Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-15
COUNCIL SlDETRACKS
ANTl-SMOKING LAWS
PROMINENT WOMEN PLEAD
FOR FRESH AIR ON CARS
Bernard HeaIy Angers Spectators b>
UncalIed for Attack on the
Mothers Who Made
Addresses

A further delay of three weeks IN the
| massage of the ordinance forblddlnS
| smoking on street cars except on the
rear end was necessitated' yesterday
when Councilmen Yonktn and ClamplIt
and two or three other members OF the
council insisted that vote on the meas
ure should be deferred until October
). when Councilmen Wren and Drom-
| gold will be back in their seats
Yonlin declared that he might vote
for the ordinance in three weeks, but,
if forced to vote on it when ii was pre-
sented yesterday, he would vote
against it. Clampitt and Healy are
outspokenly against the measure, de-
claring it an abridgment of personal
liberty.
Mrs. Carrie P. Wheat and several
other women pleaded with the council
for a chance to breathe little fresh
air. They knew they could go inside the
cars if they did not like the smoking
on the outside, but how would any
member of that councilmanic body like
TO be forced to choose between nau-
seating odor on the outside or suffo-
cation on the inside on day like yes
terday?
Couldn't Answer Poser
That was a poser, and no member of
the council had nerve enough to try
to answer it. They pleaded that wom-
en- are often car sick when forced to
ride inside and that it is necessary for
some of them to be on the outside and
they didn't like to be forced to sit
next a reeking pipe. They declared
they would be perfectly willing to
stand up on the front end even If there
were empty seats on the rear, if smok-
ing was only eliminated from the front
ends and confined to the rear
The matter of personal liberty was
gone into thoroughly. 1t was pointed
out that the women and children do
not smoke and that they constitute a
large majority of the population of the
CITY: and that Of the men, large
percentage did not smoke. The mat
ter of personal liberty, by these argu-
ments. resolved itself into personal
liberty for the small minority and an
infringement of the personal liberty
of the vast majority, about five to one,
as Councilman Wallace put it.
John Topham, police commissioner,
in his capacity as private citizen;
Rev. C. c. Pierce and Ex-Governor j..
]. Gosper spoke in favor of the passage
of the ordinance. There was not one
person who had anything to say in
favor of permitting smoking on both
ends of the car except Healy
Healy in Opposition
He declared that he would oppose the
ordinance in the interests of the work.
ingman, because the only time the
workingman had to smoke was when
he was going and coming from his
work, and If he wanted to smoke on
the car he should be permitted to do so.
Healy made a bitter attack on the
women present in one of his remarks.
He declared that the abolishment of
| smoking had been asked in the name
Of the mothers and children Of the city.
This phrase had been used by prac-
| tically every woman who spoke, and
there were some of the best known
women in the city in the audience
who were interested in the measure
| "But" said Healy, there hain't a
good mother in the crowd. The good
mothers have got more sense than to
] come around here on this thing"
Several of the men said later they
felt like answering for the women in
a way that Healy could understand
but they restrained themselves and
avoided making the scene worse.
II you want to go east. @. Havdoek, Agt