Detroit evening times., 1945-10-15
Civilization and the Atom

cities into rubble that buried thousands of
citizens. We omitted all mention of women
and children.
FINALLY, il was the United States, of all
Il nations, that perfected the atomic bomb
and annihilated two whole cities in two tre-
mendous seconds.
In World War I the airplane and the Zep.
pen made their appearance and wreaked
such havoc that they provoked countless peo-
pie to predict the end of war because cities
would be rendered uninhabitable and the
strongest fortresses would crumble. Others
went so far as to predict the end Of all navies,
and nearly everybody was convinced of this
but the navy men.
Well, the battle wagons have done their
bit once more. Even those almost helpless
founderers, those floating airfelds. the car
riers, have stood of the frenzied attacks even
of the suicide planes. They have been riddled
and battered, but most Of them have made
their way to drydocks under their own power
and come back looking for more.
NOW THE ATOMIC BOMB HAS ENDED
ALL NAVIES AGAIN. BUT 1T is SAFE TO
SAY THAT SOME FORMS OF MAN-OF.
WAR WILL BE RIGHT IN THERE FIGHT
ING AS LONG AS THEY CAN FIND AN
OCEAN TO FIGHT ON.
In fact the navy has already announced
that it has a radar gun that will pick out an
atomic bomb 90 miles away and keep it's
deadly eye on it until 1t has shattered that
atom-shattering bomb and bombers
There is the eternal race between attack
and defense. As soon as an armor-piercing
shell was invented. men invented thicker or
harder armor. And the race went on with
one now ahead, and then the other.
TN CIVIL WAR people laughed at iron war;
Il ships till the Monitor and the Merrimac
fought each other to a standstill. Before the
Monitor got into the fight, people were saying
that the Merrimac, with its iron rails laid
along its sloping sides, had put an end to
navies.
Centuries before, when gunpowder came
into use with cannon, ii was plain to many
people that war had finally come to an end.
For who could stand up against "villainous
saltpeter7"
Before that, the long spears In rows Of
FIVE that constituted the phalanx had put an
end to warfare. There seemed TO be no de-
fense against it till somebody thought Of
sending the cavalry round to the rear. The
phalanx was ridiculotsiy vulnerable to an
attack from behind. There seems to be al
ways simple defense to the most complex
attack
Throughout this long and hdeous war.
not one nation has used gas. Yet nearly every
nation has had big supply In reserve and OF
a far more deadly nature than any used in
World War l.
There is much talk about keeping the
atomic bomb secret. But both Germany and
Japan were on the brink of achieving the
same thing. And from now on any nation
can make it. 1t will be expensive. Ours cost
us So, 900, 600, 900 and the toll Of thousands Of
workers for years. But such inventions are
speedily understood by other scientists and
often greatly improved, simplihed and cheap
ened
IN THE NEXT WAR 1T MIGHT WELL
BE THAT EVERYBODY WOULD HAVE
ATOMIC BOMBS AND-NOBODY WOULD
USE THEM, JUST AS IN THIS WAR NO
BODY USED GAS TO DESTROY ENEMIES.
And that brings me to the bitter end, the
very bitter end, of this hateful problem. Will
the atomic bomb destroy civilization if an
other war starts