Presbyterians

A little band of tired Presbyterians closed themselves in a San Francisco room last week. In the room were Dr. Robert E. Speer, secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions; J. Willison Smith, Philadelphia banker; Will H. Hays, cinema tsar. Each was a candidate for moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, which was holding its 139th general assembly at San Francisco.

Mr. Smith had the support of Dr. Clarence E. Macartney of Pittsburgh and of other uncompromising Presbyterian Fundamentalists. Dr. Speer declared that he would not accept election unless it came as a "call," by acclamation.

The candidates decided for Dr. Speer.

Next morning the general assembly followed the dictates of factional leaders and elected Dr. Speer moderator.

Moderator Speer, 60 years old, traveled, learned, politic, succeeded Dr. William Oxley Thompson, president-emeritus of Ohio State University.

Moderator Thompson's great problem last year was to dampen the shoutings of Presbyterians who interpreted their creed differently and sincerely. Presbyterian legalists learned a new patience last year for Presbyterian humanists; humanists tolerated the behavior of legalists. As a result Moderator Speer can give his energies to Church administration instead of to pacification.

Princeton Seminary. At Princeton Theological Seminary Dr. Gresham Machen and Dr. Charles R. Erdman had maintained a bitter imbroglio for years. Dr. Machen, a stricter Presbyterian theologian than Dr. Erdman, had been named to the Chair of Apologetics at the Seminary. Of Dr. Machen's intellectual qualifications there was never a quibble. But Dr. Erdman fought the appointment on personal grounds.

Last week the general assembly voted to put the Seminary under a single board of control, and heard an investigating committee recommend that Dr. Machen's appointment "be not confirmed." Said Moderator Thompson, his head bowed, his voice faltering: "It is not more theology but more religion that is needed in Princeton." The general assembly applauded.

Authority. The general assembly decided definitely that a Presbyterian licensed to preach was responsible only to his single church; that a Presbyterian ordained was responsible only to his presbytery; that the general assembly could not properly interfere with the domestic affairs of the presbyteries. The general assembly thus considers itself representing a confederation of presbyteries.

Clergy Pensions. Cinema Tsar Will H. Hays, who headed a committee to gather $15,000,000 last year for a ministers' pension fund, announced fruition of his campaign; was visibly moved at the earnestness of applause accorded him.