COFFEE AND TOBACCO

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Dec 13, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 50.

COFFEE AND TOBACCO.

It is a sad fact that the people of America, according to government reports, are consuming per capita an average of 5.03 pounds of tobacco a year, man, woman, and child. Only one land in the world, Belgium, exceeds this with 6.20 pounds per capita. This, of course, is based on revenue returns. There are a good many who raise and cure their own tobacco. Think of the vast amount of money which men burn out, bringing absolutely no good to any one, and a curse to the health of the users and others who come into contact with them.

Then think of coffee, another drug which humanity in no wise needs. The people of this country use an average of ten pounds per capita. Holland and Belgium lead, Great Britain uses hardly any at all, only about two-thirds of a pound per head. America drinks two-fifths of all that the world produces. Add to this all the other narcotics and stimulants eaten and drunk by the people of this country, and it is simply appalling. What a vast amount of poverty might be relieved by using the money spent in this way for that purpose! and what a vast amount of poverty is caused by money spent in this way!