The daily worker., 1929-01-05
By MOIssAYE j. oLGIN.

JfCut utut W ttt0feot' H0 SeCOftN
a1astGlIment is published herewith.
This section of the story depicts
the damage to life, mainly to the
life of the aUorkers, that gas at
tack IN the future iptperialist aOar
may conceiuably cause. The story
is no idle flight of imagination,
but a picture of qohat inevitably
must be the result OF scientific
discoveries IN the realm of gas
production.
The first i1,stallmeft of this
story described the 1helplessneSs of
big city aUhose protective meas
ares against a gas attack, such
as radio detectorss locating the
position of enemy planes, haze
been rendered useless By means Of
a,eqv scientific deVice acting from
the distance. The military datho-
rites spread q cloud of smoke over
the city to make 1t invisible from
above. However, at a late hour,
an enemy machine stops IN the
air at q height Of 10000 feet above
the center of the city and sends
torpedoes filled aUith poisoned gas
TO the varioas sections Of the city.
IN the center of the city, in the
towering skysrapers, everything
was ready for the attack. There
was an underground chamber IN
every house, with room enough for
all its residents, in the wealthy sec
tions of the city the chamber had
the appointments of a luxurious
living room-with bright electric
lights, beautiful tapestry on the
walls and soft chairs thrown about
in poetic disarray. The air, as
rule, was good, for the ventilation
was arranged to allow the air TO
come through winding underground
tubes and to sift through special
metal nets which would not allow
the eas to pass through.
At the signal "Gas"-a signal
given rapidly and with precision IN
every story and every hotel room
the inhabitants of the houses or
hotels rushed to elevators which
brought them to the underground
chamber. There was a strained ex-
preston on peoples faces; mothers
hugged their children uneasily, and
at times a comic interiude would
take place when man IN night
clothes, half asleep, would dash
about without knowing his where
abouts. AS a rule, however, the
inhabitants of the well-to-do apart
ment houses experienced no panic:
they knew that everything was pro-
vided for according to the last word
of science, and that there was hard
ly any danger.
Less comfortable was the situation
in private houses even when they
were located in the well-to-do sec
tions of the city. Not every house
had gas-proof chamber. Not every
house-owner was willing to spend
the necessary sum for protective
measures. Here the rule was one
underground chamber for several
neighboring houses. In case of an
alarm it was necessary to run over
the streets to the place of safety,
carrying the little ones and expos
ing ones self. 1t was late fall and
the air was bitingly cold. Running
over unprotected spaces gave the
feeling of utter helplessness.
WORST of all was the protection
F" in the poor sections, especially in
the suburbs where most of the shops
and factories were located and where
a large proletarian population was
concentrated. A police regulation
required the provision of one safety
chamber in every house of five
stories or over, and at least of one
chamber for every block, but the
house-owners interpreted the law as
meaning five stories besides the
basement, and the police were in no
hurry to correct this error. Neither
was there any hurry shown in ar
ranging safety places in every block,
the contention being that sometimes
it was easier to turn a corner and
run into another street than to run
to the end of the same block-and
thus the order remained half sus-
pended in the air.
There was not much comfort in
the factories either: not everywhere
did the owners have either space or
desire to build safety chambers, es-
pecially in far-flung plants where
work was going on in various shops
scattered over a large area. Thus
it happened that the number of VIC
tins Of the gas attack of that right
grew in direct ratio to the distance
from a central area.
The number of victims in the cen
ter was also. incomparably larger
than on previous occasions. The
gas spread with extraordinary rap
idity. 1t had been compressed in
the torpedoes under terrific pres
sure; released, it rushed in every
direction. It did not rise very high,
however, but slowly, from height
of 1,500 feet, it sank to the ground
floating from street to street. So
rapid was the onrush of the gases
that many failed to save themselves
after the alarm had been issued. i
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