Evening star., 1945-10-04

interfere as little as possible with
private research and private enter
prise, and should use as much as
possible existing institutions and
agencies. The observance of this
policy Is our best guarantee of main-
tanning the pre-eminence in science
and industry upon which our ma
tional well-being depends.
All land sand mineral deposits
owned by the United States which
constitutes sources of atomic energy,
and all stock-piles of materials from
which such energy may be derived,
and all plants or other property of
the United States connected with its
development and use should be
transferred to the supervision and
control of the commission.
The commission should be author
lied to acquire at fair price, by
purchase or by condemnation, any
minerals or other materials from
which the sources of atomic energy
can be derived, and also any land
containing such minerals or mate
rials, which are not already owned
by the United States.
Power to Purchase.
The power to purchase should in
clude real and personal property
outside the limits of the United
States.
The commission should also be
authorized to conduct all necessary
research, experimentation, and op-
erations for the further develop
ment and use of atomic energy for
military, industrial, scientific, or
medical purposes. In these activi-
ties it should, of course, use existing
private and public institutions and
agencies to the fullest practicable
extent.
Under appropriate safeguards,
the commission should also be per-
mitted to license any property avail
able to the commission for research
development and exploitation in the
field Of atomic energy. Among other
things, such licensing should be con-
ditioned, of course, upon a policy of
widespread distribution of peace
time products on equitable terms
which will prevent monopoly.
In order to establish effective con-
troll and security, 1t should be de-
clared unlawful to produce or use
the substances comprising the
sources of atomic energy or to i'm
port or export them except under
conditions prescribed by the COM
mission.
Finally, the commission should
be authorized to establish security
regulations governing the handling
of all information, material and
equipment under its jurisdiction.
Suitable penalties should be pre-
scribed for violation of the security
regulations of the commission or
any of the other terms of the act.
The measures which I have sug-
gested may seem drastic and far
reaching. But the discovery with
which we are dealing involves forces
OF nature too dangerous to fit into
any OF our usual concepts.
Other Phases of Problem.
The other phase of the problem is
the question Of the international
control and development of this
newly discovered energy.
In international relations as in
domestic affairs, the release Of at
omic energy constitutes a new force
too revolutionary to consider in the
framework of old ideas. We can
no longer rely on the slow progress
of time to develop a program of
control among nations. Civilization
demands that we shall reach at the
earliest possible date satisfactory
arrangement for the control of this
discovery in order that it may be-
come powerful and forceful in
ifuence towards the maintenance of
world peace instead of an instru-
ment of destruction. es9 ; :
Scientific opinion appears to be
practically unanimous that the es-
sential theoretical knowledge upon
which the discovery is based is al
ready widely known. There is also
substantial agreement that foreign
research can come abreast of our
present theoretical knowledge in
time.
The hope Of civilization lies in
international arrangements look
ing, if possible, to the remuneration
of the use and development of the
atomic bomb, and directing and en-
couraging the use of atomic energy
and all future scientific information
toward peaceful and humanitarian
ends. The difficulties in working
out such arrangements are great.
The alternative to overcoming these
difficulties, however, may be a des-
perate armament race, which might
well end in disaster. Discussion
of the international problem cannot
be safely delayed until the United
Nations organization is function
ing and in a position adequately to
deal with it.
I therefore propose that these
discussions will not be concerned