Evening star., 1936-02-28
CONFEREES AGREE
To LET A BOARD
PICK AIRPORT SITE
Present Field Closed to
Transport Operations Be-
cause of Heavy Mire.
BY J. S. EDGERTON.

,.
A seven-month deadlock over loca
airport legislation appeared to hav.
been broken today when Senate ant
House conferees agreed unanimousl!
on new draft of bill to create {
commission of nine members to selec
a permanent airport site.
While the conferees were meeting
Washington Airport. knee keep il
mire, again was closed % air transpor
operations and all through airlin,
schedules transferred to Boiling Field
The christening of new Eastern
Airlines ship for service between
Washington and New Orleans. sched.
uled for $3.50 o'clock this afternoon
also had to be transferred to the Army
field.
The new bill approved today will
contain authorization for an appro-
priation of 100000, of which $4,000
may be used for the employment oi
experts to aid the commission in Sc
lecting a site, and $4,000 for taking
up options or making preliminary
purchases of land on the site selected.
Freedom in Selection.
The commission is free to make its
choice Of site in the District, Mary
land or Virginia. Congressional ap-
proval must be given, however, before
construction begins.
The House conferees yielded to the
Senate on the question of commission
membership. It was the insistence
of the House conferees on the naming
of members, who according to Senate
conferees were stacked" in favor OF
Washington Airport, which resulted
in the long deadlock. The Senate
previously had insisted that the
President be given unlimited dis
cretion in the choice of commission
members.
The new bill will provide that OF
the nine members of the commission,
three shall be members of the Senate,
to be named by the Vice President;
three members of the House to be
named by the Speaker and three mem
bers to be appointed by the President
without restriction.
Announcement of the conference
action was made jointly by Senator
King, Democrat, of Utah, chairman OF
the Senate District Committee, and
Norton, Democrat. OF
New Jersey, chairman of the House
District Committee.
DirkSen to Draft New Bill.
They said the first action on the
measure will be left to the House.
Dirksen of Illinois, one
of the conferees, was appointed to
draft the new bill, which will be sub
mitted to the Senate and House con-
ferees tomorrow or Monday for ap-
proval.
One of the most important points
to be settled by the new commission
will be that Of jurisdiction over the
new airport, it was explained by Mrs.
Norton.
"The commission will have to decide
this is to be q national air
port, constructed and maintained by
he Federal Government, or whether
he District will have share in the
expenses" Mrs. Norton said.
She said no mention had been made
N the conference meeting today of
he source of the proposed 100000
appropriation. This is a detail which
remains to be worked out before the
new bill is brought up on the floor,
she said.
Other conferees attending today's
meeting were Senators Tydings and
Austin and Representative Palmisano
of Maryland.
Eastern Airlines was forced to
abandon operations at Washington
Airport late yesterday after one of
It's 14-passenger airliners had begged
Town in the mud. The passengers
we're transferred by taxicab to Boiling
Field, where they were to have been
picked up and flown South. Even
when empty, however, the airliner
vas unable to take Oh from WASH
ngton Airport and the flight was
,anceled
ALI operations between Washington
Ind New York were Cancelled today
" Eastern Airlines and Boiling Field
vas used as the local stopping point
or airline travel between New York
Ind Miami and New York and New
Orleans.
Central Airlines, operating between
and Detroit, and Ameri-
an Airlines, operating to California
md Chicago, also transferred opera
ions to Boiling Field today.