Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-08-07
Bomb
Continued From First Page.)

matum calling on Japan to sur
render or face destruction was is
sued from Potsdam on July 26, or
10 days after the Army made its
first successful test of the new
atomic bomb in the New Mexican
desert on July Is. The Presidents
statement yesterday was regarded
as a second ultimatum to the Japs,
who now may realize the terrible
potentialities which were behind
that original warning that they ig-
nored.
No Immediate Surrender Seen.
However, few high officials here
expect japanese surrender at once,
and apparently the President did not
either as he said in his statement
that the Army Air Forces are fully
prepared TO 60 ahead with the
bombings.
While the industrial use of atomic
energy still remains in the realm
Of speculation, scientists here see
the possibility of revolutionized
world in which telephone-booth-
sized heating plants may warm en-
tire factories, automobiles may be
driven thousands OF miles on a gram
of fuel and the power output of the
Grand Coulee Dam might be
equaled by a midget plant.
Scientists recalled a prediction
made in book published in 1910
by Prof. Thomas B. Brown of George
Washington University, "Founda-
tions of Modern Physics in which
he said:
"It is not beyond the bounds
of possibility that a process may
sometime be discovered in which
spontaneous release of nuclear
energy (atomic energy may con-
tinue to take place once it has been
touched of and the possibilities
for creation and destruction in
herent in the invention of such
a concentrated source Of power are
beyond the widest dreams of the
Imagination"
$1,000, 000, 900 Expended.
1t appears, however. that the road
to industrial use of atomic energy
may be a long and tortuous one,
as Secretary of War Stimson indi-
Gated in his statement yesterday.
Uranium, the metal which provides
the basis for the power of the
atomic bomb, Is rare and ex-
pensive, and 1t was recalled that
81, 600 900 900 was spent and 1885,
900 persons employed to develop
the present weapon.
Another interesting field of specu-
lation is the use to which the new
bomb may be put in enforcing de-
sire for world peace. Statements
made by the War Department SO
far indicate that America and Great
Britain are the only two nations
which have the secret of the atomic
bomb, which appears to give them a
tremendous advantage in modern
warfare.
One official to whom the White
House announcement meant mental
relief was Byron Price, director of
the Office of Censorship. For more
than two years he has had the ire
mendous responsibility that no hint
of the om-smashing project being
carried out at the Clinton Engineer
ing Works in Tennessee and the
Hanford Engineering Works in the
State of Washington should appear
in American newspapers, magazines
or on the radio.
Known rs Manhattan"
The project, known generally
among Government officials by the
code name Manhattan" was I'M
doubtedly the best guarded secret of
the war, although thousands of per-
sons were working in the big plants.
When the first pilot bomb was
detonated in New Mexico last
month and the effects of the blast
were felt $50 miles away, newspa-
pers reported only that an earth
tremor had been felt in the State.
Several times the Office of Gen.
sorship has sent out requests to
newspapers and radio stations to
make no mention of scientific re-
search work conducted by the Gov
eminent.
Mr.. Price yesterday praised the
Nations press and radio for keep
ing the atom smashing program an
inviolable secret.