Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-25
GLOVER SAYS CITY
IS FACING LOSS OF
AIR MAIL SERVICE
Proper Facilities Are Urged
in Address Given at Air.
ports Conference.
CONDITIONS ARE BLAMED
ON "PETTY SQUABBLlN ING"
Two Day Meeting Will Close This
Afternoon With Discussion
of Problems.

ASSlSLdIlI FOSCIndSCcT A1eIleEAl III charge
of air mail, last night told delegates
ference at the New Willard Hotel that
unless this city provides proper airport
facilities Immediately 1t will be taken
off the air mail lines of the country.
Operators of the present New York
Miami contract air mail route now using
Boiling Field as q local landing field,
Mr.. Glover said. are disguised with the
situation and are considering the re-
moval of all their activities. including
the repair base now located at Hoover
Field, to Baltimore.
Several speakers during the opening
sessions Of the conference yesterday de-
plored the lack of municipal airport
facilities in this city or criticized the
existing aviation facilities. The con-
ference, held under the auspices of the
city officials division of the American
Road Builders Association and the
Aeronautical Chamber Of Commerce, is
attended by nearly 800 airport design
ers, builders and operators, aeronauti-
cal authorities and officials of city gov
ernments which are planning. building
will come to a close this evening, fol-
lowing two business sessions today.
Petty SquabbIing Blamed.
In his address last night Mr.. Glover
charged that the local airport program
has suffered because Of petty squab-
bling and buck passing" In his ad-
dress of welcome at the opening Of the
conference yesterday afternoon Com
missioner Proctor L. Dougherty indi-
Gated that much Of the failure to reach
an agreement over the airport plans
was due to the fact that the local
l. fal A,vN IA ~
of providing for the use OF municipal
field here by the Federal aviation serv-
ices.
Boiling Field, the local Army avia-
ton base, which now is being used for
the air mail service and which Is the
only field in this vicinity completely
equipped for night flying, was sharply
criticized as being unworthy of the
National Capital. In an open forum
discussion late yesterday afternoon, G.
c. Warren, Boston drainage engineer,
told of photograph he had seen show.
ing a flock Of ducks landing In pond
in the center of the flying field.
Boiling Field is nearly impossible to
drain, since it is built on a hydraulic I'LL
and, on the average of once in f1ve
years, is covered by high tides from the
Potomac River, Fred j. Kellogg, drain
age engineer, of Danbury, Conn.,, de-
clared. While it probably could be
drained by bikes and pumping, he said,
the cost would be almost prohibitive.
e. A. Schmidt of the District Army
Engineers office explained that Boiling
Field vas originally part of the river
and harbor reclamation project here and
never was filled in to the height origi-
nally contemplated. having been pressed
into service during the World War.
Grant Presents Paper.
In a paper presented to the confer
ence today, Lieut.. Col u. S. Grand, Sd,
director of Public Buildings and Public
Parks. declared that in his opinion the
municipal airport planned for this city,
except for the strictly technical
handling of special aviation facilities,
should come under his park Office.
The acquisition of land, the main
tenanc1 of large open spaces, usually de-
veloped in grass, the construction and
maintenance and operation of lights,
and the handling of large crowds Of
sightseers and spectators" he declared,
ARE matters which are already being
handled by the park authorities, pre-
sumahly efhciently, and cannot be
equally we'll handled by any other ex-
listing city agency"
The National Capital should have two
airports. in the opinion of Senator Hi
ram Bingham Of Connecticut, president
of the National Aeronautic Association,
who was speaker at the conference
banquet last night. Airports, he said,
must be of two kinds, just as are rail-
way terminals
Il believe" he said, that the time is
coming when ariplane shops, hangers,
student training activities and possibly
air freight and express business will
be handled at airports outside the cit
les and that the passenger terminals will
be located within the city limits. It may
be necessary to land the big passenger
transports outside the city and then
carry passengers into the heart of town
by an autogyro air taxi service.
Senator Bingham said he is strongly
opposed to proposed legislation to place
commercial aviation in this country
under the Jurisdiction of the Interstate
Commerce Commission.
Says Problems Differ Widely.
THE problems are so different" he
said, that 1t Is inconceivable to me
that the same commission could handle
such widely different things as air
transportation and rail TRANSPORTATION. !"
Speakers at the morning session of
the conference today were C. N. Conner.
engineering executive of the American
Road Builders Association, who dis
CuSSco AHpOTC SouTIdCeS "A. Pen0Ie-
ton Taliaferro, chief of the field service
section, aeronautics branch, Depart
ment OF Commerce. whose subject was
Airport Management" and N. E. Duffy,
manager of the municipal airport at
Buffalo, N. Y, who described recent
airport progress.
At this afternoons session, following
the opening paper presented by Col.
Grant, Col. C. M. Young, Assistant Sec
rotary OF Commerce for Aeronautics, will
present the closing conference paper on
European practices. A general discus
sion of airport problems will follow,
bringing the two-day conference to a
close,
In addition to Senator Bingham and
Mr.. Glover, speakers at the banquet
last night were Maj. Gen. John j.
Organ, president Of Colonial Air Trans
port, and F. Trubee Dawson, Assistant
Secretary of War for Aeronautics.
District Well Represented.
The District government is we'll repre-
sented at the sessions. Capt H. G.
Whitehurst, District chief engineer and
president Of the city officials' division
Of the road builders, officially opened
the conference. Mai. D. A. Dawson,
Assistant District Engineer Commits
Sioner, Is chairman of the municipal
airports committee in charge of ar
rangements for the conference.
Among the District officials regis
tered as delegates to the conference are
Melvin G. Hazen, District surveyor:
Daniel Garges, secretary to the Board
~ T1fstricf r,oy1a T,nis zionars RoIand M