| Show A DEADLY AND increasing VICE THE lamentable case of the young man who while under temporary aberration of mind attempted to rob I 1 a bank in this city and who id 10 now adjudged insane suggests some thing for the consideration of our officers as well wei as the general public it etwas was disclosed in the evidence in this case that the defendant had become a slave to the cigarette habit with this was associated an appetite for intoxicating drink but the deadly cigarette appears to have been his worst enemy this insidious form of the smoking 9 vice is almost universally condemned by thinking people physicians as a rule denounce it as especially ally pernicious now and then we read apologies for the little nuisance and occasionally a medical man who uses it will deride its condemnation dem nation but notwithstanding that it is certain that cigarette smoking is 18 doing a vast deal of damage especially to young men and boys who are ad dieter dieted to the obnoxious habit one physician who testified at the trial mentioned said that only two or three of the many brands of cigarettes on the market were innocent of opium and that an insatiable appetite was wag created by their use similar to the effects of the fumes of opium this so ao counts for the difficulty experienced by those who attempt to overcome the habit many have tried to conquer it and have utterly failed laws lawr j have been enacted to restrain the practice but these are largely unavailing because they are not enforced no doubt there are many difficulties in ID the way of their execution but tobacco smoking has become so wide spread that the officers of the law are generally in sympathy with the smoker and consequently with the dea dealer lerIn in tobacco in this territory there is a fita statute tute forbidding the sale of cigarettes tobacco opium or any other kind of narcotic to any person under eighteen years of age with the exception of a narcotic upon the prescript pres crit tion of a physician the penalty for selling giving wr or furnishing a narcotic in any form to such a minor is a flue fille of not less than ten noi more than one hundred dollars see bee laws of utah 1890 page 96 0 we have never heard beard or of a single case came brought before a court under this law yet any little boy or girl who has hai a nickel can buy cigarettes at certain stores and they seem to go an company with candy at many places in town boys who do not use cigarettes appear to be exceptions to the general rule little bits of fellows scarcely old enough to 0 o to school are among the smokers of these vile and deadly things many young men seem to think they are not fully dressed for the street without a stinking cigarette between their lips the smell from them is an abomination it is ig something more mere and far filthier thier than any ordinary tobacco amo keIt pollutes the air and is a common nuisance that ought to be abated have we any officers in thie city and county who have sufficient regard for the law and for the welfare of the public the rising generation in particular to make a few examples of dealers who sell cigarettes to children if not why not the evil Is id growing and the ithe bad effects are already sl slen seen en among us everything practical should be done to arrest its growth parental ins instruction truo and restraint in many cases are insufficient thelah the jaw ought to be enforced the average storekeeper store keeper cares only for profits from the fialkof sale of his wares he will not refuse to sell bell them to children from motives of principle prosecute the dealers who violate the law and one step will be taken to arrest the spread of the vice if the officers officer a will not move in this matter will not some public spirited citizens make complaint and thus set the ball rolling against the traffic in the deadly cigarette |
