"BEYOND OUR EXPECTATIONS"

When John Foster Dulles went to San Francisco as chief consultant to the U.S. delegation, he took with him "serious reservations" about the Dumbarton Oaks proposals. These reservations had been expressed by the Federal Council of Churches (TIME, Jan. 29). whose Commission for a Just and Durable Peace is headed by Dulles. This week Dulles reported to the doubting Council:

"Today a charter is being signed which when ratified will bring into being a world organization. It is much that 50 nations were able to agree on any charter. I can, however, report more than mere agreement. The charter agreed upon is one which fulfills our hopes even beyond our expectations. . . . [We sought] that these [Dumbarton Oaks] proposals should be modified in important respects. That has been done. The charter which emerges from San Francisco is a totally different instrument from the draft of Dumbarton Oaks.

"To a very large extent the specific recommendations made by our church groups have been given effect. The basic conception of Dumbarton Oaks was that a few great powers would wield overwhelming military might to repress violence. The nations represented at San Francisco found that conception unacceptable. A few feared that the Great Powers would in fact agree upon a use of force which unguided by moral principles would be oppressive and unjust. Many more feared that the five Great Powers would be unable to agree among themselves and that the Security Council would be impotent as an organ for action. This fear was enhanced by the obvious difficulty which the Great Powers experienced in arriving at agreement upon matters before the conference.

"Therefore, at San Francisco, the emphasis was shifted. The charter was substantially rewritten to make the organization one which would promote justice and human welfare. There was a tremendous development of what our Commission has referred to as curative and creative processes. The result will be an organization which is subjected to principles of justice and of international law and which is designed to recommend the change of any conditions which might impair those principles or the general welfare or friendly relations among nations. It will be an organization which is dedicated to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion; to create conditions of stability and well-being and through international cooperation, to promote higher standards of living and cultural and educational cooperation. It will be an organization which binds the members to treat the administration of non-self-governing peoples as a sacred trust; to protect those peoples from exploitation and to develop self-government and free political institutions.

"... I have said enough to show that the San Francisco conference was not a conference which merely ratified a text which the Big Powers presented. The San Francisco conference performed a great task of creation. It gave birth to an instrument which can be a Magna Carta for the world. ... I can see no reasonable ground for Christian people now to hesitate in their support of the San Francisco charter. . . ."

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