The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-08-09
DO
MORE DRINKING,
!. WRITER SAYS
Assertion of the Rev. Fos-
dick Refuted by Williams,
After Survey.
GENERATION IS UPHELD
Princeton Seniors Voted for
Whisky, Claim of
Author.
BIZ Times Special

~ : @'s-SS NpSli-t
NEW YORK, Aug. e.-When the
Rev. DR.. Harry Emerson Fosdick
recently announced in q sermon
that there is less drinking in COLI
leges than before prohibition, "he
didn't know what he was talk
ing about" declares Jesse Lynch
Williams, author and authority on
college life, in the September issue
of the Red Book magazine.
After a study of conditions among
students during the past several
years, as q guest of colleges in all
parts of the country, Williams as
serts there is more drinking than
ever, that the majority Of UNDER
graduates are opposed to prohibi-
ton and that in many colleges nlore
students drink than smoke.
Williams, now living at Preincteon,
says the answers to the last annual
QUESTIONABLE to the senior class
there shows a majority of eight to
one against prohibition. In a poll
on "favorite beverages 1O4 voted
for whisky, as against three for milk.
Generation Is Improvement
But in spite of increased drinking
Williams finds the newest young
generation an improvement on that
Which followed the war. Today
students study harder than before.
because scholastic advancement has
become socially respectable. The
last census at Princeton showed
tWo-to-one preference for attain
mentS in scholarship to the formerly
most coveted honor in athletics.
In circles where manners and
breeding count, even the most unob-
servant have noted that the young
people of today are quieter. less
strldent, no so blatant in their de-
lance of authority as the noisy kids
of yesterday" writes Williams. DIS
tlnctionS between good taste and
bad, recently banished. are return
ing. Not so many of the boys are
drunk and diSorderly at private
dances. 1t is no longer funny to
break the hostess furniture.
The reform, when it comes-and
there are signs of it's beginning
Will be effected not by the younger
generation but by this Youngest.
when not so young.
Determined to Face Facts
"They believe that they have come
into civilization begun in super
stition. still ruled by bunk, inspired
by taboo and tyrannized by tradi-
ton But they no longer consider
it necessary to tell us So at the top
of their lungs.
H. L. Mencken is no longer their
god, He may have been, a decade
ago. Dean Gauss of Princeton tells
me that the boys never mention
Mencken's name now, except to
smile at his vehemence in a. man
ner of saying: Why so hot, little
man? Freund, the high priest Of
the postwar period is fading into
the background, into his true per.
Spectlve. A great scientist, but not
the only one
Il have heard a great deal about
a spiritual awakening sweeping
over the youth of the land. I have
not been able to isolate it. If they
have an emotional hungering and
thirsting for religion, their camou-
f1age is too clever for me. But I
shouldn't be surprised if they were
getting ready for it.
They are interested in religion,
many of them, but as yet it is most
ly an intellectual interest. Well.
that's all right. 1t is better to ap-
proach this matter intellectually
than sentimentally. In common with
the late new generation, they are
determined to face facts mentally,
In common with the late new gene
ration, they are determined to face
facts as they are, not as told to
believe they are by the authority
of ancient tradition.