Dixie in the Dark

Gone with the drought this week was the glitter of the South's Broadways--Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Gay Street in Knoxville, Nineteenth Street in Birmingham.

With streams at lowest levels in history in a defense-booming area which relies on hydroelectric power, the Office of Production Management pulled the switches on all ornamental lighting. Blacked out in six States were electric signs, shop windows, theater marquees.

One victim: the South's night games between its high-school football teams. Birmingham pleaded exemption for its biggest game (advance ticket sale: 18,000). OPM said no.

Next week the power famine will claim a more serious casualty: non-defense manufacturing plants in most of the area have orders to curtail their electricity consumption by 30%. Their owners and employes prayed for more rain. One inch might postpone the curtailment a week; a steady, days-long downpour might cancel it.

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