur bearers, obtain their pelts for market= ing and the carcass, often, for food. Owing to internal disturbances, the Itaio-Ethiopian conflict and exchange’ restrictions, the 1935-6 tourist season in Egypt was one of the worst on record. peedometer Service We Repair Al Makes CREEL BROTHERS 1811 I4m ST.NW.o**DEcarva 4220