Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1893-12-13
COLUMN
EDITED BY 5oNEsBoRo W. G. t. U.
TOBACCO SMOKING A NUISANCE.

entered upon a war against the GUS
tom now in vogue in this city of Bos-
ton, and in other cities, of smoking
on the three rear seats" in the street
cars. They desired to stir up public
sentiment against the custom so much
that the street railway company would
be prompted to prohibit smoking in the
cars.
There were many interesting letters
in various papers. One written by a
lady from Linden Home interested
me beyond measure. Her appeal
against smoking in public and her
statement Of the value of pure air will
be read, l am sure, by some of my
readers with more than passing inter-
est. This is what she said:
IF every human being should under
stand and appreciate the value of pure
air when inhaled, and the injurious
influence of any foreign substance
when absorbed into the blood through
the lungs, the writer hereof can not
doubt that tobacco smoking would be
totally discarded voluntarily, and per-
haps legally"
Thus spake DR.. John H. Griscom,
President of the New York Society for
the Advancement of Science and Art,
and for twenty three years attending
physician of the New York Hospital.
And his testimony against tobacco
smoke is only one among thousands of
physicians of the various schools of
medicine.
Granting, now, that those who de-
liberately choose to take all the risks
of nicotine poisoning have a perfect
right so to do, is it not a fair question
whether they have the right to include
Others nolens volens in these risk?
Cigar smoke pulled in mans face
by another mar is assault and battery"
is the declaration of a New York Judge.
Our statues forbid the causing a nuis-
ance in any public place where all
have equal rights and a common inter-
est. Is not the widespread use of this
weed a nuisance SO offensive, SO PERM
cious, that if suddenly sprung upon
the community, there would be a
spontaneous uprising, and indignant
mass meeting, which would demand
its immediate expulsionp
that u early Puritan laws on
this subjects might be reenacted
From Princes ANNALS of New Eng,
land" we learn that in 1884 public
sentiment was embodied in the laws of
this colony as follows "The General
Court forbid any person to use tobacco
publicly, on fine of 2s. Cd, or privately
in his own dwelling, or dwelling of an
other before strangers /; and they also
forbid two or more to use it in any
place together"
In a letter bearing on this point, our
Quaker poet, John G. Whittier, writes,
1T is a shameful and filthy habit, in
decent and unmanly."
Writes one of our own sex. "If ff-
teen Of you on the three rear seats of a
street car, and ten on the platform
may, bv the help of strong wind, send
your smoke into the faces of as many
ladies who have given you no provo
cation, why may not the sufferers re-
turn the attack by a clip over your
heads with their parasolsY Do you say
that no lady, but only the coarsest wo-
man would do thatp But is it not
equally true that only the coarsest men
will give the coarsest provocation?"
The gallantry of our American gen.
tlemen has been our boast. Yet it will
hardly be denied hat as tobacco comes,
good manners are apt to 60. Writes
Jackson Jarves in the Art Journal:
THE severest test of the modern gen.
tleman is his willingness to forego his
life for the comfort and health of an
other. 1t takes a thoroughly well bred
man to Withstand this form of self-in-
diligence, when it can only be prac-
tised to the annoyance of another.
Whatever the benefit or harm the use
of tobacco may do the consumers body,
its common tendency IS to render the
mind indifferent to the we'll being of
his neighbors.'
In the London Times we find remarks
in a similar vein: " There is a reason
against public neutrality-suspicious., in
effect, against all smoking-which has
scarcely received sufficient recognition.
1t is the absolute indifference to the
comfort and convenience of society at
large that it is certain to produce.
Smokers do not are whether you are
happy or miserable. Their exigency
knows no limits"
Gentlemen protesters, may | ask with
all respect, Is not your present course
a confirmation Of this statementp The
practice of smoking and chewing on
the street cars, with all the dreadful
accompaniment, has been TO many a
sorer grievance than you can well con
ceive. Think for a moment of the
chewing habit, Of which "a proper de-
scription," says one, would exhaust
the filthy adjectives of the language,
and spoil the adjectives themselves for
further use."
Nor does the trouble end with the de-
parture of the performers, as the se1ts