Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1920-07-21
THAT HUSSY NICOTINE.

Far from being content with then
success in the hard fought battle FOL
alchoholic prohibition, self-uppolnted
judges Of the nations mode of living
are apparently sincere in their dec
laration that they are not ready &c
rest on their oars, but are out &c
down tobacco If they are-tO slip
into the varnacuar-they are biting
off considerably more they the average
human can masticate.
More, they are doing a "craWtish
with loads of reverse English, on
their attitude during the recent war.
when some of the societies which now
are feeling the ground for the anti
tobacco campaign We're backing cigar
cite funds for the boys"
It would appear from this attitude
that tobacco only harms the human
system at times-not during the war
for instance.
The entire movement, If it can at
this stage be termed Il movement, is
plainly an outlet for FESTIVE women
and men, who having nothing else to
turn their hands to, reform and at
tempt to reform. 1t is a pity that they
should take tho tobacco matter too
seriously, for there are so many re-
forms that are more worthy Of their
efforts. Morality is one thing that
could take all the time of all the re-
formers We could production all
time, and yet it is not being under.
taken with the spirit behind the ant
liquor campaign and now the budding
f.
never ruined a home or life and
there are existing evils that have.
The tobacco question has been
1hreshod out in many states and pro.
hibitiOn Of the cigarette has been
tried in at least two of them, and it
has failed There are too many men
who are users OF tobacco, and there
is no stigma attached to the use Of
the weed, as there was in the case of
John Barleycorn. late object of the at
tacks Of the reformcrs. Until it has
become a disgrace to smoke the smoh-
er is safe.
Kansas, whore the state assembly
ruled and regulated on every subject
possible, from the government Of its
railroads TO an attempt to control the
use of face powder by the women of
the state, tobacco prohibition is still
nominally in effect Yet the youth of
Kansas smokes as many cigarettes ac-
cording to its population as that of
any other state
In Oklahoma the Kansas law WAS
tried and failed so a few years later
the state assembly decided to allow
adults to purchase cigarettes. This
was a virtual acknowledgment Of de
feat, and the youth Of oklahoma can
draw and inhalc with the rest of the
nation today.
With the war came the "fni" of the
anticigarette agitation, at least tenn
porarily, altho it again begins to look
as If the question was due to rein
statement now. During the war when
nothing was too good for "the boys"
cigarettes were included "Thc boys"
go EN- in quantities, many thousands
OF them from people who prior to that
time had beheld the small white cylin,
ders with horror.
There has been too much jocEcyiug
ON the question to allow is serious
consideration now. If smokes for the
wy - 'ttl ms Tue w at HtlIliu lIltil,
smokes viii help them now in their
peace pursuits. And further the boys
are here TO see that those smokes
aren't taken from them
Smoking may not be an absolutely
healthy practice. Doctors tell us il
doesn't build up the constitution but
that in moderation it will not do any
harm. Until more definite proof is
brought forward the average smoker
who derives solace and pleasure from
a smoke, will not consider giving it
up.
The question bois down to one OF
temperance and it is on that line
that the reform campaign should be
carried out II the can induce smokers
by system of education, that smoG.
ing in excess is harmful then they
viii have done good work. And
they will have done a work that can
never be completed simply by the use
OF legislation which prohibits but does
not prevent