Show newsmen argue A bomb results while they wait by WALTER A SHEAD correspondent EDITORS NOTE katei this dispatch fi paci atvas filed irons from the atomic bomb testing area only shortly before the first t test bomb ivas scheduled to be dropped ABOARD appalachian BIKINI ATOLL via navy radio this reporter does not intend to delve into the scientific aspects of this atomic bomb test leaving that to the scientific writers and the scientists themselves this test is primarily a military experiment to determine how the united states navy and other armed services can figuratively rat ively keep its powder dry in the face ace of any future atomic war tare the experiments however by their very nature and the various tests which are to be made of atomic energy will produce products byproducts by of knowledge in the fields of biochemistry biology and medicine further knowledge will be gained also in the fields of radio photography geology fish life and all the sciences which apply to ocean life many conjectures A tour of this ship and a visit to the staterooms state rooms where the newspaper men are housed conjectures on the outcome of this bomb test measured only by the number of new newspaper s men a board aboard th this Is Is almost almos true of the scientific writers themselves se ives for most all have different viewpoints on the possible developments these conjectures run th the e gamut of total destruction by tidal wave or earthquake of the entire e task force in the vicinity of the bomb down to the theory that the bomb might even p prove ove a dud forecasts of the des destruction of the atomic bombs dropped dappe on hiroshima and nagasaki made by the scientists connected with un uncle ae sams military establishments ments were fairly accurate and this reporter is willing to discard the more fantastic conjectures and string along with some of these more conservative forecasts earthquake or tidal wave in the first arst place bikini lagoon where the bomb will be dropped is roughly 25 miles long and 10 miles wide and the water averages 10 feet in depth and one scientist likened ene it the dropping of the bomb into such an expanse of water and air to a spark from a welders torch dropped into a 30 nere acre lake scientists admit that the bomb may cause caus a slight earthquake and tidal wave but that in comparison with natures s earthquakes it will have no d destructive violence and will only be recorded upon seismographic inu US SAH X JAPAN HAWAII GUAM BIKINI 0 A AUSTRALIA aa aa adaa J J LONELY REEF far a out ut in the pacific bikini atoll holds the 87 97 ships of the suicide fleet st the release of atomic energy at the given point of the bomb burst will vill in the opinion of these scientists release heat and en ergy aigy at that spot pot of a nature never before experienced upon the surface of the earth but its effects w will ill be confined to a relatively very ery small area one scientist declared that tha t the radio activity released from the bomb it absorbed by living tissues tissue s would result in chemical changes in the proteins of the tissues in some cases of sufficient anten intensity sity to kill the tissues and in other cas cases es like ly to produce a new kind of living tissue or a new variety of organ it Is a well known fact that X rays have created this phenomenon in living tissues and the radioactive active rays from the bomb are practically the same as arais X rays thus a man who comes in in contact with these radioactive radio active particles may well become sterile and be chemically changed as to other characteristics on the other hand some scle scientists predict a tremendous tidal wave as result of dislodging a huge landslide along the stops of bikini atoll which rises some foet feet from the floii 0 of f the ocean another predicts the bomb will crack open the ocean floor and let the water into the molt molten c n m matter a tier beneath ben e nth the floor re suiting in a tremendous volcanic explosion these predictions however are arc generally discounted are arc sworn to secrecy this reporter anticipates plenty of action and plenty to write about when this bomb Is dropped by the B 29 over the target array of naval nava ships the most dramatic will be the see second ond test when a bomb Is detonated below the surface of 0 the water in the midst of what is left of the target ships the handicap under which the lay members of the press work is however that we ve will not know nor will we be told whether or not these bombs exploded at full efficiency or whether or not in tact fact they were duds |