The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1916-03-06
A Difficult Problem.

DR.. John D. Quackenbush recently told the
American Society for the Study of Alcohol and
Other Narcotics that the tobacco habit is lust
las bad as the drink habit and that the intcmper-
ate use OF tobacco explains y per cent OF all
the drink habit cases. The Commissioner OF In
iternal Revenue shows that the tobacco habit is
growing and that consume 100000 pounds
more of tobacco now than we did ten years ago
The figures must be appalling to the anti-nicotine
reformers when taken in gross. Last year we
smoked S,2488oI,o47 cigars, 1850 $50 400 cigar
cites and 226,888,866 pounds OF smoking tobacco;
chewed I56,5o2,776 pounds of plug, 1s,o87,3so
pounds of twist and 1o,o61,Ioo pounds of fine cut
and used 3o,59564o pounds Of snuff. The per
capita consumption for the 100000 men in the
United States was 4I2 cigars, 843 cigarettes, II
pounds OF smoking tobacco pounds of chewing
tobacco and IL pounds Of snuff
1t must be conceded that if the men did all
the smoking, chewing and snuffng, they had
either a cigar, cigarette, pipe or chew in their
mouths a good part Of the time and were sneez-
ing from snuff in odd moments of their waking
hours This tobacco habit represented a consider
able loss Of time and money to invite the atten-
ton Of the economy experts, but Dr. Ouacken-
bush indcts it as responsible for Is per cent
of the alcohol habit. The tobacco habit also costs
the consumers deal of money, enough to build
a score of Dreadnoughts, improve many dry
rivers, or build good roads for millions Of far
mers many OF whom raise tobacco and need good
roads TO haul it to market OF course this to-
baccO pays the government about $8ooooooo OF
revenue every year just alcohol pays something
like $2oo,ooo,ooo revenue every year, and we need
the money, when nobody but the President wants
to tax gasoline, bank checks, tea and Coffee but
we should not forget that tobacco is filthy
weed and that the devil sowed the seed.
With the statistics of the Commissioner of In
ternal Revenue and the testimony of Dr. Ouack
enbush staring Congress in the face, it is difficult
Ito see how that body can fail to submit to the
States a Constitutional amendment prohibiting
the raising, manufacturing, importing, exporting
selling, chewing smoking or snufring tobacco
within the jurisdiction OF the United States It
would be a hard blow to such prohibition States
las North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee and
ito Kentucky, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Con-
Inecticut which not dry, not to mention our
plain duty to Cuba, but If we cannot cure the
drink habit without abolishing the tobacco habit
Mr.. Bryan will have to combine the two prohibi-
itons in his crusade to reform man from his be-
setting sins. But even after he has banished
alcohol and tobacco, there may be enough origi-
nal sin left in the world to invent new decoctions
and find new weeds to chew and burn Just so
long as those two elements, fire and water, are
allowed to exist. To make the reform complete
we may have to go to the extreme of Robert
Louis Stevenson's fable of the Three Men Under
Ia Bramble Bush, and abolish man.
* here Iorh ,;ob+ r. 1
la time as any to completely reform the world.
Abolish man and let the ladies run things alone.