The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-03-31
WHO'S
NEWS
THIS .
WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON

ny GNOGA . = ANAON
NEW YORK.-When James D.
Ross was appointed by the
President as chief of Bonneville, the
biggest dam in the world, in Octo-
Bonneoillechief Believed sssii IN = so Mas
Soothes Hostile quarters that his
sharpen the dis
agreement between the administra-
ton and the power companies. To
day it appears that Mr.. Ross has
allayed, rather than provoked hos
tilities. The utilities rate him as
reasonable" Bonneville has been
the bette noir of western power de-
velopment. This writer hears there
is now a better chance for two-way
appeasement than at any time in
the past.
Mr.. Ross, for 20 years head Of
the municipal power develop
ment of Seattle, has human
traits which perhaps account for
his expedient rather than doc
trinal trend. No mere doctri-
naire would amuse himself by
Keeping a copper ball in the air
with no visible means of support
just because he loves kilowatts
and likes to see them work.
He was a consulting engineer for
the New York power authority
and the st. Lawrence seaway, con-
su1tant for PWA power development
and later a member of the SEC be-
fore the President made him the
Bonneville boss. AS boy, he rode
his bike from Chatham, Ont, to New
York city, to learn pharmacy. He
got job as an apprentice chem
ist, but pestling seemed piff1ing, so
he hit the long grind back to Chat
ham-but he kept on pedaling. He
headed up through Edmonton to the
Alaska gold-ields, and, when dry
land failed him, he made his own
boat and pushed on. In Seattle,
years later, he helped design the
first municipal power plant.
YOUNG America is naturally en-
vious of Capt. Harold E. Gray,
who will be at the controls when
the Yankee Clipper, huge Pam
Gray Skipped American Air
No Step to Fly takes off for its
AirTL eDi0fh0n flight across the
'-.'s - = Atlantic. It is
now trying few preliminary crow
hops around New York harbor.
~ Captain Gray, it seems, had a
system, in qualifying for this
stellar role in aviation. First
he became a licensed airplane
mechanic; then he qualified as
an aeronautical ! engineer
master mariner and "a radio
technician; after ALL he took
diplomas in metereology, sea-
manship, international law, adj
miralty law and business admin
istrati0n. M
That seems to be about, par for the
lad who would be skipper, on one
OF these new leviathans of the air.
All this, and many years of hazard
GUS flying over the mountain wilder
ness of Mexico and Central America
bring Captain Gray. to, the ripe old
age Of 49,, He left college in his,
second year at the University Of Iowa
and was aloft for the first time at
the age Of 10. His home town is
Gutenberg. Iowa, ,,.,.
~ ssl.,.s4
nv ARREN LEE PERSON, head
Nv Of the Export import bank, an
pears to rate an assist in the Nazi
put-out in Brazil. The big credit
Person Assists trade ways - be be-
LnNazi Put Out tween, the two
lnBruziI Gunae 'eegntries. is
as a goose-egg for the Reich.
The young and energetic Mr.. Pier
son, who became head of the bank
in 1896, toured the Latin-American
countries last summer, and fall and
returned with lot Of sizzling new
IDEAS about hopping up South Amer
lean trade, and resisting the totali-
tartan drive by deploying credit
judiciously where it is needed most
to grease the trade run-around.
When it came to Brazil, he got
eager attention from both the
state department and the admin
istration, as Brazil is an impor-
tant consideration Of naval geog-
raphy as well as trade. Shout
iering far out into the Atlantic,
with the new fascist threat to
the Canary Islands, it would, il
hostile, pinch us in a narrowing
seaway, with Argentina, ON the
whole not so chubby with the
u. S. A., away down under. For
( both strategic and commercial
reasons, Brazil is our entrep0t to
South America, if we keep on
! heiDe neighhOrlv