Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-02-28
Address Delivered Before the Phil
lips County Teachers Associa-
ton Feb. 18th. 1890, by
E. @. Johnson.

2. @. Johnson.
Mr.. President, fellow teachers. and
ladies and gentlemen: In treating
upon this subject I promise you I viii
be brief; and, by way Of introduction,
I viii say that if there is one subject
connected with teaching upon which
I am more interested than another,
that subject is temperance teaching.
In fact, I have been told that I injure
myself in the eyes Of some people by
being so radical. But, if I can do
any good to my fellow men, or to
those whom I have under my charge,
I feel that I can afford to continue to
use my voice and my influence for
that which I am convinced IS right.
I shall, then, confine myself to the
moral, the hygiene and the econOm-
zeal phases of the subject, and leave
the methods to be employed, to the
ability and ingenuity of the teacher.
First, then, as to the moral phase.
Who among us, who have lived in
J Kansas under the old system IN vogue
in ante prohibition times, and under
! the present order of things, has not
noticed the comparative quiet even in
our largest towns as compared with
the rowdyism of former times? The
open saloon is in existence only mem
DRY, and the thirsty one, if he gets
any Of that with which he was wont
to exhilerate himself, must slip around
and obtain it from some one more IN
principled than himself. You viii
notice that while I am an ardent pro
hibitionist, [ am forced to admit that
the law is-evaded-I was going TO
say, but I will make it plain English
and say, broken. Because the law is
broken that does not make it a fail
ure, but it does make the whiskey
seller and the lcbj8bey ozgjaaber crjasj-
10Is.
> Some one may say, what has this to
do with teaching? Much. My fell
low teachers, I know homes, to-day,
in Kansas, where this remark is heard!
81 think it would be a good thing if
. we had open saloons" and giving as
reasons that revenue would be great
er, taxation less, and the tendency to
get liquor on the sly lessened. Now
a man who has not formed the habit
will not try to get liquor in that Oh
any other way; and, if the old topers
will not quit, neither will they live
always; and after they are dead and
] the young generation comes on the
s stage of action, the seed that we are
p sowing will begin to bear abundant
. fruit.
+ Ali know that in such homes as
have mentioned, temperance lessons
. are few and far between; and the PEG
pie of Kansas did a wise thing whe1
they said in 1880 that they woulc
!. have no more hobnobbing with Kine
Alcohol. And I want to say, fellow
d teachers, that as proud a day as
Il ever saw in my life, and one to which
I shall ever look back with pleasure
{. was the one on which I cast my vot
At ''for the Prohibitory Amendment.
We may congratulate ourselves tina
" upon as is laid the responsibility o
educating the youth Of our land o.
this great question, for out of it Is t
grow the greatest and best results Q
- any. secular question that ever en-
gagged the attention Of mankind.
From a hygienic point of view tn
question is fully as important, but a
n I cannot hope to treat the subject flu
~, I will say only that the conscieI
;. t1ous teacher will spare no pains t
Ne enable his pupils to understand til
ne effects Of strong drink upon the hU
man system. We must teach theI
3. that God gave US these bodies Of oul
that we might, by caring for thel
= properly. enjoy all Of the blessing
that it was possible for a healthy ma
or woman to enjoy, and that by tea
. ing down the wonderful structure, "
are not bringing suffering upon onl
ourselves, but upon those dependeI
ng upon US, in this world and sowin
are seeds Of misery which we shall rea
IN IN through all eternity.
on From the economical view I wis
RS only to answer the argument a,
$50 vaneed by the whiskey apologists thI
nc high license adds to the revenues of
tie country, and, therefore, lessons Il
en- en- burden of taxation. That its mani
4 a