The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1905-09-07

in this world whose friendships are
worth having are the men and women
who have principles themselves, and
respect them in others, especially
when they find them in a young man.
Another thing which led me to
make up my mind never to touch
Liquor was the damage which | saw
wrought ~ it upon some of the finest
minds with which it was ever my
privilege to come in contact, and
concluded that what had resulted in
juriously to others might prove so to
me. | have seen, even in my few
years of professional life, some of the
smartest, yea, brilliant literary men
dethroned from splendid positions
owing to nothing else but their in
diligence in wine. I have known
men with salaries of thousands of
dollars per year, occupying positions
which hundreds would strive a life
time to attain, come to beggary from
drink. Only recently there applied
to me, for any position could offer
him, one of the most brilliant edito-
rial writer's in the newspaper profess
sion,-a man who, two years ago,
easily commanded one hundred dollars
for single editorial in his special
field. That man became>so unreliable
from drink that editors are now afraid
of his articles, and although he can
today write as forcible editorials as at
any time during his life, he sits in a
cellar in one of our cities writing
newspaper wrappers for one dollar per
thousand. And that is only one in
stance Of several could recite here
| do not hold my friend up as "a
terrible example, he is but one of
type of men who convinced me, and
may convince others, that clear
mind and liquor do not go together.
know it is said that when one
brings up such an instance as this:
"Oh. we'll, that man drank to excess.
One glass will hurt no one.' How
do these people know that it won't?
One drop of kerosene has been known
to throw into flame an almost hopeless
fire, and one glass of liquor may fan
into fame Wondering spark hidden
away where we never thought it ex-
listed. The spark may be there, and
it may not. Why take the risk?
Liquor to healthy boy or young man
will never do him the least particle
of good, it may do him harm. The
man for whom I Lave absolutely no
use in this world is the man who is
continually asking young man "just
to have a little. One glass, you
know A man who will Willingly
urge young man whom he knows
has a principle against liquor, is
man for whom halter is too good.
Then, as | looked around and came
to know more of people and things,
| found the always, unanswerable argu-
ment in favor of young mans alb
stipence: i. e., that the most success
full men in America today are those
who never lift a wine-glass to their
lips. Becoming interested in this
fact, had the curiosity to personally
inquire into it, and Of twenty eight of
the leading business men in the
country whose names selected at
random, twenty-five never touched a
drop of wine Of any sort. ! made up
my mind that there was some reason
for this. If liquor brought safe
pleasures, why did these men abstain
from it? If, as some say, it is q
stimulant to busy man, why did not
these men, directing the largest BUSH
ness interests in this country, resort
to it? And when saw that these
were the men whose opinions in great