The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-18
TOBACCO HAS WON
AND LOST BATTLES
Governments Now Sec WiSdoo
Of Supplying Solacc TO Thcir
Fighters.
MOLTKE FOND OF SNUFF

I.ovpoN. oct. 2.-The value Of TO-
bacco on active service is now 20
we'll esteemed by the military authorities
that to-day one secs the British Govern.
rent doing what IL had never done he.
fore, supplying free tobacco to the troops
and In France the factories Of Tho Reg.s
working at full pressure. so that N,
French soldier shall not lack smoking
materials
Only within comparatively recent tirnes
however. has this necessity been Officially
recognized. wellington condemned ne
practice OF smoking az being "a
species OF intooicstion accustomed by the
fumes Of tobacco" Perhaps his diAm
arose from an unpleasant experience %
his own on the only occasion on whion
he attempted TO smoke a pipe Tho weed
proved no respeoter of the Iron Duke ond
the man who ended Napoleou's career
had TO suocumb to its dieturbing proper
ties as any schoolboy Even Napoleon
himself. although an hanftual snuff taker
was defeated by a Pipe OF tobacco
Official efforts to discourage the use Of
tobacco were completely negatived IN me
Crmean war. The privations suffered
then by tho troops resulted in officers and
mon taking to the panacea adopted by
their French ana Turkish alliea and BY
| It's aid their discomforts were so alevi-
| ated that ever since the practice OF smok-
| ing on active service, not actively on
couraged. has been at any rate paSs'vely
countananced by those in command 10Th
| In the army and the navy.
r.A ~.
! In consequence tobacco has played a
| notable and beneficial part in the wars
| Of the past century; in fact from Water.
| loo TO South Africa Probably it, solac-
| ing and inspiring qualities were never 40
| strongly manifested az in the Franco
| German war OF 1870. It might be sad.
| indeed. that the crushing defeat inflicted
| on the French was due largely 10 'he
| soldiers lack Of tobacco, added, az q was
to the breakdown OF the commissnrIst
whereas on the German side the nuthor'-
ties d!d all they could 10 insure tho troops
| being plentfully supplied with the vvsl
| An association. headed by the Empress
raised tobacco subscriptions in every town
10 enable the fighters Of the fathe-'art
70 keep their pipes filed.
| What friend in need "suhlirl. 20.
| bacco" proved to the fighters IN no wa
| OF 1870 was Indicated by the CORRESPOND
| cnt Of the Daily Noes before Metz.
| his accounts OF the campaign he said.
TN every letter we read OF 'u, as
| hausted soldiers. prisoners and .m,I
| victims OF battle eagerly asking for o.,
soothing narcotic, begging for Il sw,-
| times finding IL a solace under tie t.i.
ships of weather. Of hunger. Of dis.l.
| finding II enables them even to e. .Jrf
the pain'u! searches and amputa;ior- -
the surgeon"
He related how the pay sergeant OF
| IL.
doctor cut the bullet out OF his back and
again how MANNED soldier lying uro~
| the battlefield with the dead and dying
| round him and In bodily agony asked
| but for one reliof-a cigar. And thus (,
| has been In every war
The MANNED and shattered on the hed
| OF battle pitoously cry for tobacco. Tho
poor wounded IN the hospitals appeal not
for bandages or medicine but for To-
hacoo; the troops IN tho trenches undergo
| any hardship n they have but the com.
| fort OF tobacco, and even In the m. dat
OF the conflict, fighting their way through
mass OF foes, the soldier. pipe In mouth.
calmly stands shoulder 10 shoulder with
mis- comrades and bears the shock ~
battle
II Tobacco has often proved moro han q
panacea to the victims OF war: q ms
been source OF courage and Inspiration
Al Saarbrucken in 1870 the Bruusw'DR
hussars galoped, cigars in mouth amid
nail OF bullets into a mass Of Frereh
troops. The Uhlans in their advaA.
movements invariably carried PIPES IN
their mouths, substantial. capaclous pipes
large enough 20 hold an ounce Of the
weed And whenever the conduerns
troops entered n surrendered city thcy az
once claimed not money nor food, but
tobacco. The Mayor Of each town was
directed to find cigars for everybody ne.
fore anything else was done