Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-05-17
EVERY YOUNG MAN At HIS BEST
Address by President Tucker OF Dart.
mouth COLLEGE.

! Tucker of Dartmouth college may profit
ably read by young men:
Why should any man propose for him
self anything below the best? l do not
ask why so many fail to reach the best
The answer to this question would open
the whole field of temptation and mis-
fortune.
What I ask is, why should any man
make place in his life for those things
! which, once in possession, make the best
! impossible In most cases the quality Of
! n mans life depends upon the things
| which he let's into it at an early stage
Hence the significance to "a young man
Of the habit Of drinking. As soon as the
habit Is in place and in daily force it be-
! gins to work insidously to change the
! insiduously to change the quality Of
his life. He must be very rare
| man who can Withstand all the effects Of
the drink habit and preserve alike his
| physical force and his moral influence in
tact. AS far as moral influence is con-
| ccrned much depends of course upon the
! social standards of a community But IL
the standards are low, all that can be
SAID Is that the influence of the habitual
| uflnker Is negative. He may not hurC
| others by this example because they are
| already disabled by their inheritance or
! by their environments lie cannot helm
> L.
| will give briefly the reasons why as
1t seems to me, any young man who
really proposes to keep himself at his
best should make no place in his life for
| the drink habit
Lowest in the scale l put the certain
! ~ of physical disablement. 1t is use
| less to discuss with any man the danger
! OF becoming a drunkard; no man will
allow for himself that possibility. Neither
! examples nor statistics have any power
| to convince him Of personal danger The
| Not T. which in one form or another is
so active in us ALL rises up within him
| to give him the dangerous assurance
! of personal safety l waive. therefore
! the futile argument as applied to the
| individual that drinking makes a drunk
! ara. My contention is that even II a
man does not thereby become drunkard
the habitual use Of alcoholic liquors in
| early life changes the physical valuation
| which can be put upon his life The
! man who Is normal physically IS the man
| who does not use sdmulauts because he
does not need them. II they become
! necessary to him through unnatural use.
| the. necessity is sign of weakness
| Physica. deterioration has begun When
| the man needs his whole power i'm am
| emergency, either to resist disease or to
| accomplish an unusual task. something
| is found 10 be wanting. and the lack is
! lataL l am not now discussing dangers
/
| Nothlng Is more nearly certain than the
/ physical disablement which attends the
| habltual use Of alcoholic LIQUORS The
| man of seventy who has been a hard
drinker all his life may be a stronger man
! than some Of like age who have never
drunk AT ALL He is NOT stronger than he
| would have been II he had not drunk at
all. and as for the weaker men with whom
| he may be compared, the majority would
| nave fallen had they been addicted TO
drink
Higher in the scale lies the argument
that the habit OF drink materially lessons
a mans productive power. 1t is no
| longer necessary to establish this fact. 1t
Is generally recognized in the trades and
| IN business. Today the habit of drink, II
| known. and ii cannot well be concealed
reduces mans economic value more
quickly than any habit, with the possible
| exception of gambling
The New York Medical Journal has
| recently called attention to the marked
! change in business sentiment I'm regard TO
drinking. Whatever" it says. the eff
| fects Of alcohol may be on the physical
! system there is no doubt whatever about
| It's temporary effects on the mental: n
| leads to diffusion OF mind. desultorv CON
! Versation. a general sense Of what's the
| use OF doing anything but enjoy ones
! self? This is state Of mind that the
sharp merciless competition Of business
/ methods could not utilize Drinking has
! beeh forbidden, because it has been found
! that the abstainers did more work and so
| obtained better results. The change has
| been rapid till now drinking is for the
! most part confined to purely social oc-
! caslons and is much less a feature than
! formerly"
In commenting on this opinion the New
! York Times remarks: The drinking
man now finds his opportunities for both
! employment and advancement very Sc
| riously limited, and he is rather rapidly
! disappearing from view He is no longer
| considered respectable. useful or amusing
| and he was often held to he at least one
| of the three by our grandfathers' fathers "
The first and constant condition of pro-
| ductiVe power is trustworthiness The man
| whose mind flckers, even though il NAV
make brilliant displays. soon become use
less. Steadiness of mind is large fac
| tor In all the better grades of manual
labor. 1t is indispensable in business
| and in the professions. The argument
from productive power is not purely
commercial argument Upon the pro-
ductlVe power of the average man de-
ponds the happiness Of his family and
IN large degree, his value as a citizen
The power to contribute to the welfare
OF others Is in the first instance. produc-
tive power.
Highest in the scale is the argument
from moral helpfulness. Nothing Is
Holc pllHul IMAM 10 see an otherwise
strong man utterly powerless for good
in a moral emergency because of some
personal habit which sets him aside
This helplessness may reach into the
sphere of public service. or it may be
confined to the everyday life where a man
is always liable to want 20 do a brotherlv
act lor a fellow man.
The opportunities for moral helpfulness
OF personal sort We're never greater
than at the present time. Other kinds of
helpful agencies, many of them indi-
rectly moral are everywhere at work
In fact, 1t is hard for any boy or girl to
escape from certain stimulating influences
The child of the street does not lack for
sharpening and quickening forces. 1t is
not dlt1cult for most people in these
days of rushing prosperity to "get on"
1t is more and more difficult for a good
many people, who are getting on, to go
right.
Young men who are moving a a swift
pace are continually thrown off t a sharp
tangent. Moral divergence is the charac-
terlstic form of moral loss in our time.
What we need first of ALL and most of
ALL is the example OF a great body of
strong, sane, and in every way self-con-
trolled, young men in the business world !
Every young man who succeeds finan-
cially, and who also succeeds morally |
makes 1t easier for ten more to gain like
success But beyond example lies the
positive and active power to help, pro-
vided one is brought into contact with |
men who are in real need or in real |