Miscellaneous

Monster Could End All Civilization

War Becomes a Destructive Force Capable of Make Life and home Unsafe

Sidney Enterprise, August 9, 1945

 

President Truman has clearly indicated that the scientists who made the atomic bomb have done two things:

1.  they have created a monster which could wipe out civilization.

2.  Some protection against the monster must be found before its secret is given to the world.

 

The government has protected its Los Alamos atomic bomb project, west and north of there, with such extreme secrecy that it has almost wiped the community off the map for two and one-half years.  So rigidly was the ban against publicity enforced, that society page and sports from Los Alamos avoided mention of the place.  A one-time exclusive school for boys, Los Alamos was taken over by the government in the fall of 1942.  Newspapermen were warned at once that the project was one of the War Department ranked as extremely confidential.  Reporters never were given an opportunity to visit the project.  But the public knew there was something secret hidden in the hills and conjectured over it. 

 

Hiroshima, first enemy city to feel the American atomic bomb, was a major military target.  Whether it is anything important now cannot be determined until the smoke and dust clear.  The War Department describes it as "an army city," major quartermaster depot and leading port of embarkation.  Principal industries produce large guns and tanks, machine tools and aircraft parts.  Industrial and warehouse construction varied from light and highly inflammable to very heavy and fireproof, providing a good check on the atomic bomb's capabilities.  Population was about 318,000 at the last census with the city proper measuring about three miles by four miles.

 

Some means must have been found to control the effects of the atomic bomb, Dr. Roy K. Marshall, director of Feis planetarium and associate director of Franklin Institute, said Monday night.  "Otherwise, we might drop such a bomb on Japan and find her suing for peace--and ourselves unable to stop the havoc which was being wrought on the enemy's territory," he declared.  Dr. Marshall explained that high-speed particles, parts of the core of the atomic structure of the explosive used, plow into other atoms--such as those in furniture or houses, or the human body itself--to produce explosions.  When these atoms are released they literally bombard other atoms in the area."  he said, adding that without some sort of restraining force such destructive action would "proceed indefinitely."

 

Peacetime developments of the atomic source of energy will make internal combustion engines "a thing of the past within, say, ten years," he predicted.  "We can expect great advances in many fields, including transportation, fuel supplies, electric power and--what may even be more important--medicine," Dr. Marshall declared. 

 

4th and 5th Generation Will Visit Miller Homestead

Sidney Enterprise, July 5, 1945

 

Fifteen grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick S. Miller are expected to visit the Miller Homestead this summer.  The Miller Homestead which is located at East Guilford [Chenango Co., NY], in the beautiful Unadilla Valley on the banks of the Unadilla river has been in the Miller family for a number of years and the home of some generations of the Miller family.  The youngest who carries the traditional Austin L. Miller the 3rd with his father and mother are expected Wednesday, July 4th; Fred'k S  Miller, Jr. and son William; Mr. and Mrs. Don A. Kilburn and two children; Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert McNamara and with her daughter, Mary Lou Lyon and Mark are all expected for the first 3 weeks in July.  All the above children comprise the 4th and 5th generation of the Miller family that will have visited Mr. and Mrs. Frederick S. Miller, present occupants of the homestead.