The daily monitor leader., 1945-11-19
. BEHIND THE SCENES
IN WASHINGTON .

oI tIilS new ceOeTdtlOn OF Atomic
have just been announced. There
are four local organizations OF
atomic scientists at Oak Ridge.
Los Alamos, Columbia Univer.
sity, New York and the Univer-
sity of Chicago. Nearly 1000
scientists are members of these
four local organizations, all If
which have issued statements
Independently demanding inter-
national cooperation in atomic
bomb control as the best way 20
maintain world peace. The four
organizations claim to represent
95 per cent of the scientists who
worked on the project.
PRIMARILY, the new organ
ization represents protest
against the May-Johnson bill
calling for government control
of all atomic energy resources,
secrets, processes and materials.
This DILL has been favorably re-
ported to the House by the Mill
tary Affairs Committee. AS the
bill was drafted by War Depart
ment lawyers, it has been ticket
ed as the Army-Navy bill,
though military service spokes-
men say it was drafted at the
direction of a civilian COMMITTEES
OF cabinet secretaries and assist
ant secretaries, plus the three
scientists most prominent in gov-
ernment wartime research. They
are DR.. Vannevar Bush, Dr..
James b. Conant and DR.. Karl L.
Compton.
Official position of these three
scientists is that they were reluc-
tant to say they represented u. s.
scientific opinion. But since they
did serve on the Presidents in
terim committee which approv-
ed the May-Johnson bill draft,
the position taken by the new
organization of young atomic
scientists represents a revolt and
reputation of the Bush Conant-
Compton action.
Actually, the statement sign
ed recently by 500 leading sci
entists of Harvard and Massa-
chusettes Institute of Technology
calling for international control
of the atomic bomb, constitutes
a far worse slap at Bush. Con-
ant and Compton. All three are
New Englanders. Conant is
president of Harvard, Compton
is head of M. I. T. and Bush,
president of the Carnegie Insti-
ton of Washington, is an M. I.
T. director. They are practically
the only three important scieo-
fists in the Boston-Cambridge
area whose names do not appear
on the statement of the new
Cambridge Association OF Sci
entists. This Cambridge group
worked more on radar and
electromic development than
they did on the atomic bomb
project, so for the present they
have not been asked to join
the new organization of atomic
scientists.
CHICAGO SCIENTISTS FIRST
TO ORGANIZE
FIRST Of the atomic bomb
groups to organize and voice its
plea for sharing the atomic Sc
cret was Atomic Scientists OF
Chicago represented by DR.. II.
"A. Goldsmith, 80, graduate Of
New York's City College.
The Association of Oak Ridge
Scientists has been represented
in Washington by DR.. L. B.
Borst, its chairman, and DR.. p.
S. Henshaw, who was denied op-
portunity to make statement
before the House Military Affairs
Committee. but did submit a
written statement against the
May-Johnson bill which was
printed in the committees hear
ings.
The Los Alamos group Is re-
presented by DR.. w. NJ. Wood
ward, 20, graduate of Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology.
The Association of Manhattan
District Scientists, representing
the Columbia University and
other eastern university groups,
is the most recent to come into
the field.