Evening star., 1934-03-07

earned after the Watres bill had
passed the House and the Senate
Committee.
Without its enactment, Henderson
explained, an airmail route certificate
OF a United Aircraft subsidiary would
have expired.
Asked to Expedite Bill.
Henderson told the committee that
when he became concerned" about
prospects Of the bill in the Senate, he
recalled that Fess had been par
liamentarian Of the House of Repre-
sentatives and sought him out.
Il asked him as a lawyer If he
would undertake to expedite the pas
sage of this BILL" Henderson said.
He did and paid him a fee for
it. Then he returned to Toledo
Did the bin pass while he was
here?" Chairman Black asked.
Henderson replied that II did.
Shortly before the investigators were
told that air operators, before the
passage Of the Watres act, called on
former President Hoover to present
come back after learning more about
the act.
Told to Come Back.
Henderson said he and c. M. Keyes,
then chairman of Transcontinental
Air Transport, saw Mr. Hoover to pro-
test against anything unusual being
done to help passenger air lines with
out mail contracts.
Mr.. Hoover interrupted them, he
said, to ask that they familiarize
themselves with the subject and come
back.
After talking it over, he and Keyes
decided not to return to the White
House, Henderson said
Keyes, he said, changed his mind
about "the plan"
What plan?"
Henderson explained he meant a
plan to enact legislation authorizing
airnail contract awards without COM
petitive bidding-'just as mail is put
On the trains"
"N0 Thought Of Competition"
SUI QCS(ll lDCO Liz
cussed 1850 airmail conference as
having appeared highly improper,
even to assembled aviation men. He
told the committee the purpose of the
meeting, as outlined by Postmaster
General Brown, was hard to take Sc
riously.
The whole nature Of the proposal
he said had no thought in it of COM
petitive bidding"
Il couldn't fail to understand that"
he added later in reply to a question
by Chairman Black.
Henderson said he told Chester W.
Cathell. aviation attorney at the
meeting, that he considered the ses-
sion so improper it should be ad-
journed.
Testifies He Protested.
Held anywhere except at the Post
Once Department. Henderson said he
expressed himself, it would have been
illegal.
Henderson testified he protested to
William p MacCracken. chairman of
the meeting. that the Watres bill did
not contemplate the purposes of the
meeting and received the reply:
You're crazy as hell"
The discussion of contract awards
seemed so far-fetched, Henderson
said, that he applied for several lines
'facetiously"
Henderson said his idea of route
extensions had been that they were
like the tail OF dog and shouldn't
be longer than the dog"
Proposals offered at the Washing
ton meeting, he testified, didn't fit
this definition
Agreement Near on Bill.
Agreement on terms of the airmail
legislation under which the service
now being flown by the Army Air
Corps will be restored to private air
transport operators may be reached
within the next few days between the
Post ONCE Department and members
of the House Committee on Post
Ofiices and Post Roads.
A series of conferences between
members Of the committee and the
department, 1t was learned today. has
brought about tentative agreement
on some of the major points at issue.
The Post Office Department, it was
said unofficially. is prepared to accept
the poundage rates Of 2 mills per
pound, with a maximum limit OF so
cents per mile. provided in the Kelly
bill. The department is not willing.
however, it is understood, to accept
the House proposal that competition
be eliminated and that mail be as
signed by the Postmaster General at
q fiat rate to airlines equipped to
carry it. Instead, it is understood,
the department wants legislation
authorizing competitive bidding for
route warrants, with maximum pay
fixed at 2 mills PER pound and so
cents per mile.
Flew Washington Routes.
While the Post once Department
and Congress were hard at work on
the provisions of the new airmail
set-up the War Department an
nounced today that six commercial
airmail pilots who hold Army Air
Corps Reserve commissions have been
called to active duty and assigned to
fly airmail on the same routes over
which they formerly carried mail for
private companies.
Two of the officers called into the
service formerly few and will con-
tinue to fly for the Army routes out
of Washington. They are First Lieut..
S. Dawson Of Richmond, Va,
former Eastern Air Transport pilot,
who has been ordered to Boiling Field
for duty, flying the mail on the At
lantic coastal run, and First Lieut..
Murl Estes Of Berea, Ohio. Pennsyl-
vania Airlines pilot. who will go back
into service ON the Washington-Cleve-
land run.