XXX11 TOBACCO. 



quarters, the air was dense with smoke to a degree 

 I have never seen equalled, not even in a smoking 

 car. ... I believe this habit to have been distinctly 

 injurious to very many, and of three whose post- 

 graduate careers were wrecked by personal habits, 

 all smoked to inordinate excess. 



"In 1881, the authorities prohibited smoking 

 absolutely. In the discussions preceding the rec- 

 ommendation of this course by the Academic 

 Boord to the Secretary of War, then Lincoln, it 

 was urged that the effect of toleration is to en- 

 courage the habit ; that the effects of smoking 

 were in most cases distinctly detrimental to study, 

 and in many instances to health, and that many 

 who came to the Academy without having ac- 

 quired the habit were induced to form it. It was 

 argued also that, unlike civil institutions, the Gov- 

 ernment assumes in the disciplinary code of the 

 Military Academy direct charge of, and responsi- 

 bility for, the physical and moral welfare of its 

 students, and that it is bound in consequence not 

 to sanction or tolerate any practice which is in any 

 degree subversive of either. 



"It has been urged by some that the effect of 

 prohibition is to induce surreptitious violation of 

 regulations. This objection is valid against every 

 prohibitory regulation whatever, and applies with 

 equal force to hazing. 



"A close questioning of recent graduates and of 

 cadets themselves substantiates the assumption 



