Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-08-06
Hiroshima and the World

It was 10 years ago today Japanese
time) that the worlds first atomic bomb
"a crude and relatively mild thing by
present standards exploded over Hiro-
shima and practically erased it. That
was the terrible beginning Of profoundly
revolutionary new age In the life OF man
and his society-an age full of unprec-
edented promise and unprecedented
threat.
The threat, of course, has long since
become almost too obvious to need de-
scription or elaborate analysis It con-
sists of by far the deadliest arms race
since the beginning Of time, and the
race Is one in which the Hiroshima-type
destroyer equivalent to 10000 tons of
INT has been rendered obsolete. For
what we have now-and other nations
as well, including particularly Russia
is not merely a multitudinouS family Of
little" and "big" A-weaponS, but also
an ever-growing arsenal Of iucomparably
more devastating hydrogen bombs, each
of which has a destructiveneSS that must
be measured in terms of millions and
millions of tons of TINT. In short, hui
manity today is equipped with the means
to bring about its virtual extinction in
ornaments
But the harnessed atom, enormous
as is the evil inherent in 1t, is also
force whose bene1cent potentialities can
hardly be exaggerated This has been
made abundantly clear In the post
Hiroshima decade. For science, even
while succeeding in making the new
weapons deadlier and deadlier, has been
working with nuclear energy in way
that holds out promise of the brightest
kind for peoples everywhere. The prom
Use relates to the promotion of unparal-
leled human progress in such fields as
health, agricultural production, and
power-power for industry, power for
economic and social advancement, power
for the physical betterment Of all nations.
The prospect thus is truly great and in
spring one, and it will materialize in due
course, on constantly increasing scale,
If only men and their governments for
swear total war and learn to live together
in decent and enduring peace.
The "if" involved in all this is ire
mendously big and fateful, but humanity
has right to hope and expect that ways
will be found to eliminate the menace
of A and H weapons and exploit the awe
some new force for the good of all the
world. To that end, an effective inter-
national policing setup is absolutely
essential, and some encouragement can
be derived from the fact that Premier
Bulganin has just been at pains to assert
despite the impression created by his
speech on Thursday-that the Kremlin
has not slammed the door on President
Eisenhower'S proposal for a reciprocal
system Of Soviet-American aerial inspec-
ton. Also encouraging are such develop
ments as the Presidents atoms for peace
program and the great scientific confer
ence opening In Geneva on Monday to
discuss the benef1cent uses Of nuclear
energy.
Actually, assuming that the leaders
OF all nations continue to be sane,
progress should be achieved-no matter
how straightforward a genuinely workable
plan for atomic-hydrogen control In
any event, the central thought Of our
time must certainly be that If the world
goes to war with its fearsome new
weapons, 1t will be committing an act
that could reduce it to a radioactive
shambles--a kind Of global Hiroshima,
but Incapable o: rising again as Hiro-
shima has. That very fact, the real pos
sibility of universal -obliteration,
should be enough to make a sound and
lasting peace inevitable.