The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-09-02
Intolerance, Armed With
Sincere Conviction, Is
Most Ominous Sign of Our
Time, President of Bar AS
sociation Declares.
SAYS CHURCH, SCHOOL
MUST BE KEPT SEPARATE
Endeav' to Regulate Edu-
cational Subjects, Like
Tennessee Evolution Law,
Is RoundIy Denounced as
Menace 10 Freedom.

DETROIT, Mich, Sept. q
Taking liberty and law as key
notes for his address upon the
Declaration of independence
Charles E. Hughes, president of
the American Bar Association,
opened the fortieth convention
Of that body today.
"Themost ominous sign of our time
Hughes declared, ''is the indication
Of the growth Of an intolerant spirit
which is most dangerous wher
e ormed with sincere conviction.
ut is a spirit whose wrath must
be turned away by the soft answers
of sweet reasonableness. It can be
eXerted only by invoking the genius
which watched over our infancy
a good genius still potent, let us be
lieve-the American spirit Of civi
and religious liberty"
OOJdA 0tO OIuA SG1u 0CAkOOiS
Hughes address was delivered be
fore 1000 persons, including some
$500 Of some of the country's ablest
lawyers and broadcast to the
On every side, he pointed out, the
growing multiplicity of laws and the
fSlcreasing disposition of people to
n tempt to regulate their fellows
hade the security Of the Individual q
wiberty more precarious.
Above all else Hughes empha-
sized his fear for the freedom of
education and his insistence that
this freedom he protected. He said
the question had nothing to do
with the soundness of the theory
of evolution. But he unhesitating-
ly denounced any endeavor to
regulate what shall be taught i'm
the schools by religious standards.
What could be q .nobler exercise
of governmental power than tC
destroy religious error and save the
souls Of men from perdition?" he
asked and then gave his owr
answer:
Leads to Religious Wars
THAT plausible pretext has giver
us the saddest pages of history THAI
is the road that leads back to the
perversion Of authority and the alb
. horrent practices of the dark days o1
political disqualifications on grounds
Of religion, of persecution, Of re
ligious wars, of tortures, of martyr
dom.
Hughes sounded the warning tha
law had reached such stage Of
conplexity that it in many instances
was more likely to threaten liberty
than to protect it.
"We have problems enough
without introducing religious strife
into our politics." he said.
Extreme Unwisdom"
democracy has it's own capacity
for tyranny" he declared and
Mnted out that the principle OF
49, jority rule, upon which democ
facy is founded of itself may fre
quently destroy the freedom of ac
ton of minorities. For this reason
he said it behooved the majority tC
impose its will on the minority only
where absolutely essential to the
public good.
Hughes said he did not wish tc
comment on the Dayton trial oil
upon the constitutional power of the
State of Tennessee to pass a sta.
ute prohibiting the teaching of evo
luton. What he did wish to make
emphatic, he said, was the extreme
unwisdom, in his view, of every suct
attempt to apply religious measure
ment to what shall be taught il
the public schools.
III we have any assurance fol
the future" he declared, lit lies il
education. But reliance upon educa
ton will be in vain if we do no
maintain the freedom of learning"