Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-06
Hope for Disarmament

Coupled with the Kremlin'S seeming
desire to arrive at some sort OF prelimi-
nary agreement, the Presidents latest
statement on nuclear testing strengthens
the hope that the current five-power talks
In London will result in concrete progress
toward disarmament.
Mr. Eisenhower, in any case, has UNI
qualifedly reaffirmed our Governments
readiness to assent to an adequately safe
guarded international suspension Of ex-
perimental detonations of A and H weap-
ons. He has cleared the air Of all doubts
on that Score-doubts raised by the fact
that some of our most distinguished
atomic scientists have assured him that
they could produce IAN absolutely clean
bomb" If they were free to carry on such
experimentation for the next four or five
years. They have assured him, too, that
continuing tests would speed up nom
military nuclear advances, including pre-
sumably advances toward revolutionary
Harvesting of the hydrogen fusion process
for industrial power.
Nevertheless although we'll aware Of
all this, and although fully approaching
how past experimental explosions have al
ready shown our scientists how to elimi-
nate So per cent of the usual radioactive
fallout from nuclear weapons, the PreSi-
dent has assured the world that the
United States is unwaveringly committed
to its offer to cooperate in halting these
tests under conditions guaranteeing
against violations or evasions. At any rate,
as he indicated at his news conference
Wednesday, he still "very firmly" believes
that the political and psychological ef-
fectS of such SuspenSion-even though
1t might involve some temporary scien-
tific disadvantage or some slowing down
Of atomic progreSs-would be so great and
salutary that our country must keep on
striving for an EaSt-West agreement on
the matter ts. .1.
To that end, speaking for our Gov
eminent, with the backing of Canada,
France and Britain, Harold E. Stassen has
formally proposed to the Russians in Lon
don that all parties agree on 10-month
halt to nuclear testing. The agreement
would entail strict conditions governing
such essential things as timing, inspec-
ton, and related commitments bearing
upon a firSt-Step disarmament plan to
stop the production of fashionable ma
terial for military purposes and take other
measures Of limitation and control de-
signed to check and ultimately call of
the arms race. Happily, the initial Soviet
reaction has been Affirmative enough to
suggest that break in the dangerous old
deadlock may be near-not big break
necessarily, not sensational break, but
at least break sufficiently important to
make the outlook seem brighter than 1t
has been in a long, long time.
True, in strictly scientific sense, a
suspension of the tests might have the
effect Of holding up progress Of sort
that could be good for the whole Of man
kind. Still, as Mr. Eisenhower has said,
the fact remains that an agreement in
this field would be politically and psy-
chologically wholesome for the world.
Moreover, as far as beneflcent atomic
advances are concerned, such an agree
ment would not preclude later arrange
ments under which all parties concerned
could engage in cooperative experiment
tation for peaceful purposes Everything
considered, therefore, the Presidents APP
proach to the issue seems altogether
sound