Evening star., 1959-12-11
The
Rambler
lnspeets q
Fullout Shelter
BY GEORGE KENNEDY

~ 0EOlOE hENNEDI
Passing the Commerce De-
partment on a Fourteenth
street car the other day, the
Rambler was shocked to see
workmen constructing what
looked like a cinder block
garage next to its entrance.
He made a mental note to
alert the Fine Arts Commits
sion, which is the watchdog
of appearances in Washing
ton, but he forgot about it.
When he went by it again
yesterday, he realized how
stupid he had been not to
realize what it was in the
f1rst place. A sign proclaimed
that it was a family sized
fallout shelter" sponsored by
Civil Defense.
The Rambler entered. It
did not need the grill work
which separated the viewers
space from the exhibits
within to suggest the OBJ
viouS. 1t would have looked
like a Jail cell anyway.
The pantry shelves within
looked as though they had
been stocked by the Ameri-
can Gamers Association
which was not the case.
I'VE borrowed the items
from the Commerce cafe
teria," said william Arm
strong, an emergency plan
ming official IN the Secre-
tary's Office and a volunteer
air raid warden for Civil
Defense. But they follow
the suggestions of Civil
Defense.
Take this pamphlet on
how to stock your shelter.
You'll find it very interest
ing. The food on the shelves
should keep a family of six
alive for two weeks"
To the Rambler a radioac-
tive death seemed preferable
to two weeks on that diet.
Everything out of cans is
bad enough in the first place.
1T SEEMED TO BE largely
a liquid diet, cans of fruit
juices and tomato juice and
stewed pruneS and Sauer-
kraut and corn and peas.
About the only heavy protein
items were big cans of baked
beans and jars of peanut
butter.
"a soft diet is recon-
mended," Mr.. Armstrong
said, because life in a fall
out shelter is very seden-
tary."
While Civil Defense has
moved its headquarters to-
Battle Creek, the pamphlet
on the shelves showed none
of the patent breakfast foods
that made that Michigan
health resort famous. They
call for milk, and the milk
man doesn't come during
fallout. One item in the
pamphlet suggested "a bot.
ties of soft drinks.
Some people aren't happy
without soft drinks" said
Mr.. Armstrong. "And they're
basically water, and they are
going to need water"
One item suggested the
seriousness of this problem
of survival. 1t was a shelf
stocked with cans with black
labels which read, Fresh
Drinking Water"
NO." said Mr.. Armstrong,
II don't believe you can buy
cans like that in the food
stores. I think the surplus
stores have them. The Mari
time Commission disposed
of a great quantity of them
in surplus sales. Every life
boat had to have a number
of these cans.
1--WE drunk water from
them. It's rather tasteless,
but even after Is years it's
all right"
The shelter contains a
small rotary blower which is
operated by hand. Electricity
cannot be depended on dur
ing a fallout crisis.
1T is advisable to work
up a little pressure within,
so that air will be Seeping
out through the cracks in
the maSonry-not in.
"Air enters the shelter
through a duct on the roof
which has spun glass filters,
similar to those used in hot
air furnaces and air-condi-
tioning systems. But the
filter cannot remove all the
fallout. Unfortunately, some
of the radioactive ash is in
particles so small that they
will pass any filter.
"The thing to do is to get