Evening star., 1936-09-05

lost our common faith; that We have
lost our common art. And we are
now in danger Of losing even our
common science, and exchanging 1t
for state-controlled dogmas. That
condition Of affairs has already been
reached in a large part Of what was
once the civilized world. 1t exists in
all the relationships, whether they
call themselves Fascist, or NaA, or
Communists.
Russian education today Is ruled by
certain dogmas which are not open to
debate. 1t Is a dogma that there are
no racial inequalities. Atheism, the
non-existence of God, has been ele-
waited into a dogma, however negative,
which takes up aspects of the church
at its lowest point. Whole systems Of
philosophy are banned from the uni
versities altogether. An economic
theory is universally taught and its
acceptance imposed by force.
Although vast new frontiers Of in
dustrial organization and applied
science are opened up, wise Is
clamped upon the independent inquir-
ing spirit, out of which the revolution
itself sprang, and already the effects
manifest themselves in Q singular
tightness and bigotry Of mind.
Many Truths Available.
Similarly. in Germany, a national
myth and a racial dogma are imposed
upon all of education and all OF
science; the very idea of universal
truth is abrogated. There is one truth
and one justice for Germans, another
for non German; one truth for gen.
tiles and another for Jews. There is
German art and other art, German
beauty and other beauty. And the
same withdrawal from universally Is
characteristic Of the prevailing minds
In Italy.
1t is well that attention should be
called to the fact that democracy has
philosophic implications. Prof. Gibson
quoted the French philosopher, Jules
Lachelier. as saying that democracy
was based upon the kind of theocracy
that William Penn once established in
the forests Of Pennsylvania. That
theocracy asserted that If men de-
clined to accept from God the prin-
ciples Of their social conduct they are
bound to accept them from the king
or the state. or from their own race
or their own social class. That these
principles must derive from a source
above the state, from the search Of
the free mind through the only in
strument which it possesses, reason.
was recognized by the makers of
America, themselves philosophers, and
embodied in the bill Of rights.
Audience May See.
The w. P. A. theater project Is
about to dramatic and produce Sin
clair Lewis 1T Can't Happen Here"
I wonder whether the players and the
audience will see that this book is
more than mere TRADE against
Fascism; that it Is a powerful argu-
ment for the positive principles which
Prof. ellison pied for in his speech
Doremus Jesstp, the Vermont editor,
who is the hero Of the book, has been
excoriated by our own radicals for his
vague uDeTdlLSUl. buL DOTemuS mas
stuck to the search for principles
eternally valid. And he expressed
himself thus:
More and more as I think about
history, I am convinced that every
thing that is worth while in the world
has been accomplished by the free
inquiring. crystal spirit, and that the
preservation of this spirit is more i'm
portant than any social system what
soever. But the men Of ritual and
the men Of barbarism are capable Of
shutting up the men Of science, and
silencing them forever"
The test which such a mind applies
to every question must be the test Of
reality; of validity measured through
reason by reality. And yet the dog
matists call those weak who choose
the harder. the more rigorous way.
(copyright. 1850