The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1943-05-28
THE cIGARETTIsT

wrote an article, which had circulation of
several million, entitled 1.-THE Cigarettist' /.
The writer read the article but, at this late
date, all he can recall is that Fra Elbertus
was dead set against smoking cigarettes.
If you don't inhale, smoking a cigarette
is no worse than smoking pipe or cigar;
if you inhale, smoking pipe or cigar is
just as bad as smoking a cigarette. Smok-
ing is smoking, regardless of the medium
through which you satisfy your yearning for
nicotine
Some doctors say smoking is injurious
and some doctors say it is not. The former
point to youths, who were excessive smok-
ers, dying at an early age, the latter name
men and women too who began smoking in
their early childhood and rounded the CEN
fury mark.
The writer's paternal grandfather liv-
ed to be 104, and he began chewing and
maternal grandfather lacked four months
and two days of living 100 years, and he
never used tobacco in any form So take
your choice: Would one have lived longer
had he not smoked, or would the other have
lived longer had he smoked?
It's anybody's guess regarding the
good or evil of smoking, but this editorial is.
concerned with seeking the cigarette by
Florida's legislature. Practically every eli
garette smoker has said at one time or an
other he was going to "cut out" smoking, and
other cigarettists have switched to cigars or
pipes in order to reduce the number of
flags they smoked daily.
If ever there has been time when the
cigarette smoker had an imepling force to
stop smoking, now is the time. With Flor
ida seeking him three cents on every pack
of 20 cigarettes, in addition to Uncle Sans
seven cents, when he buys pack, beginning
July 1, SO per cent of the sum he will pay
will be in the form of taxation, provided the
pack costs 20 cents. AS it probably will be
sold by most dealers for 10 cents, the smok-
er pays more than one-half in taxes.
Other Florida legislatures, during the
last 20 years or so, have enjoyed the pastime
of seeking owners of automobiles, with a
take" of one-third in taxation for gasoline
and sums running as high as $40 or $50, in
the old days, as licenses for private automo-
biles.
The latest move against the cigarette
leads one to believe that the mentality of
Florida's solons runs in single groove. The
governor said the state needed additional
revenue annually of about $3,500,000 to
balance the budget for the next two years,
so the legislators bounced upon the cigar
cite for the full sum.
Florida used to be big cigar-produc-
ing state, and the cigarette tax may drive
thousands of Floridians to the cigar, solely
because of resentment in picking" on the
cigarette.
One representative, who opposed the
bill, said the only good thing about it was
that it did not "force" the people to smoke
cigarettes.
The confirmed cigarettist will shrug
his shoulders, pay the tax and smoke as
many cigarettes as he has ever smoked, but
there will be thousands of smokers who will
cut down on their consumption and other
thousands who will "cut OUT cigarettes
Taxation is essential and necessary,
particularly in these times, but the taxation
that burns one up is the type that strikes too
hard in the same place.