Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-10-08
FIGHTING MEN
NEED CIGARETS.
RECORDS SHOW
Our Soldiers Abroad Must
Have Tobacco; Smokes
Are Essential

The young man who has gone to
France to fight for this war is just
as dependent upon cigarets and to-
bacco as he is upon food.
a private soldier the other day,
says writer in the New York Sun,
in thanking a friend for sending him
"tgarets, wrote he would "a darn
sight rather have them than socks"
In many cases, he goes on to say,
there can be no doubt that 1t calms
the nerve gives peace and content TO
a mind shaken by emotion and
strength to worn body.
such is the experience indicated in
the lives of soldiers who are in the
soul rackinS environment of the
trench and the dugout. The loud up
roal or battle, the discharge of the
heaNy guns, the bursting of enor-
nous shells and the charge of yelling
hSttalions are enough to send the
average man to the insane ward.
Almost Panacea
On the firing line it has been found
that tobacco is almost a panacea. A
whln or pipe, q puff or so of a ci-
goret, and what matter hunger and
mud and slime? Ask a soldier deep
in the shell-torn ditch whether he
Wodlc rather have a square meal or
Esck of cigarets and nine times
out of ten he will decide in favor of
clgarets.
My men," wrote an officer the
other day. will bear any dirt or dis
comfort so long as they are we'll
supplied with smokes"
Another, in acknowledging the re-
ceipt of a consignment of tobacco
sent word: Your smokes have ar
rived. My men are once more cheer
ful."
The packets of tobacco sent to
h%hting men at the front stand for
far more than so many ounces of
dried leaves. They mean n call that
somewhere there is a man, woman or
child who is in sympathy with the
royS "out there"
Tobacco is like an everwelcoming
host when comrades foregather for
few hours of rest from their long
viSils in the trenches. 1t is when
pipes are lighted or cigarets are
glowing like fireflies in the watches
of the night, in some deep down
shelter, that men return to their hu-
manity.
With the white clouds some the
merry Jest and the rousing song. To-
bacco is a CHEEKY comouflage which
conceals the woes of the soldier from
himself and screens not the vision of
a brighter morrow.
But with the brothers of the Vic
tory Push the leaves of solace have
eased the agony of the wounded and
made possible the bearing intense
suffering in patience. The influence
of tobacco, be it more on the mind
than on the body if you will have it
so, is none the less great when the
body is tortured bV main
Frequently men have undergone
amputations, fully conscious and
with only cigarets or cigars to pal
late the pain. The wounded on the
other side are often asked if they
would rather have an injection of
morphine or some tobacco, and many
of them say The smoke!"
The ambulanciers pass along the
rows of victims of war and rapidly
put cartridges of joy between their
lips, whi"h relax into a gladdening
smile of thanks. These men who went
so ValorouSiy over the top to be
brought back to the dressing station
or the base hospital, betray no sign
OF nlur1nuring over the fortunes of
war, but how their faces shine with
appreciation when they get the aro-
ma of welcome fumes!t
Our army regulars who have land
brands and know how to make the
most of their chances for smoking.
Just as the men of the Revolution,
wEo fought before the day of cart
ridges, were enjoined to keep their
powder dry, so these sons of Mars see
to ii that no dampness Injuries their
precious tobacco. If. however. that ill
luck does befall, into the creases OF
their campaign hats is the mixture
poured and then pinned, and so along
hard and rough roads, often with
tropical sun broiling overhead, they
march along until the contents of the
pouch are once more dry.
It's the same way with sailors the
globe arou nd. Whatever happens. the
tobacco must be kept right. 1t was
only a few months ago that when
great warship was torpedoed by
German U-boat the crew went to
their quarters in exact order and
took to the water each with a cigaret
behind his right ear!
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