Tobacco Documents Online

THE TOBACCO 1NKrlTUTE - 1776 K STREET, NORTHWESr. WASH INGTONo D.C. 20006 • (202) 457-4873 Volume Four, Number Four, August, 1979 ,.3after Fires Califano WASHINGTON, D. C.--Joseph A. Califano Jr., champion of the anti- smokers, no longer has a major forum from which to make known his views. He was fired as Secretary of the De- partment of Health, Education, and Welfare on July 19. Versions of why the controversial Califano was fired differed, depending on whether the question was directed to Califano or the White House. But it apparently concerned friction between the HEW Secretary and top White House aides, plus displeasure by the President on positions Califano had taken on certain issues. Also, Carter apparently whs enraged that Califano spent five days in Hawaii, on retumlng from a China trip. That journey began in Stockholm, where Califano delivered his anti-smoking message to a World Health Organiza- tion session. Califano took several last shots at tobacco at his final press conference, saying there is a satisfaction in speak- ing out about "the dangers of cigarette smoking." The Tobacco Institute had no comment about the firing. Congressional Comment Some Congressmen from tobacco Jan. 11,1978 April 1978 May 1978 September 1978 Jan. 11,1979 May 1979 July 1979 CALIFANO'S ANTI-SMOKING CAMPAIGN He mmounces his long-awaited "vigorous" anti- smoking campaign on the 14th anniversary of ihe original Surgeon Genexa]'s report on smoking and health. "Cigarette Smoldng is Public Health Enemy Number One," he declares. Ca]llano defends his proposed $30 million anti- tect teenagers from the tobacco induslry's "sinister campaign to encanrage people to smoke." He invites the nation's public-school children to "shower" HEW's new Office on Smoking and Health with essays and posters an smoking and health. Califano urges Americans to quit smoking and to donate the money instead to charity. Califano and the Surgeon General release a 1,200- page, $250,0~0 report on smoking and health. He writes the chief executive officers of s~ major cigarette companies asking that the industry allocate 10 percent of its advertising budget to an anti-smok- ing campaign aimed at children. He tells the Fourth World Confe~eJ~ce. and Health in Sweden that the world should strive to end the "epidemic of cigarette smoking" by year 2015. areas did, however, answer Tobacco Observer inquiries about Califano. His "departure will not be regretted by IT BEGAN WITH A CIGARETTE:Congress currently ix debating the SALT 11 treaty with the Soviet Union; nearly 10 years ago. at initial dlscusMons about Fu,aitb~g nuclear arms, the tension was broken when David Aaron. the American on the left, reached acrass the table to light the cigarette of a RasMan. "Dozens of bored camernmen came alive," wrote Hugh Sidey in Time magazine recently. "Around the world a thin ray of hope ahone from the morMng'$ front pages im- I~¢t~l~g the symbolic U.S.~So~qet cooperatitm." many in North Carolina because of his ill-advised crusade against tobacco," said Sen. Robert D. Morgan (D). Sen. Wendell H. Ford (D-Ky.) said Califano's "prejudices" against to- bacco "went far beyond the limits of his official duties and were carried out to excess.': Sen. Walter D. Huddleston, also a Kentucky Democrat, said, "! think Secretary Califano has been more interested in promoting himself and his personal crusade than in elimi- nating the multi-billion-dollar fraud and waste in his department every year." A number of Representatives con- tatted called for new HEW Secretary Patricia Roberts Harris to take a rea- sonable, balanced approach to tobacco. Virginia Gay. John N. Dalton, in a speech to tobacco officials, stressed that Califano is another in a long line of people in world history who have tried, and failed, "to wipe out tobacco." The President told a news confer- ence that Hanis will continue the anti- smoking campaign; Harris also told the press she would do so. However, a "high official" close to Harris was quoted in The New York Times say- hag, "'You'll never see her fooling the great social issues, welfare, civil "Joseph Califano tells reporters that one of the satisfactions of being HEW Secretary was to speak out about clg- arette smoking. Califano was fired on Tobacco Funds Basic Research UCLA School of Medicine an- haunted it has received a $1.05 million three-year renewal grant from four to- bacco companies to continue basic research on new approaches to under- standing certain diseases, including lung disease. Early detection and treatment of can- cer is being investigated, as are novel treatments for leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and other malignant and genetic diseases, the school ananuneed in June. The renewal brings the eight-year commitment to the project to $2.75 mil- llon. The tobacco industry has funded more than $81 million of research on smoking and health. "Support of the kind provided by the tobacco companies is critical in the ex- ploration of novel approaches to human disease;' said Dr. Mar~in Cline, director of the UCLA project. "'Our goal," Cline said, "'is the pursuit of accurate scientific information, and this generous contribution adds signifi- cantly to the furtherance of that goal." The UCLA Medical School is noted for its strong research programs on tumors, the blood, and the body's de- lease mechanisms. Companies supporting renewal of the project are Brown & W'dliamson, Philip M~'~s. R.J. Reynolds. and U.S. To- becco. T!53150391

....... Loui ana Gro-ws ' Unique Tobacco CONVENT, La.--lt is called the "champagne of tobacco." Grown only on a few acres near the bayous, about one hour from downtown New Orleans, perique tobacco is an almost 200-year- old tradition. The area around Convent is home to descendants of the French Acadians, who came here from Nova Scoda in 1762. Legend has it that later in that century a man named Pierre Chenet, nicknamed Perique, learned the secret of producing an aromatic, flavorful to- bacco from the area's Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians. That basic process remains unchanged. Earlier in the 18th century, tobacco plantadoas along the Mississippi River flourished. But they soon faded, un- able to compete with better tobacco produced further north. Perique to- bacco lived on, and this unique product is known worldwide. Twenty Families The perique industry has never been large. Perhaps at its zenith, it was grown on !,000 acres, keeping some 400 people from 100 families busy. - Today, 20 families still grow 120,000 pounds per year on some 150 acres, yielding them more than $200,000 for their work. That acreage, on the east bank of the Mississippi, probably hasn't varied much for I00 years. Around Christmas, farmers plant the tiny perique scads-100,000 to a thimble-in hot beds covered with glass to protect against frosts. By the middle of March, Louisiana's punishing sunshine assures no more frosts, and the tender plants are trans- planted with mechanical planters into the chocolate-colored soil. Some 2,500 are put in each acre. The wide rows of tobacco, six feet apart to avoid touching, grow quickly in the humid climate. They are topped at three feet to assure concentration of growth. The tedious job of removing suckers, the unwanted secondary growth, is made easier by chemicals which inhibit their formation. But come late June, the harvest, the fabrique, occurs, and here few things differ from the 1700's. The plants are cut in the fields with sugarcane knives, machetes, and al- lowed to wilt overnight. They then are brought in, and youngsters bang nails into the stem with a cop-cop, a wooden hammer, at a certain angle so they can be hung on wires in the curing barn. The tobacco remains strung up for two weeks, turning green to brown. Galvanized tin roofs help keep in the heat, hurrying the air-cured process. Children then bring down the to- bacco, and the one-pound bundles of tobacco are whipped against logs to re- ntove dust, then misted "'just right" for storage. Women strip out the center stem, tying what is left with hemp. The tobacco is compressed into re- built oaken whiskey barrels. Two men turn a jackscrew to squeeze the to- bacco, which will ferment for one year in its own black juices. Pershing Mar- tin, scion of a great perique family, ex- plains that years ago rocks and weights were used to press the tobacco. The perique is taken out of the bar- rels two to three times during the year, Martin explains, to be aired, rear- ranged, and perhaps moistened. The entire process, he says, has been com- pared to, and is as equally testing as, wine making. The strong, pungent tobacco is sub- sequently sold to a local factory, which mixes it in blends with Kentucky bur- Icy. The tobacco again is stored, this time for more than two years. About 20 people work at the factory seasonally; it purchases the area's more than 100 barrels per year. The perique when ready will be sold overseas to English, German, Aus- tralian, and Scandinavian buyers to be used as a seasoning in pipe tobaccos. John Bm~rgeogs carefully examines Id~ perique tobacco an a ~weltering Louisiana day. Banrgeoix ix a member ofane of 2O f~rm fatuities still gro~i~g dd~ ¢~. Perique leaf is blended with other tobaccos, then stored for years under pressnre in barrels before it is ready to be added to pipe mixtures. The blending process has been compared to makbtg fine wine. Attempts to use perique in cigarettes result in a product that is just too strong, says Curt Hymel, manager of the L. A. Poche Perique Tobacco Co. Hereditacy Pride Daniel Fontenot Jr., the county agent in this Louisiana parish, explains that it is believed perique cannot be grown anywhere else in the world and produce the same flavor. He says this is due to the climate, and the wealth of rich topsoil the Mis- sissippi has deposited. Most farmers here, including those growing perique, grow sugarcane, vegetables (sweet peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplants), and they are starting to try soybeans, the state's top crop. But Fontenot predicts that perique will always be here, in a culture handed from generation to generation. Cigarette Taxes Termed Burdensome EDITOR'S NOTE: Cigarette taxation has made news recently, with some legis- lators calling for still higher excises. This statement, by the Tobacco Tax Council, answers the question posed by Rep. Wil- liam C. Wampler (R-Va.) in Congress recently: "Do you knew which consumer product benrs the highest tax of any item on the American market?" Almost without exception, cigarettes bear the highest tax of any item the American consumer buys. Nearly one- half of the cost of a pack of cigarettes goes for federal, state, and municipal cigarette taxes, not to mention the sales tax many jurisdictions place on top of all the other taxes. If it were not for these burdensome taxes, the consumer might pay an aver- ago price of 28 cents a pack or $2.80 per carton for his cigarettes. Instead, the price of a carton of popular brand cigarettes ranges from approxhnately $3.75 to $6.60, depending on the state in which they are purchased; and in the higher tax states, the greatest profit goes to the tax collector. Combined federal, state and, in some jurisdictions, municipal cigarette taxes contribute to the wide variance of clga- rette prices from one state to the next. In addition, states which add the sales tax on top of all the other taxes can rnn the cost era carton from 11 to 30 cents higher. This means the individual who smokes a pack a day can pay anywhere front $40.15 to $116.80 more a year in bet, y©t the smoker gets an more mtum for these additional taxes than does the nonsmoker. Also, since cigarette taxes are fixed, the lower incomo smoker pays a larger percentage of his income for taxes than does the more affluent smoker. If all goods and sewices were taxed at the same rate as cigarettes, thelr cost would be increased, on the average, by 79 percent. For example, at those rates a $6,000 automobile would cost $10,- 740, a $600 television set would sell for $1,074, a $50 watch would be priced at $89.50, and a 20 cent candy bar would cost 36 cents. With prices like these, Americans would only be able to buy the bare necessities of life; and the tax burden would take most consumer goods off the market. The tax rates for the fifty states and the District of Colambia add anywhere from 39 to ! 14 percent more to the basic cost of cigarettes, increasing the amount the consumer has to pay by 1 I to 32 cents a pack in taxes alone. When all the cigarette excise taxes at all levels of government were collected for fiscal year 1978, the grand total was over six billion dollars. Added together it seams monumental; but taken from the taxpayer a penny at a time, it is quite painless; and therefore, few take any action about these exorbitant and discriminatory taxes. No one believes ciga~ttes should not be fairly taxed; but unless some action is taken to relieve tobacco of tax ex- ploitatkm other commodities may well treatmcnL T!53150392

Cong:ress Tables Anti-Tobacco Move WASH INGTON, D.C.-Tbe U.S. Senate voted 75-14 earlier this year m table a proposal which would have ex- empted tobacco, and certain other agri- cultural items, from the special consid- eration list of any energy plan adopted by Congress. The amendment was made by Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio). A number of Senators spoke against the proposal, including North Caro- lina Sen. Jesse Helms (R). who stressed that "'almost all tobacco farmers are actively involved in growing other crops. "'If this nation is going to continue to feed our people-and to export one- third of our agricultural produce abroad -it is vital that 100 percent of current agricultural needs of "all kinds ... be maintained without exception," Helms said. Legislation Proposed Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo,) introduced a bill which would allow in- dividuals attending quit-smoking clin- ics to deduct the cost on their income tax as a medical expense. Sen. Henry L. Bellmon (R-Okla.) proposed a bill which would allow state and local governments to collect taxes on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages consumed or sold at military and other federal facilities. Pep. Norman D. Shumway (D- Calif.) suggested, but did not intro- duce, an amendment to a farm bill which would have prohibited the spending of any federal monies to • "promote" the tobacco industry. Shumway's proposal would have ended the tobacco price support pro- gram, inspection and grading services, and market research. Rep. L. H. Fountain (D-N.C.) called it a "bitter anti-tobacco amendment." Fountain said, "The practical effect of the amendment.., would be to kill off tobacco and destroy the means of live- lihood for hundreds of thousands of to- bacco farming families." Fountain said that Shumway did not introduce the amendment because "he simply never had the votes-nowhere near a sufficient number--and in the end he realized that fact and relented." Government Activity An AFL-CIO union official has criti- cized a proposed $800,000 govern- mere expenditure to study smoking and the work place, saying the money should be spent instead in "critical areas" the government's National In- stitute for Occupational Safety and Health "'has been forced to neglect." Sheldon Samuels, director of health. safety, and environmental affairs for the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO, expressed these senti- ments at a Senate hearing. The government's Office on Smok- ing and Health is seeking a contractor to develop TV and radio commercials concerning smoking and health. Among the goals of the Office's information program is to help smokers quit. To comply u'ith a Federal Trade Commission subpoena issued, atx'ording to one FTC official, to "satisfy official c~triosi~. "" Brown & WilEarason Tobact~o Corp, expended more than 24,000 man4zours and over $800.000. More than 210 boxes containing in excess of 750.000 pieces of paper were delh~red. The subtmenas issaed lo she major c(garette raam~tcturers are aimed at discm~ring cottsumer attitudes abottt smoldng. Tire Richmond. FTrginga. Ne,'s Leader termed it t-essit~e interference.'" Watching as the 12talkers are rooted into FTC o~ces Washington. D. C.. are t left to right) B& W officials Wilson Wyatt. Ernest Poppies. Lar~. Cashet~. at~d .l~J. ~BaZ" photo Cigarettes once were sold in "'flat 50"s," attractire tin cotttahters which have become collectors items. Tin Can ans Value Cigarette Containers CHICAGO --As passionate a group of collectors as can be imagined, the Tin Container Collectors Association recently met here in convention 300- strong from across America and Canada. You have to be impressed by an or- ganization whose members upped the bid to $950, in a vigorous auction, fora tiny tobacco tin used early this century to house someone's favorite brand. A Ty Cobb tobacco tin, brought for dis- play, was valued at $2.500. Some of the association's members remember 60 years ago when many consumer products-from tea to pea- nut butter--were packaged in attrac- tive tin containers. 'q'hey're beautiful. The true Ameri- can art form," sighs collector Timmey Challenger of Illinois. Handsome enough, indeed, so that a card company spent a weekend photographing their striking graphics. But surprisingly, many of the collec- tors gathered to buy and sell thousands of tins on Chicago steamy summer days were far too young to remember when nice things came in little tins, which then went out of fashion because they becarae too expensive, Cigarette Containers In the 1930"s, cigarettes somedrnes were sold in what were called "flat 50's."'Haese fins are handsomely deco- rated with emblems from the leading brands of the day.such as Lucky Strike. Chesterfield, Old Gold. Herbert Tarey- ton. Philip Morris, A Camel tin, for thos~ who may still hav¢ some in the attic, was selling at th~ convention for $12. Kcol tins are particularly rare, says Joyce Syphus of Boston, who spe- cializes in cigarette tins. She says the flat 50's helped keep cigarettes fresh and attractive, but in the 1940"s gave way to other methods of packaging. The cigarette tins are not quite old enough to be avidly collected by most. But they are popular enough to have spawned another collector's group, Brand Stand in Massachusetts, beaded by Richard Elliot. His group, numbering almost 100, also collects cigarette soft packs, plus the cardboard boxes in which ciga- rettes were sold in the last century. The collectors all say that flea mar- kets are a great place to find the tins. And they stress that someone who knows what to look for can still make a handsome profit. The Tobact~ Observer presents information and comment on public events of interest to the tobacco industry. It recognizes that there is diversity of opinion about tobacco use and that charges against tobacco are widely publicized while tess attention is given to differing views, which are included in our columns. Its aim is to aid full. free and informed discussion in the public interest, in the conviction that lhe smoking and health contro- versy must be resolved by scientific research. PuMished by The Tobactx~ Institute Horace R. Kotnegay, Pres[deut P~ol Knopick. Editor Yiclde W~on. Cirod~on Director T!53150393

C'EditoriaIs Controversial Report The influential 1964 Surgeon Gen- eral's report on smoking and health has always impressed tobacco people as not being objective. It seemed so ob- vious that tobacco's side was not fully presented. Now, evidence has appeared from a scientist involved with the report, re- vealiag that indeed public relations were in the forefront rather than sci- ence with that sensational condemna- tion of cigarette smoking. Dr. Lester Breslow was a consultant to the advisory committee that pre- sented the '64 report. He was then chief of preventive medicine for the Califor- nia Department of Public Health. In an interview published recently in "A History of Cancer Contrel in the U.S., 1946-1971," prepared under Na- tional Cancer Institute contract with UCLA, Rreslow says, "By the early 60's we felt the time had come to act [against cigarettes]." "So we looked upon the Surgeon General's report.., not so much as a scientific venture, but as a public pol- icy venture [that] would make possible • .. the development of public policy in the country." It's an interesting admission, The Surgeon General's 10-member com- mittee and its government-supplied staff claimed to have analyzed thou- sands of scientific reports to determine cigarette smoking's relationship, if any. to disease. Were minds made up before that analysis? Chroniclers have pointed to the "top-secret" nature of the Surgeon General's effort, which, in their opin- ion, helped hype the report. The new histories of cancer research also stress this. They say: 'q'here were no leaks or any other disclosures to sap the fin.al report of its desired impact. "Finally, when Dr. [Luther] Terry [then Surgeon General] raleased the report on Jan. 11,1964, it was with the utmost fanfure--a carefully staged press conference to carry the message to the American public." Again the question raised is: Was it also a carefully staged message? Annoyed Anti-Smokers An apple for dessert sits on the pris- tine white table next to the anti-smok- er's plate. The air is crisp. No smokers about. This is the pure, unhesmirehed atmus- phere the anti-smoker demands. But our antl-smoker had better finish his meal quickly.., that is, if he wants to continue to enjoy clean air. His apple is giving off ethylene gas-eneugh gas to trick a pineapple plant into flowering, had it been adjacent. We don't live in pure air which, as some believe, once in awhile is sniffed by tobacco smoke. We exist in an in- credibly complex swift of .gases and particulates. A wisp of tobacco smoke is an evil villain to some, it ~eems, only because it is visible. A DuPont official points out thateven a man escaping to the Great Smokey Mountains is exposed to potential car- cinogens formed when oxides of nitro- gen there react with the terpenes re- leased by pine trees. (Our friend has bitten into his apple. An apple a day.., gives you hydrocar- bons, malic acid, ketones, esters, lac- tones, acids, alcohol, and mercaptans. His wife, having strawberries, is eating acetone, acetaldehyde, methanol, acre- lein, and crotonaldehyde. But they'll remain undefiled, happy unless they see a smoker. Why has it come to this?) "'The successful arrogance of non- smokers is shocking. Their ht~ffing and puffing threatens to blow down the wobbly-kneed who so often form legis- lative majorities. The next thing you know these baying Banners will have some cities and some stale.r outlawing smoking with coffee in coffee shops. with drinks in bars, meals in restaurants and any and every place where non- smokers might be. "Following nonsmokers" logic to the same extremes, cars and planes ought to be banned~ too--they emit fumes.So~ too, peoCumes. And ban pets. People have broken their legs slipping on dog droppings. Others have severe allergies triggered by cat fitr, so ban cats.'" "Limitations and regulations relating to fire hazards, crowd density and common sense are all well and good. But to say all air belongs to the non- smokers is an arrogant presamption.'" Malcolm S. Forbes Editor-in-Chief Fofl~es magazim 7/23179 B.~ 4 TheTobacco Observer By P. J. Hoffstrom "'1 HAVE A DREAM" In this dream, fanatics finally pass an amendment to the Constitution prohib- iting the use of tobacco, despite the sad history of the defunct 18th Amendment -the "Noble Experiment," that fabu- lous flop of the 20's and 30's. The antl-tobacco law was immedi- ately followed by a flood of"Smokeas- cause of drnnkards, then you must say. going on by degrees, 'Would there were no steelg heeause ofmurdcrers. 'World there were no nightg because ofthleves, and "Would there no womeng heeause of adultery." John Milton for writing in "Paradise Lost": "'So glister'd the dire Snake, and into fraud led Eve, our credulous Mother. to the Tree of Prohibition, the root of all our woe." Anon who wrote: "A book whose sale is forbidden All men rash to see, And prohibition turns One refider into three." Maliere, who wrote: '~i'here's noth- ies." Bootleggers were making fortunes smuggling tobacco in all forms; ciga- rettes "'right off the boat" brought $50 a pack; cigars smuggled from Cuba. $75 each. All tobacco farms were pad- locked; a law was passed making male members of Apache dance teams hold all-day suckers in their mouths instead of the leering cigarette. People were hurt smoking and chew- ing homemade products fashioned from hemp rope, corn silk, and dried leaves mixed with oleander juice.The national debt rose to $2 trillion because of hav- ing to hire mere enforcers. The Feds raided any house's chimney seen smoking, on grounds that "Where there's smoke there's tobacco." Books containing passages praising tobacco or condemning Prohibition were banned because statistical evi- dence compiled by the Health, Educa- tion, & Welfare Department indicated such references caused cancer in mice. Enforcement officers ordered the arrest of the following authors of subversive statements: St. John Chrysestom for writing: "I hear many cry when deplorable ex- cesses happen, 'Would there were no wine!' Oh, folly! Oh, madness! Is it the wine that causes this abuse? No. If you say, 'Would there were no wine' be- ing like tobacco, it is the passion of all decent men; a man who lives without tobacco does not deserve to live." Samuel Taylor Coleridge for writing: "You abuse snuffi Perhaps it is the final cause of the human nose." Mark Twain, who wrote: "More than 'one cigar at a time is excessive smok- ing." Fred Allen, who said: "With chewing tobacco the worst thing you can do is drown a midget."* Fifteen millionaire professional ball players were forced out of baseball for playing with plugs of tobacco in their cheeks. At this point I woke from this strange nightmare. *To the cha~in of federal agents, they found thai Heaven had no extradition laws so they couldn't bring back the accused. St. Jnhn Chry- sostom was called home in 407; Moliere in 1634: John Milton in 1674: Coleridge in 1834; Twain in 1910; Fred Allen in 1956. And the agents could find no trace of thLs fellow "Anon.'" EDITOR'S NOTE: We hope ~'ou are en- joying P. J. Hoffstrom's humorous unms and cartoons. A retired newspaper cohmmist and television weatherman, Holh'trom currently free-lances from his home on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Hoffstrom's humorous rolmnn, "Hawf'n'Hawf by Heft;' appeared Paul newspapers for 31 years. Ile left Minnesota in 1954 for Chicago, where he joined the CBS-TV news team as a weatherman. His quick ¢artoom, done five, made him a favorite. Leaving CBS in 1969, Holfstrmn toured the country for two year~ speak- ing t~ high ~i and junior college forecasting. T153150394

Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate The Tobacco Observer and the important stand you are taking on the great pleasure of smoking. Lucy Duff Torrance, Calif. ! have had the opportunity nf reading The Tobacco Observer and find it extremely informative to the tobanoo industry. Douglas.M. N~wenmb, President Ntwcomb's' Enterprise, Inc. Ridm~md, Va. 1 follow with interest and chagrin the defensive articles you print about a smok- er's "'fight to smoke." Help yourself;just do it where you don't trample on my rights. Stop bellyaching about your fights to blow smoke in nonsmokers' faces. No wonder you get so little sympathy. William M~lvskey Jr. Baltimore, Md. I just want to say 1 enjoy this paper very much, and 1 hope that this paper can en- lighten some of the people who are in the dark, because of some of the things Mr. Califano and his supporters have been saying. I don't smoke, never have and never will, but if someone else wants to it's none of my business and it is certainly none of the government's. Ma)~'ville, Ky. ! have gotten as mad as hell trying to get an intematianal flight today. The damn air- lines will not let you smoke a pipe. It just bums me up-please do something-or tell me something I could do. You m a friend to us smokers--please help us. CoL Br~nt Jahnsan Winston-Salem, I enjoyed the issues of The Tobacoo Observer I received recently. I haveworked in the newspaper business 18 years and found your Vaper to be very interesting and informative. As president of Smokers" Freedom Ring of America, Inc., I am proud of this group and plan to build it into a nationwide organi- zation and an effective tool for restoring and preserving the rights of smokers. Our present goal is to gain a large, bread- based membership. During the coming months we think we will be able to do this and turn our membership into a deciding force in Arnica. Cost of a one-year membership is $3. As proof of membership, each new member receives a membership card and a bumper sticker. As our organization grows and funds from membership fees permit, we intend to lobby on the local, state, and national levels to protect the rights of our members and smokers everywhere. "Speak Out, Apathy nreed5 Oppression" P.O. Box 11864, Winsto~ $~m, H. C. 2710b tel. (704) 873-1451 We have no ties with tl~ tobacco industry other than our common interest in hrin#ng to a halt the anti-smoking campaigns so fashionable among small groups of narrow- minded, outspoken opponents of smokers' rights. We see this as a very dangemas trend. Freedom Js always lost because the masses, through their apathy, allow sm~ll dedicated groups, who think they have the right to force their personal views and beliefs on everyone, to determine policy. Leroy F. Templeton~ President Smokers" ~eedom Ring o~ America Winston-Salem, N.C. Tobacco Council Funds $52 Million Research • The Council for Tobacco Research says that from its founding in 1954 to the end of 1978--its first quarter cen- tury-it had spent nearly $52 million to aid independent scientific research on smoking and health. And, says CTR's recently released 1978 report, it will continue to fund the work of scientists because the support is needed to help "find the causes" of cancer, heart disease, and chronic pulmonary ailments." CTR funding, now more than $55 million with recent awards this year, outstrips known spending of nongov- ernmental organizations throughout the world in research on smoking and health. Since 1954, CTR has funded 379 independent investigations in 247 medical schools, hospitals, and research laboratories, the report says. CTR is funded by the U.S. tobacco industry. In 1978 alone 114 reports were pub- lished acknowledging CTR support. More than 1,600 articles and reports have been published since the group's formation. "Thus the program has produced considerable data related to smoking and health during a period that also saw the generation of considerable con- troversy and emotion about the sub- jeer.," CTR says. Much recent and current reseaw.h supports previoud~ held views that the world is awash in "a sea of carcino- gens," the report says. But although laboratory experiments have implicated both natural and man- made materials in the incidence of can- cer and heart disease, exact proof which would meet scientific criteria is often lacking, CTR warns. Total commitment by the tobacco industry for smoking and health re- search by mid-1979 was $82 million. Scots unload hogsheads at the Glasgow seaport on the Clyde in the 18th century. The Scots operating ships in the "Smugglers' Fleet" ,,ere regarded as skillful tobacco runners. Cigarette smugglingfrom lower-taxed states for sale in heavily taxed areas is costing state and local governments an estimated $400 million annually in lost tax revenues, according to an advisory commission created by Congress. But tobacco smuggling is not a new phenomenon. In the late 1600% a "Smugglers" Fleet" of ships from Holland, Ireland, New England, and Scotland, reportedly as large as Britain's tobacco fleet of 300 ships, was openly seen at the Ches- apeake wharves picking up cargoes of tobacco. In 1692 the Collector of Customs at the Chesapeake told his English boss that "in these three years last past there has not been above five ships trading legally in all those rivers and nigh thirty Sayle of Scotch, Irish, and New Eng- landmen." The "Smugglers' Fleet" was engaged in circumventing the Navigation Acts, In better times: Secretary Jt~eph A. Califano Jr, had a special ruble reserved at a recent meeting ~ the Ckamber of Commerce of the United States. l~st June, CMifano a, ent a tlu'rd of the ~y arotmd the glabe, to Sweden, to pcapoae a world- a~ide a~tbsmokb~g poater which mandated that certain articles (including tobacco) be transported in English or colonial ships, and that they land first in England or a British settle- ment where duties would be paid. At the time, though, there were not enough British bottoms to handle the Virginia tobacco trade. And the British did not have enough warships to police the entire Chesapeake. New York and New England traders violated the Navigation Acts flagrantly, by bringing the hogsheads to their own warehouses. Then, bypassing Engfish customs officials, they took the leaf to the ports of Europe, underselling Eng- lish merchants who paid the required duties. While some traders were involved in outright smuggling, others partook of "honest smuggling." In the continuing effort to bypass British royalties, they took advantage of shipping bulk rather than in hogs- heads, thus enabling a ship to carry more tobacco. The English would come aboard before the vessel had cleared customs to buy the loose leaf. This was "honest smuggling." The British, how- ever, banned the importation of bulk leaf in 1698. Some British traders, including lead- ing merchants, bought leaf from water- front gangs. This was called "socking," a slang expression for stealing from ships .and wharves. Also British merchants used light weights in listing imports (called hick- oUt-puckery) and heavy weights in re- porting exports (called puckery-hick- ory). Duty refunds were allowed for tobacco re-exported to the continent; some merchants shipped the tobacco, obtained the refund, and then re-landed the leaf. One Englishman observed that the New Englanders would "complain and smuggle, and smuggle and complain, "till all restraints ate removed and 'till he can both buy and sell, whenever, and wheresoever, he pleases." For those whose original pilgrLmage from Britain was a flight from religious, political, and this;" in the words of th~ Briton, was "still a Grievance~ a Badge ofSlaveay.~ T153150395

A word to smokers (about working together) Whether you're a billboard painter or just, as you obvlo~sly are, a reader of magazines, you've discovered that there's a difference between nonsmokers and antl-sraokers. We all work with nonsmokers- and they work with us. Roughly 60% &the people around us are nonsmokers, and 40% of them are smoker~ -- so we have to work together, And, like our sign painters, we do. Antl-smokers are a breed apart. They don't want us to work together with nonsmokers. And they go to some extreme lengths to see that we don't. "l~vo examples: L A nationally known TV and film star was prevented from performing by a bend of anti-smokers threatening violence because the star frequently smoked on stage. The occasion was a benefit to raise funds for handicapped children. 2. The executive director of one anti- smoking group announced plans to build an '*army" of 2.000,000 antl-smok[ng militants who woold go about =zapping" smokers, in the face with spray from aerosol cans. "You don't know what a rewarding feeling it is," he is quoted as saying, "the first time you spray a smoker in the face. It's hard to work yourself up to the first spray. It takes guts. But once you've broken the ice, it~ easy. And you feel exhilarated," Such pedple clearly donor represent the nonsmokers we all know and work with. They would not last long in any working environment where people must cooperate to get the job done. And we doubt very much that the "zappers" will find 2,000.000 others to go along with them. Americans just don't think that way. Such anti-smokers hre not only anti- smoking. They're giving themselves the reputation of being anti-individualism, anti- freedom of choice, anti-everything that does not agree with their special prejudices. And in that they're as much a threat to nonsmokers as they are to smokers. THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE Freedom of choice is the best choice. Award to nonsmokers (about working together) Wherever you work--even if you're a billboard painter-- you work with smokers,and always have. There's nothing remarkable about that. Forty percent of the people around you are smokers, and 60% are nonsmokers, Still, we work, llve, and enjoy ourselves together. Lately. however, we've all become super-sensitive to each other and to each other~ privileges and obligations. And that's not a bad thing. We agree on many things. There are places (crowded elevators, to take the slraplest example) where smoking is not appropriate. In closed and private places, the ancient courtesy of "Do you mind if I smoke?" is still the best rule. Sraokers~ we believe, have become more generally conscious of that com'tesy. The occasional careless smoker, waving a lighted cigarette or cigar, should, in our opinion, hi: as quickly reminded of others' preferences by a thoughtful smoker as by a nonsmoker. Nevertheless thereare some people-- anti-smokers rather than nonsmokers ~ who will never be satisfied with our sensible accommodations to each othen They don't p/ant us to work together at all. Instead they want to segregate US by law -- literally to build walls between us --at considerable expense to both smokers and nolBmokers -- in places where we work, shop. eat or just go to amuse ourselves, We know that SUCh anti.smokers do not represent the great majority of nonsmokers. And the antl-smokers know it, too, But there is a danger that others will think they do. ~When I went to the legislature," says one anti-smoking lobbyist, "they thought I had about 10,000 people behind me, That was a laugh. It was just me. I had the law passed by myself," If it is a "laugh" for the antl-smoker, it is no jnke for the rest of us for we must all, smokers and nonsmokers alike, pay the cost of such foolish laws. All of us are lolers when any one of us is denied freedom of choice, We don't think that, over the long run, thatk going to happen. We think that, [lice our billboard painter~, we'll go on working together until we get the job done. THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE Freedom of choice is the be.st choice. Warnmg¢ lhe Surgeon Beoufl Has Determined That C~9arelte Srn0~iug h Dangerous Io Your Health.

G,uide To Anti-Smokers Smokers today are increasingly under attack from militant, some- times near-hysterical anti-smokers who claim they fear for their lives if tobacco is burnt within 20 paces of them. Many of the groups adopt outlandish, gimmicky stances to get their point across. 'ITO decide~! to take a look at some of the anti-smoking groups and their activities in the hope of helping bewildered smokers to under- stand this tiny, yet.active section of society. Anti-Smokers' Ta ',dcs Sometimes Bizarre When Steve Wrbanich went to thank the governor of Minnesota for his sup- port of legislation for the handicapped, he was ill-prepared for what was to happen next. Waiting in the governor's anteroom, Wrbanich was enjoying a quiet smoke when Nancy Leighton strode across the room and demanded that he ex- tinguish his cigarette. W~banich agreed, taking one last puff. As he raised the cigarette to his lips, Leighton lifted a pitcher of lemon- ade and dumped the contents over his head. Wrbanich wasn't the only smoker in the room, although he was the only one sitting in a wheelchair. Leighton offered no recorded expla- nation of her behavior to the reporters present. She had been waiting to lobby the governor for more anti-smoking restrictions. Leighton is one of the growing army of people whose anti-smoking activi- ties have been especially vehement. Some. like Naida Dickson, content themselves with writing manuals de- tailing guerilla tactics that anti-smokers may use in their war on cigarette smokers. Others, llke Dolphin Lair and Steven Williams, have taken their dislike of cigarettes and smoking to more dan- gerous extremes. Dickson, of Gardena, California, called her self-published booklet "How to Cope with Smokers.'" On the cover is a crude illustration of a knife and a gun, although she stops short of advo- cating their use. Among her recommendations for dealing with "the enemy" are: threaten- ing to throw up on the groceries of those in the supermarket line or tossing orange peels on the lap of a seatmate smoker. Alternatively, anti-smokers can use battery-powered fans to blow back smoke into the face of a nearby smoker or carry their own "No Smoking" signs for posting at restaurant tables. Dickson is wont to brag that in one place she lived, "1 got a special testi- monial certificate.., when I moved out of the community." But 21-year-old Dolphin Lair al- legedly used a gun when he wanted to make his anti-smoking views known. Lair reportedly abducted a building engineer and held him hostage on the roof of Los Angeles' tallest building until his anti-smoking message was broadcast over several radio stations. Steven Williams used a pickup truck to make-his point, crashing it into the White House gates to protest cigarette smoke and food additives. A friend of the 38-year-old salesman said the next day that Williams was really "a very nice guy, a humanist." Antl-smoking violence was "also the cause of a California woman suffering injuries when a fight broke out at a Beverly Hills fashion show. One of the patrons threw a wine glass after "al- legedly starting a row over another's smoking. Some anti-smokers seem just 8 The Tolmee~ Observer eccentric, engaging in hen'~,,n, if bizarre, behavior. Their antics range from donninggas- masks to suing cigar smokers for as- sanlt when a whiff of smoke passes their way. One of the most venerable of the anti-smokers is Betty Comes, widely credited with being responsible for the introduction of the first anti-smoking laws in her homestate of Arizona. Carnes is a professional anti-smoker. She once whipped out a "Thank You for Not Smoking" sign and placed iton her chest as, sedated, she was being wheeled down a hospital corridor to the operating room. An Illinois alderman, John Cox, in- vested in a lemon-scented spray to mist the council chamber. Cox went spray- ing purposefully around the chamber when another politician wouldn't stop smoking in his presence. Every thne she lit up, Cox leapt up, spraying the room with the air fresh- ener. And when he wasn't showering everyone with chemicals, he waved a large fan produced by a funeral home. His antics prompted other council offi- cials to sign their names to a resolution requesting he desist from his theatrics. Rhoda Nichter is a member of the Greater New York Council Against Public Smoking and a stalwart cham- pion of nonsmokers' "fights." Each week, she says, she tours local supermarkets asking managers to put up "No Smoking" signs, pressing res- taurant owners to set up no-smoking areas, and urging legislative action by county officials to ban smoking. She is the author of yet another anti- smoker's guidebook. In it. she de- scribes the tactics she and other mili- tam anti-smokers use. Her friend Sheila shines flashlights into the faces of cinema smokers; her husband throws open wide his office windows during sub-freezing tempera- tures to protest smoking in his office. But two of her favorite techniques involve places of business- restaurants and food stores. The "restaurant solution," as she calls it, involves making the establish- ment's owner aware of nonsmokers' "discomfort" when cigarette smokers are around. A nonsmoker telephones the restau- rant to make a reservation for 10 peo- ple. As an afterthought the anti-smok- ing caller will casually mention that the tables are to be in the nonsmoking section. When the receptionist replies there is no such section, the reserva- tion is haughtily canceled. Leaves Groceries When Nichter finds herself on a su- permarket checkout line beside a smoker, the "cash register solution" comes into play. She wheels hereart up to the store manager and demands the offender be made to extinguish the cigarette. If the manager deelines, Niehter leaves the shopping cart with its $40 walks out. This, she tells anti-smoking devotees, will make the supermarket men think twice about allowing smok- ing in their stores. David G. Wilson is an English anti- sffaoker, but a pair of goggles often dis- tra~t onlookers from his stiff upper lip. Press reports credit him with dream- ing up the choice slogan, "May ! spit in your coffee? It steadies my nerves." A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he reportedly carries in his pocket a vial of crystal chemicals he calls his "H-bomb." When the vlal is opened, he likes to tell anti-smoker meetings, it gives off a smell which is "a cross between ath- lete's foot and limburger cheese." He claims that when exposed to smoke his eyelids get puffy. To coun- teract this, he wears special goggles which seal off his eyes from the outside air. Whiff Of Smoke Former mailman William McCrack- en thought he could sue his boss for $75,000 for smoking a cigar at a meeting. McCraeken charged that the post- master deliberately blew the smoke in his face. But a North Carolina judge was un- impressed, and dismissed the ease. Writing for a unanimous court, a state appeals judge agreed and said that being exposed to someone's cigar smoke was merely a form of "touching which must be endured in a crowded world." Meanwhile, members of S.H.A.M.E. -Society to Humiliate, Aggravate, Mortify, and Embarrass Tobacco Smokers-dream about patrolling the streets and knocking cigarettes from the mouths of astonished smokers. . SHAME was founded by a news- paperman, Will Jones who, from time to time, harangues his readers on non- smoker's "fights." "1 firmly believe that smokers are entitled to the same rights as any other perverts in our society," Jones once wrote. An aggressive anti-smoker, nightlife columnist Jones brags of his achieve- ments and guerrilla tactics. In theaters he stands up and yells at smokers, in restaurants he throws wadded napkins and blows out matches with an air gun. And he claims to have urinated in a co- worker's ashtray overnight once be- cause he was annoyed with his col- league's smoking. Reportedly, Jones" followers have dipped their hands into a smoker's glass of water, claiming if one can "pollute" the air, the other may "pollute" the water. Finally, there's Richard H. Bennett Jr., president of SMASH Prodoc- tioas. Inc. Bennett is based in lssaquab, Wash- ington, from where he is making final anangement for the production of his ~SMASH:" Bcmctt says. is to be ~ T153150397

Geared up and ready to go--professional model poses as an anti-smoker in full battle dress. comedy which will make "motion pic- ture history." "The film is partly about a small guerrilla group which made its name by periodically humiliating smokers, l would liken public smokers to the O. S. in Vietnam: there's no way they can hold ground against these guerrillas," Bennett told The Observer. Bennett. who recently ran for Con- gress, says the production was orig- inally to cost about $1 million, but now "there are fairly.big interests involved, and the cost could go up to $4 million." Shooting-of the film, that is--is ten- tatively scheduled for 1980, and Ben- nett says he hopes it will be doing the cinema circuit by Christmas of that year. Not all the movie will he devoted to smokers and anti-smokers. For exam- ple, there will he parts that will show viewers how to build police radar jam- mers from the clutter stored in base- ments. Bennett is secretive about the plot and maintains he is still negotiating for actors. "'But I've told investors that this is going to be bigger than "Star Wars.' I'm rolling the dice and I'm going for double or nothing-the nature of the film is to make money:' he concluded. But whether they're making films, urinating in ashtrays, vomiting on smokers' groceries or just spraying people in the face, the antl-smokers all would seem to have one thing in common: they don't believe courtesy is the solution. Stories by Carole Donoghue The Tobacco Observer in previous issues has de~ailed the anti-smoking efforts of some of the major voluntary health organizations in the nation--the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association. But there also are small, but vocal, pressure groups which would much like to curtail individual freedoms. To understand better hew to fight for the freedom of choice for everyone, smok- ers should consider learning something about this opposition. "ITO has compiled a list of some of the more active and prominent groups, ranging from Action on Smoking and Health, which bills itself as the legal arm of the stop-smoking industry, to the apocryphal SHAME, the Society to Humiliate, Aggravate, Mortify, and Embarrass Smokers. • ASH--Acfion on Smoking and Health Based in Washington, D.C., it was founded by lawyer John Banzhaf III and concentrates on governmental poli- cies concerning smoking and public smoking. It claims among its "achievements" actions which led to free broadcast time for anti-smoking messages, sepa- rate no-smoking sections on airlines and interstate trains and buses, and the removal of little cigar commercials from television. Banzhaf believes in using the courts, rather than the legis- lative process, to accomplish such restrictions. ASH produces a newsletter, which consislently contains threats of suits and pleas for money. • ANSR-Assoclafion for Non- Smokers' Rights -ABC 1974 by local health associations in Massachusetts to promote no-smoking sections in restaurants and other public places. A recent press report spoke of a FANS group in Washington. • FENSR--Federal Employees for Nonsmokers' Rights Fomaed in 1976 by Agency for In- ternational Development workers, it provides support for enforcement of recently issued guidelines on smoking in government buildings. FENSR brought an unsuccessful suit to re- strict smoking in government buildings. • GASP-- Group Against Smokers' Pollution Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, it claims to have 100 chap- ters throughout the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1971, it produces its own newsletter and various and-smoking pamphlets and buttons, working with the Lung Association of Southern Maryland and other anti-smoking groups. Its chapter in Dade County, Fla., led the unsuccessful election effort there to prohibit public smoking. • Health Research Group Based in Washington, D. C., it is affil- iated with Ralph Nader's Public Citi- zen, Inc. Its director, Sidney Wolfe, re- cently promised a "stepped-up anti- smoking campaign," according to Time magazine. This group was formed in 1973 as a nonprofit "'public interest" group, and it has variously attacked the tobacco price support system, fought unsuc- cessfully to ban smoking by commercial aldine crews, and attacked hospitals Organized in 1973 in Minnesota by which allow smoking. the Lung Association of Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, it claims to protect the "right" of citizens for a "cleaner" indoor environment. It is active con- cerning the enforcement of Minne- soka's Clean Indoor Air Act, and it has expanded to other cities, including PiUsburgh. • CAPS-Citizens Against Public Smoking Founded in 1974 in Revere, Massa- chusetts, it tells citizens that it is not only personally dangerous if they smoke but also hazardous if someone near them smokes. With a small group called Citizens for Clean Air in Pub- licly Used Buildings, it was last heard from in 1977 when it mounted an un- successful effort to place a nonsmoking referendum on the state ballot. • DOC- Ooctors Ought to Care Founded by Dr. Alan Blum in Miami, Florida. in 1977, it claims to want to prevent a new generation from taking up smoking. Blum says the group will aid doctors in promoting preventive medicine ",and health main- tenance. Despite a career move to Cl~cago, Blmn told the press he will continue the organization. • FANS-- Fresh Air for Non-Smokers O~e FANS ~'oup was or~aniz~ i~ • SENSE--Society for the Evolution of Nonsmoking Entertainment Founded in 1976 by Hartford, Con- necticut, singer Clair Brown, itsponsors entertainment evenings starring Clair Brown. No one lights up during the per- formanee. The group has branched into other areas, and Brown, whose brother is TV producer Norman Lear, says its purpose now is not anti-smoking but rather to make people happy. • SHAME-Society to Humiliate, Aggravate, Mortify, and Embarrass Smokers Entertainment columnist Will Jones wrote in his Minneapolis Tribune col- umn in 1964 that he was forming SHAME and claims 200 people wrote in to join. He advocated voting against political candidates who smoked or allowed smoking at their meetings. He claims his society's purpose is to "put down smokers, not because of the harm they do themselves, but because of the harm they do others through their selfishness, thoughtlessness, and slov- enly ways." • TAPS--Texans Against Public Formed in 1975, the group contiaues ~o v~dc t~ b~m smokJ~ in public plmees, ~Tobacco ~er 9 T153150398

~ ~ B 69711 -- ..... "~'-~'<++/I _ _<.¢#,ss'~- ,%.~ ,_.,~,-,-,~ ASH wants the government to make cigarettes containing nicotine a prescription drug. This is reminiscent of America during Prohibition. u'hen a prescription such as this one was necessary to obtain alcohol for "'medicinal" purposes. mission before sailing off as a member industry what her contemporary, Carry of the social staff on a push world Nation, was to alcohol. ASH: Legal Action Arm 390 in 1978. Total compensation paid to ASH's five other employees, includ- ing general counsel Peter Georgiades, was $83,710. ASH began when Banzhaf, fresh out of law school, wrote a three-page letter If there's an anti-smoking group most likely to be encountered in the court- room. it's Aetian on Smoking and Health (ASH). Started on a shoestring and a day- dream in 1968, the Washington-based pressure group now has an annual budget of nearly $300,000. Its top six employees earn salaries averaging al- most $20,000 a year, according to re- ports filed last year with New York State. ASH describes itself as the legal ac- tion ann of the anti-smoking movement and advertises itself as the group which "forced" cigarette commercials off the airwaves. It also engages in legal war- fare against airlines in a so-far partially sueoessful bid to restrict smoking aloft. Despite all its legal legwork, ASH accounts for the year ending October 1978 show that it still spends more on its propaganda efforts than on winning lawsuits. Last year ASH workers mailed out more than 5,000 packets of information. in addition, the group edited and printed a number of reports, including ones with such titles as "A Digest of Non- smoker" Rights Legislation," "Employ- ors and the Economies of Employee Smoking," and "'Dangers and Effects of Involuntary Smoking." Total cost of this program was put by ASH at $104,444, much of it raised by letters from physicians soliciting funds on behalf'of ASH. By comparison, ASH spent $73,030 on legal action, including complaints, briefs, and petitions filed with govern- mental agencies. For the past three years ASH has been taking up legal cudgels on behalf of aggrieved airline passengers. It is now pressing suit against the Civil Aeronautics Board to have pipe and cigar smoking outlawed on airliners altogether. ASH is the creation of its executive director, lawyer John Banzhaf IlL Banzhaf never liked smoking. He had watched his parents struggle to stop smoking, be tells the media in ritual interviews. For his services to ASH, Banzhaf, also a tenured law prof .e~-oor at George Washington University. receh, ed cruise liner. Banzhaf's letter concerned the Fair- ness Doctrine, which re.quires that tele- vision and radio slations allot time to opposing views. Banzhaf complained that stations broadcasting cigarette commercials were not giving the other side of the story. Banzhaf believes in using the court to achieve "reforms" because, he says, it is quicker than going through the legislative process and achieves more permanent results. He claims ASH is not anti-smoker but anti-smoklng and maintains that his organization wants only to win equal consideration for nonsmokers. Banzhaf predicts in newspaper interviews that within 10 years smoking will be re- strieted in most public places. But currently, ASH is working to have cigarettes declared a prescription drug, which would limit cigarette retail sales to pharmacies. ASH lost its bid to get the federal Food and Drug Ad- ministration to take jurisdiction over nicotine as a "'drug," and the FDA's decision was upheld in a U. S. District Court. ASH is taking a further appeal. Lucy- The Matriarch Lucy Page Gaston always said you could tell a smoker by his face-a "elgarette face," she called it. Gaston, the matriarch of America's antl-smoking movement, even cam- paigaed on a cigarette abolition plat- form in 1920, but withdrew in favor of fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan when it became plain she couldn't win. When Warren Harding, a smoker, won the election, she gave up national polities in disgust. But for Gaston, such decisions were easy to make. The world was very black and white, divided into those who smoked and those who didn't. Those who smoked, especially any street urchin she might see grubbing for butts in the gutter, had always con- corned her. And, before she died in 1924, suacumbing to cancer of the throat, she had helped in placing legis- lation, albeit ignored, banning smoking and the sale of cigarettes on statute books in several slates. Born in 1860, Gaston grew up during the Civil War. She liked nothing more than to compare herself with Abraham Lincoln. Tall and angular, she came to look like him, too. But there were few other similarities. Where Linooln believed in freedom of choice, Gaston believed in legislating morality. What people couldn't do for themselves had Io be done for them. And if that meant stopping their smok- ing by using the weight of the law. then so be it. Hatchet Wielder Gaston emne from a household of r/ghtcous reformers. At 13, when an- other little girl might play with the boy next door, Gastoa was teaching him Sunday School lessons. And gradually, Gastun became con- vinced that the youth of America was up to no good--especially the boys. "The back rows of her classrooms were filled with surly, shuffling boys who failed their examinations, who loitered on street corners after school, caps on tlie sides of their heads, hands fumbling in pockets. Miss G aston knew: there were cigarettes in those pockets,'" recounts a biographer, Frances War- field. Later, she knew, she would see the same sort of boy reformatory-bound. Cigarette smoking, she believed, led to drink, delinquenoy and vice, to petty larceny, divorce, insanity, and death. While still at school herself she had taken part in exhilarating raids on sa- loons, gambling dens, and tobacco shops. She had even been known to wield a hatchet when the mood caught her. But she knew that to save the man you first had to save the boy. Whereas temperance crusaders abounded, there were relatively few fighting the "evil" of tobacco. She could have the field near enough to herself. So she set about what was to become a lifetime's work, a holy crusade to save smokers from themselves. With her brother, Edward, she besieged slate legislatures where she demanded an end to the sale and distribution of cigarettes. After a few years of seemingly little progress, her idea caught on. It had be- come fashionable to fight against ciga- rettes. With the aid of a group of busi- noss.men, she formed the Chicago And- C~garette/_.e~gue of America. She scoured the streets of Chicago. picking up wayward boys she found smoking. They were persuaded to join her league, where they were issued shiny badges proclaiming their new- found abstinence and given the Clean Life Pledge to sign. Soon she had an army of tiny tots from whose lapels sprouted pins and button~; symbolizing their membership in their own little club. No Longer Fashionable By 1913, Gaston's leaguers had been instrumental, one way or the other, in the adoption of anti-cigarette laws in i 1 states. The same year, league gene~d secretary Dr. D. H. Kress announced the invention of a cigarette "cure" for those who truly repented. His recipo, he guaranteed, would bolster the willpower of all those wish- ing to quit. It was a mouthwash of silver nitrate solution to be taken between meals for three days. accompanied by baths. But with the advent of World War I, Gaston was in trouble. Anti-cigarette crusading was no longer fashionable. Instead, ladies of leisure devoted their time to making up packages for the soldiers "over there." The packages in- eluded cigarettes. Gaston was not to be put off. She brought legal action against organiza- tions in Kansas that were sending car- tons by the boatload, pointing out that cigarettes could not be legally bought or sold within that state. It brought her into direct conflict with patriotism. When the war ended, Gaston found she was dealing with a new style Amer- ican, one who had been overseas, ex- posed to different cultures, different ideas. Many states, realizing their anti-to- bacco laws were unenforceable, re- pealed them, substituting statutes for- bidding the sale of elgarettes to minors. But Gaston would not give up her old ways. Leaguers found her an em.bar.- rassment and she was asked to resign. She did. But she fought back by forming another league. Under the old name of the National Anti-Cigarette League, her goal became the abolition of cigarettes by 1925. She took her fight to K~sas, but when sheannounced berplans to'publish a newspaper called "Coffin Nails," the Kansas League rebelled and fired her. Always impoverished, she was now dependent on the charity of relatives and occaslonai contributions. With her 90-year-old mother, who never lost faith in her daughter, Gaston moved from one cheap room to another, living a hand-to-mouth existence. She still wrote letters to the Queen of England and to Harding, begging them to realize the "bad example" they set by smoking. Then, in January 1924, as she leR an anti-cigarette meeting, she was smack by a trolley ear. She died of cancer sbofdy afterward. Lucy Page Gaston left her organiza- tion in the hands ofayoung Frenchman whom she masted to em'ry on her work. He didn't. The league expired a few moa~ later. 10 "I'1~ Tol~eco Observer T153150399

GASP: Vocal Visible GASP-Group Against Smokers" Pollution-is perhaps the most visa'bly militant anti-smoking group. Its motto is "Be Vocal, Be Vigilant, Be Visual," and it certainly was, re- cently, so far as muscular dystrophy children were concerned. When GASP members heard that comedian Jerry Lewis, who smokes during his act, was due to host a $250- a-couple benefit ball and auction for the handicapped youngsters, they promised that protest banners and squirt guns would greet him. As a result, Lewis cancelled his ap- pearance at the gala on the advice of his security people, and two other show business celebrities had to step in at the last minute. GASP had won another "'victory" in its battle to combat smoking. The Kansas episode was just one of many staged by GASP chapters to earn maximum publicity for its cause--to ban smoking in all public places. Other gimmicks used by GASP have included making citizens' arrests of smokers and burning incense in a hos- pital room to protest patients' smoking. GASP Arrests The arrests occurred when GASP members conducted a "sweep" of a California courthouse, netting a hand- ful of alleged violators of a no-smoking ordinance. Fines were levied on some of the unfortunates, but GASP members also found themselves in legal hot water; two Orange County attomeys arrested, and later exonerated in court, flied separate $1 million civil lawsuits against the group. The attorneys charged the anti-smokiag activists had conspired with local media to publicly embarrass them. The citizens' arrests followed an un- successful suit brought by GASP to force enforcement of no-smoking roles in courthousu corridors. When it lost that case, GASP attorneys claimed it was "an indignant slap in tbe face to the democratic principles" nfthe American system. GASP members generally appear to suffer from litigious zeal, seeking to use the courts to give legal standing to their own crusading views. Bill Mc- Cracken, a 52-year-old former post- man who is president of the Charlotte, North Carolina, GASP chapter, seems particularly afflicted. McCracken, who claims he is allergic to smoke, has made headlines for: • unsuccessfully suing a postmaster for alleged assault with a cigar, claim- ing his health was endangered when the man smoked at amceting. • conducting raids on drogstores for alleged violation of smoking laws. • charging one drugstore manager with assault after losing a court case he brought against the manager on the smoking issue. • slapp'mg a "Thanks for Not Smok- ing" sticker on a magistrate's door. • filing a suit for alleged sale ofcign- • writing complaints to hospital ad- pital room as a prutcsL McO'acken's hattie gear gets him press coverage. It includes a surgical mask slung around his neck and a shh-t pocket festooned with GASP buttons. He spends his time scouring public places for violators of no-smoking or- dinances and rarely misses an oppor- tunity to sound off at municipal and other government meetings where pro- posed smoking ordinances are being discussed. GASP is the brainchild of a Mary- land woman, Clara Gouin, who founded the group in 1971. From GASP head- quarters in College Park, outside Washington, D. C.0 she issues press re- leases and statements, breathlessly in- forming the media of the organization's latest stands. GASP's newsletter, "The Ventilator," is published from College Park. GASP chapters around the country are only loosely affiliated with the "mother" organization and are respon- sible for their own fund-raising efforts. GASP and all its chapters arc non- profit and therefore tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Service regulations. The organization's many tentacles include a tax-exempt legal fund set up Otherwise., the newsletter largely is in California in December 1973 by GASP activist David Peterson. The fund's express purpose is financially m aid anti-smoking litigants. IRS dncu- merits show Peterson claiming the fund to be financed from conm'butions by individuals and charities such as the Heart Fond (not otherwise identified) and the award of attorney's fees. Anyone may join the fund pro~,ided, that is, he is not "engaged in, married to a person engaged in, employed by a person engaged in, or in any other way -financially interested in... any llrm or corporation engaged in growing or processing t~bacco." Also barred from membership are those who may one day be defendant in a lawsuit or other unspecified action brought by the GASP legal fund. Tax-exemption is also claimed by GASP for its "Educational Founda- tion News," a California-based news- letter which advertises enterprises such as "smoke-free" cruises, a nonsmokers" singles club, "educational films," and the usual anti-smoking paraphenalia such as GASP T-shirts and buttons. The newsletter plays advocate for res- taurants and other business establish- ments which provide no-smoking sec- tions, recommending readers' pa- tronage. ,. The last gasp in games '~ GASP Plays Games If Gruup Against Smokers' Pollu- tion (GASP) has cornered the market in the anti-smoking game, it's also play- ing its cards right in its commercial activities. Maryland GASP, the first GASP chapter, is a retail outlet for a new game called Smokers Wild. And though tim game's manufactur- ers have yet to make a profit on sales, GASP is doing quite well in this latest sally into the business world. Smokers Wild is manufactured and marketed by a small, Canadian finn called.Gamma Two Games, whose owner and manager is Scotsman Tom Dalgliesh. Dalgliesh sells the garr~ to GASP at a wholesale price of $5 a copy, which GASP turns into a small profit by sell- ing retail for $9 by mail, or $8 if col- lected from its headquarters. GASP founder Clara Ganin's sales pitch points out that the game sells on the open market for $10and more. But for GAS P members and support- ers she can offer it at discount, and pur- chasers will be helping her group "ad- vance the anti-smoking crusade" as well, she says. GASP members can also order the game in bulk, receiving one game free for every nine ordered "at a bargain Smokers Wild is a "king-sized spoof on smoking and tho tobacco industD,," says Gamma's publicity handouts, "All players start the game as healthy and wealthy nonsmokers. But a roll of the dine could turn anyone into a four- pack-a-day smoker of zany cigarette brands," Players of the game undertake vari- ous roles, including those of "Dr. Mel Practice" and "Doug Graves, the undertaker." Dalgliesh says the game was in- vented by an Englishman, Clifford Forward, with a little help from himself. "Forward brought the game to us last year to see if we were interested, and we thought it had merit. We put some humor into it though. Before, it was a very mother-and-apple-pie game," Dalgliesh says. The game retails on the east coast in Macy's in New York and Woodward and Lothrop, a Washington, D. C., de- partment store. Its sales are bigger in California, he says. Daigliesh admits he has yet to make a profit on it, though. "We've sold about 97,000 copies of it so far, but it takes a while to get your invostnmnt back. We're recouping in~ itial costs but it willbe 150,000 [copies] before we can say we're making mon- ey,"he sakL comprised of articles reproduced from newslmpers and other media, plus schodules of government and other m~tlngs where smoking issues are to be debated. If GASP is nonprofit, some of its members have not been slow to realize that where there's smoke, there's money to be made. Big Dollara San Franciscan Robert V. Wharton realized early that the stop-smoking business can spell big dollars. Wharton. was a "regional director" of a franchise chain of stop-smoking clin- ics called Smoke Watchers Interna- tional, Inc., when GASP was formed in 1971. He shortly became an active member of the San Francisco chapter of GASP, coordinating volunteers, supplies, and literature. Meanwhile, he has remained an ex- ecutive of Smoke Watchers, which was founded in 1968 by a New York busi- nessman and a market analyst. Smoke Watchers apparently was a sound business investment for those looking for a quick killing, if an early business prospectus of the firm is to be believed. The prospectus proclaimed the group to be the "finest investment opportun- ity" for those "interested in cashing in on today's hottest market." It offered investors the chance to "triple your in- vestment in two years" and showed at- tractive potential profit margins. An advertisement for the franchise chain later ran in the San Francisco GASP Newsletter. R used the slogan, "We teach people to live without smoking." Whartun's name and tele- phone number were prominently dis- played in the ad. What the advertisement did not men- lion was that Smoke Watchers Inter- national agreed in 1971 to pay to settle a lawsuit charging the firm with fraudulent business practices. The settlement followed an action brought by the California Attorney General's investment fraud unit, and the San Francisco district attorney. The complaint alleged that claims made to sell the clinic franchises were untrue. Franchises were promised elusive territory, profit earnable from only part-time effort, assured business success and assistance in training and advertising the programs. The district attorney also regarded as phony claims by Smoke Watchers that 97.6 percent of smokers complet- ing the stop-smoking program would quit. Smoke Watchers dealed the charges, but they agreed to a permanent injunc- tion against committing the alleged acts of fiaud in the future, and agreed to pay investors damages. Although the firm agreed to terms, its current literature still brags of "a success rate greater than 97.6 percent" for smokers. Despit~ th~ allegations of fraud which were never proven one way or the other, Wharton still ~es to sell Smoke Watchers" programs, advising telephone inquirers who can't come to will send them a st~ home study ctmrse on receipt ¢xra $10 fee. The Toh~c~ Ob,~_rver II T153150400