Brownout

The lights went on again--within reason--all over the U.S. After 14 to 18 months of dimout, cities along the East, West and Gulf Coasts were told to relax and light up--but not too much. Chief reservations: 1) Washington suggested that a "brownout" (midway between total darkness and every movie marquee ablaze) would help save electricity and fuel; 2) Army & Navy men warned that if enemy submarines should crop up in force again off U.S. coasts, out the lights must go; 3) OCD officials promised that there would still be an occasional air-raid drill.

The notice was sudden; city officials seemed more surprised than elated:

> In San Francisco, the Chamber of Commerce's "When the Lights Go On Again Committee" (TIME, Aug. 16), formed for the sole purpose of celebrating this moment in history, was caught flat-footed with no plans for a suitably gala ceremony.

> In Manhattan, worrywart Mayor LaGuardia finally let the subways turn up their lights, which had been dimmed for 18 months, giving millions of subway readers eyestrain daily. Counting his city's empty sockets, the Little Flower mourned: "We just can't get the bulbs. Our people must have patience. We have 70,000 lights and it will take some time."

Volunteer ground observers had been out of a job for a month--since the Army decided that there was no longer any point in 24-hour watches for amateur air spotters. The Office of Civilian Defense had been without a boss since James M. Landis went off to boss U.S. economics in the Middle East (TIME Aug. 16). Many an air-raid warden was beginning to lose that first fine passion for his helmet and whistle. But OCD, with a $4 million budget and 850 employes, urged every man to keep on his toes. There might still be need, said OCD, for all the equipment it had delivered or requisitioned: 4,419,450 arm bands, 2,700,000 helmets, 5,000,000 gas masks, 100,000 firemen's coats, 72,000 12-to-14-qt. buckets, 2,258,000 fire extinguishers, 100,000 pairs of blue-denim pants, umpty-umpty-ump first-aid kits, nozzles, pumping units, stretcher litters, shovels, folding cots.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.