The Washington times., 1938-11-14
DOOM OF TREES
ON BASIN CALLED
BLOW TO TRADE.
Wave of Civic Protest
Flags Vandalism"
Continued from Page II

Continued from Page II
President the National Capita
Park and Planning Commission
the Fine Arts Commission and tc
tn, Senate and House District
Committees
Protests from members Of the
House and Senate District com
mittees continued to arrive. In
line with opinions expressed by
Senator William H King and Rep,
resentative Ambrose Kennedy
Senator Warren R. Austin r., T
Vermont, wired:
Destruction of the cherry
trees to make a place for the
memorial is not necessary. Other
locations available without such
prolific waste Of an attraction
unique to Washington. "
PROTESTS POUR IN
Representatives Ralph o. Brew
eter r. of Maine, Dan R.
McGehee 3D. of Mississippi and
W. Sterling Cole r. of New York
each sent messages deploring the
proposed destruction.
Lawrence E. williams. first vice
president of the Washington
Board of Trade, voiced the wish
that some solution can be worked
out" and the Rev. DR.. Peter Mar
shall, pastor of the New York
Avenue Presbyterian Church, said
the loss of the trees would be "a
great pity" while DR.. j. LaWrey
Fendrick, pastor of the Metropoli-
tan Presbyterian Church, called
for alteration of the memorial
plans.
Among those protesting the
vandalism" were:
Mrs. Lloyd Biddle, former presi-
dent of the District Federation OF
Women's Clubs and now District
director to the General Federation
Of Women's Clubs, who said:
The cherry trees comprise
one Of the beauty spots OF
America, known to the whole
nation. 1t would be more than
q shame to cut them down.
LoUed Beauty
Besides that, l don't think
jefferson would have wanted to
destroy such beauty to build a
monument to him. He loved
beauty, and wouldn't have
wanted beauty destroyed in his
name"
Mrs. Biddle pointed out that
the loc al federation last year
adopted a resolution condemning
any proposal that would have
m ant cutting down the trees,
and carried the fight to the gen
eral federation convention in
Tulsa, Okla, where a similar reso-
luton was passed.
John A. Remon, vice president
of the Chesapeake and Potomac
Telephone Company, was brief
ana 10 Cne pOmJ:
It's a terrible and unneces-
sary destruction.
H. P. Somerville. manager OF
the Willard Hotel. declared:
With all the available space
in Washington, it certainly
seems that Congress could have
approved a site without destroy
ing the trees. which are such a
great asset to the community"
Loss to Spring
Mrs. John ]. Boyle, civic lead
er, said:
1T certainly is too bad. There
Is too little beauty in the world,
anyway, to have to destroy what
we have. Spring wouldn't be
spring in Washington without
the cherry trees.
Its also too bad that Con-
gresS decided on stone monu-
ment to jefferson that will
stand idle and empty when we
could have carried out Jeffer-
son ldeal OF educaLlOn as a
memorial to him"
R. L. Polio, manager of the
MayfloWer Hotel:
Il think it will be pity II
some method cannot be worked
out to save the japanese cherry
trees. They are an international
sightseeing attraction. We nat
urally want memorials. but the
trees mean so much to the Ma
tional Capital that I do hope
they can be saved
Worse Than Expected
Walter 1. Swanton, a citizens
association official
1T seems to me that the con-
templated action of cutting
down 1923 of the trees means
destruction of many more than
Congress said would be neces-
sary.
Il certainly hope they won't
destroy any, but if they have
to, they should at least try to
reduce the destruction to min
tmum. The cherry trees are a
great asset to Washington"