Page Twelve 



EVOLUTION 



October, 192S 



Funnymentals 



"No person who denies the being of a 

 God shall hold any office in the depart- 

 ments of this State nor be competent to 

 testify as a witness in any court." Sec. 1. 

 Art. 9, Arkansas State Constitution. 



"Before deserting their villages citizens 

 of Mascali and Nunziata had taken the 

 statue of St. Leonard within a short dis- 

 tance of the lava stream, hoping the cere 

 mony would halt the flow from the vol 

 cano's crater." New York Telegram, Nov 

 7, 1928. 



RED RUSSIAN RAVAGES 



11 cannot be dUpuled thai th«rc is a world-wide movement To wrec1{ 

 jreligion. overthrow governments, atwlish marriage and usher in a regime 

 Iwilh no God and no Bible. The program leaves destruction in its path — 

 political uphetivals, crime waves, sex pollution, atheistic campaigns. Ups- 

 isia went down. China is In a death struggle. Englantl and America are 

 ^threatened. Germany's iron militarism was builded upon the principle 

 of evolution, namely, the idea that MIGHT ;H,\KES RIGHT. We are 

 informed that every prominent mihtary leader in the German army was 

 an evolutionist. The present moral breakdown 'and general chaotic con- 

 dition of Russia can be traced directly to the application of animalistic 

 l>sycholog>' io its (vational life. Monkey men mean monkey standards of 

 living. The very things that introduced a reign of terror in Ru-ssia are 

 being taught through evolution and its by-products, in many Institutions 

 of learning. The red fumes of the pit are being wafted around the soul 

 of America at this moment. Unless God speaks; unless America is 

 swept with a Holy Ghot.t revival: unlesii the Bible is restored to its prof). 

 er position; unleks the national conscience of America is stirred, our 

 doom is sealed. 



— Defender (jundamentalist) July, 1928 



"Who will dare deny that the ones 

 who sign the pay checks are the ones 

 to say what shall and what shall not be 

 taught to their boys and girls? "Freedom 

 to teach?" Yes, within the limits I pre- 

 scribe; and if he does not like my terms, 

 let him go and seek other employment." 

 George McCready Price, November 1928. 



GETTING WORSE AND WORSE 

 Reverend Leander S. Keyser, D. D., be- 

 ing taken to task in our columns (Evolu- 

 tion, August, p. 12) for saying that 

 ". . . man . . . harks back to the primordial 

 proton or amoeba", hastens to explain 

 (Bible Champion, Nov. 1928, p. 591) that 

 "In a moment of forgetfulness I wrote 

 'proton' instead of "protozoan", which 

 means first life-form." So the Reverend 

 Doctor now wishes to be understood as 

 affirming that "Evolution now means thai 

 man harks back to the primordial proto- 

 zoan or amoeba and that all forms of pre- 

 sent-day life have emerged from ... a 



WOULD YOU LET A PREACHER 



CUT OUT YOUR APPENDIX? 



By Edward Grieg Clemmer 



The high position of the United States in 

 education is due to the fact that the man- 

 agement has been left to experts. Men and 

 women who have made pedagogy their life 

 work direct our educational institutions. It 

 is to these specially trained people that the 

 public must intrust the working out of cur- 

 ricula, just as we put our confidence in 

 structural engineers to build our bridges, or 

 to bacteriologists to safeguard our health. 



The fathers and mothers of law or dental 

 students are never consulted as to what 

 their sons and daugliters are to be taught. 

 Nor do the parents interfere, because they 

 know they do not possess the necessary 

 knowledge. They are content to leave the 

 management of law schools to lawyers. 



On the same principle, scientists pre- 

 scribe courses of study for scientific schools. 



Now the Fundamentalists want to take 

 this management out of the hands of ex- 

 perts and put it into the hands of people 

 whose job it is to make the wheels of in- 

 dustry go around. They want an automobile 

 man or cigar manufacturer to pass judg- 

 ment on a line of work that is totally for- 

 eign to him. 



The average person is not an expert in 

 Paleontology or Anthropology. Then why 

 should he be confronted at the polls with 

 the task of deciding whether Evolution 

 should be taught or not? Let the men 

 whose business is Anthropology decide as 

 to the subjects to be taught in that branch 

 of science. Let the trained biologist, who 

 has spent years of studying, decide, rather 

 than the layman, who usually has not even 

 a smattering of general knowledge, much 

 less a professional education in science. 



The Fundamentalist protests that Evolu- 

 tion is a religion, and as the constitution 

 forbids the union of church and state, that 

 Evolution should not be taught in the state- 

 supported schools. 



Evolution is no more a religion than rela- 

 tivity is. Evolution is not even taught as a 

 philosophy. It is nothing more than a major 

 tenet of certain sciences, in exactly the 

 same way as the atomic theory or ioniza- 

 tion in Chemistry or the law of gravitation 

 in Physics. It is an explanation of many 

 phenomena observed in nature and has 

 been arrived at only through infinite toil. 



Are the decisions of experts to be waved 

 aside as "mere guesses" and the great men 

 of science be forced into accepting the dic- 

 tates of men who are not versed in the 

 subject they wish to outlaw? 



The man who is going to the polls to 

 vote on the question of whether or no 

 Evolution should be taught in the public 

 schools should consider if he would want 

 his appendix cut out by a minister. 



moneron, first life-form, or amoeba." 



But since the amoeba is only an evolved 

 moneron, and each is also a protozoon, 

 the last state of the eminent anti-evolu- 

 tionist's sentence is rither worse than the 

 first! Guess again. Brother. 



Edwin Tenney Brewster 



From Our Readers 



"Do you think your argument will gaini 

 favor by using the scathing "Funnymen- 

 tals" column? By such vulgar methods 

 you disgust the better class of educated 

 people. If you have a beautiful, dignified 

 truth to tell why not do it in a beautiful,. 

 dignified manner? Why smear it over witlt 

 slimy mud throwing? I for one am too- 

 disgusted with your methods to care for 

 your magazine." Maud Snyder, Nebraska. 



"If you were as much interested in, 

 where souls spend eternity as you are in- 

 Where and How we were created you 

 would be doing some good for humanity. 

 May you get your eyes opened and realize- 

 that hundreds of souls are doomed through 

 your theory." Mrs. Warren, California. 



"Your good magazine Evolution is a. 

 darb! I've spent much profitable time go- 

 ing over past issues, some of the time ini 

 deep thought and some of the time in 

 chuckles over the wonderful irrationalisnr 

 of the 'funnymentalists'." E. L. Van Arts- 

 dalen, Illinois. 



"Your last number is nearer what your 

 magazine should be. The articles are more- 

 readable for the "man on the street". My 

 idea is to avoid writing for evolutionists, 

 and to treat your readers as beginners. 

 Herewith check for S30 to be used as- 

 you see fit." M. Mark, Indiana. 



"It seems to me that you make undue- 

 effort to prove something generally ac- 

 cepted by all intellectually developed peo- 

 ple. Your opponents are the morons or 

 fanatics, not quite rational human beings. 

 The effort by legal enactment to fetter 

 men's minds and compel the plastic ags- 

 to accept falsehood and delusion is a re 

 turn to the dark ages and presents a dis- 

 quieting and discouraging outlook to- 

 thoughtful men." Charles Myers, New 

 York. 



"Mr. Bob Lyle of Biloxi sent me a 

 copy. Didn't know there was such a good 

 thing in New York. Enclosed find one 

 dollar for subscription." — Ben Friedman, 

 Tennessee. 



"Received two numbers of your journal. 

 It is a great start. I believe this is the^ 

 only right way to cultivate the great prin- 

 ciples of humanity. Let them know them- 

 selves. I wish you success. Here's money- 

 order for three subscriptions." — M. Haider, 

 New York. 



"Unquestionably your rugged and force- 

 ful periodical is what has long been^ 

 needed: a magazine that will not appeal 

 only to the 'high brow,' but as well to the- 

 'man in the street' who has sufficient brains 

 to grasp the simple truths of evolution 

 and to be awakened to the growing 

 menace to popular education in the ac- ^ 

 tivities of blatant fundamentalists." — 

 Henry Frank. 



To use th(^ human reason 

 Is "Fundamental" treason; 



.Tust go it blind. 



Li?ave brains behind — 

 Like tails, they're out of season. 

 —Bob Lyle 



