Evening star., 1942-02-15

WClCil uliy ChPAOlClo AAAi6
around the National Geographic
Society looking for a sponsor around
3 pm. the other day. Chances are
they wouldn't have found anybody
home
Someone had pushed a button at
3 o'clock, and in less than three
minutes the 226 employees were
massed in one room in the base
ment of the society's building at
Sixteenth and M streets NV. Not
a soul could have been found in
any of the Offices.
The fact that the push of but
ton could empty dozens of labora-
tories, file rooms, research rooms
and Photographic dark rooms in
that brief space of time without
making the neighbors think there
was stampede is tribute to the
work Of a group of men who have
organized a model air raid pro-
lection service for the society's en-
ployes.
WeIl-PIanned Program.
Probably no building in WASH
ington is better prepared to protect
its occupants from death or injury
in an air raid than the Geographic
Socie Z headquarters. The drills 60
ing on are part of well-planned
program which the society believes
will provide ample protection to its
employees II air raids should start.
Charles Falthoff, an employe in
the shipping department. merely
pushed a button and three long
blasts blared from seven automobile
horns placed at strategic locations
Before the series of three blasts
could be repeated. the first employees
were filing in the safest room in
the building-the cafeteria in the
basement.
While the alarm was being sound
ed again, DR.. Gilbert Grosvenor.
president of the societr. reached
the evacuation room From the
second floor came DR.. George
Hutchinson, secretary of the society,
and from the third floor came
Franklin L. Fisher. the chief of
illustrations; Melville Bell Gros-
venor, DR.. Grosvenor son and an
assistant editor of the society maya
zine, and Assistant Editors Fred
erick Simpich and j. R. Hildebrand
Within about minutes and 40
seconds the offlces were evacuated.
Sand Bags Ready.
Few things have been missed in
making the evacuation room safe
from almost anything but a demo-
lition bomb. The society's defense
chieftains claim the cafeteria is
practically bomb-proof and con-
cussion-proof. Windows on the side
next to an alley have been bricked
on the outside. Doors leading into
the cafeteria have been covered with
monks cloth. and a 16-inch-thick
brick wall, IL feet higher than
the basement windows, has been
built along the entire front of the
building to prevent bomb fragments
from crashing in the windows.
Dozens of big bags full of sand
are ready for instant use in bar
ricading three doorways leading
from the cafeteria to the kitchen,
which will be evacuated in an
emergency because of its large
amount Of window space.
A special room has been con-
structed in another section of the
basement for the defense work
Here are located the mechanism
which will set the automobile warn
ing horns in operation, as we'll as
all sorts Of supplies such as shovels,
pick-axes, hoes. radio equipment,
bottles of distilled water, asbestos
shields and stirrup pumps for fight
ing fires, flashlights. hundreds of
feet of hose and all the other neces-
sary equipment.
Warning Horns Effective.
The warning horns, which are
very effective, are installed at stra-
tegic points-one in the basement,
two each on the second and fourth
floors of the five-story structure
and two in the elevator shaft
Mainsprings of the buildings Or
ganization are a member of the
editorial staff, Leonard c. Roy, the
chief building warden, and Mr.. Fal-
thoff, deputy warden. Their set
up may not jibe in every particular
with that recommended by the
Once of Civilian Defense for build
ings, but 1t will work and that's all
that matters, they say.
Forty wardens have been trained
to supervise the operation. They are
the auxiliary police. auxiliary fire.
men, airplane spoilers, litter-bear-
erS, emergency feeders and almost
everything else. Every one of them
knows where and how to effect a
blackout, cut of the water and gas,
and safeguard the society's i'm
portant papers.
Each secretary, stenographer, file
clerk and typist has small canvas
bag tackled on the side Of her desk.
When an alarm sounds, they quickly
jam all their important documents