SMOKING IN TRAMCARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15055, 26 July 1912, Page 3

SMOKING IN TRAMCARS.

SCENES IN KANSAS CITY. Ax American paper of June 13 contained the following:—"A hot and bitter fight is being waged in Kansas City, Missouri, between the Metropolitan Street-Car Com-; pany and the cigar manufacturers as to whether the public shall be allowed to smoke in the tramcars or not. The tract, i ' ' tion company is defying, the new city ordi- : ' nance permitting, smoking, and the officiate instructed the conductors and drivers of the trams to with everybody smoking, and keep the car at a standstill a* long , , ■ as smoking is going on. " • " The company has adopted this attitude because, it is declared, a vote taken among - ■ its patrons showed a majority of two to ' ; one against the permission of smoking. \ As a result of the tram company's atti- , ■ ' tude, the city trams for the last two days ' have been the centre of lively scenes. Ladies in most- cases refuse to Bit in a car when the weed is being puffed, and before indignantly alighting the offending male has generally received a sound.box on the ears or a smart ..slap on the face as a protest. Cars are at a. standstill all over the city, the conductors refusing to proceed until there is no sign of smoke. These 1 stoppages have caused free fights ■ ■' among the passengers, and men may be . seen popping out of the trams like corks out, of bottles. The smokers have the law; ~ on their side, and at every' opportunity j they hurl defiance at the traction company, . ' by'lighting -.op. in the trains. j "The battle raged most fiercely last (night, when gangs of men'onJrixSjng, their •..■';- pockets • stutied" with-eigars, ; cigarettes,,pipes, and tobacco, supplied to them by the Tobacco Trust, hoarded every car ' leaving every terminal, and, thereby tied up the entire system. The conductors'-,,' themselves: dared - not-eject. the smokers, •.'-." ;, but lights between smokers and nonsmokers were .fast and furious. A truce has been called for to-day, and an effort will be made to ! coma to some arrangement." ' ..'■■ Smokers in New York, encouraged by the Kansas City ordinance, will try to obtain some release from what they terra the " despotic action" of the local' traction companies. Most of these even for- - ' bid cajrying lighted tobacco on the steps or platforms of stations, let alone smoking in trains or tram cars, and everywhere one sees glaring notices in red ink declaring a person is liable to a "fine of £100, a. year in prison, or both," . for such i an ; offence. Such 'restrictions' and regulations New Yorkers claim cannot and "rill not be endured. ..'■.. Figures just published shew that there ore consumed in the United States every day 21,718,448 cigars and 23,736,190 cigar-'. ettee, without including those' rolled by the smokers themselves." These figures are ; . large, but measured against the population - ; . • , of the country they seem to be small. They ffg show a per. capita consumption of less than \ one cigarette a, day' for the male voting population alone, and considerably ':>.* ; than one cigar a day. During the last decade : Americans have taken up pipe smoking, and, whereas it was once the ' , exception to see a pipe in the street,? of American cities, it is now as much the rule as on the other side of the Atlantic