St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-06-22
A Public Nuisance.

1t is not the least of the evils which
accompany the use of tobacco, that il
seems to make its devOtees unmindful
of the rights of others. We do not de
ny that it comes within the limits of
personal liberty to smoke or not to
smoke. Those who assert their rights
against smokers must be careful not to
infringe in turn the rights of smokers.
If full-grown man chooses to take a
cigar between his lips, or even the
abOminable cigarette, it is his own bus
iness. To him belongs tho respnnsibil-
ity for whatever physical and moral re-
suits may follow. But it is other peo-
pies business if he chooses to assert his
rights in public places. Railroad and
ferry companies and other public ser
wants are obliged to make stringent
rules against smokers, and to isolate
them from the rest of their patrons.
But every traveller knows how fire.
quently these rules are broken, even
where officials are most watchful
against violations. Many will puff their
smoke, when the back of the official is
turned, into the faces of fellow passen-
gers in Pullman or ladies' cars, or in
the ladies' saloon of the ferry boats {;
while all seem to regard it as an indie
feasible right to smoke in every place
which is not placarded with a prohibi-
ton. If ladies or gentlemen wish to
stand outside the saloons of our ferry
boats on a hot day. to enjoy Il breath of
fresh air, they must, perfOrce, take in
to their sensitive lungs IL cloud of
smoke discharged from somebody's
mouth and nostrils. No greater insult
could be offered to a person than to
spit upon him; and yet there are
thousands of smokers who claim it as
Il right to nauseate those who NAV hap
pen to be i'll their company and thus at
their mercy. Wherever crowds are
gathered, i'll political conventions, at
most meetings of men, on the streets,
i'll restaurants, and in many other
places where those who abhor tobacco
are compelled to go, the smoker in
dulges himself with sublime disregard
for their comfort.
So perSiStently are their rights diSIe-
garded that many to whom the smell
of tobacco is extremely offensive have
come to believe that there is il sort of
diabOlism produced by its use. Where
smokers are rigidly excluded from car
rying cigar between their lips they
will often intrude themselves with it
lighted in the hand, partly concealed.
And often, where this annoyance is es-
capped, one may be quartered by the
side of IL man fresh from a smok king-car
or smoking-room, whose clothes are
reeking with the fumes OF stale smoke
and whose breath is as vile as though
I it came from hennery. Smokers who
are members of IL public body, like an
exchange, insist, wherever they may
be in the majority, on the privilege of
nauseating their unfortunate fellow
members. The question of extending
this privilege to all hours in the New
| York Maritime Exchange was recently
up for consideration, with the prospect
of being carried by the smokers. So
great and SO unfavorable are the an e
nOyances arising from this practice
that many, who are compelled to min
gle freely with their fellow-men. have
been tempted to overcome their scru-
Piles and their detestation of tobacco
and try to learn to use it, in order to
deaden their sensitiveness to it and
thus lessen their discomfort. The
Turks tried to prevent the practice 10y
cutting off the noses of those who in
dulged in it. Is mutilation of the of
Tended member the only way of escape
open to the nOn-smoker
If smokers were to show more regard
for the feelings of others it would
doubtless put them to some incOnveni-
ence. There are many who could
scarcely say that the odor of the smok-
er is less offensive than that of the
Stableman and, if he would cease to
annoy at all, he would smoke nowhere
but in some isolated place, would take
bath after every indulgence, and
would invariably change his clothes.
| But much less sacrifice than this would
cause would give great relief to the
general public; and yet we cannot
hope that smokers will voluntarily as
sume it. They are more inclined to in
trude further than to surrender. There
seems, as we said at the beginning of
this article, to be an influence connec-
ted with the habit which dnlls the edge
of the sense of regard for others rights.
i n. Y. Independent.