Evening star., 1922-02-04
TASKFORCHURCH
~
NPARLEY ENDS
Must Develop Will to Peace
to Back Up Arms
Treaty. -.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

Without saying 50 in words the Wash
ington conference has put .squareiy up
to .tae Christian churches Of the world
the greatest single definite task that has
ever confronted them. SAs the hour OF
adjournment draws near, with monu-
mental diplomatic framework erected
for peace about the Pacific, and tor a
better state Of affairs, internationally.
in the far east, 1t has become clear that
the really essential thing has been left
undone, simply because no conference or
official agreement could do II.
That essential thing Is the creation OF
''the will to peace" and the spirit of
neishborliness and of regard for COM
mon right among all the nations. es-
pecially IN the orient. Now it remains
for the churches and their missionaries
10 teach the peoples concerned how to
behave. One wonders whether the re-
lisious leaders Of America will be pos
sessed Of an adequate statecraft TO call,
soon. and in Washington, another con-
ference upon moral disarmament and
problems Of Christianity about tho Pa.
ciffc. There iS urgent need for a sitting
down in consultation of all the parties
ut interest. The occasion might well be
as significant rsIigiouSly as the arms
pdFiey mas been polticd3y.
Cenaers About Character.
. Religion comprehends the core of
the matter, At every step of it's
proceedings the conference has been
faced by the question OF character.
All Of the engagements entered into
depend upon the good faith of the
parties thereto. New personal quail
itiss OF patriotism and public spirit
in the Chinese will have more to do
with the outcome of this meeting
than the text of any of the documents
tiles of Japan and her nationals will
validate or invalidate all Of her
pledges made at Washington. Upon
the exercise of sturdy traits Of in
dependence, public spirit and social
solidarity on the part Of tho Siberians
will depend the issues OF the Russian
question in the orient.
So far as affects International en-
gagements, this conference has act
cd almost up to It's possible limits.
Its achievements are monumental.
epochal. world .revolutiontzing-if
ing living spirit on the part of the
peoples concerned. Only religion can
furnish that support.
Ono day, when the conference was
at its lowest level. having ceased to
soar, and being in danger OF becom-
tHS stuch III lHS iulEe pL european
feuds, sought relief from the strain
by an excursion into the dry and
distant realms of anthropoiogy and
ethnOlogy. Amid Q gruesome collec-
tion of prehistoric skulls in the Ma
tional Museum l found one of the
worlds greatest scientists, whose
field is the development of humanity
throughout the countless centuries.
He talks In terms of ages and races
and types. Mankind in all of its
manifestations. is to him as speci-
men under a microscope.
Religioa Changes Course.
This savant, one OF the great COM
pany of able scientific men whom the
government employs, was good
enough to outline to me, in fascinat--
ing sweeps of language, the course OF
human developement throughout the
long aeons and over the whole earth
In the midst of q learned and abb
sorbing disquisition upon racial types
and tendencies, he paused to explain
that sometimes the progress Of neo'
pie or race has been interrupted OF
diverted by extraneous influences
sometimes pathological, but oftenest
religious, which have entirely changed
the direction of the development
More powerful than skull formation
or bone fbs. Or BLOC. blood =; soEpqsfilss Es,Isian Is
That profound biological truth Ia
not from a preacher or moralist, but
from a living scientist. 1t is as
scientific as any of the measurements
OF a warship--and even more appli-
cable to the proceedings Of this WASH
ington conference.
Thus the churches. of all names and
creeds, Protestant and Catholic,
European and American, have had
placed upon them by the Washington
conference such missionery task as
staggers the imagination, and calls
for newer, larger vision and leader.
ship and eiaciency.
(Copyright, l93S.)