Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1873-04-09
HISCELLAN US.
Tobacco = It's Effects On the Human
Constitution, Physical, Intellectual
and Moral.
BY JAMES COULTER LAYARD, N. D.
tCoNTIxuED.]
THE EXPENSE

direct expense, that is. the loss to th
country Of the capital aud labor absorbe
in the ,ul,ivaricn. manufacture, and sal
of tobacco, which might be more beneti
Gently cmploy-d in other pursuits, am
the loss 10 the country and the world a
large of the thousands of acres devoted
TO lts production, which might be devo
ted to the production of breadstuffs tt
feed the nations. This last include
also the impoverisbment Of the land de
voted TO it's cultivation, which is create
beyond comparison than that resulting
from any other crop. To the above may
be added the loss of property by fire.
originating from lighted cigars and pipes
We have neither the time nor the spac,
here to euter into elaborate calculations
with regard to the cost TO the people o
tie United States Of the tobacco they
raise and consume; we will, therefore
avail ourselves, to some extent of the
results Of the calculations of others -
The Rev. DR.. Hawes, of Hartford, Conn
in sermon prea, he'd against the use OF
tobacco, estimates the direct expense to
consumers at $40 600, 900 annually. The
people of the city of New York. accord
ing to his estimate, spent $4,000 day
for cigars, at a time when they were
spending $500 daily for bread. These
estimates were made years ago. Our
population has increased rapidly since
then, aud it is agreed OH all sides that
the consumption of tobacco has increas-
Cd even more rapidly Besides that, to-
bacco has advanced in price anda sew
pays duty, which it did not then
These fgures, then, have all been largely
increased, and we therefore think it en-
tirely safe to put down the sum now
spent by our people for tobacco at $50.
100000 annually.
w idl du cIIoliu suil W epchd ioi
the qualification of a morbid appetite |!
What waste of property Worse than
wasted fer it 10 not only destructive of
property. but, as We have seen, of life,
health and morals as well. How many
churches and school houses would this
sum build! "Give me-" says the Rev
DR.. Berkeley, of Lurgan, "every tenth
pipe in Ireland and 1 will erect 100
rchool houses, and spend ON each $500
(s2,5OO) The same illustration will ap-
ply with equal force to our Jwn country.
were the money spent for tobacco appli-
cd i'm this direction We might have a
.chool house on every street And if we
had more schooi houses we should need
fewer jails.
We pay annually to all the lawyers
in the United States $4,000 OG0 for
maintaining our criminals, sl2, 100000
and to ministers of the gospel s6.O00,-
oOO but We pay nearly as much for
tobacco as FIR the whole. We are law
abiding and jasticc-loving people, but we
pay for tobacco one third more than We
pay our attorneys at law. We are a
moral and an glowing people, but we
pay for tobacco moro than four times as
much as We pay for maintaining our
criminals. We are Christian people,
yet We pay for tobacco more than eight
times as much as We pay for the ministry
of the gospel of the Son of God!
In the paragraph next before the last,
we have given hint as to what magnii-
cent results might be achieved were the
money directly spsilt by consumers of
tooacco applied to more benefcent uses.
But wlo can tell what might be accom-
piishcd were the capital and labor EN-
ployed in its cultivation, manufacture
and sale, also applied to other purposes !:
.'cw have any adequate idea of the mum
Der of persons engaged in these pursuits.
How many are employed in the cuitiva-
tion of tobacco we cannot even guess
As to the number employed in its man
ntacture, the following statistics will give
a faint idea At Manila one cigar fac
tory employs 1000 women. Others
there employ from 5000 to 5000 women.
There are no manufactures Of cigars in
the United States on 20 large scale az
this; but we have some tobacco factories
which count their employees, both male
and female. by hundreds. If the men
who now hoe tobacco were put to hoeing !
corn if the men employed in tobacco
factories were put to building railroads
the women transferred to cotton looms,
and the boys sent to school if all the
tobacco plantations were turned into
wheat farms. and the capital absorbed |
in the manufacture of and traffic in The
weed, invested in any other commodity
you may please to mention-save spiritu-
Gus liquors-it would add to the wealth
and property of the country immense
sums annually.
To BE CONTINUED
Greenwood township, Crawford Co.,