Radioactive Poison

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28895, 15 May 1959, Page 6

Radioactive Poison

Sir, —S. Grant argues that a pistol under the pillow will deter a bandit, without any necessity for firing. This thought comforts both sides in the present world tensions. It pre-supposes that the bandit has no access to pistols, jior any capacity make bigger and better pistols, and that he will always consider risks absolutely rationally. History, however, suggests that competition in pistol production has been going on for centuries, and that it has always eventually been necessary to fire the pistols. It seems that the point has now been reached when the pistol simile must be replaced by one suggesting total destruction of the defender and his property, as well as the bandit, should firing be necessary as it has been before. Statements from generals and scientists everywhere support this view. S. Grant should read Sir Stephen King-Hall’s book, “Defence in the Nuclear Age.’’ Pistol politics are out of date today.— Yours, etc., MARY WOODWARD. May 14, 1959.

Sir, —Now that Elsie Locke has mentioned atomic war I must agree that this is too terrible to contemplate. We should work through the United Nations to prevent it. But we must remember that any person who generates false hysteria about radioactive poison from bomb tests will be as guilty of precipitating war as were those in Britain who caused the German Ambassador to inform Hitler that the British would not fight and so helped precipitate the last war. As the improvement in international relations since Korea and the Berlin airlift has shown, the Communists respect strength and, being aware that test fallout is not a great danger, can only interpret this hysteria in the free nations as weakness and a temptation to start a quick war. The world needs compromise and Communists do not compromise with the apparently weak.—Yours, etc., May 13, 1959.