Delayed Reaction

As Henry Kissinger is wont to remind his critics, arms limitation agreements are usually difficult and time-consuming to work out. An extreme case in point occurred last week when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommended that the Senate ratify an international treaty banning chemical and bacteriological warfare.

As usual, the exact terms of the agreement had posed a difficult problem. The Ford Administration finally worked out a compromise under which it supported the general ban but reserved the right to use tear gas and herbicides in special circumstances.

The arms-control treaty, which has already been signed by 100 nations, stemmed from the worldwide horror at the use of poison gas during World War I. The year the international accord was first debated by the U.S. Senate? Nine teen twentysix.

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