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Show How the Anti-Cigarette Law Works Out in Kansas To the fV-w VorJfcer if may seem 3 long way to the time he will have to go through the fame procedvr- to lansfy his smoking appetite as he does now to quench a parched throat. Bu with a nationwide rvsade under steam to rid people of Sunday subways, bad habits and purple socks, the ban on cigarettes may not be so far off as it .teems. Kansas has already joined the blue procession. It has gone further to satisfy the advocates advo-cates of Puritanical laws than any other State Here is what the reformers have done in Kansas and the way the people feel about it: LONG before the people of other sections sec-tions of the country were worried about a coca tall drought Carrie Nation Na-tion had hewed a path through the barrooms bar-rooms of Kanaa. That lady of the Ratchet, whoaa heft and bravado heeame the frm of all saloon keepers s.pent moat of the time In Jail, but lived to ace her bottle smashing catnnaisni tnke root and serve as a forerunner to national prohibition. The lateat reform In which Kansas "as taken the lead is a tsboo on cigarette When a smoker seeka his f..voritc brand bs must shelter his words behind a awarded award-ed pa'm. As much secrecy surrounds the purchase sj is required in buying a bottle boPtefe and the iokSowtr State under htOgl option w.tawina knomn for the secrecy It required n that reapect Tobacci- storrt may be raided and stocks of cigarette .on-flscated .on-flscated under .-r "imstanee comparable to -. liquor raid. 9 ffl JCo greVlaldn of the law prohibits -mv Ii) ilgmctles. It "nlv places a Ivin the sale. Otte has no rlaht to Inquire wiirie p? how the ir. secured Tlint secret still r-.ualtis r-.ualtis n- :i measure of th" Kansan's llOert State agents seeking contraband OAVe found by jppi oichlng unsuspecting bmokert with imi air of fellowship they may learn the location o! igsrette rales cent-es and enire evidence for a roh). Their most poo-ular poo-ular method -has been thla casual convert-1 tton with some cimnce i-moker they we on the street Which method, as Knnian; have rrown wi?er in the working of the law. hat gradually rceii losinp it.v effectiveness A minor cannot appear lit Kan-as smoking smok-ing either a cigarette, a cigar or a corncot The first intention of the law was to take under wing the casea of boys, but tha Legislature Legis-lature soon saw a chance to correct the morals of adults and took It. Kansas stood behind the statute prohibiting prohibit-ing smoking among boys. But the Jay-hawkers Jay-hawkers do not stand behind the blue law which deprives them of the right to enter rv store and make a purchase of a pa of cigarettes In s peaceful manner With the people of the State as a whole arraigned against it. how did the isw come t be po-iKcd? The same question might he afked of New Yorker concernln: the Bigh-' Bigh-' leenth Amendment. New Vorkers had Jiit bout as much to do with the passage of the prohibition act as the Kansan- ns whole did with the anti-clgarctte 1j Active Minority in Command Through Rural Legislators ,KiMMM " not a State tilled with large ales. It is essentially rural in its nature The members of the Stats Legislature ars esentlai:y rural In their thought and action. Honest and ronaflsriU ':is in their endeavor they attempt to represent the wishes of tlieir political following. That is cood politics. But the difficulty lies in the fact that n active minority support can overcome a y" t passive majority support. That was the predicament In vrhtch the leglalutors found he m selves. Lon; before suffrage became national in I ir.Tctf-r the women Of Kansas gained the ballot. They were eager lo use It and weie not without their own notions of how it should be used In the, rural districts women In church' societies and clubs banded in a Crusade to v.ip out tho cigarette. Taking n determined .nd active fand on the ouestlon. the members of the State Lefr-ialature Lefr-ialature soon found themselves In danger if they refused longer to deny the demands r ';; as a whole took the matter as a .Joke. TI.ey onsldered It somethlne to laugh at and did not work against it. The result was that the measure im- up and was po.-- l The iRisiators acted In ail honesty, for they were urged by political necessity and the pressure brought lo bear on them They i ould have followed no other course wPhout destroying their political chances. Out of this ecul!ar situation rose the antl-clgurettv law The State, as a whole did not desire It. but the 'eglsiators succumbed to the active fight of the minority. When KgJtanng awoke to the Invasion that had lteen made on their liberty the thing had passed the remedying point. "What can we do?" asked a Wi hlta man recent!. 1 We have the law. and those who are opposed to it haven't the time to gi e lo fight to rid themselves of it. I am a business man. The people who sot behind this statute didn't have much else to do They were set out for reform snd they sot it I l.avm t the time to spare from my ss to organlap an army "f cigarette smokers to undo what has been done. Well Just have to crln and bear It " That la what they are doing in the Sunflower Sun-flower Stat.- No one considers It In the light of a violation to buy all the dgarett' he desiree. It l not really in a strict sense a violation, although that was the intent of the ban which was placed on them. Ii ' the dealer who eP cigarrttr t'lat iffr who find tiiTnisei e snbjei t to rSlds and subject to the jUliitllction of the Court if a asipply is found In their placet oi hnslnc. The operation of the law seeks to take ir.r. of the mouths of K msans their liberty to moke Olcarstte. It hss r;ot surcseilsd. because when the Intent f the statute was ;luriK.l the MaJOHty would not obey what the niiiioritv bad been suoceeaful ln saddling sad-dling on them. Attempt by Woman Superintendent To Coerce AH Men Teachers Lizzie Ivoostt r. who was Superintendent .f Sellools for s J State for ?.. termSi Ol-emdtad Ol-emdtad to impose the law on' the nvn . Vih und'-r her direction. "A man who smokes cigarette oi anything any-thing else in not fit to teach children. sLt said. "I will have none of them in the schools of ths State while I urn Supr1n-ttndent." Supr1n-ttndent." Hut Mls.s Woostcr's task was more difficult diffi-cult than she bad reckoned. There was nothing in the law prohibiting Hie smoking of cigarettes and there was nothing In the nature of the lntructors which would permit per-mit them to succumb to such a ruling The men teachers went on smoklnK Mi W os ler forced many rexigtiations L$ut all of hem were more williny to qua the profusion profu-sion than to give up their habit Tn theory Miss Wooster never gave up her fight. In reality It became a necessity In order to retain tbe staff of male Instructors some of them who had never touched a corncob pipe took op the habit on generd! principles Another .step In the UseOtlog of the blue reform has been taken locally by pract! all all Kansas i itle This Is the prohibition ..r motion picture si.ows or any form of theatrical entertainment ou Sunday. So far this ban has been Iocs! In nature, but the formers are now dlrectlns their efforta to having it r'l'ed on th staite ooka of tha Vtata. 9 ffl |