The times-news., 1938-12-30
DIeTAT0RS IN
war AGAINST AG'lI.|
SCIENCE, SAID
Sarnoff Points to Exile OF
Scientists and "Pro- 7
scription Of Thought
BY LOUIS J. SCHAEFLE.
United Press Staff Correspondent

RICHMOND, Va, Dec. 10
(UP)-Prcsident David Sarnoff OF
the Radio Corporation Of Amer'cs
last NIGHT charged that the worlds
dictators are employing "hcresJ
hunters" to persecutc science anc
warned that they arc creating q
"Frankcnstein' which might II
the end arise to destroy them.
Addressing the l03rd meeting
of the American Association fol
the Advancement of Science, he
said that the current spirit III ma
tions ruled by dictators is to per-
secutc science as. governments
once attempted "to root out non
conformist religious thought" "
"In our goth century, we are
witnessing witch-burnings i'll the
domain of science" he told 5000
delegates. "How else can one m
terpret the public burning of.grcat
books. the exile Of leading sclen-
lists fycm their homes, and the
prescription of thought :.
He charged that scientists, uni
versity professors and, teachers
in countries once conspicuous
for their scientific achievements.
"have been harneSscd to the serN-
ices OF the most vicious propa-
ganda. 1t commands its teachers
to create a pscudo-sciencc OF race
and nationality: to manufacture
hieh-sounding theories for the Of
fetal phobias Of blood and soil,
and to superscdc truth with dogma
where the purposes of the state
require"
He asserted that a Communist
regime demands strict adherence
to the party line, and that Fascist
Gictatorships seek to develop "a
human robot, without individual
intelligence or conscience, whose
brutaliticS should spread horror
before his conqucring footsteps,
and who would be unfailing in his
obedience to his masters will
"But this robot-a compound
of hatred and might, may one day
arise like Frankenstein to destroy
his MASTER" he continued. "Such
robots are the products of false
PHILOSOPHERS and pseudo-science."
He called on science to shorten
the time-lag which intervenes be-
tween archaeological unemployment
in an old industry and reemploy-
ment in a new one. Within the
current generation, he said, the
automobile, the airplane, motion
picture and the radio industries
provided new opportunities for
employment of millions Of men
and women.
Delegates last night also heard
a sweeping criticism OF the ma
tons educational system by DR..
Oscar Riddle of the Carnegie In
of Washington, whose re-
search on prolactin, hormone of
the anterior pituitary gland, has
made him one of this nations best
known scientists.
Riddle charged that the prevail
ing educational system is unbal-
anced, that it does not pay enough
attention to science and sooner OF
later succeeds in "anaesthetizing
the better functions of the minds
of our boys and girls"
Refell'inm to religion, he said:
From one standpoint it is most
interesting to reflect that--except
perhaps for little while in an
cient and magnificent Greece-no
one has yet had opportunity to see
a single generation Of human be-
ingS develop without the reprcss-
ing influences on free inquiry
which religious tradition throws
these basic problems of
ife-science."
He also advocated selective
of humans because
neither magic, tea-leaf reading
nor prayer will suffice for check
ne the physical degeneration of
he human race"
Pleading for suitable sex in
of the young, he said
hat teachers "whose English vo-
,abulary is too restricted to pre-
sent these subjects inoffensively
should burn midnight oil or return
% college,.
A third major address was de-
ivered by DR.. w. F. Durand, STAN
ord University, Palo Alto, Calf,
! member of the national advisory
committee on aeronautics, who
recommended that this country
undertake an airship building pro-
Sram. ...- .....
Durand said that crashes which
destroyed. the. U.S.S. Akron and
Macon did not prove that lighter
han-air transportation was dan
'erous. In the. 10. years that have
'assed since, the ill-starred air.
hips we're built, discoveries have
een made which would make pos
ible construction, of much strong