The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1942-05-22
Tropical Lethargy is Dispelled
to Protect Vital american Link
BY ELEANOR McILHENNY
Written for NEA Service

Written fer NEA Service
BALBOA HEIGHTS, Canal
Zone, May 22-Overtime work
has replaced the siesta in this
hot little suburb of the United
States. For thousands Of Amer
lean civilians here the lethargy
and Incidence of the tropics axe
things of the past. In tense
wartime atmosphere they are
working with the Army and
Navy, seeing to it that the Pan
anna Canal continues operation
on a business as-usual basis.
Ever since the attack on Ha,
wall, life in the Canal Zone has
been lived on the alert. The
news of Pearl Harbor found
Zonians swimming, resting, or
basking in the warmth of lot
change of seasons afternoon.
Three hours later everything
was ready for the b, ackout that,
except for few days during the
first week, has enveloped the
Zone every night since Dec. 4.
There was a good deal of
early confusion, but by the mid
die of January the Canal Zone
had learned to live as It prob
ably will have TO until the end
of the war. It's inhabitants
awaken to the roar of the dawn
air patrol going out. They have
taken a new interest IN the
canal that is the center of their
life and livelihood, and "su-
pervise" important ship transits
from behind the fences outside
the lock enclosures like pedes-
TRANS watching an excavation
in an American city.
CHILDREN ARE
AMATEUR STRATEGISTS
Anyone walking Zone street
at 6 o'clock can't miss the eve
ming shortWave news broadcast,
for every radio will be turned
TO it. Many amateur strategists
have maps with markers pinned
to their walls. A 7-year-oId
knows the difference between
light and heavy bombers and
between pursuit and observa-
ton planes. And the 'teen-age
boys would put most plane
spoilers to shame.
If you 60 to a movie at civ
ilian theatre, you will see a
trailer before the performance
instructing you what to do in
case a raid occurs while you
are in the theatre. And after
ward it's early to bed, because
there isn't much else to do.
HEAT MAKES
BLACKOUT TOUGH
The Canal Zone is BACKED
out partially from 6 to II p. m,
and completely from then until
5:45 a. m. You don't hang black
out curtains or blacken the
panes if you have glass Win
dows (most houses here don't
in a country where the year
round temperature is 80 degrees
and the humidity ranges from
70 to SO. So you just go 20 bed,
unless you're working the night
shift in a machine shop, which
is something else new in Zone
life.
No street lights are permitted,
and the few autos abroad have
headlights painted with a dark
maroon lacquer that cuts visi-
bility down to SO feet. Parking
on the streets is prohibited, and
lawns are filled nightly with
cars whose owners have no ga
RACES. The traffic and parking
problems may become less acute
as time goes on, for new tires
are understandable and no re-
treading is being done. But
there is no gasoline rationing IN
the offing, since the canal is a
lane of oil shipment.
If Zonians wish an escape
from these wartime regulations
they may step across the street
from Balboa Heights to Pan
anna City, where lights blaze
everywhere except on theatre
and other advertising signs. But
that is about as far as they can
travel on short notice.
Zone civilians felt the first
pinch in transportation facilities
when the government, late in
December, requisitioned the
two 100000 vessels Of the
Panama Line. This stranded
many employees on leave in the
United States. One engineer,
So days overdue, finally got pas
sage on a ship carrying a full
cargo of dynamite.
There are now more titan 70
commercial planes leaving
weekly for Miami and Browns
vile, Tex, but here, too, prior
tiles have made travel difficult.
Reservations on the Miami