Why do farmers raise Tobacco, manufacturers make it up, and dealers
sell it?--It is because there is an enormous profit in it all along
the lines. The profit is so great that the manufacturers sometimes pay
$1500.00 to $2000.00 for a single advertisement in a leading journal.
In an editorial entitled “The Damnable Cigarette,” in the _Religious
Weekly_, of May 6, 1911, we read of the profits of the Tobacco Trust as
follows:--
“The evil is fearfully profitable.--the net income over
$25,000,000--an increase of about twenty per cent. The dividends on
common stock increased from fifty per cent to sixty-two and one-half
per cent. The fat pockets of the recipients jingled with the gruesome
coin, while insane lads and weeping mothers sat in sodden shame and
sorrow.”
_What Statistics Show_
“The consumers of chewing and smoking tobacco, in 1908, paid as a tax
into the United States Treasury at the rate of $54,984 per day. _They
more than paid the sailors of the United States Navy._”
“The smokers of _cigars_ and _Cigarettes_ pay an average of
_sixty-six thousand six hundred thirty-seven dollars per day_ in tax,
or enough to provide salaries for the Supreme Court of the United
States for one whole year. And the good ‘Sisters of the Chimney
Corner’ paid _tax on snuff_ at the rate of _three thousand four
hundred seventy-three dollars a day_. They thus contribute enough
money to Uncle Sam’s exchequer, to maintain the Public Health and
Marine hospital service.”
“Should three of our largest American cities burn down each year,
it would be considered a national calamity; and yet, each year, the
people of this country burn up in tobacco leaves, an amount equal to
the total assessed valuation of Detroit, Cincinnati, and Buffalo.
But the financial waste is of small consideration compared with the
physical and moral waste resulting therefrom.”
“_A brand new Panama Canal_ could be built each year for the money
that is reduced to ashes between the lips of America’s cigar smokers.
And the census report shows that the consumption of cigars since 1860
has increased _twenty-fold_, while the population has increased only
_twofold_. Every year our cigar bill increases another thirty million
dollars.”
“An industry that shows such stupendous figures of present volume and
of steady growth, indicates unusual stability.”
Dr. D. H. Kress, speaking from his extended experience as physician and
superintendent of sanitariums in England, in Australia, and in America,
where he has had unusual opportunities for observing the effect of
tobacco upon the human body, in an article entitled, “The Rapid
Increase of the Tobacco Habit,” says:--
“The amount spent in the United States alone for tobacco, annually,
would enable me to provide thirty thousand families each year with
all the necessities of life. In addition, I could grant an allowance
of $5,000 to each of ten thousand other families. To each of ten
thousand others I could give $10,000. To each of one thousand other
heads of families, I could make a Christmas present of $50,000. To
each of another thousand I could give $100,000; and, besides, to each
of five hundred of my best friends I could make an annual allowance
of $1,000,000. After doing all this, I would still have left each
year, $200,000,000 to bestow on charitable institutions, and at least
$10,000,000 to keep the wolf from the door. Four hundred years ago
the use of tobacco was unknown in civilized lands. To-day it is used
by men, women, and children. Degeneracy has been the result. What
the coming generations will be, if this craze continues to increase
as it has in the past, does not present a picture pleasing to
contemplate.”--_Temperance Instructor for 1911._
In 1910, while traveling in Northern Michigan, I met Mr. A----, a
business man of Grand Rapids. He said he had never used Tobacco. He
had two boys who had never used the weed. He owns a nice home, his
boys are strong and healthy; the older one is a prominent athlete at
the Y. M. C. A. Mr. A---- said he was one day calling on a neighbor
who asked why Mr. A---- was able to own a home, while he could not.
While they were talking, the elder son of Mr. G---- came in and said,
“Give me a cigar, dad.” The father replied, “They are all gone. Go to
the store and buy a box.” When the son returned, father and son each
took a cigar. In a short time the younger son, a boy of sixteen or
seventeen, came and asked for a cigar and was told, “There’s the box,
help yourself!”
They could not afford a home, but could afford to buy cigars by
the box. In the twenty years of married life of that man, _he had
burned up a home_, was setting a bad example for his boys, and
allowing them to use a poison that was injuring them. Mr. G---- and
his two sons were not up to the standard of Mr. A---- and his sons,
physically, mentally, financially. Why?--Tobacco. A word to the wise
is sufficient. A noted man once said, “_Let your competitor smoke_.”