The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-24
RULERS USE TOBACCO.
King of Bavaria and Sultan of Turkey
 Only Nonsmokers.

From the Chicago Chronicle.
 A man formerly connected with one of the foreign legations in Washington has been at some pains to compile data on the smoking habits of the leading poten- tates of the world. From this interesting mass of information it Is learned that King Edward of Great Britain and the Austrian Emperor prefer cigars and the Kaiser of Germany and the Czar of Rus sia are devotees of the cigarette while the Sultan of Fur .ey never touches to- to the contrary.
 King Leopold of Belgium contents him self with a cigarette when he is unable to lay hands upon one of his taYorlte brierwood pipes. Even the Pope smokes, so 1t Is said, and Is the first pontif of the Roman Catholic church to indulge in cigars, his predecessors, notably Plus TX. and Leo XIII, having contented them selves with snuff.
 In Abyssinia smoking in any form is regarded as d henous crime entailing all sorts of horrible penalties, least among which was, until d short time ago, and probably still is, the slicng off of the lips and nose of the offender.
 With the exception of Queen Wllhel- nina of Holland, the crazy King of Ba- varia and the Sultan of Turkey at Stam- bout, every now regnant monarch Is ad- dieted to the use of tobacco. Emperor William smokes cigarettes of large size in great numbers, made especially for him in the suburbs of Berlin. Despite the fact that the Kaiser Is afflicted with an affection of the larynx. his doctors make no objection to his using cigarettes, approving them in the light of a whole some sedatiye.
 Years ago King Edward was exceed ingly fond of cigarettes and smoked them in great quantities, though of late they have been supplanted by cigars, and nowadays 1t is said he is seldom seen without large black Havana between his teeth. The King has reached his sixty-fourth year and has been an in- veterate smoker since attaining man hood.
 Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria Hungary has managed to hold together for fifty years or more the discordant racial elements in Hungary and Vienna, during which time he has been an invet- crate smoker, his favorite form of the weed being those long cigars known in Austria as Virginias, which have a straw through them to enable them to draw and have to be held in the flame of a spirit lamp for a moment Or two before they cap be lighted.
 It Is said that King Charles of Portu- gal smokes forty cigars day and has Deen uecldfeu to De lne InOSl lnNtltIdlo smoker of all the 'anointed of the Lord" in the old world.
 The compiler of the foregoing informa- tion says that the influence of tobacco upon the course of political events has been almost invariably of a beneficial character. Not only have it's narcotic benefits tended to soothe the angry pas sions of those intrusted with the conduct of international relations but 1t has also afforded them the opportunity of think ing before they spoke and allowed time for those second thoughts which in di- plomacy and statecraft, at any rate, are always the best.
 People are often disposed to make fun of the so-called pipe of peace and to re- gard 1t as a mere form of speech orig mating with the red Indians. But tobac- CO., whether in the form of a cigar cigar cite, snuff or a pipe. has ever proved a powerful and effective aid to the main- tenance of a peace and as such its use deserves to be fostered and propagated by all patriotic and law-abiding citizens in lieu of being condemned as noxious.