Evening star., 1946-10-03
The Decent Thing to Do

uS ASSSuN ubhS ~ ~
Mr.. Baruch, our representative on
the United Nations Atomic Energy
Commission, has brought into the
open, in showdown terms, a situation
that challenges the good faith, the
intellectual integrity and the sense
Of responsibility of Henry A. Wallace
and his parroting followers in the
National Citizens Political Action
Committee, the Independent Citi-
zens' Committee of the Arts, Sciences
and Professions and the CIO Political
Action Committee.
The situation revolves around Mr..
Wallace's celebrated July letter to
President Truman and what that
letter had to say about our plan for
world control of the atom. The chief
thing that it had to say was that
the plan would require other ma
tionS to accept binding agreements
under which they would be obliged
to reveal to us their uranium and
thorium resources and suspend all
research in relation to the military
uses of nuclear f1ssion, while we, for
our part, would give up nothing until
we decided-at our "unfettered
discretion"-that the proposed new
international system was working
to our satisfaction.
When this Interpretation was first
made public, it was promptly refuted
in many parts of the country,
through unofficial channels such as
newspapers, as being demonstrably
a gross distortion. But this was not
the only way in which Mr.. Wallace
learned of his error, for Mr.. Baruch
now has revealed that he and the
former Secretary of Commerce had
a long talk together last week and
that during that talk the latter
acknowledged that he had misun-
derstood our plan and had thor
,oughly misconstrued the device Of
separate stages" Any honest man,
Of course, would have had to admit
as much, since the plain fact is that
the United Nations, with Russia
agreeing, long ago resolved that
control would have to be effectuated
by such stages in order to develop
mutual confidence. As for "un-
fettered discretion" the truth is
that under our proposal the nature
and timing of these stages would
be specifically fixed" and that at
the attainment Of each stage the
United States would be prepared to
carry out any obligations called for
by the overall agreement.
Yet, according to MIR. Baruch, Mr..
Wallace, although admitting his
grave mistake, has reneged on q
promise to correct himself In public.
Indeed, far from correcting himself,
he appare ntly has given his consent
to widespread distribution of copies
OF the letter in which the original
error was made and he seems to be
not at all disturbed by the fact that
at their recent meeting in Chicago
his worshipful followers among the
CIO-PAC committees adopted, as If
it were gospel truth, his completely
wrong headed Interpretation. In
demanding that the committees
make correction and In following
that demand with an angry message
deploring Mr.. Wallace's failure to
retract, Mr.. Baruch has taken q
course he could scarcely have
avoided, considering the fact, a. he
says, that the former Secretary's
position is "gravely dangerous to
the delicate negotiations now under
way" and creates confusion and
division among our people"
The decent thing for Mr.. Wallace
and his CIO-PAC followers to do
In the circumstances is to come out
in the open and frankly confess
that they have given voice to a
palpable distortion. Failing that the
American people will have every
reason to draw unfiattering con-
clusions regarding their good faith,
their intellectual integrity and their
sense OF responsibility.