The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-18
WHY FEDERAL
 CHECK IS NEEDED
 ON DOPE HABITS

ON LIVE n 11kAD4 0 Members of Currier Commission Make l Public Evidence Secured to Impel E Action by. Congress at Next Session Chicago. Oct. 1S.-New and astound- ing facts about the spread of the co- tcafnee habit have been secured prepara- tory to the final drafting of tlfe bill to place habit-forming drugs under regulation by the Bureau of Internal Revenue which will be introduced dur ing the next session of Congress. The Currier Commission for the InveStiga- tion of Drug Addictions mas Received Efronl State Boards of Charities and Corrections reports and informatien which wi1lAgo far to impel prompt en- actment of the measure to check the further spread of the cocaine curse and the lesser evils of morphine and opium by federal regulation. TWO members Of the commission,
 Charles w. Collins and ohm Day, have made public some of their ac- Everyday Life for October. They de-
 scribe the "sniffers'' and ejabbers" of
 the world of dope, the victims of gmor-
 phine and chlorophorm and ether in halation. They say:
 Another affecting human docu- ment' from morphine land can be re- corded in the form of a. letter which the writers have received, anonymous, , but none the less vital on that ac- count. It reads: T am a morphine user, and got the habit from a physic- ian who gave it to me for neuralgia, a disease that is responsible flor many
 morphine victims. have found it hard, but held it down fairly we'll for years, and yet it is terrible thing. But it is brutal to think of taking it
 away from the sufferers! First they must have some treatment, some help, or else many of them will die and more will suffer the torrnents of the damned. am business man, we'll Iead, 3, hard worker, and one who real fzes the awfulness of the habit have Is there no help for me? The nned- ical fraternity ought by all means to dos some ething, 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 krows of my af- fliction spersonally, and she will tell the druggist it is for herself she buys the stuff, in. order to shield me. God knows want a cure
 F ."The lonely 'jabber' has, been de- scri5ed as a type of morphinfsm; what now of the tsniffer'? In a former ar ticle of this series, the cocaine victim has been thoroughly characterized, and he may be parsed by, with his bot
 tie of heaven dust and his blower, as
 a repellent, incredibly debased figure of the sluns. But. there is another kind of 4sniffer' more unusual and
 more bizarre-the inhaler of ether or chloroform.
 'fInsomnia and nervousness form the starting point for cherish; profes- sienal men and society women com prise. the majority of it's slaves. Here, at any rate, the malpractice of doctors cannot be blamed. A casual wl1iff at the stopper of a bottle invokes drowsf-
 ness when needed; the experiment is repeated with deeper and longer in- halations each time; and ruinous 1y this is a vice that is rarely con tracted through ignorance; but the loving friends of the dissipation make it dangerous enough to the world.
 Foreign exchange through matri- n1ony between American money and European titles usually ends disas- trously, but few of these matches have had a, more tragic story than that of the Due de Cha ulnes and Theodora Shonts, daughter of the railroad man who, for a time, was in charge of the Panama canal operations. De Chaul- nes died suddenly, and under peculiar circumstances. within recent recollec- tion, leaving his bride of a few months with an unborn heir. It has been as serted, and the facts bear out the re- port, that De Chaulnes suffered from an over-indulgence in the drug. If this is not absolutely true in this par ticular case there are others which could be verified by sorrowing Ameri- can women who have sold their happi-, ness for titles. if their lips would speak the truth.
 '.To' prevent such Q fatal outcome, which is liable to happen when sleep comes on with the ether bottle still at the nostrils, the sophisticated practic- CTS of this habit resort to an expe- dient which physicians case-books, could their secrets be revealed. would locate in many a fashionable bedcham- Der. A sponge is suspended over the head of the bed by an elastic cord. Moistened with ether, it is held over the nose and mouth until sleep ap- breaches. Then, released it flies out of reach and the sufferer from insonl- mia falls into the longed-for stupor. ssE
 ''Etherism develops personal pecu-. liarities as marked as those of cocaine. The shop-keepers and clerks of the re-. tail district in Chicago are all familiar with the strange actions of a woman of high social standing. She has ac-l counts at all of the leading stores and in, handsomely gowned, order some ex rensive finery sent out to her home and then lean over the counter and whisper in the employees ear: Could you be kind enough to lend me some carfare. I find that I have come away from home without my purse The loan is always forthcoming and is included in the bill for her story isI well known. She is an ether sfiend'1 and is under treatment and close sur veillance."