Evening Star Newspaper, April 30, 1940, Page 14

Pilots of 11 Airlines Lobbying Against C. A. A Transfer Opposition to Shift Continues to Grow At Capitol Pilots from 11 of the Nation's air | transport systems, organized into a “lobby to save lives,” are visiting members of the Senate and House today in an effort to rally opposi- tion to President Rooseevit's fourth reorganization plan, which would transfer the Civil Aeronautics Au- thority to the Commerce Depart- ment and abolish the Air Safety Board. | The uniformed pilots. representing | approximately 1,500 airline pilots on | the domestic and foreign American airlines, are opposed unanimously to the reorganization plan on the| ground it would represent a step backward in civil aviation control and might tend to lower safety standards which have resulted in a year of air transport operations | without death or serious injury to| any person. . ‘The visiting pilots are D. W. Led- | better, American Airlir R. 'C. Young, Eastern Airlines: H. L. Smith, Pennsylvania-Central Air- lines; Gilbert Blackmore, Pan Amer- ican Airways. Atlantic Division: Art Mills, Braniff Airways: James H. Roe, Transcontinental & Western Air: C. F. Luethi, Northwest Air- lines; H. P. Little. United Alrlmes;i Cancellation of Con In Industry Bore No BACKGROUND: President Roosevelt's fourth re- organization plan, now before Congress, orders the Air Safety Board abolished and the Civil Acronautics Authority transfer- red to the Commerce Department. Nation-wide opposition carrics the threat of a non-partisan fight of unusual bitterness when the plan reaches the floors of Con- gress. This is the third of a scries of articles dealing with the background of this controversial subject. By JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. Cancellation of all airmail con- tracts in February, 1934, brough the Army Air Corps into the breach to save the Nation's airmail service. Unprepared, lacking suitable equip- ment and training, in the midst of one of the worst spefls of winter weather in many years, young Army pilots were impressed into duty overnight as scheduled airline pilots. Army operation of the airmail service immediately porved disas-y trous and costly. Army Dpilots crashed and died in storm and snow because they lacked proper navie gational equipment and training for the highly specialized business of scheduled air transport flying and because they were using Army com- bat airplanes, which never were de- signed for such business. After a short time service was suspended S. W. Hopkins, Chicago & Southern Airlines; Roy T. Elsmore, Western Air Express, and G. E. Rodieck, Mid- Continent Airlines. All are veteran air transport pilots with experience ranging from 7.000 | to 12,500 hours of flight time. it was | announced. | restricted basis until June, 1934. completely and was resumed on a The domestic airlines cleaned | house. They divorced themselves | from interlocking directorates, as was required, and dropped over- | board those officials who had been | blacklisted by the Federal Govern- | creation of a single | muddle. THE EVENING Airmail Ils of 1934 Brought Demand for One Air Authority tracts and Shakeup Fruit Immediately things were happening. Trusting to the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion to remedy their condition by fixing equitable rates, the airlines made a farce of competitive bidding for new airmail contracts offered by the Post Office Department. Transcontinental & Western Air, seeking an off-line route, entered a bid of 1 mill per airplane mile, which, on the basis of 100 per cent operation for one year, involving nearly a half million miles of flying, would have paid $424. The ultimate was reached on June 18, 1938, when bids were opened for airmail service from Houston to San Antonio. Braniff Airways bid $0.00001907378 on a schedule which some one figured would return it a profit of 1 cent for a year's operations. But East- ern Air Lines bid absolute zero cents per airplane mile, and, de- spite the contention that this was no bid at all, the offer was accepted | i after a comedy which featured an | effort by the Post Office Depart- ment to pass the buck on this puz- zling problem to a Civil Aeronautics | Authority, which by this time had been authorized by Congress, but which had not come into existence. Airlines Having Troubles. In the meantime an Interdepart- mental Committee on Aviation, which had been appointed by Presi- dent Roosevelt because of some dis- satisfaction with recommendations of the earlier Federal Aviation Com- mission, came out strongly for the independent agency to take over the aviation By this time all of the domestic air transport companies were operating at deficits, and the weaker ones were going to the wall despite the fact the Airmail Divi- STAR, WASHINGTON, being full of defects, airline accl- dents were occurring with a fre- quency which undermined public confidence and resulted in several thoroughgoing congressional probes. As a result of the death of Senator Bropson Cutting of New Mexico in cne such crash the most sweeping of all investigations was under- taken by a special committee head- ed by the late Senator Copeland of New York. The way was being cleared for the Air Commerce Act of 1938. (The fourth article of this series will appear tomorrow.) Knights Templar Services The John W. Freeman Grand Commandery, Knights Templar, col- ored, will' hold ascension services at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Israel Metho- dist Church, New Jersey avenue and Morgan street NW. The Rev. J. L. S. Holloman, pastor of Second Baptist Church, 800 block of Third street NW, will speak. Grand Commander Simpson W. Wallace will preside and Past Grand Com- mander Louis W. Roy, sr., will be master of ceremonies. D. C, TUESDAY, Ruling Defines Landlords’ Liability for Injuries “Landlords of apartment houses in | the District have a duty to be “rea- | sonably alert” in preventing lnjuryi to persons using the entrances to| the buildings during periods of snow | or ice, the United States Court of | Appeals ruled yesterday. i ! The tribunal made the ruling, Ior‘\ which there was no precise legal | precedent in the District, in re-| | versing a decision of a trial judge in { | District Court, | | The case on which the filing was |made involved a suit brought by | |Csthcr1ne Pessagno of Baltimore, | {Md., against the Euclid Investment | | Co. Inc. She claimed she was| seriously injured by a fall in an apartment house driveway at 1616 Sixteenth street N.W. | A District Court jury awarded her | $2,900, but the trial justice ordered | the verdict set aside and entered | Jjudgment in favor of the investment | company. The appellate court, in a | | decision written by Chief Justice D. ' Lawrence Groner, said it did not APRIL 30, 1940. expect apartment owners to be r¢-| sponsible under all conditions for | the safety of tenants or their guests, 1 | but said some precautions should be taken. ! The case was remanded to the lower court. Attorneys Salvatore E. Leonardo snd J. Harry Welch repre- sented the plaintiff. Hearing the case with®Chief Justice Groner were Associate Justices Henry W. Edger- ton and Wiley Rutledge. for LATEST NEWS The Night Final Star, containing the latest news of the day during these dramatic times, is de- livered every evening throughout the city and suburbs between 6 P.M. and 7 P.M Telephone National 5000 for immediate delivery. Pin Faith \ Your Home )’oé;éislle E. J. MURPHY CO. 710—12th Street NW You'll get a thrill of satisfaction painting with KEYSTONE 100% PURE HOUSE PAINT—for it holds its own beautiful effect against any exposure. Cheapest in the end— Use Our Deferred Pay- ment Plan if You Wish. INC. NAtl. 2477 Here’s Why The Hub Is Famous for= COMPLETE ROOM ENSEMBLES! No Money Opposition Grows. ment,_ Airlines which also had been Meanwhile, opposition to the re- | blacklisted for participation in the organization vlan continued to grow | &lleged “spoils conference” were re- | at the Capitol. Senator McCarran, | Organized or dropped out of the sion of the Interstate Commorce | "0w" ! Commission was issuing order after order increasing airmail compensa- | tion. Democrat, of Nevada, who has in- | Picture in a purge of all offending | troduced a resolution to block the plan. was expected to return to Washington this afternoon to press for a final “show down" in the Sen- ate. Senator Truman, Democrat. of Missouri, yesterdav asked the Sen- ate not to approve the reorganiza- | tion plan, saying its adoption would | destroy independent aviation con- trol and place it in the Commerce | Department “which made such a | mess of it” that it was removed from the department’s jurisdiction. The need of aviation, Senator Truman #aid, is “independence from political | control.” Senator Clark, Democrat, of Mis- #ouri said that conditions under the | administration of air commerce by the Commerce Department were “disgraceful ” He pointed out that the death of Senator Cutting of New Mexico 1n an airplane crash had speeded enactment of legislation for an independent control of air com- merce. Connally Defends Plan. Senator Connally, Democrat, of Texas, however, raised one of the first voices in defense of the reor- ganization proposal, saving that it was merely a transfer of functions, to be controlled by the same men who now control the C. A. A. and the Air Safety Board. David L. Behncke, president of the National Air Line Pilots’ Asso- ciation, arrived in Washington from Chicago to lead the pilots’ fight against the reorganization plan. He expressed confidence that sufficient opposition was being developed in the House to stop the transfer and expressed the hope that a majority of the Senate also would vote in| opposition when the plan is called up. G. W. U. Law Student Sworn In as Justice A 25-year-old George Washington University Law School student did not wait for graduation to look for | a job. He was sworn in Saturday as a justice of the peace of Neptune Township. N. J.—a community of 20,000 citizens and five justices of the peace. Roy Lever, the student. took the | oath last week end when he visited | his home at Ocean Grove, N. J., de- spite the fact that he does not re- ceive his bachelor of laws degree until June, 1941. He won a Repub- | lican nomination last September when friends conducted an inten- sive write-in campaign and was| elected in November. He will take up his duties this summer. | Mr. Lever has been president of the Rousers. a cheer-leading group. | the Interfraternity Council and Gate and Key. an organization for | | | | | forbade | were retained. and the same anti- | the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938. | contracts elements. Anti-Monopoly Safeguards. The Watres Act of 1930 was re- | pealed. and in the Air Mail Act of 1934, which was enacted in June, the transport companies were legal- lv separated from any connection with aviation manufacturers. To break possible monopolies the act interlocking directorates. overlapping interests, mutual stock- holdinz and certain types of mer- gers. Although the act was amend- ed a vear later, these provisions | | monopoly clauses wer reaffirmed in With these things accomplished, the airmail service once more was placed on the market through the medium of temporary contracts un- der provisions of a postal law then 62 vears old. The Airmail Act of 1934 provided for regulating airmail service by| | making the airmail carriers subject | | to control of three divisions of the | Federal Government—the Post Of- | fice Department, which awarded and determined routes | and schedules: the Interstate Com- merce Commission, which fixea rates, and the Bureau of Air Com- | merce, which licensed aircraft and | personnel and operated the nirwlys‘ and enforced safety regulations. ‘ Central Authority Urged in '35. | Conditions still were not satisfac- tory. President Roosevelt created which, in Janua 1935, strongly recommended that jurisdiction over | all civil aviation be vested in a single Federal body. The time was | not yet ripe for such a move, how- ever; legislative wrangles over con- trol of aviation continued for yet | another three vears. | In the interim many ridiculous ! fraternity men. Going West? 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