The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-12
Rev. Dr. Washington Glad den Declares Wilson Has Handled Complicated Sit nations With Wisdom, Firmness and Still Urges Church Unity.

Pittsfeld, Aug. 12-"President Will | sons policies are wise and good. He | has kept us out of war and his suc- | cess in so doing should be commended ] by all. His methods have been the best and he has handled the various l complicated situations that have aris- | en with a great deal of wisdom. firm ness and skill. What another man | in his position would have been able I to accomplish is a question that am | unable to answer"
 Thus spoke the Rev. Dr. Washing ton Gladden. of Columbus, Ohio, one of | the most famous retired clergymen of the country and noted writer of books on theology and other impor- i tant and interesting subjects, to a re- porter in Housatonic Hall, South street, where Dr. Gladden. is stop | ping for three weeks. Dr. Gladden. is an independent in politics. so he told the newspaperman. He was 80 years old February II last, and is graduate of Williams college, class of 1859, and author of the words of the well-known Williams song,
 "The Mountains" He was pastor of
 the First Congregational church in l North Adams from 1866 to 1871. Dr. Gladden's unstinted praise of President Woodrow Wilson was vol untarily uttered in the course of
 discussion of book on war and peace written by Dr. Gladden. and entitled ''The Forks of the Road" This book was awarded a prize of $1,- 900 by the Church Peace union of the United States.
 TI,ic olz n~ "tends to show that the nations are the forks of the road and have pur- sued militarism to such an extent that
 they have reached the crossroads
 where they must adopt other methods
 and be placed on a peace basis 1n-
 stead of war footing.
 Every one of the fighting Euro pean nations contends that this pres
 ent war is war to end war. If there
 should be another war it will be more
 universal and even more destructive than this one. All the resources of science are used nowadays to cause destruction.
 "In this possible future war we will get the same punishment that France, England and Germany are now re- ceiving-our cities and towns, too, will be made desolate and our toilers and thinkers will be made fodder for can non.
 | "Instead of creating larger army and navy we should at once set about entirely abo1ishing our present land and water forces. A larger army and navy make war-if they have no ene-
 mics the largely armed nations go and
 hunt them, up. All militarists say they are preparing for defense. but that's exactly what the European na- tions have said for fifty years. "It is perfectly safe for every in dividual and every nation to assume
 that other nations are as decent as they are. Instead nations declare, We are pacific, but every other na- tion is warlike.' The army and na- wy should be gradually reduced, so as to leave very small force for a while available for police work, and finally
 abolished. Should we adopt pa
 cific policy other nations would soon fall in line and then indeed would war be a thing unknown. There should be organized a league of nations, where all international questions could be satisfactorily arbitrated. What peace can accomplish was we'll demonstrated during the close of the seventeenth century. Father Lac Casas, Spanish priest, and band of helpers went entirely unarmed among one of the most savage Indian tribes ever known, into a country in Central America which they called verapraz. By kindness and peaceful means those noble missionaries sub dued and made civilized that band of Indians and to-day their tribe is the most pacific known.
 What is called the Asiatic peril is all talk-if nations are treated friend ly and just they will be peaceful and good. It is my fond hope that that time will soon come when as the Bible says: 'Men will war no more" During the past year Dr. Gladden. has also written book entitled Commencement Days" and contain ing commencement orations and bac- calaureate sermons delivered by him. Recently he attended the mid-week prayer meeting of the First Church of Christ, Congregational, where he spoke on the effect war is having on | the church and religious life. In part he said: Since the Euro pean war began some great changes have been made in religious life and as result of what the war has shown us even greater changes are now be- ing contemplated Most of the chan ges are of nature that will make
 for improved and bigger churches. One of the greatest changes yet caus- ed by the war is in Canada, where three denominations, Presbyterians, Methodist and Congregational, have united and now hold services as one union denomination. In England a most decided movement is being made to bring the free churches into one compact body.
 ''This plan of uniting denomin ations, which I have always consider ed a good one, has been hastened considerably by the war. Churches
 were greatly weakened almost at the
 start of the great conflict and found it absolutely necessary to unite and avoid destructive and ruinous compe- tition.
 "In the United States it would be ] much better to have the denomina- tions united and an organization known as the United Church Union has been formed for that purpose in the state of Ohio. In this country we have many more churches, espec-
 ially in rural districts, than there should be. This uniting of denominations can