Evening star., 1925-07-06
What Is~EvOlutiOn?
BY LemueL r. Parton.

Prof. William A Craigie of Oxford
University, great English lexico-
grapher, said recently he believed
America was entering a period of in
tellectual vitality and creativeness
| comparable to the Elizabethan era in
| England. The widespread and pro-
| found interest in the Dayton evolution
trial, with other signs of cultural and
| intellectual ferment, lend interest to
this conjecture. An objective view
| of the Observation-Disclosures con-
| troversy, the evolution battle, the un-
| mistakable cerebral agitation among
American undergraduates, and the in
| creasing public interest in various re-
condite matters, such as the Einstein
! theory, might well lead to speculation
as to whether America is entering an
intellectual renaissance.
One Is reminded of Europe in the
! days of Voltaire. Controversialists
| then, even when the argument in
volVed such fine-spun and purely aca-
| demic considerations as the opposed
theories of Descartes and Newton,
often had to jump across the border
| to keep out of Jail. Ideas seemed i'm
portant then. They seem increasingly
important in America today. Life
1
| IL the press should announce some
morning that Herbert Hoover had fed
| to Canada because his treatise on the
branchiostigae had been found to be
| at variance with the administration
policy.
OF course, 1t will never come to that,
but none will deny that when a dis
| cussion of evolution can get space
comparable to the total lineage of the
Dempsey-Carpentier fight. there is
| hope for the intellectual salvation of
| America.
Held As Worthy Opponents.
| 10 Davidson, the great American
sculptor. once did remarkable head
| of Clarence Darrow. There Is an in
teresting duality in the face. On one
side 1t is the face of the huma mist:
on the other the face of the alert
and dangerous antagonist. This dual
| ity is revealed when Darrow is in
action. He is shuffiing, humorous,
kindly, friendly and disarming; then,
when the real issue is revealed, and
there is a flash of sword play, he
| lashes out with the devastating
stroke which has made him the
champion of forlorn hopes.
| 1t is not easy to get cotemporary
| figures into the epic settings in which
| posterity may place them. Darrow
will probably snap his suspenders as
he turns some epigram or rounds out
some searching argument which may
point one of the greatest debates in
American history. 1t will be hot in
the little courtroom and Mr.. Bryan
| will appear as a ponderable, benign
elderly gentleman, with a palm leaf
fan and a seersucker coat, busy mop.
ping his forehead and taking notes
| But Bryan is sure TO make some
| epochal contributions TO the contro.
versial literature of religious and
legal fundamentalism. His abilities
are not confined TO the mellifiuous and
| oracular; he is subtle and skilled in
all the artifice of debate; he knows
how to deliver a swift and unerrins
blow; he believes in his cause with
| deep Messianic conviction.
1t Is conceivable that some day the
opposed partisans-for there will prob
ably be such in all the some days to
come-will erect statues to Mr.. Oar.
row and Mr.. Bryan. They will be
suave, and benign, no doubt; Darrow
| Will not be swapping his suspenders
and Bryan will not be mopping his
forehead or working his palm Leaf
fan. The Dayton courtroom may live
In history like the Plains Of Abraham
or Flodden Field. 1t is difficult for us
to realize all this now, but it is true
| that the spotlight of the centuries Is
| turned on Dayton. The main street
| OF Dayton reaches far out in the
world and far down into the cen.
| turtles; this trial denotes an age-old
| cleavage of humanity; once again 1t
is the alignment of the ancient will
to believe against the equally ancient
will to know.
Both Well Prepared.
1t is interesting to note that Darrow
Is layscientist, and that BRYAN is
a lay-religionist. The greatest battles
| of evolution In the past have been
| fought by scientists on the one hand
| and dignitaries OF the church on the
| other. But both Bryan and Darrow
will bring to the encounter highly
specialized abilities. For many wears
Darrow's chief preoccupation has been
| science, and he has been a member
| of group of the University OF
Chicago engaged in various branches
of scientific research, chief among
which were evolution and modern
psychology. Mr.. Bryan, bringing
many university degrees in his train
may also be assumed to have gone
| deeply into the essentials of evolu
tionary theory. He is also thoroughly
| grounded in the fundamentals of re
ligious orthodoxy. This will be nc
loose and ill-informed discussion.
| Judges Duty Outlined.
The judge will have to look sharply
to the requirements of relevancy. II
| they get to discussing Herbert
| Spencer they will be led into a debate
on good and evil, as derived from
the evolutionary teaching: Buttons
| paleontology would raise the whole
| question of the validity of the induc
| tive as opposed to the deductive
| method; so endless are the ramifica
tions of evolutionary theory that il
| is conceivable the questions of in
| tegrations of social units, and the
| progress toward hornogeneity could
| end in a debate on States rights anC
Federal Capitalization. Never before
has a judge faced such difficult re
quirements on ruling on the ever re
curing incompetent, irrelevant anC
| immaterial." In fact, if YOU follow
out these by.ways far enough, there
is nothing that is irrelevant to this
discussion.
In this series an effort has beer
| made to sketch in rough outline with
the limited space available, what the
theory of evolution is, what it's ante
cedents are, where ii falls short ir
considerations of ultimate causation
and why it Is important on the think
ing, the morals, the cultural, the eco
nomic and the social alignments oi
today.
| Ero Ho~cn Dso%~o