Evening star., 1947-03-23
Atom Still
No. / Riddle
Is Far From
an Agreement
on Bomb
Rv Robert ". Cool

Well into the second year of Its
atomic age, the world continues tc
wrestk with the atomic challenge
on two levels, political and tech
nical.
Since the day of Hiroshima, Au-
gust 5, 1915. when mankind first
confronted the atomic bomb, there
has been a race between the United
Nations efforts to outlaw the evil
application of what was, before the
war turned the scientists to bomb
making, an effort to give man a
new source of power.
The scientists themselves have
said that unless the job of building
permanent peace can catch up with
and pass what is being done in the
laboratories, civilization faces de-
struction.
In the political field. the United
Nations Security Council at Lake
Success, N. Y, has spent many
months discussing programs for the
control of atomic armaments. Still
as it did last spring, the debate
hinges on an American plan calling
for the creation of an international
atomic development authority tc
supervise and restrict all atomic
operations, and Russian plan
which demands immediate destruc-
ton of all atomic weapons and con-
troll by international agreement
with big powers retaining the right
to veto sanctions against violatofS
Distrust Is Big Obstacle.
Meanwhile. continued friction
among countries, blocs and ideolo-
gies adds to the distrust which most
authorities see as the basic obstacle
to a practical understanding.
The atomic bomb question stands
like a ghost between the United
States and Russia.
What the Soviet Union is doing to
develop atomic arms remains as
much of mystery as it was eight
months ago, when the Russians
promised to invite western observers
to "Bikini" tests of their own some
day But, though Britain, Canada
and the United States have long
head start in this field of endeavor,
Canadian Prime Minister w. L.
Mackenzie King has warned that
1T will be but a matter of time be-
fore all processes are known to
practically all nations"
He said this back in December,
1915. and the Soviet experts have
not been idle since then.
New Uranium Deposits.
In recent months new deposits of
uranium and thorium-the ma
terial of atomic energy-have been
found in South America, Africa,
Europe and Asia. New atomic re-
search centers have been planned or
started in Fire, Britain, Sweden and
other countries.
Still, however, North America re-
mains the homeland of atomic
energy, with the United States sole
custodian of atomic. arms-making
facilities, so far as is known. The
atomic energy plants are located at
Chalk River. Ontario; Oak Ridge,
Tenn; Hanford, Wash; and Los
Alamos, N. Mex.
The United States. Canada and
Britain agreed in 1945 to try to pre-
vent the use of atomic energy for
destructive purposes"
While atomic energy has chiefly
been dramatized for its war making
potential, development for peaceful
purposes promises to revolutionize
human life in the future.
Thus, the race is being pushed on
three, instead, of two fronts. The
quest for peace and atomic develop
ment for civilian uses offer the vista
of constructive new age-better
than anything known to history.
But they have not yet caught up
with the atomic weapon, which
bears the mark of doom unless it
is held in check.
Distributed by the Associated PressO