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Nobel Prizewinner Irving Langmuir of the General Electric Research Laboratory, who visited the U.S.S.R. last summer, thinks the Russians may do it in three years. He scoffs at Major General Leslie R. Groves, head of the U.S. bomb project, who told a Senate Committee that it would take them 20 to 60 years. The Russians, says Dr. Langmuir, who is no Communist partisan, have excellent scientists, and a high appreciation of science.
The Race Has Begun. In a summing-up chapter, Dr. Harold C. Urey describes another aspect of the atomic armament race, which is now in progress. Long before the bombs begin to fall, he thinks, the U.S. people will have lost their liberties under a rigid military dictatorship. Atomic generals, conferring in blackest secrecy, will dominate the homes and industries of the nation. Secret police will pry into every cranny, hunting for spies and saboteurs. "The same trend will occur in all countries of the world, and the end will be deadly fear everywhere."
To the scientists, the only solution is a world government strong enough to make war impossible. Famed Physicist Leo Szilard believes that an international inspection system could prevent the production of atomic bombs. Say the scientists: "The problem has brought us to one of the great crises of history. The arms race must be stopped. There is not much time."