The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. NationNation, Carry Amelia
History
The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation
Nation, Carry Amelia
Nation, Carry Amelia, 1846-1911; Social reformers -- United States -- Biography; Temperance -- United States
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 the street;
In the faces of the passers,
In the eyes of those he meets,
In the vestibule, the depot,
At the theatre or ball;
E'en at funerals and weddings,
And at christenings and all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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