458 



GLEAXINCrS IN BEE CL LTURE 



felt that it was a wise thing to do to have 

 our Experiment Station teach our Ohio 

 boys ''how to grow tobacco.'' I am glad to 

 know that at least a few of the professors 

 at our "Wooster station are not in favor of 

 experiments in growing tobacco, and, as 

 a consequence, it is not grown on the 

 grounds at Wooster, but at a sub-station 

 in the southern part of Ohio. In a com- 

 munication from the director of our sta- 

 tion, just received, he said something like 

 this : "^Mr. Root, while the men of Ohio, two 

 out of three, if not four out of five, are to- 

 bacco-users, what else can we expect than 

 that tobacco culture will be taught?" 



Now, friends, I think you can get a 

 glimpse of the reason why I have been for 

 long years praying that the mothers of 

 Ohio might speedily have a chance to vote 

 on questions where they are more deeply 

 interested, and where their judgment is 

 better and wiser than that of the fathers of 

 our land, as a rule. A very young boj' was 

 recently found smoking cigarettes; but 

 when a good lady remonstrated he replied, 

 "My pa smokes too:" and as long as his pa 

 continued to smoke a cigar, it would be hard 

 to persuade the young urchin that it is not 

 the thing to do. Our Department of Agri- 

 culture has been sending out bulletins in 

 regard to the different kinds of food. One 

 recently in my hands was in regard to 

 "Fish, Its Healthfulness, etc." Now, why 

 shouldn't we liave a bulletin reading some- 

 thing like this? "Beer and Similar Intoxi- 

 cating Drinks; Their Effects on the Health 

 and Morals at Large?" Then Uncle Sam 

 might give us another bulletin : "Tobacco — 

 Its Probable Effect. Physical, Mental, and 

 Moral, on the People of the Land."* "Why 

 do we not have such bulletins ? Because 

 the Great American Tobacco Company 

 would not like it. They have got somebody 

 stationed near the head of our government 

 who is continually opposing any "fanati- 

 cal" attempt along this line; and it is the 

 same way with the rum traflSe. Xot one 

 mentioned for the presidency has dared to 

 say a word about this. Please notice I use 

 the word "dared," for not one has even so 

 much as dared to mention the drink traffic. 

 Have you ever found in the voluminous 

 "Presidential messages" any mention, rec- 



* Not many years ago one of our Medina citizens, 

 a man highly esteemed, got up in praver-meeting, 

 and confessed that he had been going' blind; but 

 when he cut off his tobacco his blindness disap- 

 peared. He broke off. and then commenced its use 

 again, until he decided beyond question that the use 

 of tobacco, and that alone, was making him blind, 

 and nothing else: and yet that bulletin of toward a 

 hundred pages, from our Ohio Experiment Station, 

 has not a single sentence that even touches on the 

 matter that the influence of tofcacco-using has on the 

 health. 



ognitiou, or reference, to this "Great De- 

 stroj'er"? If the women had a chance to 

 vote, do you think this would continue? 

 Surely not. May God be praised for the 

 good and wise women vvho would save us 

 from a multitude of ills and disasters if 

 they were only permitted to- have a chance. 

 I am now hoping and praying that that 

 time will soon come. Perhaps the dawn is 

 just now before us, when we may see a 

 President who fears God but does not fear 

 the rum power — who will not hesitate about 

 attacking what Hobson called "the great 

 destroyer," in. his bold speech in Congress. 



Now just a word in closing, in regard to 

 our texts. Obedience to God's commands will 

 not only give us as a nation and as a peo- 

 ple longer Life, but it will give us the abil- 

 ity to enjoy life; to be more alive, and to 

 ha\e life "more abundantly," as expressed 

 in our text. The Scientific American is not 

 a religious paper. Sometimes I have thought 

 when they were discussing every thing per- 

 taining to human life and health, and yet 

 carefully avoided any mention or allusion 

 to the rum traffic, that they were quite a 

 good way off from temperance and Chris- 

 tianity — that is, one phase of Christianity. 

 Yet I was pleased to note their answer in 

 their question department where a subscrib- 

 er asked, "Where is the healthiest place on 

 earth?" Let me explain that the Scientific 

 American has been for 60 years, to my 

 knowledge, answering all sorts of questions. 

 Xo matter how ridiculous, the questioner 

 gets some sort of answer; and in order to 

 save time and space, some of the answers 

 are veni- brief, and sometimes one might 

 think rather abrupt. Well, they replied to 

 the good brother who wanted to know 

 where the healthiest place on earth is, some- 

 thing like this: "The healthiest place to live 

 is where there are the most churches and 

 church-going people." 



The good brother was vexed at such a 

 turn of affairs, and asked in the next issue 

 if the querist editor was such an ass as to 

 believe that the churches had any thing to 

 do with physical health. The Scientific 

 American came back at him by replying 

 that people who observe God's laws would, 

 as a rule, keep the laws of man; and that 

 law-abiding citizens are, as a rule, a health- 

 ier lot of people than those who trample 

 law under foot. 



The last of our texts has been to me a 

 comfort, especially as I was approaching 

 old age. Physical strength, energy, and 

 enthusiasm, are great blessings; and when 

 they come to me, as they have been coming 

 for the last few months, I praise God for 

 them more than for almost any thing else. 



