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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1950)
SIX MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Tirnday. Mtrch 21, 1950 f tw , , , - r (Acme Teiepholo 'PEACE BUT NOT AT ANY PRICE' Speaking to a hushed audience of 8000 persons, Jammed Into the Men's Gymnasium at the University of California In Berkeley, Secretary ot 8tate Dean Acheson warns the U. S. S. R. that the United States cannot b:gln any negotiations until convinced of Russia's good Intensions, He said the U. 8 "wants peace but not at any price" and challenged the Soviet to enter Into a seven-point program to end the cold war. Scientists of America Worried Over Hydrogen Bomb Destruction (Editor's note: The Amfrlran so ciety of Newspaper Editors' Commit tee on Atomic Information. In rol Uboratlon with the bulletin of the atomic scientists, hn prepared six artlclea on tho A-bomb and H-bomb. The followlnl ll the flrit Uie hy drogen bomb distributed by the United Press.) A great number of America's top scientists are worried. They are worried by the new means of destruction that may soon be given to man in the hy drogen bomb. They fear that Americans have not been told what this and other new weapons can do to them . . . and that Americans are not deciding and not even being given the means to decide how to behave in a world that con tains these new weapons. The scientists fear that wheth er or not a hydrogen bomb can be built, the total of all modern weapons is ffecting our nation's security so rapidly that congress men and generals and the people are being left far behind. Could Be Eva Of War - Many fear that 1950 could be the eve of war, and that America is not properly using science to prevent or win it. Three weeks ago a represent ative of a publication called the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists visited a mldwestern editor, chairman of the committee on atomic information of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The representative carried a sheaf of magazine proofs the pages of the still-unpublished March issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. A scientist who worked on the war's Manhattan project ed its the Bulletin. Scientists and scientist-educators like J. Rob ert Oppenheimer. Albert Ein stein, Harold C. Urcy and Lee A. Dubrldge, president of the Cali fornia Institute of Technology, are its sponsors. "For four years," the visitor said, "scientists maintained a self-imposed censorship on talk of the H-bomb. They were re luctant to foster any belief that America was actively develop ing such weapons, for fear of stimulating the arms race and further straining world relations. "But now the lid has come off. Now they feel they must talk. "They do not all agree on the issues, but they all agree that Americans ought to be thinking and talking. How can we give the people this message? The editor conferred with col leagues all over the country. The result is this scries. Its purpose is only to report what the scientists are saying and to raise, as the scientists are now raising, a number of ques tions. The Bulletin of the Atomic Sci entists started raising these questions in late 1945. In June, 1947, the Bulletin put a clock on its cover, the hands stopped at eight minutes to midnight to mark the little - time that re mained to solve nuclear fission's immense human problems. Last October, when President Truman announced Russia's atomic explosion, the hands moved four more minutes ahead. H-Bomb Issue) Today, finally, there appears the Bulletin's March issue; an H-bomb Issue with discussion by top men of science, including men being called on to build this new weapon. It is only by chance, the Bul letin reminds us, that we know of the H-bomb at all. "It was left to the naive and monument al Indiscretion of Senntor John son, and obvious leaks of offi cial information to journalists such as the Alsup brothers to precipitate public discussion," says the Bulletin. Sen. Edwin C. Johnson (D., Colo.), member of the Joint con gressional committee on atomic energy, had appeared on a tele vision program and been asked if there was not too much atomic secrecy. No, he replied, not enough, saying: "Now our scientists already have created a bomb that has six times the effectiveness of the bomb dropped at Nagasaki, and they're not satisfied at all. They want one that has a thousand times the effect of that terrible bomb that snuffed out the lives of 50.000 people Just like that. "And that's the secret that's the big secret that the scientists in America are so anxious to di vulge." Scientists Gulp The scientists, who had said nothing, gulped. For better or worse, the secret was out. For worse, say some scientists a group of 12 for whom Cor nell's Dr. Hans Bethe, important H-bomb consultant, is a principal A Nichols' Worth of Comment On This and That By HARMAN Unite! Pru Washington, Mar. 21 U.PJ The first day of spring is Just up the road. And like as not that'll mean house 1A Wm Barman Nichols cleaning time In the light houses of our shores. The job will be done by the keepers' wom en folks un sung and un paid heroines. Wives of the keepers have been acting as assistants 'for years without drawing spokesman Bethe believes that the reasons i which induced scientists to im pose their self-censorship are still valid. He believes Senator Johnson and others who quickly took up the discussion have dam aged 0. S. security and peace hopes. In the case of the fission ! bomb, the Russians required four years to parallel our develop-1 ment." wrote Bethe and 11 co-' leagues. in uie case oi uie jiyurugun bomb they will probably need a shorter time. We must remem ber we do not possess the bomb but are only developing it. and Russia has received through in discretion the most valuable hint that our experts believe its de velopment possible." Yet the University of Chica go's Dr. Urey the discoverer of a kind of heavy hydrogen, with out which an H-bomb might not ! even be possible asserts in the Bulletin that "a very great serv ice has been done" by Senator Johnson. The Federation of American Scientists, with some 1,500 members, has fully agreed. "Quite unwittingly, asserts Urcy. "he has brought to the attention of the people of the United States a problem which should have been considered by them a very long time ago." Grave Danger J. Robert Oppenheimer, chair man of the Bulletin's sponsors, chairman of the U. S. atomic en ergy commission's general ad visers, wartime chief of the Los Alamos A-bomb laboratory, adds: "The decision to seek or not seek international control, the decision to try to make or not make the H-bomb arc issues . . . that touch the very basis of our morality. There is grave danger in that these decisions have been taken on the basis of facts held secret . . . "The relevant facts could be of little help to an enemy. Yet they arc indispensable for an understanding of questions of policy." The Bulletin's adltor is a Unl versity of Illinois physical chem ist named Dr. Eugene Rnbino witch. This week he titles an editorial "Secrets Will Out." "It was bad enough that the decisions first to build' and then use the original A-bomb had been made by a few persons in high positions and shrouded in dime from Uncle Sam. But a bill now before congress would rec tify, at least in part, an old wrong. It wouldn't put the wives on the federal payroll, but it would provide benefits to wid ows of lighthouse keepers. The house marine and fish eries committee is looking into a bill introduced by Rep. Ed ward A. Garmatz (D.. Md.). It's a sort of deferred salary payment measure to benefit widows of lighthouse keepers. Right now there are 389 such widows and their average age is 76. Thomas A. Lee, secretary of the active retired lighthouse service employees, points out that a civilian lighthouse keep er's wife has been part and par cel of the lighthouse service In all respects but one she isn't on the federal payroll. Ledy Keeps Job During fog time, who keeps the lighthouse while the tired keeper is asleep? ine man s iaay. Who has to know about wind, rain, snow and fog? Who gets on the semonhore, the wig-wag or flag hoists when the old man is tied up? In the old days, who had to know a rum-running ves sel off shore when she saw one? Who got out the broom and dust mop to have the place spick and span for a surprise inspection by the federals? Who was just as lonesome as the keeper? The lady, of course, according to Tom Lee. The proposed legislation seems of little consequence to people who never visited a lighthouse, but congressmen have been shelled, via the mails, with let ters from lighthouse widows. W. NICHOLS feature Wrltei One letter came to a repre sentative from Mrs. Nellie Aron- son of Riverside, R. 1. Joined In 1898 Her hubby, she, said, was In the lighthouse service for 38 years. He joined the service in 1899 as seaman on Hog Island Shoal Lightship No. 12. Later he was assigned as keeper to Pom ham Rocks light station in 1908. "At Pom'nam Rocks, which was a one-man station a quar ter of a mile off shore," Mrs. Aronson said, "I had to know how to handle a boat in good as well as nasty weather. Shortly after wc were married in 1900 I learned that I, too, actively was in the lighthouse service, al though I didn't get any money for it. One thing I had to learn was how to take care of the fog signal, which is a large bell struck by machinery a double blow every 20 seconds. It has to be wound by hand or did in those days. Entirely Different "I can assure you, sir, that winding a fog signal and wind ing a clock are entirely different. It was hard work manual labor. When something went wrong with the machinery, and it often did, I'd have to pick up a heavy sledge hammer and ring the bell that way every zo seconds. Mrs. Aronson is one among many. She's not complaining, she said, but she thinks she has a right to tell her story. During the 38 years her man was with the lichthouse service he had only 10 days' leave. His sick leave amounted to two months when he was hurt in an accident while on an errand of mercy be tween lighthouse and shore. As soon as he was able to hobble after his foot was ampu tated, he was back on the job. Use Mall Tribune Want Ada secrecy. The nation as a whole Is carrying the burden of respons ibility for these steps, and gen erations to come may have to suffer their consequences." There is "little doubt," he con tends, that the administration in Washington would like to see all discussion end,. Issue Not Touched But the Issues around the H-bomb, he says, have not even been touched, and "Americans must be given the opportunity to ticcide whether and under what conditions they want to embark on this course." These may be some of the Is sues: Have American' quared with their consciences moral im plications of making a weapon that can wipe out a huge eity? Have Americans weighed the relative costs and merits of su perbombs, A-bombs, guided mis siles, radar nets air groups and anti-sub fleets? We cannot af ford all, all at once. Have Americans decided whether or not to disperse at least some of their cities a stag gering project to Improve their chances of survival in war? The scientists, the Bulletin re ports, do not agree on these ques tions, yet all believe we cannot "rely on nuclear or other weap ons alone to preserve peace and national security." All "call for new an imaginative political ac tion for world unity and peace, and see In superior weapon de velopment at best a means to ?n in time and put additional orce behind this action." I P ' j How long could you live without water ? VUITOM WltCOMI CMa f amerlre'l t actplianet Irewet ! OlYMPIA MIWINO COMPANY Olrmple, Weihlnf lea, U S A. Man is known to have remained alive without food for as long aj 60 or 70 days, yet we would die in just a few days without u attr. In a normal day, our bodies consume three-fourths of a gallon of water. THI BIST DRINKING WATIR Many acceptable drinking waters are not desirable for brewing and must bt treated to rid them of chlorina lion, iron content, or other undesir able minerals. The Olympia Drew ing Company uses only water from its subterranean wells. It is this rare water that helps give Olympia in uonstant purity and distinctive fla or. "It's the Water Drink Will Make Fingers Tingle Sans Drunkenness Washington, Mar. 21 (U.R), Th. Cmilhcnnian institution nioimc it kite fnnnrl a drink that ! will make your fingers tingle but J won t make you aruns. "Some of its effects seem little short of miraculous," the Smith- j sonian said today. 1 Mad From Bark i The drink is yocco. It is made I Ika harb nf a vine Which flourishes in the Amazon jungles. So far only a tew smau inuiau tribes of southeastern Colombia , have tumbled to its powers. Dr.- Richard E. Schultes. an agriculture department plant ex plorer, has gathered specimens nf the vine and sent them to the Smithsonian's national herba rium. Schultes, who has drunk yocco ;M tha lonffla "nn mnnv occa sions," said it has the effect of delaying fatigue and hunger for hours. "A ilnntintf nf thn finPPre and a general feeling of well-being are noticeable IU minutes aiier drinking," Schults reported. "I k.iro n-tOrlO IrtllCf tFInt TnrnilPIl Illf! forests and, taking nothing but yocco, have leit neuner laugue nor hunger." Hunger Quelled Nor did he ever feel intoxicat-j ed. Schultes attributes the vine's power to a high concentration of caffeine in its bark. The few Indians who know about yocco's ability "to allay all sensations of hunger for at least th.aa hnnri unrl cimnlv milCPIllnr stimulation" save a lot on food. They down several snorts oi yocco early in the morning and then, Schultes said, "eat nothing until noontime." Dead line Sunday Classified ts at Noon Saturdays. 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