, 1880-12-17
Liquors and Tobacco.


flthiness of the weed. But according to
Dr. George Beard, of New York, the rea-
son was that the little Reeds nervous
system wouldn't endure it; the paternal
Reed had used tobacco lavishly and, so
far as he was concerned, with impunity,
but he bequeathed to his son nervous
system that weuld stand nicotine; where
fore, where the father chewed the son es-
chewed.
AS the senior Reed never had particle
of tobacco in his mouth, and the Junior
Reed had acquired the habit of chewing
surreptitiously, had been togged several
times for indulgence in the vice, and
had never recited his little verse about
tobacco with sincerity, both of them
would have been greatly astonished at
hearing DR.. Boards lecture before the
Philosophical society. In that lecture
the doctor set forth that while the late
generation of Americans INDUCED in the
copious use of alcoholic liquors, and,
without much distinction of sex, in the
use of tobacco, the present generation
finds its nerves in such condition that
1t has to limit its use and stimulants and
narcotics to the minimum; and the doc
tor not only discovcrl rapid reduc-
sion in the amount If smoking, but he
already foresees that millenniul period
when chewing will he q lost art. All this
DR.. Beard attributes to the increasing
nervousness of the American people,
which obliges them to abandon whisky,
tobacco, and in many cases even tea and
coffee. A few facts in support of this
theory would facilitate its acceptance.
There are a large class of young men,
who are now smoking and chewing with
an industry that is highly gratifying to
all patriots who desire to see the public
debt paid, and every one of whose an
cestors looked on tobacco smoke as iden-
tical with smoke from the bottomless pit,
who are little curious to know where
DR.. Beard got the impression that the
dead Americans were large users Of to-
bacco and that the living onos are grad
ually giving up chewing and smoking.
In spite of reductions in the internal rev.
enue duties, the national revenue from
distilled spirits was $4,000, 600 in 1865;
500, ,000,0 900 in 1870; $52, 600, 600 in 1875,
and the same in 1879. The use of tobac
co doesn't appear to be diminishing, in
view OF the fact that the tobacco crop of
1869 was 225, 900 900 pounds, and in 1878
395 100000 pounds. 1t is within the
recollection of persons by no means old
that the culture of tobacco came, saw,
and conquered the Connecticut valley.
The attention of the public has been
called several times lately to the enor-
nous increase of the consumption OF
cigarettes. No person who walks the
streets can be ignorant of the youthful
ness of the smokers who chiefly use
cigarettes, and the increase of their con-
sumption means that more youths are
smoking than formerly.
Among the Dutch of New York it may
be true that men and women OF former
generations both used tobacco and used
it more freely than now. But among
New Englanders and their western off
spring the use of tobacco was formerly
looked on as o sin, and in those COM
munities of New England extraction
where the world, the flesh, and the devil
have been most successfully resisted
smoking is still looked upon as an evi.
dence of an unregenerate nature. The
great Methodist Church, which looks
pretty closely after the habits of
its members, and even recommends
rising hour to it's ministers,
deplores every year the increasing num-
bers of those within it's fold who use to-
bacco; especially does it tearfully notice
that is it no uncommon thing now for can
didates of the ministry to be addicted to
the use of tobacco. If DR.. Beard has
found more on-smoking sons of non
smoking fathers, his observation is ex-
ceptional
That drinking, as social institution,
is less prominent i'll America now than
formerly, and less here than in Europe,
is true; but that this results from the
increasing nervousness of our people IS
not proven. Two of three questions that
eternally agitate Americans, according to
DR.. Beard, are, :."Who shall be the next
President?" and "Where shall l go
when die?" The latter has had good
deal to do with the disuse of liquors.
In no other country have temperance
societies exerted so much influence
as here. The Methodist church
is itself temperance society.
The other churches have efficiently
co-operated with temperance societies.
Clergymen were among the first to aban-
don their bibulous habits. Nearly all
the churches have taken part in the war
ON drinking, and nearly all the temper
ance orators and organizers are church
people. The most successful OF recent
temperance movements have been as dis
tinctively religious as the Moody and
Sankey meetings. Among the people
who are exempt from the influences OF
any church it is questionable whether
DR.. Beard could prove that there has
been any radical diminution in the use
of liquors.
DR.. Boards remarks about the great
reduction in the use of liquors in Eng
land are not corroborated by other and
very recent observers. Some Of these
have noticed an increase of intemperance
among English women of the better
classes. On the whole, there has doubt
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