DANGER TO WORLD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22572, 27 February 1948, Page 7

DANGER TO WORLD

ANOTHER GREAT WAR FEAR OF SCIENTISTS NEW YORK, Jan. 5. Are we truly living in a post-war world or only in another interval between world wars like the uneasy decade of from 1919 to 1939? This question is asked by David Dietz, Scripps-Howard science editor in the New York World Telegram. He writes: We had better bend all our efforts to making it a truly post-war world. On the subject of future wars, 1 can only repeat what I have said many times. I know of no scientist who will guarantee the ability of mankind to survive World War 111. Make no mistake about that war. It will be fought with atomic bombs, supersonic rockets and wholesale distribution of disease germs that attack men, animals and crops. The Soviet Foreign Minister,' M. Molotov may have—unintentionally, I’m sure—done the United States a favour by a recent speech in calling attention to the fact that there is really no basic secret about the atomic bomb. Scientists—and a number of generals and admirals —all feel that Russia will eventually get an atomic bomb, probably in the next 8 to 15 years. No Defence This is a good time, therefore, t,o repeat the statement of fact, prepared some time ago by the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists whose chairman is Dr. Albert Einstein, and whose vice-chairman is Dr. Harold C. Urey. It reads: ‘‘l: Atomic bombs can now be made cheaply and in large numbers. They will become more destructive. “2. There is no military defence against atomic bombs and none is to be expected. “3. Other nations can rediscover our secret processes by themselves. “4. Preparedness against atomic war is futile, and if attempted will ruin the structure of our social order. “5. If war breaks out, atomic bombs will be used and they will surely destroy our civilisation. ‘‘6. There is no solution to this problem except international control of atomic energy and, ultimately, the elimination of war.” The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, which sent missions to Japan to make intensive studies, concluded its report titled, “The Effects of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” with these words: “No more forceful arguments for peace and for the international machinery of peace than the sight of the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have ever been devised. As the developer and exploiter of this ominous weapon, our nation has a responsibility, which no American should shirk, to lead in establishing and implementing the international guarantees and controls which will prevent its future use.” Finally, let me quote from a document, "The Effects of the Atomic Bomb on National Security,” submitted by the Army to Congress. It concludes: “The bomb, and the potential range of aircraft and missiles, has made the defence of the nation more difficult, more expensive, and less certain of attainment. The need of eliminating war itself has never been so vitally necessary to the national security of the United States and to the survival of civilisation throughout the world.”