Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-02-13
CIGARETTE SMOKING.


the Practice.
WHY MESsRs. CURTIS AND SMITH OPPOSED
1.-THE DAMAGE DONE TO SCHOOL CHILDREN
By SMOKING.
The subject Of cigarette smoking occupied
nearly all the attention of the school board al
their last meeting. Mr.. Birney's committee re-
ported in favor Of DR.. Purvis' resolution recon-
| mending legislation prohibiting the sale OF
cigarettes to children under IT years of age
The only change made by the committee was
to substitute the words sover six and under
eighteen years of age" for the limit Of age fixed
by Dr. Purvis. This change was made to con.
form with the legal school age and in Difference
70 technical objection that it was not within
the province Of the school board to recommend
legislation affecting persons outside Of their ed.
ucationai jurisdiction. Mr.. Birney's report
urged That such q law was necessary to check
VICE wnicn medical men are agreed is most
pernIclouS, ana asserted that the practice of
Gig arctic smoking is growing among the chill.
Mr.. Curtis doubted very much whether this
matter came within the province of the board.
DIR. PURvIs' VIEWS.
LII. Purvis commended that they should not
take TOO narrow view of education. He said
that Mr.. Brooks had told him that one of his
teachers had been exercised because some OF
her boys. she thought, had been drinking Upon
investigation he found that the boys had been
sucking candies known as "rock-and-rye''
drops. That, like cigarette smoking, was a
JOrlty OF the school boys smoked cigarettes. In
reply 70 questions from Mr. Curtis, DIR. Purvis
said ne did not urge this action on moral
GROUNDS only, but on the ground of health. He
Thought If the school children were addicted to
habits that spoiled them as scholars the school
board could properly take notice of it, Cigars
were injurious, but he considered cigarettes
worse. They were so manufactured that the
poison they contained could affect the lungs
sidered pipe worse than a cigarette. It was
i NOT the paper, but the tobacco, that he OBJ
HOT BISCUIT AS WELL AS CIGARETTES
Mr.. Curtis said that he thought that on the
ground OF health they might as properly pass
resolutions regarding hot biscuit, which many
people regarded as injurious as cigarettes
Speaking of the moral side of the question, he
asked ask waat proportion Of clergymen in the
81 would not" said DR.. Purvis, "palliate or
excuse any vice because clergyman INDUCED
Mr. Smith asked what they proposed to do
about children under six years of age.
., Dr. Purvls said children did not smoke before
they were six years old.
Mr. smith thought the board could pass a
rule prohibiting the admission to the schools of
prohibited children who were not vaccpated
from attending the schools. Beyond that he
thought the board could not go without exceed
ing the limits of their jurisdiction.
Both Mr.. Smith and Mr.. Curtis expressed
their Willingness to sign petition as private
cltlzens and not as trustees, asking for such
legislation as was proposed.
. DR.. Purvis asked whether the board would
have the temerity to exclude from the schools
every child that smoked cigarettes.
MR. CURTIS sATIRICAL.
Mr.. Curtis suggested, satirically, that they
also require that all school children be treated
according TO homeopathic methods He
thought Mr.. Birney could prove that allopathy
was simply murder. Halt the clergymen, he
said, and majority of their congregations
used tobacco He thought the board had no
business to undertake to regulate the morals of
the community. They already had a rule pro-
hibiting the use of tobacco about school build
ings, and he thought that exhausted their
authority. AS public officers they represented
persons of greatly diverse views in these
matters. In matters of religion he did not
think the board should favor any creed or sect,
and for that reason he had always voted
against recognizing certain religious holidays
not common to all. This resolution, he thought,
proposed to deal, not with the conduct OF chill
dren at school, but affected all children at
home as well as in school. He suggested also
that the proposed legislation would not check
the evil complained of, as children could buy
tobacco and paper and make cigarettes them
selves.
The resolution was finally carried. Mr..
Smith voted against it. Mr.. Curtis, who Occu-
pied the chair, did not vote.