The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-02
From the Louisville courier-Journal.

SIS Lucy rage Nhstoh, "iNei'
MI known as a reformer. and at pres
i Il ent superintendent of the Anti
Clrsrettc League of America, cherishes
an ambition that creates task and does
moi brilliantly ri omise results. She would
stamp oi' TIE cigarette habit among
American sirls In her anxiety 10 ac-
complish the end in view she INDUCES IN
exaggeration. cigarettes, cocktails and
the gutter" according to Miss Castor,
mark the sequence of phases In woman's
drama of catastrophe
The cigarette which has more slaves
perhaps, than friends, has been I'M
ayailinsly denounced for many years as
being a destructive agent when smoked
by the immature. Inc one of Charles Eg-
bert Craddocks mountain stories there is
laid down the principle that what is good
for John Henry is equally good Terry
Ann. This is the reverse Of the rule that
what is sauce for the gose is sauce for
the gander. end the rule holds as to
what isn't good In addition to the in
furious effect of cigarettes upon the
physique there may be, and often Is, Of
fered against its use by women the argu-
ment that the habit, like eating the
tasty but to highly perfumed onion, Is
open certain objections that need not
be dwelt upon. But 1t would require cou-
rage and ignorance, to assert In any
European country. even in prim England
that cigarettes smoked by women usually
cause moral decay. And impeccable pio-
neer women in America smoked pipes
without oecasioning speculation as to
their impecableness.
Txtremism is the common blunder of
reformers, and the common obtacles of
reform. A certain amount of exaggera-
ton is a valuable sauce piquant to tickle
satiated palates. But to much of 1t
defeats the exaggerator's object.
Miss CASTOR finds that tons of Gig
arettes are being consumed in the larger
centers of population by women and girls,
chiefly women and girls of social posi-
ton The same condition exists In many
other countries. the difference being that
American women lack the courage of
their convictions and do not smoke In
public. Stolen fruit Is usually bolted,
and immoderate Indulgence in tobacco Is
probably the rule rather than the ex-
ception among American women who
smoke sub rosa. The physicians who are
quoted as deploring the effect upon the
nerves and heart probably know what
they are talking about. But denouncing
the cigarette habit as precursor Of a
tumble to the gutter is not likely to con-
vince or reform the smokers whose sit
uation Miss CASTOR views with concern.
Taking the world over. 1t is difficult
to establish any connection betwecna
smoking and total depravity. 1t is not
necessary to approve cigarettes when ad-
hitting that in both the east and west
their use by women is sanctioned by
custom The spectacle Of Burma girl
a-smoking of a whacltin white cheroot''
does not suggest lack of moral stamina
among Burmese women, who, by the way
O ny a rather elevated position in
public esteem and In business and do
nestle affairs. Pink and white English
girls who are sometimes seen smoking al
cotillons or the races are regarded with
interest and perhaps with astonishment
by Americans, but not with alarm by
their fellow countrymen
1t is held by employers that men who
indulge inmoderately in cigarettes are
inefficient-or, in other words, mellow the
standard of heads required for satisfac.
tory seryice-and It Is conceded that &
majority of persons who smoke cigarettes
smoke immoderately. 1t is insisted thai
the leffect of similar indulgence II
| more appreciable among women wht
| smoke But, inasmuch as efforts to stamI
out the habit among boys have been Ions
continued rather than effective, It is i'm
probable that agitation will lhead Off 1T
growth among girls.
! Most Americans will wish Miss Gas
ton success. Many persons who SCI
nothing essentially wicked, or really rep
| rehensible in the ''vice" at which he
ammunition is being fired DO not regart
the introduction of the custom with an.
favor. But those who have the old-fash
toned idea that the habit Is unlovely ant
its cultivation at once unwise and un
healthful will probably take consolation
in the fact that the prospect of any ver'
considerable proportion Of American wo
men becoming cigarette smokers is re
mote. The contrary view Is. of course
held by persons whose range of observa
ton Ia limited to misrepresentation sur
roundinss and exotic types, but the sen