Evening star., 1945-11-01
Stadium
(Continued From First Paqe.)

Congress over establishment of
permanent Fair Employment Prac-
tice Committee,
Senator Bilbo had pointed out
that the stadium is TO be memorial
to the veterans of both World Wars,
and Senator Chavez, Democrat, OF
New Mexico interrupted to ask the
MissisSippian if he did not believe
passage of laws to protect the basic
rights of the veterans as American
citizens would not be a more SUBJ
stantial memorial than stadium.
Il could very well say yes to the
Senator from New Mexico, but the
FEPC would not accomplish what
the gentleman expects from it, !"
Senator Bilbo replied. 1T would do
the soldiers more harm than good. :"
The discussion was brought to a
close when Senator George, Demo-
crat, of Georgia, who had the floor,
expressed a desire to 60 ahead with
the tax-reduction bill.
The stadium report bore the approx
al, in addition to that of Chairman
Bilbo, of Senator Mead, Democrat,
of New York; Representative Ran
dolph, Democrat, of West Virginia,
the associate chairman of the COM
mission; Representatives Lanham,
Democrat, of Texas, and Simpson,
Republican, of Illinois; Commis-
sioner John Russell Young; Floyd D.
Akers, chairman of the Board of
Trades Stadium Committee, and
John A. Reilly, Washington banker.
Neither the exact size nor cost Of
the stadium was stated in the
progress report, since these may de-
pend on findings in the proposed
technical studies, but new light was
thrown on the financial plan to
make the project self -hquidating.
This section, submitted by finan-
cial subcommittee headed by Mr..
Reilly, suggests there are many
sources of potential revenue" in the
plans and declares the project should
be privately financed.
Proposed Lien for Lenders.
| The report proposes that financial
lenders be given the protection of a
| lien on the stadium to secure long
term bonds that may be issued and
urges that the project be exempted
from all Federal and local taxation
for variety of reasons. "
The commission recommends tht
District-owned area at the foot o.
East Capitol street. in Anacostis
Park near the Armory, as! the bes
site. In this the commission fol.
lowed the best thought and expert
advice" of the Board of Trade, the
Park and Planning Commission, the
National Capital Parks once ano
| the District Commissioners.
| The commission suggests that q
stadium be built "of ample size tt
accommodate the largest national
events now to be held, or likely tc
be held" which are adaptable tc
a stadium.
Present thinking of the commits
sion members is along the line of a
maximum stadium capacity of no.
600 persons-all of whom would be
near enough to see and hear what
was going on. The number of per-
manent seats might be no more than
$50 900, depending on whether most
seats were made wide enough to
have chair arms.
Another recommendation was that
the stadium be covered with a roof
to make it an "all-weather" struc-
ture. Others were that it include a
sports hall of fame, rooms for vet
erans' organizations and their auxil-
iaries, archives for records and re-
wards for youth fitness programs
and space for housing of exhibits OF
national interest.
Provides Parking.
| These are in keeping with sketches
drawn by Walter w. Cook of the
Dallas (TexJ firm of Pettigrew
Cook & Associates, architects anc
engineers, commission advisers.
The report also calls not only fol
adequate auto parking and railroad
connections, but for a landing STRIP
for privately owned airplanes.
Explains Tax Exemption.
Tax exemption for the stadium
was proposed by the commission fol
these reasons: To encourage pri-