Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-12-12
FAIR @
ENOUGH
BY Westbrook
Pegler

nored.
That is to cut them out en-
tirely.
Instead, rationing has been
suggested and the voluntary
curtailment of individual quotas
and so firmly are the people
held in the grip of this mar
cotic addiction that We have
gone at the problem with an
obviously false assumption that
the lack of them impairs the
efficiency of war workers in the
factories, of soldiers and of men
and women who work with the
brain rather than the hand.
This impairment is real in the
sense that smokers become wor-
ried and. some of us, almost
frantic when cigarets are not to
be had or supplies dwindle.
THE actual cause of the i'm
Il pairment, however. is not
the shortage of cigarets but the
cigaret h bit itself through
which the American people con-
sumo every day tons of danger
Gus poisons and constantly re-
duce our normal efficiency.
No honest physician can say
that cigarets are good for any
person in any circumstances.
A few years ago, as an excuse
for another New Deal attack
on the American newspapers,
one of the more noisy Washing
ton bureaucrats accused the
press of sitting or minimizing a
report condemning cigaretS.
The story might have been
played across the top of page
one without diminishing cigaret
sales by as much as single
pack in the entire country. be-
cause the habit is so strong as
to be almost incurable as /
realize at this moment with a
cigaret burning in tray on the
desk.
THE competition b @ w n
L eigaret companies depends
on individual taste.
They have no problems Of
creating general market.
And newspaper editorial judg-
ment in such situation is
based on a practical, if forlorn,
acceptance of the fact that any
paper or=chain of papers Which
should crusade against cigarets
would accomplish no good and
would only invite derision and
get it in good measure.
Nor is it necessary for cigaret
companies to give away samples
TO the young to catch them in
the tolls of the vice.
The young, as they reached
their advanced teens, take natu-
rally 10 smoking in such over
whelming proportion that the
few boys and girls who stand
off the habit, are regarded as
eccentricS rather than as nor
NAL youngsters who prefer 10
stay normal.
THE attitude of doctors in
l. general is pulling here.
The best that any reputable
scientific man can say of ciga-
ret addiction is that an occa-
sional cigaret, of itself, does so
little harm that il may be
smoked without any thought of
the consequences.
The minute quantity Of poison
in one cigaret or one a day
would cause no inconvenience
to any normally healthy person.
But all medical men know
that there is, practically, no
such thing as one cigaret or
one day. z-----
Oddly, strong as A habit is,
patients who are put on warm
ing that they must break it off
sharp or die. usually are able
to do so with no great incon-
Venience.
Let the doctor warn patient
that he has a dangerous heart
condition aggravated by ciGa-
rets or an irritation which
might be malignant and the
victim has no trouble quitting.
CMOKERS, by the way. are, as
~ a class, the most inconsid-
crate of all human beings, in
Guiding their vice to the dis
tress of those who do not smoke
in all manner of places where,
by good manners. S m ok in &
should be forbidden.
A reasonably polite male who
may take some pride in his con-
Sideration Of women, will re-
move his hat when entering an
elevator in a hotel where
women are fellow passengers,
but continue 10 blow fumes
from a cigaret, pipe or cigar,
unconscious that he is inflicting
real distress on innocent VIC
Tins.
In this war, we have lost inn
portant production because fac
tory regulations, dictated by
safety and efficiency. forbade
smoking and the smokers, I'M
able 10 restrain themselves,
walked out.
Many miners have lost their
lives through explosions caused
by smok ers who Struggled
matches and cigarets below