Gas Fight

Secretary of Commerce Robert Patterson Lamont last week sent a telegram to Senator Thomas Terry Connally of Texas assuring him that the Government would obtain its dirigible helium only from its own plants at Amarillo, Tex.

This telegram agitated President Walter H. Girdler of the Helium Co., Louisville, Ky. In all the world he is the only private producer of commercial quantities of helium. The U. S. Government is his only competitor. The Government is also his major customer. Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. buys some Girdler helium now for its blimps. Other minor helium uses are for incandescent lamps, food preservation, metallurgy, deep sea diving. The Government's buying surpasses all these.

Normally Mr. Girdler is an even-tempered gentleman. But what he considers injustice "raises his dander." Forthwith he last week fired a fusillade of protesting telegrams. Most significant were the brace which went to Kentucky's Senator Alben William Barkley and Representative Maurice Hudson Thatcher urging them instantly to remind President Hoover and Secretary Lamont of the Hoover opposition against Government competition with private business, to appeal for continued Government purchase and support of private helium.

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