The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 13

i neaters to If City Tax educed Ordinance Would Halve 10 Pet. Levy Cut Is A spokesman for the movie I 1 A fifr't ti ff fmi 1 if if' pic 7Zrz-- If i 7 r( ij I ff -r If ri I wnr yL i1fty 1 4 -t 1 isyHiAA. s- ir 1 i V. against the threatened buildings provided hazardous footing for the firefighters who stretched hoselines through 1 8-block area. in freezing temperature by firemen of 40 companies drawn from the central city and outlying sections.

Ice-coated ladders raised Flames which wrecked two commercial buildings and damaged eight others at 3d and Market sts. yesterday were fought Ice Hampers Firemen Battling 6-Alarm Blaze At 3d and Market Sts. 1 SATURDAY MORNING. JANUARY 29, 1955 13 Economy in Wrong i Hamnered by heavy Ice, which coated their helmets and protective clothing and turned dangerous, slinnerv nerehes. 300 theater industry yesterday said a proposed cut in the city's 10 percent amusement tax, if ap proved by 6ity Council, would be passed on to the public.

Albert E. Sindlinger, a business analyst, told Council's Finance Committee that admission to movie theaters would be reduced to the extent the tax was reduced. He spoke in favor of an ordinance reducing the tax to 5 percent. DECLINE LAID TO TAX Other industry representatives attributed the decline in theater attendance here to the tax and said Philadelphia was the only major city where this trend had con tinued. The proposed reduction would cost the city approximately 500,000 in tax revenue annually.

Deputy Revenue Commissioner Romanus J. Buckley told the com mittee. URGES ELIMINATION Jeremiah Ford, director of Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Pennsylania, urged com plete elimination of the tax. He said intercollegiate athletics op erated at a deficit at the university for the last few years and that it was necessary to tap educational funds to make up the difference. The committee withheld action on the ordinance to give Frank L.

McNamee, president of the Philadelphia Eagles, professional football team, and Robert R. Carpenter, head of the Phillies, an opportunity to be heard. AMENDMENT NEEDED The committee announced that it would be necessary to rewrite a resolution calling on the State Legislature to amend the Sterling Act of 1933 to allow the city to ex tend the one and one-quarter net profits tax to corporations within the city. If approved by the Legislature, the levy would be substituted for the existing 3 mills mercantile tax, although Finance Director Vernon D. Northrop warned the extended net profits tax would produce only $8,000,000 as against annual receipts of $14,500,000 from the mer cantile tax.

INTEREST BILLS OK'd The committee approved bills changing the maturity dates on seven outstanding municipal loans, which, Northrop said, would save the city $6,950,000 in interest charges. The loans total $77,550,000. The committee reserved decision on a bill which would exempt manufacturers with wholly owned subsidiaries within the city from payment of the 3 mills tax. It ap proved an ordinance granting the city authority to borrow $14,150. 000 to finance various public im provements.

Academy of Music Elects Officers Stuart F. Louchheim yesterday was elected president of the board of directors of the Academy of Music, re placing C. Wanton Balis, who re cently resigned to become president of the Philadel phia Orches tra. Orville A. Bullitt was reelected vice president of the Academy of board.

Edgar Scott was S. F. LOUCHHEIM named secretary and Mason was re-elected Harold T. "It is my hope that ways may be found eventually to have the Academy of Music belong to. the citizens of Philadelphia rather than to any private individuals or group," said Louchheim.

Rickover Is Thrifty Machine Cuts Policemen's Pay Checks MORE than 100 policemen were getting ready to holler "cop" yesterday when their pay checks came up lame because of a mistake in the Bureau of Machine Accounting, Mr. and Mrs. Amos J. Taylor, and their daughter, Joan, of 566 Acorn Roxborough, shown on their arrival yesterday at International Air-. port, following two years in Formosa.

Roxborough Family Home From Formosa A Roxborqugh family of three was especially happy to return home "yesterday after spending the last two years in I I 1 School Board Scans Field for Superintendent Appointment of a new superin tendent of Philadelphia public schools is under discussion by the Board of Education, it was dis closed yesterday. The board must act on a candidate for the post since Dr. Louis P. Hoyer, the present" superintendent, has reached the retirement age of 67. Dr.

Hoyer informed' the board he wished to retire at the close of this semester. SEEK AIDE IN RANKS While board members were, re luctant to disclose any plans, It was understood they favored the position from within the ranks of the school system. Thus the board might name one of the 13 associate superintendents to the post. One group on the board was reported favoring the appointment of Allen H. "Wetter, associate superintendent in charge of special assignments and school-community relations.

However, one board member said the national field would hot be overlooked. LOOK OYER FIELD "We want to pick the best qualified man," the board member said. "While we think we can find him in our own system, we are not going to overlook outstanding candidates Action on the appointment is ex. pected sometime in May. Dr.

Hoyer has been superintendent since 1948, He previously -had been an associ ate superintendent from .1943 to 1948, a district superintendent irom i9JiJ to ma, ana a junior high school principal from 1924 to 1935. He started as a teacher in 1907, became an elementary principal in 1915 and a continuation school principal in 1920. Finance Department. Henry Lipmanson, chief of the bureau, said that some 100 checks were sent out with erroneous deductions, some as as $15, charged against the policemen. The error was a mechanical one and will be rectified early next week, he said.

i Joseph P. Whiting, a Fraternal Order of Police official, said the number of policemen who received faulty checks numbered 300. He said one policeman who normally had $2.49 deducted from his check for tax purposes was astounded to find $17.01 had been taken out. Lipmanson asked that the policemen hold their checks and return them. Monday or Tuesday to receive properly processed checks.

Metal Urns at Mall Will Cost Metal urns which will adorn Independence Hall Mall will cost the State $10,989, it was announc ed yesterday when the contract was awarded to William H. Watts Co. Cost of plumbing and drainage for the Mall will be $48,498, according to an announced award to the Araco Heating and Plumbing Co. The State also announced award of a contract for electrical construction to W. V.

Pangborne and Co. at $74,850. Installment Plan Jail Term Is Barred A Bucks county Outlaw was de nied the right yesterday to serve a jail term on the installment plan but was allowed by Judge Edward G. Blester in Bucks County Court to remain Within the law by pay- ii -1 t-J BuiiiJing in City Up 10 Pet. in -54 New construction and remodeling in the city last year rose to $137,508,800, 10 percent above 1953 levels.

Commissioner Walter S. pytko of the Department of Li censes and Inspections said yes terday. This is the highest figure reached since 1926 when the estimated value of such work totaled Building permits issued rose to 10,843, the highest since 1927 when permits totaled 11,004. In 1953, 9264 permits were issued. "The city is still in the building boom which began following the Second World War," Deputy Commissioner John J.

Higgins said, "However the higher figures also Indicate that builders are Ing more permit-conscious. This is proved by the fact that while total building increased 14 percent over 1953. the number of nermit annli cations rose 17 percent." In the first division permits rose 831 to 5718; house heaters and con versions rose from 707 to 1748, and one-story dwellings from 867 to 1159. Two-story dwellings and duplex construction dropped, slightly from 1953 figures. Building permits are required for all major alterations including partitioning of rooms and instal- lation of new bathrooms or kit chens, Higgins pointed out.

They are required whether a profes sional builder or the "home handy man" does the work. Fees run $2 per $1000 with a minimum of $3. Firemen Save 4 Gas Victims Coal gas from a disconnected furnace pipe overcame Larry Ma-nigly, 25, and his three children last night in the living room of their home at 1525 S. 30th st. while his wife, Mae, 24, was shopping at a nearDy grocery.

She found them unconscious on her return and ran to the home of a neighbor, who called the fire Department. Two engine companies arrived in a few minutes, along with Rescue Squad No. 3 from 50th st. and Baltimore ave. Members of the squad resuscitated Manigly and the youngsters, Larry, 4, Michael, 2, and Donald, one year old, and took them to Philadelphia General Hospital.

Suspect Seized In Hallway Holdup Willie Smith, 28, of 23d near Cumberland, was. arrested last night on holdup and robbery charges less than half an hour after Sidney Steinberg, 32, of 2538 N. Patton was robbed of $5 in the hallway of a rooming house on 21st st. near Berks. Detective Patrick Kelly said Smith admitted the robbery, and will get a hearing today at 19th and Oxford sts.

The suspect was arrested by Pa trolmen John "Miller and Kenneth Schumann, of the 26th and York sts. station. Steinberg is a collec tor-salesman for the Richie Home Furnishing 2400 German town ave. Direction ing a $200 fine and serving one day in jail. William.

Outlaw, 37, a clerk at the U. S. Steel Morrisville, was charged with driving his automobile after his license had been revoked on five prior occasions. Outlaw said the only way he could get to work from his home when he was on the night shift was via automobile. When he was on the day shift the bus sufficed.

Virus Epidemic Shuts 50 Schools A spreading virus infection yesterday closed 50 suburban schools as absenteeism mounted in the areas of infection. All schools at Bridgeport, near Norristown, were closed until Tuesday with the possibility of remaining shut two more days if the situation persisted. 25 PCT. OF PUPILS ILL About one-fourth of Bridgeport pupils were ill at home, according to Dr. M.

M. Kohn, borougn medical director. The Bridgeport Ele mentary and the Junior-Senior High School were closed by Kohn. Our Mother of Sorrows, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and. St.

Augustine's Parochial Schools also were closed. Classes in Upper Merlon, Media, Aston township and Eddystone were dismissed Thursday. Basketball games between Upper Merion High School and Darby High, and Audubon High and Woodbury High in New Jersey, which were scheduled for last night, were postponed. The Audu bon-Woodbury girls' basketball game also was postponed. Audubon schools will, close Monday.

RIVERTON SCHOOLS HIT In Riverton, N. schools will close classes from kindergarten to the eighth grade on Monday. Absenteeism was 23 percent in those schools yesterday. Laurel Springs, N. closed its elementary school yesterday when 50 cf the 250 pupils remained home because of illness.

The school will be opened on Tuesday. At Wildwood, N. Wildwood Catholic High School and St. Ann's Parochial School were closed yesterday because of the spreading infection. The schools were scheduled to reopen Monday.

Schools in Cape May also were closed yesterday. They will reopen Monday. Tube Kills Worker At Ritz-Carlton A heavy tube slipped off a pile of debris in the engine room of the old Ritz-Carlton Hotel yesterday and crushed 'a laborer to death. The dead man was Oscar Or ville Jackson, 46, of Akron, em ployed by McCloskey and which is converting the structure at Broad and Walnut sts. into an office buildins for the Pennsyl vania Lumbermen's Mutual Insur- ance Co.

a lacework of ladders into firemen yesterday fought a isix-aiarm Diaze ior neany iuur hours along 3d st. north of Market. When Deputy Fire Commissioner George E. Hink ordered 40 fire units to return to their stations at 8 A. the flames had wrecked two business buildings and damaged eight others.

3 ARE INJURED 1 Despite the icy conditions which confronted the firemen during the morning hours of the city's coldest day of the year, only three casualties were treated for minor in juries. Fireman Charles Denning, 43, of 1020 Wake Northeast Village, was overcome by smoke. Fireman Robert Bethel, of Engine Co. 50, Park ave. and Lehigh, suffered a finger cut, and Patrolman George Myers was treated' for a cinder in the eye.

Wrecked in the blaze were the two-story brick building occupied by the Sterling Sportswear at 9 N. 3d where the fire started, and the four-story brick building of S. Segal sweaters and sportswear, which fronts at 249 Market st. SPREADS TO BUILDINGS The flames spread to five other buildings on 3d st. and along Market st.

The occupants who reported the upper floors of their buildings werc damaged were Bodek Rhodes, knitted wear and hosiery 11 N. 3d Rosen Trouser 247 Market J. Spivak curtains and linens, 251 Market David Bransky Sons, sportswear, and E. II. New- hoff, wholesale" druggists, '255-57 Market and Max Barth, hosiery and lingerie, 259 Market st.

Smoke damage was reported by Leonard Feinberg, dresses and blouses, at 7 N. 3d Herman Simon, wholesale underwear and knitwear at 13 N. 3d st. and Lerner Brothers, wholesale hosiery, at 15 N. 3d st.

Man Is Killed As Truck Upsets? James Mercer, 30, of 1129 Dia mond was killed and Roland Commodore, 27, of the same ad dress, suffered a possible fracture of the right hip when a truck overturned on Crescent blvd, Pennsauken township, N. yes terday. Pennsauken township police reported the truck cut across the front of a car driven by Katherine Pritchett, of Warrington East Riverton, N. leaped a ditch and turned) over. Mercer was pronounced dead at Cooper Hospital, Camden, where Commodore, the driver, was reported in fair condition.

Dickinson College To Set GM Grant Dickinson College is one of the 12 institutions of higher learning In Pennsylvania which will be the re cipients of scholarships and other distributions under the recently announced plan of General Motors Corp. Throughout the country 306 col leges and universities were named. Those in Pennsylvania, in addition to Dickinson, are Bucknell, Car negie Institute of Technology, Drexel Institute of Technology, Duquesne, Lafayette, Lehigh, Tern pie. University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Villanova and Penn sylvania State University. Lits ArdV Promoted The promotion of Ira Low as art and advertising director was announced yesterday by Max Robb, president of Lit Brothers.

Low, who was store art director, will work with Joseph Sarisohn, advertising manager, under the supervision of Jerome Green, sales promotion manager. Green recently was named assistant vice president. i yi i For Atom-Sub Efforts Rear Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, prime mover in the construction of the atomic-powered submarine Nautilus, which war-threatened Formosa.

More than a score of anxious relatives were on hand at International Airport to. greet Amos J. Taylor, 34, of 566 Acorn his wife, 29, and their 7-year-old daughter, Joan, when the large TWA Constellation landed at 11 A. M. Taylor, a graduate, from Rox borough High School In 1939, served as a civilian consultant for the Navy Department to the Na tionalist Chinese Government in Formosa.

He was an instructor in photography Taylor said everything had been normal ana quiet uec. wnen they left the island. In discussing the prospects of war, he said ne thought the main island of Tor mosa could be defended. "It's any body's guess about the smaller is lands." he said. Taylor did photographic work for the Veterans Administration here before his overseas assignment.

A veteran of the Second World War, he was among the first to land in Normandy with the famed 101st Airborne (paratroopers) Division. He said, he would remain here for several weeks and then report to the Navy Department in Wash ington for further assignment. yesterday received the annual Rear Adm. Hyman Rickover receives Drexel Institute's Science and Engineering Award from Frank Brown, a student representative. ed influence factor in future Federal and State legislation.

McClellan, who traveled more than 100,000 miles about the United States in his recent role of president of the NAM, said the future of America's economy would be conditioned by the degree of un- derstanding accomplished at home and in our international relations. Honored I i i ii ailfcfc Viii ii in-n)ir rn in i Dr; Bernard J. Simmons points to wire running from traffic light into office of Magistrate Thomas E. Costello at '13th and Arch stsCity investi- gated. ended only eld Keystone telephone Wrong Number Wire Sparks Officialdom A wire running from the top of traffic light into 'an' office on the second floor of a building at' 13th and Arch sts.

aroused so much curiosity that city author' lties yesterday made a full-scale Investigation. One report wasx that the wire, which terminated in the office of Magistrate Thomas E. Costello, was a direct telephone connection with City Hall Another was that the wire was connected to a private electrical meter of Dr. Ber nard J. Simmons and that Dr.

Simmons was paying for opera tion of the'traffic siknal. Dr. Simmons, who owns the building, got to wondering about the wire; It intrigued him so that he asked Costello about it. Costello, however, could not solve the mystery, riDT both Costello and Dr. Sim JD mons knew that tne wire had crevented complete closing or a window frame for the last seven or eight years.

Fmally. Dr. Simmons wrote a letter to Henry D. Harral, Commissioner of Streets. In it he mildly complained about the wire.

The letter went through official channels to Stephen E. Butterfield, city traffic engineer. Butterfield personally visited the scene. He traced the wire from Costello's office to the traffic light and finally to city conduits. It was an old Keystone system telephone Wire, which did not connect with any electric, transmission systems or to Dr.

Simmons' meter. The mystery was ended. Butterfield -explained, that the city, through the Electrical Bureau, still uses the Keystone system for Interdepartmental communications. He also said that similar setups could be found in ether parts of the city. completed sea trials this week, Science and Engineering Award of Drexel Institute of Tech-1, nology's Federation of student Engineering Societies.

Tne award was conferred during the annual Engineers' Day conference, at which James B. Carey, CIO national secretary-treasurer and head of the International Union of Electrical Workers (CIO), and Harold C. McClellan, board chairman, National Association of Manufacturers, were principal speakers. DIRECTED NAUTILUS DIVE Later in the day, in Pittsburgh, Adm. Rickover disclosed he had directed one of the dives of the Nautilus during the tests.

"I've never told this," he said, "but I dived the Nautilus. I'm qualified, you know. I commanded the S-9 and S-48. We dived the Nautilus about 50 times, but I only dived it once." HONORED AT LUNCHEON Frank Brown, of 706 Aubrey Ardmore, federation chairman and a metallurgical engineering senior, presented the award at a luncheon in the office of Drexel's president, Dr. James Creese.

Previous winners of the award include Brig. Gen. David Sarnoff, chairman of the board of RCA, who received it in 1953, and John Mc-Shain, Philadelphia builder of the Pentagon, the Jefferson Memorial and other national monuments and buildings, the 1954 recipient. Carey, a Drexel alumnus, pre dicted at the conference's morning session that organic unity of the CIO and AFL is inevitable pos sibly even this year and that a united American labor movement would constitute an unprecedent- Adolph Lampe bids farewell to a friend, Dusty, as Post Office ends midcify parcel post delivery by horse-drawn wagons. Lampe had driven one of wagons since 1920.

Replaced by trucks, Dusty and other equine veterans were put to pasture. ri.