1929

No news to report, so we looked through old files. We came across "How Golden the Years," a report of a survey done in 1973 by professor Robert Sokol, "Dartmouth '29: A Class in Transition."

Of questionnaires sent to all class members, 213 arrived back in time to be used as a basis for the report.

Various mean incomes for '29 were at the time $27,000 for retired, with pre-retirement $38,100, and the current for working men listed as $47,700.

As to which newspapers they read, The NewYork Times by far, probably owing to the fact that most members of the class lived in New England or the middle Atlantic states. The Wall Street Journal, the second most popular was read by about 40 percent, and even more outside the East, where classmates were more likely to read it than The New York Times. Another popular paper was The Christian Science Monitor.

How much did they drink and smoke? Eleven percent of retired and 9 percent of working alums did not drink at all; 25 percent retired and 36 percent working had an occasional cocktail, highball or beer; 50 percent of retired and 42 percent working had some sort of drink daily; and 7 percent retired and 13 percent working more than that.

Class of '29 ers gave heed to the evidence linking cigarette smoking to cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. Two-thirds of the class did not smoke at the time of the survey, and of that group, 84 percent said they had given up smoking, while 16 percent claimed they had never started to smoke.

Good for them, and so much for this class in 1973! Rip: To cultivate the mind of man You'll find it far more tillable If you express your mighty plan In words of just one syllable. The line most intellectual Ain't always so effectual!

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