The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-07-26
To Stop Boys Smoking.

RooP OOyo 0laOh1ASs
The law forbidding the sale of cigarettes
to boys under sixteen years, which went
into operation in New Jersey on July A, is
working effectively. Though the law re-
duces their sales, dealers generally approve
of it and obey it cheerfully. A large to-
bacco dealer of Newark said yesterday
''The law works well. There was great
cigarette trade among small boys, but now
| know Of no dealer who sells to them
They come here and try other stores, only
to be turned away without the cigarettes.
If they get them it is through other boys.
Sometimes three OF four boys hang around
the store until finally they get larger fell
ow to buy for them. The summer is al
ways the best season for the cigarette
trade, and our sales may therefore be larger
this month than the last but compared
with the figures Of last summer there is
decrease. 1t must be SO, for the business
with boys was considerable.
The law reduces our sales, and yet we
like it because it rids us of a nuisance
the flocking into the store of crowds of
boys who were generally noisy and some
times thieyish. A half dozen often came
in together to buy one cigarette, paying a
penny for it. They would take turns
smoking it. They would consume our
time, track in dirt, make great clatter,
and perhaps steal bag of tobacco. | am
| glad to have good reason for not selling
to them, and other dealers say the same
| thing. have seldom seen boy under six
teen with cigarettes during the last week,
| SO / conclude that the law is well enforced.
Since the new revenue laws took effect the
price of cigarettes has been reduced from
| fifteen cents to ten and twelve cents a
package. 1t is especially exasperating to
the boys to be refused them just when
their small means would buy more than
formerly
| Another dealer said II believe the law
is lived up to, and know it has cut down
my receipts, and yet little boys often get
| cigarettes. They come in here to light
them, and when ask where they got them
they answer "A feller give it to me-. They
pool their pennies, and then have some
older boy buy for them. believe the law
| is a good one, and expect it to break up. to
considerable degree, the use of tobacco
by youngsters. =
| The law prohibits the sale of tobacco in
any form to boys under sixteen, and pro-
vides a fine of 500 for each offence, to be
sued for by and in the name of the parent
or guardian of the boy to whom the sale is
made. The money is to go to the county.
CATTLE FOR ENGLAND.-New York
| cattle dealers and butchers are discussing
with much interest the dispatches from
London announcing that the House of
Commons has decided to prohibit the i'm
portatiOn of cattle from countries whose
preventive laws did not afford reasonable
security against the extension of foot and
mouth diseases. The impression seems to
be that this movement is directed against
American beef, and that the English stock
| raisers are inspirers of it. ''The export
! trade in dressed beef, )" said leading ex-
| porter, ''haS increased in much greater
proportion during the past two years than
| in live cattle, and under this new regula-
ton all those dealers who have heretofore
| shipped animals on the hoof will kill the
cattle on this side, dress the beef and for
ward it to England in that shape.'' An
other firm said "a year ago, in the hope
of stopping this trade, laws were passed
| providing for the quarantining and killing
| OF all cattle. At first this had the effect of
| considerably reducing the trade, but this
year the number of cattle shipped to Eng
land has been larger than any year since
the trade began, about seven years ago.
The only result of this new legislation will
be to enhance the exports of dressed beef. =
An English dealer in N ew Y ork explain
ed the situation as follows: ssThis move
ment is largely a political one. 1t is apar-
OF the scheme of the conservative party to
cater to the interests of the farmers by
protecting them against American compe-
tition. The cattle prohibition in England
and the pork prohibition in Germany are
exactly of the same nature. Disease in the
meat is the assigned motive; protection to
home industry is the real motive. Henry
Chaplin, the member Of parliament who yes
terday introduced the prohibitory resolu-
Ition, is a very wealthy raiser Of cattle, and
his interests in shutting out competition
are apparent. He is very bitter against every
thing American, and is glad to prevent the
importation of American product. On the
other hand the government, in the hands
OF the liberal government, is in favor Of
opening the door wide for foreign products
that the public at large may profit by CHEAP
food. Joseph Chamberlain, president Of
the board of Trade, and John Bright are il
] favor of this view. l wonder that the gov
eminent was beaten on this resolution, as
it has a large working majority