The Gods of the Mountain

Outside a Senate committee room, newsmen clowned around with a stuffed moose head which someone had found under the stairs. They were waiting for the Senate's Special Committee on Atomic Energy to finish crossing the t's and dotting the i's on one of the most sweeping laws in U.S. history. That afternoon, after more than five months of debate, the committee produced its bill, creating a commission of five gods of the atomic mountain.

One last hot wrangle had been over who the gods should be--civilian or military. That debate dissolved when the services said they only wanted the right to sit in. Another debate was over security measures, which were at first so drastic that some Senators believed they abridged constitutional rights. In the end the Senators hoped they had written a bill which safeguarded the "secrets," at the same time gave honest men protection from their Government. Penalties were drastic enough: fines up to $20,000 and jail sentences up to 20 years for giving out atomic secrets with "intent to injure the U.S."

Atomic, Inc. Framework of the bill, reported out by a unanimous vote:

The commission would consist of a chairman ($17,500 a year) and four other civilians ($15,000) appointed by the President, subject to Senate approval. They would serve staggered five-year terms and would devote themselves exclusively to the commission's tasks.

Those tasks would encompass the entire field of atomic research, production, engineering and application. Traditional property rights were swept aside. In the atomic field there would be no such thing as private ownership. The commission would be sole owner or would acquire ownership of all facilities the U.S. might need for the production of fissionable material; of all materials capable of producing an atomic chain reaction; of property containing source materials. It would be authorized to: produce fissionable material with its own facilities or make contracts for production; mine and refine supplies; distribute fissionable materials and byproducts; and under the direction of the President produce atomic bombs, bomb parts, etc.

The Watchdogs. Three committees would keep an eye on the commission: 1) a military liaison committee, which could take its squawks, if any, to the Secretaries of War and Navy; 2) nine prominent civilians appointed by the President, whose function would be to advise, who would be paid $50 a day when they worked; 3) a committee of nine Senators and nine Representatives appointed by the presiding officers of those two bodies, whose job would be to make continuing studies and prepare any necessary legislation. But by the very nature of things, the commission of five would be supreme.

The commission was not necessarily a permanent one. The whole bill was subject to "any international arrangement" of the United States, such as the Lilienthal proposal (TIME, April 8), which would supersede domestic control with an even more revolutionary international authority.

Weary committeemen conceded that the bill was not perfect. But it was so much better than anyone had hoped for that even the most critical scientist looked fairly pleased.

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