The Weber Literary Journal The Word of Wisdom Alton Richards First Place in College Department Grant Oratorical Contest THE principle that appeals to me most in our religion is the Word of Wisdom. It interests me because it shows the intrinsic worth of our gospel. If a prophet or leader of our church can give to us a commandment concerning certain human habits long before the nation as a whole recognizes the danger of their indulgence, and before even science itself can discover the impending consequences, surely our religion must be worth living. Mormonism, because of a revelation given to Joseph Smith almost one hundred years ago, gives to a man a scientific principle, which, if observed, makes for health, keen intellect and moral and spiritual uplift. Failure to obey this law means race degeneracy. At the time this revelation was given science knew very little, if anything, of the harmful effects that results from the use of hot drinks, strong drinks and tobacco. In fact, it was thought that the use of these things was beneficial to the health of man. Strong drinks, for example, were recommended for almost every disease. They were thought to steady one's nerves and to quicken one's intellect. But through further investigations in science, alcohol was at last declared to be very injurious to the body. Dodge and Benedict of the Carnegie institute demonstrated that the alcohol contained in two glasses of beer impaired every sensation of the body from five to fifty percent. Scientists began to say that alcohol should not be used in any form. Dr. W. Gilman Thomson declared that it lowered the general tone of the nervous system and produced positive degeneration of the tissues. Science next discovered that hot drinks, tea and coffee, contained from one to six per cent caffeine. Caffeine, as a 38 The Weber Literary Journal stimulant, had long been classed with opium as it removed the sensations of fatigue and sleepiness. Dr. Thomson found that with the use of hot drinks muscular tremors were developed, accompanied by nervousness, dread of impending evil, anxiety, heartburn and a number of other ailments. Other scientists began to give the same testimony. Further investigation revealed that tobacco was not good for the use of man. It was found to contain from two to eight per cent nicotine, having a very deadly effect upon the body. It was known to dull the memory and to impair the sight, sometimes causing total blindness. After years of careful experimentation, then, science at last learned the truth concerning these things. Later, the state, following the lead of science, recognized the extent of the injury of alcoholism on the individual and became aware of the danger which threatened her national life. She learned during the last war that the soldier who was a non-user of alcohol was also the one who made the real soldier. The commander of the British army in East Africa testified that the first men to fall out of the ranks were not the tall men, nor the short men, nor the heavy men, nor the light men, but the users of alcohol. They fell out as if they had been marked. They could not run and not be weary and walk and not faint. But the danger caused by the non-resistance of the soldier was by no means the only one; nor was it even the most serious. The nation began to appreciate the fact that if her intellect and morals were to be retained alcohol and tobacco must go. Statistics were proving that people who used alcohol or tobacco were weaker mentally than the non-users. During fifty years, eighty-three per cent of the students at Harvard had been smokers and seventeen per cent non-smokers. Yet nearly all of the honor students had come from the seventeen per cent. Other colleges and universities showed the same record. At the U. of W. the marks of the non-smokers averaged from five to ten per cent higher than those of the smokers. Scientific experiments showed that the alcohol contained 39