Evening star. [volume], February 17, 1932, Page B-1, Image 17

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Washington News Society and General
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‘ WASHINGTON, D. C., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1932. *»_PAGE B-l
LOIR GAS RAIL
Counsel Suggests $1 Per
1,000 Cubic Feet for First
1,000. Then 85 Cents.
RUSSELL DEFENDS
SCHEDULE AT HEARING
Chief Engineer Says Smaller Bills
Are Ncn-Profitable to
Companies.
Th1 hearings before the Public Utili
ties Commission today on the reduction
in gas rates proposed by the Washington
and Georgetown Gas Light Co.'s, de
veloped into a fight by People's Counsel
Richmond B. Keech. to secure more of a
con-essicn for small consumers than Is
available under the schedules submitted
by the companies.
Mr. Keech suggested a new domestic
schedule of ?1 per 1.000 cubic feet for
the first 1.500 feet and 85 cents per
1.000 thereafter. The schedule now in
force calls for SI per 1.000 cubic feet
for the first 1.500 cubic feet and 90
cents per 1.000 cubic feet thereafter.
Under the companies' proposed do
mestic schedule, there is no reduction
fer those using 1.000 cubic feet of gas a
month or less, and the reduction for the
customer using the average consumption
of 3 900 cubic feet is 5 cents per month.
There are comparatively larger re
ductions for customers using above the
average in the domestic schedules and
substantial reductions in the commer
cial schedules.
Defense of Schedules.
The companies’ schedules were de
fended b” Walter M. Russel], chief en
gineer. He said the small customers
were relatively the least profitable and
that the schedule had been drafted to
make the greatest concessions to the
most profitable customers. He said the
customers paving only the 75-cent
monthly minimum bill were getting
their gas below co?t. which is a min
imum of approximately 99 cents per
month per customer.
Ho also defended the rates as ‘'pro
motional.” or dosiiiwd to increase the
sale of gas in certain fields, which would
make possible further rate reductions.
One such schedule referred to was
a “seasonable off-peak rate.” offered
fer the Summer months, designed to
encourage the use of gas house cooling
devices about to be put on the market,
and the large-scale use of hot-water
heating Oy apartment houses during the
Summer months, when the company
normally is sel'ing gas far below the
can.-mity at which it does business dur
ing the Winter months.
New System of Rates.
The entire new rates system as of
fered by the company, is as follows:
Schedule A. for all domestic pur
poses except house heating. SI for the
first 1.000 cubic feet, 90 cents per thou
sand cubic feet for the 4.000 feet. 85
cents per thousand cubic feet for the
next 43.000 feet and 80 cents per thou
sand cubic feet for all above 50.000
feet.
Schedule E, for house heating pur
poses: Maximum use charge $2 per
1.000 cubic feet per 100 cubic feet of
maximum hourly rate of use. October
to April, inclusive. Consumption charge
of 60 cents per 1.000 feet thereafter.
Minimum bill, October to April. $4 per
month. No minimum bill, May to
September.
Schedule C. commercial and indus
trial: For the first 25.000 cubic feet.
90 cents per 1.000 feet: for the next
75.000, 85 cents per 1.000 cubic feet, and
for all in excess of 100.000 cubic feet,
80 cents per 1,000 cubic feet. Minimum
bill, $1.
Rate for Manufactories.
Schedule D. for bakeries, manufac
tories, etc.: For the first 50 cubuc feet
used in any month, per foot of
maximum hourly rate of use. 92'2
cents per 1,000 cubic feet; for the
amount of gas used in excess of the
first block, and up to 400,000 cubic feet,
*77'2 cents. Thereafter, for all up to
1.000,000 cubic feet. 65 cents per 1.000
feet. For the next 1.000.000 cubic feet,
50 cents, and for all over 2.000,000,
40 cents per 1,000 cubic feet. Minimum
bill. $5.
Schedule E. seasonal off-peak rate:
For the first 25.000 cubic feet. 65 cents
per thousand feet, and for all in ex
cess, 40 cents per thousand cubic feet.
Minimum bill, December and .January,
$4,: November and February, $3.
Schedule F. wholesale apartment
house schedule: For the first 5.000 feet,
90 cents per thousand: for the next
20.000 feet, 80 cents per thousand, and
for all in excess of 25,000 feet, 75 cents
per thousand. This schedule is de
signed for apartment houses where gas
is included in the amount charged for
rent. A minimum bill of 75 cents per
apartment is charged.
No mention was made at the hearing
of the resignation of Col. Albert E.
Peirce as a member of the board of di
rectors of the Washington & George
town Gas Light Co. yesterday. It was
learned, however, that the Public Utili
ties Commission will not abandon its
plans to compel the Central Public
Service Corporation and Col. Peirce, its
president, to divest themselves of any
stock interest in the local companies
they mav have under the terms of the
Lafollette anti-merger act, prohibiting
acquisition of local public utility com
panies by foreign public utility or hold
ing corporations.
CONGRESS TAKES HAND
IN STRIKE OF AIR PILOTS
Eabath Tells Cermak Armed Men
and Amateurs Are Being
Recruited.
The first major air pilots' strike in
history took on an aspect of national
importance today as a half score of
members of Congress, alarmed by
threats to the safety of all air transport
operations if present conditions con
tinue, joined in concerted efforts to up
hold the rights of all American air
transport pilots.
In a telegram sent to Mayor Anton
J. Cermak of Chicago, Representative
A. J. Sabath of Illinois charged that
armed strike breakers are being em
ployed by Century Air Lines and that
inexperienced pilots are being recruited.
Representative Melvin J. Maas ot
Minnesota. World War pilot and holder
of a majors commission in the Marine
Corps Aviation Reserve, called upon
Clarence M. Young, Assistant Secretary
of Commerce for Aeronautics, to make
the most rigid examination of the qual
ifications of the strike-breaking pilots
and to impose drastic minimum stand
ards for such pilots.
Representatives J. O. Fernandez, Kent
Keller, Fiorello H. La Guardia and
Clyde Kelly sent telegrams to E. L.
Cord, president of Century Air Lines,
denouncing his line for lowering the
pilot standards.
Marvin Gets First Blossom
SALE OF FLOWERS STARTED AT G. W. U. FOR MASONIC CLUBS.
EVELYN IVERSON. George Washington University h—.,, - -- try
blossom on Picsident Clovd Heck Marvin of the university to inaugurate
the annual sale of blossoms for the benefit of the educational foundation
of the National League of Masonic Clubs. The purpose of the Nation
wide sale of blossoms is the endowment of two chairs of foreign service
in the George Washington University School of Government as a memorial
to "George Washington, the Mason." —Star Staff Photo.
DEANS OF WOMEN
OPEN SESSIONS
Gather as Vanguard of 15,000
Educators Who Will Meet
in Next Eight Days.
The vanguard of 15.000 educators who
will assemble in Washington during the
next eight days met at the Mayflower
Hotel today when the National Associa
tion of Deans of Women convened its
sixteenth annual meeting.
• Within another two days the 11.000
delegates of the Department of Super
intendence of the National Education
Association will be here for that group's
sixty-second annual convention. By the
same time, various other grcuos cf
allied educational organizations, bring
ing an additional 4.000 persons to the
Capital, will convene.
Congress itself has accorded recog
nition to the army of educators con
verging on the Capital in th? interest
of their profession by postponing the
hearings on the public school estimates
so that the District school officials and
board members might attend the various
convention sessions. This reason was
given this morning by Chairman Can
non of the House Subcommittee on Ap
propriations.
Rabbi uoldenson speaas.
Business sessions of the National As
sociation of Deans of Women was begun
with a luncheon meeting at 1 o'clock
thus afternoon. At that time. Rabbi
Samuel H. Goldenson of Pittsburgh de
livered the initial address of the con
clave on "What Is Justice?”
Following the luncheon a series of
round table conferences for members
only w’as held throughout the hotel.
The general topic of the woman deans
was announced as "Squaring With the
Changing Social and Economic Order.”
but the round table sessions today are
on a variety of topics, some of which
are only slightly allied with the general
theme
Among the items under discussion
this afternoon are "Training for Intel
lectual Appreciation of People,” "De
velopment of Intellectural Interests in
High School” and "International In
terests.”
The sessions will be resumed tonight
when Dean C. S. Boucher of the Uni
versity of Chicago and Frederick Win
sor, head master of the Middlesex
School at Concord, Mass., speak on
"Honorable Substitutes for College.”
The college deans will continue in
session through Sunday, overlapping
the sessions of the Department of
Superintendence.
Others on Program.
Prominent among the speakers on
the deans’ program is Cornelia
Sorabji. president of the Federation of
University Women in Calcutta. India.
Miss Sorabji will be the speaker at the
association's annual banquet, tomor
row night.
The Committee on Local Arrange
ments for the deans' convention in
cludes Mary Louise Browne, American
University, general chairman; Adele
H Stamp, University of Maryland;
Jessie Coope. McKinley High School;
Helen C. Hastings. Mount Vernon Sem
inary; Florence Boehmer, State Teach
CHEST RECEIVES
Campaign Deficit Reduced to
$187,242—Relief De
mands Increase.
With the unprecedented demand of
relief organizations threatening to be
come even heavier, new contributions
of $751 yesterday reduced the Com
munity Chest deficit to $187,242.10 in
the drive for $2,601,000.
Students of the Maderia School do
nated $300, the largest gift, of the day.
This increased the standing of the
school unit, headed by Sidney F. Talia
ferro. which exceeded its quota during
the rampaign proper.
Volunteer solicitors of the metropoli
tan unit added several pledges to the
day's total. They sought additional do
nations from those who had already
subscribed as well as new gifts from
persons who had not contributed be
fore. The workers pointed cut the dire
needs of organizations affiliated with
1 the Chest.
Meanwhile, many new pleas for food,
i fuel and clothing were received at the
Council of Social Agencies, 1418 I street.
This constantly increasing demand for
help proved a problem to the agency
heads. They had anticipated enlarged
appeals on account of cold weather
coupled with general business condi
tions, but had not expected the volume
actually encountered.
New’ and additional gifts yesterday
included $1, anonymous; $10. anony
mous: $10, anenymous; $200, an
onymous; $5, Paul Barsch; $25,
Wilmer T. Bartholomew; $50, Charles
Henry Butler-John A. Kratz; $20,
Maj. and Mrs. J. D. Byers: $15.
Alice L. Carr; $10. Garnett V. Carter;
$3, Mary Owen Dean (additional): $8,
Florence H. Dunlop; $15, Miss Mary
L. Hannan; $16. in memory of J. S.
Holbrook; $5, H. P. Kimball; $300,
Madeira School pupils; $7, Harriet E.
Porter; $25, Mary K. Porter; $5. Miss
Selma Anne Ruppert: $1, Morris Smel
low, and $20, Dr. William D. Wirt.
-•
D. C. Man Arrested in Detroit.
Edward Franks, a former Ninth
street merchant, charged with setting
fire to his store, who left Washington
some months ago ir. alleged default of
his bail bond, was arrested this m:rn
' ing in Detroit, according to word re
ceived by the office of United States
Attorney Rover. A bench warrant for
his return will be sent to the Michigan
I city.
___
ers’ College of Virginia: Vinnie G. Bar
rows, George Washington University:
Marion A. Ballou. Mount Vernon Sem
inary: Helen M. Coolidge. Central
High School: Jessie M. Holton, Holton
Arms School: Elizabeth Peet. Gallau
det College; Bertha Morgan, Cathedral
School; Anna P. Cooper. George Wash
ington University; Frances R. Connor,
Goucher pollege, Baltimore; Elizabeth
A. Brubaker, Lucy Webb Hayes Train
ing School, and P. Edna Thonssen,
Western High School. _
! FLYERS BRAVE GALE TO SNAP
HIGHEST ALTITUDE MAP OF CITY
One "Passes Out” 24,000 Feet in Air as He Accidentally
Cuts Off Oxygen Supply.
Battling through a 70-mile gale In
temperature ranging down to 14 de
grees below zero, at an altitude of
24.000 feet above the Capital yesterday
afternoon. Lieut. David W. Goodrich,
Army Air Corps, and Sergt. Andrew
E. Matos, both of the Bolling Field
photographic section, snapped the high
est altitude photographic map of the
Capital ever taken.
Both men were compelled to breathe
oxygen from flasks to maintain con
sciousness during the last part of the
climb and while the pictures were being
made. After exposing his plates, Matos
accidentally cut off his oxygen supply*
in moving around and “passed out,” not
recovering consciousness until the plane
reached the denser air of lower levels.
He suffered no ill-effects, however.
Owing to rather thick ground haze
at the time the pictures were made.
Lieut. Goodrich and Sergt. Matos are
proceeding with caution in developing
the plates and were unable to tell today
just what success they had. They are
of the opinion the plates when de
veloped will show not only a greater
part of the District on a single plate,
but also the area to and including
Mount Vernon.
The flight was made in an Army
Fairchild photographic plane, equipped
with a Wasp air-coo’ed supercharged
engine. The climb to 20,000 feet was
made without incident in slightly less
than 50 minutes, but from that point
on upward, due to thin air. the climb
was very slow and 1 hour and 50 min
utes were required to reach the max
imum altitude of 24,000 feet.
‘‘I noticed my reactions were very
sluggish,” Lieut. Goodrich said. “The
plane responded very slowly to its con
trols, though it showed little tendency
to fall out of control. So lowered was
my efficiency that I had to take both
hands to switch over the fuel feed from
a drained tank to my reserve supply.
Sergt. Matos was having quite a time
moving the camera, which is heavy.”
As the plane neared the top of its
climb the velocity of the wind increased
until at 24.000 feet, Lieut. Goodrich
estimated, it was blowing approxi
mately 70 miles per hour. The plane,
headed continuously into the wind,
showed no forward motion with rela
tion to the ground four miles below.
Neither of the men felt any great
discomfort from the cold, it was said.
The flight was made for training and
test purposes and is of the type that
Army photographic sections will be
called upon to make in case of cctabat
service.
MOTORIST INDICTED
FOR IDE KILLING OF
W. R. E SWITCHMAN
Sinclair Bowen Fowler Is
Charged With Manslaughter
in Trolley Pit Death.
51 OTHER TRUE BILLS
RETURNED BY JURY
Many Larceny, Robbery and Pro
hibition Cases on Docket.
Twenty Are Ignored.
I
Manslaughter Is charged in an in
dictment reported today to Justice
James M. Proctor by the gTand jury
against Sinclair Bowen Fowler, 38.
1540 Seventeenth street. Fifty-one
other indictments were returned and
the grand jury ignored charges against
20 persons.
Fowler was the driver of an auto
mobile which struck and kijled John \
E. Saunders, 50, a switchman of the
Washington Railway & Electric Co..
February 2. at Wisconsin avenue and
P street. Saunders was crushed against
the rear of a street car as he was
lowering its overhead trolley at the P
street plowpit. Fowler was cut and
bruised in the accident.
Exonerated in Shooting.
Vivian H. Peper, 317 Third street
southeast, was exonerated by the grand
jurors of a charge of assault with a
dangerous weapon. Miss Peper had
fired a shot through her apartment
door February 6 at Robert L. McNeely,
1913 Pennsylvania avenue, when he
sought her company. She had com
plained of annoyance from McNeely, it
was reported.
Because an Indictment reported last
December, against Edith Mildred Wil
key. alias Wilke, colored, was faulty
and could not be sustained by the
evidence. United States Attorney Rover
decided to resubmit the case to the
present grand jury. She was accused
of throwing her one-day-old infant
into an incinerator at 4105 Wisconsin
avenue. December 10. The evidence
showed the child was dead before it
was thrown into the incinerator. The
grand jury refused to indict.
Melvin E. Walker, colored, was ex
onerated of a charge of murder in con
nection with the fatal stabbing of
George Jones, also colored. The fight
occurred January 23 at 3206 N street.
The grand jurors also refused to in
dict Ernest Brown. Edward Roberts,
Isaiah Brown and John W. Hall, house
breaking; William Jimroclos, Prodronos
and Alexander Pappas. Louis Bernardy,
Helen L. May and Jack Foster, grand
larceny; George Bruckman. Sherman
Dowell, James H. Busey, assault with
dangerous weapon; Milton Brooks, rob
bery; Joseph S. Parker, prohibition;
Richard Epps, robbery.
Others Indicted.
Others indicted and the charges
against them include:
Robert Marshall Deboard, Gus
Gregory, alias Gus Gregorian; George
Haight. Mack S. Smith, Louis Dore
man and Willard Ambrose Robey, non
support: Herbert Q. O'Steen (two
cases), Francis O. Beall. Alphonso Card
well, Leroy Coleman, alias Leroy
Thompson: James Somerville, (two
cases). James McDonald Gray. James
Randall and Earl Jackson and James
Wesley Davis, housebreaking and lar
ceny: Robert Dodson. Francis McDevitt,
Solomon Holmes and Leon Howard
Christian, joy riding: Elizabeth Frank
lin. James H. McMillan and John D.
Johnson, grand larceny; James A.
Walsh, grand larceny and embezzle
ment: Fred Trdoicr, assault with intent
to commit robbery; Frank Paul Kar
vosky. James Sommerville. Clinton
Randolph, James Sommerville, James
Hayes and Sidney Statomne, robbery:
Robert Spencer Brown and Jimmie
Jackson Jordon, Leanna Bellows and
Ruth Payne, assault with dangerous
weapon: Rama R. Gibson, assault with
intent to commit rape; Latimer Mat
thews. smoke screen; DeWilton Snow
den Duvall, Taylor Guinn. Charles
Young. Frank Joseph Dwyer, Norris
Aloysius Barron, Gorman Wright,
George Turner, Earl Jethro Green, Pete
Howard Ridley and Joseph Eugene Reid,
violation of national prohibition act;
Nat Diehl, larceny after trust; Edward
D. Burner, violational national motor
vehicle theft act: Patrick Gordon, Clint
Birmingham, violation Harrison nar
cotic act: Langston M. Williams, viola
tion postal laws; Sylvester Leroy Brown,
Robert Theodore Brown and Herbert
Jones, jr.. robbery; Daniel Robinson and
Rogers Wilson, Walter Jordan and
James F. Donovan (three cases), rob
bery.
WASHINGTON WOMAN
HURT IN AUTO CRASH
Hit-Run Driver Flees Scene on
Foot Following Accident in
Alexandria.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., February 17.—
When her automobile was struck by a
hit-and-run’ driver on the Alexandria
Washington road near Howell avenue
last night, Mrs. Ruth Smithson of 479
G street southwest, Washington, was
left injured in her badly damaged car
for some time before Alexandria police
arrived to carry her to the Alexandria
Hospital.
At the hospital Mrs. Smithson was
found to have received injuries to her
legs, in addition to cuts and bruises.
Police say the driver abandoned his
machine after it had collided with Mrs.
Smithson and knocked in part of the
fence of the Richmond. Fredericksburg
& Potomac Railway yards. The ma
chine was said by police to bear tags
issued to Francis Cronen of 1930 K
street, Washington.
BANDIT SUSPECT HELD
Chinese Frustrates Attempt at
Chop Suey Hold-up.
With one suspect under arrest at
Gallinger Hospital, where he is being
treated for a bullet wound in the th'gh,
police today were searching for the sec
ond of two colored bandits who fled a
chcp suey place at 1910 Eighteenth
street early yesterday under the fire of
the proprietor, James Wong, a Chinese.
Wang Identified Nathan Steele, 25,
colored, first block of N street south
west, as one of the robbers when Steele
appeared at Emergency Hospital to have
his wound dressed. While admitting he
was in Wang’s place, police say, Steele
denied that he knew the identity of the
second man. Wang believes he hit both
robbers, foiling thfjr attempt to hold
him up.
Rare Fish Coming for New Aquarium
CONGRESS TO PAVE WAY FOR COMMERCE DEPARTMENT EXHIBIT.
CONGESS has opened its heart
, to the pleas of 35.000 children
to help Commissioner of Fish
eries Henry O'Malley out of a
predicament and will give him
$10,000 to operate the magnificent
aquarium in the Commerce Depart
ment's new building.
While the department's supply bill for
1933 has not yet been approved, so sure
were officials today of the fund that
the aristocracy of fishdom has been or
dered to congregate Mere to permit
citizens and visitors to ascertain at
first hand "Who's Who" in the fresh
water streams of the Nation.
The fish, numbering 400 and of all
colors of the rainbow, will be brought to
Washington within the next month and
will be placed on exhibition in the
aquarium.
Best Species Sought.
Orders went out today from the de
partment's Bureau of Fisheries to Gov
ernment hatcheries from Maine to Cali
fornia and to friends to send the best
species in their collections to the
aquarium, which is equrpped with 40
tanks and when fully stocked will be
the largest fresh water piscatorial expo
sition in this country.
Already the bureau has on hand the
famous Spencer, 15-year-old sturgeon,
and 124 other fish. In recognition of
his aid to biological advancement, offi
cials have ordered Spencer placed in
a main exhibition tank and he will be
clowned the "king fish” of the exclu
sive 400.
Contractors yesterday pronounced
the aquarium completed and turned it
over to department officials. While it
has not been formally accepted. Com
missioner Henry O'Malley has ordered
the tanks prepared, with marine growth
decorations to make each fish feel at
heme.
This will require about 10 days' work
and. when completed. Spencer and his
tribe, now housed in tanks in the old
aquarium at Sixth and B streets, will
be moved in tin containers to the new
building.
Fish Parade Planned.
At the same time a regular fish pa
rade will head toward the Capital City,
in the ranks will be rainbow, brook and
land-locked trout: salmon from the in
land streams of the Atlantic and Pa
cific Coasts and small, but beautiful
fish from the sub-tropics.
From an Alaskan hatchery 5.000 miles
away will come the celebrated black
fish. Part of this journey will be made
increased in ice. so hardy is this speci
men. Officials say this fish can bounce
like a rubber ball.
The trout, salmon, black fish and
other varieties will require low tempera
ture water at all times, while the sub
tropical fish will have to have their
homes heated above the 72-degree mark.
The aquarium is equipped with water
and air conditioning machinery.
From the Mississippi River will come
a long-whiskered, flat-nosed cat to
mingle with the perch and sunfish. In
one of the three floor tanks will be ohd
Oscar. This turtle has been with the
bureau for 50 years. Other turtles will
be brought here to keep him company.
Frogs to Share Tanks.
Creaking a lullaby in the lower
bavous of Louisiana is a bullfrog, which
wiil, with other croakers, eventually find
a home in another one of the floor
tanks. This is going to be quit? an ex
periment for bullfrogs do not thrive in
captivity. They must be fed on moving
objects and breakfast, lunch and dinner
will be served them from the end of a
moving stick.
At top is a view of part of the Bureau of Fisheries’ aquarium, in the new
Commerce Department Building. At top ot the fish group is the banded rudder.
In the center is the moon and the lower specie is the hermit.
—Star Staff and Bureau of Fisheries Photos.
In another tank will be a school of
j gold fish. In a smaller tank will be
I just ordinary minnows used for fish
bait. While some 35.000 children yiew
i the fish each year, the bureau is also
1 going to try to make it interesting for
I the adults and especially for fishermen.
Nearby hatcheries and collectors have
, been advised to look out for a mate
| for Spencer. Officials believe Spencer
| should have company.
He has been one of the bureau's out
' standing experiments. In 1908. col
lectors caught him and three of his
brothers, each eight inches in length,
near Chapman's Point, in the Potomac
River.
Killed by Chlorine.
In the old bureau's aquarium they
were fed on round steak and beef hearts
and they increased in size rapidly. In
1920, an application of chlorine in the j
city water supply, officials said, killed
the three brothers and left Spencer in
bad shape. He pulled through, how
ever, and is now five feet in length
and weighs close to 40 pounds.
The new aquarium will cost $10,000
a year upkeep, of which $5,000 will
be expended for the service of an ex
pert aquarium attendant and a helper.
The total population of 400 fish will
eat $2,000 in food a year, and $3,000
will be used to cover the cost of trans
porting and obtaining fish from vari
ous sections.
Tile aquarium is used to a large ex
tent by schools for biology instructions.
It also is used by the bureau for the
study of the habits of various species
and for holding surplus fish for distri
bution in nearby waters.
COMPANY FIGHTS 1
PHONE RATE CUT
-Holds Reductions Impossible
Without Impairing Fair
Rate of Return.
Telephone rates cannot be reduced at
this time without impairing the fair
rate of return of the C. & P. Telephone
Co., officials announced today In reply
to criticism heaped on Maj. Gen. Mason
M. Patrick, chairman of the Public
Utilities Commission, by the House Dis
trict Appropriations Subcommittee for
alleged "inactivity” in seeking lower
telephone charges.
Changes and improvement in service
last year, the company officials pointed
out paved the way for telephone sub
scribers to save $101,250 a year. Sav
ings for the last four years, it was said,
amounted to $301,000.
Although the company’s rate of re
turn last year amounted to 7.34 per
cent, the average for the last five years,
it was said, was 6.42 per cent.
Dial Cost Removed.
The return of 7.34 per cent in 1931,
according to the officials, was due to
the fact that the cost of the dial sys
tem installation was removed from the
capital account of the company. Con
templated additions to the dial system
this year, coupled with uncertain eco
nomic conditions, officials predicted,
will cut the 1932 return to about 6.5
per cent—a rate too low to enable the
company to reduce telephone charges
and maintain dividend payments to
stockholders.
A large portion of the $101,250 sav
ings to Washington subscribers, it was
said, wfll result from the abolition of
toll charges on calls to nearby Mary
/
land and Virginia. The savings on
this item alone, it was said, will total
$36,300 a year.
The reduction in rate for handsets, 1
put into effect last May 1, it was ex- !
plained, saves subscribers $49,000 a
year, discontinuance of the charge for i
change in equipment, $8,000. and re- j
duction in the rate for individual lines
connected to residence intercommuni
cating systems, $4,450. Several other
minor items involving reductions total
ing $11,500 a year, also were reported.
Among savings in the last few years,
reductions in long distance rates were
cited, showing that the cut February
1, 1929, benefited Washington sub
scribers by $68,200, and the reduction
June 30, 1930, by $50,000.
-•
EL0ISE CROSS BURIED
Rites for Student Nurse Conducted
in Bethesda Church.
Funeral services for Miss Elolse B.
Cross, 18-year-old student nurse at
Providence Hospital, were conducted
yesterday at Our Lady of Lourdes
Church, in Bethesda. Burial was in
Cedar Hills Cemetery. Rev. Francis J.
Egan officiated.
Miss Cross, who died Sunday, was a
daughter of Roy W. Cros, Treasury De
partment architect, and Mrs. Eloise
Cross, 4508 Ridge street, Chevy Chase,
Md. She also is survived by a brother,
Roy. She was a graduate of Immaculata
Seminary.
POSTAL SAVINGS JUMP
System Now Has More Than 1,
000,000 Accounts.
Postal savings on February 1 totaled
$658,081,034, and for the first time in
the history of the system, more than
1,000,000 persons had accounts.
Total deposits represented an increase
of approximately $63,000,000 during the
month of January. Deposits at the be
ginning of the present fiscal year
amounted to $353,237,908.
HOWARD PAY ROLL
PROBE LAUNCHED
Rover Investigating Charge
of “Padding” Involving
Janitor and Son.
United States Attorney Leo A. Rover
has launched a grand jury inquiry into
alleged “payroll padding” at Howard
University and supoenas have been
served on a number of officials of the
school to explain the matter to the
grand jurors. Rover said the complaint
so far relates only to private funds of
the university and does not affect Gov
ernment appropriations In aid of the
school.
The charge seems to be directed
against Eugene Gough, head janitor at
the school, and his son, Samuel, a for
mer employe, now attending Virginia
State College. The amount involved is
said to be $75, which represented six
weeks’ service of the boy as an assistant
janitor, after he is alleged to have re
turned to the Virginia Institute. The
father is accused of having signed the
boy's name to the payrolls.
Among those summoned to testify
are Dr. Emmett J. Scott, secretary
treasurer of Howard University, who is
directed to bring the records of his of
fice, and Daniel W. Edwards, cashier.
The registrar of the Virginia State Col
lege at Petersburg is also asked to bring
his records showing the boy's attend
ance there when he was supposed to be
1 working at Howard University,
FOR NIGH! SNIPER
AFTER NEW AM
J
Eric Elvers, 26, Fired Upon
at Friend’s Home in
Takoma Park.
GUNMAN MAKES ESCAPE,
DRIVING OFF IN DARKNESS
Two Firemen to Await Grand Jury
Action Instead of Facing
Police Court.
Police continued their search for the
mysterious “shoot-and-run" gunman
today, following a report that a Wash
ington Sanitarium emffloye was fired
upon from a dark-colored sedan which
sped through Takoma Park, Md., last
night.
The report was made by Eric Elvers,
26, who said a bullet whizzed past him
as he was about to enter the home of
a friend in the first block of Ash street,
Takoma Park.
Elvers had just stepped from his au
tomobile, he said, when the dark sedan
roared toward him. As the car drew
abreast of him. He said, he heard the
report of a gun and a bullet whistled
past him. He knew it came from the
passing machine, he explained, because
ne saw a flash of flame leap from the
rear of the car as the shot rang out.
Second Shot Heard.
Running into his friend's home, El
vers notified Montgomery County po
lice. Meanwhile the sedan had dashed
down the street and disappeared. Other
residents of the neighborhood said they
heard another shot a few minutes later.
Eecause of the speed of the automo
bile, Elvers said, he was unable to see
the license number. He was unable to
say how many persons were in the cal.
With two former District firemen
held in $10,000 bonds each on con
spiracy charges growing out of what
is believed to have been an attempt to
shoot Fire Chief George S. Watson, an
other man is being sought for ques
tioning.
The men held—John C, Price, 35.
and Ernest Meile. 30—were arrested
after a .32-caliber bullet crashed
through a window of the home of Stan
ley Bell, radio announcer. Bell's resi
dence is next to that of Chief Watson,
who lives at 3928 Fourteenth street.
Jury to Get Case.
Both men have been questioned re
garding the activities of the "shoot
and-run" gunman, who is believed to
have killed one man and wounded three
other persons, including two high school
girl*, during the last two week'. The
men are said to have convinced police
they had no connection with the mys
terious series of shootings, however.
The gunman's victims were Paul
Riedel. 45. shot to death in his bakery
in the 3200 block of Mount Pleasant
street; Gordon T. Backus, 51. wounded
while walking near his home in the
3400 block of the same thoroughfare,
and Helen Andrews, 18. and Doris
Beall. 16. wounded as they walked
down Fifth street near Aspen. A dark
sedan figured in all the shootings.
Miss Andrews, a night student at
Business High School, lives at 5811
Sixth street, while Miss Beall, an
Eastern High School pupil, resides at
1411 G street southeast.
Price and Meile, it is understood, will
not be arraigned in Police Court, but
the evidence against them will be heart
by the grand jury.
MINE RELIEF GROUP
FLAYS KENTUCKIANS
Operators and Authorities Accused
at Meeting Here of Insti
tuting Terror.
The coal mine operators and authori
ities of Bell and Harlan Counties, Ky„
scene of reecent labor troubles, were
condemned vigorously in a resolution
adopted last night at a mass meeting in
the National Press Club Auditorium,
called by the Independent Miners' Re
lief Committee.
The operators and county authorities
were charged with having instituted a
reign of terror in an attempt to break
the miners’ strike.
The resolution further stated that
“we protest against the kidnaping of
the group of writers and professional
people and the beating of their chair
man. Waldo Frank, and the attorney
for the strikers. Allan Taub. and the
denial to them and to the strikers,
union organizers, relief workers and
newspaper correspondents of the rights
ot free speech, free press and free as
sembly.
"We appeal to Congress to investigate
the situation in Bell and Harlan Coun
ties and we call upon all Americans
who believe in freedom and democracy
to rally to the defense of constitutional
rights and particularly to the defense
of the rights of labor organizations to
function freely without interference
from gun thugs, regardless of the po
litical affiliations of the leaders of these
labor organizations.”
BLIND FLYING TESTS
PROPOSED FOR PILOTS
Suggested Amendment to Present
Regulations Makes Examina
tions More Rigid.
All American air transport pilots en
gaged in interstate airline service will
be compelled to pass rigid "blind” flying
tests and to conform to more rigid
standards of training if an amendment
which has been submitted by the De
partment of Commerce aeronautics
branch to pilots and operators for com
ment and suggestions is made effective.
A feature of the proposed amend
ment would require that the pilot be
able to show at least 1,200 hours cf
solo flying within the past eight years.
500 houis of which must have been
spent in cross-country flying and 75
hours in solo flying at night.
The pilots, if the amendment is
adopted, must pass tests before a De
partment of Ccmmerce flying inspector
to show their ability to fly completely
blind.
In a hooded cockpit they will be re
quired to show their ability in straight,
level flight: shallow and steep banks
up to 20 degrees on both sides. 180 and
360 degree turns to right and left,
spirals and recoveries frcm spirals,
minimum glides and maximum climbs,
recovery from conditions approaching
the stall climbing turns, stalls, spins,
skids *a| slips.