TOMORROW'S BIRTHRIGHT

Again a student of public affairs cries havoc over our national waste of our physical wealth in natural resources. This book, as up to date as possible, still seems, confronted with the potentialities disclosed at the Geneva Atoms-for-Peace conference, already outdated, in its long range calculations. This is not to detract from the convincing economic data and social appraisal, nor the penetration of the country's political trends, agricultural and utilities growth, the standards of individual maturity. Especially in sections such as the TVA, the author penetrates brilliantly the national fabric. He writes of our wealth in soils, water, forests, metals, minerals, coal, power and other forms of energy, including atomic. He exposes disastrous exploitation but describes also the advances in technology and science. He pleads for realistic appraisal and realistic planning. Until the atomic-oriented economist of tomorrow writes in terms of reactor civilization and intergalactic resettlement, the pleas of a sound investigator and student such as Barrow Lyons must be accepted at face value.