Blackout

Tonight's blackout will not only be a test of the efficiency of Cambridge A.R.P. officials and wardens, but will in a large way measure the temper of students in the University. Many are taking the whole affair as a sort of joke, something which is being done to soothe the fears of local matrons in order that they may sleep more securely. Students at Oxford, too, were amused by the blackout preparations made by their own colleges, until German demolition bombs aimed at a nearby factory nearly blew their heavy stone buildings to bits. The indifference of certain Harvard men towards tonight's trial is remindful of the "it can't happen here" psychology once current in Hawaii.

A blackout is serious business, however. Any one willfully disregarding the orders of a warden is liable to immediate expulsion, and the severity of that penalty is well commensurate with the dangers arising from thoughtlessness during an enemy air attack. A repetition of the fireworks display put on by pranksters at the Business School during the recent Boston tryout, or of the shouting of Rhineheart in the Yard last Tuesday night, will not be tolerated by the University. A lighted match is visible from far above 10,000 feet; a window through which light escapes is a beacon to hostile planes. Civilians crowding the streets impede A.R.P. officials and increase the number of injuries. Thus it is important that every one observe the blackout regulations, and cooperate with Civilian Defense authorities to make tonight's test a success.