El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-23

IL we Dire uuLlDeTeo III IL "a
The Relation of tho Cigarettes to Crime
Excerpts from a paper read before
the National Conference of Charities
and Corrections by George Terrence, OF
Pontiac, ILL.,: I had not been general
superintendent of the Illinois State re-
formatory a great while until my at
tention was directed to the almost
universal use of cigarettes by the
younger boys-the boys under Is years
of age-sent to hat Institution. In
fact, so general did their use seem that
it might, speaking from the records,
be termed the one vicious habit in
which they all INDUCED. In calling it
a vicious habit" 1 do not think any
reasonable person will question that
the expression is a proper one when
applied to the use of cigarettes by
boys Of that age.
Very naturally, with a wish to apply
to the boy that treatment which woul
most likely make of him an honest
and honorable citizen, the query sug-
gested itself: Is the cigarette habit
solely the result Of bad companionship,
or does it materially enter into the
cause which brings the boy into bad
company and makes him a criminal?
Whatever the answer to this question
may be, judging from our own records,
and my personal observation and study
of this class of boys, I am sure cigar
cites are destroying and making GRIM
inals of more of them than the saloons.
On III first day Of this month we
had two hundred and seventy-eight
boys between the ages of ten and ff-
teen. OF sixty-three of this number,
with the average age Of twelve, fifty
eight were cigarette smokers; of one
hundred and thirty-three of men with
the average g of fourteen, one hun
dred and twenty-five were cigarette
smokers; e~ighty-two were rIteen years
of age, OF whom seventy-three were
cigarette smokers. This demonstrates
that ninety-two per CEN of the whole
number were in the habit of smoking
cigarettes at the time thew committed
the crimes for which they were sent
to the ~reformatory; but even more as
tonfshing is the fact that So per cent
had become SO addicted to their use
DIS CO Ne CldSSSu dI LIE lluuS DIS Cigar
cite fiends."
My reason for selecting but two hum
ord and seventy-eight of the nearly fif-
teen hundred boys under my control,
for the purpose of making the test for
this address, was that this was the
number we had of fifteen years or I'M
der, and afforded reliable evidence Of
the prevalence of this habit among
these mere children, already youthful
criminals. I have no doubt the same
percentage would appear if the entire
number had been included.
I assert unhesitatingly and without
fear of successful contradiction, that
the use of cigarettes affects the ner-
vous system, weakens the will power
and destroys the ability of the boy to
resist temptation, and, because of this,
he easily falls a victim to those habits
which not only destroy the body, mind
and soul, but irresistibly cad him into
violation of the laws of his state. I
have talked with many physicians on
this phase of the question:; some of
them of wide and deserved reputa-
lions in their profession, and in not
one instance was it denied that the
physiological effect of cigarette smok-
ing by the young boy was such as I
have stated. In this connection I
want to add that one physician, whose
ability is unquestioned, said to me that
the stimulating effect produced by CT
garettes, followed by the depression
which inevitably results, was much
worse thar that produced by intoxicat-
ing liquors-that it's effect on the sys-
TEN was more like that Of morphine
OF cocaine.