-~98— Furthermore, by approaching the problem of protection against atomic weapons through an international organization, countries other than the two major powers not only gain a chance of participation but an opportunity to help bring about agreement between the two most important members. Finally, it is hoped that both this country and the Soviet Union will make greater efforts to reach agreement if in so doing they can strengthen the UNO. However, the choice of an international instead of i bilateral procedure of negotiation cannot do away with the underlying probiea which is the distribution of atomic power between the United States and the Soviet Union. This country as the sole possessor of the bomb is alone in a position to make immediate sacrifices or contributions. The Soviet Union is today the one country among the United Nations from which we must expect early and independent atomic production. It is therefore the one country from which, if we are to make concessions, we must insist on obtaining reliable safeguards, Whatever international agreement may be nogotiated within the framework of the UNO will, thus, in the beginning at least constitute in essence a Soviet-American agreement, ticipation of others. reinforced by the par- It goes without saying that any agreement on atomic power would have to take care of whatever dangers might arise from countries like Ger many or Japan which are outside of the Organization. Theoretically this country could have offered a far more sweeping contribu- tion to the solution of the atomic problem than anything ever hinted at in the Truman-Attlee.King declaration and the subsequent Moscow resolution and could in return have asked for correspondingly sweeping contributions from the Russians. Specifically, our government might have declared that the United States was ready to scrap all existing stockpiles of atomic bombs as well as all the plants in which they were produced, In return it would have had to demand that all other members of the Organization, including the Soviet Union, commit themselves, under stringent international guarantecs, never to undertake the production of atomic bombs, Here again one is tempted to forego further discussion on the grounds