The “survival of the fittest” philosophy of Charles Darwin in the 1925 Scopes Trial in Dayton that was part of the controversy over the constitutionality of the Butler Law (Anti-Evolution Act) passed by the Tennessee legislature in January, signed by the governor (Austin Peay) in March, and the defendant Scopes was indicted and arrested (not really) in May. The trial started on July 10 and a conviction was rendered by the jury on July 21 after a long deliberation of 5-9 minutes (a true speedy trial).
The state approved text, that contained only five pages on evolution, was George W. Hunter’s “Civic Biology: Presented in Problems” (1914).
The book had been selected in 1919 by the Tennessee Textbook Commission to be a science text in the public high schools in the Volunteer State for a period of five (5) years. Although its contract term had ended in 1924 it was still being used for instruction in Rhea County and was available for purchase at Frank E. “Doc” Robinson’s drug store in Dayton.
Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) was a naturalist and agnostic, whose most famous book was the “Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life” (Origin of Species-1859).
This lengthy treatise that formed the basis of the criminal case in the Scopes Trial consisted of a total of 5 pages out of 432 that discussed the subject of evolution.
Although Darwin was dead in 1925 his name was used in the trial to attract business to the depressed Dayton community.
One of the prominent photos of the historic trial was the J.R. Darwin clothing store which depicted two males and two females outside the store on Market Street in the metropolitan village.
In “The Scopes Trial- A Photographic History,” (2010- The University of Tennessee Press/Knoxville) by Edward Caudill/Edward Larson/Jesse Fox Mayshark demonstrated how “advertising tended to link products to the trial in some way, particularly with regard to the Darwinian theory of human evolution.”
The shrewd clothier took advantage of his last name by openly posting the front of the store with signs and banners.
He also flippantly joked that “his clothes were the fittest,” a possibly play on words of “survival of the fittest” which was an underlying Darwin’s theory of evolution.
A banner declaring “Darwin is right inside,” was strung across the building with a hand pointing toward the shop.
A large sign “DARWIN’S BIG SALE” was displayed above the entrance to the store.
In the store front window displayed less prominently was a men’s bathing suit with a notation, “GET COOL- BATHING SUIT”.
The temperature during the trial reached 100 degrees in the non-air conditioned courtroom and the availability of the cool natural springs of the local “blue hole” also provided a good advertising gimmick to the circus atmosphere in July 1925.
John Scopes was also shown in a historical photo at the above swimming locale wearing a similar outfit to the model depicted in the Darwin store front window on Market Street in Dayton.
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