Evening star., 1934-01-16
PEACE CONFERENCE
HEARS SPEECH RAP
'NAT|ONAL|SM TIDE
Ninth Annual Gathering on
Cause and Cure of War
Opens in Capital.
CHURCH COUNCIL LEADER
SCORES NAVAL PROGRAM
Walter W. Van Kirk Points to
10000 Children Needing
Funds for Education.

With 75-year-old Carrie Chapman
Gait again campaigning for the peace
cause, the ninth annual Conference on
the Cause and Cure of War opened this
morning at the Washington Hotel.
There will be morning, afternoon and
evening sessions through Friday, with
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt delivering
the principal address at a banquet to-
morrow night.
Walter w. Van Kirk, international
secretary of the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America. review
ed the Advances and Retreats Made on
the Peace Front During the Past Year"
in the opening address today. He de-
plored the 1888 tide of nationalism."
which he blamed for the withdrawal of
both Japan and Germany from the
League of Nations and the threat of
Italy to withdraw.
Economic nationalism has been a
serious threat to the worlds peace dur
ing 1888" Van Kirk said. Nations are
in a mad race to establish their eco
nomic independence of other nations
a vain and inglorious hope
Economic Farley Failure"
He called the World Economic Con-
ference "a dismal failure and OBJ
served that ''it is no more possible for
the world to achieve economic recov-
cry than it would be for the United
States 10 achieve economic solidarity
if it permitted each sovereign State
to set up tariff barriers against all
other States
Nor can there be permanent peace
in the world as long as nations ignore
the problems arising out of the NAL
adjustments of unreStrained economic
Imperialism he added.
Van Kirk also decried the new race
in naval armaments' and pointed out
that this country has begun the
greatest naval building program ever
launched in our peace-tlme history.
The fact the race has proceeded un-
Ger treaty rules does not make it any
less a race" he said.
We are spending hundreds of mil
lions of dollars for naval construction
al the very moment when schools are
closing and children are obliged to
walk the streets because there is no
money with which to pay their teachers.
10000 Denied Schooling.
"The National Education ASsocia-
ton estimates that 10000 children of
school age are being denied education,
10000 are being Schooled in tempo
rary shacks. 250,0O0 more are getting
only part-time education. The asSo-
citation states that $4,000 rural schools
are closed, 10000 teachers are jobless,
0.000 being on relief.
AT a time when schools are closing
down, when teachers are unpaid and
social and cultural agencies are fac
ing financial chaos, the United States
is participating in military program
that makes a prior claim upon our
national wealth.
On the brighter side of peace, Van
Kirk pointed to the withdrawal OF
Marines from Nicaragua and the fact
that President Roosevelt had not sent
armed forces into strife-torn Cuba.
The policy of the Roosevelt ad-
ministration toward Cuba deserves the
warm support of the peace-loving peo-
pie of the Nation" Sald Van kirk.
'Mr. Roosevelt has shown a COM
mendable restraint in his dealings with
the Cuban people. Despite grave dis
turbances in Havana and elsewhere
throughout the island there has been
no military intervention by this
country.
Called Gain for Peace.
Had Mr.. Roosevelt followed Lne ex-
ample set by his predecessors, the Ma
rines would be in Havana at this very
hour MIR. Roosevelt's announced
policy of on-intervention means, IN
short, that the flag has ceased follow
ing the dollar. This is a tremendous
gain for peace"
Van Kirk saw in the recognition of
Russia another advance" and re-
called there was time when the
mere mention of Russia was enough
to send cold shivers up and down the
spines of our professional patrioteers."
And now we have recognized Rus
sia, the Senate has confirmed the ap-
pointment of Mr.. Bullitt as United
States Ambassador to Moscow. the
Soviet Ambassador has been officially
received in Washington, and the stars
and stripes still hutter in the breeze.
That we could recognize Russia
without experiencing the calamities
predicted by the 100 per cent patriot
GERS has. in itself. debunked many Of
the self appointed guardians of the
Nations liberty and this has been
victory for the cause of peace"