Evening star., 1946-10-10
Our Atomic Plan

AS MI. Barucn mas just re-em-
phasized In his address at Freedom
House in New York, the American
atomic plan still stands Moreover,
although Mr.. Wallace and his fol-
lowers have spread confusion by
loudly articulating their errors,
there can be no doubt that the
plan enjoys the overwhelming sup
port of public opinion in this coun-
try.
The substance of the plan is sim
ply this: That atomic research and
development everywhere be placed
under the strict control Of a world
authority; that this control include
a far-reaching and effective inter-
national inspection system; that
swift and sure punishment be flxed
for violations of rules prescribing
certain activities; and that the veto
power of the Big Five be suspended
in this field to insure against any
nation voting itself the right to
break its solemn agreements. In
sum, in Mr.. Baruch's words, what
the United States proposes and in
sists upon is "a realistic working
pact-not merely pious expression
of intent, wholly lacking in methods
of enforcement"
In it's essentials, our position has
won the support of every member
of the United Nations Atomic Energy
Commission except Russia and sat-
elite Poland, though the latter has
offered only relatively mild oppo-
sition. In other words, were 1t not
for Moscow's stand up to now, the
world probably would be well on its
way toward adopting what Mr..
Baruch has called the "irreducible
minima" of our plan "minima"
vital to effective worldwide control
of the atom. Such control simply
cannot be had under the Soviet
counter-proposal, which suggests
little more than treaty outlawing
A-weapons-"merely pious express
sion of intent, wholly lacking in
methods of enforcement"
There Is no way of knowing at the
moment, although there are some
hopeful signs, whether the Russians
will eventually come around to our
basic views, but whether they do or
not, this much is certain: They can
not expect us to retreat from our
insistence on the establishment of
a world authority with strong in
spection system. This is so funda-
mental to harnessing the atom for
peace that even Mr.. Wallace seems
to regard it as imperative. How
ever, after having been less than
fortnight. in acknowledging how
wrong he was when he called our
plans staging provisions "a fatal
defect" he apparently is sticking to
his newer charge that because we
are continuing to manufacture and
stockpile A-bombs, we are chiefly to
blame for deadlocking negotiations.
But Mr.. Baruch has answered this
effectively with Q simple question:
"Why should Americans alone be
asked to make sacrifices by way Of
unilateral disarmament in the cause
of international good will?" Atomic
control, after all, is not q one-way
proposition. The Russians-whose
own plan, incidentally, proposes that
the production be stopped and the
bombs destroyed after the outlawing
treaty has been ratified-have only
to agree to genuinely effective sys-
tenn, and in return, as the system
takes effect, the United States will
give up all its present advantages.
AS matters stand, the vast ma
jority of Americans probably would
not permit Mr.. Baruch-even If he
wanted TOTO consent to the kind
of "unilateral disarmament. Mr..
Wallace has suggested. To ask for
this type of concession, which the
Russians themselves have not re-
quested, is to ask for more than sin
cere negotiation requires. Actually,
the more our plan is studied, the
clearer its fairness and basic sound
ness become. The world can only
hope that the Soviet Union will in
time be convinced of this and CO.
operate fully against the threat Of
catastrophe that will otherwise
hang over all of us.
ItoIy's Plight