The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-02-07
For Parents.
THE CIGARETTE.

the building IN ~nlcn ne was employ
ed as elevator boy. His pilferings, 1t
appeared, were used for the purchase,
amongst other things, cigarettes. The
magistrate having bound the offender
over to appear at court, it Is to be
hoped that the evidence In The Gaze
will be 80 utilized there rs to enable
the Commonwealth TO place its con-
demnation upon that dealer in tohacco
who has 40 tlagrantly violated the well
published statute enacted by the last
Legislature, which povides "ti'at if
any person or persons shall sell cigar
cites to any person or persons under
the age of sixteen years, he or she 80
offending shall be guilty of a nisde.
meanor, and upon conviction thereof
shall be sentenced 10 pay fine Of not
more than three hundred dollars"
Some may be disposed to look upon
the offence as light one, end the ex-
lreme penalty provided as heavy.
But Is it go? A convincing argument.
I think, to the contrary, was found in
the case of the boy Robinson, fifteen
years of age who died last spring in
Philadelphia. from the effects of the
use Of tobacco. The verdict of the
Coroner's jury, as it appeared upon tho
register which personally inspected,
Is Narcotic poisoning from the exces-
sive use of tobacco" Considerations
of simple humanity, exclusive of any
requirement of penal law, ought to
operate against the selling of cigar
cites to our boys, and trust that any
proved violations of the act will re-
ceive deserved punishment for the
sake of society at large, for the pro.
lection of the boys, and as a rightful
warning and true kindness to dealers,
who may even, as In the above case,
make themselves morally liable as
contributory to death by poisoning.
And 1t Is Dot merely BODY poison
ing to which large number Of the
dealers have lent themselves. 1t was
but short time ago that many thou.
sands of the homes Of the city of
Philadelphia were effectuslly reached
by certain firm of manufacturers of
cigarettes, in sending into those
homes, through the medium of the
mails, abominable advertising cards
of their noxious wares. know Of
no more tagrant wrong committed
upon q whole community than this,
such wholesale spreading abroad of
gross impurity; and yet, though
pointed reinonstrance was made to the
chief post. Office officials In Philadel-
phia aud Washington, no formal no.
tice was taken of the outrage. The
INSCRIPTIONS firm Of cigarette makers
had accomplished their guilty pur-
purpose, but with what a totality OF
evil result we may never know. It.,
cannot bc doubted that indecent re-
presentations such as these are a deter
inmate incentive to immoral living,
breaking out here and there in felon-
ious assaults such as of late years have
become 80 alarmingly frequent. =
Referring to the degradation Of
those cigarette manufacturers who
send out impure pictures, the Southern
Churchman several months ago said
in alluding to some efforts made to
stop the evil in the city of Phila-
delphia:
I'VE know not whether there are
such (manufacturers) in Virginia or
r Richmond-we take for granted our
people would not be guilty of crime
against humanity-but if there be, we
need only say they are criminal In the
eyes of Virginia laws, as well as de-
testable in the estimation Of the pure
and holy Christ. One of the false
charges brought against Socrates Was
that he was q 'depraver of youth
Even heather Athens felt the enor-
nifty of such an offense. But how
little the Influence of any one man in
a small community like Athens, COM
pared with that of men who send out
pictures by the million, the only effect
of which is to corrupt our youth and
bring untold evil into the family and
community"
These are straightforward words to
be used in such tobacco mart as the
capital of Virginia, and the writer can
say from knowledge that they were
sorely needed right there. In Lynch.
burg over q year ago the prosecuting
attorney of the Commonwealth, with
the approval of the Mayor, prepared
indictments against q number OF to-
bacco manufacturers who had grossly
offended in this direction, and only
withheld positive action upon the
promise of the accused parties that
they would thenceforward cease their
debcsing work. The outcry all over
the land against the iniquity has
been such that many Of the offensive
productions have been withdrawn,
though not few of the manufactu-
rers and dealers, remorseless in their
tactics, in dropping perforce the inde.
cent, have taken up the brutal, and
have deluged the land with millions
of pictures OF prizetighters, handed to
the boys who purchase their
cigarettes.