Evening star., 1946-06-21
Russiu and the Atom

submitted by Russia for interna-
tional control of the atom conceiv-
ably may serve as starting point
for negotiations which will lead to
a satisfactory plan. But it should
be made perfectly clear that the
proposals in their present form are
not satisfactory because they do not
seem to contemplate setting up the
safeguards against misuse of atomic
energy to which the people OF the
world are entitled and upon which
this country must insist.
The American plan, as presented
last week by Mr.. Baruch, envisions
a treaty outlawing the A-bomb and
kindred weapons, but it places
the main emphasis on setting up a
control mechanism with teeth in 1t.
To this end it calls for suprana-
tional Atomic Development Author
ity to own, dominate, direct or su-
pervise everything in the field. It
calls also for the swift and sure
punishment of violators, and to
make this provision as strong as pos
sible it would deprive China, France,
Britain, Russia and the United
States OF their veto power over
matters related to the atom. Finally,
under the plan, America would re-
veal its exclusive knowledge by sep
arate stages. but it would not tell
all that it knows. nor would 1t stop
manufacturing A-weapons and dis
pose OF its existing stock, until the
new world system were in effective
operation.
BY contrast. the proposals sub
mitted by Mr.. Gromyko place
only vague and secondary en-
phasis on enforcement. The treaty
suggestion. to be sure. is concrete
enough. There would be a solemn
undertaking pledging the nations
never to use atomic weapons or pro-
duce or store them. This would be
binding on every country. would
make any violation "a serious crime
against humanity" and would oblige
us to destroy all our A-bombs within
three months after 1t became effec-
tive. But Mr.. Gromyko, while as
serting that Russia will resist our
idea to remove the veto from this
field, does not make clear how
his country proposes to implement
the treaty. He has merely suggested
the appointment of two committees
-one to study the problem of ex-
changing every kind OF information
about the atom. and the other to
prepare the treaty draft and to work
out measures" to establish Sane
t1ons" and system of strict super
vision"
But the Russians apparently do
not have In mind measures, sane
tlons" and "strict supervision" as
far-reaching as those projected by
the American plan. Mr.. Gromyko's
statement indicates that they may be
willing to go good distance in sub
ordinating their sovereignty to in
ternational control, but until this
distance is spelled out more specifi-
cally, Judgment must be reserved, In
any case, as Mr. Baruch has empha-
sized, the United States will not give
up It's atomic plant or make final
disclosures of its "know-how" until
there is a treaty with teeth behind
1t and the teeth are in working
order.
These teeth need not necessarily
be Identical with those suggested in
our own proposal. But they must be
such as will give maximum assur-
ance that the atom will become the
property Of the world, rather than
that OF any individual nation. so
That people everywhere can know
that Its potentialities are being de-
veloped for good and not for evil
On its face, the Russian plan does
not provide for this essential assur-
ance.