Evening Star Newspaper, August 1, 1937, Page 53

Stage and Screen Part 4—8 Pages 3 he Swndlay Stat ’ WASHINGTON, FEAT URES D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 1, 1937. | m PAGE F—1 JUSTICE BUILDING HAS ELABORATE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM MEN AND MACHINES ALERT Who Takes Care of the Nation’s Caretakers While the N. C. Are Busy Taking Care? Expertly-Trained Federal Building Guards Patrol G-Men Headquarters. By Lucy Salamanca. HE greatest attraction in Wash- ington for visitors and one of the most carefully guarded centers of interest is the De- partment of Justice, particularly that part of the building which houses | the records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Here, in & manner that rivals the vigilance of the G-men themselves, Federal guards protect records, personnel and building against | all intruders—mankind itself and the elements. More than 500 visitors a day make their way through the entrances of | the great white %tone building on Pennsylvania avenue and present re- quests for an inspection tour. Some come armed with letters from Con- gressmen. Others simply drop in on | the impulse of the moment. Still | others arrive in excited groups, such as school or college organizations, that | have planned far in advance a visit | to the home of the G-men. | school. and those duties that fall naturally within the sphere of men charged with the protection of human life and property. But each prospective | guard must, nevertheless, go through the paces before he can actually take | up duties with the patrol. This school is located in the court of the Tariff Building, at Eighth and E streets, and here the men are taught fire control, policing, patrolling, | pistol practice and courtesy. Classes are from 1 pm. to 9 p.m, and every prospective guard serves at least a week here before he is assigned reg- ular duties by Capt. Hoagland in the Justice Building. Moreover, he is sent back to school periodically while on the staff, so that every mem- ber keeps in step with developments of the times in the work of protection. Some idea of the thorgughness with which training is underfaken may be gained from the curriculum of this Such courses as fire equip- ment, fire fighting, inspection of buildings, legal duties and respon. bilities, courtesy and customs of ser ice, fire hazards, patrol and passes uniforms, fire arms, flags; pistol prac- tice, first aid, accident prevention, are given. Aside from the work included in | when open. Likewise, there are a base- ment, 7 intermediate floors and an attic to be constantly guarded. On each floor are 12 watch boxes or watch stations. In the basement are 24. The next time you visit the building take note of those little square panels, the size of & small plate, set unobtrusively, flush with the wall, at various intervals along the corridors.» They are the points of con- tact, where every man calls period- ically into headquarters, just as a policeman on his beat telephones the desk sergeant. They are the means, too, of reporting fires or urusual or disturbing events or getting in touch with Capt. Hoagland's office, for by means of a special plug, carried by all guards, and a set of headphones, any one of the men on duty can freely converse through the little panel with those in the office of the captain of the guard, flashing the patrol switch- board. Building fire alarm boxes are located at the majority of the watch stations. As the set-up on each of the seven floors of the Justice Building is prac- tically the same, a guard who has learned the -routes and locations of the watch boxes on one floor is able | During the 1937 fiscal year 153,000 : the classes themselves, all prospective | to make the rounds on any floor with- visited the building. This was exclu- | give of 15,000 enthusiastic Boy Scouts, | who, from July 1 to July 10, duripg the National Boy Scout Jamboree, | filed into the building and excitedly | made the rounds of its beautiful cor- | ridors and courts. Considering that 31.526 individuals— & high average—visited the new Archives Building, next door, during the same period, one ®an gain an | idea of the unusual interest on the | part of the public in the Department | of Justice. | These thousands of visitors present | & problem of no mean proportions to | those charged with the protection and safety of the Justice personnel and property. The efficient manner in which that problem is met and solved is the direct result of the devoted vigilance and exceptional training of & group of men whose activities have taken on something of the same glamour as that surrounding the activities of Mr. Hoover's G-men— | the Federal guards. | All Federal buildings are patrolled | and policed, but among the most in- | teresting of guard forces is that which, | under the authority of Capt. Elliott,| Hoagland, is responsible for what is | known as the “A. J. and P. group”— another way of saying the Archives, Justice and Procurement Buildings. And since Justice houses the head- quarters of Capt. Hoagland and pre- €ents & particular problem in manage- ment, there is no distinction, in the opinion of the men, like that of being | & member of “Capt. Dick's” forces. APT. HOAGLAND has been a sol- dier most of his life, so he is right in his element when it comes | to training, disciplining and delegat- ing men to such duties as form the | daily routine of his staff of guards. | In the A., J. and P. group he has under | his direction 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 6 sergeants and 57 guards. Of this number, 2 lieutenants, 1 sergeant and | 25 guards take care of the Department | of Justice., Every one of these men is highly | trained. Ninety per cent of them | are former service men, graduates | from the Navy, the Army, the Marine Corps, or from the Police and Fire Departments of the District. Each has been appointed from the regular Civil Service register, care- fully chosen for intelligence, physique and general aptitude to become mem- bers of this especially selected cus- todial force of the Government. Each begins his service with a course of training in school under men in the active custodial service, and continues these studies from time to time throughout his whole period of service. ‘Their duties are the protection of the building—which necessitates regular patrol work, with an eye to police and fire protection—and handling the vast throngs who visit it annually. Each | man works eight hours a day, and | there are three reliefs to assure con- tinuous patrol, day and night. The first relief goes on at 12 o'clock | midnight and operates until 8 o’clock in the morning. The second patrols from 8 a.m. until 4 pm., while the third relief works from 4 p.m. until midnight So efficiently do these men operate that a kind of tradition has grown yp. This has, of itself, aided in pro- tection of the building, for it is a brave or foolhardy man or woman who, in the face of the specialized efforts of Capt. Hoagland's crew, would attempt to charge the gates of Justice without being properly forti- fled with a legitimate errand. As a result, very few arrests are made in a year, and there is seldom occasion for those little unpleasant- nesses that make up the routine of many protective forces. This has not been achieved without & concentrated effort being made to organize so that every emergency is aticipated. There is an array of bells of varying tones and qualities that are guaranteed to arouse s man day or night to any specific need that may arise within the building. Likewise, there is a complicated and uncannily effective patrol board in “Capt. Dick’s” office that keeps head- quarters and men in constant con- versational touch every instant of the day and night. There is, too, a fire-control panel and a fire-warning system that represents the last word in robot control of mechanical forces. best way to gain an idea of '~ the efficient work of these Fed- eral guards is, perhaps, to follow an individual from his civil service ap- pointment to actual duty within the Justice Building. ; First, he is sent to school. Inas- much as he is, 90 per cent of the time, & trained soldier, policeman or fire- mah, he knows something of discipline | of captain, while a qualified fire mar- Chief Engineer C. Justice (standing) in conferen tendent of the building. % guards are taken periodically on tours of inspection of other public buildings and made acquainted with the man- ner in which they are guarded. The “faculty” of the guard school is made up of regular members of Govern- ment custodial forces with the rank shal 1s in charge of fire-fighting tac- tics, an attorney teaches legal duties and responsibilities, and a safety engineer from °the National Park Service teaches first aid and accident prevention, All men accepted for guard duty are given an efficiency rating as they progress and can work up to a cap- taincy. Capt. Hoagland, who entered in 1929, has gone through all the grades from guard to captain of the guard. IN THE Department of Justice Build- ing there are 11 entrances on street level. Each is guarded continuously | C. Cavanaugh of the Department of ce with A. G. Mann, superin- —Star Staff Photo. out difficulty. The basement and attic present particular problems of pro- tection for which the guard receives special training. Every new man who is put into service makes his rounds for a time in company with an old hand, until is judged competent to patrol alone. There are five patrol routes in the Justice Building, covering ap- proximately 7 miles of corridors, and while the time between punching into the various watch boxes is different according to conditions, 45 minutes or an hour usually elapse between each report from any one station. That is, it takes a man, ordinarily, from 45 minutes to an hour to cover one route and properly inspect it between watch boxes. Within Capt. Hoagland's office is a large patrol board that is laid out in accordance with the various watch stations in the corridors and rooms » Capt. Hoagland (front row, center) and his staff This “patrol board” in Capt. Hoagland's office, maintains direct communication 1wit h every watch station and substation throughout the Department of Justice Building. Every man patrolling the miles of corridors carries as part of his regular equipment a plug-in telephone with which he can communicate with headquarters at a moment'. s notice. —Star Staff Photo. of the building. That is, for P\E‘l')" ing panel on the board. with a light above each panel. Whenever a guard regular course of his patrol a light | lof a dial flashes above the designated watch | base of the patrol board in headquar- watch station there is a correspond- [box on the board, a buzzer sounds | ters. and a record that is made by punches the station on the route. These record means | door wishes to get in touch with the the time | office of the captain of the guard he “punches” in at a watch box in the |of the report and the number of [can flash the patrol board and re- Department of Justice detail. Captain of the Guards Elliott Hoagland, commander of the —Star Staff Photo. cards are removed at the close of the day and filed. They are square cards, marked off like & graph, with a series of perforations to indicate the hour the patrol was “punched in.” The hour is exact to a degree, regulated by an automatic clock on the dial. Below the panels representing the various watch stations of the building are lights which indicate the substa- tions of the building. These sub- guard stations are located at the en- | trances, and by Mpping down a key headquarters can flash any one of the entrances immediately. When such a flash is registered at the entrance | substation, the guard on duty plugs in at once and his voice enters the office through the amplifier at the Similarly, if the man at the ceive an immediate response. 'VERY man patrolling corridors, basement or attic carries as part of his regular equipment a set of head- phones, These resemble the ardinary French hand set and can be plugged into any watch station. Inasmuch as the guard assigned to | patrol the court must, as part of his | duties, take note of all cars entering or leaving the court, he is summoned by a bell. in addition to the usual flash on his substation switchboard, This is by no means the only bell in this complete and intricate system. There are bells of all notes—soft, tin- kling bells and loud, booming bells, officious, clanging bells and continu- ous, buzzing bells. One particularly aggressive bell set up such a clangor while I was being shown the guard system that I expected the whole Dis- trict Fire Department and perhaps a squad of police to turn up on the spot. AIR_I;)_(ECUTIVES, ALL YOUNG, GROW WITH NATIONAL S Leaders Have Faced Tests." in Other Lines Before Directing Planes. By William Bell, jr. MERICA'S major airline execu- tives are as relatively young in years as the lusty busi- nesses they direct. They are proof of the fact that there is room on top of the ladder in a new field for men with a new outlook. They are younger, even, than the average pasenger on their sky liners, who is about 43 to their less-than-40. The careers of these men have tele- scoped time just as their transport planes telescope space. At 34, 37, 39.} they head organizations whose size | and scope belie the ages of the men | who direct them, as well as the brevity | of the history of their development from loosely-organized, widely-scat- tered, impecunious units into compact, smoothly-run major businesses. Much is read and heard these days of industrial leaders, labor leaders, po- | litical leaders—their histories, their personalities, their peculiarities, their appearances. . But the country knows little of the leaders of its big com- mercial aviatibn companies, probably because most of them are too young to be thought of in biographical terms. Furthermore, there is little of ‘the spectacular about them or their jobs. Pilots and planes furnish the drama of commercial aviation; company pres- idents do not. Youngest of the major airline ex- ecutives is Jack Frye, 34-year-old president of Transcontinental & West- ern Air, Inc. (T. W. A)). He was born in Sweetwater, Okla., not far from the Texas settlement to which his pio- neering grandfather migrated from Virginia. Grandfather Frye spent two or three weeks each year driving a team to Dodge City, Kans., for sup- plies. Grandsen Frye flies between his present home in Kansas City, Mo., to his boyhood home in the Panhandle in three or four hours. THE first 17 years of Frye's life were spent on cattle ranches. Then he, joined the Army Engineering Corps.. At 19, however, he was bitten by the flying bug and, continuing his fam- 1iy's westward-pushing tradition, went] Left to right: W. A. Patterson, president of United Air Lines; C. R. Smith, president of American Airlines, and Jack Frye, president of Transcontinental-Western Air. to California, where he learned to fly, paying for instruction with savings from a $25-a-week job. In the early 20s he bought an old war-time Jenny and went a-barnstorming. With a friend, he formed a small business— the sort of aerial circus common in that -day. They stunted, taught a little, took for $5 rides a few indi- viduals whose pocketbooks matched their daring. Among Frye's students in 1924 were Walter Hamilton and Paul E. Richter, both now officials of T. W. A., with whom he formed a partnership. A series of mergers intervened between their first enterprise, a passenger and freight service between Los Angeles and Phoenix, Ariz, and the present organization, of which Frye was made president in 1934, when only 31 years old. . Frye holds three types of pilot's licenses and a lieutenant's commission in the Naval Air Reserve. Three years ago he piloted & T. W. A. airliner across .the contenent in 13 howrs 2 minutes, carrying the last load ‘of commercial airmail before cancellation of airmail contracts. A few weeks later he flew solo from Los Angeles to New Work in 11 hours 31 minutes, carrying the first load of airmail after resumption of the contracts. T.W. A. claims its president has more actual flying hours to his credit than any other line executive. In addition, he is responsible for many mechanical Iimprovements on his company’s planes. Jack Frye has wavy haif an ag- gressive jaw and features which in some ways resemble those of a prize- fighter. He is popular, gregarious and diplomatic, and likes to fly himsell around here and there. In business suits and neckties, he goes in for somewhat broad stripes. He knows as much or more about his planes from a technical standpoint than any other man in the business. FORMER bank teller named Cy- rus Rowlett Smith—called “C. R.” by associates and friends—is president of American Alrlines at 37. He lives in’a six-room apartment on the Chi- cago lake shore with his wife, whom he wed two and & half years ago, the former Elizabeth Manget of Dallas, a pretty and lively young Vassar grad- uate of 25, who takes a great interest in the Junior League. They have no children. Six-foot 2-inch C. R. Smith has dark brown hair and blue eyes which need no spectacles. He is a cigar smoker, but occasionally sucks a pipe. He does his drinking, which is mod- erate, mostly for business reasons. He prefers Scotch whisky. He has a small boy's fascination for guns, but his in- terest in them also manifests itself in hunting, of which he is very fond. His principal hobby, however, is collecting photographs pertaining to the devel- opment of air transportation. Of these he has one of the most complete sets in existence, sets which include nearly every phase in the growth of the in- dustry. No athlete, Smith foregoes the out of doors except for hunting Kips every | | | once in a while. He is, however, an able bridge and poker player, and reads omnivorously. Conservative in clothing tastes, his favorite colors are various shades of blue. Night life doesn’t appeal to him, nor is he much interested in the theater or cinema. He'd rather sit around home with wife and friends. Business requires that he travel extensively, and of course he uses planes whenever possible. “C. R.” was born in Minerva, Tex., which may be significant in that the town was named for a lady whose qualities of high wisdom she could impart to others. His birth stone is the sapphire. Before entering the University of Texas, Smith was teller in a Texas small town bank, then office manager of a cotton mill. While at college he held several positions with the State Government, including those of audi- tor in the State banking department and manager of the franchise tax de- partment. A great one for putting his finger in a lot of pie® and keeping it ERVICE Ingenuity and Enterprise Contributed to Their Transport Ability. there without damage to his scholar- ship record or his economic advance- ment, young Smith was president of his class in the university’s School of Business Administration and a mem- ber of two fraternities, one honorary. RADUATING in 1924, Smith moved to Dallas, became a public ac- countant and met A. P. Barrett, a fortunate contact, for Barrett, a util- ities magnate, took a fancy to the tall voung college graduate and made him assistand treasurer of the Texas-Louis- iana Power Co., in 1928. That's how Smith entered the aviation industry. Barrett bought Texas Air Transport, an air mail line operating between Dallas, Fort Worth, Brownsville and Houston. His young protege immedi- ately was offered the treasurership, in which position he continued when Southern Air Transport was organ- ized as a holding company for Texas Air and affiliates. Not content to spend his time jotting figures in a ledger and preparing re- ports, Smith arranged with an 8. ‘A: T. pilot to instruct the pilot in busi- ness administration methods in ex- change for flying lessons. He earned a pilot's license and spent as much time as possible hanging around shops and operations offices, acquainting himself with the business and its men. Smith made friends 50 readily that today he calls by their first names 1,000 of the 1,900 employes of Ameri- can Airlines. The young executive was vice pres- ident of Southern Air when it was ab- sorbed into the Aviation Corp. holding company group, and in 1931 was elected vice president of newly formed American Airways, Inc. The latter company was reformed as American Airlines, Inc., after cancellation of air mail contracts in February, 1934. One of C. R. Smith’s first achieve- ments with the company which he came to head in October, 1934, when only 35 years old, was inauguration of the world's first sleeper plane serv- ice on thdt portion of the Southern (Continued on Page 3.) —Star Staff Photo. “That,” observed Capt. Hoaglan calmiy, “is just the sump pumps The mp pumps,” appeared are thus summoned into act in Capt. Hoagland office of the engi ‘Then there are be all degrees of fire, from butt blaze to a first-class all these bel clang and buz: office, o be does ot deper bells alone to receive s An efficient system e possible ontrol par Anythi; eral fire s ing causes a sounded within the headquarters offices. Simultaneously, a red light flashes on the fire panel, designating the exact location of the trouble. Such emergencies as short circuits in the electric system are thus immediately and automatically reported. The en- tire fire alarm system is controlled by its own power system and is not de- pendent upon the house current for operation. As soon as the “trouble bell” sounds and the ligl flashes, the electrician is notified and repairs are made. In the case of fire, if a blaze should ever get beyond the control of the guard forces, a box on the wall in Capt. Hoagland's office would be the means of immedi upon the District fire force r additional aid. SIDE from protecting the building against fire or other elements, one of the biggest jobs of these Federal guards is to handle vast crowds of visitors. It requires efficient organ- ization work, tact, courtesy and infi- nite patience to handle 153,000 visi- tors a year. These qualities the Fed- eral guards are trained to exhibit. Visitors are directed to a general assembly or reception room. on the fifth floor of the building, where they are turned over to F. B. I. men, who sep- arates them into groups. Agents take charge of the individual tours. Thne group tour takes from 45 minutes to an hour. depending upon circum- stances. There are regular dally t at 10:30 am. and at 2:30 pm. and regular tour on Saturdays at 10 am. No charge is made for this se ice. When 15,000 Boy Scouts descencde upon the home of the G-men anc clamored for admission the able forces of Capt. Hoagland showed no pertur- bation. They took the long queues of restless youngsters in hand and every- thing went off smoothly. Capt. Hoag- land tried to keep as many as possible inside the air-cooled building instead of in the hot court. “They were the nicest, cleanest-cut group of boys I ever saw,” Capt. Hoag- land declares. “The only trouble I had with the entire 15,000 of them was keeping possession of my badge and shoulder bars. They all wanted them for souvenirs.” So efficiently were these erowds handled that J. Edgar Hoover wrote a personal letter of congratulation and appreciation to Capt. Hoagland. Elliott Hoagland retired from the Regular Army as captain. He had seen service in the Spanish-American War as a boy of 16, and subsequently in the Philippine Insurrection, along the Mexican border and in the World ‘War. During the World War he was a training officer at the port of em- barkation at Newport News. He had gone to Newport News with orders for overseas, but they kept him at the training station. After 30 years' service in the Army he retired at the end of the World War. “I went out to Fort Myer to live where I could hear a bugle blow,” he says now, “for civil life was a foreign country to me after the years I had spent in the Army.” Having heard “that the average life of a retired man was two years,” Capt. Hoagland declares he wanted “to beat that,” and so took his civil service ex- amination for the custodial service of the Government. He was first ap- pointed to the State Department as guard and stayed there for three or four months. From there he went to the old Patent Office and had been on duty a month when the Internal Revenue Building was opened and he was transferred. Entering as guard he was made seargeant here and when the Department of Justice Building opened in 1934 he was assigned to the new building. He was soon promoted to lieutenant and then to captain, and since July 1, 1936, has served as cape tain of the guards