Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1916 — Outflanking the Smoker. [ARTICLE]

Outflanking the Smoker.

Ever since tobacco was introduced into Europe and an English monarch wrote his celebrated ’'counterblast” against the weed the tobacco habit has been attacked by its opponents on moral or hygienic grounds. And in the face of these attacks the use of the weed has grown tremendously, until now the habit of smoking is well nigh universal—among unregenerate jnen and a certain number of women. These facts indicate that tobacco using cannot be successfully attacked upon the familiar grounds. Man esteems it an inalienable right to endanger his immortal soul and undermine his health if it so pleases him. That is his personal liberty. But there is another aspect to the question, one that betrays the vulnerability of the devotee of the weed. This was not discovered by either the moralists or the sanitarians, though they may make use of it if they choose, but by the lowly statisticians of the fire underwriters. These humble servitors of the ‘public weal announce that the smoker endangers the safety of property. Their conclusions are drawn from the report of the New York fire department, which attributes 1,306 of last, year’s, fires to cigars and cigarettes carelessly thrown away in a state of ignition. It is only fair to say, however, that the careless use of matches in New York for the same period catised 1,314 fires, and that all this use of matches was by smokers. 1 .■ Here the anti-tobacconists have an opening that will let them into the very citadel of their enemy, although man may have no respect' for hfc soul or his health, he is much concerned about his property and will not knowingly endanger it. But it may not please the reformers, such is the contumacy of the tribe, t,o win a battle on any other than their own ground. And thus they may not welcome this turn of fortune after all. t— Chicago News.