Evening star., 1923-02-24
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL v. COLLINS,

grows. and becomes an astronomer,
gazing in awe through a telescope
into unmeasured space. and beboIds
worlds a1oat in infinity. is that
astronomers conception OF cre.t5nr
less sublime than tho chiId's fancy
or distances between the earth and
cloud, and cloud and blue roof? Sci
ence of evolution is not Superstition
nor agnosticism nor guesswork II is
! telescope which swings the soul
vision out of human barriers into
space-space material of the uni
verse, space infinite of time, breadth
or wonder and awe which makes a
SINCERE man very humble.
hnoWest thou the ordinanccS OF
heaven? Canst thou set the dominion
thereof In the earth?'
x :. X !:
No breeder of live stock can qu, :
ton the evolution of animals from
dWarfs to perfected thoroughbred
The operation of Menders Iaw-de-
monstrable either in animal or vege-
table breeding-shows selection anu
dehnite developments therefrom. The
morse has been developed from
creature no larger than fox. Within
one century of careful breeding and
training the speed of the trotting
morse grew from minutes and 81
seconds In 1896 to minutes and 10
seconds In 1896. Lou Dillon "bested''
that record by several seconds. trot-
ting in 1905 a mile in / minute 5S Z.
SECONDS, and Peter Manning trotted
a mile last October at Lexington in
1854. Is that chance? Is it "a spc-
cial creation, or is 1t evolution achiev-
ed through selective breeding and
| training? THE trotter is born not
made
If that can be accomplished witt
horses, cannot natural selection aud
development of civilized man throueu
the centuries accomplish equal In
provement in the race? The science
of evolution itself has advance
greatly in knowledge since the das
Of Darwin, and today one might 4
well deny that the blood circuIates as
to dispute the fundamentals of evolU-
ton.
In Tutankhamen's day life was heId
very cheap. 1t is not recorded that
any man then would have risked his
own life to save an unknown child
from death. Last Thursday little
child at Norfolk, Va, unmindfuI OF
danger trudged with its toy wagon
in front OF an onrushing train. Many
witnessed the horror of the situation.
but one man sprang forward, seized
the child and leaped to safety. The
onlookers crowded about the rescuer
and asked, t'Who are you?"
"Only q man." was his answer, and
he hurried out Of range. What
man.
There has been that much evolution
in $500 years. A twentieth century
hero has been developed from the hu-
man beings who lived in Tutank
hamen's time. IT is greater than the
development of the horse. With that
as base for the thirty-three centu-
ries. what might even be the measure
of the evolution back to and beyond
the savage of 500 or 500 centuries"
!: x :. ::
1t is not inspiring to patriotic feel
ing to read of the waste, and perhaps
graft, exercised in the Veterans
Bureau, running into millions Of dol
lars, and then to Eead of the faintne
upon Washington street of the wifi
of a veteran whose allowance had
been cut suddenly from $50 to $3.50 Il
month That was all the income L.
support husband and wife. though
both are said to be uying of tubercu-
losis.
The law forbids a reduction of =
soldiers allowance without re-
examination by physicians to ascer-
tain the soldiers physical condition.
1T appears that no such re-eXamina-
tion had been made in this case; he
was simply arbitrarily notified that
his pay would drop from So to $3.50
The man was too sick TO work The
wife. also suffering. came TO Washing
ton from their home near Selonc. Va
20 appeal from the cruel act. Hunger
and weakness brought the climax
upon the public streets The case
will be fully Investigated by the con
gressional committee already inves-
tigating the bureau in order to ascer
tain the method by which the law is
thus violated in summary and arbl-
trary changes of compensation Ihe
man had been a patient at Walter
Reed Hospital until three months ago.
Copyright, 1928. by P. V. ColIins.)