Evening star., 1951-08-26
Civil Defense Is It. Or Is It Not Worth Bofherng About?

TT was a stormy week. A ram
j paging tropical hurricane
smashed its way across the Carib-
bean, while dozen weather sta
tionS plotted its course and anxious
MexicanS boarded up their homes.
In other parts, trained observers
of world affairs tapped their
barometers no less anxiously, not
ing the tell-tale signs and reporting
the ominous possibilities. The
headlines reflected the gathering
storm:
Truce talks break down in Ko-
rea -.
Hope fades for Iranian oil agree
ment -.
Growing Red pressures in Yugo-
slavia and Indo-China :.
The trouble is that plotting in
ternational storms is not an exact
science. In Tampico, they had
reasonably precise knowledge as to
when the big blow would strike
knowledge which gave them time
to shore up their defenses. The
free world has no such advantage.
Against this background, Ameri-
cans learned a curious fact last
week. They learned, in effect, that
this is not the time to start seri-
ouSly snoring up the defenSeS OF
their home front-at least. not
along the lines set down by
Americas civil defense law.
Summary DISMISSED
The word came from the House
of RepresentativeS-more directly
from the chairman of it's Appro-
priations Committee, Representa-
tive Clarence Cannon of Missouri.
Mr.. Cannon and his committee
spent several days listening to the
Federal civil defense people and
spokesmen from all over the coun-
try, who argued in favor of spend
ing a billion dollars of the
peoples money on civil defense be-
tween now and next July. Then
Mr.. Cannon sat down and penned
one Of the most summary dismiss
ais of any argument or program
that has ever been forthcoming
from a congressional committee.
Congress, he said, recognized
the need for a strong civil defense
when it passed the Federal Civil
Defense Act" early last January.
But the law "does not prescribe
specific methods for the establish
ment of such program" Mr..
Cannon explained the committees
own idea of what civil defense
should be: Based on the training
and education of the general pub
lie in matters of self-protection,
and the coordination of civil de-
fense efforts in the several States
and municipalities"
The civil defense people, Mr..
Cannon complained, had not ac-
cepted this concept. They chung
to their old ideas about what civil
defense should be, and what part
the Federal Government should
play in it.
Instead of the $535 million the
civil defense people asked for, Mr..
Cannon gave them $65,225,000. It
was cut of SS per cent. Four days
later the House backed him up.
chonee Of Mind
The chairman of the Appropria-
tionS Committee was right about
at least one thing: Congress, hama
mering out the civil defense law
last year, certainly had been con-
vinced of the urgent necessity for
creating a strong civil defense
organization.
The things that the administra-
tor was supposed to do to get
America ready were clearly detailed
in the law. They went much
further than the matter of edu-
eating the public or co-ordinating
local efforts.
The Federal agency, in fact, was
supposed to supply large part OF
the brains and the CUTS Of the
effort. 1t was charged with setting
up necessary civil defense commu-
nications and warning systems. 1t
was to carry on wide7scale research
programs. 1t was to procure,
construct, lease, transport, store,
maintain, renovate or distribute"
the things that would be needed
and needed fast-if somebody de-
cided to drop an atom bomb on an
American city.
Matching Funds
More important than any of
these provisions, the Federal Civil
Defense Administration was sup
posed to make financial contribu-
tions to the States, matching dollar
for dollar whatever they appropri-
ated for many of the essential tools
of survival. The money was to be
doled out according to the popula-
ton in critical target areas
throughout the country.
The cost was estimated at So
billion over three-year period.
A bit more than half the total was
to come from the Federal Govern
ment.
The whole idea was terSelV