The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1925-09-25
MALONE ANSWERS BRYANS SPEECH ON
SCOPES CASE AND CITES GRAVE PERIL
FREE SPEECH AND FREE RELIC.
ION ARE IN JEOPARDY

Lenox, Mass, Sept. 19-Dudley
Field Malone, of counsel for John T.
Scopes in the Tennessee evolution trial,
before the national convention of lay
men of the Unitarian church of Amer
lea, today replied to the last speech |
of William Jennings Bryan, published
after his death.
Malone asserted that the "psycholo- |
gy of fear which crucified Jesus, ban |
ished Calico, murdered Bruno and
tical theology to test its power by the |
truth, today again animates move
ment which is a menace to the in
ternal peace of our country.
"In a scientific age" he said, 1--WE
face once more the attempt to test
the truths of science by the judg-
ments of the prophets who believed
the earth was fiat, and to limit
knowledge to the ignorance and the
pronouncement of legislative ma
jority.
"He urged clergy and laymen of
progressive Christianity and enlight-
ened people to band together for
academic and religious freedom. Be
vigilent and warn our cOuntrymen
their shrines are in dangerl'', he said.
OF Mr.. Bryan's death, Mr.. Malone
said:
''In common with all decent citizens
I lament the abrupt tragedy of his
going. And like all men, his motives
were mixed. + = 1t is always wise
for a man to attribute no less worthy
motives to an opponent than are his
own. And for the motives of good
and beauty in his life, Mr.. Bryan will
be held in warm affection by his cOun-
trymen.
off death had come to any eff John
Scopes defenders might there not
have been those to say that our going
was an act of God? But, lacking
that insight into the ways of the Al
mighty, claimed exclusively by the
literalists, / know only that Mr.. Bry-
ans death removed the ablest leader
from the most sinister movement, in
the United States.
"Mr. Bryan is dead-but the error
of his last plea, the danger to good
will among our citizens of all creeds,
and the threat of combination be-
tween church and state must be
bravely met by men and women who
value religious and academic free
DOM"
"The issue at Dayton" Mr.. Malone
said, twas not fundamentalism
against modernism, it was not against
agniSticism, is was not science
against religion. The issue was and
is this: Shall the constitutional guar
anty of religious freedom and COM
plete separation of church and state,
inspired by Jefferson, fought for by
Madison and written into fundamen-
tai law, be violated or narrowed by
any creed thinking to write its scheme
of salvation into law, or by any leg
islative majority seeking the votes of
a literalist constituency"
Of the Tennessee anti-evolution law
Mr.. Malone said:
$50 we meet the fact that a literal
Interpretation of the book of Genesis
a religious opinion of a small grouI
of the Christian church, has been es
tablished by law as a standard of
what shall be taught in course o.
science. The defense maintained a
Dayton, and we shall maintain on APP
peal, that this law is in violation O.
the constitution of the United States
"There was the same conflict O.
opinion and philosophy at Dayton" h,
Sd1u DIS CA4SI6u UCGWGG1 IIICaSG wiz
advocated and those who opposed tn,
principle of religious freedom at tn,
beginning of the republic"
The defense, he said, INSISTS tina
the right of teacher to teach hi
subject and to teach it completely
and the right of a minority to lear
the accepted facts and theories O
science without having knowledg
measured by the religious opinions o
the majority, are rights well within
the protection of our constitutions
guarantees"
The Tennessee law was not dictate
by the fundamentalists, Mr.. Malon
said, "for there are millions of funda
mentalists of all creeds who do no
believe in a literal Interpretation O
the Old Testament.
"This law" he charges, els the re
suit of combination of creed an
politics led by the most ignorant O
the clergy and in combination wit
narrow partisans who have more fea
of votes than of God"