Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

Current Events
By Prof. William H. RusselL Ph.D.
OUR NEW ALLY
The political situation in Europe is now changing rap
idly. West Germany has been restored to full sovereignty,
and the Allied high commissioners now become ambassadors.
The Big Three will continue to maintain 450,000 troops in
West Germany, but as allies rather than as occupational
forces. The Bonn Republic has been admitted to NATO,
with authorization to raise an army of half a million men.
Actually, the West Germans are not enthusiastic about re
armament, and have been virtually sovereign for some time.
Their biggest interest is in reunification with East Germany,
which is Europe's next item of "unfinished busness" after
the settlement of the Austrian peace treaty. In order to fore
stall West Germany's rearmament, Russia may ask for neu
tralization as the price of German unity. Russia and her
satellites are drawing closer together by a series of military
talks at Warsaw.
ONE BIG UNION
The drafting
of a common constitution marks another
step toward the merger of the A.F.L. and C.I.O. The new
charter follows the main outlines of the agreement reached
by union leaders at Miami Beach last winter. It firmly op
poses racial or religious discrimination, and provides for
quick action against Communism or corruption in the mem
ber unions. Other sections would facilitate the merger of
competing unions, and help to settle jurisdictional disputes.
Next December the two unions will hold a joint convention
in New York City to complete the merger. The new group
will have a combined membership of 15 million, covering
nearly all of organized labor except for John L. Lewis' Unit
ed Mine Workers and the railroad brotherhoods. One of the
biggest isues remaining is the selection of a name. A.F.L.
leaders want to transfer their old name to the new group,
but the C.I.O. will undoubtedly insist on a new title.
SURVIVAL, CHANCES
An entire model town was deliberately
exposed to an
atomic blast in one of the recent nuclear- weapons tests in
Nevada. The bomb used had about twice the power of those
we dropped against Japan. Frame and brick houses nearly
a mile from the blast center were demolished. Those of cin
der block and concrete slab remained standing, though their
windows were broken and furnishings damaged. Flying de
bris either "killed" or "seriously injured" the dummies, rep
resenting people, in unprotected areas up to three miles from
the bomb. Home bomb shelters proved effective, however,
and Civil Defense officials survived the blast in trenches just
over a mile from the explosion. Army tanks also provided
good protection. The main lesson from this test seems to be
that survival is possible if people will prepare. Forty-five
state governors, meeting in Washington, have asked the fed
eral government for more help with their civil defense prob
lems. The responsibility is now diffused and there seems to
be great confusion.
REMOVING WAR SCARS
Twenty-five Japanese girls have arrived in the U.S. for
plastic surgery to remove scars left from the atomic bomb
ing of Hiroshima. They
will receive free treatment at Mt.
Sinai Hospital in New York City. This program, which may
308
require more than a year in some cases, is being financed by
private American groups and individuals, as a gesture of
goodwill and Christian charity. None of the girls seemed to
have any
resentment over the American bombing.
COMMUNIST ATHLETES
The Soviet Union has announced that it will spend $62
million this year to expand athletic facilities in Moscow.
About 300,000 athletes will take part this summer in the
first "Moscow Games," a national sports festival. Work
has begun on a gigantic stadium in one of Moscow's suburbs.
This will probably be used to support a bid for the 1960
or 1964 Olympic games. Since World War n the Russians
have put great emphasis on athletics, sending teams to com
pete all over Europe. Their top
performers all claim amateur
status, but actually are heavily subsidized by the state.
FOR MENTAL HEALTH
As a climax to Mental Health Week, the Ford Founda
tion announced a grant of $15 million for research over the
next five to ten years. The program will cover both the
causes of mental illness, and methods of treatment and pre
vention. The U. S. now has over 700,000 mental patients, oc
cupying more than half of all our hospital beds. Thousands
more have less serious mental illnesses which limit their
happiness and usefulness. Our federal and state governments
spend over a billion dollars a year for the care of mental
patients, but less than one per cent of this goes for research,
and many public institutions are so understaffed that very
little treatment can be given.
RAIN OR SHINE
Can artificial rain-making change the general pattern of
our weather For two years the U. S. Navy conducted ex
periments along the Atlantic coast to answer this question.
Of 37 different storm centers which came along during that
time, half were "seeded" by rain-making techniques,
and the
others were untouched. The conclusion was that
cloudseeding
had no "large-scale meteorological
effects."Rainmaking
may cause local showers, but it cannot change the
general path of the winds and pressure areas which deter
mine our major weather patterns. This conclusion has con
siderable military significance, but not all meteorologists
agree with it. President Eisenhower has an Advisory Com
rainmaking,
which has become a million-dollar business in this
mittee on Weather Control to study problems of local
country. One difficulty is that the rain-makers may "steal"
rain which would normally fall somewhere else. Also, overseeding
may actually prevent rain.
COURT PACKING
Prime Minister Johannes Strydom of the Union of South
Africa has removed one of the last obstacles in the way of
his segregation program. Twice the High Court of South
Africa has disallowed, as unconstitutional, Nationalist legis
lation which would disfranchise the people of mixed blood
in South Africa. Now Styrdom has secured permission from
his parliament to pack the High Court with five new judges,
increasing the bench from six to eleven. All the new judges
are favorable to the Nationalist policies. This is not only a
blow against the rights of the native peoples of South Af
rica, but a big step toward dictatorship.
COVENANTER WITNESS