Evening star., 1923-01-19
ARLINGTON BRIDGE
PLANS THREATENED
BY FIGHT FOR DRAW
Georgetown Citizens Make
Vigorous Protest Against
Stoppage of River Traffic.
SHERRILl- SAYS PLANS
WILL NOT BE ALTERED
No Draw or No Bridge Is His VI
timatu1n at Hearing on
Memorial.

Either there will be no draw spa,
in the proposed Arlington memcr,al
bridge, or there will be no bridge.
Agitation by certain local CONNER
cial civic interests for inclusion Of a
draw span in the proposed Arlington
memorial bridge. TO connect the Lin
coin memorial with Arlington IA
tional cemetery. is threatening tho
entire bridge proposal, according to
statements made today by Col. Sher-
rill. executive head Of the Arlington
Memorial Bridge Commission, at q
hearing of arguments for and against
the plans for draw before Maj. NJ
9. Tyler, United States district en-
gineer. in the old Land Once build
ing.
Either there must be no drawspan
IN the Arlington memorial bridge or
there must be no bridge declared Col.
shtrrlii, following vigorous protests by
members Of the Washington Board 81
Trade. the Ceorge. own and the South
east Citizen assoc .ations, and interests
having shipping tnat would be affected
oy elimination Of = draw in the bridge
without On algerna tive hefchterinf, oP
the arches sufficient tn allow passa % u
seagong barges.
ih AI$ht decision.
A Grawbridso is absolutely irrosa.-
Bile Col. Sheriff. continued. 1T *
merely a question of dispensing with
the bridge or eliminating The draw. This
hearing Is called t decide which cours.
viii be taken--to determine whether We
shall DO tway with The bridge or erect
it without a draw
b ard of Trade representatives 70
fused to accent this ultimaturn an
a2i sntly, for Frank J.. LGetch. chair
tlan OF tae committee on rive7, anG
:.@foor - 2',d improvements fer that
: -, .. "a anon, non co""i5jed the hearing
with this parting ;. 2t:
wish to Ec o. record IS member
o. the Board Cf Trade committee that
we we intend 10 con,est and fight any
impairment Of navigation by thf-
bfldge with every means IN our
CO. Sheriff. presented to Mai Tv1.-
a paper giving statistics showing +b.,
extern to which the Georgetown ha~-
DOT mas been used in the past by ship-
ping. The figures he emphasize 4 dis
closed that instead Of an increase i'll
number OF barceS and other craft
plying these waters there has been a +
3nnuaI decrease. Last year he pnir+-
Ell out, seV anty-fiva vessels took os
sage into the harhcr. the great ma
Jorfty Of which were lOW-lying Graf.
not affected ty the proposed thirty
nine-foot clear ance for the bridge.
Trade body and civic represen+a
yves present took The position thai
the future of George town as d water
front should h" taken into conside,-
at!on, and that 10 action should h..
taken fcr the sake Of "art" that
would tend 10 restrict the develop
ment of that section.
Protests against elimination OF \
draw in the bridge were made at the
irearlng by Mr.. Lectch and Edward NJ
Taylor and Fred Stohlman of ~
river and har5or improv emehts con-
mittee of the Board Of Trade; ]. u
Mcqueen. Washington Gas L:Eh- Com
pany: william e. Luakett, represent
ing The BoarG Of Trade anc tEn
Southeast Wash hinEton Citlzens' Asso-
citation; Samuel X. Dernis Of the
southern Transportation Company
which operates sea going barSes be
tween Hampton Roads nd George
town harbor: Joseph A. oliver. presi-
dent of the Georgetot citizens As
sociation. l.. =. Smoot OF the l.. IT,
Smoot Sand and Gravel Company
Arguments Against Draw.
Arguments against a draw Were
made by Col. Sheriff. and John T. Na
gle. designing engineer OF the Ar
lington Memorial Bridge Commission
Following presentation of resolu
tions by his committee approving Of
the location of the bridge and favor
ing draw in it, AR Leetch said:
I'VE approve ot the memorial idea
on which the plans for the bridge are
founded. My Org~ai2atton recognizes
that 1t is 10 be in memory OF the ma
tion's heroic deaG. We do not wish to
conflict with the desire of the nation
so to honor lis heroes but we do
think that the memorial bridge should
not sacrifice commercial interests at
a time when the nation IS bending
every effort to open UP all navigahle
waters in the country to aid in tho
transportation problems"
Effect on Canal.
Mr.. Leetch pointed out that the
Chasaf, !. . lie md Or,fn cannI ic r-.,ir,rr