Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-19
PRESS Of CHURCH
PRAISES PRESIDENT.
ResoIutionC ommends Hoover
for Attitude on Peace and
Prohibition.

Before adjourning sessions here yes
terday the Editorial Council of the Re-
ligious Press, representing important
Protestant periodicals throughout the
country, adopted a resolution COM
mending> President Hoover for his eff
forts in behalf of world. peace and pro-
hibition enforcement.
This followed discussion on the
conference floor during which the
church, as q whole. as well as the re-
ligibus press, was taken to task for q
lack of understanding and unity in
supporting great world reform move
ments.
The resolution set forth that Presi-
dent Hoover has availed himself of the
new and sincere evidences of friendly
craftsmanship in Great Britain, has
lent to Europe the technical skill and
cooperation OF distinguished Ameri-
cans, with satisfying results, and has
manifested also a disposition to pro-
mote the mutual welfare in Mexico and
other Latin American republics by the
spirit Of equality and fraternity, rather
than by superior economic and politi-
cal force.
A declaration by Charles Stelzle of
the Federal Council of Churches that
LED to sharp difference Of opinion as
to the responsibility of the religious
press with regard to church co-opera-
ton and unity. After the discussion
from the floor, the subject was renewed
by l.. o. Hartman, editor of lions Her
aid, at the luncheon which followed, who
contended that the religious press has
more power than its editors realize in
the questions of prohibition and world
peace.
Referring briefly to former attempts
of church conferences to take a unified
stand with regard to prohibition, Mr..
Stelzle declared that failure was due to
the fact that they seem to hate each
other more than they hate the common
enemy"
Credits Secular Press.
Frankly giving more credit to the
secular press in disseminating church
news than the religious press, Mr..
Stelzle criticized the latter for lack of
virility and failure to face frankly the
great movements in which the man on
the street is interested"
when it comes to the point of get
ting church news" he said, the daily
newspapers are putting it all over you."
in explaining that the secular press de-
votes columns to great questions in
which the church is interested and
which the religious publications dismiss
with a line or two"
Particularly in the matter of world
peace did the speaker deplore the fail
ure of the church and its press to take
the lead. We're always trailing be-
hind" he admonished the editors. THE
religious press is not nearly so interested
in world peace as it should be-" AS for
the church itself. he declared that those
outside it have manifested more inter
est in the advancement of world peace
than those within it.
James E. Clarke, editor of the Presby-
terrain Advance, commended that If the
religious press is to increase its inf1u-
ence, it should appeal either directly
to the masses OF people or to them
through their leaders. Mr.. Stelzle had
explained that the power of the secular
press as a medium for the dissemina-
ton of church news lies chiefly in the
fact that 1t reaches about 90 per cent
of the masses, while the religious press
reaches only about 2 per cent.
Exceptions Taken.
Some took exception to his view OF
the waning power of church influence
in the decline Of contributions and
foreign mission work. The churches
are "limping along for lack of financial
support" Mr.. Stelzle declared, yet
Church organization has been "institu-
tionalized' to a point never before
reached in it's history. In estimating
church contributions today, he re-
minded the editors that the dollar of
1929 is worth only so cents of the dol
lar of 1914 and in that comparison
there has been a decline of from
cents to half cent per capita in sup
port of mission work.
I'm the last analysis of the problems
Of the church, they must be worked
out through local organizations" he
said, land the approach must be
through the religious press" What the
church needs is a diagnostician or an
interpreter, he urged In explaining that
the religious press should fill this role.
At the luncheon conference Mr.. Hart
man took up this theme, urging that
1t was the duty of religious editors Ito
raise the, issue, to promote discussion
of all those questions which affect hui
man welfare" Contending that the
religious press has more influence than
is realized, he said in recent years 1T
has been particularly effective in its in
fiuence on world peace, the Nicaraguan
question. prohibition and cigarette adj
vertising.
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