Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-29
The Tests Must Go On

IL is Understandable tnat Cnefe mas peen
great deal of frightened comment on our coun-
try's March l hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific.
But nothing has happened to justify the sug
geStion that President Eisenhower should forth
with put an end to all such experimentation.
The Suggestion-Whi has been made I'M
officially here in our own country and abroad
has grown out of certain facts that have lent
themselves to the most extravagant kind of
Interpretation. For example, because the
March l blast repeatedly was three or four times
greater than our scientists had expected, some
people have voiced the fear that the force of
the next scheduled test-which is to be more
powerful-may be comparably miscalculated,
with consequences that could be perilous in the
extreme
Similarly, because radioactive debris from
the recent defamation fell on Japanese fishermen
many miles away, there has been a lot of talk
to the effect that additional experimentation
might spread such debris over far vaSter areas
OF the Pacific. Indeed, it has even been said
that the entire ocean might be contaminated
conceivaby to such degree that all the fish
life in it might be wiped out or rendered unsafe
for human consumption, thus destroying food
source vital to Japan and other countries
Actually, however, it appears now that the
March l radioactive shower was not dangerous
beyond relatively small area of the sea around
our Pacific Proving Grounds and that it did not
seriously injure any of the fishermen. Further,
even though the blast of that date exceeded
expectations, there is every reason to assume
on the strength of the extra precautions now
being taKen-that the next test will imperil
no one who abides by these precautions. Ger
tainly, unless there were sure scientific guaran-
tees on that score with full allowances made
for miscalculations), our Government would not
stage it,
True enough, H-bombs (the March device
apparently unleashed force equivalent to
between IL and ID million tons of exploding
INT are weapons whose about use in war
could readily destroy the whole of civilization.
But it is one thing to declare that their menace
in that sense def1es exaggeration and 1t is
another thing to raise cries of great alarm
against decorating any of them in tightly
controlled experiment. Such cries are unwar-
ranted and unrealstic. For the experimentation
besides being SAFE is essential to the security
of the free world
This is so because the Soviet Union, which
has set off at least one thermonuclear explosion
Is sparlng no effort to equip itself as fast as
possible with H-bombs. Quite obviously, as
emphasized by Representative Hinshaw of the
Joint Congressional Atomic Committee, 1t is
ridiculous" for anybody-in the teeth of such
tact-to propose that the United States aban-
don its current tests. That simply cannot be
done without endangering our inter allied posi-
ton in the global balance of power.
So the tests must go on as long as they
promise to yield practical results This does
not debar us, of course from continuing our
efforts to persuade the Kremlin to assent to a
genuinely effective disarmament system and a
good and enduring peace. Short of that, how
ever, or short of surrender what choice have
we but to arm ourselves as powerfully as we can?