The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-12-30
San FranCiScO'S Defense Now Huns Before Pearl HarbOr It HO-1ummed
BY ETHEL BOGARDUs
 NEA Service Stan Corespeadent

AtAM aNA wv 2N~lAA M 4AseNatN~AA
 San Fxancisco, Dec. 50 = serene. indifferent to fate
 That was the San Francisco of Robert Louis Stevenson. San Fran ciscos not indifferent any more. Bombs that fell on Hawaii that fateful Sunday, and the air raid sirens that proclaimed enemy air- craft over the city, shattered seren- ity.
 TOday guns bristle along the, coast line. Armed guards patrol the Marina, where fine yachts have been converted from pleasure craft to patrol boats. Every citizen has been shocked Into aleztness. What couldn't happen here" hes hap pened.
 Civilian defense ,resistration which on December 6 stood ct 3, ,020, hit 0,S8e by Monday morning, quickly scared to over 40,00O within a few days. The American Red Gross, whose volunteer headquarters had been pyleaSantly busy for the past few months. was swainped with applicants. Every service mas quad- rupled, and first aid classes are be- ing set up m every corner Of tho city. The British War Relief orRsn- igation has joined forces with tho Red Gross and is adjustlng It's re- Quiregnents to those of United States armed forces. \. TJNEVENTrUL YEARS
 PULLED SAN FI2ANCISCANS
 Startling. even to the people who have always believed that "Safi Francisco Knows How" Is the speed with which the long-discuosed Dis. aster Relief program went Into ef- feet. Until the bombs fell on Ha. wall, ell 1t had met with was com- plete indifference. Disaster was no novelty Co a city that experienced the destruction of i90e But succeed ing uneventful years lulled even the alarmtsts.
 The disaster relief program which was adopted by the San Francisco Board Of Supervisors when hostile ties broke out was first presented In embryo form about i2 years ago. At that time the Red Cross, the Amer- ican Legion, the Commonwealth Club and the Down Town Associa- ton, thought something should real. ly be done about an emergency set- up for the city. All they succeeded In doing was to get written Into the new charter e paragraph giving the mayor wide powers in an emergency. (Those are the powers which Mayor Angelo Rossi has used to good ef- feet since war started).I
 No other action was taken until the fully-workea-out disaster re- lief program was presented to the Supervisor in 1885. The San Fran. cisco News and three or four super. vlsors urged It's adoption. But Mayor Rossi frowned upon 1t, and labor opposed 1t on the grounds It's men might be called out at the whim of Big Business.
 By 1888, the Red Gross thought something ought to Dc done, just in case. It started working over a new disaster relief plan. and in 1889 appealed to the city for co-op- eration. The Supervisors again eyed the plan with apathetic gaze, and dismissed 1t as too remote for pres- ent contemplation.
 "HO.HUNt" ATTITUDE
 PLAGUED THE MAYOR
 Bombs on Hawaii changed their minds. The Parent.T Teacher Asso. ciation which had already lined up chairinen in each school, swiftly completed It's organization. Thomas Larke, who fathered the disaster rec lief plan and now heads 1t for San Francisco Red Gross, summoned his skeleton staff on the day of the Japanese attack on Hawaii. By the next Sunday, the plan was law, and Mir. Larke really went to town.
 A meeting of doctors, nurses, am. bulance drivers, Red Cross leaders and civilian aides, was called. The city was divided into l2 districts Supplies were all ready and were