The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-09-29
BY F. H. LscuARDIA
ssor Of the Office Of Civilian
Defense

uetinite Jop 10 do to prepare this
country for any and every emer@
gency. I'''N- !,
Many viii say, What's all the
fuss about2 There's no danger Of
war. and Il we do 60 to war,
there are several thousand miles
Of ocean protecting us. Why all
the excitement"
The answer TO that is that dis
lance is no longer the protection
Il used to be. If it's possible TO
ny a plane from Halifax to Eng
land. it's possible for a plane to
Fly In this direction. and in a very
few hours.
! win concede that there is no
imminent danger of long, sustain
ed and repeated air attacks such
as England has experienced. But
should we enter into a state of
war, there is not only POSSIBLE
ity but likelihood of short, sud-
den surprise attacks. particularly
on our coastal cities and indus
trial centeIs.
Purpose Is Panic b
Such attacks, while not causing
great damage to life, would tend
to confuse the orderly prosecution
OF the war. That would be their
purpose, Unless people are taught
what to expect and what to do
about II, If ten planes, or even
one, were to come over here, it
would Immediately create panic,
demand for afraid shelters,
for more anti-aircraft guns, and
fer the use of all our forces, par
ticularly the air force, to protect
the civil population. The crea-
ton of such a demand would
divert our industries from the
planned production of offensive
war weapons
The technique of war has
changed. AL customs and rules
and laws heretofore known no
longer hold good. Today, there is
no such thing as a first line
trench. War is no longer local
lied. Civilian populations, nom
combatants, no longer enjoy the
comparative safety Of other wars,
Any city or an entire country is
exposed to the danger of enemy
fire. New weapons of war and
new means of transportation have
brought the civilians of a country
into the first line trench along
with the army and navy
To meet this new technique of
waging war, we must acquire a
new technique of defense "A new
branch of defense must be built
up--Civilian Defense For this
purpose, the President, pursuant
to the authority given him by
Congress, has established the Of
flee of Civilian Defense The
purpose of that Office is to pre-
pare for the training Of the civil
ian population, training just as
essential as that Of our armed
forces.
BIG Job For All
You and /, every single one Of
us, are officers in this new army
which we are now recruiting, |
and we have big job to do.
A primary part of that job is,
of course, the organizing Of per-
sonnet, volunteer forces which /
will be trained as air raid protec-
ton wafdens, fire fighters, medi-
cal units, and units for relief
work, the care Of children and for
canteen work
But apart from these specific
tasks, there is a larger and all
embracing task which must be Z
tackled in every city, town and
village throughout the country.
We must organize nationwide
campaign of education to avoid
panic Such campaign must be
item No l in the activities Of any
state or local defense council, or
any department of the State or
the city or the community.
Every effort must be used,
every agency utilized to warn the
people against rumors, gossip and
false reports. They must be
taught to rely for information as
to their safety or the possibility
Of danger only upon their own
state or local officials. This fact
cannot be repeated too often; it
must be driven home.
The Fifth Column is a dam
gerous and insidious weapon Of
the new technique Of warfare.
The idea is to create disorder in
the ranks of the civilian popyla-
ton, to impair morale, to foment
panic by using leaders especially !
prepared for the job They were
effectively used in Holland and
Belgium at the time of the in 4
vasion of those countries
The technique of panic was so
skillfully used in Belgium, sol
well timed, it prevented the use
of the highways by the French
army that had planned to move
down over Belgium to meet the
s,,.,ad;no forcae Al n given time.