- Atom bomb is no ‘secret’

“Do you think the Americans discovered it?’

The following is an extract
from the statement of Dr.
Eouis HKidenour, representing
the Federation of American
Scientists before the special
cemmittee on atomic energy
of the U.S. Senate, Febru-
ary 15, 1945.

QCLENTIETC history is full of
: coincidences — of cases in
“which two or more men, in dif-
ferent parts 9f the world, have
reached the same result and in-
dependently of one another’s
work and at the same time. Dr.
4. H. Compten, an outstanding
figure in the work on the atom-
ic bemb, was awarded the 1927
Webel prize in physics for his
discovery of what is called the
Gompton effect — the inelastic
scattering of light quanta by
firte electrons. In Holland.
is called Debye effect, because
Ccmpton’s explanation of his ex=
periments was given independ-
ently by Debye at the very same
time.

The Russian physicist, Gam-
ow, and Gurne and Condon—
the same. Dr. ~Gondon who is
Scientific adviser to this com-
mitte:— gave independently and
at the same lime an explana-
tion of ‘the phenomenon of al-
pha-particle dismtegration of
the radioactive elements. The
very phenomenon of nuclear fis-
Sicn itself, th= basis for the
atomic bomb, was only fore-
Shadowed by tne work of Hahn
and Strassmaa in Germany. The
hypothesis: of a2 viclent split-
ting of tiie uranium nucleus was
independently =reposed aid ver-
ified by FErisch in Copenhagen
and by Joliet in Paris. Th cug-

this.

By LOUIS N. RIDENOCUR

gestion that phitonium would be
@ suitalle explesive for an atom-
i¢ bomb was made in this coun-
try by Pro. &. A. Turner. The
Smyth Report points on: that
the samie idea occurred inde-
Pendently tothe British physicist,
Cockroft, and Turner has told
me that Von Hailban, werking
in France, had the same idea
at the same time.

wo promising new devices ic_
the acceleration of electrons and
alcmic nuclei to high energies
were invented last fall by two
youns American scientists. One,
Called the Synerotron, was in-
vented by McMillan, at Berkxe-
ley, another, the microtron, by
Schwinger, at Harvard. In the
summer, 1945, issue of the Jour-
nal cf Physics of the WSSR, a
Russian physicist named WVelks-
ler published a -peper deserib-
ing these two devices, Mrough
the scientific shades had been
down between Russia and the
United States during the war,
after five years we find Rus-
Sians and Americans doing the
Same things, in the same way,
at the same time.

The synehrotron involves a
Magnet, whose design is straight
forward but Me-
Millan is presently. building 2
Synchrotron, on funds supplied
by the Manhattan district. When
a physicist at MIT, who is also
Blanning the construction af a
machine of this type, asked Mc-
Millan for his magnet design,
he wes told that the Army. would
not permit the
icrmation on the magnet. Who
are we attempting to handicap
by such restrictions? Surely not
the Russians; they not only in-

complicated.

release of in-

vented the synchrotron, they dia
it earlier than we did.

N my own wartime field of

radar there are Many exarm-
ples of the same kind. Radar
itself was independently
ed by the Germans, the Frerch,
the British, the Japanese and
ourselves. Hach of these nations
kept it secret from all of the
ethers, not knowing to what lit-
tle point this was done. Micro-
wave radar, which has played

such a great role in the Allied.

was made possible by
a single invention, the cavity
magnetron. This is-a transmit-
ting tube which gives previous-
ly unimaginable
power on wavelengths far short-—
er than those available te radio
engineers before the war. It was
invented by the British. When
the British sent a scientific mis-
Sion over to this country in the
late summer of 1940, one of the
most impressive secrets they had
to show us was the cavity mag-
netron. When the radiation lab-

victory,

oratory was first -set up, an
attempt was actually made to
keep knowledge of the maguet-

ron localized in one group of
the laboratory, not even letting
the men who were working on
a modulator to energize this
tube, know of the tube’s design.
Yet, all this time there was in
*he Russian literature a peper

which exactly described the cav-
ity magnetron and gave the re-
sults of experiments with it.

In the light of all this
dence, and more of the
Kind which I could quo-e for
hours,
tists for being
tallk of the secret of the aten-ie
Lomb.

evi-
same

you must forgive scien-
impatient with

World labor joins in mighty |
crusade for peace, August 21-28.

HE Right Hon. William

Lyon Mackenzie King is
at the Paris Peace Confer-
ence this week. He and the
other Canadian delegates are
actively carrying forward
their policy of splitting the
unity of the Big Three as a
prerequisite for Wall Street’s
planned war to rule the
world. He is there as the
the spokesman for an aggressive
@anadian imperialism that is
Playing a leading role in the
. Truman- Attlee - King “Atomic
. Bloc.”

He leaves behind him a Can-
ada in which there is a growing
awareness of the national peril
into which our country is being
drawn by these schemes. Mil-
lions who do not yet see the fuil
implications of atomic diplomacy
are disquieted at the obvious
gearing of our country to the
Plans of American brass hats.

Hirst tangible impact of this
Gisquiet hit Ottawa on the eve
of Mackenzie King’s departure
for Paris. The government was
compelled to cancel plans for a
So-called American meteorologi-
Cal expedition to establish a base
om Canada’s Melville Island in
the Arctic. ‘

This is one heartening sign to
Show that an aroused Canadian
' Public can cripple the war plans
of imperialism. In spite of this,

By BRUCE MICKLEBURGH

however, the main war plans go
forward and take substance with
increasing speed. Almost con-
tinuous American-Canadian “de-
fence” sessions go forward in
Washington. Canadian mines and
plants eontinue to produce for
American manufacturers of the
atomic bomb. Canadian and Am-
erican “experts” constantly probe
the Aretic. Spy scares and plots
to smash labor continue. While
scores of unions and other demo-

cratic organizations are begin-

ning to speak up, the Labor-—-Pro-
gressive Party is so far the only

DEACE WEEK

be LABOR]
PROGRESSIVE PART Y

«. . Make this your emblem
for peace week.”

FPACHIC TRIBUNE — PAGE FIVE

3 =
national organization that is
fighting on an all-out basis for
peace.

In order to bring the Canad-
ian people more fully into this
fight the LPP has designated the

week of Aug. 21-28 as “Peace
Week.” :
Bruce Mickleburgh, chairman

of the B.C. Peace Week Commit-
tee, told the Pacific Tribune, ‘(We
will use this week, the first anni-
versary of V-J Day, to mobilize
the people of British Columbia
(as the people are being mobil-
ized across Canada), in a con-
tracted, smashing ~demand for
peace that will decisively jolt the
war-makers.”

“Letters have already gone out
to every organization in British
Columbia enclosing a peace reso-
lution for endorsation and for-
warding to Ottawa. Speakinse
tours will cover the Province.
Thousands of “Ban the Bomb”
tags will be worn. Literature
sales will feature the revealing
story of imperialist intrigue con-
trated, smashing demand for

“High points of the campaign
will be a monster mass rally for
peace in the Capilano Stadium,
August 25, and a coast-to-coast
radio broadeast by Tim Buck on
the CBC network at 8 p.m. (Day-
light Saving Time), August 28.
This broadcast is expected to
have the greatest listening audi-
ence afforded any Candian politi-
cal figure in recent times, with
hundreds of listening groups in
homes throughout the province.”

Shor t Jabs by Of’ Bill

invent- —

amounts of.

‘Hope springs eternal’

“| 2 * cannot last much longer.’ That Was a classic phrase in the
days that followed immediately, or for, let us say, ten years after,

the October revolution in Russia, which placed the Bolsheviks, rep-

resenting the workers and peasants of that country, in power.

It was in the moutHs of the capitalist politicians of the world
as they poured their wealth Out to provide the sinews of war for
the invading armies they launched upon the Soviet Union. It was
the entire contribution of the representatiives of Tsarism and Rus-
Sian capitalism whom the Russian workers chased out of their
country because they had nothing to contribute ‘to its rebuilding-

For 29 years now, Kerensky, who has to be introduced to news-
paper readers today, as “premier of Russia: after the 1917 revolt,”
so they will know who he is, has been telling it to newspapermen
who still believe he is “news.” : 5

: According to a San Francisco news report, he is going back to
his homeland! But this return of the native is only to take place
“when the elementary rigchts of a human being are Suaranteed there.”

What he means is that he will go back when he and others
like him, with his kind of democracy, are guaranteed the right to
exploit the workers and peasants, the right to fatten on the misery,
the hunger, the destitution of 190 millions of the Soviet people,
the right to plunge them back into illiteracy and ignorance.

Twenty-nine years of history have taught Kerensky nothing
for he still thinks “democracy will win out.” The conditions out-

lined in the last paragTraph are precisely what his “democracy”
Stands for.

Real democracy has already won out in the Soviet Union, the
purest form of democracy the world has yet known and Kerensky
wall never go back there unless it AS to be put on trial for his

crimes against the Russian people.

Broken ribs?

{= is a great mystery to many people how some “captains of in-
dustry”

The speech had been taken down verbatim, just as he made
it, and published without being edited by MacMillan’s Secretary or
some other competent person. Any immigrant two years resident
in Canada could have done a more creditable job. It certainly was
away below the standard of the average high school kid.

Another sample appeared in the Sun newspaper a few days ago.
Alan J. McDonell, MLA, is owner of a metal manufacturing plant
in the city and he is the hero in this instance. He was tendering:
evidence in the investigation conducted by Judge David Whiteside
into the strike of the iron moulders. If the character of the evidence

is any indication of the way he cenducts his

business it is surprising he has not landed in the bankruptcy court
long ago. : :

C. H. Locke, corporation lawyer for the Canadian Manufacturers’
Association, was wise enough not to put McDonell on oath before
examining him, and the statements he made before Harvey Murphy,
for the MM&Sw Union, made him take the oath, must be con-
Sidered im that light.

He contended he had FOUR or HIVE ribs broken in 4 seuffle
with union pickets and that one would-be strikebreaker also had
Some ribs broken. That is a most peculiar and indefinite statement
to make in the way of evidence tendered before 4 commissioner
who is engaged in a Serious investigation. Is he as indefinite as
that in his business relations?

Did he go to a doctor for an examination and if so, was the
doctor such a dub as not to be able to say whether it was FOUR
or FIVE ribs that were broken or if there were any ribs broken
at all. If he had a medical certificate to prove his case, did he
produce it? If not, why ?

It is only natural that such politicians as MicDonell Should con-
Sider the union pickets to be, as he says they are, “sweepings from
the waterfront.”
workers coming to the tep. They smother that contempt well during
election campaigns when they are pleading for votes, so let workers,
waterfront or otherwise, remember what McDonell and his GMA
buddies think of them.

But no matter what kind of epithets they use to describe us;
they have none in their dictionaries low enough to make a truly
descriptive label for the “gentlemen” who belong to the CMA.

Experts ?

JHE more our economics experts explain themselves and their

“work” the more we are convinced they are being paid for
knowledge which they do not possess.

Donald Gordon, the high mogul of the Prices Board, stated to
the industrial relations committee of the House of Commons last
week that an increase of 1914 cents an hour asked for by the
steelworkers would “result in an inflationary rise in prices. It would
be impassible for the Prices Board to operate’ on a basis where it
would be drawn into wage disputes.”

_Later he told the committee that “while he thought generat
wage-increases of more than ten cents would create an unmanage-—
able situation in price control, he did not presume to say that the
Wage increase for the steel industry should be set at ten cents.

Gordon, it seems, is not very sure of what will happen. His
attitude to the question as stated above is rather hazy. What he
needs is an elementary course in Marxian economics. He would then
learn that high prices is not inflation, but that inflation is a credit
problem which arises from the printing of baloney paper money
With no real wealth behind it: he would learn that labor-power
is a commodity just like butter and cheese and that “wages” is the
price of that commodity and is subject to the same conditions which
demand price control for other commodities:
it is
struggles for increased wages are always fought to enable the wage-
earner to buy the commodities necessary for his existence

the one commodity
keeping down.

ERIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1946