Evening star., 1935-05-12
AGREEMENT SEEN
IN SHRINE DISPUTE
Controversy on Parade
Stands Will Be Settled,
Director Says.

Prospects for settlement Of the dis
pute over the Shrine parade stands
appeared brighter last night, as Rob-
ert p. Smith, director general Of the
convention, predicted an agreement
would be reached tomorrow. The mat
ter will come before q committee of
Shrine and District officials at the
District Building tomorrow at II am.
Meanwhile, merchants continued to
protest against the Shrine erecting
stands In front of their places of
business. Many merchants, on the
other hand, were understood to have
filed applications to erect private
stands along the north side Of the
avenue for the parades during the
convention, June 9-15.
Stirred by threats Of the Shrine to
take the three glamorous parades and
pageant of Pennsylvania avenue and
put them on the Monument Grounds
and Fifteenth street instead, many
of the merchants have united to ask
that the parades be kept on the historic
avenue. Prospects of changing the
parade ground provoked real de-
mand, Director General Smith said, to
keep the spectacles on Pennsylvania
avenue.
eve would be willing to reduce the
size of our Shrine stands along the
north side of the avenue, or to give in
on certain other points" he explained,
"but we are not willing to allow the
merchants to put up their own
stands" The law forbids issuance OF
permits for such construction by the
merchants.
Possibility Of Change.
"There still is a possibility Of chang
ing the parade to Fifteenth street, but
the whole problem will be threshed
out, and I feel sure we will reach
some kind of an early settlement"
Meantime, it was learned that one
Of the considerations is abandonment
of all Shrine stands on the entire
north side of Pennsylvania avenue.
provided additional space can be al
lowed the Shrine for building equiv
alent stands on the south side of the
avenue, which now is all owned by the
Government, and along Fifteenth
street by the Treasury Department.
This will be one of the things under
adviSement at the meeting tomorrow.
Protests were made by merchants
in the blocks between Sixth and Sew
enth streets, Ninth and Tenth, and
Twelfth and Thirteenth. No stands
had been planned between Eleventh
and Twelfth, Fourteenth and FIJI
teenth streets.
If the merchants fail to concede
stands to the Shrine, it is likely that
removal from Pennsylvania avenue
will be considered, or the Government
will be asked to allow more stands to
be erected on the south side of the
avenue. The new sites for additional
stands would be in front of the old
Post Office Department, in front of
the District Building, along Thirteen
and a Half street, which would be
closed, and on the west side Of Fiji
teenth street beside the Treasury De-
partment, from Treasury place to
Pennsylvania avenue.
Officials to Meet.
District officials who will consider
the matter include William A. Van
Duzer, trafic director; Mai. Ernest
w. Brown, superintendent Of police;
E. Barrett Prettyman, corporation
counsel; Capt. Hugh P. Dram, direc-
tor of inspection, and Capt. H. c..
Whitehurst, director Of highways.
Meanwhile, plans went forward for
entertaining large crowd of visitors
at the imperial Shrine conclave. The
latest new development in plans for
the convention Is for a military night
"air raid It is understood Army
officials are willing to make the DEM
onstration, but definite plans cannot
be made until arrangements are COM
pleted to permit flying below the
present specified attitudes. In case
this cannot be arranged, the raid may
be staged over the Potomac River.
AL branches Of the service are CO.
operating to make the convention a
success. The Army will stage spec
tacular drills, and perhaps a polo
game on Army day. The Marines
are planning to entertain q crowd at
Quantico with a soldier luncheon, the
trip being made by the visitors on the
steamship Potomac. It is probable
that Navy day celebration will be
held at the Navy Yard during the
stay Of the Shriners.