The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-22
The Lesson of Evolution.

The Lesson of Evolution
 ''This is the awful plain lesson of evo- lution. Millions of inadequate forms of life have been crushed out by the way before man was reached and millions of precious children have gone down and out by virtue of their lawless indiffer- ence to the condition of excellence.
 There is no foe to humanity today in some quarters more dangerous than this sugar and water philosophy false ly called optimism, this dainty attempt to elevate citys taste, to renovate the city's health and to purify the city's politics by whitewashing or demolish- ing the bill boards or by putting in patent smoke consumers in the boiler rooms, or granting a few more holi- days in the year to working men, or giving each employe cup of coffee with his noon lunch. All are good In themselves, but become bad when they become opiates to conscience, when they are offered as substitutes for the more radical treatment the disease calls for. It is quackery and hum bug that tries to remove by local ap- pication the pimples. boils and car buncles on the body which can only be reached by constitutional treatment, radical change in diet, a new regimen of life.
 "There is. little use in preaching against birds in women's hats or rall- ing against merry widofs and direc- toire gowns until we face unfiinching- ly the profounder fallacies, the un- questioned evidence of degeneracy re- vealed by a study of the psychology of woman's dress"
 Here Dr. Jones quoted an authority to the effect that 'an inventory of the activities of the world will show that they are carried on by man largely as a means of supplying woman with those accessories which she uses to charm him. A revolution in fashion under which women should dress as do men would condemn every fiourshing and opulent city in Europe and Amer lea to bankruptcy and starvation.
 However, in spite Of all this, do believe the world is growing better because I am compelled to recognize the measureless fecundity of nature, the splendid overcharge of creative v1r- ility in all the fields of life, because Of the hundreds of thousands of men and women in the United States today who are living the simple life in reality. l believe the world is growing better because of the great sections of hu- man nature who now in their barparlc or semi -barbaric condition are in train ing for future conquests, and they will he ready in the fulness of time to sup plant the emasculated children or false culture and a debilitated CIVIL ization. So in the far off future the erowth of the world will be secured bv the new tides of life and energy that will come from races now little known or perhaps wholly unknown, which Tn the marvellous drama of history will sooner or later seize the banner which the enervated hand of the Anglo-Saxon may be about to let fall from sheer over confidence and over indulgence. believe in the infinite resources of God.
 Go Along With Progress.
 But the question for us to decide ia not whether the world Is growing better but whether you and are grow ing better. It Is a case of exact book keeping. We pay for everything we get and it is as easy to bargain Tor damnation as 1t is for salvation. We must see that our homes are growing finer that our city is going heaven ward that our city is going to justify the fathers, that America is to con tinue the land of the free and the nome of the brave, beacon to the oppressed of all nations, vindication of the praise and promise of Washington. and to see that it shall not go down into a worse slavery of greed, indulgence and selfishness.
 of the world Is growing better let