The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-09-17
DON'T BE A "GOOD FELLOW"

that which will steal away his brains.
and warn him not to be drunkard.
he looks at you as if you offered him
an insult. for no young man who is
letting the love of strong drink get
hold upon him ever supposes that he
will become a drunkard-"Oh. no." he
says, II am no baby. / can drink or
weakling, I'd decline invitations to
take a social glass, but l am strong
enough to enjoy the pleasure of
drink without becoming the slave of
the bottle" And that young fellow is
thoroughly convinced that, while there
is danger In the cup to his associates,
there's is none whatever to him. He is
the sort of man, too, who wakes up in
few years with therapeutic so strong
upon him that nothing short of an
heroic will or Kelley treatment will
save him from drunkard's grave.
Mr.. John d. Rockefeller. who
wouldn't have made his millions If he
hadn't possessed knowledge Of human
nature, understands that if you would
keep a young man from becoming the
slave of strong drink, you will not sue
coed by warning him Don't be a
drunkard," but you must make an
admonition that appeals to his sense
of his possible danger. Therefore,
talking to a class of young men, his
admonition was Don't Be Good
Fellow" That caught their attention
and set them to thinking. He pro-
ceeded to talk sound sense. He first
asked his class What man is it that
drags society down." That was
dangerous question for the Standard
Oil man to ask Some one might have
truly answered. 1.-The man who
brushes small independent oil dealers,
makes millions by defying the law of
uses his money to strengthen the
clutch of monopoly upon the throat
Of mankind" That would have been
true, for the man who does that does
far more to drag society down than
the weakling whose love Of drink
makes him his own worst enemy. But
there was no such answer. and Mr..
Rockefeller proceeded with this wise
admonition:
81 had in mind the moderate drink
ers. There the greatest evil lies;
there the degradation; there the dis
repute: there the sapping of all the
world.
Don't be good fellow. You know
what 1 mean. Don't be convivial, al.
ways ready to pitch in and be one of
the crowd. Be moderate. Be very
moderate Don't let your good fell
lowship get the least hold upon you.
If you do, you are lost, absolutely. Not
only you, but your progeny, the fami-
ly for generations to come. There lies
the trouble.
"Now, l can't be a good fellow. l
haven't taken my first drink. Some
of my friends think that I'm too
radical on this subject. They say that
/ take a too decided stand. But l
don't.
81 have watched society. AS I have
said, 1 love my fellow man, and L
have studied him carefully. 1t is my
firm conviction that every downfall
is traceable, directly or indirectly, to
his good fellowship.
His wish is to be 'one of the fell
lows to be noted for his fellowship
and his good cheer among his; friends.
who come as quickly as they go.
1--WE have to apologize every day for
this class of man. He fills our asy-
lums He fills our hospitals, poor
houses, the very cutters of our streets
Look on him, and don't be a good fell
low"
Most young men who drink to eX-
oacc loo ny, 70 drink Inv the aaSira To he
"a good fellow" and not for love of
intoxicants. 1t is that fact which
gives the strength to the proposition
to shut up saloons. and it is that fact
that makes so many clubs dangerous
to society. The saloon is made at
tractive and young men go in there to
play billiards or pool and for a good
time-to be "a good fellow" If it IS
shut up, many young men are saved
from contracting the love of drink,
and that's the chief concern of all
advocates of temperance legislation.
and saloon closing. The cold soaks"
who have drunk away their day of
possible usefulness can rarely be saved
except by a miracle. The best result
of shutting saloons is, not so much to
decrease drunkenness by those who
have contracted the taste, but to shut
up the place where the desire to be "a
good fellow" is pandered to and en-
couraged until the young man has ac-
quired an appetite that binders or de-
stroys his usefulness, and sometimes
carries him to drunkard's grave.
SELLING WHISIxEY TO MINORS.