Evening star., 1941-08-17
Vof Pionning

ENUMERATING these tasks so rapidly
conveys no hint of the preliminary
planning, the study, training and Co
ordination of information involved in
each division. The citizen takes it for
granted. for instance, that lights are
to be turned off during a blackout.
But when you consider that there are
$4,000 traffic lights and more than
25O, 600 street lights in New York
City - and that it will require up
wards of 25,0O0 persons to turn them
all off at one time - you begin to
understand the crying need for ad-
vance study and organization Already
there have been very commendable
practice blackouts in such cities as
Seattle, Newark, Boston, Los Ange-
les, Houston. Portland, Ore, and
others. And in each case many unan-
ticipated contingencies have been
ironed out BY the time this article
appears in print the State of New
Mexico will have tried a statewide
blackout and emergency call. Such
drills. of course, will follow along
now in rapid succession.
On top of these things comes a
stream of other grave considerations.
Food inspection and the prevention
of water contamination is one. The
housing of air raid defense services is
another The enrolment of the neces-
sary volunteer personnel to supple
ment functional departments of states
and municipalities is third. The ad-
justment of the school problem to
prevailing conditions is a fourth.
Public Health is an enormous field
involving mass inoculations against
epidemic diseases - sanitary provi-
sions for evacuees - the clearing of
existing hospitals and the establish
ment of temporary hospitals. When
the sick were evacuated from London,
new establishments had to be built
for them in outlying territories.
Through this, plus the expedient of
sending many home patients" back
to their families, more than lao, 900
beds were cleared.
A MonvmsnfoI Ptosrom
AL of which boils down to the ur-
gent need for vast organization and
a monumental program of civilian
education and training. New York
City alone will need 10000 volun-
teers for its emergency disaster pro-
gram - not men and women content
to sign an enrolment blank and sit
back in satisfaction, but men and
women willing to sacrifice their time
and some of their pleasures for their
own self-protection, the protection of
their own families and homes.
My message to the peace-loving
people of this country, therefore, is
brief: Prepare while there is still time.
And while some scoff at such "twad-
de - even as they did in Warsaw
and in Brussels and in Paris in 1888 -
we must proceed on the aforemen-
toned doctrine that if we never need
what we learn, we lose nothing; if we
never learn what we need, we lose
everything.
The most important cities on the
Continent fell because of the laxity
and ignorance of their people But
London has lived through a year OF
the most savage siege in history sim
ply because every man, woman and
child was avid for instruction and
training in the proper methods of
combating the invader.
To you who cherish your hard
earned homes, your united family
circles, your lives of free men and
women, | say that we still can and
must profit from the experiences of
others abroad
This is a war on and of the people.
The people, not the armies, suffer
most from it.
The people, not the armies alone,
win it - or lose it