OCR Text |
Show Cigarettes, a Great Evil That Should Be Ended! II 1 Address By Dr. Anna Ries-Finley, Delivered Before the Congregation of i the Baptist Church City Authorities Should Enforce All Laws for Suppression Sup-pression of Traffic in Cigarettes and Schools and Homes Should Point Out the Injurious Effects of Smoking. j In spite of the fact that eight states have extinguished the light of the cigarette ci-garette and have passed stringent laws within their boundaries, the consumption con-sumption of tobacco in the form of cigarettes Is steadily inereasing. The west got its taste for cigarettes I Irom Hie Mexicans. The habit spread j rapidly eastward and received a new impetus from the manufacture ol j Turkish and other imported toba- coef Six years ago, Wisconsin and nnnana uarpii io ue uie iitm builci to pass anti-cigarette laws. Then came Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota, with Similar laws in 1909 None of the eastern states bave attempted to do more than prohibit its sale to children chil-dren under sixteen years. Probably there are more cigarettes consumed in New York than in all the states that prohibit the manufacture or sale. Approximately six billion cigarettes were smoked in this country last year, riiia does not Include the large number num-ber imported. This means about 3000 smokes a year for each man and hoy, ' or nearly ten cigarettes a day. There are several million that do not smoke j cigarettes, so those that do. have to j make up the difference. Legislation I against the cigarette has not been! brought about directly by the agitation agita-tion of the reformers who have crusaded cru-saded against it Nearly everybody knows that cigarettes accelerate the crop of tuberculosis every year, but men continue to U6e it. Then business busi-ness stepped in and began to discriminate dis-criminate against cigarette smokers Many railroads barred them from their employ as unreliable. Insurance companies refused to accept them as the risk was hazard. Business firms did not tell them they must quit smoking, that cigarettes were bad for them simply gae them the choice! betveen cigarettes and their job; and the call for the job was the stronger, when the stomach was consulted. Outside the states where the cigarette is now barred, in the great cities and smaller ones, too. it has found its way to the dinner table, especially, between courses at the evening meal There is hardly a restaurant in any of the large cities where this practice is out carried out, regardless of how ! pauscating it might be to women and j those men who do not smoke. It is forced upon the public's likes or dislikes, dis-likes, the same as the drunkard's lad-J lad-J i noil breath, for, to some people, to bacco is as distasteful and unpleasant unpleas-ant as whiskey, without ever being consulted, and if you are, you must say, "No indeed, I very much like It," cr you will be considered prudish. A large tobacco dealer in New York or.ee was induced to count his different differ-ent kinds of cigarettes that he earned ear-ned in stock. He found he had 287 different brands A large number of cigarette smokers smok-ers made their own cigarettes. They either hold them between their fingers I or carry little machines in their pockets pock-ets Tenement houses kill or make Idiots. The sale of the miniature cigarette for women n New York is practically at a stand still, they taking the common com-mon brand Dealers say that women cigarette smokers are rapidly increasing increas-ing each year: and too. the cigar Btoreman will leil you that he has a good many customers, especially along toward the holidays. Their business becomes quite a factor, and they say they know how to buy a cigar. Tobacco seems so far from a woman's wom-an's sphere of activity that you naturally nat-urally picture her as being entirely out of her element in a cigar store They don't use tobacco, i. e , as a rule, and many of them positively dislike the mere suggestion of tobacco, to-bacco, and yet, when they come in to buy they usually show more common j sense and fine discrimination than J the average man. l ne answer is uns. woowu, uj nature na-ture .is a better shopper than man I 'l here is an international aspect also, 10 the anti-cigarette question Every government in Europe is either considering con-sidering restricted measures against cigarettes, or have enacted some .ort Of legislation against them In England, Eng-land, for Instance, it is forbidden to sell cigarettes to children, but they are kept aboard warships to sell to the sailors, although it has been demonstrated dem-onstrated that the use of cigarettes i not conductive to, good shooting, oi to clear thinking In this country th navy superintendent is getting ready t put a stop to selling cigarettes to our sailors They may buy them ashore, but they can not purchase them on the men-of-war. Cigarette Smoking Among Boys. In a certain large private school for boys, it was surprising to know of so many boyB smoking. Fifteen per cent of 1 L'-year-old boys. 20 per cent of 13-year old boys; 38 j per cent of 14-year old boys; L"J per cent of 15-year-old boys; 57 per cent of 16-year old boys; 71 per cent of 17-year-old boys were either smoking or had smoked recently. This great number is almost unbelievable, but 11 is based upon facts. All of these 500 boys were private ' school boys and supposed to have 1 closer supervision than those going to I public institutions, so in t lie latter it may be higher. If these figures be true, or even If it .was only half a.V large, the problem would be one u serious consideration, especially after one has compared the school grade3 of the smokers and non-smokers The following figures are the grades for the smoker and non-smoker, between be-tween the ages of 12 and 17, derived after consulting the above school of BOO boys Age: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 yearn; grade of non smokers, ::, 89, 84 s7, sf.. trad- ot smokers, 73 7".. iZ 7.".. 75 68 If these figure! are rlcht which I hey doubtless are, there can he uo doubt of the injurious effect of smok-I smok-I Ing upon the mentality of the growing boy. Of course, there are other considerations con-siderations The good student Is more likely to stay at home than othf-r boys, and it is the other kind of boy. the out-door boy who is most likely to take up smoking. Generally, too, th,e boy yrtio etanda highest in the class is not so fond of outdoor sporM. as those who rank below them; ml again it is the latter type, as much through boyish deviltry, as anything, that takes up smoking, thinking that there is something "sporty" about it. I Resinning in this way. however, the I sport generally becomes a habit. But I even after considering these" points, the per cent is too high to be accounted account-ed for by such excuses, so that we are driven to the undeniable concln- ! sion, tnat me cnect ot smoking upon a boy's mind is ery serious, putting his mental efficiency from in to 15 I per cent below that of the boy who I does not smoke. So that we most al-I al-I ways find that the boys at the bottom bot-tom of the class are almost always smokers, thnt they are generally older old-er than the average of their class, I possess less self-control, generally I less honest in their work, ami hence ar usually very troublesome. There is a vast difference between the boy who is only "slow," but who j tries conscientiously to progress and the boy who has dulled his mind by ! smoking, and cares little whether he 1 advances or not. Of course, there are other habits among boys which tend to make them Inefficient and dull, but it is generally found that the boys possessing such bad habits arc gen erally smokers; and students of "Boy Psychology" frequently say that smoking smok-ing is likely to put a boy in such a condition that other and worse habits will be taken up, largely on account Of weakened moral stamina. It Is usually said that a boy's smoking smok-ing is likely to stunt his growth, and it has been found by many physical measurements that the smoker Is commonly com-monly below the average size for his age. But his growth might not necessarily neces-sarily be interfered with and his mentality men-tality seriously suffer, being stupid and dull. Smoking is very liable tc. stunt something, most probably, tho mind and body, as Is the most usual case. Perhaps the laxity of observance of the law which has made such smoV Ing possible ha6 most to do with the present condition. As lias been said, almost every state has some law regulating regu-lating the sale of tobacco to boys. Generally it Is forbidden to boys an der 16 years Ohio. Indiana. Mi i nesota, have the age much later. Tne fact is, that if a boy doesn't smoke until he is of age. he is likely to iv a m aVa 4 r rt'rco If oil or1 at any rate, by that time he has near-ly near-ly completed his physical and mental growth. Generally speaking, such laws as we have arc not strictly enforced. en-forced. It is only too common in citieB like Philadelphia, and New York, to se little chaps of seven and eight years smoking with the airs of a grownup grown-up man. The laws themselves might be greatly improved, but U the laws we have were enforced, a great deal of good would be done. The Physiological Action of Tobacco Let's begin at the beginning. Does it do auy physical good? Axgumeats in favor of tobacco for any physical reason is baseless. It does not aid digestion, preserve the teeth, or disinfect, dis-infect, and is not a remedy for anything. any-thing. The only thing is, that smoking smok-ing conlers mental satisfaction It seems to give one companionship when he has none; something to do when one is bored; keeps one from feeling hungry whon he Is hungry, and blunts the edge of hardship and worry. This sums up the total of the agreeable results re-sults of tobacco. The injurious results, after one ha9 become addicted to the use of It, is always apparent and certain Every boy knows that the first chew or the llrst smoke makes him nauseated, and j no matter how long a man has smoked a little lump of the tar that has collected col-lected In the pipe will sicken him. Nicotine Nic-otine is In itselt highly poisonous, but Is very volatile, and is absorbed only from that portion of the cigar or cig arette which is held in the mouth. One must look for symptoms of slow poisoning, as has already been shown tobacco stuuts the growing boy and makes him stupid and dull. , Every athlete knows that it hurts the wind; that it injures the heart by Its poison, and prevents it from doing extra work In athletics. It also aTfects tho precision of the eye; causing. In some cases, complete blindness by producing atrophy of the optic or sight nerve. Makes all nerves very unsteady after long use. so billiard bil-liard players and tennis players always al-ways know they can win when they, themselves, aro abstainers and their opponents users. Such a thing i6 not smoking In excess la rare, aud ono smoke calls for another. All drugs, comparatively harmless, such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, produce a highly injurious effect, when taken In repeated small doses. Just what effect the use of tobacco engenders, en-genders, we can not absolutely knou. but no physician doubts that smoking mav he a factor in almost any disease from which the patient is sutferlnc- There can be, for instance, no question, ques-tion, that smoke, "simply smoke, irritates irri-tates the mucous membranes of the bronchial tubes, and renders them more susceptible to Infection. By j Irritating the mucous membrane III causes catarrh and leads to deafness by passing up the eustachian tube, Inflaming In-flaming it and excluding Ms opening for the free passage of air. It Is then fair to say that the man that does not use tobacco is not so liable lo disease, and recovers more readily when he is diseased, or recovers from an operation more readily. A man begins to feel the harm in middle age, if he has bePvlin ;,tter hu is pasi L'l years, arid at this time of life, men usually have use for .rll their vigor and powers to compete with his fellow man In the battle Tor his dailv bread, and it Is then that tobacco will reduce his general vigor The dominant characteristics of tobacco to-bacco is tho fact that jt heightens blood pressure. i-e - Iuales a .man old before his time; the nicotine acts as a narcotic und lessens the connection connec-tion between nerve cells and the out-blde out-blde world. As a narcotic, it temporarily tem-porarily abolishes anxiety and diB-l I comfort by making the smoker care ' about what happens to him. It Is a well known fact in medicine thMi ilrugs, which in the beginning, lessen nerc action, do finally act as a poison and Increase it Hence, smoking finally causes apprehension, over excitability and muscular unrest Most excessive smokers are troubled with being unable to sleep The cigarette smoker almost invariably inhales, and hence his throat and mucous linings of the nose and lungs j get the most poison. The tobacco itself it-self is no more harmful than it would , be in a pipe or cigar The cigarette paper is said ti be steeped in narcotics nar-cotics such as morphine or opium, but whether It is or not, I do not know, as I have never known of positive tests being made. If a man inhales a pipe or cigar, he go's more injur simply because hi gets stronger tobacco; but a man ever iloes this unless he has used tobacco a great while or has begun on cigarettes Because of Its shortness, short-ness, cheapness, and convenience, he lights a cigarette, throws it away and g another This spasmodic pro cess, constantly repeated, Increases the smoker's restlessness. Virtually all bos that smoke start with cigar-ettea. cigar-ettea. Though a boy's stomach grows tolerant of nicotine to the extent that it will t ike it without protest, the rest of hi6 body keeps on protesting, cs-pei cs-pei 'ally his heart and nerves. Tobacco, by bringing about a depreciation de-preciation of nerve cells increases restlessness, lowers vitality and causes the hoy to want to travel the road of least resistance. As has been said, the boy usually smokes in the worst way he can. hv using cigar-ettes cigar-ettes How is his father going to stop it? We all know what force a recommendation of a hair tonic has when it conies from a bald-headed barber A man can not expect to bav Influence with his son when he advises him to not do a thing he is doing. His father is his ideal, and he knows that his father is just the right kind of a man and does the right thing, hence how can he advise? Tobacco will injure a boy more than the man, but It injures the man at al! times through his life. To tell a boy not to d' what he constantly sees his father do. is advice too absurd to I need serious consideration To breathe smoke laden air is to absorb some of the nicotine cases even of mild poisoning, such as getting sick at ones stomach. Is an example of this alone still men will force it upon the public, be it man. woman, or child, and you must submit giace-fully giace-fully . when the offender should be classed as a nuisance and removed from other persons' company There Is a story told of an opium smoker who had two dog?, a black and tan, that he kept in the room while he was smoking Alter a v. iiile they became so aeus-tomed aeus-tomed to if that they exhibited the same symptoms as the smoker when deprived of it running at the eyes, Bneezlng, and excessive nervousness They grew to look forward lo his smoking as eagerly as he did and all through breathing the same air. Thus, the father that fills his home full of smoke, not only makes a nuisance nui-sance of himself, and is disgusting to the family, but he creates an appetite for tobacco in his boy. First, the boy-has boy-has a disposition to smoke because his father does; second, he is curious; third, his respiratory passages are already al-ready craving the excitation to which they have been accustomed; hence, he drives the boy around the corner lor a cigarette to experiment with 1 ho action of any narcotic is to break down the sense of moral responsibility, re-sponsibility, and the unruly and untruthful un-truthful hoy will usually be found smoking cigarettes. Tobacco is a social habit, which is the worst feature of it; and not to ' smoke has its social disadvantages ; .Many men were prejudiced asalnst smoking until they went to college; there they found themsehes "out of it because thev did not smoke. More than that, thev found that the smoke of social gatheringn irritated their eyes and throats, and thought by smoking, they might find other peo-plee peo-plee smoke les:i annoying. Do on wonder that few women smoke? The wonder to me is that more don't smoke Some do sa they rather like the smell of a cigar They, the same as the boy, ha, e been prepared pre-pared for jt by the men folks It is the focial feature that attends the ac-qulrlng ac-qulrlng and the leaving off ot" the habll which makes smoking so dif-j dif-j flcult to attack And even a boy might be taught the e-ils of it. the 'social side might claim him. What j ground opium so firmly in China, j was Its social side; they aihered together to-gether in the one heated room to gossip over their pipes We use tobacco as the Chinese I smoke opium Tobacco not only prepares pre-pares the way for physical disease of all kinds, but as Ions investigation has shown, it, prepares the way for alcohol and drug taking. The re lation of tobacco, especially in the form of cicarettes, with alcohol and opium is very close, In all inestiga-tlons inestiga-tlons that have been made on the ad-diction ad-diction of iersons to drugs with very-few very-few exceptions, thev havp been prp-j prp-j ceded by tobacco. In my police work, v c i ould always get a history of ex-tes-ivo use of tobacco caused disease, disease led to the use of drugs to alleviate al-leviate pain A bo always starts smoking before be-fore he starts drinking, because the action of tobacco makes jt normal for him to feel the need of stimulation. He goea to this to soothe the unrest. He poes to morphine for the same reason. The nervous condition due to ex-ve ex-ve drinking Is allaved b mor-phine, mor-phine, just as the nervous condition due to excessive smoking is allaved by alcohol. Cigarettes, drink, opium, Is the logical and regular series Most men who have ever used alcohol tu eji ess, when restricted, will use to-bacco to-bacco to excess. This excess of tobacco to-bacco produces 8 narcotic effect, which temporarily blunts the craving crav-ing for alcohol There is a nervous condition produced pro-duced alike by alcohol and tobacco, apd the two habits keep each other golug. It is not altogether b) hap-ard hap-ard association thai saloons, also sell ciur;:rs. ihf.v sell them for the-same the-same reason that they give awaj prelzels to make a man buy more v. hiukey. In order to assist in subduing the opium habit in China it was proposed l hat they use tobacco, and now the cigarette evil is more gigantic than the opium evil and twice as much mones spent for it as for opium; he needs less opium when he uses cigarettes. ci-garettes. If anyone thinks that China Is the gainer by substituting the one drug habit for the other, he Is mis-laken mis-laken The opium smoker smokes In private with other smokers, and Is not offensive to other people. He i-i not injuring non-smokers, or arousing the curiosity of boys, or polluting pol-luting the atmosphere, or creating a craving in others. Cigarette smoking la conceded ,r h the j reatest vice devastating I f an-i it y today, because it is dotnt, i-than i-than any other vice to deteriorate the race. Conclusion. That a great many boys smokf. aihl that it is a great evil, and the responsibility must be laid; Kirst, to ths administrative authorities of our Cities for not making effective such laws as cover the evil; Second, to the schools which fail to Rive a ra-1 tional education to the children in their charge, third, and finally, thei responsibility must be laid to ourl homes, as there lies the root of condition con-dition of tilings For. if the home should insist upon carrying out the, law, and nsslst that carrying out, the I average dealer would Lb. ink long be fore selling tobacco to hoys Then, Bm too, if the home should insist upon lM It, the schools would take the matter up and discipline the hoys, at the rno-st impressionable time in their iH ,lics with the gravity of yielding to MU this harmfunl habit. And then, if the MM homes did their duty by their own children, smoking among boys would MM rapidly become a thing of the past. W The hearthstone is the place, and the 'MM age is when the child is born, to be- MMt gin to instill principles in them that . mt vou want to slay with them all their MM H ANNA RIES-FINLEY, If. D. H oo MM |