The Golden age. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1906-1915, October 11, 1906, Page 4, Image 4
4
The Great Trinity of Dope Evils.
■ : i ■
flk
■Hr
■ ’'S-MM fl , I',
' SIR
y„. . ~|„,., „ Ma
Westminster Chapel, Dr Campbell Morgan's Church.
“But if the watchman see the sword come, and
blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warn
ed; if the sword come, and take any person from
among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but
his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.’’
Ezek. 33:6.
N olden times cities were protected by
huge walls upon which the vigilant sen
tinel walked. His business was to look
out for danger, and when he found it,
to cry aloud. Such was the case on
the fatal night when Herculaneum was
enveloped by the lava that flowed from
the red mouth of Vesuvius. A descrip
tion is given in one of the classics of
I
a faithful sentinel who, while walking his beat
upon Herculaneum’s wall, saw the coming of the
rain of fire and the river of lava. The description
of his cries is pathetic, but not half so pathetic
to me as his faithfulness in standing by his post
of duty. There, facing the stream of fire, stone
and lava, with his hand stretched out in the direc
tion of the city, this poor sentinel was submerged,
and afterward, his body was exhumed in perfect
shape, which revealed his feelings and fidelity.
This sentinel has always, to me, illustrated the
preacher’s place in the world. He is ever on the
watch tower. Isaiah so recognized him, and calls
upon him to “cry aloud, and spare not.” He may
have to go down; he may be submerged by the
reign of fire; he may be called upon to lay his life
down; but the preacher of righteousness today who,
seeing an independent evil, one which is liable to
menace the morals of the people, and withholds his
cry, merits the contempt of society and the frown
of Heaven.
The Dope Menace.
Ours is a dope age. More and more we are fall
ing in line with poor, sleepy, opium-eating China.
Our business and society promote it. The strain
of business and the ever-unsatisfying demands of
society call for stimulation beyond that which the
natural man supplies. Oh, the restlessness of it
all!
There is no possible way of estimating the in
crease in this line in the last quarter of a century.
I have been so situated that I could observe, with
One of a Series of Sermons Being Preached by Dr. Broughton in Westminster Chapel, London.
The Golden Age for October 11, 1906.
some degree of accuracy, in this line. I have been
both a minister and a physician. I have been per
mitted to mingle with the crowds, as few men in
our community have within the last ten years.
My contact has been with men of renown in the
pulpit and in the medical profession. My position
as the head of one of our leading hospitals, in ad
dition to my other work, has brought me in touch
with the medical side of life.
I know something, therefore, of my subject, and
I ask you to consider what I say, not as the vapor
ings of a crank and a fanatic, but as the result
of honest, sincere conviction, built up by knowl
edge.
The Opium Dope.
The oldest of the dope family is opium. We have
the history of opium in use since more than a
hundred years before Christ. In its place, it is one
of our most valuable drugs. When taken in the
proper way and for the proper purpose, it is a
God-send. But even this has made its use of
great danger. The fact that it enables one to get
out of the house of care, and enter the palace of
optimism and sweet dreams, makes it a great pos
sible danger.
This fact has caused thousands to fall its vic
tim. Men have tried with throbbing brain and
shaking nerves; they have battled with responsi
bilities that have grown increasingly; they have
felt the lash of conscience; they have grown rest
less and tired, and not having in themselves the
stuff that sticks, they have resorted to this source
with the hope of finding temporary relief. But
it has not been a temporary relief, for like the
sweet scented flower given to the prince, it has
contained within itself a serpent as deadly as
death.
Cocaine, the Popular Dope.
Again, we will consider the popular dope. While
opium is king, it is so only because of its age. It
is not the most hurtful. The most popular, and de
cidedly the most hurtful narcotic today is cocaine.
If something is not done, I believe it is to take the
rank with us that opium takes in China. Those
of you who have not kept pace with this drug can
not form any estimate of its ravages. The extent
of its dangers is measured by the ease of its ad
ministration and its effect upon the system.
The consensus of opinion on the subject is that
it is the most injurious of any of the narcotics now
in use. Specialists tell us that its constant use,
even in small quantities, though pleasant to the
sensation, is almost sure to wreck physical power,
break down will power, and weaken moral percep
tion. This we know by sad experience. From ev
idence not to be controverted, I am prepared to
say that there are thousands of men and wome’ 1
in this country who are utter and permanent
wrecks from the use of this drug. One of the
leading physicians in all this country recently said
to me: “There is not a day I do not run against
it.”
The Cigarette—the Dude’s Dope.
We come now to consider the cigarette—the
dude’s fdope. There 'is 'nothing that equals its
harmful effect upon the human race. In many re<
speets, it outweighs the whiskey habit, because the
constant use of the cigarette leads in that direc
tion. Let me be fair in dealing with the cigarette;
let me be considerate, also, if I possibly can. I
confess that my feelings are so intense upon the
subject, that to be conservative will be very hard.
What are my objections to the cigarette? First,
my objection is to the smoker himself. He looks
bad, and smells much worse. I have often said
if I were a girl, I would not keep company with a
man who is soaked with cigarette odor. To me
there are few odors as bad, and none any worse.
But my real objection to the cigarette is its moral
and physiological effect. The man who habitually
smokes cigarettes for ten years will cheat, steal,
lie, drink, murder, commit adultery—any or all
of these that serves his purpose. I know some will
regard this statement as extreme, but they would
not if they had had such experience as I have. I
once made this statement from my pulpit, and a
young man who attended my services from time
to time, and who was my friend, got angry. The
next day I met him in an office down town, and he
proceeded to abuse me for my statement. He said
he had followed me as my friend. He had taken
my part when I was criticised, but that I had gone
to such an extreme he could no longer follow me,
and that such a statement was calculated to cause
suspicion of young men who smoke cigarettes, and
who are ias honest as any others. He said: “I,
myself, have smoked habitually for more than ten
years, and I know there isn’t any truth in what
you say.”
I said to him: “You may be an exception, but
I stick to my rule.” Was he an exception ? In less
than three weeks’ time, he was found under the
porch of his own home, dead. By his side was a
bottle of morphine, and in his hand a partially
smoked cigarette. What was the matter? He had
embezzled from his firm, and could not make it good.
At the very time he was raving at me, he was
guilty of the very thing I had charged.
I have kept careful records on this subject, and
I say to you that had you been keeping them as I
have, you would not be so ready to brand me as
a fanatic or question my statements regarding
this awful evil.
The Beason Assigned.
Why is it we have this effect from the cigarette?
We do not have it because of the tobacco. Tobacco
in itself does not produce such results. “Oh!”
somebody says, “it is the nicotine in the cigar
ette!” Nico-nothing; there is not enough nicotine
in a barrel of cigarettes, if all were smoked at
one time, to produce an effect of this character.
Besides, it is not the effect of nicotine. Why is
it, then? It is because of the peculiarity of the
mixture in the first place, and the method of smok
ing in the next.
The cigarette is covered by rice paper. This rice
paper is a heathen production. It comes mainly
from China. It is bleached with arsenic. It can
be produced in no other way. You say it is a lim
ited quantity. To be sure it is, but that makes it
the more dangerous. The tobacco of which cig
arettes are made is, for the most part, steeped in
opium. You say again, that it is a small quantity.
To be sure it is, but this is another reason why it
is so dangerous.
Now, do not let any man who does not know any
thing about this matter open his mouth in denial
of what I say.
Recently, a judge in Harlem Court, New York,
made this significant statement with reference to
cigarettes:
“ Yesterday, I had before me thirty-five boy pris
oners. Thirty-three of them were confirmed cig
arette smokers. Today, from a reliable source, I
have made the gruesome discovery that two of the
largest cigarette manufacturers in this country soak
their product in a weak solution of opium.”
Think of it! The young men of this country, and
I. am sorry to say, young women, too, are now
more and more beginning to smoke cigarettes; are
being opiumized and arsenicized by the use of the
cigarette, permitted to be sold by the law of our
land, which ought to stand against such public
slaughter.
The Inhalation of Smoke.
But this is not all. The cigarette smoker inhales
his smoke. This every man knows who has smoked
them at all. Is it not true of other tobacco smoke ?
If you don’t think it is, suppose you try it. You
country are saying to their employes: “If you
smoke cigarettes, you will have to get out of our
employ.” Not only have they deprived them of the