Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1928 - Rparchives.org

REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 23
providing for conciliation in its place, and for arbitration or
judicial settlement when conciliation has failed, are very important
peace machinery, and should not be minimized, nevertheless
they will not suffice to prevent war. We do not depend
on that kind of machinery to prevent war between our
forty-eight states. We have living and permanent organisms
in Congress and the Supreme Court. It is inconceivable that
the world would require less machinery for the prevention of
war than our states or our smaller political units require.
We need and must have a permanent World International
Court, such as the International Court of Justice, and a World
organization such as the League of Nations, through which
there will be built up a body of law, to govern the nations in
their dealings with each other, before we can hope to realize
the vision of the poet:
"When the war drum beats no longer, and the battle
flag is furled,
In the Parliament of man and the federation of the
world."
These great facts must be kept before our governments
and people and public opinion educated toward the setting up
of these essential instruments of .world peace.
We recommend the adoption of the following resolutions:
I. We rejoice, and are grateful to God, for the efforts
now being made by the United States and other Governments,
to enter into compacts with other nations for the outlawry of
war; we commend our President and Secretary of State for
their advanced position in this matter as represented by the
proposed treaty and correspondence of Secretary Kellogg, and
pledge to them our fullest support in the development of a
strong public sentiment on behalf of this movement which is
necessary to its finalsuccess.
II. We commend our government for its policy of nonintervention
in the internal affairs of China.
III. We rejoice in the settlement of the serious and
threatening difficulties between our government and that of
Mexico and commend our Department of State and our Ambassador
to Mexico for the wisdom with which they dealt with
the situation.
IV. We urge upon Congress the necessity of revising the
Asiatic exclusion clause of the Immigration Law so as to put
the Asiatics upon the quota basis that we may cease to offend,
unnecessarily, the sensibilities of nations and peoples who are
friendly to America.
V. Believing that preparation for war leads to war,
and that the movement for the reduction of armaments must
keep pace with the movement for the outlawry of war if the
a be latter States more accompanied VI. is to drastic to In prepare succeed, view reduction by of for the we another setting call of fact armaments upon that conference of the suitable President of outlawry of every Nations and kind. of of adequate the war to United secure must in-