The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-10-14
CHECK ON DOPE HABIT.
Member of National Commission Tells
Why it is Needed.

CHICAGO Oct. 14.-New and as
founding facts about the spread
of the cocaine habit have been
secured preparatory to the final draft
ing of the bill to place habit forming
drugs under regulation by the bu-
reau of internal revenue which will
| be introduced during the next session
of congress. The Currier commission
for the investigation OF drug addic-
ton has received from state boards
Of charities and corrections reports
and information which will go far to
impel prompt enactment of the
measure to check the further spread
of tae cocaine and the lesser evils Of
morphine and opium by federal regu-
i 1ation.
| Charles W. Collins and John Day,
/ have made public some of their ac-
cumulated evidence in an article in
Everyday Life for October. They de-
scribe the "sniffers" and "jabbers' of
the world of dope the victims of
morphine and chloroform and ether
inhalation. They say:
Another affecting human docu-
ment, from morphine land can be re-
corded in the form Of letter which
the writer's have received, anony-
nous, but none the less vital on
that account. 1t reads: / am a
morphine user, and got the
/ habit from physician who
( gave it to me for neuralgia ! have
fought it hard and held it down fair
4 ly well for years, and yet it is ter
rible thing. But it is brutal to think
of taking it away from the sufferer!
4 First they must have some treat
ment. some help, or else many of
4 them will die and more will suffer
the torments of the damned. / am
a business man, we'll read, hard
worker. ard one who realizes the aw-
fulness of tie habit / have. Is there
no help for me? The medical frater
nifty ought by all means to do sog1
thing for thousands of them are to
blame for the careless manner in
which they have handled the drug
and caused their patients to become
victims. No one on earth except my
good and loyal wife knows of my
affliction personally, and she will tel
the druggist it is for herself she buys
the stuff, in order to shield me. God
knows want cure.
'Tae lonely jabber' has been de
scribed as a type of morphinism;
what now of the 'sniffer?' In former
article of this series the cocaine vic
tim has been thoroughly character
lied, and he may be passed by, with
his bottle of heaven dust and his
blower. as a repellant incredibly de-
based figure of the slums. But there
is another kind of 'sniffer' more un
usual and more bizarre-the inhaler
of ether or chloroform.
Insomnia and nervousness form
tae starting point for etherism; pro
fessional men and society women
comprise the majority of its slaves
Here at any rate, the malpractice o.
doctors cannot be blamed. A casual
whiff at the stopper of a bottle in
vokes drowsiness when needed; the
experiment is repeated with deeper
and longer limitations each time; ant
ruinous habit is soon established
Fortunately this is vice that is vice
ignorance; but the loving friends O
the dissipation make it dangerous
enough to the world.
Foreign exchange through matri
mony between American money ant
European titles usually ends disas
trously; but few of these matche'
, have had more tragic story thar
that of the Due de Caaulnes ant
! Theodore Shonts. daughter of thu
railroad man who, for time, wai
in charge Of the Panama canal oper
, ations. De Chaulnes died suddenly
: and under peculiar circumstances
within recent recollections. leavin.