ways: (1) by giving a reduction of premium to abstainers, or (2) by awarding them a larger share in the profits. "Ten years ago the American Temperance Life Insurance Association was formed in this city (N. Y.), and accepts nothing but total abstinence risks. It has had pronounced success, and has paid something like $200,000 in death claims. President Frank Delano states that the results of their business show that the ratio of their death rate to that of general risks is about 26 per cent in favor of the total abstainer." WILLIAM E. JOHNSON. The value 99. Business arguments for total abstinence. of total abstinence as a business asset is clearly shown by the following rules of railroads: Rule 17, New York Central & Hudson River R.R.: "The use of intoxicating drink on the road or about the premises of the corporation is strictly forbidden. No one will be employed, or continued in employment, who is known to be in the habit of drinking intoxicating liquor." Rule H, New York, New Haven & Hartford R.R.: The use of intoxicants by employees while on duty is prohibited. Their habitual use, or the frequenting of places where they are sold, is sufficient cause for dismissal." General Order No. 12, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R.R.: "The use of intoxicants while on or off duty, or the visiting of saloons or places where liquor is sold, incapacitates men for railroad service, and is absolutely prohibited. Any violation of this rule by employees in engine, train, yard, or station service will be sufficient cause for dismissal." 100. The cost of intemperance. The following figures, compiled by the League for Social Service of New York City from the United States Census, present some very striking facts as to the cost to our country of the abuse of alcohol. During the year 1880 (and the same figures would doubtless hold true for any other year), it was found that three fourths of all the pauperism, one fourth of all the insanity, and three fourths of all the crime in the United States were directly caused by intoxicating drinks. Hence if the use of intoxicating liquor could be abolished, the heavy expense of maintaining the police force, the criminal courts, insane asylums, and charity organizations, would be very greatly reduced. 101. Concluding remarks on the use of alcoholic beverages. "In the foregoing pages we have stated the salient facts concerning the physiological action of alcohol and alcoholic drinks. It only remains to point out for the student the obvious conclusions to be drawn from them and from the long and on the whole very sad experience of the race with alcoholic drinks. The first is that, except in sickness and under the advice of a physician, alcoholic drinks are wholly unnecessary, and much more likely to prove harmful than beneficial. The last is that their frequent, and especially their constant, use is attended with the gravest danger to the user, no matter how strong or self-controlled he may be. The only absolutely safe attitude toward alcoholic drinks is that of total abstinence from their use as beverages." -HOUGH and SEDGWICK, "The Human Mechanism." III. TOBACCO 102. Effect of tobacco on growth. In discussing the effects of tobacco, it is important, as was the case with tea and coffee, to distinguish between the results of its use by the young and by adults. Just because his father seems to be using tobacco without harm is no reason why a boy can safely smoke. We have already called attention to the complex composition of protoplasm. During the whole period in which the body is attaining its growth this living substance is affected far more appreciably and seriously by the use of stimulants and narcotics than is the case later in life. Tobacco is a narcotic in its effects; that is, it tends to decrease activity and likewise growth. That such is its effect during early life has been abundantly proved in many ways. But perhaps the most conclusive facts are those presented by actual measurements made in college gymnasiums. Dr. Hitchcock, of Amherst College, who has made careful measurements of college students for a good many years, finds that those who do not smoke increase in height during their college course 37 per cent more than those who do smoke, and in chest girth this difference is 42 per cent, or nearly one half as much again. Dr. Seaver of the Yale Gymnasium finds, also, that in height and lung capacity smokers are considerably inferior to those who do not use tobacco. Dr. 103. Effect of tobacco on mental development. George L. Meylan, Director of the gymnasium of Columbia University, made a careful comparison during two years of the relative physical measurements, rate of growth, and scholarship of 115 college men who smoked and 108 men in the same class who were non-smokers. He found (1) that the smokers were on the average eight months older, which means that they had entered college this much later; and (2) that "the scholarship standing of smokers was distinctly lower than that of the non-smokers," showing "that the use of tobacco by college students is closely associated with idleness, lack of ambition, lack of application, and low scholarship." 1 Popular Science Monthly, August, 1910. "Whatever difference of opinion there may be regarding the effect of tobacco on adults and much difference of opinion exists there is almost complete agreement among those best qualified to know that the use of tobacco is in a high degree harmful to children and youths. Physicians, teachers, and others who have much to do with boys very generally remark that those who begin to smoke at an early age very seldom amount to much." Dr. Andrew D. White, for twenty years President of Cornell University, out of his wide experience in education, sums up the matter as follows: "I never knew a student to smoke cigarettes who did not disappoint expectations, or to use a vernacular expression, 'kinder peter out.' I consider a student in college who smokes as actually handicapping himself for his whole future career. I am not fanatical in regard to smoking. It seems to me possible that men who have attained their growth and are in full health and strength may not be injured by moderate smoking at times. I will confess to you that at one period of my life I was a smoker myself, though in a very moderate degree. And should you feel a strong desire to smoke, thinking it may rest you and change happily at times the current of your thought, I may perhaps commend to you my own example; for I began my smoking at the age of forty-five and ended it ten years ago at the age of seventy." 104. Tobacco and athletics. - One of the rules rigidly enforced in athletic contests is that all candidates must abstain from the use of tobacco while in training. The reason for this insistence is the fact that tobacco seriously interferes with the action of the lungs and heart; therefore, those who smoke are found to be easily "winded" in the games. An investigation has been recently carried on among the football squads of fourteen of the American colleges and universities to determine the relative success of the smokers and non-smokers who tried for positions on the varsity teams. "Six institutions furnished data relating to the 'try outs.' A total of 210 men contested for positions on the first teams; of this number 93 were smokers, and 117 were non-smokers. Of those who were successful, 31 (i.e. 33 %) were smokers, and 77 (i.e. 65%) were non-smokers. It will be observed that only half as many smokers were successful as non-smokers...." Hence, the ambitious boy, who has any regard for developing a vigorous body fitted for athletic success, for training a mind capable of clear thinking, and for preparing himself for a successful life work, will resist all temptations to smoke, at least until he has attained his full growth. IV. DRUGS AND PATENT MEDICINES 105. Headache powders. - Drugs are chemical substances used in the preparation of medicines. They should never be taken except under the direction of a competent physician. Headache medicines usually contain some chemical (e.g. acetanilid) which reduces the heart action and so relieves the pain by diminishing the blood pressure without removing the cause of the pain; for the real cause may be disordered digestion or eye strain. Cases of permanent injury and even of death have resulted from taking these headache compounds (Fig. 24). 106. Soothing sirups and cough medicines. In most soothing sirups and cough medicines are found substances derived from opium, which is a powerful narcotic. Hence, Popular Science Monthly "Smoking and Football Men.". October, 1912. |