Evening star., 1942-03-04
Lands Predicts More
BIackouts, Officials
ldud 10.Hour Test
Inclusion Of Government
Buildings in Practice
Urged by MeCorron
Continued From First Page)


director, last night that future
blackout practices would be helt
here to determine how quickly {
blackout can be effected and hov
successfully normal activities car
be continued under blackout condi
tions.
No Control Over U. S. Buildings.
OF the Federal buildings which
marred the perfect score made by
residents of the Metropolitan Ares
last night, Col. Lemuel Bolles, ex
ecutive of District defense. said to.
day District authorities have "nt
control" over lighting in Fedora
buildings.
The exact duration of the black.
out with noise-making devices ha.
not yet been determined, but i
would mean a much more nearly
total blackout than was effected las
night when traffic was allowed tt
move normally down lighted streets
TRAFFIC would be halted until the
"all clear" was given.
At the same time, Col. Bolles re-
leased a telegram from Col. Angus
tine S. Janeway, acting director OF
the 3rd Corps Area. with head
quarters in Baltimore, requesting
action by local authorities for an
immediate blackout until further
notice OF all lighting which cannot
be extinguished on moment S
notice.
Col. Bolles said he would place
the question before the Commits
siorers for action at the earliest
moment
In his telegram. Col. Janeway
said he had been asked by Dean
Lands to get in touch with State
councils Of defense at once request
ing them to take steps to obtain i'm
mediate blackout until further no.
tice of all lighting which is not
capable of being put out at a mo-
ment's notice" He asked co-opera-
ton in the eXtinguishing of all ad-
vertlSlng signs, store window dis
plays or other uncontrolled light
ing which cannot be eliminated at
once in event of an alarm
No Warrants Sought.
Rejecting the success of last
nights blackout. officials reported
today that no warrants had been
sought for prosecution of fragrant
violators of the blackout regulations.
During his 27-mile tour OF inspec-
ton last night, Defense Co-ordina-
tor Young asked several wardens
whether residents were merely put
ting out lights or had made black
out preparations.
A survey today confirmed war
dens opinions that people actually
had prepared for the blackout, al
though many of them used tenn
porary eXpedients that would not be
satisfactory for continuous black
outs. Only one family checked had
made no preparations and instead
of sitting in the dark, went visiting
nelghbor who was ready with old
Army blankets and dim lights.
Several families found the dim
lights they had used were insufficient
for reading and one family which
had limited its preparations to a
towel over one lamp had quite a
time" preparing medicine for a child
who was taken i'll during the night.
All Of them talked about the more
extensive preparations they would
make next time"
Some Power Loss Seen.
Oficials at the Potomac Electric
Power Co. had not yet been able to
compute the difference between the
amount of electric power used in the
District during last nights all-night
blackout and that which normally
would have been used, to estimate
what portion of the city'S residents
had merely turned out their lights
and passed the evening in the dark.
1t was believed there may have
been some power loss, inaSmuch as
the company'S generating machinery
cannot be accelerated or accelerated
quickly without damage in event of
a change in the power demand. The
company did reduce its output to
degree last night in preparation
for the blackout, officials said but
equipment was kept operating at a
speed to insure sufficient supply of
electricity for any demand.
During the Districts previous 15-
minute test blackout there was a
drop Of approximately $4,000 kilo-
watts in the demand on the power
company for electricity. Officials
would not estimate what percentage
Of normal this represented.
Federal Buildings Exempt.
Federal buildings were exempted
from last nights blackout order,
and the promised efforts to CO.
operate in observing the blackout as
far as possible failed to materialize
In several instances, several OF the
officials on the tour of inspection
noted
Chairman McCarran of the
Senate District Committee, who
made the tour with Defense Co.
ordinator Young and Dean Lands
wanted to know if 1t would not be
the policy Of Federal buildings to
black out.
1t seems to me that they of all
places certainly should be blacked
out he declared. IF the Federal
Government is to remain here dur
ing and after an air raid, those
buildings that stand out prominently
should certainly be blacked out.
They make a wonderful target"
Ablaze With Lights.
Brig. Gen. Albert L. Cox, COM
mander of the Washington Pro-
visional Brigade, who toured the
city for two hours, commented that
in some Federal buildings no effort
had been made to cooperate, and
singled out the Library Of Congress
annex. which, he said, was "ablaze
with lights"
Other officials criticized the ex-
tensive lighting in the temporary
buildings. In some places, lights
from Federal buildings reflected on
the blacked-out windows of neigh
boring private homes and apartment
houses
In session at the District Build
ing following their tours of inspec-
tiO0 which covered not only Wash