Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-04-09
Up to Khruschchev

coupled with secretary Dulles
latest ews-conference remarks, Presi-
dent Eisenhower's letter to Premier
KhruShchev makes clear that the
United States is not going to stop
nuclear testing merely on the strength
Of the Kremlin's highly propagandized
announcement that the Soviet Union
has done so. The reason for this is
obvious. After all, standing by itself,
without any accompanying action to
promote real progress toward a trust
worthy system of internationally po-
Iced disarmament, the announcement
hardly deserves to be taken at face
value by our country.
Indeed, as the President has Sug-
geSted in his Skeptical and sharply
worded letter, the very fiamboyancy of
the timing, wording and manner of the
Kremlin's declaration has raised serious
questions as to the Khrushchev govern
ment's sincerity. And this is the more
true because of the peculiar" fact that
1.-THE Soviet Union, having just con-
cluded series of tests of unprecedented
intensity, should now, in bold headlines,
say that it will not test again, but add,
in small type, that it may test again II
the United States carries out its already
long announced and now imminent
series of tests"
Emphasizing that they cannot and
will not appreciably affect human
health, Mr.. Eisenhower has left no room
for doubt in Mr.. Khrushchevs mind that
those tests (Some open to international
observatory will be conducted as Sched-
uled to develop American defensive ca
liabilities and learn how to minimize
the fashionable fallout" More than that,
Mr.. Dulles has indicated that additional
ones are likely to be staged If the
Kremlin continues to block effective po-
Icing, or if they are deemed essential
to the production of smaller, cleaner
nuclear ornaments. In any event,
judging from what the President has
written, our country will not stop its
activities in this field as long as the
Soviet Union persists in rejecting "the
concept of an internationally supervised
program to end weapons production and
to reduce weapons stocks"
AS far as experimental detonations
are concerned, an adequate detecting
system can be worked out to guard
against cheating. In the Presidents
words, however, "the heart of the
nuclear problem is not the mere testing
of weapons, but the weapons them
selves. If weapons are dependably dealt
with, then it is natural to suspend their
testing" But Mr.. KhruShchev must
know, as Mr.. Eisenhower has said, that
there can be no meaningful progress
along that line as long as the Kremlin
refuses to agree to join even in the tech
nical studies urged by the United Ma
tions to work out policing arrangements
not simply for controlling tests, but also
land more importantly for stopping the
production Of military fashionable mate
rial and diverting such material to
peaceful uses.
Accordingly, the President has now
called upon the Soviet Union to say
"yes," as the United States has done, to
the General Assembly's recommended
ton that these studies be undertaken
forthwith to determine what specific
measures are needed to establish a gen.
timely safeguarded disarmament Sys-
TEN. Mr.. Khrushchev's answer will be
awaited with the keenest interest. If it
Is affirmative, then the world will have
reason to hope for break, at long last,
in the present grave deadlock. Other
wise the arms race will go on and on,
toward an end that could conceivably
mean the end of man himself.