Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-09-11
EXPERT TESTIMONY AND SCIENCE GONE
no SEED

TO SEED
THOR many years past subtle materialism
II with fatalism in its very essence has
been injecting the minds of this gem
Grafton.
1t has not been confined to any class, but
has affected all classes in a greater or less
degree
1t has found expression in the writings Of
the learned and the scribblings of the igno-
rant. 1t has been most loudly and constantly
uttered by the half educated, who have mis-
taken it for established science and pro-
| claimed it yociferously in order that they
might be taken for scientists.
In all quarters there has been manifested
pronounced tendency to explain everything
in human life as the result of heredity and
environment. All that men are it is claimed,
is the outcome of long process of evolution
through these two master forces, the outcome
of which has been, and is, as invariable and
irresistible as the operation of gravitation.
The love Of a mother and the malice of a
murderer alike are the result of physical con-
dtions, controlling mental and moral activ-
ity for which neither is responsible.
Character and conduct, according to this
theory are entirely dependent upon the ma
ture and quantity Of the nervous energy in
herted by person from his ancestry or de-
veloped in him by the circumstances sur
rounding him.
Such teachings have found ready accept
| ance with a generation inclined too much to
rid itself of being troubled by the effort re-
CURED to live right or by the pains of con-
science for its failure to do right. Why
should one put forth effort to be truthful and
honest, or suffer any sort of <self-reproach
for deceit or dishonesty, if the whole matter
of whether his telling the truth or telling
lies and being an honest man or thief, was
really determined before he was born by the
inexplfcable combination of matter and force
with which he had nothing to do?
This soporific system of fatalistic material
ism has generally been INDUCED as a kind
Of soothing opiate which gave rise to pleas
ing dreams and agreeable delusions without
doing serious harm to individuals or society.
But now it's effects have spread into the re-
gion of the law courts and its pernicious in
fluence threatens things which have been con-
sldered heretofore as most stable and most
necessary of civilized government
Some months ago two students Of we'll
known and opulent university committed a
most horrible murder. When their crime
was fixed upon them, and they were arrested
they confessed it. Brought into court plea
of guilty was made for them by the able
attorneys whom their wealth enabled them
to engage for their defense. After the plea
of guilty was entered proceedings were be-
gun to eXtenuate the enormity of their
| bloody ofense by showing they were "men-
tally SICK and that the want OF good glands
accounted for their lack of good character.
Scientific experts were called to give scien-
tine testimony for the establishment OF this
theory set forth to secure their escape from
capital punishment. Thus the public has
been given eXempliication of the final
consequences of this pseudo-science with re-
spect to both life and law. IT the philoso-
ply to which it logically gives rise is sound,
no room is left for praise or blame of human
conduct; there are such things as virtue
and crime, penal laws; criminal courts are
worse than useless; and the punishment of
crime is itself a crime, if there can be any
such thing in the universe
AS far back as 1892 in notable article
which appeared in the Fortnghtly Review
this view of crime was set forth the log
ical conclusion of the system of thought. The
writer said, What is crime? crime is an
action threatened by the law with punish
ment, says Kant; and freedom of action or
free-will Is a legally necessary condition of
crime. But the law of heredty conclusively
demonstrates that free-will and freedom of
action stand in the category of lively mag
lining? Therefore crime, the law UNDER
stands it, is non-existent, since ifhputa-
bility can be recognized when a man is not
responsible for his actions. Therefore the