The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1922-01-06
MENACE OF DARwINIsM

If Bryan had been elected president,
on his first or second attempt, a great
teacher might have been lost to the
world. For then he could not have
taken the platform. There would in
deed have been chance that, as an
ex-president, he would have been call
ed to a college presidency or profess
sorship. Then his wonderful voice and
, ready pen would have placed him
where he belongs, among the greatest
instructors of the multitude in the
things that pertain to righteousness
and right living.
Whatever may be said Of the polit-
ical and economic doctrines for which
William Jennings Bryan has stood,
the principles Of peace, of temperance,
Of domestic economy, of social order,
Of morality and of religion which he
has presented to the ears of millions
in the press, have been as seed that is
yielding, and will continue to yield,
long after his generation has passed,
an abundant harvest of blessing to hu-
manity.
"The Menace of Darwinism," an es-
say or lecture by William Jennings
Bryan, has reached me in the form of
little coverless pamphlet. What the
great Commoner, as he is fifty called,
does to the so-called scientists who
monkey with man, in this effort, leaves
nothing but a grave in Oblivionland.
By quotations and comparisons he
shows that Darwin was great guess
err, whose guesses did not match each
other; that the best scientific minds OF
the age condemned his hypothesis, de-
nying them the dignity of theories;
that Darwinism has corrupted the
fountains of learning and blighted the
minds of learners without number,
and that, as clearly the traced inspir-
alton of Nietsche. it was primary
cause of the world war with all its
desolations and aftermath of distress.
For well-informed people the demo-
lition of Darwinism may be regarded
in the light of super-erogation, AS q
scientific philosophy it has long ago
been discarded Yet now and then,
as MI. Bryan gives recent instances
of, it crops out as basic doctrine ev-
en- in pulpit utterances. More fire.
quently by partly educated people it
is taken for granted as an undisputed
truth, to point a moral or prop an ar
gument. If it were not for these sor-
rowful facts, should regard Mr..
Bryan's assault on the Darwinism
works in the same way as the Indian
did the trick of white hunter to do
him out of wild goose. He had
brought the bird down with long
shot, but while the goose was still
fiuttering in midair, another shot rang
out. When the Indian reached the
spot pale-face was picking up the
goose. "Ugh!" the red man disgust
eddy exclaimed, "white man shoot nj
dead goose!"
Alive or dead when struck by the
Bryan petard, Darwinism has given
occasion for one of the strongest Cos
pei sermons ever delivered. without
religion" Mr. Bryan says at the out
set, zone can play part in both the
physical and the intellectual world,
but he cannot live up to the POSSIBLE
ties which God has placed within the
reach Of each human being" In his
eloquent peroration these burning
words appear:
"God bcckons man upward and the
Bible points the wGy; man can obey
and travel toward perfection by the
path that Christ revealed, or man can
disobey and fall to level lower, in
some respects, than that of the brutes
about him Looking heavenward, man
can find inspiration in his lineage;
looking about him, he is impelIed to
kindness by sense which binds him
to his brothers. Mighty problems de-
mand his attention; worlds destiny
is to be determined by him. What
time has he to waste in hunting for
missing links or in searching for re-
semblances between his forefathers
and the ape? In His Image-in this
high we conquer. "-National Maya
zinc