Evening star., 1942-02-21
Real Bombings' Seen
for DC. by Murphy,
Lashing at Apathy
BoIIes Suggests Boycott
Of Stores Thut Fail to
Put Out Unneeded Lights

District residents must come to
the realization that Washington will
be bombed, probably within the next
six months, and that the bombings
will not be mere token raids, but the
real thing" said Chief Air-Raid
Warden Clement Murphy yesterday.
Meanwhile, from Civilian Defense
Director Col. Lemuel Bolles came a
suggestion that Washington resi-
dents might boycott stores that re-
fuse to comply with civilian defense
requests to turn out all unnecessary
lights that might guide enemy
bombers.
Col. Bolles, in radio talk, also
voiced concern over the apparent"
apathy on the part OF Washing
tonians. But he said he hoped ito
accomplish results by education and
persuasion. For instance, all pusl-
ness houses have been requested to
eliminate as much display lighting
as possible. Citizens can cooperate
In enforcing this by refusing to
patronize stores that don't comply
with that request"
Evacuation Possibility Seen.
Lashing out at what he termed a
serious lack of interest in the clty's
home front protection organization,
Mr.. Murphy, in blunt and sometimes
bitter words, told gathering OF
some 300 bank and off1ce building
air-raid wardens that Washington
most certainly" will be bombed and
may even have to be evacuated.
And, frankly, I seriously doubt
that we have an adequate defense
organization for any real emer-
rency." he added. Unless there's
lot of awakening on the part OF a
lot Of people, disaster lies ahead.
We've had plenty of time. but we
haven't taken advantage Of 1t.
People don't seem to realize what
will happen, and SO they aren't be-
ing properly trained and organized
to protect themselves and their
property. They've allowed petty
jealousies to hamper the work OF
organizing a real protective organ
ization-this has been one of our
biggest problems"
Sees Class Antagonism.
Many citizens are going to have
to come down a peg or two" Mr..
Murphy said, describing how some
high hats" are refusing to cooper
ate because they found they'd have
to take orders from people they
consider beneath their station"
He said he was more than little
discouraged by the lack of interest
on the part of Washington residents.
Mr.. Murphy suggested that the
bank and office building wardens
form classes Immediately to receive
instruction in combating incendiary
bombs and other necessary services.
Firemen will gladly serve as in
structors.
Rufus S. Lusk, deputy warden in
charge of bank and Office buildings,
told the gathering to complete Or
ganization of their defense setups
and to be ready to stage experiment
tai excavations next week.
Col. Bolles declared it was "inevit-
able" that the Axis would make air
attacks on American cities, since un-
doubtedly they would throw every
resource into an effort to stop the
flow of war materials from America.
Axis Tactics Cited.
He said he was convinced an air
attack would be attempted, not only
for this reason, but because, con-
sidering the character of our en-
emies, the Axis take delight in de-
stroying hospitals, churches and in
notwithstanding women and chill
dren in the streets"
On the question of whether Wash
ingtonS are apathetic to the situ-
alton, Col Bolles said: "Well, some
people won't believe it until bomb
drops into their front yards, but
Washington is unique in another re-
spect. We have thousands of people
here who have come from places all
over the United States.
"Civil service is bringing in more
residents at the rate of about 5000 a
month. These people, for the most
part, have no feeling of home ties to
washington. They just work here.
They are not interested in the pro-
lection of our city.
"Air-raid protection really con-
Germs them, but they don't think so.
They are not only apathetic, but they
innocently constitute menace to
the rest of our citizens"