THE CIGARETTE ABOMINATION.
The following earnest denunciation of the too prevalent cigarette nuisanco is copied from the " Journal of Commerce, and will be heartily echoed by every selfrespecting reader iu the land :—
If the inventor of an unmitigated nuisance deserves to be cursed by his own and succeeding generations, then the manufacturer who first produced the cigarette ought to face Mount Ebal all the days of his life, and leave his memory subject to the same anathema. There is not one redeeming feature about this abomiuable pest. It is noxious to the smoker, and when used in public is a foul offence to the victims of his incivility. A cigar composed of fragrant tobacco may be tolerated even by those who make no use of the weed ; and a lighted pipe may be submitted to, as persons who solace themselves away from their homes in that fashion seldom intrude among those likely to object toit. But the cigarette, with its vile odors, finds its way everywhere, and is often lighted where it is certain to be most intolorble. From the indecent cuts that herald its pet name to invited customers, all the way to the exhaled stench that signals its destruction, it is unwholesome, insalubrious, pernicious, and debasing to all concerned. The obscene pictures on fences and dead walls all over the country, that advertise it to the public, fully symbolise the foulness of the practice that patronises its production and sale, These immodest associations have contributed largely to introduce and confirm the baneful habit which makes the manufacture profitable ; and not a few are led to purchase and finally taught to use the injurious compound for tho sake of the meretricious wrappings and the sensual indulgence they are designed to foster. With regard to their evil effect on the health of the smoker, there are not two opinions among those who are qualified to judge. Our most eminent physicians and chemists apeak with
united voice when they warn the public against the increased danger of poison from the deadly nicotine, and the injurious consequences certain to follow this indulgence. Even where the little roll is rnade of tohacco that might be smoked in a pipe without material injury, it is most unhealthy used in this form, when the contents are consumed in a free draught so near the lip. But in most cases the article offered to the public would be dangerous to health when smoked in any guise, along with the added fumes of the burning paper. One of the greatest evils connected with the invention is the special temptation thus offered to the use of tobacco by the young. No child ought ever to be allowed to touch the weed in any form ;
but here we have it in its most dan- 1 gerous guise prepared especially for the t consumption of those who are yet in ( their infancy. A cigar or a pipe in the i hands of a boy materially checks his growth and seriously affects the vital I processes necessary to the attainment of i manly vigour. But youug children I cannot smoke tobacco in that way. I Cigars are too costly and pipes are too i cumbrous, and there is no time for the i use of either. No judicious parent i would allow his offspring to practice any such habit at home, and those at service dare not do it in the presence of their employers. For these reasons few children, except those left to the education of the streets and docks, up to a recent period, were found to have acquired a taste for tobacco. The ragged waifs about our thoroughfares would pick up abandoned cigar stumps and light them, but rarely was a respectable boy of tender years ever known to indulge in this pastime. The introduction of the cigarette has produced a most alarming change in this respect, especially in all our larger cities. There is hardly a boy or youth that is in any service away from home who has not learned to smoke. It costs him but a trifle, and can be thrown away and replaced with another as often as the opportunity presents itself where he can indulge without detectiou. The evil is twofold : the boy is ruining his health, and he is making himself an intolerable nuisance by contaminating the air wherever he goes. A gentleman seldom smokes in the street or in any public place, or if anyone is so thoughtless as to do this, it is usually a cigar, the odor of which may be endured. But a boy with his cigarette will puff the offensive smoke in the face of everyone he meets with that reckless freedom peculiar to this class of young Americans. We have described the evil with its attendant dangers to health, morals, and manners, but it is not so easy to point out the remedy. Consigning the inventor to his deserved in f amy will not stay the production, and no warning the traffic. Perhaps the wisest course to pursue, in view of the deleterious effects of the indulgence, is to legislate against the use of the cigarette in public. Boston became so indignant many years a goat the freedom with which tobacco was burnt in the streets of that municipality, contaminating the atmosphere of its leading throughfares that all smoking in public places was forbidden throughout the great city under penalty of a fineof fivedols. to be imposed and collected by the nearest magistrate. The police were very diligent in enforcing the ordinance, and for a long period a visitor mitrht spend weeks in the city, and if he did not smoke himself might never once get the smell of a pipe or cigar. If such action was taken here the abuse would be greatly checked. Those most addicted to the use of the pernicious roll would be cut off from the indulgence, a3 they dare not smoke where they are cmployed, and would not be allowed to do it at home. It is for the children that we are most solicitous, for the statements of our prominent physicians as to the blighting effects of the cigarette upon the young are made with increasing emphasis as they are brought to light in their practice. The public will be startled some day to find how many thousand of our boys have come to premature decay, if not to death, by this indulgence. It is time that something was done to stay the tide and introduce a thorough and radical reform.
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Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2590, 16 February 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)
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1,092THE CIGARETTE ABOMINATION. Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2590, 16 February 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)
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