Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-10-24

these people. Soldiers who have re-
turned from the front declare that the
men in the trenches find peculiar COM
fort in smoking cigarettes, and we
are told that it is unpatriotic to de-
prive these brave lads of this COM
forting ministry of the cigarette. But
is this a sufficient reason to Justify
US in sending cigarettes to them? Is
cigarette smoking helpful to the man
in the trenches? Does it make him
a Drawer soldier or better fighter?
Does it add to his physical strength
and make him more able to endure
hardship and fatigue? Does it in
crease his mental vigor and make him
more alert? Does it steady his ner-
YES and make him better shot?
Does it add TO his spiritual power and
enable him to gain the victory over
temptation? If it has this desirable
effect, then by all means let us send
cigarettes to our boys at the front
the more the better. But if it has the
very opposite effect, then are we
justified in sending them, knowing, as
every intelligent person must, that
they will go into the hands of lads
who never touched tobacco at home,
and many of them are doing their
best to lead clean, pure lives where
they are now?
There can be no question about the
alarming increase in the use of cigar
cites resulting from the new condi-
tons which the war has brought
about. Some of the consequences are
already appearing, but we shall not
reap the full harvest Of the seed we
are now sowing for years to come. 1t
- -.
sible, to discover how many of the
final reflections of enlisted men are
due to lowered vitality brought about
by the excessive use of cigarettes:
what relation the immoderate use of
cigarettes bears to the startling fire.
quency of heart trouble which has
surprised, dismayed and puzzled the
army physicians. Perhaps we shall
never know.
Two of the largest cigarette manu-
facturers, according to the Dominion
Women's Christian Temperance
Union Teachers Temperance Lesson
Quarterly, soak their product in a
weak solution of opium, which, like
whiskey, creates an ever-increasing
appetite. If we are to believe the
testimony of those who have made a
long and careful study of the cigar
cite evil, the nicotine poison which
the cigarette contains arrests de-
velopment, blights health and morals,
ruins the faculties, unbalances the
mind, and also creates abnormal APP
petites, discomfort, uneasiness. ner-
vousness, irritability, and an irresti-
bic inclination to crime, thus leading
to the loss of all moral courage and
manhood. 1t initiates the delicate
lining of the mouth, throat, and lungs,
making them sore and disinclined to
do their work. When inhaled into
the millions of tiny cells of the lungs,
it poisons the blood, weakens the
hearts action, shocks the nervous
system, distends the stomach, impairs
digestion, paralyzes the brain cells,
and. if persistently used, wrecks the
entire body" The injurious effect of
cigarette smoking upon a boys men
tai activities are very marked. Prof.
w. A. McKeever says: "Of the many
hundreds of tabulated cases in my
possession, several of the very YOUTH
full ones have been reduced almost to
the condition of imbeciles.' Out of
2.336 who were attending public
school, only six were reported bright
Students A very few, perhaps ten,
were average and all the remainder
were poor or worthless as students.
A startling story has come from
Ottawa in the form of a report on
recruiting for Canada's naval service.
Of the young men in Nova Scotia and
Britist Columbia who wished to join
the naval servich, seventy-five per
cent failed to pass medical inspection.
In most cases rejection was due to
cigarette heart or moving picture
eye. OF four hundred men who Of
fered themselves for military service
at North Bay. one hundred were re-
fused simply because they were Gig