Evening star., 1946-12-22
The Atomic Vote

VINO won what, and now much, is
not clear in the conflicting interpre-
tations of the Atomic Energy Com
missions 10-to-0 vote in favor of the
resolution embodying United States
control proposals. The American
view seems to be that the vote con-
stitutes an important victory for Mr..
Baruch and our delegation. The
Canadians, however, think other
wise. They hold that there has been
simply an Endorsement of principles
and that certain vital details-in-
volving the veto-remain to be
worked out.
AS advocated by Mr.: Baruch, the
vote was designed to commit the
commission to the idea of incor-
porating the American plan among
its findings and recommendations in
it's forthcoming report to the Sc
curity Council of the United Nations.
The substance of the plan calls for
the creation of world control au-
thority unhampered by the veto
either in it's ay-to-day supervisory
and policing operations or in pun
ishing violatorS. To the extent that
the 10-to-0 vote favored all this in
principle" our delegation certainly
appears to have won victory, but
the scope of that victory remains to
be determined by the way in which
the "details" are defined in the final
report which the commission is sup
posed to file with the Council before
the end of the month.
AS far as the day-to-day control
operations are concerned, the COM
mission as whole seems agreed on
the American plan. The vetoless
punishment of violators, however, is
another matter. Before Fridays
vote was taken, Mr.. Gromyko asked
for a delay of several days to give
Russia more time to study the pro-
poSalS. Since the Russians had pre-,
viously come around to the view that
supervision and inspection ought not
to be impeded by the veto, their re-
quest for delay presumably reflected
doubts only as regards setting up a
vetoless Furnishing system. In any
case, when Mr.. Baruch insisted on
an immediate count Of noses, Mr..
Gromyko felt strongly enough about
the question to dissociate himself
entirely from the action, SO that he
was recorded as neither abstaining
nor voting. AS for the other men,
bers of the commission, Poland abb
stained and the rest voted afflrma-
lively. ~ =
q But the affirmation was qualified.
After tending to support the Rus
slams against hasty action, the Ca
nadians amended the lBaruch-
sponsored resolution to provide that
the American plan be made to con-
form with the General Assembly's
disarmament resolution. This reso-
luton, though implicitly favoring a
vetoless day-to-day control system,
says nothing whatever, directly or
indirectly, about vetoless punish
ment. The idea of vetoless punish
ment-which the Russians appar-
emily dislike, TOBIAS been frowned
upon by the Canadians, their view
being that any effort to impose seri-
Gus sanctions in the atomic field,
with or without the veto, would be
tantamount to war and that it is
unrealistic for Mr.. Baruch to make
a great issue of it in the preliminary
stages of establishing control.
Accordingly, until the Security
Council receives the Atomic Energy
Commissions impending report, the
precise meaning of the present sit
uation will be open to question.
Meanwhile, pending clarification in
this respect, it would be premature
to read an excessively discouraging
meaning into the position taken by
Mr.. Gromyko. On the whole, even
if less than a total American victory,
Fridays vote clearly seems to rep
resent another step forward toward
real control of the atom.