The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1914-11-19
SALOON vs.. SCHOOL

Aside from the economic waste and
physical deterioration caused by the
use of alcoholic liquors, is an un-
ueasurabeI and yet perhaps an even
greater loss due to the debasing and
o9ering II the mentality OF the
community. The saloon not only
sells liquor, but Is il social force
and influences the thoughts, morals,
politics, social customs and ideals OF
Its patrons, much more than any 9TH
Or commercial enterprise. In spe TX
ing about this In "SociaI Welfare and
the Liquor Problem" Harry s. War
ner says: "the saloon is 4 day school,
a night school, vacation school, a
Sunday.school, Kindergarten, col
lege, and university, all in one. 1t
runs without terms-ends. vacations,
or holidays. Its enrolment is among
all classes, and It's attendants are Of
all ages and from many grades OF So
clety. Unlike other schools, its larg-
est support comes from the rich,
rather tran from the middle econom-
ice classes. = The graduates of this
university" are the Czolgoszs, Gui.
teaus, Schranks, Gyp the Bloud, etc.
In regard to school attendance and
the saloon, Warner says; ''The COM
petition OF the saloon with the scnool
IL keenest in the upper grades and
| the high school. II shurtens the
period Of attendance at school usually
those who need 1t most. =
The force Of this competition is
bset shown by specific instances; the
fact itself Is so we'll known. Con-
nectlcut Is state where high ed
vocational system is found side by side
with an unusually strong industrial
demand for young people in the fac
tories. 1t affords a good field for
comparison. In 46 cities and towns
having saloous, the attendance 10 the
high schools In 1912 was l23 to 10000
population; in the no-license towns
and cities. it was 1853 to 10000 popu-
llatlon. More than one in five Of
Those denied high school attendance
in the hwet'i towns of whole state
apparently would be in school II they
had lived In a "dry'' town. In Ne.
braska, an average western state, the
wet county seats together show q
hiRh.schOol enrolment Of 20 per Loo
inhabitants; In dry county seats
the ratio is 65 to | 900 population.
!, Ia Massachusetts, in 1910, the
ratio Of attendance In high schools o.
no-llcense places exceeded that o.
| license places by 81 per cent. In In
diana, the same year, the attendance
/ in the hlgh-schools of the 10 "dry'
J counties was 40,6S7, OF per cent o.
J the enumeration; in the wet
! counties 1t was $1,000, or so. per cam
| OF the enumeration. Thus the vari
} Gus social conditions In saloon com
) munities and In no-saloou eommun
tiles Is intensely significant.
4 Where prohibition has become !
. settled policy on sufficiently wide
{ scale to afH ct more thoroughly thu
r social conditions, the difference II
= yet more marked. The state supeIin
Q tendent of education OF Kansas say
' that attendance at school Is mucl
!. more regular in the interior town
than on the border near liquor states
! OF tile ons.half million BOYS and girl
10 Kansas, only the smallest Fraction
' have ever seen an open saloon.
Il A tremendous revolution in schoo
j. attendance, especially In the olde
a grad q, follows the expulsion of tn
: saloon on q large scale. Assistan
Attorney General Trickett, of Kan
T sas shows that when the saloons wer
closeC in Kansas City, Kan, July
1905. by September an additions
: force Of eighteen new teachers wa
:. needed. Says Mr., Trickett;
{. II went to the teachers and said
;. from whence comes this large de
!. mand for admission to our publ
I. sehoolsY' The result was list Q
, 600 boys and girls from Il to Is year
. of aye whu attended the publ
: schools last year for the first time
, And they gave as raeson why the
!. had not attended In former years tina
2 they had TO earn living for the fan
- ilV The A methvSt