Evening star., 1952-02-23
| Monument Society
0kays Move 10 SET Up
Visitors Parking LOT

= A proposal to build q special
parking lot for Washington Monu-
rnent visitors yesterday received
the formal approval Of the Wash.
ington National Monument So
ciety.
The ll9-year-old society. which
held Its annual meeting In the
Metropolitan Club, approved the
parking project after hearing O
National Park Service report that
many hundreds" Of visitors "cotn.
plain bitterly" they are unable to
park long enough to ascend the
monument.
The report told the society that
possible development Of shorts
term parking facilities would be
studied soon, and II was under.
stood that n i00scar lot would be
the approximate goal Of the prot.
cot. The society specified In itS
resolution that II such q lot were
built. street parking at the base
OF the monument should be elm
mated TO improve the appearance
OF the area.
Warns OF street Plans.
TN another resolution, the 90
eiety, founded 20 build the M6nus
iileht and now dedicated TO Guafds
Ing I'D welfare, warned against
street ehefeAehmehts near the
shaft. Proposed alteration or eNu
tension OF Fifteenth street, the
seeiety resolved, should observe
engineers Limitations on hew
elese such read building sheuld
come 10 the Monuments feundaa
items, The Monument rests on q
clay stratum which, II disturbed,
might alleW the foundations 10
settle Into the river mud beleW,
Fhe eeeiety demanded that
trucks be prohibited from Nsing
streets close TO the Monument
foundation, since their weight
and vibration might be dangerous
to 1t,
The annual Park Service re-
port on the monument revealed
that $4,000 persons visited the
shaft last year, a record only ex-
ceeded twice before, The total
since the monuments compile
ton In 1883 passed the 26-million
mark last year, The Park Serv-
ice reported the increasing popu-
larity OF special morning and eve
ming visiting hours for school
groups, arranged to avoid over
crowding the monument during
regular daytime hours.
Resignation Accepted.
The society accepted with regret
the resignation from membar-
ship of former Chief Judge D.
Lawrence Groner Of the United
States Court Of Appeals and
named to succeed him his sue
cessor on the appeals bench,
Chief Judge Harold M. Stephens.
Judge Groner is a past vice presi-
dent Of the society.
The following officers were re-
elected for the coming year:
Gen. George c. Marshall, first
vice president; Maj. Gen. U. 8.
Grant III, second vice president;
Arthur E. Demaray, secretary, and
Charles c. Glover, jr., treasurer.
The President Of the United
States is president. ex officio and
the Governors Of the States are
ex officio vice presidents. The
society Is limited to 1S active
members.
Founded in 1893.
The society was founded IN
1889 to raise funds for a fnonu.
fnent to George Washington
after governmental plans for one
became hopelessly involved In
politics. In ie48 Congress save
the society formal authority to
erect the monument, which was
partially completed when the
Civil War halted the work. Con.
gress took over the project In
1879 but the s6eiety has continued
since that time TO watch out for
the monuments welfare and
maintenance,
Members present at yesterdays
meeting were Gen, Grant, who
pFesidedI John o, Flanhery, Mr.,
Clever, Joseph q, Grew, Judge
drener, Samuel n, kAuffmafIi,
Dr., 6loyd n, Marvin, Rear Ads
MlrAl @, n, Train and Charles
Warren, Conrad Werth, recently
appointed director OF the Ma
tl0nal Park service, was q guest
OF tho society At q luncheon fol-
H..