The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-03
AGAINST THE S0-CALLED
LUXURlES OF LIFE
Another Opinion on the Use of To-
baccO and Other Things,

DhccO anu OtAer Things
Editor Morning News: Your edito-
rial in Wednesdays Morning News on
THE Luxuries of Life" and especially
your reference to the tobacco habit, is
misleading, and calculated to throw
discredit on the efforts of those re-
formers who are trying to rid the coun-
try of this appalling evil-for an evil
it certainly is. and not a luxury, as
it is sometimes called.
The use of tobacco, either smoking
or chewing, has an enormous influence
on the nervous system. Nothing
proves this so emphatically as the in
tense, almost oVerpowering craving
which is induced after the weed be-
comes a habit. To one who has not
attained his entire growth, the use of
it stunts the body and dwarfs the mus
cles, making them flabby and weak
But the most stubborn argument
against the use of tobacco is the fact
that all athletes in training entirely
avoid it. No matter how much they
may have been addicted to the habit,
always when the time arrives for them
TO begin the work which is to build
the highest degree of health and
strength, smoking is Immediately and
absolutely tabooed. It's effect on en-
| durance is most marked, as a smoker,
| just as hard drinker, after one or two
strenuous efforts, is usually entirely
exhausted.
Statistics of Arctic explorers show
| that tobacco users cannot begin to
compete with non-users in performing
feats of endurance necessitated by the
exposures and rigorS of that fearful
winter climate. In Brownies Elements
of Physiology and Hygiene we are told:
Tobacco is among the most power
full of the narcotic poisons which the
vegetable kingdom affords. AS alco-
| hol is the active poison in all the
various forms of intoxicating drinks,
so nicotine is the exhilarating agent in
| tobacco. whether it be chewed or
smoked. or taken in snuff. 1t exerts
! it's characteristic influence on the in
| tellectual faculties Its action Is slow,
and its eXhilaration at any time al
most imperceptible; but in "a series of
| years 1t works most disastrous conse-
| quences, mpairing first the power of
! decision-the power of Will; after that
the memory feels its effects, the finer
moral feelings are blunted, the mental
perceptions are impaired, and the
whole mental fabric slowly undermin-
ed. falls into ruin
In the London Lancet DR.. Pidduck
writes: I'm no instance is the sin of
the fathers more strikingly visited on
the children than in the sin of tobacco
smoking. The enervation, the mypo-
chondriasis, the hysteria, the insanity,
the suffering lives and early deaths
of children of inveterate smokers bear
! ample testimony to the feebleness and
unsoundness of the constitution trans
mitted by this pernicious habit"
DR.. Gum says: Tobacco has spoiled
and utterly ruined thousands of boys.
1 inducing a dangerous precocity devel-
/ oping the passions, softening and weak
ening the bones, greatly injuring the
| spinal marrow, the brain and the whole
| nervous fluid"
/ could quote YOU whole columns of
| authorities on this subject. but this
would be entirely unnecessary, as any
/ one can easily ascertain the facts from
! real life by referring to any statistics
regarding Juvenile reformatories, insane
( asyums. etc.
Smoking and drinking nearly always
| go hand in hand, as one creates a de-
sire for the other. The youth who
begins one invariab bly, takes to the
other, and with the sad result, in many
instances that he and his associates
will finally resort TO the dens of vice
and infamy, thereby sapping that
manhood and vitality which is not
even yet matured. Just think. MIR.
/ Editor. what the result OF this will be
on the generations yet unborn.
note that YOU class sugar as a lux
ury Nothing could possibly be more
erroneous than this. Practically all
/ fruits and many vegetables contain
sugar, and mothers milk contains a
very high percentage Of It. Tea and
coffee are substances which neither
form tissue nor serve as fuel; they are
| stimulants pure and simple, and may
be banished from the table with de-
cided advantage. Few people realize
that the difference between the drink
| ing Of alcohol and tea Ia simply a ques-
ton Of degrees. All Of them are a
/ serious menace TO health, and the