^32BS&BgBSK8^BSBS3S3$3^3SBS^2BSSSB8g$ ^Library of Congress.^! m :: m m m Chap.- CV-W-Q y /^UNiTED STATES OF AMERICA.^ ^^% 9—167 5 ; :^ TOBACCO SOME RESULTS WHICH FOLLOW ITS USE BY W. W. McELHINNEY ^ r PRICE 25 CENTS JL SEATTLE : The Calvert Company 1897 '■! TWO COPIES RECEIVED '* FEB 151900 *r /> SECOND GOPY, iu ^M 57232 Copyright, 1897 by W. W. McElhinney. TO THE YOUTH, tempted to acquire the tobacco habit, this friendly warning is dedicated by The Author, CONTENTS : Introductory — Why People Use Tobacco, Chapter I. Effect of Tobacco on Digestion. II. Effect of Tobacco on the Hair. III. Effect of Tobacco on Memory. IV. Tobacco and Intemperance. V. Tobacco and Business. VI. How to Quit Using Tobacco. TOBACCO Some Results Which Follow Its Use INTRODUCTORY— WHY PEOPLE USE TOBACCO. Out of every hundred thousand people, it is unlikely that there is one who has a natural desire for tobacco. Among thousands who use it, there are few who could not relate harrowing experiences undergone in over- coming the nausea and repugnance which their first at- tempts at smoking or chewing produced, though not many care to dwell upon the heroic effort required to establish tolerance of the weed in their vigorously pro^ testing systems. The courage and persistence, the un- wavering perseverance shown in circumventing this natural aversion, if turned into other and legitimate channels, might render possible any human achieve- ment. It is more than probable that many great men have been lost to the world because in their youth they frittered away the unconquerable energy and resolution without which nothing of worth in life is accomplished in the acquisition of the tobacco habit. Once fastened WHY PEOPLE USE TOBACCO. upon a victim, this habit takes so much of the strength required for daily mental and physical needs that no force remains for original enterprise. Since Sir Walter Raleigh introduced smoking to the fashionable set of his day, (for which grave offense Al- gernon Swinburne holds that he deserved the melan- choly fate which later overtook him), down to our own times, the tobacco habit has grown and thrived in spite of, or perhaps because of, frequent adverse legislation and prosecution of luckless offenders which hampered indulgence in the practice for a century or so. Thought- ful men, when pressed for a reason for using tobacco, are often at a loss to give one. Perhaps the spirit of in- quiry, of investigation on our own account, to which a sacred historian has attributed the downfall of human- ity, is largely responsible for the growth of the habit Children take greater delight in imitating the vices than the virtues of their elders, so that it is but natural that the sight of a man, possessed of great influence for good or evil in a community, abandoned to the joy to be found in an apparently soothing cigar or toothsome quid, should inspire in youthful minds a desire to go and do likewise; or that the stolen pleasure of a precocious play- mate, or the example of some indifferent member of so- ciety should fill a boy with a longing to try tobacco for himself; and the persistently watched-for opportunity will not fail to come when the means of making a per- WHY PEOPLE USE TOBACCO. sonal experiment will be within reach. Many a mother has had her heart wrung through having a carefully reared child carried or dragged into her presence suffer- ing from the effects of a first struggle with tobacco poison; and a wise woman is she who can meet such an emergency with the courage and tact which will make the first attempt a lesson for life. I well remember when the members of a club of young men and boys used to cite Ulysses S. Grant as an example of the successful general who always had a cigar in his mouth. After much debate on the subject it was decided that if constant smoking did not injure General Grant, and apparently it did not interfere with his securing Union victories, then the use of tobacco could not injuriously affect the club members who were prosecuting their studies, nor act as a hindrance to the ultimate success of those who were engaged in business. Tears after, when General Grant was dying a lingering and agonizing death from the effects of tobacco poison absorbed during many years of excessive smoking, the young men, who had acquired his pet vice, had begun to feel its evils, and sorrowfully admitted that they were mistaken as to its harmlessness in General Grant's case. One of the most amazing things in connection with the tobacco habit is the varied characteristics of the peo- ple who are its devotees. Prom the convict in his cell to the millionaire in his palace, from the gamin delight- 10 WHY PEOPLE USE TOBACCO. ing his soul with discarded cigar stumps picked up in his favorite haunts to the cultured philosopher, dreamily watching his curling blue cigar smoke while he ponders some problem which confronts the human race, from the sturdy member of the tin-pail brigade, with his cher^ ished pipe, to the professional man, artistically coloring his meerschaum — all sorts and conditions of men, and, with reluctance be it said, some women, attest the seduc- tive charm to be drawn from the inhalation of burning tobacco; while in a lesser degree, and because to many the habit is repellant, chewing is practiced and enjoyed. We sometimes hear men say that they were encour- aged to use tobacco by some physician's opinion that it had a tendency to check corpulence, and that, were it not for its use, they would suffer from discomforting obesity. Since lack of exercise and an improper diet are the chief causes of an. excessive accumulation of fat in the case of a man in normal health, it follows that tobac- co cannot be healthfully substituted for proper exercise or remove the evils attending bad eating. Where cor- pulence is an indication of disease, the system has enough to do without adding tobacco to the burdens it has to bear. It is almost impossible for the young mind to under- stand the hold the habit has upon those who suffer from it. When a man declares that he knows tobacco injures him, but is unable to quit its use because the force of WHY PEOPLE USE TOBACCO. ll habit is so strong, to the growing boy the declaration means that the injury is counterbalanced by the enjoy- ment derived from smoking or chewing, as the case may be, and instead of the admission deterring him, it stimiv lates him to try the pleasurable sensations himself. When he has satisfied himself that the habit is injuring him, there has been created within him a clamoring de- sire for the narcotic to which he has been at such pains to accustom himself, which he is unable to resist without throwing himself into a state of mental and physical torture incredible to the non-user, and which not one man in a thousand will willingly undergo. If parents and guardians fully appreciated their responsibility in this matter, they would not only see to it that the asso- ciates and instructors of the children intrusted to their care were free from the tobacco habit, and that they themselves did not prove stumbling blocks, turning youthful steps into the path of this vice; but, not content with the best environment procurable for their young charges, they would carefully impart to them the whole truth in regard to the effect of tobacco on the human system, and it is safe to say that the truth, dispassion- ately presented, would do much to prevent the form- ation of the habit. Fortunately, most boys have an am- bition to distinguish themselves in life, and to grow up in mental and bodily vigor. Many of them use tobacco because they think it a manly practice, and when they 12 WHY PEOPLE USE TOBACCO. are convinced that smoking or chewing is a sign of weakness, and when they are satisfied that, because of the effect of the poison on the vital organs, their chances of success in life are materially lessened by the forma- tion of the habit, the best possible safeguard has been furnished them. More than thirty-five years ago, Dr. Richardson is- sued a pamphlet in which he called attention to the in- jury wrought by certain substances common to all varieties of tobacco smoke, among other things the free carbon, which irritates the throat, the ammonia that makes the throat and tongue of the smoker so dry, and induces him to drink as he smokes; the carbonic acid, which causes the sleepiness, headache and lassitude which follow a prolonged inhalation of tobacco fumes; and the nicotine, which produces the symptoms of tre- mor, palpitation and paralysis that ensue after excessive smoking. After a thorough investigation, he was of the opinion that smoking injures the stomach, the heart, the organs of the senses, the brain, the nerves, the throat (causing smokers' sore throat) and the lungs. Be it re- membered that this arraignment of tobacco was made many years before the cigarette evil called for prohibi- tive measures from State Legislatures and Boards of Education. If Dr. Richardson is correct, it is difficult to see what part of the human system comes out of the tobacco ordeal unscathed. Even among the friends of WHY PEOPLE USE TOBACCO. 13 the habit, few will deny that, carried to excess, the effect is disastrous. It is impossible, however, to say what "excess" is in individual cases. Except in cases of great constitutional delicacy, the system accustoms itself to almost any poison if the doses are cautiously ad- ministered and gradually increased to meet the growing dependence of the body upon them, but there is always the danger of an "overdose." Anyone addicted to the habit knows that it takes a constantly increasing amount of tobacco to produce the sedative effect first experi- enced from its use, and that, like any other narcotic, it is only a question of time until the moderate user is likely to carry the practice to excess. To the confirmed tobacco user, his accustomed drug becomes the paramount necessity. A traveler once said* to me : " I never care for dessert with the prospect of a good cigar before me, and a bad dinner becomes luxu- rious when followed by the same soothing digester." If he had paused to realize the meaning of his own words he would have been slow to acknowledge that his favor- ite narcotic had lulled his stomach into indifference to needed food. It is difficult to see how anyone with a regard for cleanliness can permit himself to form the tobacco habit. The expectorations of the chewer are to be met every day in slimy pools on the sidewalk and elsewhere, to be thence transferred to the neat skirts of the woman 14 WHY PEOPLE USE TOBACCO. passer-by , or to give rise to an impatient ejaculation from the lips of the first man who inadvertently skates into one, and nearly loses his balance. The smoker taints the air, his breath, his clothes, everything with which he comes in contact while smoking. A woman, in good health and at peace with all the world, not long ago took a seat on an open street car to enjoy the fresh, pure evening air. She was wholly unaccustomed to tobacco smoke, and when, a few moments later, two smokers took their places, one on either side of her, since smoking is not prohibited on an open car, she was soon literally between two fires. At the end of fifteen min- utes she left the car, dizzy and with a severe headache, the result of her quarter-of-an-hour's inhalation of to- bacco smoke. "There should be a law prohibiting smoking on all public conveyances, open or closed," she exclaimed indignantly, after relating her experience to a friend. "Unfortunately," he said, "you cannot legis- late decency into people." It is quite possible to educate it into them, however, and the boy who grows up with a healthy disgust for the habit implanted in his heart is not likely to acquire it in after years. In the following pages it will be the object of the writer to state, as clearly as possible, the effect of the tobacco habit upon the vital organs as demonstrated by his own experience and observation. EFFECT ON DIGESTION. 15 CHAPTEK J. EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON DIGESTION. The importance of keeping the stomach in the best possible condition is so evident that the abnse of that hard-working organ can only be caused by thoughtless- ness or criminal carelessness. To the stomach is in- trusted the preparation of the food for the upbuilding of the tissues of the body, and if its work it not properly accomplished, the later stages of digestion cannot supply the lacking process. "Whenever the stomach from any cause fails to do its work, general disorganization of the vital organs follows. * The evil effect of tobacco is felt from its first introduction into the system. It is seldom indeed that the beginner fails to provoke a violent re- bellion in his stomach, causing the rejection of all the food it may contain at the time the attempt at smoking or chewing is made. Some stomachs are so well regu- lated that they positively refuse to tolerate tobacco, but an ordinary stomach, after several efforts at asserting itself, becomes quiescent, and permits the outrage to be repeated indefinitely. The use of tobacco has done more injury to the digestive organs than all other dyspepsia- producing causes combined. So complicated is the net- work of nerves which governs the secretions of the stom- ach, and so delicate its workings, that any injurious 16 EFFECT ON DIGESTION. substance is immediately detected and in most cases re- jected. When the novice is admonished by his stomach to let tobacco alone, and fails to heed the warning, the effect of its continued use is to stupefy the nerves and leave them unfit to perform their duty; hence, when the stomach has been overloaded, or if the food is difficult of digestion, the sluggish nerves permit the food to re- main too long in the stomach, where it undergoes chemical changes unfitting it for the nutrition of healthy blood and tissue. In some cases this effectmaynot be noticed for months or years. Where the constitution is inherited from a long line of sturdy, clean-living ancestors, and is developed under healthy conditions, the results of tobacco-using are slow to appear. Then, again, where the use of tobacco is not begun until the age of 25 or 30 years, its effect on the stomach is not so marked, if the health of the subject has been good theretofore, for the process of digestion has been going steadily forward for so many years that it requires a long series of abuses to overturn it. Sooner or later, however, to the eye familiar with the outer evidences of the inner workings of tobacco poison, the evidences appear.40 The shallow complexion, the listless gait, the lack-luster or falling hair, the want of interest in everyday happen- ings, to an experienced observer tell the story of wasting vitality. Tobacco dyspepsia has at last claimed its vic- tim. EFFECT ON DIGESTION. 17 Many there are who use tobacco and feel and know its evil effects, yet who have not the courage and strength of will needed to quit its use. The discomfiture to the nerves caused by withholding the narcotic to which they are accustomed appalls the victim, and instead of meet- ing his foe in a pitched battle and routing it, he resorts to every expedient to repair its ravages. Liquid stimu- lants are drawn upon, for the confirmed tobacco user is tormented by a perpetual thirst, and feels, too, the necessity for some relief from the depression caused by constant smoking or chewing. In stimulants a tempor- ary relief may be found, and as the depression is deeper and the outlook more gloomy after every glass, an appetite is formed for liquors that is all too likely to place the victim on the list of confirmed tipplers, or worse. Smoking is a form of diversion that nature never in- tended for human beings. Dust, dirt, smoke and offensive odors are disagreeables for which we entertain a natural and healthy aversion, and, although man is so constituted that if necessity arises he can survive ex- posure to these unpleasant things, yet his highest devel- opment demands pure air and favorable sanitary conditions. The voluntary introduction of smoke into the nostrils, throat and delicate air-cells of the lungs seems so foolish that a warning against the practice should never have to be uttered; yet hundreds of thou- 18 EFFECT ON DIGESTION. sands go calmly on poisoning the air they must breathe with tobacco smoke, and compelling others to breathe it with them. If some of these countless thousands could only be prevailed upon to stop and think! It is not unusual to see young men who have inherited for- tunes very prodigal in their expenditures. From their actions one would be led to believe that money is made to be wasted, and that the great aim in life is to see how much one man can spend. So it is with young men who have inherited good constitutions which may be the crowning result of centuries of good living and well doing. For the mere gratification of an artificial appe- tite, they will ruthlessly destroy what it has taken thousands of years to build up. I cannot imagine any cause that could make life such a burden as the slavery of the tobacco habit. The utter hopelessness of existence to the man who finds his di- gestive organs destroyed, his brain almost powerless to think and his muscles to act, is apparent to any thought ful mind, yet it is the condition of many people we meet every day. Men tell you that they suffer from neural- gia, sleeplessness, rheumatism, nervous prostration and a host of other diseases distinguished by various pains and aches, and wind up the recital of their woes with some phrase about the strength of other years and the results of overwork. They know, if they are honest with themselves, and you know, if they are not, that they are EFFECT ON DIGESTION. 19 suffering from insidious tobacco poisoning. Pain, it has been said, is the cry of a nerve for proper food. How can a nerve be properly nourished if the blood which feeds it is permeated with tobacco? Is it any wonder that in looking about us we see so many nervous wrecks? It ojily means that the nerves have not been fed, but poisoned. Men break dow r n from overwork, they claim, when the fact is that tobacco has caused the decline in their powers which they wrongly ascribe to labor. It is surprising the amount of work a healthy, well-nourished man can dispose of if he is free from the vices which sap his vitality, the most common of which is the tobacco habit. Instead of injuring, it develops and improve? him. The homely aphorism "It is better to wear out than to rust out" still holds good. The active, alert bus- iness man does not complain of, but welcomes work, and never seems to suffer from an over-supply. Many per- petually tired people are victims of the tobacco habit. Their nerves are suffering from tobacco stupor, hence that tired feeling. The use of tobacco is demoralizing in every sense. No one ever contracted the habit without soon realizing that his position in society was less stable, his chafrices of advancement in life measurably lessened, though he may be slow in attributing these effects to the right source, and slower still in openly admitting the true cause to his fellow men. 20 EFFECT ON DIGESTION. If it were only for \\e enjoyment that it gives peo pie to meet men of sound physique, possessed of keen, vigorous intellects — such men as American boys are capable of becoming — it would compensate a thousand times for the loss of the enjoyment supposed to be de- rived from indulgence in the tobacco habit. CHAPTER II. EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON THE HAIR. The hair usually gives the first indication of a lack of nutritive elements in the blood. To the experienced eye, a horse or any domestic animal indicates in its fine, glossy coat that it is in a good physical condition. Man, like the lower animals, shows the state of his health in his hair. When we meet anyone with luxuriant, shin- ing hair, we set him down as possessed of good health. Such people are usually in good spirits, quick in their movements, prompt in their actions, and endowed with enormous vital force that carries them through the per- plexities and vexations of life with a minimum of wear. To woman a profusion of hair is so important that millions of dollars are annually spent for locks to sup- plement her crowning glory, that the wearer may give the impression that her vitality is great and her health superb. That this is so goes to show that women know what they need, and are usually prompt to remedy de- EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON THE HAIR. 21 f ects for which inheritance, ill health or accident may be responsible. With men the case is different. While a healthy growth of hair is very desirable and stamps its possessor as strong and vigorous, yet baldness is so com- mon among men of this age that fashion is made to meet the changed conditions in this as well as in other respects. There are those who believe that we live in the hairless age, and from the number of bald-headed men we meet in every vocation of life, there is reason to believe that some great cause is at work to produce a sandpapered effect on the scalps of the men who will live to see the dawn of the twentieth century. Men did not always suffer from lack of hair. Though we find occasional mention of bald heads in the early history of the world, the cases were so rare that the person af- flicted with baldness was held up to ridicule by the children of that day, who were not accustomed to such a spectacle. Baldness was not so general 300 years ago as it has since become. Since the discovery and general intro- duction of tobacco, there has been a steadily growing tendency to baldness among those who use it excessively, and as the most highly civilized nations consume the most tobacco, it is in these nations we find baldness most pronounced. Go into an assemblage of uncovered heads anywhere in America or Europe, and note the number of bald pates in evidence. Three or four hundred years 22 EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON THE HAIR. ago the unhappy owner of such a head would have re- sorted to any device to hide his scanty locks and avoid remark; but with the introduction of tobacco came an alarming increase in baldness and deterioration in the hair of those who used it, and a corresponding indiffer- ence to such a result. "While there is no doubt that the custom of wearing stiff hats has had a tendency to cause falling hair, they are comparatively harmless when we place against their account the ravages tobacco has wrought. The depression which follows excessive smoking is usually accompanied by headache and feverishness, which are relieved by indulgence in a few more cigars, to be in turn succeeded by more headache arid fever. In severe cases the smoker has a consuming thirst, which will usually lead him to use liquid stimulants; his tongue is furrowed, his pulse is rapid and his temperature high. When the whole system is so profoundly affected by tobacco poisoning, it is not remarkable that the hair cells, lacking healthful food, should cease to nourish the hair, or that it should become dry, lusterless and event- ually fall out, leaving a bare shining surface to proclaim to the initiated that the tobacco user has left all hope of hair behind. If, in addition to smoking and drying his hair, he encircles his aching, fever heated head with a tight hatband and a hat made of some airtight material, EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON THE HAIR. 23 he will be enabled to burn out his hair in a shorter period of time. Women are not often afflicted with baldness, and I am convinced that as men, in normal condition, have bet- ter digestion and are better nourished than women, since their vocations give the majority of men larger opportunities for exercise, they would have greater im- munity from baldness than women if they would let tobacco alone. Where women are employed in the open air, as they are in continental Europe, their health is good and luxuriant hair is the rule among them. Though they live upon coarse and unappetizing food, pure air and regular exercise come to the aid of diges- tion, the food is thoroughly assimilated, the hair re- ceives its proper nourishment and responds in vigorous growth. Tobacco causes the hair to turn prematurely gray. We often see a tobacco user whose grizzled locks at thirty-five would do credit to the veteran of three score and ten. It is evident that tobacco is sapping his vital- ity out of all proportion to the pleasure he derives from its use. In some cases, his children will bear witness, in their dry, colorless hair, that their father was a slave to the habit. The children of the Jews show the effect of the tobacco habit in hair shades lighter than that of their ancestors, though all other racial characteristics may have been transmitted to them. At the present 24 EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON THE HAIR. rate of change, in less than two hundred years it will be impossible to distinguish between the hair of a Jew and an Albino. Catarrh is, without doubt, provocative of falling hair. Add to the catarrhal poison and fever the further poison of tobacco in the blood, and augment the irritation in the nasal passages, throat and bronchial tubes with the dust, dirt and smoke of burning tobacco, and we make the more pronounced the train of evils following in the wake of an ailment founded, usually, in common colds and carelessness. A learned scientist has recently announced the dis- covery of the cause of baldness in a fungus-like growth which produces atrophy of the roots and final loss of the hair. Experiments with the "culture" upon rabbits, etc., have demonstrated that baldness can be produced upon them by this means. He is, however, still in the dark about the cause of this foreign growth. If he will turn his attention to tobacco as a hair-destroyer, he may discover that the fungi flourish best when fertilized by tobacco-poisoned blood. The protection afforded by a good growth of hair on the head is not to be despised. Those so protected sel- dom suffer from colds in the head, and sudden changes of temperature affect them but slightly, while the num- bers annually injured by exposing their thinly covered or bald heads at funerals and in other public assem- EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON THE HAIR. 25 blages would be frightful to contemplate were the true figures obtainable. Suffice it to say that many good people have secured admission to the future state through such exposure, though they may have been ig- norant of its probable fatal effect on their unprotected heads. Those who wish to make a cheerful appearance in society should devote care and attention to the preser- vation of their hair. When the nutrition necessary to sustain a vigorous growth of hair is diverted from its proper channel by the use of tobacco, there is no recov- ery to the victim while he continues its use. I know a powerful hair restorative which has never failed where the papillae have not been destroyed by tobacco or some other evil cause; but no case has ever come under my observation where the individual persisted in the use of tobacco and was benefited by any scalp treatment. No one who values his hair at its true worth will ever put such a valuable appendage in jeopardy by the. use of the great hair destroyer, tobacco. CHAPTER III. EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON riEilORY. Of all the faculties bestowed upon us, not one ex- ceeds memory in importance; and no mental power is capable of greater development when properly culti- vated and guarded from evil influences. 26 EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON MEMORY. A well trained memory is capable of feats which would seem marvelous if their daily occurrence did not make them matter of course. Think of photographing on the living tissues of the brain the pictures of an ob- ject, its size, color, location — everything of interest in connection with it, and of registering in the mind at the same time the sensations of the person receiving the im- pression; then of being able to recall at will the object in its entirety or in any single detail, together with any or all of the feelings it may have inspired. Or, what is yet more marvelous, of the ability to impress upon the mind the ideas or sentiments of another as conveyed to us by tongue or pen, and to make them our own, to be reproduced at will with the same freedom as our direct impressions. A trained memory has a perfect record of every incident in life; nothing will be found lacking when occasion arises for the recall of any mental picture. To possess such a memory as this is to be most highly favored. It argues the possession of an alert mind, sound nerves, healthy blood and well nourished tissue. It presupposes trained powers of observation and a mind open to receive and make the most of im- pressions. The importance of training the memory in childhood when the power to reproduce impressions is at its best can hardly be over-estimated. A good mem- ory is a mighty factor in obtaining an education, and in acquiring the easy, pleasant manner which character- EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON MEMORY. 27 lzes the agreeable, educated person, because training the memory develops that habit of observation which grasps not only the weighty educational essentials, but also the little niceties which are of equal, or even greater im- portance in causing one's lines in life to fall in ways of pleasantness and paths of peace. In thousands of cases of phenomenal memory, some of which lie within the knowledge of everyone, the memory training was commenced in early life and con- tinued until the habit of attention was fixed and the mind drilled to register impressions with clearness and decision. To secure the highest degree of perfection in the performance of athletic feats, training must be be- gun as early as the sixth year. So in memory training, the drill should commence as early or earlier, and no less attention should be paid to proper food, clothing and exercise than if the object to be attained was the pupil's highest physical rather than mental development. Many things contribute to faulty memories. Inat- tention, thinking of one thing while doing another, reading newspapers and other ephemeral literature with the unacknowledged purpose of forgetting what we read, ill health, the use of stimulants, tobacco and other nar- cotics. Perhaps all other causes combined have not wrought so much injury to memory as the tobacco habit. It is acknowledged even by the friends of the weed that its use produces inertia and indolence. Memory train- ing requires continued diligent effort. Where memory 28 EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON MEMORY. is all that can be desired, every sense is thoroughly cul- tivated and acute. "When tobacco is used in youth sight and hearing become dulled, and two valuable aids to memory are disabled. To recall an impression, it is of the first importance that it should have been vivid when made. If it is not clear, it will be recalled in a mis- taken, misshapen form which will render it valueless when reproduced. In the trial of criminal cases, it sometimes happens that the life or freedom of the ac- cused may depend upon one irresponsible memory. While the character of the witness may be irreproach- able, it only gives additional weight to what may be an utterly inaccurate recollection of an important event. We expect nothing but dissatisfaction in any rela- tions we may have with a dull, listless person. If we ask for information which should be within his knowl- edge, we are not surprised when he fails to give an in- telligent reply. His listlessness betokens a lack of that wide awake interest which even everyday happenings require from anyone who wishes to do his share of the world's work as nature intended every man should. It is especially exasperating to a teacher to be told by a pupil that he knows all about a subject, yet to find him, when questioned, unable to support his boasted knowl- edge by a single correct answer. There is no doubt that for some reason the impression made upon the mind has been too indistinct to be recalled, EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON MEMORY. 29 The experienced teacher quickly realizes his helpless- ness when he is confronted with a pupil who is suffering from the cigarette habit. The lusterless eye and wan- dering gaze evidence the inability of the mind to con- centrate itself upon any subject. The physical exercise which the average boy is almost compelled to take, to- gether with the mental discipline he is expected to re- ceive, require good food, pure air and healthful sur- roundings in order that hi? body and brain may be well fed. It is essential that the pupil should be kept in the best possible physical condition, and, while the senses are most susceptible and impressions most lasting, brain and nerves should be trained to perform their duties faithfully and accurately. How can this be done when cigarette or other tobacco poison is subtly stealing into the nourishing blood and depriving it of its nutritive elements, leaving the nerves partially paralyzed and the brain stupefied? Parents should feel their responsibility in this matter, and take every precaution to prevent the formation of a habit which dwarfs the intellect, cor- rupts the morals and ultimately ruins any youth, no matter how bright and promising he may be. I have known parents who, with limited means, found it very difficult to educate their sons; yet with such care and patience was the task performed that when the boys were only 13 and 15 years old respectively, they showed the effect of memory training in an ability to read a EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON MEMORY. page, close the book and repeat verbatim all the page contained, with clear understanding of the matter re- cited. So wise had been the parents' supervision that neither boy had been allowed to form the tobacco or any other injurious habit, and their standing in their classes was the best evidence that theirs was the work of clear, healthy brains. In striking contrast to these boys was another pupil in the same school, the handsome, spoiled son of a clergyman, whose standing after he acquired the tobacco habit steadily retrograded until he was unable to make a recitation, no matter how recently he had studied a subject. I have never known any boy to stand well in his classes who had used tobacco for any length of time. It is truthfully said to "enervate both mind and body, to stunt the growth, and to produce an abnormal precocity in the young." I doubt not that the tobacco habit destroys the pride and self-respect of its victim. Otherwise, when a bov found himself rated a back num- ber among his classmates, he would give up the vice which caused his decline. While all the miseries and mortifications which a student would ordinarily endure from repeated failure in his classes are seldom powerful enough to act as a check upon the tobacco user, they at least point a moral for those of his classmates who are attempting to acquire the habit, and who witness the stupefaction and bewilderment of the mind poisoned by tobacco. EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON MEMORY. 31 In practical business life, a good memory is of great value. The steps saved, the time gained, the annoy- ances avoided by one who remembers without reference to memoranda the time, place and circumstances of every transaction occurring through the day, makes it possible for him to accomplish twice as much as his busi- ness rival, hampered by a bad memory. An accurate memory is without doubt one of the most potent factors of a successful business life. It is said of James G. Blaine that he could remember the name and face of every person he had ever met, as well as the place and circumstances of the meeting. When we consider the thousands of people he must have registered in his memory* to do this, it seems an impos- sible feat. His ability in this direction doubtless con- tributed to his popularity and greatness as a statesman. The memory which had such powers of retention could readily seize upon and make its own any fact or inci- dent heard or read which would prove of use to its pos- sessor in his long congressional career. It was this mar- velous memory that made Mr. Blaine so formidable to his opponents in debate. Our martyred president, Lin- coln, was also able to readily recall anything ever grasped by his powerful intellect. Hence his ability to meet in joint debate the greatest American statesmen, and to acquit himself to the satisfaction of his support- ers and the lasting injury of the cause espoused by his opponents. 32 EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON MEMORY. We can pay the very aged no higher compliment than to say their memories are unimpaired. In Dickens' "Haunted Man" he has pictured with his master touch the unhappiness that fell to the lot of the man who of his own free will and for what he had supposed to be his greater comfort resigned his memory of sorrow, wrong and trouble. When he was contemplating the relief such loss of memory would bring him, he did not think that with the memory of the sorrow would go also the memory of the solace he had found; with the memory of wrong, the power to sympathize with the injured; with the memory of trouble, the compensation to be found in teaching others how to avoid it. So, by a desire to free himself from sad recollections, he placed himself beyond the reach of the most humanizing of emotions. Few who have felt the pathos of the story will fail to echo its concluding prayer: " Lord, keep my memory green." If such results would follow the loss of bitter memories, what can we say of the man or boy who wilfully takes it upon himself to undermine and destroy the faculty which is his best help as a student, his unwavering friend in business, and his greatest comfort in his declining years? We can exclaim, " What madness! What folly!" But how little we know or understand the loss he sus- tains unless bitter experience has borne it in upon us. Boys and young men should understand that while the body is growing and must be provided with material EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON MEMORY. 33 to repair the daily waste of tissue, as well as for growth and development, anything like tobacco, which impairs nutrition, must affect not only the nerves of special sense but the whole body injuriously. Instead of attempting to compel the body to eke out a scanty subsistence by diverting its food supply and poisoning its source of life, the greatest care should be exercised and the most stren- uous exertions made to build up the whole system as a preparation for a life of the best and highest usefulness. CHAPTER III. TOBACCO AND INTEMPERANCE. It is conceded by most scientists and the best medical men of the age that intemperance or inebriety is a dis- ease, and the remedies discovered for its cure within the past 25 years have proved so efficacious that there is scarcely a city, town or village in the civilized world which does not support one or more institutes for the treatment of inebriety. The graduates from these in- stitutes come from all classes of society, and in the ma- jority of cases we find that the victim of the disease has regained control of himself. These institutions are a product of our advanced civilization, with which has come a marked increase in drunkenness. So far as we can learn from history, man has always suffered more or less from the drinking habit, but until within the past 34 TOBACCO AND INTEMPERANCE. three centuries the effect upon mankind has not been so marked with the general destruction of those who use stimulants liberally. With all our boasted intelligence and our knowledge of the evil that intemperance causes, there is a steady increase in the manufacture and con- sumption of stimulating beverages; and although phy- sicians have been able to find a cure for inebriety, the origin of the disease remains to be discovered. From observations which have extended over a period of forty years, I am fully convinced that 90 per cent, of all cases of inebriety, excluding hereditary alcohol- ism, are brought about by the use of tobacco. Those who use tobacco until it has secured a permanent hold upon them soon find that tobacco of itself does not fully satisfy the craving which its use engenders. Although tobacco is sedative and narcotic in its effects, its use pro- duces a desire for a stimulant, and the stimulant to be satisfying must be more prompt and exhilarating in its action than tobacco poison. Alcohol, the intoxicating element in all distilled liquors, attracts the tobacco lover, and in some of the many alcoholic beverages he finds a palatable exhilarant and betakes himself to excess in that direction. No one naturally possesses an appetite for stimulants, unless he inherits it from some bibulous ancestor. Once acquired, however, it grows upon the in- dividual, and unless held in check by a powerful will, soon leads to drunkenness. Few persons stop to con- TOBACCO AND INTEMPERANCE. 35 sider how many of their fellow men suffer from ine- brietv. When we take into account that it is the rule for every city and town throughout the world to have more drinking saloons than churches, while the patron- age of the saloons by the male population is far in ex- cess of the attendance at houses of worship, it is evident that there is a widespread desire to become infected with the dangerous malady. Saloons for the sale of in- toxicants would never exist and prosper had they to de- pend entirely upon the support of the recruits attracted solely by their wares; but thanks to the aid which to- bacco affords them, the business is always profitable.. The saloon contingent is largely made up of the young and foolish, who fall into the places of the old wrecks who have burned themselves out with alcohol. The relief from gloom and depression — the after effects of the use of tobacco — afforded by the absorption of liquors, is superseded by an appetite for stimulants, and in the course of time drunkenness follows. Inebriety is not contagious in the ordinary sense ; yet millions are in- fected by the example of others, and so fall easy prey to the disease. It is a mystery why so many good people devote their time, money and energy to the temperance cause, yet never make an effort to stamp out that fertile source of intemperance — the tobacco habit. We have often heard men say that they never took intoxicants under any cir- TOBACCO AND INTEMPERANCE. cumstances, but in the past 45 years I have never known a tobacco user who did not use stimulants in the form of beer, wine or whisky, and without positive knowl- edge to the contrary, I would find it difficult to believe that a man did not use intoxicants whom I knew to use tobacco. The tobacco habit is parent of the drinking habit; the effect upon the system is much the same, only the results are reached by different routes, and are more pronounced in the drunkard's case than in that of the tobacco user. Those who battle with intemperance should commence to work at the foundation of the dis- ease and devote themselves first to curing the tobacco habit. There are few who cannot recall some young man of their acquaintance who smoked excessively, and who ended what might have been an honorable career in an inebriate asylum, the penitentiary, or a drunk- ard's grave. The excessive use of any stimulant deadens the sen- sibilities to the proprieties of life. This is evident in the ridiculous stories often told by those who are addicted to the use of liquors. We frequently hear statements so absurd that they brand their author as a confirmed inebriate, and, of course, not responsible for the exag- gerations in which he indulges. Many a respectable young man has been led into folly and crime through shaken nerves resulting from the excessive use of stimu- lants. Such a man would never have succumbed to evil TOBACCO AND INTEMPERANCE. 37 influences if liis mind had been in a normal condition. The poison of tobacco and liquors so dulled his senses to the laws of society that they were rudely and ruthlessly broken and the man disgraced. Young men and boys should look upon the sots with which every community is cursed as a warning, and try to discover what brought these unfortunates to their fallen condition. Close investigation will usually show that the craving for intoxicants can easily be traced back to the tobacco habit. ISTo boy or young man can afford to take the risk that lies in indulgence in tobacco. There are people, blessed with robust constitutions, who can withstand the evil effects of tobacco for a long period without the injury becoming apparent to the casual ob- server. They are possessed of strong will power, and limit themselves to tobacco poison, never exceeding a certain amount of it; but no matter how strong the will, nor how great the physical strength, the poison is bound to sap the vitality, and, as age advances, rheumatism, heart trouble and a hundred ills that man by foolish in- dulgence and negligence has added to the burden of humanity, will follow upon the heels of the fleeting pleasure derived from the use of tobacco, until men who once rejoiced in their strength wonder, as they writhe in pain, or find themselves overtaken with sudden fee- bleness, where their boasted strength has gone, and few 38 TOBACCO AND INTEMPERANCE. will admit that it has been stolen by that insidious foe, the tobacco habit. As health breaks and strength fails, stimulants are re- sorted to, with the result that the sound constitution which, nourished and built up by healthy blood, should have been equal to any strain encountered in an active life, must be bolstered up by artificial means to with- stand the approach of what, without the impairment chargeable to the tobacco habit, should have proved a restful and green old age. No graduate from an institution for inebriates can feel sure that he is cured if he continues the use of to- bacco. From the nature of the disease, the use of any narcotic or stimulant is more than likely to produce a relapse from which the patient cannot recover by taking another course of treatment. It rarely happens that a patient has a desire for tobacco while under treatment, but when he again mingles with his old associates and resumes the use of tobacco, the same old feeling of de- pression returns with such insistence that no considera- tion can keep him from yielding to his reawakened ap- petite for an alcoholic stimulant. Had tobacco been withheld, and had the victim abandoned that habit when he was on the highway to recovery from alcoholism, the treatment would have proved effective and his recovery of self-control would have been permanent. "While there are no available figures within reach to TOBACCO AND INTEMPERANCE. 39 prove that the majority of inebriates lay the foundation of inebriety by using tobacco, yet there is no one who has given the subject any study who will deny that those who do not use tobacco in any form are comparatively free from the disease; and while any stimulant of an alcoholic nature will cause drunkenness when used to excess, the narcotic properties of tobacco create an ap- petite for alcoholic beverages, and so general is the use of tobacco throughout the world that it is safe to say it is the primary cause of intemperance in 90 per cent, of all cases. Young women should study this subject with great care. It is a fearful risk for any woman to ally herself to a man who has the tobacco habit. While the fumes of a cigar may become tolerable through familiarity and the manner of the smoker may be very captivating, yet in thousands of cases the results reached through the cigar smoke are a neglected wife, destitute children and a home wrecked by the selfish profligacy of the inebri- ate. For it is left to inebriety to develop fully that worst trait of humanity — selfishness. The victim of this disease never spares his family or his friends, frequently spending the money needed for food and clothing upon strangers and acquaintances to create an impression that he is kind and liberal. I have known two young people to begin married life with good prospects. The husband smokes. A few years passes. He drinks. A few more 40 TOBACCO AND INTEMPERANCE. years, and the wife returns to her parents and procures a divorce. The husband may end his career in any of the ways open to an inebriate, or he may roam the coun- try a Weary "Willie; his fortune gone; his physical abil- ity wrecked; and his life a burden to himself and to those of his f ellowmen with whom he comes in contact. I have always admired the young woman who, when asked by a cigar-smoking acquaintance if she objected to gentlemen smoking in her presence replied quietly, "No gentleman ever did." If all women would take this spirited stand on the tobacco question, the use of to- bacco would soon fall into disrepute. Those who are working for the advancement of tem- perance should give more attention to alcohol's strong ally, tobacco; for so long as the use of tobacco is sanc- tioned by custom, it will be impossible to make any great headway against intemperance. CHAPTER IV. TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. Those who use tobacco are aware that its use is in- jurious, but the habit is formed thoughtlessly, and when it once has a firm hold upon its victim, it is no small matter to get rid of it. The majority of those who use tobacco believe that the habit will not seriously affect their success in business or their advancement in the TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. 41 several professions in which men engage. When they will admit that its use is injurious to them, they convey the impression that they are able to sustain a steady drain upon their vitality and at the same time prosecute their business to a successful issue. Such an idea is pre- posterous, but it is undoubtedly held by a large major- ity of those who use tobacco, and the result is that thousands fail signally in business life. The present age offers great opportunities for development to all who in- telligently and industriously work for advancement, but its requirements are such that unless one keeps in touch with the times he soon lags at the end of the procession No person can expect to win in the great life contest unless his faculties are in prime condition, and tobacco, of all articles of man's consumption, does most to de- teriorate and destroy the working of the human mechan- ism and unfit it for the active duties of life. !No one can truthfully claim that the use of tobacco improves his in- tellect or develops him physically, since it is well known that its use injures both brain and body. The rules of all athletic societies prohibit the use of tobacco, and with srood reason. When it comes to real endurance, where every particle of strength and cour- age is required to win, the tobacco-user is not to be de- pended upon. This fact is so well known that athletes who have the tobacco habit discard it while training for a severe contest, and until the trial is over. In the old 42 TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. Grecian games, the contestants threw aside everything which might prove a hindrance, and prepared them- selves for months, and sometimes for years, that they might at last win a laurel crown and the applause of the spectators. In the struggle for advancement in the nineteenth century, contestants must prepare them- selves as carefully and keep in the best possible condi- tion to reach the coveted goal. What we now regard as the necessities of life were looked upon as luxuries in the last century. The simple mode of life pf our an- cestors is no longer open to us, and it requires all of training and education that a young man can obtain, in these times of unrivaled educational facilities, to insure him the means of securing a good livelihood. Many claim that young men do not now have the op- portunities that their fathers had when they started in life. In the early history of the country, land was cheap and less capital was required to engage in most enter- prises than is the case at present. Yet in the early days it was harder for the young man beginning business life than it is today. Many a man worked as a day laborer to obtain money wherewith to educate himself, and finished his education by teaching school, when he was qualified to do so, at from $20 to $30 per month. At present, a teacher can command from $40 to $125 per month, with more positions to be filled, in proportion to the population, than there were 40 to 60 years ago. TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. 43 Great complaint is made that improved machinery is displacing men and reducing the rate of wages; but the facts do not bear out the statement. Young men can find employment on railroads now at from $40 to $150 per month. Such wages or employment could not have been procured 70 years ago. The army of people re- quired by telegraph, telephone and express companies would have gone a long way toward giving employment to laboring people 50 years ago, and the wages are from three to four times better than any wages obtainable 60 or 70 years ago. Every labor-saving machine placed upon the market adds to the dignity of labor, and in most cases enhances the wages of the laborers who use it. Those who believe that machinery reduces the price of labor should stop to think. The man who used to cradle grain at 50 to 75 cents per day is supplanted by the man who drives the binder at from $1.50 to $2.50 per day. The man who drove the horse at 50 cents to $1 per day is superseded by the engineer who receives from $2.50 to $3.50 per day. The printer who worked at from $5 to $8 per week and less is replaced by the typesetter who commands from $15 to $25 per week and more, according to his ability and skill. Instead of machinery injuring labor, it has increased the chances to labor, and greatly augmented the wages paid to those who wish to work, provided they have fitted themselves 44 TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. for the changed conditions which improved machinery has brought about. Professional men claim that their ranks are over- crowded. Colleges and seminaries are daily adding to the numbers in all professions; yet there are greater chances to succeed in every profession today than have ever before offered in the history of the world. When a lawyer can leave a practice which is giving him an income of $200,000 per year to engage in lecturing, it would indicate that the lecture field is not fully filled, and that there is good compensation in legal business for men of ability. A clergyman receives from $3,000 to $20,000 per year for filling a pulpit in a fashionable church in any of our large cities, aside from what he may earn outside his church work by writing and lec- turing, which in many cases will exceed his salary as a minister. Men of ability who have fitted themselves for their work succeed by close application and industry. Those who reach the top are not loaded down with bad habits. Their minds must be clear, their actions un- trammeled and prompt. Young men who wish to get on in the world should understand the importance of good health, and the great impairment to all the facul- ties which follows the continued use of tobacco. As has been said heretofore, the digestion first suffers; then the organs which are weakest follow in order until the whole human machinery is wrecked. A man to succeed should TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. 45 be free to forget himself in his undertaking. If he is in pain or discomfort he will not be able to give that attention to the affairs in hand which insures success. The indulgence which a man allows himself in the use of tobacco is enervating; besides, tobacco has a tendency to produce a stupid condition of the nerves, which must- be overcome by sleep and rest that frequently encroach upon working hours which are of great value to him who is laying the foundation for a competency for old age. Napoleon said that "Two o'clock in the morning courage wins battles. " The energy and grit that will get out a tired and sleepy soldier at 2 o'clock in the morning is seldom found in the person who permits himself to in- dulge in the tobacco habit. Young people who wish to succeed in life should know that there are many men with capital who are taxing themselves beyond their strength simply because they cannot find suitable as- sistants to whom a part of their business can be safely intrusted. Even in the depressed times of 1896 and 1897, when men can be had for their board on the farm during the winter, trustworthy men with good habits can obtain work at $20 per month and board, and the supply will not fill the demand. Such men can save over $200 per year, and from three to four years' work for others enables them to start up for themselves. The trouble with many people who are compelled to work for their living is that they drift through life without re- 46 TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. sponsibility or worry; hence the packing together in flats and tenements in the cities of vast numbers who free themselves of every possible care in order that they may indulge their disordered appetites with tobacco, beer and whisky. There are exceptions to every rule, and so there are to this one, but facts bear out the above statement with reference to the majority who so environ them- selves. The happy-go-lucky Irishman, when he lost his only cow, reconciled himself to the situation by the re- flection, "No cow, no care;" but the person who passes through life without any care for the things that make life worth living will soon be advancing the argument that the world owes him a living; unless he is luckier than the generality of men he will find the debt scarcely worth collecting. The man who determines that the world shall furnish him a good living for meritorious work performed sel- dom, if ever, fails. Merit will win, and the longer the reward is delayed, the greater it will be in the end. Al- though great strides have been made in the progress of mankind during the last three centuries, yet the world's resources are only partially developed, and far greater advancement will be made in the near future if the young men of the twentieth century enter the field prop- erly equipped for good work. Large amounts of capital lie waiting in the great money centers for the promoters who can show safe and reliable returns for investments. TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. 47 Men of brains and energy have greater opportunities than ever offered before. Africa and Asia, with their teeming populations, are opening up to civilization. The development of these continents is barely com- menced. Europe and our United States will furnish, in great measure, the brains and material for enterprises which will add wonderfully to the commerce and indus- tries of the world and furnish employment to vast num- bers of people. It is undoubtedly true that we are just at the outer edge of a great, though peaceful, revolution — a forward movement of the wheels of progress — but it is going to require a high order of men and women workers to bring it about. Young people should realize that while their advantages are many fold greater than the beginning of the present century afforded, increased advantages bring added cares and responsibilities. The farmer who highly fertilizes his land makes additional work for himself in a stimulated growth of weeds; yet with intelligent care and well-directed labor a more bountiful crop doubly recompenses him. The conveniences and labor saving devices which go to make life pleasant and profitable in the nineteenth century require a greater exercise of skill and brain power than did the time-consuming methods and tools of our fathers. "For this reason, if no other, no young man should permit his nerves to grow shaky and his faculties dull from using tobacco. From tests we have made on 48 TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. the farm, we find that men of the same ability, mentally and physically, are worth $2 per month more for the year where they do not use tobacco than those who do. During the intense heat of summer, the non-tobacco user is seldom affected, and throughout the year his work is generally good, rather than spasmodically so ; he is able to hold in his mind, while performing one duty, what comes next, and his work shows system and order; while the tobacco victim is seldom able to complete his con- tract without a lay-off for sickness, and always must be favored, more or less, owing to being out of condition. Men who have rapid mental work to perform, such as bank cashiers, train dispatchers, etc., find that tobacco soon unfits them for business; and unless they brace themselves up and drop the habit, they are compelled to seek rest and sometimes- are entirely unfitted for any kind of work. Railroad companies and all corporations who are liable for the carelessness of their employes are growing more rigid in their rules regarding the use of stimulants; while none of these companies will permit the use of intoxicants by men on duty, there are many that will not employ a man known to use stimulants at any time, and the regulations are becoming more strin- gent in this respect. When it becomes more generally known that the use of tobacco is almost as inimical to trustworthiness and fidelity as are stimulants, the rules will be extended to exclude the tobacco-user. There are TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. 49 millions of people who believe that the stimulants they use will injure no one; and many moderate drinkers suc- ceed in performing their duties satisfactorily for years; yet there is no employer who can afford to take the risk which the use of intoxicants by his employes would en- tail upon him. So it is with tobacco. Many believe they can use it without injury to their business; but the nar- cotic poison will eventually impair their usefulness, and instead of becoming of more value to themselves and their employers as the years go by, they deteriorate and decay. On all sides we meet men little past middle age who are prematurely old. Their hair is whitened, their limbs shrunken, their memory gone; they bear every in- dication of a misspent life, which in nine cases out of ten can be traced to the immoderate use of tobacco in their youth. Such men have not the physical strength needed to make a success of their business. On the other hand, when you meet a man who has never used tobacco or stimulants, you will find a person who retains his full vigor long after middle age; his hair seldom turns white until after sixty years have passed over his head; his eves retain their brightness until his head is gray; and such a man is never much of a burden to his friends. Men of this stamp usually succeed in business. Through an experience which has extended over four decades, T have never known a man with good sense and good hab- its, who had worked faithfullv and intelligent! v twenty 50 TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. years, who had not accomplished his object in life; fre- o.uently he attains it in half that time. It is an old maxim that "There is only a year between a rich man and a poor man" — sometimes a much shorter period; but no one should expect to succeed unless he complies with the rules of life that govern the conduct of the successful man. One of the most essential of these rules is to keep in the best possible condition physically; for such a con- dition conduces to mental growth, and unless a man grows mentally his success is generally short-lived. The action of tobacco on the nerve centers is of a de- moralizing nature; it produces languor which unfits a man for the prompt action necessary to success in this age of steam and electricity, when space and time are practically annihilated. Local conditions no longer con- trol prices where it is necessary to come into competition with the markets of the world. One country may be suffering from famine, while its adjoining neighbor is distressed by a surplus of food products; but with the improved facilities for transportation, such conditions can be equalized. Men should be so educated as to be able to grasp the situation, and neither be unduly de- pressed nor over-elated by business happenings. The vicis- situdes of life are manv, and often extreme. A man to be successful should have plenty of reserve force, and instead of depleting his physical power and mental abil- ity by the use of tobacco, he should in times of prosper- TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. 51 ity prepare himself for the misfortunes of life. To do this it is necessary that he should keep himself free from an appetite for narcotics and stimulants, since they do so much to destroy the nerve and grit of those who in- dulge in them. There are many people in this world who think they are working when they keep the smoke going in an old black pipe; but such labor does not add much to the as- sessable wealth of the country. If LLj time so misspent did no further injury than to retard the growth of the country, it might be easily overlooked; but men who so indulge do more than waste time and burn up poor to- bacco. The energy and buoyancy that float out with the tobacco smok© would go far to make a success of their business life. The young man who spends his time shortening cigarettes not only succeeds in that operation, but at the same time cuts short what might otherwise prove an honorable and useful career. Scientists now generally hold to what they call the "doctrine of the con- servation of energy"; that is, that no force, no matter how slight, goes to waste, but that once expended, it is utilized somewhere in the universe. If any of these gen- tlemen will study a tobacco user for a few minutes, and note the force and energy thrown into smoking or chew- ing, as the case may be, he will probably decide that he has before him the best possible refutation of that doc- trine. 52 TOBACCO AND BUSINESS. It is useless to dwell longer upon these facts. Fra- grant tobacco smoke, exhilarating wine, beer and whisky all produce the same results; debased manhood, unre- warded efforts. Let the energetic and ambitious young man leave them alone. CHAPTER V. HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. We often hear men say that they can discontinue the use of tobacco whenever they wish to do so. This state- ment is true in a certain sense, but it needs to be quali- fied. Let a man abstain from any article of food which he likes, and which daily use has made necessary to his comfort, before he declares that it is a light matter to give up any cherished item of diet. Although tobacco is neither food nor drink, to many people it seems more essential than either. True, no one has a desire for it until he cultivates it, but the appetite once acquired is more insistent in its demands than ordinary hunger or thirst. A man who would not think of carrying a lunch with him when he expected to be at home at mealtime, will carefully fill his cigar case or tobacco pouch before venturing out the shortest distance. The act of using tobacco stamps the person using it as one who deliberately caters to the lower instincts of his nature. The worst side of humanity has always been HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. 53 fully developed, and it is a waste of time to carry the work further. Surrendering to the self -created appetite for tobacco retards the growth and development of both mind and body. Yielding to our baser instincts, our higher nature is dwarfed, our progress checked and our lives wasted. Although it is more difficult to quit using tobacco than most people think, many thousands do so every year for various reasons. Most of those who give up the habit are compelled to such a course through motives of self -pro- tection, for the ravages tobacco works in their systems become so evident that to continue its use is suicidal. All who have had experience in getting rid of the habit admit that giving it up is very trying to the nerves. Like acquiring a fortune, there is no royal road to the desired goal, Substitutes are useless. There are many ^o-called tobacco "cures," but the user will find that only the exercise of his will will enable him to get rid of the habit. After experimenting on fully fifty people, I have come to the conclusion that the remedies offered for this vice do little toward effecting a permanent cure. Only a man who has perfect self-control could follow the di- rections where a cure is guaranteed, and unless he obeys orders of course he cannot recover his money, so that, in most cases, he has a profitless experience in exchange for the outlay he has made, and in the end must fall back on his will to quit the habit. I would advise those who think of giving up tobacco 54 HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. to consider the matter seriously before they make the at- tempt, for unless a man is fully determined to quit, he only causes himself and his friends annoyance to no good purpose, and the usual result of a failure is to give the habit a firmer hold. No one knows in what a grasp he is held until he tries to give up tobacco and fails. How- ever, it would not be so hard if the person, when he first makes the attempt, would hold out against the habit. He has prepared himself for a great struggle, which he is fully prepared to resist, and when at first he does not experience so much discomfort as he expected, he per- mits himself to indulge once more. This is a fatal error. As soon as the nerves find that they can have their ac- customed sedative by demanding it, they become clam- orous, and as the victim allowed himself to relapse once, why not again? Every time he gives waj to the craving for tobacco he has fiercer opposition to meet when he next makes an effort to abstain. If he has an earnest de- sire to rid himself of the habit, he should never permit tobacco to enter his mouth after he once definitely de- termines to give it up. Many times he will have an al- most unconquerable longing for a smoke or a chew, but every time he overcomes the feeling he will make him- self so much stronger for the next attack, and as he re- gains self-mastery, the craving will come at wider and wider intervals and weaken in intensity until he no longer cares for tobacco, and is astonished to find himself cured. HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. 55 Too much stress cannot be laid upon a proper choice of associates when one is trying to throw off any bad habit. I have known men who succeeded very well in their efforts to overcome the tobacco habit until they en- countered some old acquaintance who thoroughly en- joyed smoking or chewing. The influence exerted by him as his person radiated the satisfaction he derived from the weed would prove sufficient to dispel all good resolutions of a recently reclaimed victim, and eventu- ally he would hungrily beg for some of that tobacco! To successfully restrain himself at such a time, it some- times helps one to carry tobacco with him, the possession of w^hich makes him independent of his acquaintances. I suppose that having it in his pockets keeps him on the lookout for a surprise from the enemy, and meeting his tobacco-loving friends when his nerves are braced, he is able to control himself. On the other hand, there are many cases where a man who has given up tobacco meets a friend, who testifies his pleasure at the chance encoun- ~ ter by inviting the non-user to drink with him. Not caring to do so, he may say, "No, I will take a cigar," and put one in his pocket intending to hand it to some smok- er of his acquaintance. He forgets all about it until some time he accidentally finds it, and before he realizes what he is doing he is puffing away at it simply from force of habit, and the last state of that man may be worse than the first. It will not be difficult for anyone 56 HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. to decide whether his interests will be best subserved by- carrying tobacco with him while quitting the habit. In any case, it is a great advantage to have associates who do not use tobacco. The influence of those about us is a potent factor for good or ill, and the utmost care should be taken to avoid those who indulge in this popular vice if one wishes to break away from it. If one is in an at- mosphere reeking with tobacco smoke, he will be more or less affected by it, and in case he has renounced the habit, it cannot but endanger the success of his under- taking. The old copybook maxim, "Evil communica- tions corrupt good manners," holds good in such a case. Many tobacco users enjoy throwing temptations in the way of those who are trying to reform. They are pro- fuse in their offers of tobacco until their victim renews the habit; then their liberality ceases. A man who is undergoing the hardship of quitting to- bacco should, on no account, permit himself to use intox- icating drinks. Stimulants call for narcotics, and nar- cotics lead to the use of stimulants, so that one glass of any kind of liquor may prove sufficient to revive a desire for tobacco, and then the old struggle is on again. Be- sides, men who frequent drinking resorts use tobacco, as a rule, and very few men have the stamina to keep up the struggle for self-mastery amid such surroundings and among such companions. One cause of relapse into the tobacco habit is some HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. 57 temporal success. In the glow of exultation over any achievement the reformed tobacco user is too likely to relax his vigilance and fall back into the old habit through sheer carelessness more than from an actual wish for tobacco, perhaps because he feels the need of dissipating his buoyant spirits. The failure to control himself causes the victim to lose confidence in himself; and he rarely has the courage to begin the fight anew; so it is evident that it is folly to give up the habit unless one is firmly determined on no account to indulge in tobacco, or in any stimulant or narcotic which will fill its place with his abused nerves. There are those who try to fortify themselves in the use of tobacco by citing the names of prominent men who use it, or who have used it, and boldly state that its use did not interfere with their success. There are many tilings to be considered before we can go so far as to say that tobacco does not or has not injured these men. A man may fill a prominent position and yet be a long way from a successful and happy career. Then, one who did not begin to use tobacco until he was fully matured might accomplish a great amount of work before its ravages became noticeable; yet no one, aside from him- self, can ever know the will power required to overcome the lassitude produced by his pet vice. The same force- ful effort directed to the furtherance of the work in which he was engaged would, without doubt, have added 58 HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. materially to its success. Of the few great names used to support the theory of tobacco's harmlessness, take those who have lived to a good old age, and inquire of what they died, and what degree of comfort they enjoyed through life. Many invalids drag out a long, miserable existence and greatly benefit the world without knowing what it is to enjoy life. Many great men have suc- cumbed to nervous disorders, or have suffered through life from dyspepsia and other diseases supposed to have been caused by too great devotion to an intellectual career, who might well lay the foundation of their mal- adies to' their well beloved and presumably innocent nar- cotic, rather than to healthy mental effort. Lack of ex- ercise and the use of tobacco probably explain the irri- tability of some of them. One source of annoyance resulting from giving up tobacco is the feeling of stupidity which seizes upon the reformed as his sulky nerves, deprived of their usual solace, refuse to respond to the calls upon them. This sensation can best be combatted by additional ex- ertion, which, of course, is a hardship in itself, when one feels so little disposed to exertion; but the lasting benefit derived from such an exercise of strength and will is sufficient reward. When once the nerves have been brought under control, the sense of stupor and heaviness vanishes. Kichard is himself again, and is surprised at the feeling of buoyancy and freedom which permeates his HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. 59 being, and which a thousand times rewards him for sac- rificing his tobacco. The peach once handled loses its bloom, never to be regained, though its eatable qualities may be uninjured. So it is with the person who uses tobacco. The natural luster of his hair can never be restored to him, and no cosmetic known to art will give back to him the complex- ion which was the evidence of healthy, undrugged blood. Women who are tempted to toy with the cigarette should bear these facts in mind. Tt should be remembered that, although there are ex- ceptions to every rule, one stands no better chance to escape the hurtful influence of tobacco than he would have had of passing scathless through the Russian bullets had he been in the charge of the Light Brigade at Bala- klava. There were those who escaped the wholesale de- struction there, though their comrades fell by hun- dreds around them, and so it will be through all time; but who can afford to take the chances of evading the evils of the tobacco habit? Who can afford to forego the real pleasures of life in order to acquire an objectionable appetite ? To live is an inestimable privilege, and to en- joy life one should be wide awake and thoroughly alive, nor partially stupefied by a narcotic. It is unlikely that we shall have another chance in this world to amend our lives or repair our mistakes, so we should try to make the most of our present opportunities, which we cannot do with beclouded faculties. 60 HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. In the foregoing pages I have tried to point out some of the difficulties which one has to meet who tries to give up tobacco. I do this from the conviction that one is more likely to succeed if he knows in advance the na- ture of the obstacles he must overcome. I do not urge any one to quit using tobacco unless he fully believes its use is injurious to him. It has been my aim to show that tobacco works irreparable harm to those who use it, and my own bitter experience enables me to fully sympa- thize with the sufferers perplexed about its use. There will always be those who will use tobacco, though as the world advances and its effect on mankind is more fully understood, parents and guardians will ex- ert themselves to prevent their young charges from forming an appetite for it. This can best be done by pointing out the evils resulting from its use. Already some of the more progressive colleges return the money of students who use tobacco and are unwilling to relin- quish the habit, and dismiss them from their class rooms, rather than risk associating non-using students with them. Such colleges should have the commendation and patronage of parents who feel their own responsibility in the matter, and that " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Any rational person can renounce tobacco, but it is not the light matter that those who use it would have others believe it to be. The aim of this work is to deter HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. 61 the young and thoughtless from forming a habit which will entail upon them incredible misery, simply to grat- ify their curiosity about a narcotic which is wholly use- less and fearfully destructive to human pleasure and happiness. If what I have already said fails to accom- plish this purpose, nothing I can add would have greater effect. Those who have the habit know the evils it causes, but in most cases they continue to indulge, hop- ing against hope that they may be the fortunate ones who will escape the punishment which the use of tobacco brings upon humanity. It is a vain hope, for sooner or later the mortgage they are giving on their -futures will fall due, the debt must be paid, and the almost inevitable consequence is foreclosure and ruin. To those who wish to rid themselves of this vice while there is yet time, I would say: Firmly resolve that -it shall never again, in any form, cross your lips. To carry out this resolution, shun chewing, smoking and drinking associates, and endeavor, so far as possible, to surround yourselves with companions whose society fos- ters lofty purposes. To overcome the wearing depression consequent on giving up the habit, try Nature's great anodyne — work. Engage in gome undertaking which requires all your time and thoughts, and cling to it per- sistently until both craving and depression have left you, when you will probably find you have accomplished something of worth which you might otherwise have 62 HOW TO QUIT USING TOBACCO. never attempted. Lastly, and most important of all, re- fuse to be surprised or taken at a disadvantage by your ancient enemy. " Let him who thinketh lie standeth take heed lest he fall." Just when you are congratulat- ing yourself upon an easy victory, won for all time, some act of carelessness, some slight accident, may throw you off your guard, and the fight will be on again with new and terrible intensity, before you have time to brace yourself for the struggle. Stubbornly resist, refuse to be downed, and the battle is yours, and you will have wrung from the conflict the strength which is to make vou henceforth invulnerable.