The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-22
MORE REFORMING.

Wneu you kct taihtn8 uDout fetoFfn- ing everything and everybody don't fan to remember that okiohoma is also in the reforming business from the very jump. Oklahoma Is new and. as might be expected. is going to make record of some kind. It may not be of the best and may not be last ing one. but reforming things is Okla .homa's strong suit just at this writ ing. ~
 The latest stunt in this line that we have seen any mention of relates to the use of tobacco. The wise guys of that infantiie commonwealth reason that the immoderate use of the weed is not good for children. and to pre- vent the inhabitants of the young State from becoming physically and morally stunted they propose to take time by the foreiock and nip the evil in the bud or some other good place. ae The okiahomians, of course. are not going. to undertake the job of entire ly barring tobacco from the State. for they know that would be impracticabls and even the enthusiastic reformers of that State have no wish to attempt impossibilities. What they propose is to limit and prescribe its consumption to what they consider a reasonable quantity. To that end they have a bill under consideration that allows a man to take four chews and smoke two cigars a day. He can do this legally but if,he. exc,Wis 1t the law will lay him by the heels instanter. We have not read the bill and do not know all the particulars. or what the pun ishment for violation is to be. but they are going to stick it to him. at all events.
 Now is not this just about the limit of asinine interference with individu- al rights and privileges? The claim that the. use of tobacco is hurtful to all who use 1t has not been estah- lfshed to the satisfaction of unpreiu- diced minds. That it may be injurious to. some is quite probable. Even mint juleps are hurtful to some people--or SO we have been told. We may also easily admit that excessive chewing or smoking is not good for any one. All this is not disputed. but for state to undertake to say by law howa many chews or smokes q man may indulge in. one day Is such utter nonsense that 1t seems almost incredible
 And how can they enforce. law of this kind? It will be manifestly im- possible to keep a guard t" watch each man day and night and never lose sight of him for minute lest he slip prohibited quid between his jaws and proceed to enjoy himself or slip out behind the barn and indulge in a few whiffs while no one Is look ing. In fact. we can think of no way in which such law can be enforced If they should pass a law declaring it crime for any one to chew ar smoke in the State they might en- force it. or punish it's violation. though we suppose such law would not stand the test of the courts for an hour. The law they propose to enact, however, cannot be even partially en- forced and they ought to know it.
 It is just such fool legislation as this that has caused much of the dis satisfaction and trouble under which the country has suffered so much of late. Laws which cannot be enforced inevitably breed disrespect and con- tempt for all law, and especially when. as in this case. .the law ought not to be enforced. Ana yet this proposed legislation is but little more absurd and unfair than have been many of the laws enacted in the various States within the past year or two. somo of them right here in Alabama. The so- called wave of reform has amounted to a craze. and hardly anything has been SO unreasonable, unfair or im- practicable that 1t could not find sup probably be enacted into a law. Thus 1t fs that the courts have heen so of- ten been called on to stand between the people and the wild reformers. and in many instances discrediting the Legis- lators and the State they misrepresent. The Oklahoma proposition Is about the worst yet, but there have been others not far behind 1t.