Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-09-07
THEY SIMPLY HAVE TO HAVE 1T


Tobacco has played an important |
part in every American war, and un-
doubtedly it viii fulfil it's mission in !
the great struggle in Europe when
the American troops go forward.
General Grant was great smoker;
during the battle of tine Wilderness
he smoked twenty-four cigars. 1t was
during lull in the battle of Spotts-
syiYania, smoking cigar at the time
that he wrote the famous dispatch:
81 propose 10 fight it out on this
line if it takes all summer"
1t was said of Grant that when he
loaded up we'll with cigars in the
morning, it usually meant that the
enemy was going to have on hand as
much work as it could conveniently
attend to that day.
Tobacco fills u big place in the war;
it's solace, historians have recorded,
has won and lost battles Battles
sometimes hinges on tiny Incidents,
if those who write history long years
afterward are to be believed; and
tobacco has had it's victories.
Not only in American wars, but
arettes, or in the pipe-has played
a part in every battle from Water
loo to the Somme. One of the first
moves of Germany, when the war
started on August l. 1914, was to
seize all cigar, cigarette and tobac-
co factories. No town in Belgium or
France was ever occupied by the Ger
mans without demanding huge sup
plies of my lady nicotine"
Soldiers ask first for tobacco when
they start out; and when wounded
their first request is for the consola-
ton that comes from Whit of the
pipe, the puff of cigarette or the
taste of cigar.
The reason is obvious: With the
soldiers system in a ceaseless state
of tension from danger and excite
ment, tobacco becomes n real solace
and joy when he can find the time
for this well earned indulgence.
Practically in every city and town
! in the British isles, in France, and in
| Belgium unoccupied by the Germans,
in Germany, Austria Hungary, Tur-
key, Russia, and the other nations at
war, one of the common sights is to
see boxes for the public to contrib
ute its surplus cigars, cigarettes, and
tobacco.
When the Regulars and the Ma
tional guard troops went to Mexico,
and n censorship was put on all news
from the flying columns sent to get
Villa, one of the fist messages o.
KID by the censor aide to General
Pershing was the appeal 10 relieve
the strain by sending some Missouri
meerschaums" to the men in Mexico.
In the charge before Saarbrucken,
the Brunswick huzzars galloped into
| tho nnpnt1ntar- ,ayith min al,
mouths.
| Bismarck was almost as fond of
cigars as was Grant. Whether there
was any truth in the legend of Bis
marck's last cigar, there is no wav of
telling; but it is related that Bis
marck told of it in this way:
AT Koniggratz ! had only one Gig
ar left in my pocket, which / care
fully guarded during the whole of
the battle as miser guards his
treasure. ] did not feel justified in
using it. l painted in glowing COL
ors in my mind the happy hours
when l should enjoy it after the vic
tory.
"But l had miscalculated my chan
ces. A poor dragoon lay helpless,
with both arms crushed, murmuring
for something to refresh him. / felt
in my pockets and found that had
only gold, which would be of no use
for him. But stay-I had still nv
treasured cigar. lighted it for him
and placed it between his teeth. You
should have seen the poor fellows
grateful smile. l never enjoyed n
cigar so much as 1 did the one which
did not smoke"
Sergeant Bowler of the Fifth Sig
nal Troop, Royal Engineers, paid this
tribute to General Sir Philip Chef
wood:
II have watched him calmly smok-
ing cigarette when shells have been
dropping all over the place 1 think
If all the German army were firing
on him, he would carry on as usual,
smoking his cigarette and giving his
orders as if he were in his club"
There have been innumerable in
stances of men, wounded almost to
death, submitting to operations with
out anesthetics of any kind if mere
~ they had cigarette in their
mouth to get a grip on themselves"
The French soldiers says that in
trench fighting the pipe has become
an indispensable accessory to trench
| life, where anything that will help
kill time is welcome. 1t is at the
same time a distraction and occupa-
ton, and as one soldier puts it, at
has the advantage of keeping the
end of your nose warm"
How valuable cigarettes are re-
garded, when no more can be had for
time, was witnessed in Flanders
when three boxes were put up by
auction among the officers. After
two boxes had been sold, the third
box was opened and the cigarettes
sold Individually. The last cigarette
brought $34.53.-A. M. S. in livery
Week"
Has High Opinion of Chamberlain's