Warning

As a young counsel to the U.S. peace delegation, John Foster Dulles saw the failure of Versailles at first hand. As chairman of the Federal Council of Churches' Commission on a Just and Durable Peace, he campaigned hard for sane internationalism. And as foreign affairs advisor to Thomas E. Dewey he approved Dumbarton Oaks. But last week Foster Dulles, at a Presbyterian conference in Brooklyn, sounded a sharp warning. Said he:

"The Dumbarton Oaks proposals represent an achievement. But in their present state they represent only a partial agreement of four nations. It remains to complete that agreement, not only within the Big Four, but by enabling the smaller nations to come along as willing partners. . . .

"Dumbarton Oaks falls short ... of what is necessary to assure peace with justice. Too much reliance is placed upon force. . . . The arrangement partakes much of a military alliance. The proposed organization is inadequately endowed with curative and creative functions. . . .

"I can say now that the conscience of many Christians is troubled, and it ought to be troubled. Certainly Christians cannot with silence accept the errors of commission and omission.

"On the other hand, we must not, in the search for perfection, withdraw our support of the best which may now be practical. "The Dumbarton Oaks proposals assure . . . that when the war coalition dissolves it will be replaced by a peace coalition, rather than by pre-war anarchy. . . . Therefore, they can be accepted. But they can be accepted only as a beginning. Next to doing nothing, the worst calamity would be to regard what is now done as adequate. . . . We must recognize the fact that we face a continuing task."

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