UNNECESSARY RISK

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 11

UNNECESSARY RISK

ATLANTIC AIR RACE

BAN BY U.S. GOVERNMENT

WASHINGTON, May 17.

The State Department has notified the French Embassy that the Department of Commerce will not permit the Lindbergh commemoration transatlantic air race to take place, on the ground of the risk of needless loss of life.

The Assistant-Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Johnson, said that the Department had not decided on the exact method of preventing the race, but probably would simply refuse to issue permits for the flyers to take off from American soil. -

He added: "We have already granted a permit to Mrs. Amelia Earhart Putnam for a world flight, so we will noi withdraw it, but we would like to. I think she would be more valuable to aviation if she remained in this country instead of taking unnecessary risks."

Officials at Ottawa, when informed of the possibility of the promoters in Paris substituting A a Canadian takeroff, indicated that probably Canada would follow the example of the United States. ' ,

Mrs. Amy Mollison; who is in New York, said she regarded the Commerce Department's^ decision as nar-row-minded. Ehe intends to participate in the r<e, wherever the entrants take off.1- •. .