Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-07
ANTI CIGARETTE LEAGUE
ITS PLANS DISCUSSED AT MASS
MEETING YESTERDAY.
Addresses Made by President Charles
f. Crane, MIR. Award. MIR. w. i.
Powell and Others.

itdtIIdIltfS are III NHICdSOt was Htlu yes
terday afternoon in the First Congregation
al Church. corner of 10th and G streets
northwest. Mr. Charles F.. Crane. president
of The local league. presided. Miss Alice
6. kimbau was oSganist.
The exercises were opened with the read
ing of the First Psalm by Rev. B. A DUNN,
assistant to Rev. $. NJ. Newman. D. D..
pastor of the church in which the exercises
We're held. Mr.. DUNN also offered an in
vocation.
a brief address was made by Mr.. Crane.
who announced that the local league had
succeeded in securing Mr. l. q. II. Award
as general superintendent for the work
proposed to be carried out here. and that
ii WAS the intention of the organization
to. if possible. break up the practice of
cigarette smoking among the boys and
gir,s "t Washington. and that all violators
of the law against the "a e of cigarettes
to minors would be prosecuted to the full
could be secured.
Mr.. Award said he had not at any time
taken the credit for what has been done by
the league during the past few days, men
ton Of which has already been made in
The Star. but he was going to try to do
his GutN in stopping the sale of cigarettes
to minors He Cou!d not do this without the
support of those people of Washington who
ought to he behind him, and unless this
was forthcoming al his efforts would count
for nothing.
lie S;ld ne ana MI NilllS Brown or
Chicago. president of the national organ
izatiUn. had already unearthed some star
Ting things in regard to the cigarette bust
ness here. but neither he nor MIR, Brown
proposed to tell what these things were
at this time. They are not seeking noto-
ricty, he declared. and in what they are
doing they are guided solely by desire to
benefit the community. Mr.. Award said
he could not agree with Mr.. Brown that
Washington is the worst place in the coun-
try for cigarette smoking among minors,
for it is not.
Present Law Sufficient.
The speaker further asserted that the
law passed by Congress i'll 1891. which 0e-
clareS that after February of that year
no person in the District of Columbia shall
sell give or furnish any cigar, cigarette or
tobacco in any of its forms to any minor
under sixteen years of age. and Tor each
and every violation of this section the of
fender shall. on conviction, be fined 100 less
than 81 nor more than $40. or be imprisoned
for not less than five days nor more than
twenty days, is all the legislation needed
or the subject but the trouble was the law
vas not enforced. 1t has been a dead let
ter. When, few days ago. he applied to the
proper police officials for warrants for the
arrest of dealers for alleged violation of the
law. he was informed that in the past
there had not been more than an average of
two prosecutions year under the law men
toned He appealed TO those in his audi
cree to report any violations of the law
which might come under their observation.
Mr.. Award concluded his remarks by
reading extracts from letters written by the
late DR.. D. Webster Prentiss and DR.. c. Il.
Purvis, formerly in charge of treedmcn's
Hospital. i'll which the del-:c:ipus effects Of
cigarette smoking Were pointed out.
Mr.. W. b. Powell. superintendent of pub
lie schools. said ne was glad to he present
and lend his influence in the attempt 10 cor
rect one of the supreme evils of the day
cigarette smoking For more than decade
he had believed that tobacco in its various
forms had done more harm than whisky.
He believed that the child who smokes
cigarettes would be ruined for future cGu-
cational work. There were scores Of teach
ers in Washington who could relate in
stances which have come under their
observation He agreed. he said. with
the previous speaker that there was
enough law To prevent the sale of
cigarettes in the District Of Columbia,
but the trouble heretofore has been that
there was no one TO look after its enfv2ce-
mtnt. He Thought the sale of cigarettes o
minors ought to be prevented, and that the
dangers attending smoking ough: to be
pointed out to children VINO had been using
them.
Special efforts. he said. should be made to
get as many school children as poSsIble to
join in the movement before the long sum-
mer vacation begins. for more harm may be
done to the boy who has nothing 10 DO but
to amuse himself during that period than
If he should fail to learn now to repeat the
multiplication table forward and backward
without making a mistake.
Effects In Washington.
Mr.. Willis Brown said he had no hesita-
ton in declaring that Washington was the
worst place he had ever seen for cigarette
smoking among children, and asserted that
until the anti-Cigdrette movement was IN
PRODUCED by him the large majority of boys
whom he questioned acknowledged that
they were addicted 10 the habit MANY
he 1la,lty of h.
league not 10 use them in future, and the
outlook for a successful campaign against
the continued sale Of the Objectionable artf-
Cles was very promising.
The man who sells cigarettes to boy"
Mr. Brown asserted, ''is a fool or a knave"
He went on to say that during the last ten
Years cigarettes have done more than ten
times as much harm to the youth of this
country has whisky. He instanced the
case OF noted seminary in Ohio where
thirteen of the students. all daughters of
prominent men. Were detected in smoking
cigarettes in a cemetery where they went
for the purpose. All We're expelled from
the institution. but before leaving they in
formed the faculty that nearly all the re-
naming scholars smoked cigarettes as
much as they did. but up to that time they
had not been caught.
Mr. Brown read extracts from Dapers
published In Bangor. Me, and other cities
in which it stated that cigarette smok-
ing among women had assumed alarming
proportions in those places.
hf w HIS l.. hOOreS views.
Mr. Award read a letter from Prof. VIII
lis L. Moore. chief of the weather bureau, to
President Crane, in the course of which
MIR. Moore said:
81 am in thorough sympathy with the
good work you doing in endeavoring to
persuade our boys to refrain from a habit
that is pernicious in itself and detrimental
to their physical and mental development
In the bureau over which | have the honor
to preside we have employed large num-
Der Of messengers between the ages of fif-
teen and twenty-five years. These me lem
gers are given a probationary appointment
of six months. at the end Of which time if
they prove themselves to be young men of
Industry and good character. permanent ap-
pOintments are given them. In several in
stances the officials under whom these en-
ployes We're directly serving reported that
they were careless and indifferent in the
performance of their work and that they
Were not suited for retention in the SER
vice.
"On investigation it was found that in
nearly every case the young men reported
against were addicted to the immoderate
use OF cigarettes. and was forced to the
conclusion that their impairment was due
to this cause.
In one or two cases it was necessary to