Evening star., 1946-06-27
Letters to The Star
Differs With Mr.. Kent About
Scientists as Citizens

~SS>AS w l. IN o1"A
Differs With Mr.. Kent About
Scientists as Citizens
To the Editor OF The Star:
In his column on the Baruch Atomic
Bomb Plan (The Star, June I'D Frank
r. Kent writes: " And Mr.. Baruch
does not take the view Of those enthusi-
astic and extremely vocal scientists who
want to start out by giving every bit of
atomic knowledge we have to everybody
else. Not that he is unwilling to give
but only that he wants to give at the
right time and in the right way. " ="
1t is only fair to assume that by "those
scientists" Mr.. Kent refers to influential
men holding responsible positions in uni
versities, in industry, or in Federal
agencies. II this assumption were in
correct, then those scientists opinions
hardly would be mentioned in Mr.. Kent's
column. Thus Mr.. Kent,s statement
implies that responsible scientists are
so ignorant Of political realities and so
devoid of common sense as to advocate
giving away something for absolutely
nothing even before international nego-
tiations have begun.
should like to point out that this
implication manifestly is not true
A little pamphlet entitled zone World
or None," which apparently has not had
the wide circulation it deserves, contains
articles by very distinguished men Of
science on the subject Of atomic energy
and its numerous ramifications. Upon
the investment of one dollar Mr.. Kent
should be able to convince himself that
none Of the authors proposes policy
Of unconditional giving away OF atomic
information that has military value.
With a slightly greater effort your
columnist also may check on the releases
Scientists" and the atomic Scientists
of Chicago" and try to find evidence for
his contention.
In the course of his researches Mr..
Kent may discover that "those enthusi-
astic and extremely vocal scientists" are
apt to be quite thoughtful in their spare
time. They, for example, have con-
tributed materially to the Acheson-
Lilienthal report, document that is
not only the basis OF the Baruch pro-
possl, as Mr.. Kent comedies, but very
much its essence. 1t explains Just how
to ''give at the right time and in the
right way" without putting this country
into position that is at any time un-
favorable compared to conditions that
would exist II no atomic-control plan
were to be adopted. To the best Of my
knowledge this report, as well rs the
Baruch proposal, was Endorsed by all the
scientific groups that commented on it.
1t took a world war to fully establish
the great importance of scientific men
for the security and welfare of the
Nation. 1t may take only one ILL
informed columnist to establish prece-
dent for discrediting the scientist as 4
citizen. GEORGE 7. RADIO, Ph. D.
More on Poll Tax Agitation
To the Editor Of The Star:
agree with your correspondent, Mr..
Colvin, when he, in effect, says that
there is q lot Of fakery in this move
ment against the poll tax laws in some
Of the States. The assailants constant
ly are calling attention to the small
vote in those States as the chief argu-
ment against them.
In an editorial Of the Baltimore Sun
OF June 20, this argument largely is
exposed. hardly believe that Mary
de tn hA vxHt Ia
nighted South" hence, call your at
tention to this statement therein:
''Maryland's voting in primaries is very
bad. In the gubernatorial primary Of
1898, when the Democratic candidates
were Messrs. O'Conor and jackson (At-
torney General and Mayor OF Baltimore,
respectively, both men long known to
the people-only about 27.4 per cent Of
the eligible registrants took the trouble
to 60 to the polls" The 27.4 covered
the "registrants" only and did not refer
to the people eligible to be voters. That
was one of the biggest fights that we
had had for long time, too.
If this is true in this area, I doubt
If there is much difference in the voting
elsewhere In the country, except under
very unusual conditions. AS the Sun
says, the usual attitude is expressed
thus: whats the use?" That attitude
has more to do with the volume OF votes
cast than anything else, it seems to me.
People vote for man who says that
he stands for certain things. but when
he gets into Office the result has been
found disappointing in so many in
stances that the general public has as
sumed the attitude covered by this quo
| tation.
The curious thing is that these critics
Of the South do lot OF talking about
the lack Of educational facilities there,
but they seem to forget, most likely try
to conceal from the Northern public,
that these funds 60 to keep up the school
systems in the poll-tax States.
GEO. w. WILLIAMS.
Wants Charity at Home
IT. I'd mr.