The Washington herald., 1908-01-12
Women and Smoking.

Most of our New York contemporaries
have been devoting much Of their valu-
able space recently to discussions Of the
question of whether or not women shall
be allowed TO smoke in restaurants and
other public places. The foremost states
men of the city have interested them
selves in the subject, too. and one of
them, Alderman Little Tim" Sullivan.
has introduced a resolution in the board
Of aldermen providing for the fining or
Imprisonment of restaurateurs who per-
NIT their female patrons TO use the weed.
In short. the big village on Manhattan
Island is "all het up" as they say in
Kansas.
To US the whole thing seems very sim
pie. The keepers of hotels and cafes
should be permitted TO regulate the mat
ter themselves It is they who say if
masculinity shall smoke in their dining
rooms Why discriminate against the
women? If the dear creatures desire to
descend TO the level of mere man in this
respect, why not crafty their wishes?
Leaving aside the somewhat troublesome
question OF the constithtionality OF Mr.
Sullivan's proposed ordinance. why should
the law deny them a privilege which is
freely accorded TO the men?
OF course. women who secure this equal
privilege must expect to pay rather dear
ly for it-that is rather dearly according
TO old-fashioned ideas. They must expect
10 lose the respect Of men who like to
think of a woman as something more
than mortal and little less than angelic
and OF those good. sweet women Of the
kind that our mothers always are and
that we wish our wives and daughters 10
be. They must expect to be regarded as
coarse and vuIgar-even though smart
by a considerable number of very good
people and they need not be surprised if
they discover that they are looked on as
positively immoral by the more puritan
ical element.
On the other hand they will have the
satisfaction Of knowing that they are
playing the game as it is played in Eng
land and on the Continent. don't you
know. and that they are attracting the
attention of the mob. and. probably, at
first getting their names in the papers.
No great amount of harm will be done
to the women directly concerned, for. Of
course. their desire to smoke in public
demonstrates that they already smoke
In private Furthermore, il is no worse
for a woman To smoke a cigarette in
public-or a cigar or pipe, as she prefers
than 1t is for her 10 drink a cocktail or
a highbaH The point is. in our 'opinion.
that even the latter habit is vicious and
bad in any number of ways.
Eventually, no doubt, women viii he
permitted to smoke in all but the most
conservative New York restaurants, and
thus a social condition which already
causes the optimistic lover of his country
to blush for shame viii be aggravated.
That the innovation will be received com
placently by a large proportion OF the
metropolis people is indicated by an ex-
tract from an editorial in one of the
staidest and most conservative and high
ly respected morning papers there. TO
say" remarks this journal that such a
law (as that proposed by Alderman Sui
Iivan) would be unavailing and ridiculous
in this practical community is only 10 say
that the exiguous Mr.. Sullivan Is morally
superior 10 his time and his environ
ment."
Possibly the next step toward equal
privileges in that practical community
will be TO allow women to frequent bar
rooms and drink there just as the men do
Why not? This is the twentieth cen
tury. and New York must be kept up 10
date, regardless Of the effect on public
morals.