Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-04-30
Bishop Brent Presents Stand
of Churches at Start of
Committee Hearings.
FAVORED BY BUSINESS
BODIES AND LAWYERS
Proposal Declared in Line With
American Thought on Peace
for Decades.

AuNoCdteS OF AMERICAN pdFllClpd-
ton in the world court concentrated
their forces today before a sub
committee of the Senate foreign rela-
tions committee and made spirited
and determined pleas for action on
the proposal by the present Congress.
Bishop Charles H. Brent of the
Episcopal Church, representing
church organizations, told the com
mittee that the mandate for the
court comes from the nation" and
no longer is "the idea of leaders"
Tells of Referendum.
sented "the careful conservative ex-
preston of business" Walker D.
Hines, speaking for the foreign rela-
tions committee of the Chamber of
Commerce of the United States, out
lined approval of the court proposal
in a referendum by that organization
and told of resolutions passed advo-
eating such an agency.
George w. Wickersham spoke for
the American Bar Association and
told the committee that Presidents
Harding and Coolidge, Secretaries
Hughes and Hoover, EIihu Root and
many others had reviewed the rea-
sons advanced against American ad-
herence to the court and each had
found them Inadequate
All of the witnesses insisted Amer
lean participation in the court would
not bind the United States in any
way to the league of nations.
Majority for Court.
Entry of the United States into
the world court is of immediate i'm
portance" to the we'll being of Amer
ica and to the peace of the world.
Bishop Brent declared at the opening
of the hearing. He asserted that
friends of the court" constituted the
majority of the thinking citizens of
America.
ment in the matter of constructive
work for peace, and are growing in
creasingly impatient with Congress- I"
said Bishop Brent, adding that Chair
committee had damned the court with
faint praise in his apologies for
the failure of the committee to act
Dducation Against War.
Education against war has pro-
gressed with extraordinary swiftness,
Bishop Brent said, but Education in
moral substitutes for war is not keeping
pace" He predicted that further agree
ment for limitation of armament
would become "a pale phase of
pacifism" unless supported by parallel
measures TO provide peaceful settle
ment of disputes.
Americas adherence to the world
court is matter which by its inherent
worth has been lifted above party
politics" the bishop said.
While churchmen are against put
ting Christ in khaki" Bishop Brent
said, they are not pacifists. They
take the position" he said, that duly
erected courts should be constituted
to settle disputes.
Unless our government provides a
moral substitute for war" he con-
tinued, "as far as in it lies, a vast
proportion of our citizenry are pres
predicament of being opposed to war
as an arbiter in International dis
putes, but without any provision hav-
ing been made for an adequate sub
stitute of a peaceful and orderly
character. Moreover. / venture to
maintain that the mandate for this
court comes from the nation. In
other words, 1t is no longer the idea
Of leaders, but the program of the
people"
Terms Of Average Man.
man, whose knowledge of govern
mental thought and action comes
through the public press, when I say
it is a puzzle why any measure of
the origin and history of the one
under consideration should be treat
country by the party in power, in
dorsed BIZ the opposition, it stands
in peril of death from neglect on the
part of it's parents.
I'm other words, measure orig
inally considered so important as to
call for wide publication by the
chief leaders of the administration
and which caught the attention OF
the ends of the earth by tacit con-
sent has been passed over for other
proposals which, however important
are little known to the country at
large.
Loss Of Perspective.
This government appears to the
average citizen to have lost its per-
Spective in international affairs
Bishop Brent declared.
He denied the court was an ap-
pendage or toll of the league of ma
tions, asserting that Secretary
Hughes reservations have made it
truly a world court"
Walker D. Hines, representing the
foreign relations committee of the
Chamber of Commerce Of the United
States, described the taking of a ref
erendum on the question by that or
ganization, which he said resulted in
an overwhelming vote in favor of
the United States initiating some sort
of international tribunal. The an
nual meeting in 1922, he added, spe-
officially approved the present world
court, and in 1923 the chamber re-
iterated it's conviction that the United
States should adhere to the proocol
establishing a world court
president Harding, Secretary
Hughes, Secretary Hoover, Mr.. Root
and many others have reviewed the
reasons advanced for refusing Ameri-
can adherence to the court and have
vigorously demonstrated their made
quacy.
"The reason so advanced may be
BRIEFLY summarized: The court was
organized by the league of nations,
is connected with it, and the United
States, therefore. can have no part IN
it, But the reservations proposed by
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