Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-29
THE DEADLY CIGARETTE.
Objections to Juvenile Smoking on
Mental and Moral Grounds.

From the St. James Gazette.
However men may differ about the Ca
madam proposal to prohibit the cigarette
altogether in the dominion. the crusade
against Juvenile smoking has the SYM
pathy Of all who care for the welfare of
the race. The cigarette problem has sew
eral aspects which should commend 1t to
the attention of thoughtful men, and on
mental moral and physical grounds Gig
arctic smoking by children stands emphat-
ically condemned. 1t has another aspect,
too, which has an interest of its own just
now. The boy smoker in the workshop
is anything but popular with his master.
Sir James Reckitt has declared that he
would certainly not choose a boy smoker
to do any work for him If he could get a
nonsmoker. and Sir Thomas Upton has
expressed the strongest disapproval of the
practice.
Sir Christopher Furness has found that
cigarette smoking among boys not only
causes deterioration of physique, but
tends to develop lounging habits, with
the result that the Juvenile smokers work
Is less conscientiously done, and he is
lacking in sprightliness and alertness.
Where, as Is often the case" Sir Chris
topher adds. 1.-The boy smokes clandestine-
ly. habits of deceitfulness will probably be
formed" Sir George Williams experience
employer has conclusfvely proved to
him that boy is far from satisfactory
worker If he smokes, and he says: THE
effects of smoking, with its tendency to en-
courage drinking, are to reduce a lads
energy to lessen his intellectual capacity
and to weaken his moral character"
The fact that every great public school
prohibits smoking among its boys. and pun
ishes offenders with strong hand is elo-
quent of the evil effect tobacco has on the
young mind. The Leeds school board some
time ago enlisted the services of eminent
medical authorities in Its battle against
the cigarette, and the Plymouth board cir
cularized the teachers and parents of the
children on the subject. A committee Of
the Liverpool school board which investi-
gated the matter declared that Cigarette
smoking affects the system generally, and
arrests physical development" and 1t
such opinions from the educa tional side.
1t goes without saying that the doctor is
the strongest enemy of the cigarette for
boys. IAN the evidence" says DIR. An
drew Wilson. points to the undermining
of growing lads physique by Indulgence
Add to this the moral effect-that of rem
dering the already precOcious boy still
more precocious. and of turning him into
an insufferable prig, and you thus con-
view" Sir Henry Littlejohn, the veteran
medical officer Of health for Edinburgh, has
used his great influence against the boy
smoker on many grounds, and there is
much force in his argument that the
practice is fraught with dangers to so
ciety at large. owing to the secrecy with
which the habit is carried on, the assem-
bling at nights, the tendency to. visit ice
cream shops to assuage the heat of the
mouth that has been engendered by the
filthy practice and, In addition, we have
ultimately that disregard of the proprieties
due to the other sex which is introducing
in our midst a laxity of morals, which, in
the future, must bear fruit.