The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-09-13
w. G. II. q. COLUMN
THE CIGARETTE.
DEADLY DRUGS USED IN ITS
MANUFACTURE.
Its Effect Upon the SYSTEM How it
Obtains the Mastery Of Mana
New Menace to Youth.

Cigarette smokers must be ignorant Of
what these are made or they would not
put to their lips anything SO vile or SO
deadly, Meta Lander, in "Christian at
Work" relates that an eight year old Ital.
Ian vagrant in New York city was brought
before justice, charged with gathering
from the mud and filth Of the streets cast
away cigar stumps. These he sold for ten
cents pound to cigarette manufacturer,
to be worked over into marketable arti.
Gle. This business Of cigar.butt grubbing
is regular employment in all the large
cities. physicians and chemists who
have analysed the cigaret are surprised
to find how much opium is put in them.
A tobacconist himself says that the extent
to which drugs are used in cigarettes is ap.
palling.' The Havana flavoring,' sold
everywhere by the thousand barrels is
made from the tonka- bean, which contains
deadly poison. The warranted to be
rice paper wrappers are some times made
of common paper, and sometimes of the
filthy scrapings Of rag-pickers bleached
white with arsenic.'"
The opium and other drugs in the Gig
aret explain the tenacity of the love of
it when once formed. No boy or girl is
safe anywhere who has fallen under the
deadly spell Of the cigarette. Good health,
bright faculties, habits Of virtue or indus
try or truthfulness or honesty, are incom.
patible with the use Of narcotics. Every
druggist knows to what degrading decep-
tions the opium or morphine eater resorts
to obtain the drug. Their promises are
good for nothing. They will, when unable
to obtain 1t themselves or through mem.
bers Of their own households, try to snug
gle it through children and neighbors, and
by every artifce Of misrepresentatio and
excuse for having it. Few family purses
are deep enough to stand the steady drain
Of an opium eater among its members.
Druggists who are experienced come to
know the shriveled and cringing counte-
nance Of the morphine eater, and the con-
scientious one will not sell the drug, or
allow 1t to be sold, to such or for such
customer.
A young person had much better take
strychnine or arsenic and be done with It at
once, than to tamper with cigarettes and
lose their beauty, physical force and men.
tai power by the no less certain If slower
stages Of this species of intemperance.
The government military schools have for
hidden the use Of tobacco in any form; and
the higher schools Of learning now have
physical tests, where ii is not absolutely
forbidden, by which they determine how
height, girth, weight and endurance, as
well as scholarship, are affected by this
subtle and undermining poison. Medical
journals give constant and undoubted tes-
timony to the variety Of ways by which
the cigarette, especially, destroys young
manhood. The user grows stupid, ner-
vous, weak in muscle and in will power.
When conscious Of injury from their use
they are unable many times TO throw off
the habit.
The insane asylums have many vic
tins. Chauncey NJ. Depew has told OF the
prolonged agony Of his experience in
breaking the cigar habit, after It's use had
broken his health and made him slave to
II, He became so habituated 10 II that he
could not work without his cigar in his
mouth, then got so he could not work with
II, or digest food or sleep well at any time.
After most desperate struggle this man
Of iron will at last conquered himself and
at the end Of three months the longing for
1t abated. He said that be meyer expected
to suffer more In this world than he did
while undergoing the torture Of banker
ing Tor the cigar which he would not al
lOW nlmbelI 10 nave
But when he had conquered he regained
ability to eat and sleep, and the seyen or
eight hours night which he needed in
his excessive brain work had the effect to
better his physical condition In every way
and he gained twenty-five pounds in
weight, He has never smoked since.
What any pure.minded, self.respecting
young girl can want Of cigaret is past
comprehension. II she loses her ability
TO walk or stand under the intoxicating
effects Of what she supposes Is only an In
nocent or playful indulgence, because some
young man has offered II, or some other
girl smokes them, she should be made to
understand II she has any next friend"
like father or mother, or any one who
wishes not 10 see her lost 10 all virtue, that
this path is q down! grade every step Of
the way.
Ohio has new law which took effect
August l, providing that wholesale deal.
ers shall pay an annual tax Of $500 and
retailldealers an annual tax Of $1O0, for
the privilege Of the atrocious business Of
selling cigarettes. The assessor has also
to turn In statement describing accurate
ly and minutely the place Of business Of
every dealer. 1t also provides that the re-
ceipt OF the county treasurer shall be
posted In conspicuous place In each store
where cigarettes are sold.
The motive for writing this article is 70
call the attention Of parents to one Of the |