Evening star., 1942-02-13

the street to Nipponese submarine
offering sightseeing trips around
the harbor for two bucks q throw.
AS matter Of fact-and San
Francisco won't like this even
though 1t is a compliment, because
1t considers itself to be a suburb
Of Heaven and not to be mentioned
in the same breath with other COM
munities-this city Is much Ike
Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, New
Orleans, Minneapolis or any other
American town insofar as the war
is concerned.
The citizens have made no change
in their way Of living. They still
sleep, eat, shave, go to the movies,
step on one another's feet in the
trolleys and buses, pack their chill
dren of to school, go to work, fuss
with the dry cleaner for not re-
turning their suits on time, glare at
one another across bridge tables,
and. by large, conduct themselves
exactly as they did before Deem
Der 7.
AS for blackouts, which people
through the country seem to believe
San Francisco has every night,
there hasn't been one in more than
month. They wouldn't have had
that one, or the ones before 1t, or
the occasional "alerts" If the Army
authorities in these parts hadn't
wisely learned from the Pearl Har-
Dor affair and decided to take no
chances.
Unfortunately. science hasn't per-
fected an airplane detector that can
distinguish between a friendly plane
and an enemy one. There isn't a
detector on the market as yet
which announces to the listener in
loud. clear voice that a plane
marked with the Rising Sun insignia
and piloted by an Oriental, Is so
miles of shore and headed inland.
So the Army authorities have SEN
sibly decided to sound the alert"
whenever an unidentified noise is
heard from the air. They figure
there is nothing to lose even If the
"alert" is sounded because the de-
tector picked up high-powered
sea gull diving on a surfacing fish.
The fact that life is normal in
San Francisco is not to be taken to
mean that San Franciscans are
not air conscious. They are. More
so than the citizens of any other
city I have visited since hostilities
started. There Is too nuch war ac-
tivity here, too many uniforms on
the street, for there ever to be any
forgetting.
But they are extremely sensible
In the face of 1t all. While carrying
on as usual, they have not over
looked a single bet in the event that
the city Is attacked. Afraid shell
tiers have been provided for every
one in the city and placards and
arrows guide the way to them. Dis
aster relief stations have been set
up throughout the town. On the
remote chance that there should be
a need for it, evacuation plans have
been completed. There soon will be
a gas mask for every man, woman
and child. There probably isn't a
city Of like size in the country that
Is as well prepared for any even
tuality as San Francisco.
The citizens don't expect to have
to employ these safety devices. They
point out that too many Americans
forget the width of the Pacific
Ocean; forget that Kansas City, for
example, Is closer to Berlin and
Nazi bombers than San Francisco is
to Toxic and the bombs Of Hirohito's
air force. They would like it known
that business as a whole is better
than 1t has been in years, and that
OF 80 national conventions sched-
uleo for the city in 1912, only one
has been cancelled.
This isn't chamber Of commerce
stuff. To find out how this town
felt about it all, I went all over the
place; Fishermens Wharf, North
Beach, Grant Avenue. Mob Hill. Tele-
graph Hill. The Mission. just asking
questions Of all sorts Of San Fran
ciscans. There wasn't fear or nerv-
business in carload Of answers.
To tell the truth, the only ones
around here greatly affected by the
Japanese threat are the tough guys
on Alcatraz. There is a report
around that they are being moved to
other prisons. 1t seems they took
advantage of the blackouts; tried to
make the blackouts pet-ol1ts