The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-03-20
rEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION IN
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

days PRESS. It may be wall 70 2note
the Law which Mr.. Ccrihsll brands Is alb
surd, and at the same time to remind the
readers Of the PRESS that laws similar
70 this have been enacted and remain up
on the statute books OF all the states Of
the Union expscs Utah and Georgia ana
the Unitsd States Congress has passed
like law for the territories aud tho DE-
trlct of Columbia. the naval academies.
and the Indian schools.
TIE Temperance Instruction Law In
Maine as amended By chapter s67, Public
Laws Ct 1885, Is as follows:
ssProyision shall be made by the proper
'oeal school authorities for instruetlng
a schools supported by public money or
under ttats con troll, in physiology and
hy Rlene, with special reference to the
effects 4 alcoholic drinks. stimulsnts and
narcotics upon the human system"
cannot ask space enough to notice In
detail all OF the statements made by MIR.
CorthelI, but / would like TO refer to
few Of the most important. Mr.. Corthell
| says the Law assumes the false notion
that knowledge Of the result Of certain
courses Wild hinder humans from entering
These courses." Allowing that the Law
does assume this is 1t an absufdityf Does
not the knowledge that the fre burns
hinder "humans, even quite small ohii-
drep, from handling GOALS Of fire or from
warming the hands by placing them d.
rectly upon the hot stoves
Again he says, referring to the laws 1t
asks pupils to believe words Rad In q
book or told by the teacher In opposition
to faols seen and known by the pupils,
saying that tobacco Ia poisonous, while
the pupil see Sc er-tenths Of the men he
knows using tobacco, and his answer to
the teachers instruction is MIR. ii.
smokes and he is the richest and smartest
man In town, and 1 am going to smoke
when get big enough. The saying that
alcohol Is poisonous, while the pupil says,
GAN our great men, congressman, gov
ernors, judges, lawyers, merchants and
lumbermeD, drink liquor and / mean to
drink when am big enough" There is
abundant testimony to prove that tobacco,
or the nicotine which 10 found In all to-
bacco is poisonous and that taken In
large doses enough at one time IL does
kill; and the teacher could easily reply to
any such questionings, for no one SO far
as l am Informed has as yet undertaken
to prove that the use of tobacco ever
made any one richer or smarter.
have before me as l write the testi.
mony given by scores OF the leading edu-
Gators of the country regarding the per-
nicous effects of tobacco, one Of them
| aF ri n
college, who writes: l can fay without
the least qualification that the tobacco
habit Is iojuI ious to health, TO SCHOLAR
shi in and to character. 1t weakens the
will, dimin ishes the power Of application
and lowers the tone Of thought and feel
Ing"
believe no honest teacher In Maine
would be at all puzzlsd to suitably reply
to the pupi! who thinks call the great
good and great men whom Maine has
sent TO Congress who never drank. Among
them Nielsen DinHley, Jr., honoTed and
beloved and he never hesitated to say that
when "a small boy he was taught the
nature and effects OF alcohol and always
Stunned it as an evil thing; and the
same 10 true of the clear Drained, eloquent
man wko is his successor, and these are by
no means exceptional cases.
Again MIR. Corthell says the school
board will not give the tim the law de-
mands. fail to SEE wherein the law de-
mand ! any given time. Again, he refers
TO prescribed text books" and I fail TO
find that In the law there are prescribed
text books Moreover l know that there
are some superintsndents and teachers
who have faithfully complied with the
requirements Of the Law and there has
been no complaint that any of the other
branches suffered thereby.
We have no fear that the advics to re-
peal this law will be followed. 1t Is hard
TO tell hoW much the statement made BY
Prof. Atwatsr regarding tine
nutritive quality of alcohol. by
his experiment of shutting a
man in cage and feeding him on alcohol
a certain number OF days has influenced
the attack upon temperance instruction
in the schools which has been recently
made.
Prof. Atwater may have proven to his
satisfaction that alcohol Is sometimes q
food, but the vast majority of expert
testimony proves that 1t is not a food
and there IL still another side to the ques-
ton represented by such men as DR..
Cyrus Edison who most emphatically says
that ''if every drop was wiped of the face
of the earth the people Of the world
would be a thousand times better CT.
We confidently believe that there are
enough of the true guardians Of the state
and the most intelligent and helpful
friends of the child In our midst, who
will maintain the just and reasonable law
which provides for the fore-warning and
fore-arming of the children OF the Re-
public.
Respectfully yours,