Article March 28, 1925 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from E. C. Cutten, Fred Cox, Oscar E. Maurer

[From the Times, Kansas City, Missouri, Dec. 29, 1924]

Cooperation among nations and among the scientists, lawmakers, and the public was the keynote of the formal opening of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. ... The principal speaker was Secretary Hughes, who emphasized the value of international cooperation in scientific attainment. ... A new era "of international cooperation in the scientific field" that "cannot fail to add strength to the influences that make for better understandings among peoples," was forecast by Secretary Hughes. "If to an increasing degree we have the security of sound public opinion, if the extravagances and diatribes of political appeals fail of their object," Mr. Hughes said, "it is largely because of the multitude of our peoples who have been trained to a considerable extent in the scientific method, who look for facts, who have cultivated the habit of inquiry, and in thousand callings face the tests of definite investigations. With scientific applications on every hand, the American people daily are winning their escape from the danger of being fooled. There are, it is true, many false prophets who are active in those areas of exertion where patient inquiry and regard for facts are not prized, but their following, while strident, apparently is not increasing. We need your method of government. We need it in law making and in law administering. We need your interest in knowledge for its own sake, the self-sacrificing ardor of your leaders, your ceaseless search for truth, your distrust of phrases and catchwords, your rejection of every plausible counterfeit and, above all, your faith in humanity and your zeal to promote the social welfare."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Signs of the Times

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access