Evening Star Newspaper, July 28, 1937, Page 23

Washington News - COMMERCE AIDE URGES PASSAGE OF AIRPORT BILL Johnson, Assistant Secre- . Yary, Favors U. S. Owning D. C. Plane Center. FULL SITE UTILIZATION DECLARED IMPERATIVE Immediate Construction of Out- lying Base for City Also Recommended. Immediate enactment of the May bill authorizing enlargement of Wash- ington Airport was advocated by As- sistant Secretary of Commerce J. Monroe Johnson before the House Military Affairs Committee today. Johnson approved the principle of Federal ownership of an airport for the Capital and told the committee ‘Washington Airport should be im- proved to the utmost possible limits and that Congress should also under- take immediate construction of an outlying airport for Washington. Johnson estimated that Washing- ton Airport is safe only 50 per cent of the time for operation of 21-passen- ger Douglas transports now used by two of the airlines. The May bill would make the field safe for a much greater proportion of the time, but there still will be need for an outlying airport for extremely bad weather, he testified Johnson urged that the committee take immediate action on the bill, re- | gardless of what is done about de- velopment of any other airport site. “We have more than 500 landings and take-offs a day at Washington Airport and getting to the point of serious air congestion.” Johnson tes- tified. “Conditions at the airport must be improved, but Congress should ini- tiate a long-range program looking to development of an outside field. Such & fleld will be badly needed before it can be completed, even if we start now.” ‘The airport problem and the resuits of recent hearings on the subject will be discussed by the National Capital Park and Planning Commission tomor- row and Friday. Preliminary studies on approaches to the proposed Camp Springs airport and a “free way" or ex- press highway to connect the Maryland site with one of the Anacostia bridges will be taken under advisement, said John Nolen, jr., director of planning. Gorrell Urges Passage. Col. Edgar 8. Gorrell. president of the Air.Transport Association of America, another witness before the committee yesterday, also urged immediate pas- sage of the May bill. He said that, in his opinion, Washington Airport is safe under the present standards of operation, but that it is usable only part of the time under such stand- ards, and that the airport should be enlarged to make it usable under all normal conditions. He also agreed that two airports will be necessary in the near future. Conditions at Washington Airport ereate an immediate emergency which can be overcome only through enact- ment of the pending bill, the commit- tee was told by Representative Ran- dolph of West Virginia, chairman of the former House subcommittee on local airport bills. Freeland Chew, member of the Board of Commissioners of Arlington County, distributed to newspaper men attending the hearing a typewritten statement in opposition to the May bill. He branded the move to enlarge the airport “‘a well conceived plan” by airport officials to increase the value of their property. He said it is “unthink- able that the Government would con- sider giving to a private corporation valuable industrial lands lying in Arlington County and thereby greatly increase the salable value of an air- port site which the corporation is de- sirous of turning over to the Fed- eral Government.” He also objected to closing of Mili- tary road, pointing out that it has been used by citizens of Arlington County for 25 years and by bus com- panies which are denied use of Me- morial Bridge. The proposed substi- tute, toward which Washington Air- port has offered to donate $25.000, “would be little compensation to the people of Arlington County” in return | for the sale to the Government of | ‘Washington Airport, “thus forever withdrawing from taxation more than 140 acres of our most valuable in- dustrial land,” he declared. Chew said that the War Depart- ment has granted permission to Ar- lington County to improve Military road and the work is expected to begin shortly. The Agriculture Department is op- posed to turning over for airport use the portion of Arlington Experimental Farm joining Washington Airport, the committee was told by E. C. Auch- ter, acting chief of the Farm Indus- tries Bureau.’ He characterized the 56 acres in the tract as the best land in the farm and the only part suitable for certain types of experimental work. He said the land is worth between $7,000 and $10,000 an acre. Representatives of the War Depart- ment told the committee there is no objection to the closing of Military road, which has no further value for military purposes. Objection to the filling in Boundary Channel lagoon was voiced by Thomas 8. Bettle, secretary of the National Capital Park and Planning Commis- sion, who said that the use of this area would bring airplane operations too close to the Mount Vernon Memorial Boulevard. Meanwhile, the Copeland bill, simi- lar to the May bill, has been placed on the Senate calendar, and there is & possibility it may be reached Mon- day, when the calendar is scheduled a8 the order of business. Although the King bill authorizing development of the Camp Springs site recommended by the District Air- port Commission also was placed on the Senate calendar, there was in- creasing doubt of the prospects for passage of this bill. The Aeronautics Bubcommittee of the House Naval Affairs Committee, which is unani- mously opposed to the Camp Springs Retiring chief engineer at shown turning on one of the FTER tomorrow, Willioam A King's everyday world will be strangely hushed and tranquil Instead of the strident voices of dynamos, there will be the placid countryside. In place of the trains that roar past all day, streams will speak softly to him. For King, recently turned 70. retires tomorrow after 30 years as chief en- | gineer of the Union Station's huge | power plant and after 49 years of rail- roading. “I'm going to take things easy the | rest of my life,” he explained, raising his voice above the roar of the dynamos. “And by taking things easy. I mean fishing. From now on I fish.” His eyes lighted with the peculiar | gleam that lights the face of a real | fisherman “Any kind of fishing—anywhere.” he added, waving away the concen- trate of noises compounded of switch engines. shuttld cars, dynamos and a few other unclassified sounds. Vital Job. As chief engineer for the Washing- ton Terminal Co. main power plant, King has been responsible for lighting, heating and furnishing electric power for the Union Station and its intricate networks of yards It's & most important job, for any shut-down of that plant would disrupt not only the vast terminal. but the shuttling of the trains to the right tracks and many lesser but essential details. The plant propels the compressed last time. He retires tomorrow. air by which the switches are moved he Fp WASHINGTON, ToQuit Mechanical Bedlam Union Station’s Power Plant Chief Engi- neer, 70, Plans Quiet Fishing Life. WILLIAM A. KING, the Union Station power plant, power machines for almost the —Star Staff Photo. }Ir turns out ice and refrigeration for the station and for every train. With- | out the lights of various colors and | designs, the yards at night would be a | bedlam The plant generates its own power from the steam that enormous ovens produce. Every gadget in the place |is as familiar to Kmg as his own backyard. for he directed construction of the plant when he came here in 1907. He started railroading 49 years ago |in the Pennsylvania shops at Balti- | more. After learning how to repair | locomotives, he transferred to the power end and mastered the ways of | electricity. Sons Follow Mechanics. His five sons all foilowed mechan- ical pursuits, though none went into the railroad business. One is a con- tractor, another an automotive en- gineer. King lives at 1215 Seven- teenth street northeast. At 4 pm tomorrow, as he rounds out his final day at work, his fellow workers have planned to observe the event in some appropriate and care- fully guarded way. They've always thought of him, one of them explained, &s passing his days in just about the noisiest spot in ‘Washington, where even the telephone, inclosed in a booth, summons you with a whistle, because you couldn't hear a bell. Henceforth they’ll have to imagine him seated somewhere with a fish- | ing pole in front of him, with the loudest sounds about him the casual icall of a bird or the swish of the . water. MERCHANT ROBBED OF $610 BY PATRONS Two Customers Buy Watermelon, Then Take L. L. Lisk for Expensive Ride. ‘Two customers, who bought a water- melon last night from Lewis L. Lisk, at Tenth and F streets southwest, per- suaded him with a revolver to enter their car, took him for a short ride and robbed him of $610, he told police Lisk said he was taken to Eleventh and D streets southwest, where his pockets were rifled and he was put out. The dealer gave police a description of the young man who bought a water- melon and had Lisk put it in the car. The other bandit sat at the wheel. Prowlers smashed a window in the drug store at the Roosevelt Hotel dur- ing the night and took $25 from the cash register and merchandise valued at $322, the manager, Hyman Dick- man, 1825 New Hampshire avenue, re- ported. WORKER HURT FATALLY Crushed between a portable com- pressor and & truck while working in the 5400 block of First place yes- terday, Claude A. Neville, 39, col- ored, 635 Forty-ninth street northeast, employe of the Potomac Electric Pow- er Co., died shortly afterward in Casualty Hospital. L. I. Edward, 7614 Blair road, driver of the truck, was released by police pending a coroner’s inquest, the date of which has not yet been set. Edward is & Power Co. employe. steps be taken in the House to block the Camp Springs proposal. Oppose Camp Springs Site. The subcommittee is opposed to the Camp Springs Airport on the ground it weuld destroy the usefulness of a $1,000,000 Navy radio project at Chel- tenham, Md,, three -miles from the proposed airport site. There was no conflict with the Camp Springs airport proposal from sup- porters of the Copeland-May bill, it developed. Senator Copeland, who reported both his bill and the King bill to the Senate, explained that he Wwas not opposed to the Camp Springs project. He said he believed there should be two airports for major cities, one close in and the other on the outskirts, to provide for all conditions of weather and types of operation. Representative Nichols of Oklahoma, who, like Copeland, refused to sign the District Airport Commission's re- port recommending Camp Springs, project, was expected to report its objection to the full committee to- day and to urge that all poulble' » explained he did 8o because he, too, believes there should be two airports. |D. C. TUBERCULOSIS 'CAMP FUND AT $3,057 Twenty-Four More Children Can Be Cared For if Contribu- tions Increase. Contributions to the District Tuber- | culosis Association health camp fund mounted today to a total of $3,057.77, enabling the 101st child to begin & Summer battle for health at the camp on Bald Eagle Hill and leaving $52.77 | toward the care of another youngster. With facllities for 125 children, there is room at the camp for 24 more, whose care can be financed only through additional donations, accord- ing to Mrs. Ernest R. Grant, managing director of the association. It will cost $60 for each child during the re- maining six weeks of the camp period. A steady flow of contributions has made it possible to add 41 children to the camp enrollment since it opened three weeks ago with sufficient funds to care for only 60. There is a long waiting list of children suffering from tuberculosis in the early stages which usually can be cured by rest, nourish- ing food and medical care provided at the camp. N DEATH HELD SUICIDE - Mrs. Irma Klatt, 35, Is Victim of Poison. A certificate of suicide was issued last night by Coroner A. Magruder MacDonald in the case of Mrs. Irma Dean Klatt, 35 who died Monday night from poison taken in her base- ment apartment in the 100 block of Maryland avenue northeast. As the woman was being removed to Casualty Hospital, her husband, Fred G. Klatt, engineer of the build- ing, and her daughter, Patricia, 14, who had been out, returned home. Klatt said his wife had been de- spondent for two years. NEW HAWAII STAMP Three-Center Will Carry Likeness of King Kamehameha. A new, 3-cent stamp honoring Ha- wali will carry a likeness of Kameha- meha I, first King of the Hawaiian Islands. “Kamehameha the Great” was born in 1736 and died in 1819 after group- ing the islands into one kingdom. Historians frequently refer to him as “the Napoleon of the Pacific.” ‘The color, date and place of the first-day sale will be umoun_-:d later. ening Stap WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION DN SENATOR WEIGHS REQUEST FOR HELP TOREOPENFIDELITY Shareholders’ Committee Appeals to King to Speed Action. CONTROLLER’S ACCORD WITH BANK UNIT ASKED “Somebody Threw Monkey Wrench Into Works,” Mrs. Bullis Tells Legislator. As the Treasury Department con- sidered new plans for reorganization of the closed Fidelity Building & Loan Association, Chairman King of the Senate District Committee today studied a shareholders’ plea that he intercede in an effort to reopen the institution A committee of shareholders asked Senator King to endeavor to bring the controller of the currency and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board into agreement on a reorganization plan which would charter the Fidelity as the First Federal Savings & Loan Association The Utah Senator said this after- noon he had asked officials of the office of controller of the currency to do “what could be done” to straighten out the matter in the interests of the shareholders. He indicated he also would call officials of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board soon to enlist their co-operation At the offices of the F. H. L. B. a «pokesman said that if the board can be instrumental in protecting the in- vestment of the shareholders it will go as far as possible Mrs. Mark C. Bullis, a shareholder in Fidelity and chairman of the com- mitiee which visited King yesterday, explained today that an agreement had been reached March 20 between the controller's office and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to reopen Fidelity as the First Federal. | “But” she said she told Senator | King, “a monkey wrench was thrown | into the works by somebody. Now we want the controller's office to go along on the plan both agreed to March 20.” With Mrs. Bullis in her conference with Senator King were Desire A. Irr and Dr. Robert B. Tyler Meanwhile, the Treasury Depart- | ment was ready to enter into negotia- tions with a new committee proposing to reorganize the association The new committee, appointed yes- office, is headed by George A. Sulli- van, contractor, and hopes to confer soon with Treasury officials. A pre- liminary conference was held yester- | day afternoon by the committee in the office of Vincent A. Sheehy, at- torney. The other member of the group is Charles D. McCadden, at- torney. Chairman Sullivan announced for- mer Senator C. C. Dill of Washington, a shareholder in Fidelity. had accept- | ed an invitation to become a member. Officials of the Treasury Depart- ment today said the “door still is open” for consideration of plans to reorganize the Fidelity. No time limit was placed by the Treasury on the | new committee, it was understood, |and there was no indication as to when the first conference at the Treasury might be held These sudden new turns in the long- pending situation involving both Fi- delity and the First Federal Savings and Loan Association brought sur- prise to many shareholders, who had expected that the First Federal was about to open the institution and make available 85 per cent of the shareholders’ funds. The First Federal withdrew, how- ever, in a letter from its president, Harry P. Somerville, manager of the Willard Hotel, sent to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which has been sponsoring the new First Fed- | eral. Somerville declared the pro- posed communication of the controller of the currency indicating liquidation of the Fidelity might pay about 85 per cent made it unnecessary for the First Federal to continue. The First Federal had planned to meke available 85 per cent of share- holders’ funds either in insured shares or in cash. BAND CONCERTS. By the Navy Band at the Navy Yard bandstand at 7:30 o'clock to- night. Lieut. Charles Benter, leader; Alexander Morris, assistant leader. Program. Overture—"“Tally Ho" “Je Suis Titania,” and from “Mignon”___ Solo for cornet—"Sounds From the Hudson” Musician Oscar Short Grand scenes from the opera— “La Traviata” o2 —uoVerdl Fantasia—"“By the Swanee River” Myddleton Tone poem—"Kaleidoscope”-__._Buys Valse—“Sleeping Beauty” Tschaikowsky “Hungarian Fantasia” Grand march—"Entry of the Guests Into Warthburg,” from “Tann- Wagner “The National Anthem" By the Marine Band at the Capitol at 7:30 o'clock tonjght. Capt. Taylor Branson, leader; Willlam F. Santel- mann, second leader. P “The Marines’ Hymn" March—"“The Monarch” Walter Smith “Prelude and Dance of the Appren- tices” from “Die Meistersinger” “Waltz in A Major"”. ‘Trombone solo—"Love's ment” Musician Robert Isele March—"Will Rogers” Fantasy—“Romeo and Juliet” Tschaikowsky Baritone saxophone solo—“My Regards” Llewellyn Musician Felix Eau Claire Excerpts from “Maytime”___Romberg “Rhumba” from “Second Symphony” McDonald orth' gina “The Star Spangled Ranner” WEDNESDAY, terday at & meeting of Treasury offi- | cials and shareholders at the Fidelity | JULY 28, > even if his pie did fall out of his plate. 1937. FRY Every “Man” for Himself Is the Issue H Thirteen-year-old Joseph Callow seems to be an old hand at pie eating, as evidenced by his picture on the left. He won “going away.” but the lad on the right gave him stiff competition, The contest was one of the features of the tenth annual outing of the Southeast Business Men's Association yesterday at Marshall Hall, Md. Society and General ere —Star Staff Photo. DRIVE ON 0 CUT INFANT MORTALITY Obstetrical Treatment Homes Planned to Re- lieve Hospitals. In an effort to lower Washington's high infant mortality rate the Health Department is planning to divert ex- | pectant mothers from the overcrowded wards of Gallinger Hospital to receive obstetriacl treatment in their homes. Dr. Daniel L. Seckinger, deputy health | officer, said today. An intensive campaign of prenatal treatment and education of indigent expectant mothers through co-ordina- tion of the activities of the Health De- partment clinic and nursing service will be the first step in the program, Dr. Seckinger said. Normal, healthy mothers will been- in homes if conditions there are such that they can be assured of adequate care, Dr. Seckinger declared In his first move as director of municipal hospitals. as well as of the Health Department, Dr. George F. !Ruh]nnd. health officer, ordered Dr Edgar A. Bocock, superintendent of Gallinger Hospital, to discontinue the practice of not refusing hospital care i'" any _indigent expectant mother { Who appealed for treatment. Dr. Ruhland ordered Dr. Bocock to cease putting beds in corridors to care for the overflow of maternity | cases. |to the number of beds available in the maternity wards proper, Dr. Ruh- land said. Dr. Seckinger said he is hopeful that pressure on Gallinger Hospital's maternity department will be greatly | relieved if the new program begins to | show results in the next weeks. Arrangements are being made to have physicians and internes call | at the homes of the expectant mothers ;’.0 deliver their infants, he said All expectant mothers tn need of | municipal care will be urged to registes at the maternity clinic at least five | months before they expect their in- | fants, Dr. Seckinger said. Complete | prenatal records will be kept in each case. Each expectant mother will be | given a blood test and if found to be Jsuflrnnr{ from syphilis will be placed under immediate treatment. Dr. Seckinger pointed out that 52 per cent of all still births and deaths of infants under 2 months are caused by syphilis. The District infant death rate is the highest of any city of com- parable size in the Nation, he said. OFF TO EUROPE Three Senators Leave to Dedicate War Memorials. Senators Duffy, Democrat, of Wis- consin; Russell, Democrat, of Georgia, and Gibson, Republican, of Vermont, left last night for Europe to dedicate a group of war memorials for the American Battle Monuments Com- mission. Farmer Blames ‘When it's hot out West, the people who are wishing they had ice in their pockets can blame only themselves, Frank Summers, Memphis, Mo., farm- er—in Washing- ton to obtain a S patent on & radio part he invented —contended to- day. . & Summers is & weather man who 6* % spent a long time 5 figuring out why it is hot and what can be done about it. He put to- gether the knowl- edge and experi- ence he had as inventor and farmer and pro- duced this decision: “Men can largely control the general prevailing weather and winds in the corn and wheat belt.” Physics at First Hand. Summers is no college graduate, but he is a practical hand at physics. In physics he learned of visible and in- visible light, and & few years ago in Kansas he made some experiments on absorption of light by the soil. He found: The more light the land absorbs the hotter is the weather; the darker the land the greater the absorption; plow- ing and overgrazing increase the dark- ness of the land and make it hotter. 80 he concludes that overintensive farming sends up the mereury to the Frank Summers. couraged to have their babies in their | Such cases should be limited | several | Lewis’ Office Workers to Ask Union Contract It looks as though Local 27 of the United Office and Professional Work- ers of America has an energetie press agent From the headquarters of the local— a C. I. O. affiliate—today came the announcement that “within a few davs” John L. Lewis, C. I. O. gen- eralissimo, will be asked by the union | “to sign an employe-employer contract las an employer,” cevering his own office force. | "It is expected the contract will be a model of its kind, but the workers | | are considering a few new frills,” the | local said. The local is to receive its charter at (a meeting &t 8 o'clock tonight at the Hamilton Hotel, which is to open an | organizing campaign among clerical forces in private industry here. FORACCUSEDBOY Mother Takes First Round in Legal Battle After Man Is Stabbed. Mrs. George W. Reed today won the first round in a battle for the liberty of her 14-year-old son, who, according to police, stabbed his father in the back to save her from a threatened beating yesterday afternoon. The son, Louis. who was held over- night at the Receiving Home on a police charge of assault with a deadly weapon, returned home with his mother after she conferred with Assistant Corporation Counsel E. M. Welliver at Juvenile Court. Welliver indicated no charges would be presced against the boy, but said | the case would be held open until he | | had heard the father's side of the | | story. Mrs. Reed said she would do | | everything possible to save Louis from | | prosecution “and keep my husband i locked up.” Reed, arrested on a charge of dis- orderly conduct, was confined to Gal- linger Hospital for treatment for alcoholism. The family battle occurred in the rear yard of the Reed home at 2632 Douglas street northeast. Police, called by neighbors, said they were told that Reed, a 56-year-old unemployed la- borer, was intoxicated and began chasing his wife, Ellen, 49, with & club. Louis rushed to his mother’s defense with a Boy Scout knife which she had given him for Christmas Police took Reed to Casualty Hos- pital, where he was released after treatment for a superficial stab wound, and left the boy in custody of his mother temporarily. Returning later to take Louis to the Receiving Home, police reported they found Reed creating another dis- turbapce and took him into custody | plan to build up an adequate Na | Reserve, lon the disorderly conduct charge. Hot Weather On Overplowing, Overgrazing ing turns into & non-paying proposi- tion. “These basic discoveries,” Summers sald, “‘make it possible for man to con- trol the general weather conditions, erosion of land by water and wind: to increase the fertility of depleted soil for his general welfare by controling the amount of land plowed and culti- vated and how close the land is pas- tured, and the amount of land put into grass, timber and other vegetation over the agricultural belt.” Bumper Crops Raise Mercury. In a year of bumper crops of wheat and beef, Summers has found, up goes the temperature. Too much soil is turned where the sun can stare right through it, with the result that the heat waves shimmer visibly. Nature will get you if you are reckless with the plow, Summers holds. Thus: “It is apparent when men generally in the agricultural belt plow more land than they should, and generally pas- ture more live stock than they should, nature takes the matter in hand gen- erally over the greater part of the belt by checking or wholly stopping the rains in the growing season, mak- ing record-breaking droughts, dust and sand storms, forcing men generally to decrease their production of grain and live stock. Therefore only a maximum amount of grain acreage can be used safely in the agricultural belt.” Summers is more interested in his invention than in his theory, which he wrote down last year and published under a copyright. Several years ago he mentioned his idea to s man in the Department of Agriculture, but he has pomtwhmmmubrnmdhm—mn(orm the iasue. NAVAL RESERVE OF BOYS PLANNED Roosevelt Talks to Admirals | About Summer Courses to Rate Abilities. President Roosevelt is working out a | in line with his ger 1 program for improving national de- fense. ‘The President is whipping this pro- gram into shape with the assistance of | the high command of the Navy, and according to his tentative plans it will not cost a great deal and can be accomplished without an act of Congress. However, it may be nec- essary to obtain a special appropria- tion act for this purpose, As he outlined his proposal at his press conference vesterday, the Presi- dent said he would build up a Naval Reserve mostly from high school boys over 16 as well as some college youths. They would be offered the attrac- tlons of an interesting and educa- tional vacation with no cost to their parents, but at the same time with no_remuneration These boys would be sent to the | schools being conducted now at the naval stations in California, the Great Lakes and Newport, R. I, and prob- ably other stations to be established. They would be taught the rudiments of Navy life and seamanship. The President said these boys would be turnished free transportation from their homes to the nearest naval station and would be provided with the necessary wearing apparel and equipment. Mr. Roosevelt said that from his knowledge of young Ameri- cans he believes the offer would be very attractive and that there should be no difficulty in recruiting any number of young men for this train- ing. The present plan is then to offer a second-year course, during which the youths would learn more about Navy life and responsibilities. At the con- clusion they would receive individual ratings, so that if this country should enter a war the Navy would have a well-trained and adequate Naval Re- serve. and many of these young men would have a definite Navy rating He said some of them would be worthy of receiving commissions. The President went into some de- tail concerning this plan during a conference yesterday with Admiral William D. Leahy, chief of naval operations, and Rear Admiral Adol- phus Andrews, chief of the Bureau of Navigation. Discussing the plan at his press conference, the President recalled the situation when this country entered the World War. He said the United States had practically no Naval Re- serve, and the Navy was forced to take in about 350.000 officers and men without previous training or knowledge of Navy life. D. C. WATER SYSTEM WILL BE STUDIED Trio Will Report to Commission- ers Whether Rate Change Is Necessary. A three-man committee was ap- pointed by the Commissioners today to make a thorough study of the city's water system and report whether any change should be made in existing rates. The survey was authorized in the 1938 appropriation bill. Members of the committee are Riley E. Elgen, chairman of the Public Utili- ties Commission; Lieut. Col. Raymond A. Wheeler, representing the War De- partment, and Capt. Don G. Shingler, Assistant Engineer Commissioner. The committee members will serve without additional compensation, but will have $20,000 to employ necessary personnel and defray other costs of the survey. Congress instructed the committee to “determine the reproduction cost and historical cost of the water system of the District of Columbia and the proper water rate to cover not only operating expenses but also deprecia- tion reserve.” BURNS KILL WOMAN Mrs. Elizabeth Allen, 80, Hurt ‘When Clothing Catches Fire. Mrs. Elizabeth Allen, 80, colored relief client, died yesterday of burns received when her clothing ignited as she worked in the kitchen of her home, 933 Liberty street southwest. Noticing smoke, Mrs. Elizabeth Gray, also colored, a neighbor, broke down the door and found Mrs. Allen B PAGE B—1 ¢ FIREMEN APPEAL 10 HOUSE CRoUP FORFIVE-DAY WEEK, District Subcommittee Gets Plea as Commissioners Oppose the Plan. CITY HEADS SAY COST WOULD BE $500,000 Scheme to Cut Hours to 60 Dis. criminates Against Police, Is Claim. Confronted by the opposition of the Commissioners, Washington firemen appealed today to a special subcommite tee of the House District Committes for legislation granting them a fivew day, 60-hour week. as well as the privie lege of retiring after 25 years of serye ice. The plea was made on behalf of the firemen by C. E. McGhee, president of the City Firefighters' Association, dure ing a hearing before the subcommittes on bills that would put the two plans into effect. Policemen also would ba granted the privilege of retiring after 25 years’ service under the new retiree ment bill. The Commissioners submitted an unfavorable report on the five-day- week bill on two groun One, that 1t would cost $500.000 to put it fect at a time when the D confronted with a $7.000.000 b deficit; two, that it c against the Po, It was estimated by the Commise sioners that a both the Police and ents would increase the oper expenses of the municipal government at least $1,000,000 a year, ve-day week for re Depart Treated Poorly, Is Claim. McGhee charged that Washington treats its firemen “more poorly” than any other city in the country and poipted out the five-day week would not cost the District as much as the original proposal of the firemen for a three-platoon system of eight hours each. Other District emploves, as well as Federal workers in Washington, he argued, work 39 and 40 hours a week, while firemen are on the job 72 hours. “The Commissioners.” he declared, “are trying to find some excuse to dis- approve our modest requ Rufus 8. Lusk, president | Washington Taxpayers' Associati | opposed both bi He pointed ou that police and fire pensions are now of the | costing the District more than $800.000 8 vear and declared the time is inop- portune for firemen to seek a five-day week. Police Supt. Ernest W. Brown sub- mitted a statement opposing the re- tirement bill. He said the plan, if put into effect at this time, would permit 43 policemen. regardless of their physical condition, to retire at 47, Oppoeition to the five-day week bill also was registered bv Mrs. Ernest Wi m Howard, chairman of the Police and Fire Committee of the trict Federation of Women's Clubx, ‘whn said she is the wife of a fi man | “The five-day week i< a good p | when the time arrives for it,” she said. “But now is not the time.” Bernard Backs Plea. McGhee asked why Mrs. Howard opposed all legislation in the interest of the Fire Department “I work for the good of the depart- ment.” she replied, “and not for the downfall and crucifixion of Fire Chiet Schrom.” Harry C. Blackman, chairman of the Legisiative Committee of the Metropolitan Police Association, sub- mitted a statement approving the re- tirement bill and pointed out it would increase the efficiency of the Police Department. Representative Bernard, Progrese sive. of Wisconsin testified in support of the five-day week bill. He cited the hardships of firemen, and de- clared: hat these bovs are asking is very little, indeed. They are real good workers, and when they ask for a 60-hour week I don't think any fair-minded person would oppose it." Representative Jenckes, Democrat, of Indiana, chairman of the subcom= mittee, brought the hearing to a close by criticizing the Commissioners for opposing legislation for the benefit of firemen and policemen She said if the Commissioners will discover methods of saving more than $1,000.000 “now wasted or unwisely spent,” the District would be in a position to give firemen “humane treatment.” Corporation Counsel Elwood H. Seal advised her, however, that the Com- missioners “don’t spend one cent that is not appropriated by Congress.” Tombstones Fail To Hide Joyriders After Auto Crash Two Fined $10 Each as Car Overturns in Cemetery. Found hiding behind tombstones in Rock Creek Cemetery after their auto- mobile crashed through the graveyard fence and overturned early today, Earl C. Dixon, 32, and Everett J. White, 40, were fined $10 each on intoxica= tion charges in Police Court several hours later. Policeman E. T. Wessells told the court he ciscovered the overturned car and broken fence, then discovered Dixon behind one tombstone and White behind another. The officer said he was unable to charge either man with driving while drunk because he had not seen the car in operation. lying on the floor, her clothing in flames. 1 Dixon gave an address in the first block of Rock Creek Church road and