about their work in such a manner as to deliberately avoid the pitfalls of bureaucracy. Most of the electorate will be surprised and gratified. Another satisfactory characteristic of the commission is its desire to cooperate with private industry. Here again a political argument has bee.n proved futile. When the question of civilian versus military control was being debated in Congress, it was stated that civilian control would establish a government monopoly which would operate in competition with private enterprise. Of course, such a statement is perfectly correct with respect, to government monopoly. Congress reluctantly admitted that atomic energy could be handled in no other way when it enacted the Atomic Energy Act. On the other hand, private industrial enterprise, far from being repressed, actually has expanded. The Atomic Energy Commission has made hundreds of contracts with industrial corporations in dozens of industries in a joint endeavor to make the utmost use of the country's scientific resources in unfolding the applications of atomic energy. Furthermore, even though some of the large public utility and chemical manufacturing firms are important contractors, there are many small firms likewise engaged in furthering the applications of atomic energy by working under contract with the commission, particularly in supplying concentrated stable isotopes, in synthesis of compounds containing radioactive isotopes for commercial sale, and in manufacture of detection instruments. Thus the commission cannot be accused of fostering private monopoly in the field of atomic energy by favoring "big business." Even a partial list of contractors and subcontractors, and a perusal of the job which each is undertaking, will reveal that a sizable portion of the brains and hands a t work on all phases of atomic energy is being supplied by private industry. This Ln turn means much employment, wages, and purchasing power, the necessary ingredients for a healthy ftv
