THE MEDDLING W. C. T. U.

The W. C. T. U. has field an initiative petition in Oregon making unlawful after January first the sale, use or possession of Cigarettes. A woman superintendent of schools in Kansas has announced: "I will O. K. the appointment of no teacher using tobacco" For the present, the W. C. T. U. States that it will make no attempt to outlaw tobacco in the regions where it is grown, but will confine its work to outlying parts of the country. Such as Oregon, where the society will not meet the opposition of the cultivators of the plant. But, unfortunately, an organization of this sort is like the weed it condemns; it grows. The anti-cigarette law of Kansas is a proof of this pernicious tendency.

The freedom of the individual is being sadly restricted these days. The drift of the government towards paternalism gives rise to the query, "Is there any limit to the control of government over private affairs?' The only reasonable answer is that control has gone far enough already. However, much opinions may differ on the prohibition amendment, the mass of people will raise against any attempt to curb the use of tobacco. That prehensile-nosed organization, the W. C. T. U. will meddle in other people's business once too often; and the heckled, down-trodden proletariat will, with starting abruptness, proceed to clean house. The disembodied a spirit of the W. C. T. U. floating around in interstellar space, where there is no tobacco smoke, will have time to reflect on the fact that the American people are like a buzz-saw. One cannot "monkey" with them much.