New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-12
An Impartial Appeal to Smokers

An Impartial appear 10 SrIlokeiS
The Connecticut Committee on Food
Supply made mild appeal the other day
to the tobacco planters Of Connecticut,
urging them as a patriotic duty to utilize
as much of their lands as possible for the
production Of foodstuffs. A more general
appeal is addressed to the smokers them
selves to-day in the following letter:
To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: Many patriotic Americans who can
rot enlist for the war are now asking them
selves the question: what can ] do for my
country and for humanity IN this world
Crisis?"
By concerted action it is possible for
the smokers to reach result both imme-
date and farreaching. If some hundreds OF
thousands Of them would forego the use
of tobacco during the war only. thousands
Of acres of the most productive lands in
the United States would be thrown. open
for the raising OF foodstuffs Rice and Indian
corn could be grown on the great tobacco
plantations Of Tennessee and Kentucky. The
best land Of New England, that Of the Con-
nccticut River Valley is mainly used for
the cultivation of the weed" but il is capa-
bic Of producing hamper crops Of onions
potatoes oats and the carly maturing varc-
ties of Indian corn.
] am practising what ! preach, and it
is now more than six months since ! smoked
my last cigar or bit Of tobacco in any form.
I had smoked moderately for ten years. j.
tobacco must be raised at all during the
war. let it be only for the boys in the
trenches Z. {. BILLINGS.
Brooklyn, May 10, 1917.
1t is to be feared that this proposal will
not be received with much enthusiasm by
the ultimate consumer. Not that the users
of tobacco are much more selfish than the
rest of mankind. DR.. Peasc and his fel-
low cOnspirator, Annette HaZelton believe
they are, but that is only because both Of
them are total abstainers, and naturally
opposed to the use of tobacco in all forms.
In this, however they differ only in degree
from the most earnest of their opponents,
including smokers, chewers, suffers and
dippers. For it is only justice to admit
that among these vast majority are more
than willing to countcnance drastic restric-
tions in the methods of consumption.
Thus, it is certain that the total prohbi-
ton Of dipping would meet with little or
no opposition from the common run Of
smokers. II may even be doubted whether
the suppression Of chewing would be as
difficult a reform to achieve to-day as, say.
half a century ago. Shutting, too IS con-
demned 10y most smokers as dirty habit,
but in the past there were honest shutters
who looked with equal disapprobation on
smoking, and for precisely the same rea-
son. Nay, even among the smokers them
selves the same nice distinctions are COM
monty observed. There are cigar smokers,
for instance, who cannot abide the smell
Of pipe, and pipe smokers who would
willingly see cigars abolished but for the
unreasonable restrictions placed on their
favorite method of taking tobacco by the
semi-genteel. But the most remarkable
example Of deputed sacrifice among the
consumers Of tobacco is TO be seen in the
laws and regulations that prevail in sew
eral parts of the country against the
smokers of cigarettes for these are APP
proved not only by the Poases and Fords
and Sundays, but even by reformers who
would not stick at quid-like Mr.. Edison,
for instance, who had to invent a pseudo
scientific explanation Of his prejudice.
For the rest, if the example of other
countries is worth anything the hope of
cutting down tobacco as a war measure is
extremely remote. Take the figures for
Great Britain as supplied by the British
Anti-Tobacco League. From these it
appears that the consumption in 1916
amounted TO 13O,690,000 pounds, as against
125, 951 400 pounds in 1915, and the ex-
penditure per head of the population in
creased by about 21i4 per cent. Doubt
less the increase must be attributed in
some measure to the demands of those
whom our correspondent speaks of affec-
tionately as "the boys in the trenches"
but even among civilians the increase was
above IS per cent, Notwithstanding the