554 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



but Director Thorne, when the matter was presented 

 to him, said he entirely agreed with me, but added 

 something lilie this: "While three-fourths of my 

 colleagues in the Experiment Station are users of 

 tobacco, what is one to do ? " 



Medina, O., May 16. A. I. Root. 



Very soon after the above, came the fol- 

 lowing answer from the author of the book : 



My dear Mr. Root: — I am personally answering 

 your letter of the 16th, because it is so exceedingly 

 interesting to me. 



With reference to the fact that little is stated in 

 my book, " TobaccO' Habit Easily Conquered," about 

 the help that Chri.«tianity gives in breaking off a 

 bad habit, I will say that it was my natural desire 

 to deal strongly with this subject, but I found it 

 necessary to condense most of my thoughts in that 

 line to the " Dictum of Dictums," which you will 

 find on page 95 of my book. The rmblishers felt 

 that it would be necessary for me to refrain from 

 going into the religious element to any extent in the 

 first edition of the volume. Their rule was based on 

 the same theory that would probably hold you from 

 speaking much about religion when writing an arti- 

 cle upon bee culture. Do you see the point? Nev- 

 ertheless. I know that you will agree that the trend 

 of my work is invariably toward that which is good. 



In training persons to apply themselves to the 

 resources of nature to take care of themselves gen- 

 erally, and to observe the spirit of doing good to 

 others, T am teaching Christianity. Do you not 

 think so, Bro. Root? 



Of course, you can quote from my book as much 

 as you like. Accept this letter as full permission. 



I wish I had an opportunity to talk with you 

 about the real seriousness of the tobacco curse. The 

 whole world is coming under its thraldom. The 

 tobacco industries are piling up immense fortunes 

 by poisoning people with nicotine. The appendix in 

 my book is up-to-date, yet it gives but a small part 

 of the great amount of information that is existent. 

 Amej-ican missionaries in China, for instance, write 

 that in making laws against opium the Chinese have 

 allowed cigarettes to invade their country. In con- 

 sequence of this, cigarettes are being used by nearly 

 every man, woman, and child to a far more serious 

 extent than was ever done with opium. The effect 

 upon the Chinese is even worse tkan was the case 

 with opium. Here in America the salss of cigarettes 

 have increased to an extent that seems incredible. 

 During the first three months of this year the in- 

 crease over the corresponding three months of 1915 

 was 1,484,000,000. 



In about ten year.s there is bound to be a terrific 

 reckoning; but in the meantime the tobacco com- 

 panies are bribing newspapers and legislatures, and 

 everything else, to enable them to promote the sale 

 of tobacco. They have even gone so far as to tJ-y to 

 prevent the sale of my little volume by threatening 

 to remove their cigarette advertisements from news- 

 papers that publish the' advertisements of my book. 



You ask me in your letter of the 16th whether my 

 system for overcoming tobacco addiction could be 

 made to apply to other kinds of narcotic drugs. The 

 rules would need to be modified somewhat for either 

 alcohol or for opium and its derivatives. 



In the case of alcohol it is necessary to deal with 

 the so-called " periodical " condition ; and, more- 

 over, it is necessary to consider the cases of those 

 persons who are killing themselves with alcohol, but 

 who do not have even the self-respect to wish to be 

 freed from the slavery of it. You see their minds 

 are poisoned. T claim that a large number of such 

 persons can be weaned away from their desire for 

 alcoholic drinks if certain rules are followed. I 

 have been working upon a book for some time past, 

 and will communicate with you about it later on. 



I am very much interested in what you write 

 aljout the Ohio Experiment Station teaching boys 

 how to grow tobacco. I tell you, Bro. Root, the 

 cur.se has such a strong hold upon the public that 

 only an avalanche of some kind is likely to upset it. 



I am working upon an ingeniously devised law 

 which will compel physicians and other officials to 

 report to the State Board of Health all cases of 

 insanity, heart disease, hardening of -the arteries, 

 cancer, and other serious disorders wherein tobacco 

 has been the main cause. I do not see how the 

 opposition of the tobacco lobby can succeed when we 

 undertake to get such a bill on the statute books of 

 a state. Our explanation will be that, in view of 

 the many arguments respecting the harmfulnass as 

 well as the harmlessness of tobacco, it will be mani- 

 festly fair for the state to obtain statistics of its own 

 with a view to such future action as may be deemed 

 advisable. The result of getting such a law upon 

 the statute books would be to load the State Board 

 of Health in each state with a vast amount of im- 

 portant facts proving that tobacco is a dangerous 

 poison. After getting such facts on record in the 

 various states, the next move would be to have 

 stronger laws enacted. It is likely, also, that some- 

 thing could be done witli the Federal government. _ 



I wish you would kindly put me on your mailing- 

 list, and I shall be glad to reciprocate with a view 

 of co-operating with you more fully. There is some 

 talk about putting my work in a cheaper form, so 

 that it can be circulated inexpensively. 



I shall be delighted to hear from you at your 

 convenience. 



New York, May 18. M. Mac Levy, 



President Albro Society, Inc. 



You may be sure that, on receipt of the 

 above, I was delighted to find the following 

 on page 95 : 



If you have a religious belief (and I sincerely 

 hope you have) here is the most valuable Dictum of 

 all: 



Pray to God daily for whatever aid you may feel 

 in need of, to help you in the simple task of foUow- 

 ing the rules in this book to a victory over the tobac- 

 co addiction. 



That God will answer these prayers is certain. 



When you are free from the awful thraldom — 

 filled with the exuberance of good health, a clear 

 mind, and the true joys of life — add a few words to 

 your daily prayer that God shall show others the way 

 to longer life and contentment, particularly that he 

 shall stay our boys from ever acquiring the tobacco 

 habit. 



The above makes the book all right, and 

 T take great pleasure in making other ex- 

 tracts from different pages as follows: 



This book just " had to come." My conscience 

 wouldn't allow me to put off writing it any longer. 



Tobacco is used in five different forms — cigarette, 

 snuff, chewing tobacco, pipe, and cigar. I rate their 

 degree of harmfvilness to the individual in the order 

 named. 



Without discussing the ultra-scientific reasons pro 

 and con bearing on the fact, it is generally accepted 

 that the average cigarette-user consumes more nico- 

 tine than any other tobacco addict. One who inhales 

 the smoke is a deeper addict than one who doesn't, 

 but both are " in the trenches." 



A TALK TO THE BOY WHO SMOKES. 



It was at the beach. A number of boys were 

 lathing. They were having g^reat fun. 



Three of the boys, in a spirit of bravado, started 



