The Topeka state journal., 1900-03-12
SAVE THE BOYS. !"
RaIIying Cry Of Miss Lucy Page
CASTOR of Chicago.
Begins an Anti-Cigarette Cru
SADIE in Topeka.
TALKS OF THE EVIL.
Has Always Been an Ardent
Halter of Tobacco.
Worst Boys Become the Most
Active Workers.
TALKS OF THE EVIL.

Miss Lucy Page CASTOR, superintend-
ent of the anti-cigarette league, IS IN
Topeka and on Sunday opened cru
sade against the evils which follow the
use of the cigarette. She is assisted by
Wallace r. Struble. Miss CASTOR spoke
before the First Methodist and First
Presbyterian Sabbath schools on Sun
day and viii continue the crusade dur
ing the week. Wednesday evening she
will address a mass meeting of mothers
and boys at the First NJ. E. church.
The home of the league is Chicago
and an active campaign against the
cigarette habit has been going on there
for several months. 1t was the fact that
a reform work carried on in Topeka
during the Sheldon week would
receive wide spread attention through
the columns of the Topeka papers that
decided Miss CASTOR to leave Chicago
for time to enter a new field. She IS
stopping at the National hotel and
since her arrival Saturday afternoon
has had a constant stream of callers
who are interested in her work and
wish to aid her
7 have always been an ardent hater
of tobacco" said Miss CASTOR WIN ask
ed how she happened to engage in the
work. when people ask how long 1
have been working against cigarettes I
say since I was eight years old. L had
a baby brother then and hoped that he
would never use cigarettes. He never
has used tobacco in any form. l worked
for awhile in the children'S department
of the w c. T. u of Illinois and it was
my constant effort to prejudice the
boys against ciragetteS. I am glad to
say that have found many boys who
do not use them who say that the rea-
son they never have was due to my in
nuence.
L originated the anti-cigarette bill,
which was presented to the Illinois leg
1slature, to prevent the sale or manu-
facture of cigarettes in the state. A
member of the board of education in
Chicago became interested in my work
and asked me to go into the schools and
make addresses to the boys For the
past few years I have not been able to
push the work but during the last nine
months 1 have been busy night and
day among the boys of Chicago. am
ready now to take the country. The
superintendent of the Illinois reform
school says that cigarettes are doing
more to make crime and criminals than
any other agent. If our movement is
doing anything it is getting hold of the
toughest boys. We find in Chicago that
the boys who make the most trouble for
their teachers are nof doing the best
work for the league.
The league took hold of the Illinois
law and had over 800 dealers convicted
OF selling tobacco to boys under 16
years of age There is field for effort
Our plan in Chicago has been to orga-
nize the city into districts and put the
districts into the hands of the boys.
They take copies of the ordinances to
dealers and warn them. II the warning
does no good arrest follows. The boys
who have been the patrons of the deal
ers know all their tricks and try to
catch them.
I hope to start the work here by 60
ing before the young peoples societies
and by getting in touch with the educa-
tors. Wednesday evening I hope to
have a grand rally. hope to go before
the High school.
Our bill was not passed by the Iegis-
lature. The tobacco trust worked
against it. The lower house was unan-
imous for its passage but it was de-
layed in the senate until too late. I
have raised the money for this work
by going out and beating the bush G..
f. Swift, the Chicago packer, has con-
tributed $500 and since December I have
raised and expended S1,500. Practical
business men see that this is something
that is a good thing. The tobacco men
have threatened to arrest me for con-
spiracy. few days ago I went to a
prominent business man for a subscrip-
ton He subscribed and said he had a
boy 16 years old who is a cigarette
hend. He asked me to go to the private
schools, where the rich mems sons are
educated, and carry on the work there"
Wallace r. Struble who is with Miss
CASTOR and who is vice president and
lecturer for the society, said: Il have
figured out that smoking cost me an
elegantly furnished home and a quarter
of a block of residence property in
Portland or San Francisco. I was ad-
dicted to the habit of good cigars for 90
years. ! was a newspaper man on the
coast on the Portland Daily Oregonian
and the San Francisco Chronicle I am
now an ordained minister. For some
time have been leader in the Willard
Hall meetings in Chicago. In those
meetings I took up the subject Of
cigarettes and that coming to Miss Gas
toms notice she asked me to become lee
turer for the league. The cigarette is
the fruitful source of crime and causes
many young men to yield to temptation
1t is a worse evil than the saloon.
Marshall Field & Co. and Montgomery
Ward & Co. refuse to employ people who
smoke cigarettes"