Welcome to the book The Case Against the Little White Slaver (1914), by Henry Ford. To go to the "Table of Contents" immediately, click here.
Tobacco pushers and their accessories conceal the breadth of tobacco effects, the enormity of the tobacco holocaust, and the long record of documentation. The concealment process is called the "tobacco taboo." Other pertinent words are "censorship" and "disinformation." This site is one in a series presenting information thus unknown to the public. Here is the text by Henry Ford [1863-1947] of an early exposé (1914) of tobacco dangers. Written shortly after Michigan's 1909 cigarette ban, the book cites facts you don't normally ever find reported, due to the "tobacco taboo." The phrase "tobacco taboo" is the term for the pro-tobacco censorship policy—to not report most facts about tobacco. As you will see, information about the tobacco danger was already being circulated in 1914, 50 years before the famous 1964 Surgeon General Report. Be prepared. This book was circulated to children in that era. |
by Henry Ford (Detroit: Henry Ford, 1914, revised 1916) Table of Contents
-2- Thos A. Edison -3- TO MY FRIEND, THE AMERICAN BOY While spending some time in Florida with Mr. Thomas A. Edison [1847-1931], the noted electrical genius, and Mr. John Burroughs, the eminent naturalist, the question of cigarette smoking and its evil effects, particularly upon boys and young men, came up for discussion. Mr. Edison advanced some pronounced views in condemnation of the cigarette. For several years he had been experimenting with combustion of various substances for the purpose of discovering a suitable filament for use in incandescent lamps, and it was during this research that the harmful effects of acrolein were observed. I asked Mr. Edison to put his conclusions in writing. He did so, and the letter is herewith reproduced in facsimile. Following receipt of this letter, I authorized an interview in which I went squarely on record as opposed to cigarettes, making it plain that
Mr. Percival I. Hill, president of the American Tobacco Company, in a letter sent broadcast, challenged me to produce proof of assertions he charged me with making, he declaring among other things that
I was challenged to either prove my contention or enable the manufacturers to disprove it; to give as much publicity to the retraction Mr. Hill felt certain would be forthcoming as was given to my "original unwarranted attacks." I do not ask you to accept my word alone in this matter. I want you to read carefully Mr. Edison's letter, Mr. Hill's defense, and the opinions of doctors, judges, university instructors, athletes, etc.—a few selected at random from hundreds who have testified. Then you will be in a position to judge for yourself whether "the scientific facts are all in favor of the cigarette;" whether you can afford to become a slave to a habit that a no less noted person than Hudson Maxim [1853-1927] declares [p 21] is "a maker of invalids, criminals and fools." -6- MR. HILL'S DEFENSE
BY MR. FORD'S SECRETARY
Non-Smokers More Efficient Dr. A. D. Bush, who enjoys a world-wide reputation as a physiologist, recently decided to conduct an investigation along the lines of tobacco smoking in its relation to mental efficiency. In its issue of May, 1914, Efficiency Magazine had this to say in regard to the results: "As a result of a series of experiments by Dr. A. D. Bush, it has been ascertained that tobacco smoking causes a decrease of 10.5 per cent in mental efficiency. There was a series of 120 tests on each of fifteen men in several different psychic fields. The men who volunteered for the tests were all medical students ranging in age from 21 to 32 years, of varying previous experience, from the farm laborer to the life-long student. The mental capacity of the students varied from the failure to the honor student. The subjects were attendants at the University of Vermont, where Dr. Bush is an instructor in physiology."
As superintendent of Walnut Lodge Hospital, Inc., in Hartford, Conn., Dr. T. D. Crothers had exceptional opportunities for observing the effects of cigarette smoking. Here are some of his conclusions: In young persons who begin on cigarettes there are always pronounced symptoms of poisoning, such as pallor and dullness of activity. The brain seems to act more slowly to outside impressions, and the reasoning is always more or less inaccurate; minute statements of events and capacity to carry out work that requires steadiness, accuracy and persistency is lacking. is a more or less dangerous narcotic to the senses and the higher brain activities, and no person can be in complete possession of his faculties and power of control and exercise the highest efficiency possible who uses tobacco. The following item which appeared in the Detroit Times on March 20, 1916, is significant testimony in the indictment of cigarettes and their use, even by men of mature age and development. The clipping tells the whole story, and so we reproduce it without further comment: "One hundred cigarettes a day were too much for Frank Winters aged 46 years, of this city. He was declared to have been mentally affected by excessive cigarette smoking in a certificate filed in the Probate Court, Saturday morning, by Dr. M. A. Layton. As a principal of Eastern High School, Detroit, Mr. J. Remsen Bishop has each year had under him hundreds of youths who were at the formative stage. Here is how he regards cigarette smoking: "Experience of many years, chiefly with boys between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, has persuaded me that of all the agencies which make for non-success in high-school work the cigarette evil is the most serious with which we have to deal." Writing in the Scientific Temperance Journal, Rev. Ozora S. Davis, D. D., president of Chicago Theological Seminary, says: "The power of the cigarette habit is greater than we would be inclined to think. Boys in school who are in the clutch of it become its slaves. They cannot put their minds on their work. They are incapable of remaining long without the stimulant of another cigarette. Their whole physical and moral condition is involved. This is the universal testimony of teachers, and it is something that is known to the writer from experience as a high school principal. The fetter of the cigarette habit becomes welded at last with a grip that no act of the weakened will alone can break. This is the terrible and tragic end of the matter in case after case. Boys think that they can smoke a little now and then when they please and that they can stop when they are ready to do so. They do not know that the very continuing of the use of cigarettes involves their wills so seriously that when they want to stop they cannot. This can be proven from every school in the country." To the athletically inclined boy who enters college the greatest honor attainable is that of "making the team." With a view to ascertaining what effect, if any, smoking had on athletic fitness. Dr. Frederick J. Pack, of the University of Utah, gathered statistics from a number of colleges, selected at random, the football tryout being chosen as affording the best comparable evidence. Twelve colleges and universities in all parts of the country supplied the facts, according to the Scientific Temperance Journal. A total of 210 men contested for positions on the first teams. Of the non-smokers 65.8 per cent were successful; of the smokers only 33.3 per cent were successful. This was not only true in the six institutions which furnished data about the tryout when taken as a total, but in each of the six the non-smokers far outstripped the smokers. In one institution not a single smoker obtained a place on the team. Dr. Charles B. Towns, of New York, is a recognized authority on neurotics. He has for many years specialized in the treatment of nervous diseases. Recently he has been assisting Mrs. William K. Yanderbilt, Sr., in her crusade against drug habits. Here is his estimate of the cigarette as expressed in an article in the Century Magazine: "It is generally admitted that in the immature the moderate use of tobacco stunts the normal growth of the body and mind, and causes various nervous disturbances, especially of the heart—disturbances which it causes in later life only when smoking has become excessive. That is to say, though a boy's stomach grows tolerant of nicotine to the extent of taking it without protest, the rest of the body keeps on protesting. Furthermore, all business men will tell you that tobacco damages a boy's usefulness in his work. This is necessarily so, since anything which lowers vitality creates some kind of incompetence. For the same reason, the boy who smokes excessively not only is unable to work vigorously, but he does not wish to work at all. If there were some instrument to determine it, in my opinion there would be seen a difference of fifteen per cent in the general efficiency of smokers and non-smokers. And despite the fact that cigarette smoking is the worst form of tobacco addiction, virtually all boys who smoke start with cigarettes." When Dr. Harvey W. Wiley was chief of the federal bureau of chemistry at Washington he had impure food and drug manufacturers on the run all the time. He is unquestionably the leading health and food authority in the United States today. Would you know his opinion of the cigarette? "I commend Mr. Ford, Mr. Edison and all people who join them in efforts to curtail or restrict, obliterate or destroy the pernicious habit of cigarette smoking. The use of cigarettes is making inroads, on the strength of the nerves of all who smoke them, especially boys of tender years or women who smoke them because they think that the practice is smart. The effect may not be so bad on people of more mature years, but not in any case, no matter how old a man or woman, is smoking helpful. Besides constituting a nuisance, the financial strain connected with use of tobacco stands between millions of people and home comforts." Dr. Winfield S. Hall, Ph. D., M. D., is professor of physiology in Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago; Fellow of the American Academy of Medicine, Member of the American Physiology Society. He looks at the use of tobacco from a scientific standpoint. His are the views of a man who knows by experience and observation, as he was for years a smoker before he came to realize that he was forming a "drug" habit, and quit: "Tobacco does much to undermine the success of young men. Why? Because it is the entering wedge of two lines of dissipation. either of which may defeat success. The first line is the dissipation of money for things unnecessary. The second line of dissipation, is that of sense gratification. One uses tobacco partly because of its flavor and partly for the sedative action which it exerts upon the nervous system. It is just this sedative effect which steals away a young man's vigilance and alertness and handicaps him in the struggle for success. The use of tobacco paves the way to other dissipation by requiring a compensating stimulant to overcome its sedative effect and by making the common wholesome food taste insipid and flat. A vast majority of drunkards were smokers before they were drinkers. The mental attitude and lack of resistance which permits a man to smoke is likely also to permit other forms of dissipation more destructive in their influence." Dr. D. H. Kress is the man who perhaps more than any other single individual has helped boys and men who desired to break away from cigarette smoking through the administration of treatments that effect a cure. "The cigarette," says Dr. Kress, "strikes a direct blow at the most vital organ of the body. It weakens the heart action. For this reason it is difficult for the cigarette addict to engage in athletics. He finds he is easily winded and is lacking in endurance. He soon loses all ambition to engage in sports, or, in fact, in any useful occupation. Associating with others of his kind, he soon begins to visit the pool rooms. In time he may end up in the juvenile court, reform school or penitentiary. It is estimated that 96 per cent of our youthful criminals are cigarette addicts. The boy with a weakened heart is more apt to succumb to typhoid fever, tuberculosis or other acute diseases which especially tax the heart, should he be stricken down with them. The cigarette injures the boy morally. He is almost as difficult to impress as the cocaine fiend." In addition to the effect of cigarette smoking on the morals, Dr. Kress makes some statements concerning effects of the habit on the physical state of the nation itself. "The Medical Times" for April, 1916, contains the following paragraphs, which seem especially pertinent. Dr. Kress here says: "In an ungraded room of a Detroit school, out of twenty-six boys, ranging from twelve to sixteen years, only two were found who did not habitually smoke cigarettes. These boys had never smoked and were, in all respects, the best developed boys in the room. The principal called my attention to two other boys, one of whom admitted using cigarettes since the age of five or six years, and the other confessed to having smoked them as long as he could remember." "Physically, the latter two were the most defective of any in the department. The boy who had smoked as long as he could remember was unable to write his name, and a pulse tracing showed the heart in a most defective condition. Whether these two boys would have been as tall and well-developed as the other two, I cannot say. It seems more than a coincidence, however, that the only two boys who had never smoked should be the best developed in every way, while the inveterate smokers should be most defective. All four lads were of the same age, about fourteen, but in stature the smokers resembled boys of eight or nine." It is not difficult to identify boys and young men who are habitual users of cigarettes. A small, delicate instrument known as the sphygmograph is employed, being placed on the wrist so that it covers the radial artery. As the artery pulsates against a sensitive spring, a tracing is made on smoked paper which moves through the apparatus. The diagrams below show
the heart action of the confirmed smoker of cigarettes in comparison with the strong, regular heart action of the normal healthy man—a demonstration of the most vital importance. "It is generally recognized that any habit of life which places an extra tax upon the kidneys, heart or other vital organs, wears them out prematurely. Such a habit is the use of cigarettes as practiced today from youth up. A careful study of six Canadian insurance companies found the mortality rate of non-smokers to be 59 and that of moderate smokers 93. "A tobacco crippled heart cannot stand the extra strain that is placed upon it during any disease accompanied by high temperature and high blood pressure. Pneumonia frequently weeds out those who possess some organic disease, and its field of operation is chiefly confined to men whose hearts are weakened by the excessive use of tobacco. The relation of tobacco, especially in the form of cigarettes, and alcohol and opium is a very close one, declares Dr. Charles B. Towns, of New York, in an article in the Century Magazine. "For years I have been dealing with alcoholism and morphinism, have gone into their every phase and aspect, have kept careful and minute details of between six and seven thousand cases, and I have never seen a case, except occasionally with women, which did not have a history of excessive tobacco. Mike Donovan has been a familiar figure in athletics all his life. For thirty years he has been athletic director of the New York Athletic Club. His work has brought him in touch with all classes of men and boys under the most trying conditions. His word is law with those who know him. And when it comes to smoking he speaks out with characteristic directness. Listen to this: "Any boy who smokes can never hope to succeed in any line of endeavor, as smoking weakens the heart and lungs, and ruins the stomach and affects the entire nervous system. If a boy or young man expects to amount to anything in athlet-" ics he must let smoking and all kinds of liquor alone. They are rank poison to his athletic ambitions." Says the Medical World speaking editorially of cigarettes: "The worst of tobacco is found in cigarettes. The feature of their use which makes them most dangerous, and which is subtly enslaving and demoralizing, is the practically universal habit of inhalation of the smoke. This brings it into contact with many square feet of vascular tissues in the mouth, throat, bronchial tubes and air cells in the lungs, which almost instantly absorb the poisons from the fumes and nearly as quickly infuse them into the circulation. Mrs. T. E. Patterson, of Griffin, Georgia, president of the Georgia Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and a woman of exceptional mental attainments, takes issue with Mr. Hill, president of the American Tobacco Company, regarding the harmfulness of cigarette smoking. Says Mrs. Patterson: "I have heard amateur chemists say, 'I have investigated and find that cigarette papers contain no poison.' We are told that they do contain lime, lead and arsenic, a solution used to toughen the paper. you could say 'Jack Robinson,' and teaspoonsful of the water from the other papers seemed to cause a mouse to suffer no inconvenience. Grantland Rice is a writer of recognized authority on all sports. He has been sporting editor of some of the largest newspapers in the country, and is an athlete of renown. He should know what he is talking about. And here are his views: "For the last eighteen years I have been either playing or covering for newspapers all different forms of sports and competition. In this way my observation has been from close range—close enough to develop facts and not mere theories. Dr. David Paulson, president of the Anti-Cigarette League of America, tells of an experiment he conducted when a student at Bellevue Hospital Medical School, in New York, that impressed upon his mind the fact that nicotine is a deadly poison. A large, healthy cat which made night hideous for everybody in the neighborhood was the victim. Here is the incident in the doctor's own words: "I soaked enough tobacco to make an ordinary cigarette in water. Then I injected under the cat's skin a hypodermic syringe full of this tobacco juice. In a few minutes the cat began to quiver, then tremble, then it had cramps, and in less than twenty minutes it died in violent convulsions. The poison destroyed the nine lives a cat is popularly supposed to possess. The London Lancet, perhaps the foremost medical publication in the world, made an exhaustive examination of cigarettes some two years ago. Portions of its finding were given wide publicity by tobacco interests, particularly that section in which doubt was expressed as to the quantity of nicotine found in a cigarette exerting a harmful influence. Here is an excerpt from that report, under date April 13, 1912, which was not given such wide publicity by these same men: "To aldehydes the poisonous effects of crude, immature whisky are ascribed, although they occur in relatively small quantities, but the furfural contained in the smoke of only one Virginian cigarette may amount, according to our experiments, to as much as is present in a couple of fluid ounces of whisky. The presence at any rate of aldehydes in the smoke of the Virginian cigarette, which is so often smoked to excess, accompanied at the same time by an almost insignificant amount of nicotine, gives material for reflection when approaching the broad question of evils of the cigarette habit. The boy who does not know of Connie Mack is not old enough to read the newspapers and take an interest in baseball. As leader of the Philadelphia Athletics, Connie Mack takes rank as one of the greatest generals baseball has ever known. He reads men and boys as an ordinary person reads a book. He contributes to the Scientific Temperance Journal this characteristically clear statement: "It is my candid opinion, and I have watched very closely the last twelve years or more, that boys at the age of ten to fifteen who have continued smoking cigarettes do not as a rule amount to anything. They are unfitted in every way for any kind of work where brains are needed. No boy or man can expect to succeed in this world to a high position and continue the use of cigarettes." Hon. Benjamin B. Lindsay [1869-1943] is judge of the Juvenile Court in Denver, Colorado, where are handled the cases of boys and girls who have gone wrong. He is often referred to as "the golden rule judge" because of his kindness, and the deep interest he takes in boys and girls. In telling "What I Have Seen of Cigarettes," Judge Lindsay says in part: "One of the very worst habits of boyhood is the cigarette habit. This has long been recognized by all the judges of the courts who deal with young criminals, and especially by judges of police courts, before whom pass thousands of men every year who are addicted to intemperate habits. These judges know that in nearly every case the drunken sots who appear before them, a disgrace to their parents, themselves and the state, began as boys smoking cigarettes. One bad habit led to another. The nicotine and poison in the cigarette created an appetite for alcoholic drink. The cigarette habit not only had a grip upon them in boyhood, but it invited all the other demons of habit to come in and add to the degradation that the cigarette began." Hudson Maxim [1853-1927] has won world renown as the inventor of high explosives for use in battleship guns and torpedoes and for various other purposes. He comes out squarely against the cigarette in this fashion: "The wreath of cigarette smoke which curls about the head of the growing lad holds his brain in an iron grip which pre- vents it from growing and his mind from developing just as surely as the iron shoe does the foot of the Chinese girl.
"Several of my young acquaintances are in their graves, who gave promise of making happy and useful citizens," declares Luther Burbank [1849-1926], the wizard of the plant and vegetable kingdom, whose experiments have caused the civilized world to wonder, "and there is no question whatever that cigarettes alone were the cause of their destruction. No boy living would commence the use of cigarettes if he knew what a useless, soulless, worthless thing they would make of him." At Dwight, Illinois, is located the Keeley Institute, where men from all parts of the country are sent to be cured of drug and liquor and tobacco habits Dr. Charles L. Hamilton is superintendent of the Keeley Institute, and knows what is going on there at all times. He is in close touch with every case. What does he say? "Our experience here at Dwight, where many hundreds of cigarette cases have been treated, is that persons applying for treatment for both liquor and cigarettes dread giving up their cigarettes more than they do the liquor. Moreover, those who return to the use of cigarettes in after life are almost certain to resume the use of liquor to allay the irritability on the nervous system produced by tobacco smoke inhalation."
-24- TO THE MAN OF TOMORROW— THE AMERICAN BOY OF TODAY When I first made public the letter sent me by Mr. Thomas A. Edison, the world's greatest electrical genius, in response to my request for an expression on the harmful effects of cigarette smoking by boys, Mr. Percival I. Hill, president of the American Tobacco Company, denied the truth of Mr. Edison's findings. Mr. Edison, a facsimile of whose letter was published in the preceding volume, said: "The injurious agent in cigarettes comes principally from the burning paper wrapper. The substance thereby formed is called 'acrolein.' It has a violent action on the nerve centers, producing degeneration of the cells of the brain, which is quite rapid among boys. Unlike most narcotics, this degeneration is permanent and uncontrollable. I employ no person who smokes cigarettes." Among other statements made by Mr. Hill in his letter to Mr. Edison and myself, which was sent all over the country, was this: "Aside from the overwhelming weight of scientific testimony, common sense will convince any reasonable man that the cigarette is not injurious. I want you to notice how Mr. Hill speaks of American men in his defense of the cigarette. In the interview I authorized as an accompaniment to Mr. Edison's letter I made it plain that men did not enter into our discussion of the subject; that I
-26- was interested in the boys of America—who are going to be the men of to-morrow—and their welfare. To quote that interview: "I do not feel called upon to try to reform any person over twenty-five years of age because by that time the habit has been formed. Then it is only a question of the strength of will or mind of the smoker which will enable him to stop. He knows the injurious effects and controls his own destiny. Replying to Mr. Hill's defense, Mr. E. G. Liebold, my secretary, To date no proof has been forthcoming. So much for the moral side of the question. Let us pass that by for the time being, and consider another aspect of the subject—the economic. Let us see whether you as an ambitious American boy can afford to ruin your prospects by doing those things which are disapproved by employers generally, and which in many, many cases must put you out of the running entirely. If "millions of American men have convinced themselves that cigarettes are good for them," they have not succeeded in convincing their employers of this fact, and this is especially true as regards boys. I want you to read the expressions of opinion from some of the large employers of the country as they are set forth in the following pages; to consider the views of others who have voluntarily stated the case as it appears to them. I know you will then be in a position to judge for yourself whether you can afford to take chances on losing everything, and I am willing to leave the decision in your own hands. -28- HOW EMPLOYERS FEEL TOWARD CIGARETTE SMOKERS Here is an Automobile Company's Attitude NOTICE "Cigarette smoking is acquiring a hold on a great many boys in our community. The habit has grown in the last year or two. Since it is such a bad practice and is taking such a hold upon so many people, we think it is a disgrace for a grown man to smoke cigarettes, because it is not only injurious to his health, but it is such a bad example to the boys. The foregoing notice was posted conspicuously by the Cadillac Motor Car Company throughout its large factories at Detroit, Mich. Commenting on this action, the company says further: "Several years ago we began a somewhat active campaign against this evil. We made a study of the effect upon the morals and efficiency of men in our employ addicted to this habit and found that cigarette smokers invariably were loose in their morals and very apt to be untruthful, and were far less productive than men who were not cigarette smokers. We might mention a large number of instances which substantiate this latter statement, but space does not permit. We put up notices in conspicuous places about the plant. This had quite an effect among the employees in general. We allow no cigarette smoking about the plant; in fact, will not hire men who we know use cigarettes. Where the Employee Shares the Benefits "Factory to family," is the slogan of the Larkin Company, Buffalo, N. Y., in whose immense plants thousands of persons are constantly employed under the most favorable conditions. Mr. Wm. R. Heath, vice-president of the company, in outlining his company's attitude on the labor question, says: "Mr. Roosevelt spoke very wisely the other day when he said:"'The problem must be, so far as it concerns the great industries in which the immense majority of wage workers are engaged, to combine efficiency with the proper sharing of the rewards of that efficiency. There will be no rewards for anybody, no adequate wage for the working man, no proper service to the public, unless the business pays. extent of his ability selects that employee and only that one who is capable of efficient performance? George W. Alden is head of the big mercantile establishment in Brockton, Mass., that bears his name. Here are his views on the efficiency and desirability of the cigarette-smoking boy: "So far as I know none of my employees smoke cigarettes. We don't hire that kind of boys or men. I should not consider for a minute any candidate for a position if I knew he smoked cigarettes. It would be pretty strongly against him if he applied for a position with either a cigar, pipe or cigarette in his mouth. With the general knowledge prevalent in this state as to the injurious effects of cigarette smoking, any boy should have ambition enough and decision enough to let cigarettes alone. My observation has taught me that cigarette-smoking boys are woefully lacking in both ambition and decision. They soon become dull, smoke-befuddled boys. I let them know that cigarettes spoil boys for my business." The Burroughs Adding Machine Company's plant at Detroit, Mich., is one of the country's model industrial institutions, every attention being paid to the physical and mental well-being of the employees. Only the highest grade of machinists are employed and these are selected with care. Writes General Manager Lauver: "We have taken no definite steps to suppress cigarette smoking other than to forbid the smoking of cigarettes in our office. I wish you success in your effort to correct the evils of cigarette smoking on the part of young boys, and am frank to say that, other things being equal, we will always give preference for employment to boys and young men who do not smoke cigarettes." Puts the Ban on Cigarette Smokers
This notice may be found throughout the great laboratories of the J. C. Ayer Co., manufacturing chemists, Lowell, Mass. It was prompted not by unwarranted prejudice but by careful study of the situation on the part of Charles H. Stowell, M.D., treasurer of the Company. Commenting on this attitude, Mr. Stowell says: "Close observation for many years among the boys employed by this company has shown that those who are most energetic, active, alert, quick, spry, do not smoke; while the listless, lazy, dull, sleepy, uninteresting and uninterested boys are, we find upon investigation, those who smoke cigarettes." "It lowers the moral tone. Boys who would not tell a lie on any other matter, not for a fortune, our best and noblest boys, do not seem to hesitate a moment to tell any kind of a falsehood in order to keep from their parents the fact that they are smoking cigarettes. They hide the cigarettes. They smoke them away from home. They try in every way to conceal the truth. Indeed, they will do all manner of things in order to deceive those who are nearest and dearest to them. Writes A. M. Phifer, superintendent of the Joseph Home Company, dry goods, Pittsburgh, Pa.: "While we have no fixed rule on the subject, if we know an applicant for a position is a cigarette 'fiend' we will not employ him. We might add further that a state law in Pennsylvania makes it an offense punishable by fine or imprisonment or both, to either give or sell to anyone under twenty-one years of age cigarettes, or for minors to have cigarettes in their possession." Marshall Field & Company, Chicago, the greatest department store in America, if not in the world, bar cigarette-smoking boys, giving this as their reason: "For many years it has been our policy not to engage boys who make a practice of smoking cigarettes, as we believe it to be detrimental to their development." The fame of John Wanamaker, merchant prince, with immense establishments in New York and Philadelphia, where thousands of persons are employed, is world-wide. Mr. Wanamaker says: "The question of the use of tobacco and cigarettes by the young men who make application to us for employment comes in for serious consideration, and where there is evidence of the excessive use of cigarettes the applicant is invariably refused a place in our ranks." Brown Durrell Co. are importers and manufacturers of hosiery, underwear, handkerchiefs and furnishings, with headquarters in Boston, and large branches in New York and Chicago. Great numbers of men and boys are in their employ, and they have excellent opportunities for judging who are worth while and who arc not. Mr. Thomas B. Fitzpatrick, president and treasurer of the company, comes out squarely against the cigarette in this manner: "We have found in the main that the young fellow addicted to cigarette smoking is not a profitable or desirable hand to have in our employ. This fact is so apparent that we have made a rule against employing such young men if we know that they have contracted the habit. Therefore, for business reasons, independent entirely of the moral consideration, the cigarette smoker has a handicap that interferes with his value to himself or to us." Wm. T. Isaacs, vice-president and general manager of the Gurney Heater Manufacturing Company, Boston, says: "The policy of our company when employing young men has been to insist upon their refraining from the use of cigarrettes, as we feel this is not only for their own benefit, but we get better service from them." WHY CIGARETTE-SMOKING BOYS ARE NOT WANTED The opposition of employers to cigarette-smoking boys and young men, their refusal in many cases to hire them, is not a matter of sentiment. It is a plain business proposition. They know that the boy who is not addicted to the use of cigarettes will return larger dividends on the investment both to himself and his employer; that, other things being equal, he will get to the front more rapidly, and that he is better equipped mentally, morally and physically to assume the responsibilities that come with promotion. Prof. Selby A. Moran, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is one of the best known instructors in stenography in the world. The nature of his profession has made him a close observer of boys and young men. Here is what he writes: "I have been a teacher of shorthand almost constantly for the past thirty years. During this time I have taught thousands of young people, ranging from students of grade school age to university graduates. appalling. It is therefore very fortunate that powerful influences such as will result from the action of your company and that of other great commercial organizations, are being added to the forces which are opposing this evil, one which is threatening the stability of the American people. THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR By Len G. Shaw I shall not mention their names. That would be revealing identities that might better not be disclosed, for the sake of both. Neither shall I sketch the two careers too intimately. If I did it is more than likely that even in his pitiable mental state the one would recognize the portrait of himself, and there is no desire on my part to add one jot to the mental anguish he must suffer when in the few lucid moments he is permitted he looks back over opportunities that were worse than wasted. It was in the heat of a gubernatorial campaign in Michigan that I first met them—two fellows whom to know was to like. One was the star political writer on a metropolitan newspaper, the other a reporter on a small city daily. They had struck up an acquaintance during the afternoon, while one of the gubernatorial candidates the political writer was accompanying on a spellbinding tour was making a speech at the country fair grounds. We sat up late that night in the hotel lobby, swapping stories and talking over matters of mutual interest, and I was impressed by the striking similarity of characteristics in the two men. Both were splendid physical specimens of manhood, clean-cut, alert, immaculately attired—men who would attract attention in a crowd. Scarcely had we settled down in our chairs when the political writer produced a box of cigarettes, and after extracting one for his own consumption passed them to his new-found acquaintance. They were declined with thanks. The reporter looked grave. "I am not sure that is such a small vice," he replied slowly. "Oh, well, we'll not quarrel over that," went on the political writer. "I do not smoke much myself." But during our session that evening he emptied one box and had made serious inroads on a second. It was some months later, in Lansing, that I met them. They were "covering" the legislature for rival papers in the same city, but this fact had no bearing on their friendship. They were inseparable and had come to be known as Damon and Pythias, so devoted were they to each other's interests. Only, wherever Damon was encountered he would be found puffing at a half-burned cigarette, or with feverish haste rolling a fresh one. The years rolled by. I had kept close track of the small town reporter who had developed into a star metropolitan man, and was turning his attention to theatrical reviewing with marked success. But the political writer had dropped from view, following a disagreement with the newspaper he had served. One day a shadow fell across my path, and I looked up to come face to face with the one-time star. He was bronzed. His clothes were in sore need of a valet, and his linen had not been on speaking terms with a laundry for some time back. He grinned at my gasp of astonishment. "I don't wonder you are surprised." he went on. "You see, I've been down in Georgia, working on a peach farm. I had to do something, so I thought I'd cut out the old life for a time. I'm pretty near down and out—but I'll come back. I'm just as good today as I ever was, and I'll show those fellows that have turned against me. By the way, can you spare me a cigarette?" A month or so later I was wandering along the docks, watching the operations of a gang of lumber shovers, when an overalled figure separated itself from the rest of the party and came shuffling over to where I stood. There was something familiar about the man, yet I had to look a second time before certain as to the identity of the grimy, perspiring individual. There was a wistfulness in his tones, and it seemed almost as though tears glistened in the shifting eyes. "You see," he went on, "it was a little dull in the newspaper business, and I had to live while something was turning up in the old game, so I'm down here for a little while. It doesn't pay very much—and it's awful hard work—but it's enough to keep me going until I get back. I can make good again. All I need is a fair show. I've got the stuff in me if I get a chance. And by the way"— From time to time strange stories reached me concerning the one-time political writer. He was successively panhandler, hobo and potato peeler in the kitchen of the county infirmary, to which he obtained admittance through the good offices of men who had known him in the prime of his career. It was a crisp October morning suggestive of winter apparel. At a downtown corner stood a gaunt figure, from whose parchment-like countenance two fishy eyes stared forth uncomprehendingly. Under his arm he carried a small bundle of newspapers that he essayed unsuccessfully to dispose of to passersby. And as he called the papers in a rasping monotone he pulled away at a cigarette "butt" he had picked from the gutter. I saw him again the other day, moving unsteadily along the street, having eyes but not seeing, possessed of ears yet not hearing. The overalls that partly encased his withered limbs were frayed at the bottom and flapped about forlornly with every step. A checked blouse took the place of a coat. A ragged straw hat, whose original color had long since disappeared beneath a coat of grime, surmounted his tousled hair. His face resembled that of a coal heaver at the end of a day's toil. His hands, swinging loosely at his sides, were dark as those of an African. I have seen men in the throes of delirium tremens, screeching for help at the top of their voices, while hospital attendants fought to restrain them. I never saw so horrible a spectacle as was represented by this one-time Beau Brummel, who had forfeited every claim to consideration, and sunk to unbelievable depths—victim of the Little White Slaver. Not one of his former acquaintances would have recognized him in this pitiable condition—and it was well. Possibly before you read these lines Death will have mercifully laid hold on this human derelict, and he will have passed to the great beyond. The other man—the one who had "no small vices?" He is today dramatic editor of one of the leading New York newspapers, standing well toward the head of his profession, a man known personally by every actor and actress of consequence in the country, and whose opinions are accepted as authoritative.
-42- TO THE BOY WHO WANTS TO PLAY FAIR WITH HIMSELF In a letter to Mr. Thomas A Edison and myself, published elsewhere in this book in which he takes exception to our attitude toward cigarette smokng among boys, Mr. Percival I. Hill, President of the American Tobacco Company, makes one statement in which I heartily concur. "The increase of cigarette smoking in the United States in recent years is significant," says Mr. Hill. It is—very significant. The increase is so tremendous as to constitute one of the most serious problems confronting a nation that wants red blooded, sound-minded men for the next generation, and the next—a land that should be vitally concerned with the mental and moral and physical well-being of its bovs, who are going to be the men of tomorrow. "In 1900," continues Mr. Hill, "two billion six hundred thousand cigarettes were made in this country. In 1913 fifteen billion eight hundred million cigarettes were made here, an increase of 700 per cent." Do you wonder, in the light of such a showing, that thoughtful men who have the best interests of the American boy at heart are stirring themselves in an effort to check the inroads being made by this blight, as manufacturers and merchants and other employers of labor put the bars up against cigarette smoking boys because they have convinced themselves that they are less desirable than non-smokers? To quote further from Mr. Hill, "when one confuses his dislikes or likes with scientific facts he certainly can hardly be expected to be taken seriously." I ask you in all earnestness, after you have considered the proof submitted by each side in this volume, who has confused his dislikes or likes with scientific facts; who, on the strength of the evidence adduced, could reasonably expect to be taken seriously? I have enough confidence in the American boy to believe that when the facts are placed before him he will decide rightly. And here they are. -44- One of the Most Baneful Influences to Combat Judge Henry S. Hulbert, of the Juvenile Court, Detroit, Michigan, is called upon to pass judgment upon hundreds of cases each year, ranging from mild truancy to larceny and incorrigibility. He has long been a student of boy problems, and his conclusions are not theories but the observations of one who knows. Says Judge Hulbert: "I did not suppose there could longer be any doubt in the minds of men who are informed, or who follow at all closely the growing youth, of the influence of the cigarette habit upon the boy from ten to seventeen years of age. We find it one of the most baneful influences which we have to combat in this court. Perhaps nowhere is it more apparent than in the case of school truancy. felt amply repaid for the many hours of hard work. Once broken of this habit, from an indifferent, lazy boy, he became bright, a good worker, and before he left the hands of the court had four other boys on probation to him, all of whom did well under his supervision. many cases for the backward and truant boy has been proved beyond a shadow of doubt." There is no better known worker among boys in this country than Eugene C. Foster, boys' secretary of the Detroit Y. M. C. A. The following is Mr. Foster's comment anent cigarette smoking: "I have had the privilege of corresponding with many boys on the subject of cigarette smoking, and I have asked them frankly to state their opinions about this habit; besides this, I have selected from other boys' letters some statements which they have made. Here are some of the replies: "'I don't smoke cigarettes for the following reasons: Physically, Mentally, Morally Deficient For years Professor Templeton P. Twiggs was principal of the largest grammar school in Detroit, Michigan, located in the most congested section of the city, and drawing its clientele from all classes. More recently he has been supervisor of the departments of school attendance and employment permits having among other branches under his control the ungraded schools, where backward and incorrigible pupils are taught. His observations have extended over a long period, and he has made a close study of the causes leading up to truancy and incorrigibility. Referring to the general effect of cigarette smoking as observed in the ungraded rooms of the public schools, he formulates these conclusions on the physical, mental and moral effect of such indulgence: "The physical development of the young habitual smoker is irreparably checked unless he has an unusually robust constitution. In any case the physical development is noticeably arrested. He has no ambition to enter into games or any boyish activities. He apparently cares little for his personal appearance, and could be classified as of the 'down-and-out' type. The late Booker T. Washington [1856-1915], Negro educator, and principal of TheTuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, which he organized at Tuskegee, Alabama, declared that cigarettes cause a breaking down of will power and a blunting of the moral sense. He wrote: "We have had some interesting experiences at Tuskegee Institute with boys who smoke cigarettes, for every year in the thousand or more young men assembled here there are, of course, a few who are addicted to this habit. We have a rule prohibiting smoking by our students. O. C. Hamlet, United States Navy, retired, Oakland, California, has had the harmful effects of cigarette smoking driven home in a forcible manner. "I have a friend in government service," he writes, "who is practically a slave to the cigarette habit, and it has, in my opinion, entirely undermined his health, and he is now only fit for retirement. When on the active list and in command of a government vessel, I had an executive officer, a very bright and capable fellow when in his proper sense, but he had a craving for drink and cigarettes which finally proved to be his undoing. He had to leave the service, and I heard of his death in Cleveland, a short time ago, undoubtedly a miserable ending to what could have been a useful life." Nathan P. Stauffer, M. D., sometime professor of hygiene in Dickinson College and head coach of the University of Pennsylvania baseball team; laryngologist and otologist to the tubercular wards Philadelphia General Hospital, the Home for Crippled Children, and ex-member of the executive committee National Collegiate Association, has had more than fifteen years of experience and contact with athletes, hence his views must carry weight. He writes: "I am glad to see your crusade started against boys smoking cigarettes. To win in a race, or in American business competition, one must be physically and mentally fit. Smoking, drinking, gambling, overeating, sexual excesses and cigarette smoking irritate, overstimulate and exhaust a man's principal nerve center. In inhaling cigarette smoke the delicate nasal and throat mucous membranes quickly absorb the nicotine and carry the stimulus rapidly to the nerve centers. When this controller becomes unbalanced from excesses, the heart and mind can not stand prolonged strain, consequently we find parched throats, unsteady legs and confused minds. The spark plug (brain) may become sooty from cigarette carbon and the engine (body) stops because the electric current (nerves) have been broken or run down. I believe that a law should be passed prohibiting men under twenty-one years of age from smoking; by that time they have attained their growth." When the Jersey Cereal Food Company, of Cereal, Pa., decided to bar cigarette smokers from its employ in the sales force it was prompted by a desire for increased efficiency. Here is how the plan worked out, according to R. J. Foster, one of the directors of the Company: "The past seven years we have debarred the cigarette smoker from our sales force. Out of five hundred men employed this year in our sales and advertising force not a single one uses the cigarette or liquor in any form. The cost of this department for results obtained has been cut almost fifty per cent since this rule went into effect. Past experience in our advertising and sales department has shown us that the cigarette smoker was inefficient, very frequently immoral, and practically without exception his results showed the highest cost on the unit of calculation of any of our men. The results obtained in cutting the cost in this department have been far beyond our expectation. Once Defended Tobacco—Now He Feels Differently One of the authorities quoted by President Percival I. Hill, of the American Tobacco Company, in defense of tobacco was Dr. Leonard Keene Hirshberg, of Baltimore. Dr. Hirshberg did defend tobacco. He freely admits it. But he also frankly states that within a year his views have been entirely revised, because of the evidence adduced. In Physical Culture Magazine under the caption, "The Truth About Tobacco," Dr. Hirshberg says: "Cigars, cigarettes, the pipe, and chewing tobacco are, like a certain notorious character, forever being haled into court before the bar of moral and scientific justice. With its moral aspect a scientist has nothing to do, but the truth is mighty, and must prevail, so the facts must, even though from day to day they seem to change, be brought out. Their eternal and ever shifting state may be judged from my analysis last year in Harper's Weekly, when I, a non-smoker, was forced to take up the cudgels in favor of smoking. Now after the lapse of a brief interval it must perforce be said that the world does move, because the evidence at hand seems to be against tobacco. ance; they grade higher in their studies; they are recruited from the poorer and more parentally attentive families; they grow better than the tobacco users; they are more ambitious; apply themselves better; and are more attentive than the smokers." Dr. David Paulson, President of the Anti-Cigarette League of America, tells of an experience which caused him to enlist in the war against cigarettes: "Years ago God used a never-to-be-forgotten incident to burn into my soul the enormity of the cigarette evil. An elderly woman with a faded red shawl thrown over her stooping shoulders came into my office and asked if I could see her boy. Two strong men then brought before me a wild-eyed, thoroughly insane youth of seventeen years. The mother wanted to know if he could recover. After investigating his case I was compelled to tell her that the outlook was hopeless and that she might as well send him to the insane asylum. She broke down and sobbed as though her heart would break. I asked her what had brought this terrible condition upon her son, and she said, 'Oh, it was cigarettes. He smoked more and more until he used fifty a day, and then his mind gave way.'" Professor Winfield S. Hall, of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, is one of the country's foremost physiologists. Professor Hall knows what smoking means, as he was for years addicted to the habit. Regarding the practice, and how it is viewed even by those who continue it, he says in the course of a personal letter to young men:
"The young man may remind us that his father and his grandfather, his legal adviser, his physician, and his pastor all smoke, even though they with one accord advise young men not to follow their example. If these men ]ust referred to have secured a measure of success, it was not because of their use of tobacco, but in spite of that habit. It is usually more safe to be guided by the precept of our advisers than by their example.
"Though many professional men use tobacco, I have yet to hear the first one advise a young man or boy to begin its use. If asked whether they would advise a young man to begin the use of tobacco, they uniformly answer, 'No.' Most men who use tobacco regret that they ever formed the habit, but make no effort, or at best only ineffectual efforts, to stop it. This is the universal experience with a drug habit, whether the drug be nicotine, alcohol or morphine." According to the Boston Herald, a select committee of Englishmen, of which Lord Beauchamp, the Bishop of Ripon, Lord Aberdare, Lord Heneage and Lord Riddolph were members, made a report in furtherance of a departmental report previously made on physical deterioriation, and expressed emphatically their approbation of a recommendation of the latter report In the Unpopular Review for January, 1914 [Ed. Note: Volume 1, pages 3-20], Henry W. Farnam, Professor of Economics in Yale University, had an intensely interesting and illuminating article on "Our Tobacco Bill," from which we have very kindly been permitted to quote. Says Professor Farnam:
"A careful statistician, Professor William B. Bailey, of Yale, published, nearly two years ago, some figures showing that the people of the United States spent at that time in a single year about $1,100,000,000 on tobacco. As the receipts from the internal revenue tax on tobacco have increased by about fourteen per cent in the last two years, it seems fair to assume that the general consumption has increased by this amount. It seems, therefore, conservative to state that at the present time the people are spending at least $1,200,000,000 for the pleasure of smoking and chewing.
"The significance of these figures can best be appreciated if we compare them with other items in our national budget. To put the matter concretely, 'tobacco takers' spend in a single year twice the amount spent by the entire country on railroad travel and about three times the amount which it spends on its common school system; they pay out annually about three times the entire cost of the Panama canal; they destroy directly about three times as much property as was destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake. Their smokes and chews cost them just about twice what it costs to maintain the government of the United States, including the interest on -55- "A well known international jurist not long ago put together, as an argument against war, figures showing the expenditure of the leading nations of the world on their army and navy. The list included Germany, Russia, France, Great Britain and Japan. The figures for 1910 footed up $1,217,000,000, or approximately the amount devoted to tobacco by the people of the United States in a single year. Our smokers impose upon the resources of the country a burden larger than the war indemnity which Germany exacted of France after a humiliating defeat in 1871; they spend about six times what it costs the German Empire to maintain its elaborate and comprehensive system of workingmen's insurance." Had the information supplied by Mr. Percival I. Hill, President of the American Tobacco Company, regarding the increase in cigarette smoking been available at the time, Professor Farnam could have carried his analysis much further, with even more interesting disclosures, because the use of cigarettes has grown out of all proportion to the consumption of tobacco in other forms.
Mr. Hill states—and his figures are authoritative—that in 1913 fifteen billion eight hundred million cigarettes were made in the United States. That means one billion five hundred and eighty millions packages of cigarettes with ten in a package—the standard quantity.
These range in price from five cents per package of ten for the cheapest grades to thirty-five cents for the same-sized package in the choicer brands. Of course, a vastly greater quantity of the cheaper grades are sold than of the higher, because the boy who is acquiring the cigarette habit seldom has the money to squander on the more expensive brands. However, putting a price of ten cents on each package sold, it will be found that in 1913, according to Mr. Hill's production figures, there would have been spent for cigarettes alone, one hundred and fifty-eight million dollars.
That is a lot of money. Let us see how it compares with certain items in the national budget. From 1792, when the government began to mint coins on a large scale, to June 30, 1913, there had been turned out nickels. $39,010,924.60. Dimes coined during that period aggregated $68,129,827. Of quarters there were $99,653,261.25, of coppers $21,812,855.73,
The money appropriated by Congress to support the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the government—both houses of congress, president, vice-president, United States Courts, etc.—was $35,172,434.50, or considerably less than one-quarter what went up in smoke in the form of cigarettes during the year on which statistics were available. It cost $94,266,145.51 to support the army in 1914—less than two-thirds the cigarette bill of the nation. To maintain our navy for the same time necessitated an outlay of $140,718,434.53, or $17,000,000 less than was invested in cigarettes. Interest and other annual charges on the national debt amount to the comparatively insignificant sum of $22,835,000—one-seventh the national cigarette bill.
Comparisons could be continued indefinitely, but enough has been brought out to give a clear idea of what the cigarette is costing the nation each year in dollars and cents, aside from the mental and moral and physical harm that is being wrought, and which is of far greater significance, although obviously it cannot be expressed in dollars and cents.
Here is a story taken from the Detroit Free Press so typical of the hold the cigarette habit takes on its victims as to require no comment further than to call attention to what one addicted to the use of the little white slaver did with his last fifteen cents as prison gates yawned to engulf him:
"'I had done seven years of a fourteen-year sentence for forgery, and been paroled when I laid down five worthless checks for $30 apiece in Memphis, Mich., about a year ago,' said Benstead. 'I easily made my escape to Ohio. There I went to work as a boiler-maker in a locomotive works at Lima, Ohio. I was making $25 a week and had $260 in the bank.
"'Everything went along well until about two weeks ago when I saw two Lima plain clothes men looking over the men in the shop. I knew they were looking for me and made up "'I found that I had just fifteen cents left when I reached Detroit. That went for a package of cigarettes.'
Benstead did not have a cent when the detectives searched his clothes." -60- Pliny, the Elder [23 C.E. - 79 C.E.], one of the wisest men of Ancient Rome, laid down the precept that "The best plan is to profit by the folly of others."
That rule holds just as good today as it did when first given utterance to; and it is particularly true in its relation to the cigarette evil.
Employers of labor are each year becoming more strict in their requirements—for their own good and for that of the men in their employ. The physical strain imposed is such that only the strong can come through with credit.
But even more essential than the question of brawn is that of brain. The youth who gets to the front in any line must be wide-awake, alert, with a mind that is clear and capable of tackling the problems that come up.
The boy or the young man whose brain is fogged by the use of cigarettes finds himself hopelessly handicapped. His services are accepted only as a last resort; and if there is anyone else available, he is not entrusted with important matters or considered for future possibilities.
This is the testimony of men in every walk of life who have spoken to you through the pages of this booklet—men who have made good, and who know exactly why some boys succeed and why others make a sorry failure of anything they attempt.
But, the most anyone can do is to point out the dangers that confront you. You must avoid them if you play safe.
A physician may prescribe a remedy—but unless you take it there will never come a cure.
It is the same with the cigarette habit—if you are ever freed from it, it will be largely because you exercise the will power given you and throw off the yoke of the cigarette.
And if you are not already enslaved, the safest and easiest way to escape the danger is to follow the advice of Pliny the Elder, who is wise in our generation as well as his own, and "profit by the folly of others," by avoiding cigarettes.
HENRY FORD.
-63- Connie Mack, long manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, is conceded by all to be one of the brainiest leaders in the baseball world, and one of the keenest students of players the game has ever known.
He has watched the rise and the fall of countless stars in the profession he has followed with such credit—and he has made it his business to analyze their undoing. In reply to an inquiry he said:
"We find that players who do smoke never amount to a great deal in the profession—and I would say that this goes for all professions. It is my candid opinion—and I have watched very closely the last dozen years or so—that boys at the age of ten to fifteen who have continued smoking cigarettes do not, as a rule, amount to anything. They are unfitted in every way for any kind of work where brains are needed.
"Players, for instance, who should have continued in the game until they were at the age of thirty to thirty-five years have had to be let out years before their time, as the cigarette poison, getting into their system, has unnerved and weakened them so that they were utterly unfit for the duty they had to perform.
"No boy or man can expect to succeed to a high position in the world and continue the use of cigarettes." Clarke Griffith, Manager of the Washington "Nationals" is another base ball leader who has every chance to watch theeffects of personal habits on the playing abilities of his team mates.
His efforts to produce a winning team have caused him to issue this bulletin to the players.
Every body knows of Ty Cobb, foremost ball-player of his time, and probably the greatest exponent the game has ever known. Cobb is the idol of every youthful fan, the one whose success on the diamond all would emulate. He plays the hardest of any man in the game, and he can be depended upon every day.
Cobb mixes with the men of his profession; and he knows better than do most of them what their weakness is and its cause. His warning should be heeded by every boy who wants to make something of himself. Writes Ty:
"The alert brain, the strong body, and the moral stamina necessary for success in any line of endeavor are weakened and destroyed by the cigarette habit; and young men should realize its disastrous effects." John D. Quackenbos, A.M., M.D., emeritus professor in Columbia University, New York City, is one of the most eminent members of the medical profession. Speaking recently before the American Society for the Study of Alcohol and Narcotic Drugs, at Washington, D. C., Dr. Quackenbos said:
"The real danger in smoking consists largely in the habit of inhalation whereby the volatilized poisons are brought into "Inhalers of tobacco smoke are listless, forgetful, undependable, backward in study, and conspicuously lacking in power of attention and application. A patient who began to smoke at seven, and smoked all the time he was awake, until, as he described it, he 'got a jag on the smoke,' at 35 could not pin himself down to any business. As the habit is pushed, the habitué becomes excessively nervous, suffers from shortness of breath, muscular cramps and tremblings, rapid and irregular heart, nausea, giddiness, insomnia, irritable throat (cigarette cough), impaired digestion, and often from dimness of vision which has been known to culminate in blindness (tobacco amaurosis).
"Gravest of all the evils resulting is the lessening or complete loss of moral sensibility, with a conspicuous tendency to falsehood and theft. The moral propensities are eventually destroyed because of the destruction of those elements of the brain through which moral force is expressed. The victim degenerates into a sallow, unmanly, irresponsible incompetent, in splendid fettle for the penitentiary or the asylum. Such is the influence on character of the cigarette habit, which has developed into a form of moral insanity.
"Alcoholism can not be cured until the inhalation habit is disposed of.
"The government has begun a most meritorious campaign against drug taking in the enforcement of the Harrison law. But it has left unnoticed two habits that are doing infinitely more damage to the brains and physical constitutions of the people of the United States than all the drugs put many times together, viz., the drink and cigarette habits. Three times the amount of our national debt (about $3,000,000,000) is spent annually in the country on alcoholic drinks and to-bacco. Twenty billion cigarettes, it is estimated, are smoked every year in the United States. Boys and girls, men and women, are permitted without protest from high quarters to destroy their mental faculties and moral propensities by this practice. Physicians have come to realize that those who abandon themselves to the double indulgence in tobacco and alcohol are practically committing suicide on the installment plan. They can never be at their best, and a cigarette smoker represents as hazardous a risk from the viewpoint of life insurance as a consumer of liquor." One of the first battalions to leave Canada at the call of the mother country when the European war broke out was the Victoria Rifles. And one of the first things Lieut. Col. J. A. Gunn, commanding the Twenty-fourth Battalion Victoria Rifles did, was to requisition a supply of copies of "The Case Against the Little White Slaver," for distribution among his men.
Just before leaving for England with the Victoria Rifles, on their way to the trenches, Lieut. Col. Gunn wrote Mr. Ford regarding his work among the men, and the progress they had made, in the course of his letter stating:
"It will not be many days now until we get our marching orders, and I am sending you this to tell you that your little pamphlet has done splendid work and has been distributed where it will do the most good. In fact, I am taking several hundred of them with me on our transport, so that the men will have an opportunity of reading them over again." Professor Arville O. DeWeese, County Superintendent of Public Schools for Harrison County, Indiana, is one of those individuals who believe that what is worth preaching is also worth practicing. That is why he issued the following notice: "To the Teachers of Harrison County—
'No teacher will be licensed, and the license of all licensed teachers will be revoked who, after the publication and general distribution of this notice, are known to smoke a cigarette either privately or publicly in such a manner that any school child in Harrison County might directly or indirectly know of the same.'
"I believe that the teachers of Harrison County appreciate to such a high extent the influence and responsibility of their work that they are more than willing to deprive themselves of selfish pleasures if they believe that these pleasures interfere with the development of the children entrusted to their care. I believe that none of our teachers would be guilty of this habit unless they doubted its evil influence on the boys and girls with whom they labor. This notice only gives the welfare of our boys and girls the benefit of the doubt." Dr. E. C. Helm is a physician of long standing and wide practice in Beloit, Wisconsin. He also is clerk of the Board of Education. His opportunities for thorough observation in both capacities gives weight to this condemnation of the cigarette:
"Nicotine is one of our most deadly drugs, and is especially dangerous to the young and growing, as are all narcotics. Mr. Edison is doing a great work by pointing out the danger from the burning paper; but the constant deadly poison always present is nicotine.
"I think there is no question but that the smoking of pipes and cigars and the chewing of tobacco by the young is deadly. However, the nicotine is so concentrated in these forms, and makes children so deathly sick, they will resort to the cigarette, thus getting the same deadly poison in less concentrated form at first. "You certainly are right in saying that your fight is to save those under twenty-one. And as they usually commence with cigarettes, the chief fight must be waged against the cigarette." "I am very much interested in the fight against the little coffin nail. I feel it is our greatest evil today, because it catches hold of the little fellow and has him within its grasp before he is aware of the deadening effects. I find so many users among the young people with whom I have to deal in my work, and its effect is plainly seen in their lack of development.
"I am far more interested in the making of men than of book-keepers only, for the need of today is men—real men—to do the world's work."
The Keeley Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich., is conducted for the cure of liquor, drug and tobacco addictions. Guy C. Beckwith, Manager of the Institute, has been familiar with this line of work for many years. He has had occasion to watch hundreds of cases—and he found that 50 per cent to 60 per cent of those who make their way to the institution use cigarettes. Writes Mr. Beckwith:
"But I have found this to hold true, that several patients who have relapsed and gone back to drinking have told the "You understand that we do not blame all relapses to this condition, but I have had a number of such cases under my observation in the fourteen years with which I have been connected with this institution.
"When the writer took the treatment for the liquor addiction some fourteen years ago, few of the patients used cigarettes— probably not one in ten. At the present time 50 per cent to 60 per cent, and possibly more, indulge, some to excess, some moderately, and some just during this period of drinking.
"We find that the men who use cigarettes do not care to smoke them if they can not inhale the smoke. This is what causes the bad effects, and the men who do use them and come here for treatment for the liquor addiction especially are in much worse physical and mental condition than those who do not use them." The New York Medical Record publishes an article on "The Tobacco Habit," by Dr. Robert Abbe, the senior surgeon of St. Luke's hospital. The doctor is of the opinion that in our northern climate there is little need for the stimulation of mind or body by tobacco. The stand taken by many against tobacco is an unpopular fight. The frontier man sneers at the tenderfoot who refuses whisky and a chew with the remark: 'Don't drink? Don't chew? What do you do to smell like a man?' The college undergraduate is invited to attend a 'smoker,' and is initiated into a reeking atmosphere of tobacco. Yet, at West Point, smoking was prohibited in 1891, and fifteen years later, the summary of medical records shows the great advantage in work and discipline. In college a group of men subjected to ergograph tests during abstinence and again after four days' smoking is said to have shown a loss of 40 per cent muscle power. In tryouts for football squads it is said that half as many smokers as non-smokers are successful."
An interesting investigation has recently been made by Roy Dimmitt, principal of Ensley High School, Birmingham, Alabama, assisted by Joseph Kantor, a pupil.
Being convinced that cigarette smoking was detrimental to any growing boy, Mr. Dimmitt made this investigation in his own school to obtain facts.
Mr. Dimmitt said, "At the time this experiment was conducted there were 152 boys in school. Of this number 46 or about 30% were cigarette smokers. Some had been smokers for several years with the habit firmly fixed; others were just beginning and had probably not yet experienced any evil effects from the habit. No distinction is made between these, however, and all are classed as 'smokers.' This may account to some extent for the closeness of the figures representing average grades. Those who do not use tobacco are herein classed as 'Non-smokers.'
"For comparison the pupils are further divided into groups of relative scholarship." Group A consists of boys who passed in all subjects for the semester unconditionally.
Group B consists of those who failed in one and not more than two subjects. (Conditional.)
Group C consists of those who failed in more than two topics and hence failed of promotion. (Failed.)
Group D consists of those who, for various reasons, withdrew from school before the end of the semester. (Withdrawn.)
The data was assembled by Joseph Kantor, a pupil of Ensley High.
Data—Boys in school, 152; smokers, 46 (30.26%); non-smokers, 106.
-71- Conclusions: It is interesting to note that out of the 25 groups of data given above, 24 groups are decidedly in favor of the pupils who do not use cigarettes. This is true not only in scholarship, but in attendance, punctuality and deportment as well.
The investigations failed to disclose whether the smoking of cigarettes caused the weakness in the pupils, or whether a general weakness from other sources caused pupils both to make low grades and to yield to the temptation of smoking.
However, the investigations did disclose this fact, whatever may be the causes, that unquestionably the non-smokers so far as this school is concerned, are the more desirable citizens in point of efficiency.
"Teachers and physicians agree that it is a serious hindrance and a real menace. Those who have thrown off its thrall unite in its condemnation. Every thinking man admits it is an extravagance, and even the pipe and cigar smoker dislikes to see his boy use the measly thing.
"My own experience as a smoker, and my observation of others, confirms the evidence of the physician and the teacher. An astonishingly large number of the boys and young men sent to the reformatories of the various states are victims of the cigarette; and while it may be quite true that it is not the sole cause of their criminality, it is so often a contributory vice that we cannot honestly disassociate it from the other causes.
"I have learned that the average boy who smokes lowers his moral standing, stunts his body, weakens and vitiates his mind, stains his character as certainly as he stains his fingers, and opens wide the doorway for the other bad habits which are its associates. "My advice to the cigarette smoker is not only to defeat the habit, but to kill it, or it will kill you." Casimir first attracted attention when he appeared in juvenile court to answer to a charge of malicious destruction of property—a serious offense to lodge against one so young in everything but viciousness.
As he took his seat near the judge that morning, his feet barely touched the floor, and the shock of tow-colored hair which seemed determined to show how many different ways it could stand, just came even with the top of the chair back.
His face had the color of putty—and just about as much expression. His clothes were ill-fitting and ragged, his shoes mud-covered, and the cap he twirled nervously while awaiting his turn with the judge, had the appearance of having been fished out of an ash-barrel. His features were grimy, and a glance at his hands left doubt as to his being white or black.
Little more than a child in size, Casimir was the leader of a juvenile gang, all the members of which were some years older than their acknowledged chief, that terrorized the district in which they lived.
If there was any devilment on foot, suspicion immediately fell upon Casimir—and seldom was the blame therefor misdirected. He could conjure up more cussedness than even such a gang as he ruled, could execute.
The particular misdeed that brought Casimir and his followers into court at this time was making a target of the windows in a public school to get even with the principal who had kept one of the youthful terrors after hours for some flagrant infraction of a rule.
Casimir admitted the deed with an air of bravado that impressed his companions. But underneath an attitude of superiority there was the unmistakable evidence of moral and intellectual degeneracy.
If he chose to answer the questions put to him by the judge, he did so in guttural monosyllables. There was no indication of penitence. He was openly defiant, and threats of jail and a long term at the state reformatory failed to impress him.
The despair of truant officers, he had been given up as hope-less by his family. His mother stated that when other corrective measures failed, she had "whaled him till she busted the club."
Whereupon he left home, sleeping in a barn and in hallways, from which he directed the operations of his henchmen and conducted raids on his own account.
"Hold out your hands," the judge ordered, sternly, changing his attitude with startling abruptness.
"Cigarettes," said the judge, noting the tell-tale stains on the dirty fingers. "How long have you [a targeted child] been smoking them?"
A sullen shake of the frowsly head was the only reply.
"Very long?" persisted the judge, his tones softening.
There was an affirmative nod.
"How many do you smoke in a day?"
"I dunno."
"Ten?"
"More'n that."
"Fifty?"
Casimir stared at the floor, and moved uneasily in his seat. The bravado of a few minutes before was passing under the kindly but persistent questioning of the judge.
"I dunno," he murmured, "more'n that, sometimes. More'n a hundred, I guess."
There was a pause, while the judge waited for the rest of the recital.
"Lots of days I smoke three packages of 'makins,' an' some-four an' sometimes four an' five, or more, if I can get 'em," confessed Casimir. "I smoke all the time."
The judge led the way into his private office, where he could talk more freely with the youthful prisoner than would be possible in the courtroom.
"What makes you act like you do?" he asked, after a little chat which served to set Casimir at ease.
“Listen, you bribe-taking wind-bag, cigarettes are made available because the cigarette ban law is unenforced,
The lips quivered. A sob shook the slight frame, and tears that could no longer be held back stole down the dirt-stained cheeks.
"I dunno what makes me do such things," he confessed, his voice trembling, "unless it's cigarets. I smoke an' smoke an' then I just got to do something—an' it seems as though I always do the wrong things. I ain't no good to anybody."
The fatherly talk that followed would have moved a much more seasoned transgressor than even Casimir.
"I'm going to give you one more chance, Casimir," the judge said, in conclusion. "It is going to be a hard one—but I believe you have the right stuff in you. Do you want to quit smoking cigarettes?"
"Sure."
There was a pathetic eagerness in the attitude of the boy, as he half sprang from the chair.
"All right. We'll send you to a clinic where they'll help cure you—but you'll have to do the real work yourself. You
It was a vastly different Casimir who left the juvenile court that day, and his youthful admirers who lingered to greet him got never so much as a glance of recognition for their loyalty.
Almost a year later an alert, keen-eyed lad spoke to me as we met on the street. For an instant I was puzzled. Then the scene in the court room that day came back like a flash.
"Casimir," I ejaculated.
"Yes, sir," was the polite reply, as he smiled with pleasure at the recognition, at the same time extending a hand politely.
"I hardly knew you," I confessed. "How are you getting along?"
"Fine. I go to school every day, and next June I'll get my working papers, and then I'll be able to care for myself and help the family, too."
"And the cigarettes?" I inquired. "Did you quit smoking?"
"Sure thing. It was awful hard at first, but I never touched them after what the judge did for me. And I've got some of the boys I used to go with to quit. And say, you don't know what a difference it makes. No more smoking cigarettes and being tough and sleeping in a barn and taking chances on going to prison for me."
The world of today needs men, not those whose minds and will power have been weakened or destroyed by the desire and craving for alcohol and tobacco but instead men with initiative and vigor, whose mentality is untainted by ruinous habits.
Every young man should aspire to take advantage of the opportunity which at some time during his life beckons him and he should be ready with the freshness of youth and not enveloped in the fumes of an offensive and injurious cigarette.
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Series on Tobacco Effects
by Benjamin I. Lane (1845)
Tobacco: Its History, Nature and Effects
by Dr. Joel Shew (1849)
The Use and Abuse of Tobacco
by Dr. John Lizars (1859)
Tobacco and Its Effects: Report
to the Wisconsin Board of Health
by G. F. Witter, M.D. (1881)
Cigarette Report - 1889
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