The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-18
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFOR m ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
THE roBACCo sIrUArIoN.
Washington. d. c.

THE TOBACCO SITUATION.
Washington. d. c.. June 1.-THE
war has brought forth convincing
that tobacco holds in modern life.
While other nepenthes, such as alco-
hol and opium are being more and
more restricted in use. tobacco has
just been made a part of the American
soldiers ration. as it has long been
a. part of the supplies of other armies;
Germany. facing famine in some food
materials. is still supplying not only
her soldiers. but her civilian popula-
ton with tobacco; and there is talk
in this country of appointing a tobac-
co administrator to stabilize produc-
ton and regulate imports and exports.
Apparently tobacco is one of our
necessities. and more SO now than ever
before; tobacco consumption has in
creased greatly since the war began.
This is partly due to our prosperity. of
which smoking has always been most
sensitive barometer. and partly to the
tremendous demand for smokes on the
part of the soldiers. No gift is more
welcome in the trenches than that of
smoking tobacco.
This great increase in the use of to-
bacco has brought up again the oft
QlScuSSeU Dut never SettleQ QuGStlOH "a
how much harm smoking does to the
Health. 1t has been suggested that the
affliction known as soldiers heart
might be due to excessive cigaret
smoking. and an inquiry into the mat
ter has been made by the medical re-
search committee. This inquiry, like
nearly all others that have been made
into the effects of smoking, gave some
what inconclusive results. The medi-
cal men decided that excessive smok-
ing of cigarets is a contributory cause
of heart trouble. A number of cigaret
smokers were examined, and it was
! found that the only one not affected
to some extent by the practice were
those who did not inhale. 1t was
, therefore determined to warn soldiers
against inhaling and excessive smok-
lang.
For the rest, endless evidence may
be gathered. for each side of the argu-
ment. Many eminent men, like DIR.
Harvey w. Wiley, are firmly convinc-
ed that smoking is injurious: others
are equally sure that it is not. The
fact that insurance companies do not
take into account smoking as a factor
in longevity is cited as proof that 1t
does not shorten life The friends of
tobacco are also fond of pointing out
that men of high achievement of ev-
cry age and kind, from Sir Walter
falelSn- 10 CACl6 JUG SdhtoHs AldS Z
been heavy smokers, and that many of
these have been conspicuous examples
| of health and longevity as well as of
ability.
| The gist of the matter seems to be
that smoking is an individual prob
lem; each one must determine for
himself how much he can indulge
without harm to himself. 1t also seems
to be clear that few men can face
life without some kind of narcotic
understanding to stimulate
their dreams and make them forget
/ their troubles. Man has never been
}free of this need. In. all. tribes and
nations. in all ages. some narcotic has
been used to soothe and to stimulate.
Tobacco is perhaps the least harmful
that can be chosen. Such, at least,
, seems to be the tacit verdict of civili-
cation.
1t is interesting to note that the
tendency of civilized man is to use
milder and milder forms of tobacco.
This seems to be not because he Graves
less nicotine. but becaue his pampered
stomach and nerves will no longer
support the heroic smokes and chews
| OF earlier generations. DR.. w. w.
Garner, the tobacco expert of the bu-
reau of plant industry, has recently
been making some researches into the
early history of tobacco in this coun-
try, and has found that the tendency
tOWdTo the use VI lCoA Noh ~
| traced from the earliest times. Thus
the Indians raised and smoked a to-
bacco which was no less than ten per
cent nicotine as against the two or
three per cent of most modern tobac-
CO. That puissant leaf with which the
! red warrior used to fill his calumet
would floor a modern smoker at the
first whiff. This Indian tobacco is no
longer grown in this country. but is
| still used in some parts of Russia,
where the primitive peasant has not
| yet acquired the sensibilities of civil
/ lization.
! Our own ancestors brought to
jamestown the mi1der brands of to-
bacco which were then grown only in
| the West Indies, but even these col
onists were much harder smokers
than we are. They rolled the raw
/ leaf into cigars and smoked 1t in pipes
without the modifying processes thru
which we put it. They also -cnewed
enormous quantities of tobacco. The
chew is now going out of fashion and
promises to soon go out of existence.
The pipe and the cigar just about hold
their own. All of the increase is in
the smoking of cigarets. the mildest
form in which tobacco can be used.
1.-The mild, bright tobaccos of Virginia
land the Carolinas are the ones that
are growing in popularity, and they
laTe uStu dlIllOSl cSCiuSlNcly 1OI SA6ai &
making. The area in which they are
tgrown spreads steadily and promises
ultimately to reach to the gulf.
| About 1,400,o0S acres of our arabic
soil is devoted to the raising of tobac-
co, and this is about one twentieth of
lan our farm lands. On this area we
raise about a billion pounds of tobac-
leo annually. of which in normal times
1--we export about forty per cent. But we
Ialso import normally about 60,000,oo0
pounds
A good example of how habit DOM
Iinates the tobacco trade Is the fact
THAT England takes nearly all OF the
l"fire cured" tobaccos which are raised
lin the middle south of this country.
This tobacco is smoked in pipes and
! makes a strong and singing smoke.
None of it is smoked in this country.
and an American would find 1t I'M
smokea ble.>But back in colonial times.
when England had first call on all the
/ tobacco raised in her American col