Evening star., 1943-01-29
Mason Explains
Mobilization
Setup Here
Civilian Division
To Function as Port
Of National OCD
By MIRIAM GUTENBERG

The OCD civilian mobilization di.
vision will continue to function a;
a part of National OCD and will
be utilized on certain scores by the
Commissioners as an auxiliary oi
the new District department O.
civilian defense, Commissioner Guy
Mason declared last night.
He said he understood there hsd
been some question as to the mean
ing. of the order setting up the de-
partment as it applied to the civil
ian mobilization division
Asserting that civilian mobiliza-
ton was a product of National
OCD and not the District, Mr. Ma
son said the Commissioners did not
want to embrace the division as a
part of the District, but wanted to
be able to utilize it in case of need.
He specified that the division
could not use members of other
District services to accomplish their
detectives and cited as an example
the use of AFRAID wardens to
solicit funds for civilian mobiliza-
ton. He said, however, on ques-
tioning that he did not know Of any
particular instance of that.
Fate Up to Congress.
The fate of civilian mobilization
however, ultimately is left to Con-
gress. Commissioner Mason said the
budget submitted by the division
would be sent to Congress, in ac-
cordance with the pledge made by
the Commissioners when they &C
cepted a gift from the Community
War Fund to keep the division
operating for six months. That gift
runs out on March 81.
1t will then be up to Congress, he
said, to decide whether the division
gets any funds.
On the score of a chief of civilian
mobilization to replace Conrad Van
Hyning, the retiring chief, Commis-
sioner Mason said Capt. Herbert C,
Whitehmst, the new defense direc-
tor, could make recommendations
if he saw fit and the Commissioners
would act as they saw fit. Mean
while, a volunteer executive COM
mittee will run the division.
Asked to whom the committee
would report, Commissioner Mason
said, it would be directly responsible
ITO National OCD.
Man-Size Job Here.
Meanwhile, District officials faced
the man-size job of completing their
organization under the new civilian
defense department and making
drastic revisions in the blackout
regulations to adhere to the new air
raid warning signal system and
blackout procedure ordered by the
Eastern Defense Command.
Capt. Herbert A. Friede, who rep
resented the Commissioners at the
meeting of civilian defense and mill
tary chiefs in New York to discuss
the new regulations, planned to
make his report to the Commis-
sioners today.
He said he would inform them
that it would be necessary to change
the blackout regulations and to pro-
cure additional supplies to take care
of the new demands on the sirens.
Costs Being Estimated.
An estimate is now being made
of costs, availability Of materials
and priorities needed to make the
warning devices sound in the man
ner prescribed by the military. One
of the problems, he explained, was
the addition of a third public
warning, which will make it heces-
sary to increase the supply of air
for the air horns.
Although the use of the warning
devices to sound the all clear has
been eliminated, he explained. the
audible blue" to herald the black
out as well as to follow the red
signal means, in all, three sound
ings of the alarm.