Evening star., 1945-09-09
Atomic Bomb Control
Necessary for Survival
No Nation Secure Hereafter
From Its Sudden Use.
By John H. Cline.

By John H. Cline.
Y AS the problems of peace and recon-
struction crowd in upon us and clamor
for our attention, the lesson for all
mankind that is implicit in the ruins
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Is being
pushed back into the dim recesses of
memory, where for many of us, it will
soon lose its grim and fateful meaning.
Yet If we forget this lesson, if we neglect
to exhaust every means at our disposal
to make the secret of atomic energy a
useful and harmless servant of society,
we will be doomed to live indefinitely
under the constant threat of sudden
and total destruction.
What Is the real source of danger,
and how are we to deal with it? Today,
only the United States is in position to
know. only the British, the Canadians
and ourselves even possess the knowl-
edge necessary for the production of
these incomparably destructive weapons.
That is condition. however, which will
not prevail for long For a very few
years we may enjoy the security which
arises from the fact that no other ma
tion in the world has the means of
blasting us into eternity. But as the
Soviet magazine New Times reminds
us, 1T is simply question of time be-
fore any country will be able to produce
atomic bombs" That is a statement of
undeniable fact, and if the race to de-
velop this weapon is to continue in the
secret, guarded laboratories of the great
powers, there most assuredly will come
day-although we will not know what
day-when some other nation will per-
feet atomic bombs of much greater de-
structive force than those that we have
used against Japan, and will be able. if
1t should desire to do so, to attack us by
surprise and probably destroy us in a
matter of minutes or hours.
This being the case, one alternative
would be to use the power of atomic
energy while we, and we alone control
1t to subdue the world and prevent all
possible future enemies from develop
ing this weapon. But in this country 1t
No American Government would think
OF embarking on such a course. and if
any should it would be promptly repu-
dated by an outraged public opinion.
This is both the strength and the weak
ness OF democracy for in a political
system such as ours the people, while
restraining their own government from
ocSit
make it virtually impossible to guard
adequately against the possibility of
aggression by others. Another alterna-
tive and one which we may assume will
be fully explored, lies in the possibility
OF perfecting some defense against
atomic bombs or atomic rockets. which.
as Gen. Arnold has told us. will soon
be developed to the point where they
can be fired with deadly accuracy from
any place In the world to any other
place. AS yet however, defense lags far
behind the offensive potential of the
splt atom, and, indeed, all experience
indicates that, while some measure of
defense may be developed. we will never
be able to prevent a few missiles
frelghted with sudden death from get
ting through to their targets. Nor will
1t be necessary for an enemy to get
many through to destroy all of our
cities and place those of us who may
survive at his mercy.
The third alternative, and the only
one which offers much hope at this
time, Is to devise some system whereby
all nations will be fully open to inspec-
tlon by representatives of some interna-
tlonal agency, possibly the United Ma
tlons organization. This, if organized
on an effective scale and Fundamentally
subscribed to by all countries, could
guard against and, perhaps more i'm
portant, give reasonable assurance
against the danger of an unprovoked
surprise attack which might wipe out
peaceful people in the course of
single night.
Because of our belief in the utter
imposslbility of initiating such an at
tack in democratic system, we tend
to doubt that action of this sort would
be taken under any system. The Rus
slams for example, have a form of
government which makes possible sur
prise attack. The Soviet authorities are
| not subject to the restraining influence
OF public opinion in the same degree as
are the officials of this Government or
the British government Furthermore.
through their control Of press and radio,
the Soviets have the means of shaping
public opinion to suit their own purposes.
Yet most Americans do not believe that
there is any danger of an attack upon
the United States by Russia, and in all
! probability they are right The Russians
have suffered heavily in this war. They
need peace throughout the world and
Marshal Stain has said that he wants
| peace. We may assume, and with reason,
that what Russia will desire in the
future is opportunity to recuperate and
develop her own abundant resources.
The last thing she should want is war
with the United States.
But all of this is beside the point If
we discount the possibility that control
of the Russian government might some
day pass into the hands of men who
would be hostile toward the United
States, the fact remains that even with
presumably friendly government in
power in the U. S. S. r.. assuming that
Russia had perfected an atomic rocket or
something of the Sort we would never
know moments freedom from the fear
that some day it might be used against
us. AS long as some other nation has
! the naNer to destroy LIS we will never