Evening star., 1935-01-11
Only District or Congress
Allowed by Rules to Ask
P. W. A. Fund.
$1,000, 900 REQUEST
SEEN SIDETRACKED
District Engineer, Maj. Craw-
ford, Says Office Is Ready to Pro.
ceed With Construction Work.

of an airport for the District on the
Gravelly Point site will have to orig
mate with officials of the District gov
ernment or with Congress, in the
opinion of Army engineers.
1t was indicated today that the
proposed request for a S2,300000 P.
w. A. ALLEGATION for the project has
been sidetracked on its way from the
office of the Army Engineer for the
local district to Maj. Gen. Edward NJ
Markham, chief of Engineers. and
that no request for the loan will be
originated by any Of the branches of
the Engineer Corps.
Although 1t was announced last
month that a request for the loan had
been forwarded by the District En-
sineer office to Gen. Markham for
transmittal to the Public Works Ad-
ministrator, it was said today that
the request has not reached Gen.
Markham.
Restricted by Rules.
There were no official statements
as to what happened to the request.
but it was indicated that it was
turned back to the local Engineer
Office before reaching Gen. Markham
because Of regulations and custom
which dictate that requests for civil
projects of this character may not be
originated by Army Engineers.
1T is believed" said Maj. Robert
w. Crawford, district engineer for the
War Department in the local area,
that request for P. w. A. loan
for development Of Gravelly Point
will have to originate with the Dis
trict Commissioners or some other
civil agency. We have no authority
to make such a request"
Maj. Crawford said his ONCE Is
ready to proceed with filling and con-
struction work at Gravelly Point when
ever 1t may be ordered, and that filling
of the site will go forward in the nor
NAL course Of clearing the George
town chanel for navigation.
"Gravelly Point is our next dump
ing area" Maj. Crawford said. "As
soon as the regular channel clearing
operations are resumed the dredgines
will be dumped at Gravelly Point"
The request for a s2.300,000 loan,
which had been prepared in the local
engineer Office, was based upon esti-
mates Of the Army Engineers for COM
plete development of a 266-acre air
port of the most modern type, and
included all dredging. filling. prepa-
ration OF the site and construction
of buildings and equipment.
Hope for Action Gains.
Although hope for a P. w. A. loan
has been diminished by the side
tracking of the Army request. there
was increasing hope on the part of
Gravelly Point advocates that Con-
gress might act favorably on the mat
ter, in view of the recent expression
Of interest of President Roosevelt
in the site.
Senator Ernest w. Gibson of Ver-
mont yesterday afternoon introduced
in the Senate his bill of last year pro-
viding for construction of a model
airport at Gravelly Point. Except
for few clarifying amendments. the
bill is the same as that introduced
during the last session of Congress.
The Gibson bill, referred today to
the Senate District Committee, pro-
videS for creation of a District of
Columbia Airport Commission. to con-
sist Of the Engineer Commissioner, the
director of national parks, and the
District Army engineer. with authority
to establish and maintain a public
airport on the Gravelly Point site.
The commission is authorized to re-
claim the site and to acquire such
additional private lands as may be
necessary. The airport is to be free
and open to the public generally.
Pending completion of Gravelly
Point Airport the commission is en-
powered to assist the private owners
OF Washington Airport to enlarge and
improve the present air terminal by
closing Military road and leasing to
the airport management so acres of
the Arlington Experimental Farm
ground to provide for the needs of
the District pending completion of
the new permanent airport.
The bill puts limit of $2,5OO. 900
on the cost of the Gravelly Point
project, half of which is to be paid
by the District government in five
equal yearly installments commence
ing 10 years after completion of the
airport, the original cost being met
by the Federal Government.
House Bill Similar.
A similar bill was introduced in the
House today by Representative Smith,
Democrat, of Virginia. His measure
provides for the development at
Gravelly Point for 100000 field.
the cost of which would be shared
equally by the Federal and District
governments.
The bill also provides for financing
the project over 4-year period with
annual appropriations of $500,000.
Technical objections to location of
the airport so close to Boiling Field
and the Naval Air Station caused
Smith to write into the bill a provis-
ion requiring the superintendent Of
the proposed Gravelly Point airport to
cooperate with Army and Navy avi-
alton authorities in drawing up reg
ulations for a safe operation of air.
craft in that vicinity.
Smiths bill would place Jurisdiction
of the Gravelly Point Airport under
the superintendent of National Capt.
tai Parks.
His measure is the third introduced
in the House at the current session
to provide an airport for Washington.
On the first day of the new Congress
Representative McSwain, Democrat,
Of South Carolina, reintroduced his
measure for acquisition Of the Wash