Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-06

Tegui utUg Tue HyuIOyeW UOHtO.
policy, I must address myself to
certain proposals that have been
made over a period of months.
I must point out the following
facts:
1. There has been more than
one proposal made. These pro-
posals have differed. These diff
.ferences themselves have caused
confusion.
On April 81, it was proposed
that we give prompt and ear
nest attention to stopping fur
Their tests of the hydrogen
bomb" This was SO explicitly to
be a one-Sided American action
that the suggestion was added
that, if other nations failed to
do likewise, I'VE can reconsider
our policy"
On September S. reference was
made to my proposal last spring
to halt further testing of large
nuclear devices, conditioned upon
adherence by the other atomic
powers to a similar policy"
4 On September 20, a new verbal
formula urged this country to
take the lead in promoting cur
tailment by all nations of hydro
gen bomb tests"
Democratic Leaders View
2. The unwisdom of such
action. without proper interna-
tional safeguards, was quickly
emphasized by the Democratic
Chairman of the Joint Congress
Sional Committee on Atomic
Energy, Senator Clinton Ander-
son. He said: There is no indi-
cation that Russia would stop
their tests. Under the circum-
stances. I do not believe we could
call off ours
The testimony of such re-
lsponsible Democrat makes clear
that this is not-aS it should not
be-a partisan political issue,
but an issue raised by one in
dividual.
3. The proposals clearly take
no account of what would be
the result OF stopping our tests.
Tests of large eapons, by
any nation, may be detected
when they occur. But any such
test follows many months OF re-
search and preparation. This
means that elaborate tests could
be prepared by another nation
without our knowledge. BY the
time we had such knowledge.
our present commanding lead
in the field of nuclear weapons
could be reduced or even over
taken. Thus our power to guard
the peace would be weakened.
4. The proposals made ignore
some essential reasons of these
tests.
I (a) Our most recent tests
have been those that have helped
us to know how to make-not
primarily weapons for vaster de-
struction-but weapons for de-
l'fense of our cities against enemy
air attack.
(b) AS one important result
OF our latest tests, We have
learned to make weapons which
reduce fall-out to a minimum
and whose destructive effect can
be concentrated upon military
detectives.
The POpe's Position
s. In the verbal confusion sur
rounding these proposals, an at
tempt has been made to cite, as
having made similar proposals. "
great world figures, even includ-
ing his holiness, Pope Plus XII.
All these men-like this govern
ment. like all responsible and
thoughtful leaders in the free
world, statesmen or churchmen
are sincerely anxious for in
ternational agreement allowing
effective control OF all arma-
ments. nuclear or conventional.
The Pope in his last Christ
mas message TO the world urged
"a check on experiments in
nuclear weapons by means of
an international agreement He
stated that the matter involved
: "a question OF three steps---re-
} nunciation Of experimentation
with atomic weapons, renuncia-
ton Of the use OF such. and
general control Of ornaments. .
And he called for "the sum total
Of those three precautions
Where Danger Lies
s. Within the past week. yet
another proposition has been adj
yanced. This proposition de-
nounced the Governments IN
sistsncs" on perfect or fool
proof supervision Of d.sarma-