The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-05
TO OUTLAW THE KISS.

TO OUTLAW The MSS
There has been introduced in the
Virginia Legislature a bill 10 outlaw
the kiss. Should the bill become law
every Virginia lover would be required
TO provide himself with a physicians
certificate before touching lips with his
sweetheart under penalty of fine and
Imprisonment. The bill in its preamble
very solemnly recites that whereas
kissing has been decided by the medi-
cal profession to be a medium by
which contagious diseases are trans
mitted from one person to another.
therefore, be il enacted. etc. that 1t
shall be unlawful for any person to
kiss another unless he can prove by
his family physician that he has not
any contagious or infectious disease;
that if the physician testifies that the
defendant has weak lungs he shall be
found guilty of a misdemeanor and
the same penalty shall be imposed as
il he had some contagious or infectious
disease" The bill provides that the
punishment for unlicensed kissing shall
be not less than 81 and not more than
IS for each offense. At that rate many
a fairly ardent young lover would pos
sibly violate the law about 500 worth
any favorable evening.
But the proposed law won't do. 1t is
clearly unconstitutional. it is class leg
islation, and it is against public policy.
The right to pursuit of happiness is
guaranteed in the fundamental law.
Wouldn't that right be everlastingly
knocked into a cooked hat If the free
privilege of osculating with the chosen
of ones heart were denied? Is there
any happiness which surpasses that of
the moment when lips meet in "A
long, long kiss-a kiss of youth and
love?" Whether the immortal trainers
of our constitution had this contingent
cy in mind when they were building
the foundation of the government can
only be conjectured-and some of them
are alleged to have been able kissers-
yet the fact remains that bv writing
Happiness" into the bill of rights just
as they did, they forestalled this Vir-
ginia legislator with his anti-kissing
bill.
The proposition is vicious class legis-
lation, in that il says "he" must get
the license to kiss. That throws the
onus of the burden Of prohibition on
one-half of the population, leaving the
other half free and the half that is
prohibited is the half that the other
half wants to be kissed by. The favor
ed half wouldn't give three straws to
exchange kisses with itself. True, it
does something of the sort in per-
functory and social way. but that is
merely by way of conforming to a GUS
tom and not because it really wants to-.
A foundation stone of our institutions
is equality before the law The bill in
question would create a favored class,
but the class would consider it a
mighty poor way of being favored.
The bill is against public policy. be-
cause it would incite to violations of
the law and thus detract from the re-
spect in which the laws are held. The
unlicensed swain would say. Wont
you permit me to smash the statute
Miss Mary?" And Miss Mary would
pucker her hps in an enticing smile,
and the statute would he smashed. And
Miss Mary would thus become an ac-
eessory to the Illegal act. Is it possible
that there is more than one legislator
in Virginia who would make the
youthful chivalry of the state class
of criminals and the beauty thereof an
aggregation of accessories to violations
of law? Representative Ware of Am
herst county ought to withdraw his
hill