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Tht Rambler . . . Ridas Around Town By JOHN McKELWAY We pulled out of Union Station at 10:30 a.m. on the B&O. Somewhere ahead lay the ancient city of George town. The engineer was a grizzled man and Just behind him, In the baggage compartment, was a gray French poodle bound for Pittsburgh in a box. Lurching ahead over the crisscrosses, the ‘‘fireman” called out the signals and the engineer repeated them. “We hit buzzards sometimes,” said the engineer. The train hit 60 miles an hour and suburbia flashed past. We got off at Silver Spring, 10 minutes later. We climbed Into a motor car and traveled for awhile along a road called Georgia avenue. Then we turned off on a dirt road and came into "Georgtown Junc tion.” Diesel switch engine No. 0023 was pulling and shoving freight cars, making up the train for the 11-mile run to Georgetown. Ernest Riddle, 45, the con ductor, a big blue-eyed man, was placing the cars along the freight line which runs off the main line. He’s the boss of the Georgetown freight run and has his own personal caboose. o MR. RIDDLE SAID that from the Junction to Con necticut avenue it’s a down grade. Then the grade climbs steadily until the tracks go under Wisconsin avenue. He said if you pushed a freight car at Bethesda, it probably would roll all the way to Georgetown if it made the curve above the canal. There were 10 freight cars, three to be rolled off on sid ings on the way to George town. The others were head ed for the cement, rendering and heating plants below the old town. The switch engine was (fulling three cars and pushing seven when we left the junction and headed into rough country on either side of the track. We were moving about 15 miles an hour. Then we stop ped and a white warehouse could be seen off in the trees. We rolled into a siding and left a freight car of beer The trainmen said the “con signee” was the Montgbmefy County Liquor Control Board. They were gentle with the beer car. Soon we crossed the great Rock Creek which was mov ing muddy and slow 80 feet below us. Rolling again, the East- West highway was off in the distance to the south. We rumbled across the danger ous pass at Connecticut ave .nue, then climbed the long frade through the fair and rough country of the Colum bia Country Club, and after that, between expensive back yards. Sometimes a golfer will hear the whistle of the little train at the top of his backswing. We rested at Bethesda, in the freight yards west of Wisconsin avenue. AT HIGH NOON, we rolled through Kenwood and at River road, we stopped and sent a “reefer” (refrigerator car) full of peas into the headquarters of Hot Shoppes Inc. ' We highballed—still at 15 miles an hour—through the dark forests lying west of Washington and crossed the Massachusetts avenue bridge. At 12:20 p.m. we were in a cool, damp tunnel under MacArthur boulevard. We made another stop at the filtration plant and Mr. Rid dle said a family of black squirrels live nearby. We ran high above the old C&O Canal, crossed it once, and then swayed lazily down grade toward Georgetown, with the Potpmac at our right. A cat ran ahead of the train and the whistle scream ed. Brown and red leaves al most covered the tracks and the woods were silent. A man paddled a canoe toward the Three Sisters. As Key Bridge loomed on the right, a man said the line had been built in 1909. Strict ly for freight, it services the commercial pocket in Georgetown as well as other businesses lying west, north west and north of Washing ton. Before we rumbled into the shadows under the K street freeway, tooting trucks out of the way, there was one glimpse of the ancient city above the river. It was 12:45 p.m. when the Substitute Rambler got off the train at the end of the line. ft&ggfegfc. . ;<r . ... j£T •,.' sl* attorn * ■ m O aH - R mm*** -ah if^ . M- ’M: Motorists using the new leg of the George Washington Me morial parkway from Key Bridge to Cham Bridge enjoy the scenic vista of the Potomac River, its banks ablaze with fall’s colors. This overlook is a short distance from Key Bridge. Labor Building Generally OKd Penthouse Plans To Be Redrawn The National Capital ning Commission today ap proved a broad general plan for a new Labor Department build ing at Sixth street and Penn sylvania avenue N.W. Roland Snyder, General Services Administration archi tect. told the commission that, at the request of the Fine Arts Commission, the penthouse to house mechanical equipment will be restudied so it will not jut above the skyline. Discussion pointed up the need for adequate parking space for the new building. Mr. Snyder said plans called for housing 34 cars in the base- < ment and 53 additional on an outdoor lot which the District government will have to trans fer for this use. Mr. Snyder said the new. building, along Sixth and C[ streets with the entrance on C street, will be tied in with the; existing building along Penn-1 sylvania avenue, constructed as! a new central public library but: never used for this purpose. The | building is used by various Dis trict and Federal Government agencies. Agencies to be Housed In the new building, the ( Labor Department wants to house the local field office of the United States Employ ment Service and the District Unemployment Compensation Board. The new building would be of modem architecture, har monious with the prese n t structure to which it would be attached, Mr. Snyder explained. He said the Fine Arts Com mission has generally approved the architecture, but wants the Penthouse re-studied so it will be lower. Under the long-range plan, the building may be turned over to the District Government, he said. David E. Finley, Fine Arts Commission chairman, who at tended today's planning meet ing, said: “We are trying to get rid of these pill boxes (pent houses). They should put only mechanical equipment and air conditioning on top of the building and then cover it with a wall.” Mr. Snyder observed that it is expensive to cover up a pent house which houses mechanical equipment. John A. Remon, vice chair man of the planning commis sion, referring to the existing building along Pennsylvania avenue at Sixth street, designed as a library, called it “the lousiest building in town.” Tower Plan Dropped In another matter the com mission was told General Serv ices Administration agreed to withdraw its plan for a pro posed water cooling tower for air-conditioning buildings in the Federal Triangle. Alexander C. Robinson 111 of Cleveland, chairman of the commission’s Federal Planning and Projects Committee, said the GSA will withdraw its pro posal for a temporary cooling tower south of the Coast Guard Building between Thirteenth and Thirteenth - and -a - half streets N.W., on Pennsylvania avenue. The committee felt that a temporary structure would tend to delay the ultimate develop ment of the balance of the per manent buildings in the tri angle. Under the long-range plan, the present District Building at Fourteenth and E streets N.W. and the Coast Guard Building adjacent to it will be tom down to make way for permanent buildings there. Obituaries, Page B-4 Stadium Construction to Go Ahead Even If Tenants Are Not Signed Up By GRACE BASSETT Stir sun Writer Construction of Washington’s new, 50,000-seat stadium will begin next spring. ! But agreements with the major tenants, the baseball and football club owners, may not be closed until well after the work begins. This was the consensus today of the men who are expected to build, run and maintain the model sports arena near the 'Armory and the Anacostia river. They include Federal and District officials, civic leaders and team owners. Armory Board Chairman George F. Shea hopes this week to finish negotiating a loan of about $400,000 from the Riggs National Bank. This "interim financing” will pay a syndicate of architects to draw final plans and specifications. friwlats by April Detailed drawings have been promised before April by the ■ syndicate firms, Osborn Engi neering of Cleveland, George Dahl of Dallas and Ewing En gineering Associates of Wash ington, Mobile, Ala., and 1 Miami. Between now and then, Mr. Shea counts on setting terms of a bond issue—for a mini mum of (6 million—and re opening talks with George P. Marshall and Calvin Griffith, owners of the Washington Red skins and Washington Sena tors, respectively. Under a 1958 law, bonds are guaranteed by the United States Treasury. If stadium | receipts don’t cover the princi ;pal and interest, the Treasury is pledged to lend enough for bond repayments to the District government. The District, in turn, must repay the Treasury loan from tax receipts. "The government guarantee means the stadium will be. built,” predicted William Mc- Leod, clerk of the House Dis trict Committee, who has been the chief watchdog of sta dium plans for their legislative sponsor. Representative Harris, 1 Democrat of Arkansas. Mr. McLeod sat in on all stadium negotiations of the District Armory Board, charged by law with making the long planned facility a reality. "We’re still aiming for com pletion by 1961,” Mr. Shea said. I Wife Shoots Self, Dies in Maryland A 32-year-old housewife died today from a self-inflicted gun shot wound in her home in Cheverly, Maryland State Polic* reported. ’* V The victim was identified by police as Mrs. William B. Mc- Kibben of 3513 Fifty-fourth avenue, the mother of two school-age children. She was ishot with a revolver below the heart, police said. -They listed the death as a suicide. Police said Mrs. McKibben’s , husband was home when the shooting occured just oeiore 11 a.m. Mrs. McKibben left a note, but police declined to reveal its contents. Bible Prophecy Lectures to Open A seven-week pre-holiday lecture series on Bible prophecy, sponsored by the Takoma Park Seventh-Day Adventist Church, will open at 7:46 p.m. tomor row in the Colesville Elemen , tary School, 14015 Colesville road. The series will continue each Friday St the same hour with speakers from Potomac Uni versity, Takoma Park. §lje footing s&laf .. ■ ) WASHINGTON, D. C„ THURSDAY, NOVEMSER 5, 1959 The picturesque parkway is expected to double as an arterial route to Key Bridge, where highway officials are taking steps to relieve congestion.—Star Staff Photo by Francis Routt. “That means work must begin next spring.” This determination to pro ceed injects the project with risk—but a calculated one. Real financial solvency depends on lease arrangements with the two major ball clubs. Both Drop Out The thinking of stadium backers is that club owners will play their clubs in the new stadium, but that they may not agree to final terms months before final architectural and financing plans are drawn. Both Mr. Marshall and Mr. Griffith have broken off nego tiations in the past year. Mr. Marshall said in August he'd given up hope the stadium would be built. Mr. Griffith simply failed to appear at a bargaining session set up for him in February by the Armory But letters went out to both men in September to pick up the talks again With District Corporation Counsel Chester Gray. Mr. Marshall delegated the chore to attorney Leo DeOrsey. “I’m ready to agree.” Mr. DeOrsey said today. “I expect to go over the contract with the Corporation Counsel whenever he calls me. So far as we're concerned, we see no reason why a settlement can’t be reached quite promptly.” Mr. Griffith has yet to reopen negotiations. But sources close to the Senators management see Mr. Griffith forced by cir cumstances to delay. Three Issues Major decisions on three Is sues—possible sale of Griffith stadium, of the ball club itself and a Griffith move to another city—cannot be reached easily until the Spring. Mr. Griffith owns- Griffith Stadium, which Howard Uni versity wants to buy. But sale would depend on a Federal ap propriation since the Govern ment budgets, with congres sional approval, Howard ex penses. The very earliest Howard could arrange for a purchase would be July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year. Humphrey's Hat Thrown Into Ring By Backers Here; Challenge Issued M Backers of Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, Democrat of Minne sota, today tossed the Senator’s hat into the District primary on May 3 and challenged other po tential Democratic presidential nominees to a contest. The announcement of inten tion to run a Humphrey-pledged slate of convention delegates was made by a newly formed D. C. Committee for Humphrey, headed by W. John Kenney, Washington attorney. Informed of the challenge by Humphrey backers, Seymour M. Chase, president of the Dis trict Stevenson for President Draft Committee, said his group has not yet decided whether to enter a slate of delegates at the primary. Humphrey Consulted Mr. Kenney, former Under-j secretary of the Navy, was asked if he had consulted Senator Humphrey before disclosing! that a slate of Humohrey- ( pledged delegates would be en tered in the primary. “I've talked to the Senator and I wouldn’t be doing this ’ if I didn’t have a certain un- 1 derstanding with him,” replied 1 Mr. Kenney. Senator Humphrey, who is i now on a speaking tour of the.i Midwest, has said he will not decide .until the first of the i District officials feel some ball club, perhaps not the Griffith team, will be ready to negotiate next summer. Should Mr. Griffith move to Minne apolis, as he repeatedly has threatened, the American League still will keep a team in the Capital, they believe. Speculation about a move has become involved in league consideration of an expansion from 8 to 10 teams. League owners will talk over this pos sibility at a December meeting in Miami. They clearly want one of the 10 to be in Wash ington. But this realignment seems impossible until next summer since Mr. Griffith has promised to play here one more season. Outside Sale Restricted If Mr. Griffith wants to sell his club outside Washington l|e can’t until July 1, H. Ga briel Murphy, 40 per cent stockholder, holds the right to buy Mr. Griffith’s stock if it is for sale before that date. And a sale to Mr. Murphy is con sidered almost impossible be cause of the bitterness between the two men. Mr. Griffith is more likely to keep his team and move it out of town, of ficials believe. July 1 also is the earliest date that a sale of the Griffith Stadium could be actively con ! sidered. Howard University wants to buy the sports center j from Mr. Griffith. ■ But Howard money comes from congressional appopria tions, which could be cleared at the earliest at the beginning of the next fiscal year even if Mr. Griffith and university of ficials agreed. This combination of un certainties has convinced sta dium sponsors that next sum mer is the time for a firm lease with a ball club Without that lease, taxpayers face the prospect of keeping the stadium solvent. The ball | club faces a future limited to the drawing power of the old Griffith Stadium. In the past, that drawing power has kept ;Mr. Griffith more content than the prospect of a stadium he | doesn't own. ■k Jr Wjk mL M - tBBI SENATOR HUMPHREY I year whether to seek the pres-' idential nomination. | Said Mr. Kenney: “We hope there will be a contest in the primary and hereby call on the other con tenders to meet us. Citizens of Washington have little chance to vote, so primary contests in the District render a real pub lic service. Issues are defined and debated, and a real choice is offered.” Mr. Chase said the Stevenson group is concentrating its es- Integration Defended by Dr. Hansen District School Supt. Carl F Hansen flatly denied today that desegregation here has driven 1 white families to the suburbs.! "It just isn’t true,” the super intendent told a group of 700 delegates to a Y-Teen con ference of the Young Women’s Christian Association. He acknowledged that In 1954—the first year of desegre-i gation—four of every 10 pupils in the District were white, while last year only 2.60 of 10 were. ‘But we must be aware of the fact,” he said, “that wei are living in a time of great migration from rural areas to urban centers." Negroes, par ticularly, are moving from Southern farms because of economic and social conditions, he noted. “They are being vacuumed into the major cities because of the lflJßua£. a better place to go.” he said. The superintendent noted that one Southern city with a segregated school system re ported an increase of 4,000 stu dents in enrollment this year. Nearly all were Negroes. “Our great problems,” said Dr. Hansen, “are to provide eco nomic opportunities, wholesome living conditions, and education for these people who have here tofore been deprived.” Dr. Hansen reiterated most of his views about desegrega tion to the teen-agers meeting in the Shoreham Hotel. He cited the necessity to end all discrimination everywhere and noted the steadily increasing achievement levels of District students since 1954. The problem still existing here, he said, are symptoms “of a deep-seated flaw in the social structure” and have nothing to do with desegrega tion. . Calling attention to the speed and breadth with which deseg regation was accomplished here, Dr. Hansen said there is ’ really no sense in fussing about a small, token development in de segregation.” Any discrimination, he said, “retards our influence in inter national affairs.” forts now solely on “rounding ; up support for Mr. Stevenson.”] However, he added, "our group is clearly oriented toward the primary.” Meanwhile, a prominent po litical figure in the District, F Joseph (Jiggs) Donohue, said he has not yet decided whom he will back in ar.y contest *hnt m«v develop in thp Dis trict Democratic primary. Truman Silent “I’m a Harry Truman Demo crat,” said Mr. Donohue. “I'm waiting for the boss to call the turn. Mr. Truman hasn't de clared himself yet, and I don't want to find myself trapped. “However, I suspect that anyone who runs against Mr. Humphrey in the District will display poor political judg ment. I don't think anyone ' except possibly Stevenson would have a chance against Hum phrey in the District, i "Humphrey has done a lot I for the District, and he is re garded very highly.” ’ Asking if Mr. Truman wasn't lending support to Senator ■ Symington, Democrat of Mis i souri, for the presidential nom ination, Mr. Donohue said that [ the former President still hasn’t committed himself. “I don't think Symington i would do as well as Humphrey in the District,” he added. Radio-TV, Pages B-6-7 Transit Plan Called Tentative by Bible Arguments Over Specific Routes ’ Held Premature; Hearings Set By GEORGE BEVERIDGE Star SUIT Writer Senator Bible. Democrat of Nevada, said today that specific elements of the Washington area’s proposed $2.5 billion free way-subway plan are “not sufficiently well studied or final" at this time to justify controversial discussion. Accordingly, he urged area residents to soft-pedal con troversies over specific freeway or transit routes during their testimony in five-day public - hearings on the area transoor tation system, which will open Monday before the House- Senate Committee on Washing ton Metropolitan Problems. The Joint committee, headed by Senator Bible. Is set to hear more than 75 witnesses during the week—including transpor tation experts from all parts of the country. The $2.5 billion proposal was submitted to the White House and Congress in July, after more than three years of study by area planning agencies. It proposed two major rapid rail transit lines from Maryland to Virginia with subways through downtown Washington —and about 300 miles of free ways, on which express bus routes would be set up. Budget Bureau Voire The Budget Bureau, it was I learned, Is preparing a state-* ment on the administration's! attitude toward the $2.5 billion proposal, which is expected to: be made public Monday. Presi dent Eisenhower directed the bureau to draft the statement j after hearing from various Federal agencies because the planners’ report had called for substantial Federal contribu-1 tions to development of the system. In a statement. Chairman ; Bible said his committee wants to hold next week’s hearings as closely as possible to the com mittee’s immediate problem: To decide what kind of legisla tion it should recommend to Congress—possibly the forma tion of some new agency to take up where the planners’ report left off. Senator Bible said his com mittee’s report to Congress in January definitely would not f comment on' any of the “con troversial specific routes or other physical features” of the plan. j “These,” he said, “are not regarded by the committee as sufficiently well studied or final to be gone into in detail at this time. They are illustrative. These features are valuable as they show the order of magni tude of the entire proposed 'system and hence indicate what kind of government agency and how much money will be required to realize such a system.” On Basie Studies Frederick Gutheim, staff di rector of the committee, said a substantial portion of the testimony would deal with the Maryland Council Hits Bill to Enlarge House By CHARLES L. HOFFMAN By r Star Staff Writer . . » BALTIMORE, Nov 5.—A coalition of rural county and Baltimore City legislators late yesterday dealt a heavy blow to a plan to give the big metropolitan area counties more seats in the Maryland House of Delegates. The plan, which ultimately would enlarge the House from 123 to 141 members, was de- 1 seated. 12 to 5, in the Legisla-. tive Council. The General Assembly’s in terim body also rejected rec ommendations of a special committee that would have made uniform Maryland’s pres ent system of State scholar ships to both public and pri vate schools. In its only major positive move, the council indorsed and agreed td introduce in the 1960 j General Assembly a bill to allow the voters to decide next November on a veterans’ bonus. A bonus bill has been in the [Legislature virtually every ses sion since World War 11. Bond Financing The present plan of the council calls for financing such a bonus through a bond issue which would be paid off by in creasing from 3 to 4 per cent both the income and sales tax base. Finance Chairman A. Gor don Boone, Democrat of Balti more County, long a foe of the bonus, said it was time the people had a chance to decide the bonus question once and for all. The scholarship bill’s defeat came despite pleas of the chair man of the scholarship com mittee, Blair Lee, 111, Demo crat of Montgomery. House Speaker Perry O. Wilkinson and Senator Mary L. Knox. Democrat of Wicomico. Leading a move to refuse consideration of the bill at the 1960 session was Senator Sam uel Barrick, Democrat of Fred erick. He was opposed to a cut in funds allotted Hood College in Frederick by the bill. At present some scholarships in private colleges are valued as high as $2,100. Under the Lee proposal, all scholarships would be for catalogue tuition only in private schools. The bill! i basic studies on which the planners relied to Justify the system they proposed. Testimony on Monday and Tuesday, for example, will re volve entirely around a review of how the planners projected future area population growth, the probable future uses of land, projections of future traffic and, finally, the specific facilities suggested to handle the traffic. , Most of the early witnesses asked to testify, but a number were invited because they are experts in their fields, Mr. Gutheim said. He said the pur pose of this extensive review was to enlighten the committee on the precise form and duties of whatever follow-up agency should be established. Criticism of some of the planners' techniques is likely. Among witnesses scheduled for Monday are population ex perts from the Census Bureau [ and from the University of , * California: Albert Mayer, New i'York architect and proponent |of the concept of “satellite towns"; Arthur H. Keyes, Jr., ,j of the Washington Building ; Congress, and Dr. Jerome Pick ' ard. Washington economic de ■ J velopment expert. Tuesday’s witnesses will in clude experts in highway and j traffic, as well as spokesmen i for the Fine Arts Commission ; and the American Institute of : 1 Architects. On Wednesday, railroad offi cials and operators of Maryland . and Virginia bus companies— i who did not participate in the . planners’ study—will have their , day in court. Other testimony • will deal with transit regula tion and with the development . of new electronic devices for , charging tolls. Thursday Witnesses Among Thursday’s witnesses ; will be D. C. Transit Co., which has requested 90 minutes t of time, the District Commis s sioners end representatives of 1 [ the Governors of Maryland and s Virginia. Also testifying will be . Lyle Fitch of the Institute of s Public Administration of New - York, which has prepared a i draft of legislation to establish t a Federal “authority” with t broad powers to build and reguJ r late a transit system. l Friday’s witness list so far Includes nearly 30 represent atives of area organizations, plus city planner Victor Gruen, - who developed the development i proposals for Washington's un * j successful bid for a 1964 world's s I fair. I would have increased the total number of scholarships by 452. Defeat by Coalition It was a coalition of private school supporters and Senators who guard zealously their scholarship appointment priv ileges which resulted in the bill's defeat. Delegate Lee, chairman of the House Education Commit tee, said he intended to intro -1 duce the bill himself at the next session despite the coun cil’s defeat. The swift defeat of the bill to provide the big counties with more seats came as no surprise. The proposal would have in creased the maximum delega tion from any county from 6 1 to 10. At the same time it i would not have deprived any , county of seats it now holds al though some have a seat for each 7,000-plus persons while ■ others have one per 70,000 : plus. j All counties now have at least two seats in the House regardless of their population. William A. Walsh, chairman 1 of a commission appointed by ■ Gov. Tawes to study the in equality, conceded his plan 1 was not perfect but argued that it was a step in the right • direction. Baltimore City delegates ■ opposed the measure on ■ grounds it provided no addi tional seats for the city. The 1 city now has 36 members in • the House. A second motion calling for ’ a constitutional convention ■. drew support of Baltimore City -; delegates but still failed to win • | council acceptance. :! The action made it clear that : it would be up to Gov. Tawes to help in giving larger coun i ties a fair representation in I the House. So far the Governor has de ;; dined to comment on tha Walsh Committee's recom- II mendation. B