Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-06-27
Should We Suspend Them?

1t will not be a sure or unauthorized
blessing, either for our own country or
for the world at large, If the current
disarmament talks result in an interna-
tional agreement suspending all tests of
nuclear weapons. The President has made
that much very clear at his latest news
conference. For although he has reaf-
f1rmed that the United States is resolved
to stand by its offer to cooperate in such
suspension, he has done so in what
seems to be spirit of frank doubt as
to the wisdom of the whole business.
This doubt, which the Russians and
others may soon begin to share, is well
founded. 1t is founded on the fact that
some of our most eminent atomic scien-
lists have come forward with powerful
arguments in support of their view that
continuation of experimental nuclear det-
onations would serve the best interests
OF humanity. These men have already
devised weapons presumably in the
megaton as we'll as in the kiloton claSs)
from which they have eliminated 96 per
cent of the usual radioactive fallout.
And they have had this to say to Mr..
Eisenhower: "Give us four or five years
to test each step Of our development and
we will produce an absolutely clean
bomb"
What this means, as the President
has indicated, is that we are fast moving
toward the design and production Of
nuclear weapons virtually as nonradio-
active as conventional INT deStroyerS.
In other words. if weapon of this sort
is used on the battlefield, "you will have
an effect only SO far as its blast and heat
waves reach, and there will be no fall
out to injure any civilian or anyone, any
innocent byStanderS that are of x miles,
the necessary distance to get out Of the
area of heat and blast" Moreover, again
quoting Mr. Eisenhower, the scientists
have told him the tests must 60 on If
the atoms nonmilitary potentialities are
to be harneSSed to the full for beneficent
purpoSeS-including, it would seem, the
development Of hydrogen fusion power,
whose advent would open up a bright
new epoch for the whole of mankind.
All this adds up to what the Presi-
dent has called "the other side of the
picture" of nuclear testing-a side that
strikingly demonstrates the enormous
complications involved in the effort to
arrive at even f1rst-step agreement on
disarmament. In this instance, for ex-
ample, 1t seems that we cannot suspend
such testing without at the same time
riSking the possibility that the suspen-
sion Though apparently good and reas-
surfing in itSelf) would hold back prog
ress OF great value not only to ourselves
but to peoples everywhere, including the
Russians. Yet, because of the fear
ridden temper of the times, Mr.. Eisen-
mower takes the understandable posi-
tion-"for the moment" at least-that
I'VE should go right ahead with the plan,
with the offers we have made, and we
have no intention Of pulling back from
them for minute"
In all probability, this is the sound
est course available to our country at
the present time. But the nagging thought
remains, because Of what the scientists
have said, that more and more nuclear
test detonations, far from hurting any,
body, would actually be good for the
world, regardless of the vast amount of
uniformed scare talk we have heard in
the recent past. In any event, the doubts
implied in President Eisenhower's latest
remarks should make a lively and sig
nificant conversation piece at the dis
armament meeting in London.