[Organization Outline for Local Defense Councils]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

ORGANIZATION OUTLINE FOR LOCAL DEFENSE COUNCILS
PREPARED BY UNITED STATES OFFICE OF CIVILIAN DEFENSE WASHINGTON, D. C.
CONTENTS
I. Local Defense Councils:	Page
1.	What is the local defense council?______________________ 1
2.	What is the composition of the local defense council?___	1
3.	How is the local defense council established?___________ 1
4.	Is legislation necessary?_______________________________ 1
5.	The relationship of the local defense council to the State defense council_____________________________________________ 2
6.	The relationship of State and local defense councils to the United States Office of Civilian Defense____________________ 2
7.	Relationship of State and local defense councils to other national war agencies_________._____________________________ 3
8.	The relationship between communities in a metropolitan area. 3
9.	How are local defense councils financed?---------------- 3
10.	Organization of the defense council---------------------- 3
11.	The civilian defense volunteer office____________________ 4
12.	Information committee_______,____________________________ 4
13.	Staff for local defense council__________________________ 4
14.	Decentralization of defense council activities_---------- 4
15.	Administrative staff of the local defense council-------- 5
16.	Civilian defense auxiliary group_________________________ 5
17.	Insignia officer_______i____________________________.—	5
18.	Forest Fire Fighters Service_____________:_______________ 6
19.	Civil Air Patrol_________________________________________ 6
20.	Distribution agent for use of franking privilege_________ 6
II.	Civilian Protection:
1.	What is civilian protection?_______________________________ 10
2.	Planning committees for the civilian protection branch___	10
3.	Commander, United States Citizens Defense Corps__________	11
4.	Relationship of commander to existing municipal services_	12
5.	Relationship of commander to defense council_______________ 12
6.	The control center________________________________________  12
7.	United States Citizens Defense Corps______________i______	13
III.	Civilian War Services:
1.	What are the civilian war services?____________—	16
2.	The civilian war services branch_________________________ 16
3.	Relationship of civilian war services branch to existing community programs for war-------------------------------------	16
4.	Composition of the civilian war services branch____________ 16
5.	Salvage__________________________________________________   17
6.	Transportation_____________________________________________ 17
7.	Consumer Interests_________________________________________ 17
8.	Nutrition________________________________________________   18
9.	Recreation_________________________________________________ 18
(in)
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III.	Civilian War Services—Continued.	Page
10.	Services for service men______________________i_______	18
11.	Health__________________________________________________ 19
12.	Welfare and child care___________________________________ 19
13.	Housing_________________________________________________  19
14.	Education________________________________________________ 20
15.	War Savings___________________________________________ 20
16.	Agriculture___________________________________:_______ 20
17.	Plant utilization—Labor supply and training___________ 20
18.	United States Citizens Service Corps___x______________	20
INTRODUCTION
. This Organization Outline is designed to set forth in broad terms the purposes, duties, and functions of the local defense council. Its purpose is to outline the pattern which the United States Office of Civilian Defense believes local defense councils must follow if they are to be successful in establishing effective civilian operations on the home front, without which we may indeed lose this war.
In formulating this pattern, the United States Office of Civilian Defense has drawn upon its experience with thousands of local defense councils, some of them strong and some weak, and upon the experience and advice of State defense councils. It has also drawn upon its knowledge of the plans and programs of the several Federal agencies which are engaged in civilian programs for the prosecution of the war.
There is, of course, full recognition that no two American communities are exactly alike, either in their characteristics or their problems. It is therefore expected that each community will find it necessary or wise to make adjustments in the Organization Outline of its own activities to suit its particular or special needs. In other words, there is room in this Organization Outline for this kind of local adaptation.
But there is no room for the apathy and lethargy which have characterized the operations of some local defense councils. Community problems created by the war are the problems of State and local defense councils. The defense council that ignores them is not worthy of the name. Nor is the defense council which ignores or shirks its basic duty of integrating and promoting within its own community the numerous essential programs which the war agencies of the Federal Government have called essential to the winning of the war.
(V)
I.	LOCAL DEFENSE COUNCILS
(1)	What Is the Local Defense Council?
The local defense council is the central planning and coordinating body for all programs relating to community and civilian war effort. Its job is to bring together public and private agencies and interested individuals who are concerned with civilian war activities. It has the duty to see that all essential war programs are carried out and that they are developed in a unified and balanced community plan that avoids confusion, duplication, and needless competition. It is often appropriately called the local war council.
(2)	What Is the Composition of the Local Defense Council?
The council should be representative of all local civilian war activities in the community. It should include appropriate public officials, such as the mayor or head of the county government, and heads of police, fire, health, and welfare departments. It should include community leaders from various professional, economic, social, labor, and racial groups. It should also include the chairmen of the major committees functioning as a part of the defense council, the commander of the Citizens Defense Corps, the executive of the Citizens Service Corps, and the chairman of the Civilian Defense Volunteer Office. It should usually consist of not less than 10, nor more than 25 members. If a larger council is appointed, an executive committee is essential for effective operation.
(3)	How Is the Local Defense Council Established?
Most defense councils have been established under the executive or statutory authority of the Governors of the various States. The usual procedure has been that the Governor, by Executive order, has established a State defense council and likewise provided for local defense council organization throughout the State. Under its provisions, defense councils were created in cities and in counties, with the authority of appointment usually delegated by the Governor to local elected officials.
(4)	Is Legislation Necessary?
Many States have adopted legislation setting forth the form and function of defense councils, the method of appointment, scope of authority, and plan of financing. Communities have adopted ordinances giving official status and powers to their defense councils.
(1)
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Obviously sound legislative measures are desirable. Such legislation, in addition to providing for the defense council, should formally provide for the establishment, organization, and powers of the United States Citizens Defense Corps, the authority of its commander and chiefs of service, and immunity to the community and the members of the Citizens Defense Corps for injury to persons or property resulting from acts done in the performance of duty.
(5)	The Relationship of the Local Defense Council to the State Defense Council
Unless otherwise provided by legislative action, the relationship between State and local defense councils is one of mutual cooperation and clearance. The usual role of the State defense council is to provide leadership to the local defense councils through field service, suggestion, and example.
(6)	The Relationship of State and Local Defense Councils to the United States Office of Civilian Defense
The United States Office of Civilian Defense does not exercise direct control over State or local defense councils. It does not select their members nor can it insist upon the prosecution of any particular program. It can, of course, impose requirements in connection with the loan of Federally owned protective equipment and the use of officially prescribed insignia. Through its national office, it reviews plans and progress throughout the country, develops national policy, and serves as the center for coordination of the programs of other Federal agencies which are concerned with State and local civilian war activities. The civilian protection branch of its national and regional offices gives advice, assistance, and leadership in the development of local protection programs. The civilian mobilization branch gives similar aid with respect to over-all defense council organization, the development of civilian war services, other than those which are the responsibility of the protection branch, the mobilization of volunteers for all war activities, and the development of informational and educational services within the defense council.
The United States Office of Civilian Defense operates in the field through nine regional offices headed by regional directors. Through the regional offices, the Office of Civilian Defense maintains a close relationship with the regional representatives of other Federal agencies and integrates the programs of these agencies with the activities at the State and local levels. The regional offices work closely with State and local defense councils and afford leadership, advice, and assistance to State and local groups. The regional offices keep informed of all activities carried on by defense councils and are responsible for advancing all civilian defense activities within the regions.
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(7)	Relationship of State and Local Defense Councils to Other National War Agencies
Many agencies of the Federal Government have been assigned responsibility for directing specific parts of our national war effort. The effective development of many of these programs depends upon local citizen participation, local effort, and local initiative. Defense councils provide for these many agencies the only common channel for the people of the community to organize for war and a means for integrating these vital war programs in a balanced and unified war program in the locality.
(8)	The Relationship Between Communities in a Metropolitan Area
Proper working relationship between defense councils of communities comprising a metropolitan area is important. To accomplish this important objective, a coordinator of civilian defense has been appointed in the metropolitan areas. Such a coordinator, while essential for effective civilian defense operations in the area, will be more effective if he is acceptable to the communities involved. (9) How Are Local Defense Councils Financed?
The United States Government has not appropriated funds to finance the activities of local defense councils other than money used to purchase certain protective equipment for loan to some communities in target or strategic areas. The financial responsibility, therefore, rests upon the State and community. The most effective solution to this problem is for the State or locality to appropriate funds for this activity. The only other sound method of financing is by periodic organized fund-raising campaigns—obviously less satisfactory for real working purposes; if this method is to be used, it should be supervised by a finance committee of the council, which should develop plans for raising funds, allocating collections among the services, and auditing the accounts. The informal raising of funds by air raid wardens from neighborhood residents or similar collections should be discouraged.
(10)	Organization of the Defense Council
The defense council should have two main functioning branches— the civilian protection branch and the civilian war services branch. The first has the function of advising and planning with respect to the organization and training of a force for the protection of a community by limiting the effect of air raids and other forms of enemy action. The second has the job of promoting and integrating the numerous activities such as salvage, transportation, war savings, housing, health, nutrition, etc., which must be developed if communities are
474877°—42----------2
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to make their full contribution to the winning of the war. In addition, the defense council should have two service sections—the information committee and the civilian defense volunteer office, which serve both of the functioning branches in their respective fields.
(11)	The Civilian Defense Volunteer Office
The volunteer office is in effect a recruiting office for the Citizens Defense Corps and Citizens Service Corps. It should enroll and classify volunteers who are willing to serve in any of the programs and be prepared to supply the names of the suitable volunteers upon request. It is important that this office be well equipped to register and supply such names promptly. The success of many national war programs depends on the immediate availability of an adequate reservoir of volunteers in the towns and cities.
(12)	Information Committee
The duty of this committee is to employ all local informational media for the promotion of all war programs upon the call of the defense council. These media include radio, press, motion picture, photography, window displays, posters, privately sponsored advertising, etc. Local information plans should also include a well-organized speakers’ bureau and organized group discussion. It is the function of the information committee to organize these media so that they will be promptly responsive to the needs of the council. Furthermore, it should assist, where necessary, in the establishment of a local information center equipped to answer questions about local civilian defense activities. This committee should be made up of the best publicity or advertising personnel available.
(13)	Staff for Local Defense Councils
There is widespread need for energetic leadership in the defense council program. In medium-sized and large communities the defense council should arrange for the appointment of a full-time director to direct the civilian defense office, arrange meetings of the council, furnish the necessary information to State and Federal Governments and, in general, develop the programs of the council. In large communities, the director should be supported by additional staff, both administrative and clerical, consistent with the size of the task and funds available for this purpose. The director should be a person who is interested in the war program as a whole, and who is experienced in bringing together a wide diversity of organizations and groups for the purpose of community planning and coordination.
(14)	Decentralization of Defense Council Activities
In all but the smaller communities many defense-council activities should be decentralized and carried to the public through neighborhood committees or through some type of block organization. This
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is essential for parts of civilian protection and is also very helpful for war-service programs that depend upon individual participation such as salvage, war savings, price-control information, etc.
(15)	Administrative Staff of the Local Defense Council
The members of the defense council and of its committees, including the local civilian defense volunteer office, and persons who are employed or appointed by the council or committees as staff members or employees, constitute the administrative staff of the local defense council. They are entitled to wear the prescribed basic insigne, consisting of the letters “CD” in red within a white equilateral triangle embossed on a circular field of blue, to which should be added the name of the State. This insigne may be worn on lapel pins and buttons and other official articles except arm, bands, which may be issued only to those members of the council whose duties require them to be on the streets in any emergency.
(16)	Civilian Defense Auxiliary Group
The United States Office of Civilian Defense has provided for a civilian defense auxiliary group, to include persons who are not members of the organized Citizens Defense Corps but who, by reason of their occupation and without any special civilian defense training or duties,'may be required to be on the streets during an air raid, air-raid drill, or other emergency. They should be furnished appropriate means of identification. The defense council should appoint an official to determine, subject to the approval of the commander of the Citizens Defense Corps, persons entitled to be included in the auxiliary group. He will be required to work closely with the press and related services, the medical profession, essential transportation and utility services, local governmental agencies and others whose members are entitled to be in the auxiliary group. He is responsible for the issuance of arm bands and identification cards.
(17)	Insignia Officer
Arm bands, lapel pins and buttons, and other official articles embodying prescribed insignia of the United States Citizens Defense Corps and the United States Citizens Service Corps can be sold by licensed manufacturers only with the approval of the OCD regional directors or of State defense councils if the power of approval is delegated to them by regional directors. This is to avoid the unauthorized distribution and use of prescribed insignia. Sales are not permitted by retail stores, but only through the defense councils. Therefore, the local defense council should designate an officer to receive orders from persons desiring and entitled to use official articles, and to send such orders, with funds to cover the purchase price, to the State defense council for transmittal to licensed manufacturers.
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This procedure does not apply to arm bands loaned to communities in vital strategic areas by the United States Office of Civilian Defense. (18) Forest Fire Fighters Service
The Forest Fire Fighters Service has been established by the United States Director of Civilian Defense to safeguard forest lands and timber facilities. Local defense councils in timber areas should make arrangements to cooperate with this Service in the recruiting and training of Forest Fire Fighters, who will operate under the direction of local and State coordinators of this Service. This activity is supervised in Washington by the timber and related facilities committee, consisting of officials in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture appointed to such committee by the Director of Civilian Defense.
(19)	Civil Air Patrol
The Civil Air Patrol is established by the United States Office of Civilian Defense. Its members are civilians who perform special flying missions for governmental and other appropriate agencies. The local defense council is ordinarily not directly concerned with its activities, but should cooperate with it when requested.
(20)	Distribution Agent for Use of Franking Privilege
The council should make arrangements for the appointment by the United .States Office of Civilian Defense of a distribution agent who will be authorized to mail under the franking privilege official civilian defense material of the character specified by the United States Office of Civilian Defense and the postal authorities.
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SUGGESTED ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN FOR LOCAL DEFENSE COUNCILS
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SUGGESTED ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN FOR LOCAL CITIZENS DEFENSE CORPS
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SUGGESTED ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN FOR LOCAL CITIZENS SERVICE CORPS
II.	CIVILIAN PROTECTION
(1)	What Is Civilian Protection?
Civilian protection is the mobilization, organization, and training of a force capable of rendering the most efficient service to the community in the limitation of the effects of enemy action, especially air raids. Its nucleus is the regularly established group of city and private services—including fire, police, medical, public works, and utility organizations, augmented by trained volunteers, organized for emergency service.
(2)	Planning Committees for the Civilian Protection Branch
Each defense council should have a planning committee on civilian protection with the commander of the Citizens Defense Corps as chairman. The membership should include police and fire officials, engineers, an expert on communications, and representatives of management and labor from the local war industries.
Larger communities should establish associated committees for planning and working out specific parts of the protection program. A communications committee should be organized to analyze and map all existing communication systems, to assist the commander to determine location of the control center, to list auxiliary equipment needed, to arrange for the installation of the public warning system, and to confer with air-raid-waming-system officials on warning methods.
A fire defense committee should be appointed to work under the fire chief to develop the emergency fire plan, determine the location of auxiliary stations, water storage and equipment required, and the number of men to be enrolled for auxiliary firemen; this committee should also estimate the personnel and equipment needed for rescue squads.
A committee on emergency traffic should be appointed to survey transportation facilities and suggest emergency organization.
While the emergency public-works service and the emergency utilities service function separately, their problems of organization are similar. Accordingly, a public works and public utilities committee should be appointed and given the task of recommending as to numbers, training, organization, equipment, dispositions, and employment of both services. Since communities vary as between publicly owned and privately owned utilities, and as between the disposition of
(10)
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functions in municipal organization, the scope and perspective of the committee will be especially important. A broad view of the necessity arising under enemy action with respect to the detailed services included under each of these two headings will be necessary. Depending upon the city organization, either the head of the normal public works or utilities department, or a citizen of wide experience in these fields, should be named as chairman.
An emergency police committee should also be appointed. This committee is normally headed by the chairman of the police commission or the chief of police. Its function is to recommend as to numbers, training courses, equipment, organization, and methods of employment of auxiliary police.
One associated committee which should be established in all communities is the health and medical committee. This committee, of which the chief of the emergency medical services should be the chairman, should plan and coordinate emergency medical service in the community. The membership should include the local health officer, a hospital administrator, and a representative of the local medical society, the local nursing war council, the local chapter of the American Red Cross, and other cooperating agencies in the health and medical field. This committee should assist the chief of emergency medical service in the organization and training of stretcher teams, the training of volunteers in the medical field, the establishment of casualty stations, and the recruitment through the Civilian Defense Volunteer Office of nurses aides.
In order to avoid unnecessary duplication, the health and medical committee should supplement the work of existing agencies with trained volunteers and develop community understanding on problems of public health, medical care, industrial hygiene, sanitation, and prevention of disease. In carrying on these activities, the health and medical committee serves as the health committee of the civilian war services branch (see p. 19).
All of these committees should be advisory only, with the final decisions being made by the commander of the Citizens Defense Corps and the chiefs of the protection services.
(3)	Commander, United States Citizens Defense Corps
During an emergency all of the community protective services should be under the complete direction of the commander of the Citizens Defense. Corps. These include not only the volunteer services whose members constitute the Citizens Defense Corps but also the regularly established protective services of the community, including the fire department, police department, hospitals, health department, etc. In smaller communities the commander is some
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times the mayor or chief of the police department. In larger communities the commander should be appointed by the mayor and clothed with such appropriate emergency powers as may be necessary to enable him to execute his duties without question or delay. It is advisable, if not essential, that the commander attend a special training course at one of the War Department Civilian Protection Schools in order to acquire necessary technical knowledge. The staff of the commander should include the chiefs of the various services of the Defense Corps, as well as necessary technical, administrative and clerical personnel. (See “Staff Manual—United States Citizens Defense Corps,” a publication of the United States Office of Civilian Defense.)
(4)	Relationship of Commander to Existing Municipal Services
In order to assure centralized command in an emergency and'to avoid jurisdictional difficulties, the commander should be placed in a position superior to that of the local chiefs of the fire departments, police departments, etc. However, such department chiefs should ordinarily be made the chiefs of the appropriate emergency service, so that the chief of police will command not only the regular police department but also the auxiliary police, and the fire chief will command not only the regular fire department but also the auxiliary firemen and the rescue unit. Similarly, the commander must be able to direct those charged with responsibility for the operation, maintenance, and repair of public works and public utilities; and to accomplish this, the chiefs of these services should be persons experienced in these fields, who should work in close cooperation with publicly and privately owned utilities.
(5)	Relationship of Commander to Defense Council
During an emergency the commander has no responsibility to the defense council. However, in the development of plans and programs for air-raid protection the commander, as a member of the defense council, should be in close consultation with the council. The planning committee on civilian protection is the medium which assists the defense council to make its protection plans.
(6)	The Control Center
The control center is the headquarters of the commander. It includes but is much more than the message center to which reports go and from which equipment and personnel are dispatched. It is the nerve center of the entire civilian protection organization from which orders flow and into which reports are sent during air raids, black-outs, or any other emergency. The air-raid-warning system is
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operated from the control center and advance information as to approaching enemy planes is received there.
The control center should be in the broadest sense the “Command Post” for action in time of emergency. It should have every facility, including maps and communications:
a.	To keep the commander informed at all times of the situation;
b.	To enable him to make sound, tactical, and strategic decisions; c. To enable him to have his decisions translated into action and have his will carried out.
It is the place at which the chiefs of services (or their representatives) and the liaison personnel, gather and exercise command of their services, under direction of the commander. Required reading for the commander and his staff is “The Control System of the Citizens Defense Corps,” a publication of the United States Office of Civilian Defense.
(7)	United States Citizens Defense Corps
Volunteers who have completed required courses of training prescribed by the United States Office of Civilian Defense are eligible for membership in the United States Citizens Defense Corps. The regulations of the United States Office of Civilian Defense provide that only those volunteers who are enrolled members of this corps shall be eligible to use protective equipment purchased by the United States Government and loaned to certain communities. This equipment includes helmets, arm bands bearing the official United States Office of Civilian Defense insignia, auxiliary fire fighting pumps and hose, protective clothing, etc. . The following are the units of the Defense Corps and the administrative groups to which these personnel are assigned:
Unit	Administrative group
Staff_________________________-----____Commander, Citizens Defense
Corps.
Auxiliary firemen______________________Auxiliary fire service.
Rescue squad__________________-________Auxiliary fire service.
Auxiliary police_______________________Auxiliary police service.
Air raid wardens_______________________ Wardens’ service.
Fire watchers_____________-_______-____Wardens’ service.
Emergency food and housing_____________ Wardens’ service.
Drivers________________________________ Commander, Citizens Defense
Corps.
Messengers_____________________________ Commander, Citizens Defense
Corps.
Demolition and clearance_______________Emergency public works service.
Road repair____________________________ Emergency public works service.
Decontamination (areas and structures)_Emergency public works service. Utility repair._________________________- Emergency utilities service.
Medical__________K________£___________ _ _ Emergency medical service.
Nurses’ aides________________________J- Emergency medical service.
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(a) Staff Unit
The staff includes the executive officer, controller, communications officer, and the operating personnel of the control center, along with incident officers, bomb reconnaissance agents, and other personnel by whom the commander is kept informed of the situation, and through whom he carries out his decisions. Chiefs of service are automatically members of the staff unit (though they wear the insignia of their respective services) and also such personnel as senior gas officer, billeting officer, transport officer, etc., may be added.
(&)	Auxiliary Police Service
The auxiliary police service includes the auxiliary policemen. It should be organized, trained, and commanded, by the chief of auxiliary police service, who should ordinarily be the chief of police, in order that the auxiliary police may be integrated with the regular police department.
(c)	Auxiliary Fire Service
The auxiliary fire service includes the auxiliary firemen and the rescue unit. It should be organized, trained, and commanded by the chief of the auxiliary fire service, who should ordinarily be the fire chief, in order that the emergency services and the regularly established fire department may function in close cooperation.
(d)	Air Raid Warden Service
The air raid warden service includes the air raid wardens, fire watchers, and the emergency food and housing unit. The chief air raid warden organizes, trains, and commands this service.
Ordinarily the organized personnel certified by the American Red Cross to the commander for emergency feeding, housing, and clothing services will perform the function of the emergency food and housing unit. The commander should avoid duplication of these facilities. Accordingly, if personnel satisfactory to the commander is so certified and is placed under his command in an emergency, this unit of the defense corps should not be established. In such event, such certified personnel, although not members of the defense corps, may be authorized by the commander to wear and use arm bands and other official articles embodying the prescribed insignia of the emergency food and housing unit.
(e)	Emergency Medical Services
The emergency medical services are an integral part of the civilian protection organization. The chief, appointed by the mayor, or the commander, must be a physician of broad experience and administrative ability. He is responsible for the organization and training of medical field units and stretcher teams, the organization of casualty
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receiving hospitals, medical and nursing personnel for emergency service, the coordination of ambulance services including volunteer auxiliaries, the assignment of nurses’ aides, and the coordination of first aid training in the community.
By agreement with the American Red Cross, first aid training courses and the training of volunteer nurses’ aides are conducted for the local defense council by the Red Cross chapter. In the event of an emergency, the chief of the emergency medical service is in full control, under the commander, of all medical field units, stretcher teams, nurses’ aides, casualty receiving hospitals, casualty stations, and decontamination stations, with the Red Cross' standing by for such supplemental assistance as may be necessary.
(/) Emergency Public Works Service
The units of the defense corps embraced in the emergency public works service are the demolition and clearance unit, the road repair unit, and the decontamination unit. The chief of this service should ordinarily be the head of the appropriate municipal department charged with the supervision and maintenance of public works. He should coordinate the activities of other municipal and private agencies in this field.
(g) Emergency Utility Service
The emergency utility service includes the utility repair unit composed of volunteers trained for this work and also the regularly employed and trained maintenance and repair personnel of publicly and privately owned utilities. They are all under the command of the chief of this service in emergencies.
III. CIVILIAN WAR SERVICES
(1)	What Are the Civilian War Services?
Civilian war services are all those civilian activities, other than protection, with which communities and individuals must be concerned as part of their contribution to the prosecution of the war. They include salvage, transportation, war savings, services to service men, recreation, consumer interests, nutrition, health and medical care, welfare and child care, housing, education, agriculture, labor supply and training* and plant utilization. Many defense councils, particularly in smaller communities, will not need to set up separate committees for each of these activities. They will find it more desirable to consolidate some of these activities under a single committee.
(2)	The Civilian War Services Branch
The civilian war services branch is the second major branch of the local defense council. It is the function of this branch to coordinate and integrate the numerous war programs referred to above to the end that the most effective results can be assured. It promotes and develops programs and activities sponsored by the civilian mobilization branch of the national and regional offices of the United States Office of Civilian Defense.
(3)	Relationship of Civilian War Services Branch to Existing Community Programs for War
Where some of the listed activities are already in operation the civilian war services branch assists by furthering programs in terms of the conditions peculiar to the particular community and by welding them together into a single program for community war action.
(4)	Composition of the Civilian War Services Branch
The civilian war services branch should be headed by the executive of the United States Citizens Service Corps. In most communities he is assisted by an executive committee composed of the chairmen of the various committees established within the civilian war services branch. In smaller communities where very few separate committees are established, necessary coordination can be achieved by having these committee chairmen serve on the defense council itself. In this case no separate executive committee is required. Some local defense councils have found it desirable to create two major sections under the civilian war services branch to coordinate and bring together com-
(16)
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mittees dealing with, related interests—one dealing with health, welfare, and similar services; and the other dealing with such matters as salvage, war savings, plant utilization, etc.
Committees within the civilian war services branch should be composed of representatives of existing agencies and organizations which are concerned with the specific activities involved. They should be headed by the most experienced and effective people in the community in these particular fields.
(5)	Salvage
The salvage committee of the council is an integral part of the civilian war services branch. Salvage workers who meet the appropriate requirements are eligible for membership in the United States Citizens Service Corps. It is the duty of the salvage committee to determine what waste materials can be salvaged locally; to see to it that the community is fully informed as to what should be salvaged; to make arrangements on an equitable basis for the pick-up of salvage materials either by collectors or by charitable agencies, or by volunteers working for the salvage committee; to establish salvage depots where donated scrap collections can be deposited; to insure that usable waste materials are not burned, lost, or destroyed; and to continuously maintain a maximum participation by all people in the salvage program.
Local salvage committees work with the salvage committees of State defense councils, and through the United States Office of Civilian Defense with the General Salvage Section of the Conservation Division of the War Production Board.
(6)	Transportation
A defense council should have a transportation committee as a part of the civilian war services branch. This committee develops plans for the wisest use of the community’s transportation facilities, public and private. When a local transportation administrator has been appointed, this person should be named chairman of the transportation committee. The committee works out and promotes car-sharing programs. Furthermore, to relieve traffic congestion in heavily crowded industrial communities it should develop plans for “staggered hours” and similar methods of reducing congestion. It works in close cooperation with State transportation committees and through the United States Office of Civilian Defense with the Office of Defense Transportation.
(7)	Consumer Interests
The consumer committee brings together representatives of the local organizations having consumer programs, such as consumer cooperative societies, trade union “cost of living” committees, home
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economics groups, and consumer study groups of the various civic organizations. This committee, through promotion and education, works for effective use of existing supplies by all civilians in order to prevent waste and make every possible saving for the war effort. It establishes consumer centers that serve as clearing houses for information and consultation. It is responsible for developing local understanding of the rationing and price control programs as promulgated by the Office of Price Administration. The committee can also arrange to train volunteers to assist merchants in proper ways of posting of price ceilings in stores, and similar activities.
(8)	Nutrition
The national nutrition program is carried out through established State and local nutrition committees. These committees should be tied into defense councils as parts of the civilian war services branch. Their task is to advance this important national interest by means of promotion, coordination, and popular education on such matters as: proper selection and preparation of foods; food conservation; proper choice of food content for balanced meals; and proper preparation of lunches for workers. The Nutrition Division of the Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services provides technical advice and assistance for this program throughout the Nation.
(9)	Recreation
Defense recreation committees, whose activities are an important part of the civilian war services program, should plan for adequate recreation and leisure-time activities for service men when outside military or naval reservations, men and women workers in war industries, and children and other civilians. The committee should include representatives from all local recreation agencies, both public and private.
The Recreation Division of the Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services provides technical help and assistance to localities in the development of wartime recreation services.
(10)	Services for Service Men
A committee of the civilian war services branch should be established to provide service men with “news from home”; to give recognition to inductees about to leave for camp and recognition for the parents of men in service and honor to war heroes and casualties. These committees can also serve in many communities to assure entertainment and recreation for service men from adjacent military areas. Where recreation committees (see above) have been established these latter activities are frequently carried out by the recreation committee. Overlapping of the responsibilities of the Red Cross for welfare and information service for service men should be avoided.
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(11) Health
As described on page 11 the health and medical committee of the civilian protection branch should serve as the health committee of the civilian war services branch in order to avoid duplication of functions. In this respect the committee relates the activities of the emergency medical service to those of local and State health agencies, the United States Public Health Service and the Social Protection Section of the Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services.
(12)	Welfare and Child Care
This committee of the defense council should concern itself with the maintenance of those essential services which will safeguard family security and the welfare of individuals in the family against the hazards and strains of wartime. It is also concerned with planning the community social services which will be required to care for persons after attack by the enemy. It seeks to bring together those agencies, both public and private, which provide statutory and voluntary services in this field. The local welfare officer should serve on this committee and to avoid overlapping the responsibilities of the Red Cross for emergency feeding and housing, the local chapter of the Red Cross should be represented.
In many councils it will be desirable to set up a separate committee on child care that will concern itself with all problems of children in wartime. All agencies active in the field of child welfare and child health should be represented on such a committee. In communities where women are needed because of war production, this committee should develop plans for the day care of children. Attention should also be given to juvenile delinquency problems arising as a result of war conditions. The Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services coordinates Federal agencies which are concerned with these problems and which provide technical advice and assistance in the development of wartime welfare and child-care programs.
(13)	Housing
In communities where an influx of war workers has created a housing shortage there should be a housing committee in the civilian war services branch. It should be the duty of this committee to find habitable quarters for these workers, to see to it that existing housing facilities are used fully to best advantage, and to aid in the development of additional housing where it is vitally needed. This committee should make use of volunteers to canvass and catalog all available extra rooms in the community and should provide a center to which new workers can go for information about places to live. No worker can long live in a crowded, unsanitary trailer camp and continue to produce at the essential level of war efficiency.
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The housing committee works in cooperation with State and local housing authorities where they exist, and through the United States Office of Civilian Defense with the National Housing Agency.
(14)	Education
A defense council should have an education committee which makes plans for adapting educational programs and for using local educational facilities to meet wartime needs in accordance with the programs established by the United States Office of Education and other Federal agencies.
(15)	War Savings
Where the war savings committee in a community has been made an integral part of the local defense council, a more effective program has been feasible because this all-important campaign requires a mass of volunteers of many types such as only the defense council is equipped to supply.
(16)	Agriculture
Many defense councils should have a committee concerning itself with agricultural problems, including assistance in the stimulation of increased agricultural production in the rural areas and the development of victory gardens wherever feasible. Such committees work in close cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture war boards and through them and the United States Office of Civilian Defense with the various agencies and staff of the United States Department of Agriculture.
(17)	Plant Utilization—Labor Supply and Training
Many defense councils should establish special committees to deal with problems of labor supply and training, and also with industrial resources. The labor supply and training committee should bring together representatives of such groups as the United States Employment Service, educational authorities in charge of vocational training, industrial personnel representatives, and others to coordinate and develop plans for the training of workers to fill necessary war jobs.
Plant utilization committees should bring together representatives of chambers of commerce, labor, management, industrial planning boards, etc., for the purpose of surveying plant facilities and their use for full utilization in the war program.
(18)	United States Citizens Service Corps
Virtually all of the activities listed above as the concern of the civilian war services branch require the services of volunteers to develop these programs and to aid existing agencies and organizations in their execution. Large numbers of volunteer workers will be needed by the salvage committee, war savings committee, consumer
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committee, nutrition committee, and other groups within the branch, to carry out essential activities. Public and private health, welfare, housing, and other existing organizations require the services of additional volunteer help if they are to discharge their additional responsibilities brought about as a result of war conditions. Under regulations of the United States Office of Civilian Defense, volunteer workers, outside the field of civilian protection, who complete 50 hours of war service volunteer work or who complete prescribed courses of training, are eligible for membership in the United States Citizens Service Corps, for which an appropriate and official insigne has been developed. This membership is open to qualified volunteers in any of the civilian war services listed above or any others which are regarded by the defense council as essential to the prosecution of the war in a particular community.
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1942