Evening star., 1945-08-06
By Henry L. Sfimson,
Secretary OF War.

accom- modate the people working on the
project. They live under normal con-
ditions in modest houses, dormitories,
hutmerts and trailers, and have for their
use all the religious, recreational, educa-
tional, medical and other facilities of
modern small city. The total popula-
tion of Oak Ridge is approximately
78 1000 and consists of construction work.
ers and plant operators and their imme-
diate families; others live in imme-
diately surrounding communities.
The Hanford Engineer Works is To-
Gated on a Government reservation OF
430,0 900 acres in an isolated area Is
miles northwest of Pasco, Wash. Here
is situated a Government owned and
operated town called Richland with a
population of approximately 1900 con-
sisting of plant operators and their i'm
mediate families. AS in the case of the
site in Tennessee, consideration of Sc
curity and safety necessitated placing
this site in a isolated area. Living con-
ditions in Richland are similar to those
in Oak Ridge.
A special laboratory dealing with the
many technical problems involved in
putting the components together into an
effective bomb is located in an isolated
area in the vicinity of Santa Fe, N. Mex.
This laboratory has been planned, Or
ganized and directed by DR.. j. Robert
Oppenheimer. The development of the
bomb itself has been largely due to his
genius and the inspiration and leader
ship he has given to his associates.
Certain other manufacturing plants
much smaller in scale are located in
the United States and in Canada for
essential production of needed materials.
Laboratories at the Universities of Co.
lumbia, Chicago and California, Iowa
State College and at other schools as
well as certain industrial laboratories
have contributed materially in carrying
on research and in developing special
equipment, materials and processes for
the project. A laboratory has been es-
tablished in Canada and pilot plant
for the manufacture of material is being
built. This work is being carried on by
the Canadian government with assist
ance from, and appropriate liaison with,
the United States and the United King
dom.
While space does not permit of a
complete listing of the industrial con-
Germs which have contributed SO
signally to the success of the project,
mention should be made of few The
!Du Pont de Nemours Co. designed
and constructed the Hanford installa-
tions in Washington and operate them.
A special subsidiary of the M. w. Kel-
logg Co. of New York designed one of
the plants at Clinton, which was con-
structed by the j. A. Jones Co. and is
operated by the Union Carbide & Car
bon Co. The second plant at Clinton
was designed and constructed by the
Stone g. Webster Engineering Corp.
of Boston and is operated by the Ten
nessee Eastman Co. Equipment was
supplied by almost all of the impor-
tant firms in the United States, in
cluding Allis Chalmers, Chrysler, Cen
eral Electric and Westinghouse. These
are only few of the literally thousands
of firms, both large and small, which
have contributed to the success of the
program. 1t is hoped that one day it
will be possible to reveal in greater
detail the contributions made by in
dustry to the successful development
of this weapon.
Behind these concrete achievements
lie the tremendous contributions of
American science. No praise is too
great for the unstinting efforts, bril-
liant achievements, and complete devo-
ton to the national interest of the
scientists of this country. Nowhere
else in the world has science performed
so successfully in time of war All the
men of science who have co-operated
effectively with industry and the mill
iy, Hrie, iaot
to fruition merit the very highest eX-
preston of gratitude from the people of
the Nation.
In the War Department the main
responsibility for the successful prose-
cution of the program rests with Maj
Gen. Leslie r. Groves. His record of
performance in securing the effective
development of this weapon for our
armed forces in so short a period of
time has been truly outstanding and
merits the very highest commendation.
HI.
From the outset extraordinary secrecy
and security measures have surrounded
the project. This was personally or
dered by President Roosevelt and his
orders have been strictly complied with.
The work has been completely COM
partmentalized so that while many
thousands of people have been associ-
ated with the program in one way or
another no one has been given more
information concerning it than was
absolutely necessary to his particular
job. AS a result, only few highly
placed persons in Government and
science know the entire story. 1t was
inevitable, of course, that public curl
osity would be aroused concerning so
large a project and that citizens would
make inquiries of members of Congress.
In such instances the members of Con-
gress have been most cooperative and
have accepted in good faith the state
ment of the War Department that mill
tary security precluded any disclosure
of detailed information.
In the appropriation of funds, the
Congress has accepted the assurances
of the Secretary of War and the chief
of staff that the appropriations made
were absolutely essential to national
security. The War Department is con-
fident that the Congress will agree that
its faith was not mistake. Because
it has not been possible for Congress to
keep a close check on the expenditure
of the funds appropriated for the prof.
ect, which to June 80, 1945, amounted
to $1,950,000,O 900, key scientific phases
of the work have been reviewed from
time to time by eminently qualified
scientists and industrial leaders in order
to be certain that the expenditures were
warranted by the potentialities of the
program.
The press and radio of the Nation,
as in so many other instances. have
complied fundamentally with the re-
quests of the ONCE of Censorship that
publicity on any phase of this subject
be suppressed.