The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-12-08
Darwin and
Gold in State
of Arkansas

GENERAL years ago the state of
Tennessee made itself the laugh
ing stock of the world by its
monkey trial." in which a school
teacher had to defend his right to
teach Darwin's doctrines. Now
Tennessee's neighbor, Arkansas, has
opened barrage against atheism
and the theory of evolution. It's
courts have imprisoned an atheist
for distributing ,anti-religious
pamphlets, and it's voters have rati-
fled law forbidding favorable men
ton of evolution in state institutions.
Religious Bigotry Dominates South
Religious bigotry, accompanied by
an uncomprehending hatred of evo-
lutionary doctrines, is widespread
throughout the South. This section
of the United States, where machine
industry has begun to spread, is
still primarily agricultural, and re-
tains much of the backwardness
which characterized it when it was
a semi-feudal civilization based on
Negro slavery. The white popula-
ton, out-numbered by the Negroes,
is itself divided by profound social
and economic differences. The hand
full of wealthy plantation owners
and manufacturers dominates a
mass of land-poor whites, and still
greater mass of white and Negro
land and factory workers. This eco
nonic backwardness, with its &C
companying race and social antag-
onisms, has spawned religious, social
and sectional fanaticism. The South
is the cradle of Negro lynching, Of
the Ku Klux Klan and of the most
superstitious religious sects.
Laws against the teaching of evo-
luton have been passed in several
southern states, and it is only a
dramatic incident which has called
attention to Arkansas. The official
reports of this state reveal the back
wardness of its population and the
medieval mentality of its ruling
strata. Only half the children of
school age in that state go to school;
and even these attend only an aver
age of 131 days year, spending the
rest of the time helping their par
ents on the farms. Negroes are
segregated in special schools, and
teachers receive an average wage of
$21 week, compared with the aver
age American factory wage of S27
week. Negro teachers, of course,
receive an even smaller wage.
l Laws to Protect Morals.
THOUGH Arkansas does not pro-
vide enough schools for its chill
dren, it has passed several laws to
protect their morals" In 1928 the
state legislature passed law re-
quiring the teaching of morals in the
public schools. Another law COM
pels the teaching of patriotism and
: the display Of the American flag in
the classroom. This law provides
that teachers who fail to teach these
: things or to disr'ay the flag shall
lose their posts, and may even be
: imprisoned.
y This year the Arkansas legislature
!. attempted to protect gods reputa-
!, ton by passing a law forbidding the
, teaching of evolution in state insti-
: buttons. Schools are forbidden to
:. use any book which teaches that man
: descended or assembled from a lower
class of animal" The law even
forbade teachers to take the initial
: step of defining evolution" 1t has
been pointed out that under this law
= every American dictionary and the
= Encyclopedia BRITANNICA would be
), barred from the schools of Arkansas.
= since they not merely define" evolu-
;, ton but refer to it as fact.
Some liberal elements undertook to
e fight against the anti-evolution law.
$ Charles A. Smith, president of the
r American Association for the Ad-
: vancement of Atheism, opened head
r quarters in Little Rock, the capital
of Arkansas. Smith was himself
o born in Arkansas. He started his
q career intending to enter the Metho-
d dist Church as a minister, but an
i. atheistic book which he read as
h student cured him. He served in
v the American army during the world
,. war, and for 10 months was sta
e toned with the American troops in
f Vladivostock. On his return he
e founded the atheist organization of
e which he is president. He has carried
on an uncompromising struggle
# against religion, although without
e any reference to its economic class
$ functions.
6 To Be Continued