St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-06-30
THE CIGARETTE EVIL.
A Habit Which Destroys the Nervous Sys-
tenn of It's Victims.

A Habit Which Destroys the Nervous Sys-
tenn of It's Victims.
A great many people are disposed to
| laugh at the cigarette as a weak imi-
tation of cigar, and on indulgence in
cigarette smoking as something too
trivial for sober talk. The fact is
brought out, however, by the recent
discussion in the United States Senate,
that cigarette smoking is "a very great
and very serious evil to quote the
words of Senator Chase, of Rhode
Island, who presented a petition from
257 Washington physicians, praying
for the passage of the bill to prohibit
the selling or furnishing of cigarettes,
or of tobacco in any of its forms, to
any youth under sixteen years of age,
in the District of Columbia Senator
Stewart declared that cigarettes are
destroying more youth than any other
one thing that is affecting the pros
perity of the country
1t is a fact that the cigarette habit
has been added to the causes of death
among American youth. The newspa-
pers each week chronicle instances,
and it may readily be understood that
the vast majority of the cases never
get into the papers. They are chron-
icled under the head of "heart
trouble, " NERVOUS disease or some
thing similar, rather than as the result
of over-indulgence in cigarette smok-
ing. Not long ago the estimate of
number of New York physicians was
published that there were in that city
at least three thousand cases of i'm
paired health, chiefly among boys and
young men, as the resu 1t of the cigar
cite habit. In Chicago the habit be-
came so general among school-boys,
and girls as well, that the teachers
petitioned for State law against the
sale, which the Legislature passed.
1t may be asked why the smoking of
cigarettes is so particularly harmful to
youth, and whether it is any worse
than the smoking of full-sized cigars
The testimony of those of the medical
profession who have made a study of
the tobacco habit is that it is par
ticularly harmful to all persons during
the period Of growth, stunting their
physical development, destroying the
tone OF the nervous system, and laying
the foundation OF obstinate lung and
throat diseases, dyspepsia, heart dis
ease, ETC., which do not develop until
later in life. The cigarette is worse
than the cigar because the cheaper
grades are made up of tobacco of the
cheapest quality; old cigar stumps,
loaded with nicotine and the dried
saliva of their former smokers; and
then the whole abominable mess
doctored with opium or other drugs to
mask the nauseous taste and render it
palatable.
Altogether, there seems to be strong
why the law should interfere
and protect the rising generation from
the physical evils which come from the
use of cigarettes. If people wish to
smoke, let them wait until they have
reached maturity, when the harm that
can be done is reduced to minimum.
The sale of cigarettes has become
something enormous in this country.
There are 1,2O0,O0O,OOO made every
year at home, and 100000 more i'm
ported, which gives an average of fifty
1 year to every male person in the
country. Several States have already
passed laws forbidding the sale or
of tobacco in any form to
minors under sixteen years of age un-
Ter heavy penalty; and the general
public should be aroused to the ex-
ent of the evil in order that the law
nay be properly inforced. -7oledo
Blade.