Evening star., 1942-08-30

to that.
al Capital Committee appears to be
S existence In fact, it Is making its
presence felt in so many directions
and with such good results-that 1t
is being referred to in many quar-
ters as the city's mo. l trouble
shooter
Rooms Were Plentiful.
Russell Schneider. the youthful
manager of the committee, and the
other employees of the organizati ton
find 1T hard to remember when
Washington was quiet, small
townlike Capital playing host to
100000 tourists and 100000 con-
vention delegates yearly; when hotel
rooms, houses and apartments we're
plentiful and when the most excit-
ing civic activities were presidential
lnaugurations, cherry blossom fes-
tivals, Halloween parades and other
special occasions. In those DAYS it
was no trick to find ample space for
huge conventions and masses of
CourlSts-in fact, the committees
greatest concern was meeting the
competition of other cities for the
lucrative tourist trade.
In 1910, the year after war broke
out, record number of conventions
ana visitors came to Washington
Inere were 2l3 conventions and
oooo,oo0 tourists. But in 1941 the
government asked that conventions
oe Kept out of Washington because
OF the war effort, and the tire and
gasoline shortage, plus the lack of
sunclent housing accommodations.
TOOK care of the tourist.
Ihen 1t was that the COMMITTEES
expanding the scope of it's activity
Degan finding jobs that needed tn he
zone quickly. When new Federal
workers started streaming into
washington by the thousands rooms
ana family dwellings-apartments
ana nouses-began to get scarce and
a central housing registry was
heeoed to take care of them.
Registry Set Up.
Inc committee, in cooperation
with otner civic groups, established
sucn registry. Evidence of the
important service provided bv the
registry is shown by the fart that
the Federal Government later tool
over Its operation, giving it new
quarters in the United States In
formation Center. The payroll of
tne registry will run about $3.50 ooo
annually. '''oo'
sometime later the committee d..
cloed That 1t could make every hotel
room In the city do full duty hv
proVlolng a central place where any
traveier could learn where he could
una a room In hotel or tourist
nome without spending time and
money chasing from one to another
so the Hotel Clearing House was
established and since January
Wnen Congress returned, thousands,
OF automobile dealers. manufas.
turers OF all kinds, transportation
men and others have been accom-
modated. The exact number OF SUCH
Individual services Is somewhere
around $4,000.
Wnen new ublications-mans3
guloe books and the like-appear on
neWsstands and in book stores
cnances are that the GNCC had .
nand IN their preparation. Recently
the committee aided the Civil Serv-
ICE commission in the preparation
ol a little pamphlet, Tips to New
comers, which listed pertinent dos
ana don'ts for the benefit of new
employees being brought to Washing
| ton.
Aided Diplomat.
Months ago, when the U. s s
west Point brought home the first
OF our foreign diplomatic represen-
tatlVes the GNCC had a represents
atlVe in New York to make ar
rangements for their temporary
housing in Washington.
A list of the wartime civic iohs
now being done by the committee
reads something like this: Financing
and running the Hotel Clearing
House-something incidentally that
mas never been tried in any other
city before, as far as the committee
KNOWS; cooperating with the De-
tense Housing Registry, arranging
accommodations for groups of Cow
ernment off1cials, combating mis-
leading information about living and
working conditions here, publishing
the Capital Calendar, monthly
announcement of events in WASH
lngton; compiling lists of recrea.
tlonaI facilities, collaborating on
CIVIC functions and cooperating
with a long list of Government
agencies when civic services are
needed. The committee gets MANY
requests from the War Production
Board. Office of Price Administra-
tion,. Office of Defense Transporta-
tlon, State and Commerce Depart
ments, Pan-American Union. War
and Navy Departments and many
others.
While handling these problems
the committee maintains close con-
tact with trade, professional. reli.
glous and fraternsl groups, keeping
Its files of some 5000 such organiza.
lions up to date. When the war ends
the committee believes that a revival
OF convention solicitation and tour
ist promotion will be the quickest
road to business recovery after the
vast army OF war workers are re-.