The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-10-27
PEOPLES FORUM
AThat Reminds Us"

The anecdote from the TeCeheiJ nublished memoirs of the ReV' Sabine Barring printed in your issue of yesterday under the headline "He 'Kidded' the Bishop, brings to mind another. It IS not included in that estinable work, but is nevertheless clever enough to bear repeating. The story, as told by H. H. Newman, professor of zoology in the University or Chicago, follows:
 At the British Association al Oxford in 1860, after an American professor had indignantly asked Are we a fortuitous concourse or atoms?' as a comment on bar wins views, Dr., Samuel Wiiber- force. the bishop of Oxford, ended A clever but flippant attack on the origin by inquiri1ig of Huxley who was present as Darwln's champion, if 1t was through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed descent from monlleyT
 Huxley made the famous and well-deserved retort: T asserted and I repeat-that man has no reason to be ashamed of hav- ing an ape for his grandfather. If there were an ancestor whom I should feel ashamed of recalling, it would rather be a mana man of restless and versatile intellect who, not content with success Tn his own sphere of activity, plunges into scientific questions with which he has no real &C., quaintance; only to obscure them by aimless rhetoric, and distract the attention of his hearers from the real point at issue by eloquent digressions and skilled appeals to religious prejudice"
 "R. M. M"
 October 26, 1923.
 This Is Navy Day
 To the Editor of The Age Herald: october 27 has been designated by the secretary of the navy as Navy Day. That this. the birth day of Ex-President Roosevelt should have been selected is in- deed appropriate, for of all our presidents none have been a StdUucHeT lIlcHQ OI hdNC aOhc more for the navy's advancement. The navy is not as well known or appreciated by the mass of Ameri- cans as it should be. The object of Navy Day is to bring the peo- pie to better understand the navy and it's needs. In point of size | our navy ranks second to that of Great Britain, but in efficiency 1t yields first place to no nation. | To maintain this high state of preparedness requires ceaseless effort on the part of both officers and men. Our ships are constant ly engaged in some form of ma nouver or drill and the officers are always studying it's problems and methods of overcoming them. For this reason each year sees new inventions. Improvements and better records made in gun nery. It is acknowledged that when this country entered the great war the submarine was de- stroying millions of tons of ship | ping. and that the allies were saved by the energetic measures inaugurated by our destroyer forces.
 There are many reasons why a strong and adequate navy should appeal to every patriotic 1 citizen. Aside from the fact that 1t safeguards our interests and renders us immune from invasion, the navy also accomplishes other l purposes. We have since the war become a great maritime nation with our ships plying to all ports l of the world. History teaches that for nation to be successful at trade she must likewise pro- vide a navy to protect her ship ping. England's commercial su- premacy has been largely due to her great battle fleet which builds up trade for her great merchant fleets.
 Today our fighting ships are in all parts of the world. protect ing our interests, creating cordial relations for us and giving aid to countries in distress. 1t was the American destroyer flotilla that first rushed aid to stricken l Japan. During the smyrna dis aster thousands of/ lives were saved by the prompt intervention of our ships. Everywhere our navy is known and respected, and the good will it has created is of criminals if they violate it. Those who favor the prohibition