Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-12
SENATEAvOTES AGAINST
RESUBMlSSiON RESOLVE.
Continued from Page One.)

~ N''i'oS'i vi StIOOStoOk "
prevent the sale or cigarettes in any
town providing that the voters of that
town decided that they shall be ex-
Guided. Senator Milliken appeared for
the bill while the opposition was rep
resented by Thomas Leigh and Joseph
Williamson of Augusta as counsel
Senator Milliken said that he did not
propose to discuss the question of
cigarette smoking but this proposed
bill was to allow any town to exclude
the cigarette from within its own
limits. The statutes now forbid the
sale of hte cigarette to minor.
Il can see no objection. said Senator
Milllken, Ito town, or rather the
voters of the town excluding the
cigarette is they SO desire. l think that
1t is fair proposition to allow town
to vote on the question whether tie
cigarette shall be sold there or not.
In my opinion cigarettes are more
harmful than any other kind of tobac-
co. l am certainly not crank on the
subject Of tobacco although | have
never used it,
Joseph Williamson of Augusta de-
fined the present law which absolutely
forbids the sale of cigarettes to mi
nors. He believed that persons when
they arrive at the age of q years
should be allowed to choose what they
want to smoke, and there should be no
discrimination between one form of
tobacco than another.
There is very much less volume
OF nicotine in a cigarette than there
is in other forms of tobacco" said Mr..
Williamson, and therefore the cigar
cite is less harmful. When a man gets
to be II years of age, when he has
reached his majority, | think that ne
should be the judge of what he wants
to smoke and that no law should be
passed to prevent him from getting
what he desires as long as it does not
interfere with other peoples business
We forbid the sale Of liquor be-
cause other persons in the community
besides the owner of it are injured
Cigarettes will injure no one except
the person who uses them. Why should
we restrain the injury Of man un-
less the welfare of the community de-
mands it? But in this instance it does
not. Take for instance, the town of
Belgrade, which is a strictly rural conf
munity. The northern part of that
town is a great summer resort and
tourists go there to have a good time
in their own way. A great many of
these tourists. in fact majority of
them, are users of cigaretts. Suppose
that the sale of cigarettes are pro-
hibited in that town. The tourists will
go somewhere else and spend their
money for their vacations where they
can get cigarettes.
Il believe" concluded Mr.. William
son, that when man reaches the
age of 81 years that he should have
the right to smoke anything he wants
to, whether it be pipe, cigarette or
a cigar, even if every other man in the
town should vote that he should not
nave that right. There is just as much
sense in applying the referendum on
the question as to whether the cigar
cite should be excluded in a town or
not, as there is to refer to the people
what style of dress woman should
wear or what kind of food a person
should eat. This matter was threshed
out at a session of the Legislature. a
few years ago with the result that
bill was passed prohibiting the sale of
cigarettes to Minors
DR.. Seth c. Gordon of Portland said
that the proposed bill was absurd and
that men cannot be made virtuous by
any kind of a law. Men have person.
al rights which the Legislature cannot
take away from them. law Will not
prevent man from smoking cigar
cites or using tobacco in any form II
he has the inclination. Dr. Gordon
said that he believed that cigarettes
were less harmful than chewing to-
bacco or smoking 4 pipe or cigar. |
The manufacturers or cigarettes do not
put opium in them because opium is
tos expensive.
Prof Franklin c. Robinson. of Bow
doin College and State assayer said
that lie had made an analysis of cigar
cites.
II bought % varieties of cigarettes
at Brunswick" said Prof Robinson,
and after a careful examination | fail
ed to find anything injurious in them. |
The miidest kind of tobacco was found
in them The cigarettes We're very
carefully tested for arsenic or opium |
but none was found. A cigarette is Il
very mild form Of tobacco. and the |
mildness is what allows 1t to be in
hailed The use of cigarettes in an or |
binary amount will not be injurious.
In fact, smoking a pipe or cigar is
10 times worse than smoking a cigar |
cite and there is about five times as
much nicotine, weight for weight in a |
cigar than there is in a cigarette. !
did not find anything in the paper of
a cigarette that was harmful. The
paper was found to be pure under a
chemical and micrOscopical examina-
ton. But there is prejudice against
the cigarette which is not founded on
scientific principles"
DR.. G. c. Kilgore of Belfast also
spoke in opposition to the passage of
the proposed law He said that he
didn't advocate anything that was
harmful to the public health and he
agreed with DR.. Gordon and Prof. ROB-
irson that tobacco was injurious to the
system.
But" said Dr. Kilgore, "the people
have a wrong idea of the composition
of cigarettes can see whereby down
in my city of Belfast law might be
passed prohibiting the sale of cigar
cites in that city. I do not think that
the Belfast people as rule smoke
o;,aratteS hut the bows down ther@-