This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 edition. Excerpt: ...with headquarters in Chicago. Another lady one day remarked to me while I was traveling in Montana that cigarettes were forbidden in that state, though cigars and pipes were allowed. And she added to my amazement: " When I send ready-made packages to the boys who are fighting in France, I carefully take out beforehand the tobacco they contain." Poor boys! This poor lady certainly had not the remotest idea of the soldier's life in the trenches, when for hours, days, months in the long winter time, he has to remain waiting and watching in the mud, the wet, and the cold. If I appear to be criticizing " Proper America," yet I do believe that the whole nation is fundamentally right in trying to suppress any drug that weakens the organism; and this war has certainly proved the value of physical resistance. Some medical authorities hold the theory that the decline of nations is due largely to the poor state of health of a great percentage of the persons in a country. They have tried to prove that the decline of the Greek civilization could be traced to the result of malaria, which the Persians brought into the country during the Median Wars. This fever is also supposed to have been carried by the Greeks to Italy, and to have played a great part in the downfall of the Roman empire. So the experiences of the past are lessons for the future, and America, I suppose, is but struggling for her life when she tries to protect her people against the dangers of Europe or the Far East. But it all depends on the articles that fall under the prohibition laws. The suppression of wine, opium, cocaine, tobacco, may make the country healthier, but what will become of great America, if she is ever tempted to prohibit kissing? The...
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