Montana labor news., 1946-04-04
ATOMIC MIDDLE

Whether or not the atomic bomb
advanced the day-oi-victory or not, the
FAC, that the United States spent two
billion dollars in producing the iirst
atomic bomb certainly advanced the
knowledge OF atomic energy to a great
extent. 1t is up to Congress to see to
i, that the Atomic Energy commis-
sion be lett under civilian control not
stymied by any N%andenberg Gripping
amendments.
Huge Demonstration Planned
At an estimated cost Of S50O,OOO,OOO
and a target fleet oil 81 warships TO be
used as guinea pigs on the Bikini atoll,
the Navy department decided 10 test
out the iull destructiveness OF the
atomic bombs in early May, since post
poncd to July after being forced to rule
out japanese and Alaska waters Tor the
destructive experiments. A more asst
nine and destructive experiment was
never before undertaken in recorded
history.
1t should be evident to any intelligent
human being that a modern navy has
become obsolete under atomic bomb
attack, but the Navy department, con-
sistent with former stands, insists on
knowing just how dead a navy can be.
In the ultimate it is but a question OF
how utterly the atoll can be destroyed,
how flat a ship can be flattened, how
many fish can be killed with each
bomb, how high the tidal wave and
how far it will travel is an academic
question to which the Harvard u%niver-
sity or the University Of California
would gladly give an answer, close
enough Tor all practical purposes, free
OF charge, TO the national government.
1t would save a lot OF headaches as we'll
as fish and other valuable property,
too.
Is International Politics Involved7
Shortly after World War ! General
Mitchell proved that warships are vul-
/ nerable to air attack. The atom bomb
dropped on Hiroshima proved that ma
vies are obsolete, even though it would
take a bomb for each ship. Can it be
possible that we are TO use the atomic
bomb demonstration for an object les
son to impress Russia with the big
stick? We could tell her in unmistak-
able terms: See what happens il you
don't back up" Thus we could obvi-
ously compel her to get out Of China,
Iran and Poland, also take less interest
in European affairs and reduce her
army. The fact that we have a thou
sand, or more, on hand nov and still
making them should be proof positive
that they are to be used for some
purpose, whether they are outlawed or
not.
The only flaw in the argument is that
Russia has no respect for the atomic
bomb-incidentally may have one Of hel
own-and looks upon Churchill's speech
as a sign OF ganging up, on a la l9ls
style. She knows, or thinks she does
that Great Britain owns the Anglo
lranian Oil company, has troops il
Iraq, besides feeding and arming Polisl
troops in Italy as they are training To-
a military putsch.
At the worst, Russia is only shaking
the big stick on Iran same as we did il
Panama years ago and which was no
considered unethical at the time.
| asked a fellow just back from
touring Russia how they reacte'
toward the atomic bomb over there, t
which he replied; "You hear NOR
atomic bomb horrors in day in Butt
than you hear in a week in Moscow.
Mention Of the bomb in u papers j
Of daily occurrence, while | have no
seer it referred to even once in the las
50 issues Of the Moscow Information
Bulletin.
1t is an open question whether tn
bomb ended the wal a single day soone
as Japan was thoroughly licked befor
the bomb was launched, but it gave u
a white elephant on our hands an
makes us more jittery than the poter
tial enemy il is aimed at.
A.. Z. ANDERSON.
Butte, Mont, March II, 1916.
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