Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-03-28
WOMEN MAY SMOKE
AGAIN IN NEW YORK;
ORDINANCE A JOKE
Police Commissioner Finds Al
derman Never Banned Nico-
tine for Fair Sex.
INDIGNATION HAS SUBSIDEO
By Associated Press 70 Every Fvsning.

By Associated Press 70 Every Evening.
New York. March 2s---Police Conn
missioner Enright to-day lifted the ban
on smoking by women ~ suddenly as
he clamped II down last night. when
he learned Alderman McGuinnesS
anti-smoking ordnance had never
been passed by the board of aldermen
or signed by Mayor Hyisn.
Daniel w +. Mccoy. an employs
In the city clerks office was led forth.
compar risoned IN sack cloth and shes
as official goat for an error that asd
set pro and even anti smoting women
on the war path from the battery 20
the far reaches of Harlem.
Mccoy. it was explained vas charg-
ed with clipping the official city record
FOR resolutions and ordinances mat
have been adopted and approved bv
me mayor. and sending thnm along 20
the proper officials for euforcenent.
Mccoy stlll wa too muca overcoms
by the wrath that had descended o1
his head 70 explain just how ne hap
pened 20 include snnotinR bill In
his list of ordinances adopted and ap-
proved
City Clerk Cruise rallied 20 Nc
C0y's defense. however, and lntimated
that had Police Commissioner Enrignt,
or his aides read the purpcrted ordi-
nance carefully. they would have dis
covered 10 was not a proper document.
az It did not bear the MP Of the
clerks Office certifying that IL had
been approved by The mayor.
News that it was all = mistake
came like a reprieve from the gallows
( to proprietors o( scores of places where
! gra tifcation Of milsdy's passion for
/ the soothing weed was- the chief
source of bread and butter revenues.
/ Fashionable suokeshops Cor women
/ had sprung up in Fifth avenue. Broad
way and other advanced centers.
! while Greenwich Village had come 10
depend almost exclusively on smoke
rings to produce an atmosphere OF
Bohernianisn1- since the passing oc
the cup that cheers
Although the ordinance was signed
by Mayor Hylan last week, the manner
in which It reached his desk IL a
mystery Its author. Alderman Peter
McOninness, didn't know Il had passed
and other members Of the board de-
clared they we're certain il had been
buried in the legislative graveyard
and forgotten
The mystery developed after the po-
lice department. pursuant to an order
issued by Commissioner Enrignt. had
visited the public amusement places
lin Greenwich Village. Harlem. the
Bronx and along Broadway, and had
informed managers and proprietors
they were subject TO q fine and I'M
prisonment If they permitted women
70 smoke in their establishments.
Thereupon there was Indignation
and frenzied putting. while a food ot
derision was aimed at the alderman
and the mayor.
In the first place. they said. they
could not understand the ordinance,
for under it's provisions only the pro-
prietors Of restaurants and cabarets
! would ,be subject 10 punishment Il
! wDment smoked in their establish
ments. So far as known there was
nothing in the measure that would
. perevent woman from smoking as she
walked down the street.
Z NHeH <AAuei ii1sa4i SlCNrulhness pre-
sented his proposed ordinance reia-
tive to smoking il was not considered
seriously.
When people from out of town
come to visit you he said. you take
them to the theatre and later 70 have
, something 10 eat. Many of our visi-
tors are shocked and indignant when
they see. women in public places puff
ing cigarettes"