tive public
sentiment that has hitherto been interested in the interpretation of
those laws.

A score of improvements in the method of carrying out a small ideal
will not take the place of enlarging that ideal. If existing laws stand
in the way of broadening the purpose of school hygiene, let the laws be
changed. If text-book publishers stand in the way, let us induce or
compel them to get out of the way. If we fear rumsellers, their money,
and the insidious political methods that they might employ to bring in
undertruth if overtruth is once sacrificed, let us go to our
communities and locate the rumseller's guns, draw their fire, tell the
truth about their opposition, and educate the public to overcome it.
If, on the other hand, misguided teetotalism stands in the way, then,
as one teetotaler, I suggest that we prove, as we can, in our
respective communities that there is a better way of inculcating habits
of temperance and self-restraint than by telling untruths, overtruths,
or half truths about alcohol and tobacco. Let us prove, as we can, that
a subject vital to every individual, to every industry, and to every
government is now prevented from fulfilling its mission not by its
enemies but by its friends. We can learn the character of hygiene
instruction in our schools and the interest taken in it by teachers,
principals, and superintendents. We can learn how teachers practice
hygiene at school, and how the children of our communities are affected
by the hygiene instruction now given. Finally, we can compel a public
discussion of the facts, and action in accordance with facts. Without
questioning anybody's avowed motive, we can learn how big that motive
is and how adequate or inadequate is the method of executing it.

Alcohol and tobacco really occupy but a very small share of the
interest and attention of even those men and women by whom they are
habitually used. Hygiene, on the other hand, is of constant,
uninterrupted concern. Why, therefore, should it be planned to have
alcohol and tobacco displace the broader subject of personal and public
hygiene in the attention and interest of children throughout the school
life? Beyond the text-book and schoolroom a thousand influences are at
work to teach the social evils, the waste of energy, and the
unhappiness that always accompany the excessive use--and frequently
result from a moderate use--of stimulants and narcotics. Of the many
reasons for not drinking and smoking