The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation [106]
of lust.
If tobacco is good for men, it is also good for women. I do not
suppose that one could find a man so low and degraded as to walk down
the street with a woman who had a cigarette or cigar in her mouth.
Women should make the same standard for men that men do for women.
Many women would smoke in public if men did not denounce it. MEN
WOULD QUIT SMOKING IN PUBLIC IF WOMEN DENOUNCED
IT AS MUCH.
I have heard some women say, "I like the smell of a good cigar."
I never smelled a good one. It is not made. They are like snakes; they
are all bad. I never knew of but one good use that tobacco was put to,
and that was to kill lice on cows. My father used it for that purpose on
his farm. It does kill that kind of germs.
The evil has become so common that whenever you go abroad you
are compelled to breathe the contents of somebody else's month. It
would be rude of me to take a piece of fruit out of my mouth and throw
it into somebody else's mouth, but anyone may throw his poisonous
breath and smoke into my mouth and I have no defense. Spitting is
forbidden in the cars. Smoking is a great deal worse, but the reason why
it is not denounced is that people can get a revenue from men's smoking,
while they have to clean up after spitters, and there is no money in that.
I can prevent a man spitting into my mouth, but I cannot avoid his
smoke. A man seems to think that he is free to project his stinking
breath in my face on the street, in hotels, in sleeping cars, coaches--indeed,
in every public place. Now I would as soon smell a skunk. There is
some excuse for a skunk; he can't help being one. But men have become
so rank in their persons from this poisonous odor that they almost knock
me down as they pass me. And when I say, "Man, don't throw that awful
stench in my face," he answers, "You get away." I reply, "If I smelled
as badly as you do, I would be the one to get away."
Oh, the vile cigarette! What smell can be worse and more poisonous?
I feel outraged at being compelled to smell this poison on the street.
I have the right to take cigars and cigarettes from men's mouths in
self-defense,
and they ought not to be allowed to injure themselves. "Liberty
is the largest privilege to do that which is right, and the smallest to do
that which is wrong." Governments are organized to take care of the
governed. I believe it ought to be a crime to manufacture, barter, sell
or give away cigars, cigarettes and tobacco in any form.
Oh, for the success of the Prohibition Party that will bring in reforms
along these lines--and this is the only party that will do it! Tobacco
degenerates body and mind. Physical and mental culture demand its
discontinuance.
Dr. Jay W. Seaver, associated physical director of Yale University,
says: "Among college students, the gain of growth, in general, is 12 per
cent. greater among those who do not use tobacco than those who smoke.
It has also proven by tests in the laboratory that the nicotine in a fairly
mild cigar will reduce a man's muscular power from 25 to 40 per cent."
Were it not for the tobacco habit, we would need no smoking car.
Suppose women had a vice that required them a separate apartment from
the men when they travel. Even in the cars where the women travel
there are rooms fixed up in luxuriant style while poor mothers with their
babies have to sit upright and smell this rank and poisonous odor. But
of course women have no redress, or are made to think they have none.
Shame to you men, a decent dog will not bite a female, while men the
impulse of protecting their females they are lower than a decent beast.
While I was in New York City last week April the 2nd a Mr. Thomas
McGuire, treasurer of the Fourteenth Ave., Theatre had his tongue cut
out to prevent tobacco cancer from spreading. This was from smoking
cigars. General Grants' tongue rotted from the same cause.
This is one of the best poems on the vice I ever read. Author
unknown.
HE SMOKES.
"In the office, in the parlor;
On the sidewalk, on
If tobacco is good for men, it is also good for women. I do not
suppose that one could find a man so low and degraded as to walk down
the street with a woman who had a cigarette or cigar in her mouth.
Women should make the same standard for men that men do for women.
Many women would smoke in public if men did not denounce it. MEN
WOULD QUIT SMOKING IN PUBLIC IF WOMEN DENOUNCED
IT AS MUCH.
I have heard some women say, "I like the smell of a good cigar."
I never smelled a good one. It is not made. They are like snakes; they
are all bad. I never knew of but one good use that tobacco was put to,
and that was to kill lice on cows. My father used it for that purpose on
his farm. It does kill that kind of germs.
The evil has become so common that whenever you go abroad you
are compelled to breathe the contents of somebody else's month. It
would be rude of me to take a piece of fruit out of my mouth and throw
it into somebody else's mouth, but anyone may throw his poisonous
breath and smoke into my mouth and I have no defense. Spitting is
forbidden in the cars. Smoking is a great deal worse, but the reason why
it is not denounced is that people can get a revenue from men's smoking,
while they have to clean up after spitters, and there is no money in that.
I can prevent a man spitting into my mouth, but I cannot avoid his
smoke. A man seems to think that he is free to project his stinking
breath in my face on the street, in hotels, in sleeping cars, coaches--indeed,
in every public place. Now I would as soon smell a skunk. There is
some excuse for a skunk; he can't help being one. But men have become
so rank in their persons from this poisonous odor that they almost knock
me down as they pass me. And when I say, "Man, don't throw that awful
stench in my face," he answers, "You get away." I reply, "If I smelled
as badly as you do, I would be the one to get away."
Oh, the vile cigarette! What smell can be worse and more poisonous?
I feel outraged at being compelled to smell this poison on the street.
I have the right to take cigars and cigarettes from men's mouths in
self-defense,
and they ought not to be allowed to injure themselves. "Liberty
is the largest privilege to do that which is right, and the smallest to do
that which is wrong." Governments are organized to take care of the
governed. I believe it ought to be a crime to manufacture, barter, sell
or give away cigars, cigarettes and tobacco in any form.
Oh, for the success of the Prohibition Party that will bring in reforms
along these lines--and this is the only party that will do it! Tobacco
degenerates body and mind. Physical and mental culture demand its
discontinuance.
Dr. Jay W. Seaver, associated physical director of Yale University,
says: "Among college students, the gain of growth, in general, is 12 per
cent. greater among those who do not use tobacco than those who smoke.
It has also proven by tests in the laboratory that the nicotine in a fairly
mild cigar will reduce a man's muscular power from 25 to 40 per cent."
Were it not for the tobacco habit, we would need no smoking car.
Suppose women had a vice that required them a separate apartment from
the men when they travel. Even in the cars where the women travel
there are rooms fixed up in luxuriant style while poor mothers with their
babies have to sit upright and smell this rank and poisonous odor. But
of course women have no redress, or are made to think they have none.
Shame to you men, a decent dog will not bite a female, while men the
impulse of protecting their females they are lower than a decent beast.
While I was in New York City last week April the 2nd a Mr. Thomas
McGuire, treasurer of the Fourteenth Ave., Theatre had his tongue cut
out to prevent tobacco cancer from spreading. This was from smoking
cigars. General Grants' tongue rotted from the same cause.
This is one of the best poems on the vice I ever read. Author
unknown.
HE SMOKES.
"In the office, in the parlor;
On the sidewalk, on