The Nation: Process of Elimination

It took just two years of concentrated effort to perfect the first primitive atomic bomb. It is taking decades since the first efforts began for the superpowers to formulate even modest controls on the Bomb. There was the partial test ban agreed to eight years ago. Then came pacts to keep nuclear arms from Latin America and outer space and to prohibit the distribution of weapons to nations that did not already have them. Last week the U.S., Russia and 60 other nations signed a treaty barring the installation of nuclear weapons on the ocean floor. If this slow process of elimination continues, there may even be an agreement some day concerning the thousands of missiles that the rivals have now aimed at each other.