The Washington times., 1936-09-28
AUDITORIUM
SUPPORT IS
PRAISED
To the Editor of the washington

To the Editor Of the Washington
Times:
Please accept the hearty thanks
Of all the hotels in Washington
for your recent editorial about the
lack Of appropriate convention
and banquet facilities in the Ma
tons Capital.
The Importance of our city ma
ttonally and internationally; the
magnificence of our architectural
masterpieces; the dignity of our
country's Shrines here; the beauty
Of our parks and boulevards: all
these receive deserved tribute
from the visitors to our city.
A consistent high thought has
moved through all the plans for
the city'S completeness; that all
that is done shall have the ap.
proVal of the individual visitor.
The desire for this separate ap-
proval is laudable and the So
journer here experiences an en-
chantment peculiarly memorable.
Best for All
No civic consideration though
has at any time been given to the
comfort and pleasure of large
groups of individuals meeting at
one time and necessarily in one
place. At this point our national
and local responsibility breaks
down. In every particular except
ing for the missing auditorium
the city of Washington is a per.
feet convention city.
What explanation is there eX.
cepting that no one has suffici-
emily cared?
Should not then the humiliating
recollection of the strange hybrid
banquet of the Third World
Power Conference be sufficient to
cause a determination on the part
Of those officials of our govern.
ment who have responsibility
to us and our civic leaders who
should be concerned, that an
auditorium adequate in every way
will without delay be erected?
Nor is it only for the benefit
of the visitor elsewhere that such
an edifice is needed. The use Of
such an edifice for sports, attract
ing large attendanceS and COM
munity gatherings would bring a
community benefit.
Necessity Stressed
And so we are found wanting in
an important appointment neCeS-
sary for a proper hospitality to
large gatherings, guests of the city,
and to serve them with the dig.
nifty rightfully expected of us.
Call the roll of large gathering
ESSENTIALS and hear the answers:
City Hospitality, here
Transportation, here
Hotels, here
Civic Order and Sanitation, here
A Place to Meet, absent.
washington a city of charm
and dignity, with places of in
terest and national Shrines in
spiringly beautiful; a city that
captivates the imagination of all
who come from other lands.
surely such a city, wherein moth
ing has been spared to demon
strate our love of the beautiful
and to indicate the permanence
and power of our national pur-
poses, should quickly remedy a
situation which compelS our citi-
zens and visitors from other
shores to partake of their food at
a banquet of International scope
and relationship in the concourse
of a railroad station because we
have failed to make proper pro
vision for such an occasion. The
presence of such an auditorium
would not only serve to meet the
need for that. but would result
in creating civic occasions be-
cause the facility for that is
available. Our community shame
is the greater because it is so that
every large city in the United
States has such an edifice.
City Loses Revenue
There is a rightful place in
this message about the loss of
revenue to the cities commercial
interests because we cannot in
vite gatherings to Washington of
a size greater than a certain num-
ber.
The support of our citizens is
asked in such action as may be
taken to the end that a suitable
auditorium be erected without
delay.
Yours very truly,
EDWARD w. MARTIN
President, Hotel Association,
Washington, D. C.
VOTE AMERICAN