Evening star., 1946-11-01
Aqreement-or Else


that the United Nations General As
sembly is to give full airing to
Russia's proposal for an early inter-
national reduction of armaments.
In principle, as submitted by For
eign Minister Molotov, the proposal
is a constructive one, and If properly
implemented it can 60 far toward
eliminating the potentially danger
Gus tensions now troubling the diff
ferent powers.
This "if," however, is big one.
The Russian plan appears to envi-
sion little more than general
agreement-to be effectuated by the
Security Council-to cut down on
arms. It would also set up as
primary objective" a treaty outlaw
ing the manufacture and use of
atomic weapons, but it says nothing
about adopting specific measures to
make sure that both the general
agreement and the treaty on the
atom are lived up to.
In this connection, our chief dele
gate to the United Nations, former
Senator Austin, has made Americas
position clear. And he has made it
clear with restraint that Mr..
Molotov would do well to emulate.
The Russian proposal has our sup
port, but when it comes up for dis
cussion in the General Assembly, our
contention will be that it does not 60
far enough. In respect to the atom, of
course, the United States will con-
tinue to insist that any treaty out
lawing A-weapons must be backed
by an inspection system and con-
trolling world authority unhampered
by the veto power. Otherwise, to ask
us to surrender our present advan-
tage in this field would be to ask us
to undertake unilateral nuclear dis
armament without offering us any
guarantees against the possibility of
clandestine treaty violations by
other powers.
Judging from what Mr.. Molotov
has said about our control plan, it
obviously is not going to be easy for
us to come to agreement with the
Soviet Union on the atom. More
over, wholly apart from the atom, 1t
remains to be seen whether the Rus
SLAMS will react favorably to Mr.
Austins vieW--the official American
view-that even as regards non.
atomic disarmament there must be
effective safeguards by way of in
spection and other means to protect
complying states against the hazards
of violation and evasions." Ofcourse,
such safeguards would not have to
be nearly so elaborate or far-reach-
ing as those required for atomic
control, but Russia up to now has
indicated that it will not consent to
them, although proposals for arms
reductions and the outlawry of nu-
clear weapons can mean little or
nothing without them.
The General Assembly's forthconn-
ing discussion should do much to
emphasize this point. II the en-
phasis carries weight with the Rus
slams, II agreement can be reached
on q truly effective disarmament
program, other issues ought not to
be hard to settle. After all, such
questions as the veto power (the
United States is opposed to elimi-
mating it, or making the different
nations account for their troops
abroad 1--WE now support this Soviet
demand, though on a broadened
basis) are minor compared to the
question of reducing the worlds
arms load. If we can have a good
answer to that, the lesser problems
will yield much more readily to
solution.
Contrariwise, if we cannot agree
in this particular, our own country,
as Mr.. Austin has stated, will con-
tinne to refuse to disarm unilater-
ally. So, too, will every other coun-
try. And what mankind will have
then will be not peace but an armed
truce under which all nations will
live in fear of each other and OF
what may happen on some evil day
to fssion and disintegrate the whole
of civilization as we know 1t.