Evening star., 1934-03-16

In connection with possible airmail
repercussions, politicians are thinking
of the thousands of communities all
over the country already on airmail
routes, or which aspire to that dis
tinction. Ever since the mail has
been flown, it's become the ambition
of Main Street" everywhere to be
an airman town. Local chambers Of
commerce and other civic bodies
strive sleepleSsly, in spirit OF local
pride, to put the old home burg on
the airmail map. In innumerable
cases, airports, with the requisite
ground equipment, have been estab-
lished by popular subscription, or
through town funds, as means Of in
ducing the Post Office Department to
designate the communities in question
as airmail spots. II there were to be
any drastic curtailment or protracted
interruption Of the air service, either
for mails or passengers, as a result of
Government action, these hundreds
of widely scattered places would be
directly affected and filled with cor
responding anguish. Airport pay rolls
at many points are an economic factor
of importance, too. Members of Con-
gress are hearing from folks back
home on these scores, and the Demo-
Gratis may discover the results in some
congressional election returns next
November.
Col. Lindbergh, of course, has a
grievance which explains his un-
willingness to join the War Depart
ment aviation board of inquiry. DR..
Orville Wright's claim that illness
prevents his serving is well founded.
Americas pioneer flyer never fully
recovered from an airplane accident
he suffered many years ago. 1t left
him with bad case of sciatica, and
he has not flown since. Periodically
DR.. Wright comes to Washington for
meetings of the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics, but prac-
tically confines his activities in avia-
tion affairs to that duty, living quietly
at his old family home in Dayton and
assembling his memoirs.
\ X y
hooloGdIlG hGGOIIlcy 1cIeIdl FIdilk
j. Wideman, who as head of the tax
division In the Department Of Justice
is in general charge of the drive on
income tax evaders, is q statuesque
young F1oridan. He is Of the phys
ical type which tradition associates
with the early Abraham Lincoln, both
in build and physiogonomy. Mr..
Wideman halls from West Palm
Beach. and once was States attorney
in the Jacksonville area. He has
been longtime political associate of
Ruth Bryan Owen and is one of the
up and coming Democrats of Florida
Educated at Stetson College, in that
State, he took postgraduate work at
the University of Michigan. Though
himself Protestant, Mr.. Wideman Is
a warm friend of Archbishop Curley
Of Baltimore. Twelve or is years
ago, when Mr.. Cummings tax lieu
tenant was taking his examination
for Rhodes scholarship at oxford,
the Catholic prelate, then Bishop OF
St. Augustine, coached Wideman in
Latin, which Archbishop Curley
speaks as fluently as English.
Secretary of State Cordel Hull has
given his cordial Endorsement to the
celebration of Perry day" on March
81, eightieth anniversary of the
treaty with Japan by Commodore
Perry, u. s. N, the famous pact
which opened the island empire to
the commerce Of the globe. The
plan to commemorate Perry day"
originated with the foreign depart
ment of The United States Cham
ber of Commerce.
4 Il 4 4
It has been generally stated and
supposed that President Roosevelt'a