Evening star., 1942-08-31
Afraid Test
SET Tomorrow
At Rush Hour
Troffic in D. G. Area
To Halt From 7::3O
Until 8 AM.

dSllllebOH Will nave lJS nrSL
morning rush hour afraid test
tomorrow, with all activities
ordered halted from 7::30 am.
until 8 am.
The announcement, made this
morning by Col. Lemuel Bolles. ex-
ecutive director of District civilian
defense, affects more than 10000
Government employees due at work
between 7:30 and 8:15 am. and other
thousands of employees of private
Offices.
The traffic jam which is expected
to follow the test will make another
10000 or more workers late to their
desks.
Chiefs of affected Government
departments were given no more
advance notice than the public rnd
Vt vas not expected that there
would be time for them to get out
orders calling their employees to
work ahead of the test hour.
Wouldn't Penalize Workers.
One Government official said he
thought the reasonable thing % do
was make allowances for the tardi-
ness of employees as a means of
avoiding undue hardship" He also
pointed out that executives wouldn't
have enough time in the hours left
before closing today to draft, mime
ograph and distribute acy written
orders to employees.
Roy L. Hunt, head of the Public
Buildings Administration Security
Division, said building wardens
would be notified of the test and
will informally notify the admins
trative heads of their buildings.
A Capital Transit Co. official said
some of the scheduled trips would
be pushed back to earlier hours,
some of them as much as an hour.
The Official however, advised that
those who want to get to work on
time should figure on leaving well
in advance of the test, during which
all traffic will be stopped.
Traffic Rules in Force.
1--WE will try to take care Of this
the best We can," the transit COM
pany spokesman said.
Although some quarters hoped
that orders would be issued allowing
traffic to proceed slowly, Col. Bolles
said definitely that all regulations
covering day or night AFRAID tests
would be in effect. These include
not only stoppage OF traffic. but re-
quire that motorists and pedestrians
get of the street and into shelter.
Asked whether motorists should
stop Immediately if they are on the
bridge entrances to the city, Col.
Bolles said he believed they should
proceed until they left the bridge.
Agencies principally affected by
the half-hour stoppage are Agricul-
ture, Commerce, Interior, Navy and
Labor Departments. In these and
other agencies. approximately $4,000
are due at 7:30; $500 at 7:45; SO, 900
at 8 am. and $4,000 at 8:15 am. In
most cases, even those due at 8:15
a IN. would have to get to work be-
fore 7:30 to be on time, but it was
thought that the agencies would be
generally reasonable about hardness.
All May Not Know of Test.
A spokesman for OCD said the
advance notice had been given to
allow Government agencies and
business houses to make their ar
rangements, but, unless they read
early editions of the afternoon pa
pers, listen to the radio or are in
on the word-of mouth grapevine
which did prove effective when a
surprise test was ordered. they may
not know about tomorrows test until
late this afternoon or tonight.
The test will mobilize the Metro
politan Areas civilian defense
forces. including the hundreds of
daytime wardens recently indicted
into the warden service, who will see
action for the first time. Warden
headquarters said the test fell with
in the hours of the daytime warden
organization, but that members of
the night force are expected to go
on duty, too. if they are still in their
home sections.
The Districts new sub-control
centers will be stated and operating
during the test, for the first time.
Some incidents" have been pre-
pared but it was yet to be decided
whether or not they would be used.
Whole Area Covered.
The test covers the entire Metro
oolitan Area so that work bound en-
ployes in the nearby areas will also
be stopped, If they are on their way
during the test period.
This the Districts fourth daylight
air-raid test. The others were held
on December 81, June and June q,
the last being announced to occur
sometime over period of several
days The hour chosen for tomor-
rows drill is in line with Col. Bolles'
promise that every hour in the a.
iy,r ~ olx,