Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-08-17

4 perhaps 100 nlucn given to seventy OF
expression. He possesses in a marked
desree the dangerous gpower#of sarcasm
Land in any discussion which borders
upon personal issues MIR. Ingalls, is an
/ antagonist TO be avoided. But outside
/ the arena of personal conflict he is a
genial man. He devotes himself close
Is to his senatorial du ties and exhibits
the steady growth which uniformly att
tends the superior mind
EVOLUTION AND THE STRENUOUS LIFE. q
Man in peace is a domesticated AMI
Imal; he lives in security and his fight
ling Instincts become dulled. Hence he
runs the risk Of defeat at the hands or
more warlike, tho less civilized, tribes.
SO argues NJ. Felix lie Dantee man ar
Iticle in tle Revue ye'opediaue enti-
Etled Peace and Decadence Says this
,yriter
We love to dream of universal and
teNeTlas ting peace; we are apt To see al
ways the crilsl ard SAD sit1esof war in
stead Of It's heroic side. We are no
loiagei in That Oarbai.ic period of the
worlds history when martial qualities
Were regarded as the highest of the
manly virtues. We now look upon
Thinkers md scientific men as the true
8elite os humanity and it is only in
times of unthirking entilusa SIN that
we. admire con qnerors. Such periods of
en tillisi as m must be re gard ed as feredi-
sass, whose only glory was in victory
I The dream of a Tolstoi is Infinitely
lhnerthan the career d. a Napoleon, but
He we can see 10 the bottom#saf things
I've shall find that this dream il a Ito
i9pia: we must have war#nr its eauiva-
ilent if men are TO remain brave and
We must have injustice If men are 10
remain Just. The human species is a
poor thing =
i ,ghe two great eyoluti5nis.s. La
.narek and Darwin. q gree in demon
.tstrating that races degenerate in times.
sIof prosperity. With Darwin the
/ factor Of progressive evolu ton is natu-
EHial selection. thai is ia sa y, the elisap-
II l4eafaEc e5 of the least favored indiNidu-s
tlals IN favor of the most fit; but alas.
i in the history ii pros perous races We
y find an inverse .artiticial selection that
fatally determines a regressiSse eyolu-
ition. The afiectionEof man for his kind
induces him To care Tor the diseased
II individuals Who, lsft to tll@nisel S,
would certainly have disappeared, but
4 the condition thai this Should be POS
8sihlei is that there should pc 81 con
4 siies.ra bic amount Of prosperity in the
5FenilisteN; in a poor country or ore IN
a War, inferior individuals, have less
5Eehance Of presarYatiofl.''
Il Exactly the contrary of this is true,
NJ. L. Dantec tells US, in the case OF
4. donlestlc animals n rich couE tries
4 the. IN ferlof animals are Willingly sac
sfrtticed and the breed is kept up; While
II n. poor regions the owners have 50 few
II animals ti1at they are Unwilling TO
give UP even tie inferior ones. ana the
bread falls Of. Man ssdoing for hi,n-
affself in PROSPEROUS countries the writer.
Isays, just What he does fer his breeds
i5ef animals in roos- countriss-i,e Is
Il keeping, carefully all the Interior t. pes,
land this is Il prime cause Of the deca-
{dence due to pros erity. So much for
1.-THE effect Of selection. Lanlarckts
q teachings show Us that mother set of
forces is working in the some direction,
land that We can not Withstand them,
for they are The result of existence it,
self Says the writer:
Il '.Iamarck teaches US that orr or
sans are developed by exercise and
SEatrophied by inactivity, and that the
ssesuits Of this development or atrophy
Il are transmitted by heretiity. Animals
3that live in a STATE Of mai uie are alive
because they have resisted all destrtlc-
II Tive agencies, and tfses do this by
4 means Of special organs thar are con-
II tinualiy being exercised. Now the ma n
sEef a PHOSPHORUS race has succeeded in
i shelteriag himself from these destruc-
a tive agencies without having to strug
lyle against them; ha therefore loses
II progressively the use of a II the organs.
that give him power to fight directly
n against the elements.
a Take. for instance, the destructive
tagency Of cold. says NJ. lie Dantec.
wild animals are able TO resist this
success fully, but man avoids cold In.
steadSof lighting it, hence. lie exposed
Ito wintry weather without clothing, he
d would inevitably perish. This is true
lalso in the case Of all other atural
destructive agencies; civilized races are
Z becoming less aud less fit 10 contend
individually against hostile environ
hment because they grow UP amid con-
jditions wterc such strifeis unn ecessary
q Domestic animals generally die when
4 returned to the wild state To quote
4 M. lie Dantec's final para graphs:
The state of domesticity with AMI
& mails corresponds to the state of pro-
4 innged peace With man. because of the
resulting state of security. See the
Tears of a dog: they are often, hansin g
and very slightly movable The an
cestors of the dog, in their wild state
L had very movable ears ikethose of the
q wolves: their ears were always erect
q because Of the dangers that they en-
4 countered. The muscles that made the
. ears of wild dogs so admirable a de-
fensivs weapon have atrophied pro-
Excessively.
In the man who has lived long in
peace, the warlike instincts become
softeued; we strive against this pro-
! gressive atrophy by mi cans of the phys
q ical exercises called sports, which are a
Isort Of imitation of war but that does
mot prevent the decadence Of certain