The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-07-23
KANSAS CONMENT
TO CURB COCAINE EyIL,


II Is said that President Taft has
urged the leaders in congress to con-
SLosE the recommendation of the Amer
t G,s+1, aIedttn league for prohibitive
! 10y aId internal revenue restrictions
On the deadly drug. cocaine. For years
lhLs urug has been the cause of untold
suHerlng in this country and each year
! the use OF 1t has increased until IL has
| become menace to the country Re-
porls snow that school children in the
large cities are being taught to use
tne uruS py men who sell it, 1t is
secretly supplied to anyone who de-
| sires it, and the harm If works is be-
coming more apparent every day. Co.
came nenos now outnlITnDer drunI<s rCls
II the ponce courts of the large cities.
hor years the use of the drug by the
regroes of the south has been growing
and the authorities are unable to check
IL. 1t was through his interest in the
I'TopIens OF the south that led Presi-
cent 4aIt to become acquainted with
the cocaine evil The inroads which this
drug habit has made into the centers of
negro population, where the results of
It's SAFE Tor Illicit use have proved as
disastrous as those of alcohol have
been called to the attention of the pres
ldent and members of congress. It has
Icng peen known to the people who
meet tne negroes daily. The cad havoc
Ilt mas wrought among almost every
class IN towns and cities. all over the
country is becoming daily more APP
parent
aol0 arc stare laws which tend to
CONNIE the use Lof the drug to the
legitimate and merciful uses of the
surgeon and dentist, but many dealers
who pander to the cravings of the drug
flend are easily able to maintain secret
sources of supply from men who i'm
port it from abroad. Although the
amount OF cocaine used legitimately
costs but little it is known that hum
dreds of thousands of dollars worth
OF the drug are sold each year by illicit
purveyors.
To learn of the terrible results of the
use OF the drug and to ascertain how
necessary only to go to the police sta
ton and see the people who are brought
in by the officers. \ short CONVERSE
ton with the chief will soon convince
anyone that united effort should be
made to stop the illegal sale of the
drug and to prohibit it's importation
into this country--Wichita Eagle.
A GOOD RULE
The plan of putting a stop to the
child automobilist is meeting with gen.
eral approval. Parents may be willing
to risk a 1000 touring car and their
own children's lives in the hands of a |
infant chauffeur, but the |
general public is not willing to make !
a similar concession. Each papa and
mamma has q right to consider their |
own children an exception to the gen |
cral rule OF childhood intelligence. The |
public can't share in the belief. Hence
the general rule in the larger towns /
is that no person under the age of Is |
years shall be allowed to drive a mo- |
tor car. 1t is good rule. A child is /!
nc more fitted to drive a motor car |
than it is fitted to drive the locomotive |
of a passenger train. The public has
some rights which even infant prodigies |
are bound to respect.-Safna Journal |
EYEGLASSES VS.. HANDOUTS.
And now a scientist processes to |
have discovered that defective vision |
is the cause of much of the crime of |
the country and. he proposes to rem |
edy this defect by the use of specially
prepared glasses on the eyes of such .
individuals. In the past it /
has been customary to supply criminals /
with bracelets with the hope that it /
would have a salutary effect upon
them. However, it is not a far step
from the line of a jeweler to that of an
optician.--Wichita Beacon.