ren as before. Not one tenth of the national wealth had been
destroyed by the grass or a sixth of the country given up to it, yet it
had done what seven wars and many vicissitudes had failed to do: it
brought the country to the nadir of its existence, to a hopeless
despondency unknown at Valley Forge.

At this desperate point the federal government decided it could no
longer temporize with the clamor for using atomic power against the
grass. All the arguments so weighty at first became insignificant
against the insolent facts. It was announced in a Washington
pressconference that as soon as arrangements could be made the most
fearful of all weapons would be employed.

_38._ No one doubted the atomicbomb would do the trick, finally and
conclusively. The searing, volcanic heat, irresistible penetration,
efficient destructiveness and the aftermath of apocalyptic radiation
promised the end of the grass.

When I say no one, of course I mean no clearthinking person of vision
with his feet on the ground who didnt go deliberately out of his way to
look for the dark side of things. Naturally there were crackpots, as
there always are, who opposed the use of the bomb for various untenable
reasons, and among them I was not surprised to find Miss Francis.

Though her pessimistic and unpopular opinions had been discredited time
and again, the newspapers, possibly to enliven their now perpetually
gloomy columns with a little humor, gave some space to interviews which,
with variations predicated on editorial policy, ran something like
this:

Will you tell our readers what you think of using the atom bomb
against the grass?

I think it at the very best a waste of time; at the worst, extremely
dangerous.

In what way, Miss Francis?

In every way. Did you ever hear of a chain-reaction, young man? Or
radioactivity? Can you conceive, among other possibilities--and
mind, this is merely a possibility, a quite unscientific guess
merely advanced in the vain hope of avoiding one more folly--of the
whole mass becoming radioactive, squaring or cubing its speed of
growth, or perhaps throwing before it a lethal band miles wide? Mind
you, I'm not anticipating any of this, not even saying it is a
probability; but these or similar hazards may well attend this
illconsidered venture.

You speak strongly, Miss Francis. None of the rather fantastic
things you predict followed Hir