The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1929-02-22


no is in Washington.
The Joint Committee on Library
of the House and Senate yesterday,
rejected plans for the Wright mem
orial at Kitty Hawk and new
competition for plans will be author
lied by an amendment to the sec
ond deficiency bill to be introduced
today.
One of the most disappointed men
in Washington today is Congress
man Lindsay Warren who has work.
ed increasingly for the Wright
Memorial.
In recent competition thirty
five designs were submitted for the
proposed memorial. Some Of these
designs were the work of leading
American architects. A design was
accepted by the jury of awards. 1t
was approved by the cabinet COM
mission on the Memorial and ap-
proved by the National Commission
| of Fine Arts. 1t was thought
that the joint committee on the
library would perfurctorily accept
the unanimous verdict of notable
Jury of award, the Fine Arts Com
mission and the Cabinet Commits
sion.
But Senator Hiram Bingham OF
Connecticut has had finger in the
Wright Memorial all the time. On
the same day that Congressman
Warren. introduced his original
Wright Memorial Bill in Congress
on Dec. II, 1927, Senator Bingham
! introduced a similar bill. i'm the
Senate. Both Senator Bingham
and Congressman Warren were
working independently of each other,
neither knowing what was in the
mind of the other.
| The two bills were consolidated
/ and became the Warren Bingham
, or Bingham Warren Bill. Senator
Bingham is an authority on aero
nautics and himself a flyer, he has
a colossal fund of personal pride and
he has all along regarded himself
as the real daddy of the Wright
Memorial. t
Senator Bingham is also a great
traveller. Somewhere in his travels
he saw a little Greek temple that
made an impression on him. He
has nursed an idea of having a
Greek temple on top of Kill Devil
Hill as a fitting memorial to the
Wright brothers. He doesn't care
what the cabinet commission thinks,
what the Fine Arts Commission
thinks, or what the jury Of award
thinks. 1t matters not to him that
Hoover himself was first to suggest
a tower and light for Kill Devil Hill.
And so Senator Bingham who is
member of the joint committee
Thursday morning disapproved the
plans. He had Senator NC
Keller of Tennessee and the
Little Fess or Ohio with him, and
the plans that had been approved
by the jury of award, that had been
approved by the National Commits
sion of Fine Arts and approved by
the Secretary of War, the Secretary
of the Navy and the Secretary OF
Commerce were thrown out upon
motion of Senator Bingham.
, The Bingham committee action
may have the effect of delaying con-
struction of the monument. New
plans will be called for at once and
an appropriation of S250,0CO will be
asked for. In the meantime only
the work of anchoring Kill Devil
Hills can proceed. Appropriations
totalling $4,000 are available for
that. after which the work must
halt until the Senator Bingham can
have plans for monument Drawn
to suit his Connecticut fancy.
The design that had been accept
ed by an award jury and two cml-
nent. national commissions called
for a seventy-two foot tower OF rug
ged dimensions on a star shaped
base. The shaft would be illumln-
ed by lights on the five points oil
the star and lights for aviators and
lights for navigators would fash
from the tower itself. 1t was an
imposing and pleasing design, Dut
somewhere in his travels Senator
Bingham saw a Greek temple ard
Senator can have O. .ltlu!@ loy OF
say in Washington.