The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-03-25

iuDllc money, 10 go out and plah-
lab all over the country about
Aese bombs?"
But the chairman of the joint
ommittee, Sen. Mcmahon Cd
'onn), is wondering whether
more rather than less publicity
would not be a wiser atomic pol
cy. He even suggests that il
night be well to reveal the top
most atomic secret: How many
atomic bombs do we possess? He
avs he is not sure in his own
mind that this should be done
But that he thinks there are sc
many good reasons in favor of il
that his committee and Congress
should debate the issue and make
a decision.
We know all about our Army
Navy and Air Force, he says. How
can we determine where best Il
spend money, what our defense
situation is, if we don't know the
key question - the number O.
bombs we own?
I'm the case of atomic energy
lie says, Congress has purchased
4 defense package sight unseen
Lilienthal in a recent press con.
ference said that the number OF
bombs was known only to a very
few people within the commission
md a relatively few people in
the military establishment"
Complaints on too little pub
Lefty came also from the Indus
trial Advisory Group of the Acc
in its report on Dec. 80. The COM
mittee, headed by James w
Parker, president of the Detroit
Edison Co., gave this as the rea.
son that industry has not partici.
pated more fully in atomic en-.
ergy work.
Secrecy Erects Barrier
Secrecy seems to erect an i'm.
penetrable barrier to a wish foi
knowledge. If industry is to helI
in atomic energy and benefit from
it, in~dustrialists must first be put
in a position to find out enough
about the subject to determine
whether and where there are ir
fact opportunities to take part"
Lilienthal for two years ha.
been making speeches all ovel
the country warning that exag.
gerated secrecy in the atomic en-
ergy field "is plain nonsense, ant
dangerous nonsense, dangerous Il
cherished American institution
and for that reason dangerous t.
genuine national security"
For one thing, he explains, sci
entists to do creative work mus
have a wide distribution of re
ports on what other scientists ar
doing. 1t is not enough for atomi
information to be circulated jus
among scientists on the project
Specialists in totally unrelated
fields might eventually be tn,
ones to find the clues to discov
cries that must yet be made be
fore atomic energy has been full,
developed.
The spark that set the Who'll,
atomic program in action came
from two men working in the
field of chemistry, not even think.
ing about nuclear physics. Those
men, Prof. o. Hahn and DR.
Strassman, in Berlin, in 1888
published a chemical paper con.
corning new isotopes. When DR.
o. Frisch and the woman physi.
cist, Prof. Lise Neither, read the
paper, they realized that "nu.
clear fission' had been achieved
unrecognized to the chemists
From then ON scientists all ovel
the world went to work on the
project, which many believe tt
be the most important scientific
development of all time.
Lilienthal has another angle or
publicity which he seems to con
slider even more important: The
whole enterprise is SO vast in it
implications, so expensive ane
controversial, he believes that i
it not safe for the people to rele
gate entire control of it to +;
handful of public officials ant
politicians. The broad atomic is
sues which will confront us, h,
saws, must be decided by th'
democratic process, with onl!
such secrecy as is required by ma
tional security.
81 nok unnn this task of hecnm