The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-06-09
Tobacco.
From the Advance, Chicago.

tOhaccO must either go To the wall or
prove itself sIandered good. The latter
it cannot do. With an honest desire to
help good men to see this matter as we
see it, and as the better public sentiment
is beginning to regard it. we briefly state
the case:
The habitual use of tobacco is wrong
because it Injuries, constantly and perma
nently, the brain and the health of the
user. and that injury is not confined to
himself but is transmitted to his children.
| The highest medical authorities snbstan-
tally agree upon this generel verdict,
and no array of apparent exceptions to
the rule can shake the fact itself Insani-
/ ty and various fatal forms of brain dis
ease are well-known to be superinduced
by the use of tobacco; and it is a favor
tie aphorsm with many physicians that
! if tobacco could be abolished the disease
known as consumption would be confined
chiefly to women, and in them it would
be mainly caused by tight lacing!
| Tobacco using is wrong because it
accustoms the user to the habitual disre-
gard of the comfort or well-being of
others. This will sound harsh to the
genteel smoker, but nothing could be
truer One of the sorest annoyances of
this life, for all women and most non
smoking men, is the necessity of brea h.
ing air poisoned by the stale fumes of a
cigar or pipe. The nuisance is every
where-at the Preside, on the street, in
/ hotels, on railroad trains, In the counting
room, in--the minister's study, and it is
Eevery where intolerable to all except the
smokers. The extent and gravity of the
offence committed by smokers against
ihe rights of Others can only be under
stood by the sufferers themselves. If any
one has right to smoke at all, he has no
shadow of a right to smoke in public, or
where his strangling fumes may reach
he lungs and brains OF innocent passers-
by. Only the final resurrection of all
the worlds martyrs will tell h w many
otherwise loving and reverent wives
have turned with suppressed loathing, or
nausea that could not be suppressed,
/ from the fetid breath and exhalations OF
tobacco saturated husbands. Nothing
could be more absolutely selfish than the
ways of the average smoker, and is it
probable that seltishness can be allowed
to develop so enormously in this one di-
rection without affecting injuriously the
. who character?
+ Tobacco using is wrong because 1T
accustoms the intelligent user to the
habitual violation of conscience. This
statement requires no proof. Four fitths
of those who smoke or chew tobacco will
frankly admit that their habit does not
benefit themselves or others, aud that
they ought to leave it off, but find is diff
| G. L. \ ~ SO
ating followed by no reform it is-wha;?
To live in the daily and deliberate prac-
Cice of that which the judgement and the
conscience alike condemn, is unworthy
the manhood of men--is perilous to the
human soul. Is it likely that a conscience
which is Systematically outraged in one
particular, will long remain healthful
responsive and reliable in other regards.
| Tobacco using is constant indul-
gt nee of the lower nature at the expense
Of the higher With many men this lea
son wonld have no weight, but we write
for the eye of those who profess to strive
after Christian living and worthy man.
hood. A thoroughly strong and clean
character cannot be built up with one
rotten timber at the foundation To use
tobacco while conscious of lts harmful
ness is to surrender the keys of the soul
to an enemy. A principal safeguard,
that of conscious integrity of character,
is removed. and the transgressor knows
not when other and worse vices may
creep IN at the open gate. The same
casuistry and selfdeception which serve
to excuse one wrong habit will usually
do service with others Aside from the
natural physical tendency which tobacco
has to develop a taste for drink, its hab-
itual use by one who knows its vicious
ness, prepares the conscience to yield to
drinking habits when the temptation
comes elfindulgence at one point
NATURALLY tends to self-indulgence at
many points. ~
I Tobacco using is perpetual stumbling
block to youth. Young men learn to
smoke and chew as they learn to drink,
not from original love of the habit, but
fr pm the ambitious imitation Of ascot
ates and superiors. What parent, vainly
striving to hold back q Maynard son
from life OF slavery to the weed, has
not been met with the defence that Dea-
con or Reverend or Mr.. So-and so. used
tobacco? And gernane to this latter
charge against the habit we are discuss
ing. is this final indictment. that, to a
greater or less extent. it paralyzes the
| Christian usefulness of it's devotee. A
Christians message to his fellow men is a
plea that they will live purely, live lives
of self-controll, lives of self-denial forthe
worlds good. How, can that heavenly
message touch the heart OF the self-re
specting worldling if uttered by lips
dripping with nastiness and borne to the
ear (and the nostril ] by. breath heavy
with the most complex and sickening of
all odorss No matter how willing the