The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-08-09

eIlC government agencies, W ing rival aviation interests. The Commerce Department and the Maritime Commission are on one side, both supporting the air . plane manufacturers. On the othe: side are the State Depart ment and Pan American Air ways. Nub of the controversy is whether the transatlantic route shall be a monopoly. Also a bone of contention iG a secret agree ment between Pan-Arln and the British-subsidized Imperial Air ways, by which the U. s. firm ob- tained exclusive landing field rights in England.
 The airplane builders vehement ly object to Pan-Am's projected monopoly of the transatlantic business, an1 base their objections on two counts:
 FIRST, that such 8 monopoly
 is seriously detrimental to the
 best interests of national de-
 fense.
 SECOND, that 1t would injure
 their business by confining the
 demand for ying boats to one
 company.
 In so vital national defense sphere as the Atlantic Ocean, the Commerce Departinent-Ma Commission-manufacturer group contends, arrangements for air transport service should not be negotiated by a private company but by the Government, espe- cially as the Government has a big stake in the service through its airmail subsidy.
 On the strictly business end, the manufacturers want conn petition in the service because that would mean more aircraft building.
 Old Feud
 Hard feeling between Pan American and the plane-makers is of long standing.
 They charge that as a result of Pan Americas monopoly of South American and Pacific air routes, the United States lags far behind Great Britain in the number of technical develop ments of flying boats. Imperial Airways has a fleet of 40 new ships under construction, where as American manufacturers are constructing only few.
 Leaders in the inner government attack on Pan American Airways are Colonel J. Monroe Johnson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, and Grover Loening, aviation ad- wiser to Chairman Joe Kennedy of the Maritime Commission. Of the two, Loening particularly Is Q thorn in Pan-Am'S side.
 He knows all about it's buSi- ness because he was director of the company for years. Several months ago, however, he broke with his old associates, resigned from the board and joined the Maritime Commission staff. In this capacity, insiders say, he is wading into Pan-Am with rel- ish.
 One of the things he is doing is preparing report showing the extent of 2an-Am's foreign opera tions and connections. The Mari- time Commission intends to ask Congress to give 1t control over these lines.
 State Department Drag
 The State Department, long friendly to Pan-Am, is going to bat for it again in this contro- versy. R. Walton Moore, State De- partment counselor and its repre- sentative on the interdepartment- al committee handling the trans atlantic air question, has vigorous ly defended the company in the secret deliberations.
 He has opposed the manufac- turers' demand that Pan Amer ican make public its secret agreements with Imperial Air. ways. He also is emphatioally aginst competition by different U. s. lines across the Atlantic.
 What originally happened, ac- cording to Moore's private expla- nation, is that the British at first refused landing privileges to the United States either in Bermuda or Newfoundland. Tn turn the State Department refused Impe- rial Airways landing privileges in the United States.
 Compromise Only Hope
 Finally a compromise was reached, so that one British line end one American line were given mutual privileges. Should this ar. rangement now be upset, Moore claims, the British will cancel the original agreement, deny landing privileges to any American line, relinquish their landing privileges in the United States and switch khatx rAs.ka tA AantraoI