The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1945-04-19
The San Francisco
Conference Facts


Editors Note, The following an
nouncement concerning the coming
San Francisco Conference was pre-
pared by The Department of State,
Washington, D. C.
When the representatives of the
United Nations meet in San Fran
cisco on April Is, they will bring
with them the support of their peo-
pies, founded upon the belief that
there must be drafted there a
Charter for a world organization
with the power and the will to
maintain world peace and security.
AS we go into that Conference, it
is essential that we understand ex-
actly what is its purpose. For it
will not be a peace conference. 1t
will not deal with boundaries, or
PREPARATIONS, or questions concerning
the disarmament and control of the
Axis countries. The Conference
will not be concerned with the trial
and punishment of war criminals.
The United Nations Conference
will have one purpose, and only
one: To prepare the Charter of
an International organization for
presentation to the proposed mem
Der nations for adoption. This is,
however, the basic task, the foun-
dation stone for the structure of
international cooperation. In work.
ing toward this accomplishment the
delegates must reach agreement
upon the most effective machinery
for the peaceful settlement of dis
putes, and at the same time how
best to employ force to settle dis
putes, if force should prove neces-
stry. They must decide upon such
questions as the most effective way
mand the support of the great ma
ic, social and humanitarian coopera-
ton, and the relationship of region
al organizations to the proposed
general organization.
The Dumbarton Oaks Proposals
will provide a good basis for this
discussion. Nevertheless, it will be
a difficult task The Charter which
will emerge from this Conference
will of necessity be the result of
compromise and adjustment. 1t
may not meet in its entirely the
wishes of any one nation; rather,
it will be a syntheses of the wishes
of all those nations concerned. But
the real purpose will have been ac-
complished if the San Francisco
Conference creates a framework for
world organization that can COM
mand the support of the great ma
jority of all those who believe in
freedom, and one that will be fex-
1ble enough, at the same time, to
permit changes and improvements
in the light of future experience.
There have been doubts in the
minds of some persons as to the
wisdom of establishing the world
organization apart from the settle
ments that will follow victory in
this present war. Mature judgment
should make us realize that these
doubts are baseless. By first set
ting up the world organization, with
its functions separate from the
peace settlements, we shall make
it possible for this international
machinery to deal as freely with
threats to world peace that may
later arise from those settlements
as with such threats from any other
cause.
What will be accomplished at San
Francisco and afterwards toward
organizing the world for a truly
enduring peace will affect deeply
the lives of every American citizen
and the future security and happi-
ness of every American home. Our
success or failure in this work will
depend, in the last analysis, upon
the intelligence and understanding
and the active support of the men
and women who desire above all
else that we shall not have to fight
another and more terrible war and
that peace shall prevail throughout
the years.