Evening star., 1925-07-14

lIlCti dHy law HO IIldLlCI III" - iioA oIe
and foolish, can be made to prevail.
All the guarantees have gone for moth
ing. 1t is absolutely absurd to think
that this patent indictment or any of
the proceedings in this case are legal
Declares Act Unconstitutional.
''I think the sooner we get rid of 1t
in Tennessee the better for the State.
Let us begin at the beginning. The
first point we made in this statute is
that it is unconstitutional on account
of the difference between the caption
and the act.
"All the people don't read the laws.
Everything that is in an act should be
embodied in the caption. OF course
the caption may be broader than the
be in the caption"
He then read the caption, stressing
the portion, "An act to prevent the
teaching of the evolution theory"
There isn't a word said in the
statute In reference to the evolution
theory" he continued. THE caption
says nothing about the Bible or the
divine account of the creation.
"If a person was interested in the
right to worship God as he saw fit, he
would find out that chaos and riot
would follow in the wake of this bill.
Charges Religious Bigotry.
''The intelligent Christian citizens in
this country find no conflict between
religion and the theory of evolution
rs there anything in this caption
about religion, or about science, lit
erature and religion? They went to
bed in peace. probably. after reading
this caption and woke up to find this
work Of bigotry.
This is as plain an instance of re
lgious bigotry as any instance of the
Spanish inquisition."
Darrow then read the act itself
stressing the words, ito teach any
theory OF the origin of man except
that contained in the divine accoun,
as taught in the Bible.
THAT was what was forced upon
the people under a caption which
never meant it. The State Of Ten
nessee has no more right to assume
that the Bible account Of the creation
is correct than II has to assume that
that of the Koran or Confucianism OF
any one of dozen others is the cor
rect one.
If the courts of Tennessee stand
behind their own constitution these
gentlemen will have to arrange their
SOuOIl 10 anu 20 DdCh.
'Of all the weird, impossible things
or all the bigotry and ignorance,
can't conceive of anything greater
than this law.
Says Statute Vague.
"A statute should be comprehensi
BILE. But does this statute tell what
you shall teach and what you shal
not? No, no. 1t simply says yol
shall not teach any theory of tht
creation that Is contrary to the di
vine creation. No Legislature in any
State in the Union is strong enough
to say what is divine.
What is the Bible? In a genera
way know what it is. 1 know tha
there are millions of people in tn,
world who look on 1t as the Diyin,
Book l know that there are millions
Of people who derive consolation IL
times of trouble from the Bible. Good
l would be the last one in the worlt
TO take any action to take it away.
feel just exactly the same of any othe
religious creeds.
Instead of fighting each other, a
IN the past, the peoples Of the dii
ferent religions should help eacl
other"
| He then took up a discussion of tn
/
which he said a man must conside
before he would know what he coul
teach. The bill, he said, does not sa,
| what a man cannot teach.
1t only says that he must not teac
anything conflicting with the Bible
Seeks "Chief MoguI."
Who is the chief moguI?" h
| queried. Who can tell US just wha
4 a Ia
a book and tell us all about 1t. Diff
ferent sects have been disagreein
over 1t through the ages.
Such a man must know not onl
everything about the Bible, but a.
| about evolution. No criminal statut
| can rest that way. Every crimina
statute must be plain and simple.
| Mr. Scopes is to be indicted becaus
he taught a wrong theory of tn
| origin Of life, why not tell him wha
he must teach?
Nothing like that was ever know
of until the fundamentalists mad
their brave charge upon the intelH
| gence Of the people of Tennessee.
When we measure science b,
something we knbw just what we ar
measuring it by, no man could ODE,
| an indefinite law; no court to en-
force it.
Now, let's look at this Indictment
If this is a good one, then I hav
never seen one"
With one finger through his sus
| penders. standing well back on hi
| feet, Darrow then read the Indictment
Charges Blow at Thinkers,
Scopes is here because the funda
mentalists are after everybody VIII
| thinks. He is here because ignoranc
| and bigotry have combined. But tn
State must tell him why he is here b,
| indictment.
After the shooting is all over her
| and Scopes has paid his fine som
one may tndict him all over again
| One thing I have never been able t
dress Will Be
West Side