Tobacco and Toleration

TOBACCO AND TOLERATION By Louis Ward Before any substantial progress will be made in this or any other state against the growth of the tobacco habit, we must devote more time and attention to a number of questions that have here- tofore been overlooked. The average discourse or article intended to arouse the think- ing man or woman to the seriousness of the tobacco habit is de- voted to a collection of scientific facts showing how tobacco injures vital organs, how it is making a new problem for juvenile courts, or to its danger as a fire hazard. One would think these three indictments would be sufficient to drive tobacco from any civilized land, but they are not; and one may safely say that if other arguments are not used against it, the tobacco habit will continue to grow in this country until it is in- dulged in as freely as in Spain and Mexico, and a few other places. Why? Simply because the average man or woman has the idea that tobacco has as much right in our midst as food or drink, recrea- tion, or whatnot. That, in other words, its use is a normal condi- tion, and that when it destroys life or health, morals or property it is simply being used unwisely by some, but that to abolish it or restrict it in any way would be as unreasonable as to say citizens shall give up certain other things because a few do not know how to use them properly. This will surprise many who are aware of the thousands of peo- ple, particularly in our own state, who detest the use of tobacco in their presence. But close observation will show that the people who dislike tobacco, and are actually nauseated by it, are as a rule unwilling to fight the habit because they have an idea they are merely un- fortunate in being susceptible to tobacco smoke as many persons are to indigestion when they eat certain foods. The tobacco smoker is continually complaining that the non- smoker is intolerant, that he wants to restrict his liberties. If the non-smoker were not more tolerant than the smoker, tobacco smoking would have been abolished before it had got a hold of the white man. Smoking tobacco is not a normal habit like eating, drinking, breathing, walking, singing, talking, laughing, crying, etc. It is simply a habit that was copied from the American Indians in com- paratively recent times, as history goes, and one not at all peculiar to the human race. Its growth has been due to the narcotic qualities of the tobacco and to its commercialization. When a smoker, in a heated argument with a legislator, told the latter that if he did not like smoking in a public place he should move on, most people seemed

4 78 IMPROVEMENT ERA to think he had scored a point. If the public could only grasp the fact that it is the smoker who should move on, and not the non- smoker, the fight against this evil would be won. Persons who hate tobacco smoke in their presence and believe every indictment that has been brought against the tobacco habit simply cannot appreciate the fact that it is the smoker who is not normal and not themselves. The attitude of the smoker is something like this: "Well, if you don't like tobacco smoke, I wonder why you stay here. You can't expect to inconvenience others because you don't smoke. If I were you I would either acquire the habit myself or shut myself up somewhere, so that the smoke does not penetrate to my nostrils." I say this is the attitude of the average smoker, when he thinks about the matter at all. He has never considered the possibility that he and he alone may be the abnormal person, the one who should either drop the habit or shut himself up where his fumes will not annoy others. He claims the right of way, and he indulges his habit everywhere; and, so long as the non-smokers agree with him, concern- ing this right of way, so long will he indulge his habit, regardless of whom it injures or annoys. Perhaps, after all, the non-smoker is as much to blame as the smoker, for the reason that he has not tried to show him that his attitude is wrong. He tells him, of course, that tobacco hurts him and a few other things of this nature, but the smoker laughs and tells him not to worry about his welfare. I am inclined to think that if he also told him, and bluntly, too, that he was not normal in insisting upon indulging a dirty habit in public, as he is doing, he would stop and take notice. Why not show him that he has no more right to burn tobacco in public that a non-smoker would have to burn india rubber in a little bowl, or carry a bottle of ether about with him un- corked merely because it gave him pleasure. Much more could be said along these lines, but there is one more phase of the subject I would like to touch upon before I ring off. We are often told that tobacco does not hurt very much from a moral standpoint, at least, because men of large affairs, kind, charitable men, are frequently found among the inveterate smokers. This sort of reasoning is about as sound as defending a criminal by saying, "Oh, he is not really bad, you know. When he is in jail he spends a lot of his time making things for poor kiddies. How can a man be a criminal who does that?" The truth is that a good man does not become a criminal by indulging in one bad habit any more than a criminal becomes a good member of society by indulging in one good habit. This ought to be obvious to every child of ten years of age, yet we find so-called statesmen using the silly argument about tobacco not hurting any one morally because good men are among its users. Salt Lake City

PROPHECY AND HISTORY A Study for the Advanced Senior Class M. I. A., 1924-25 Prophecy — The Book of Mormon Introductory Note: The attention of teachers and students is called to the following: The prophecies and promises of each lesson are limited to five and, therefore, represent only a few of what might be presented under the title of the lesson. In some instances those selected are less striking] than others which might be selected, because the latter have been used in some previous lesson and when a prophecy is used in more than one lesson it is because of the importance of studying it from a new angle. It is expected that the teacher and the student will supplement the lessons with the con- sideration of other predictions than the five selected for one lesson. Lesson XIX — Prophecies and Promises to Individuals Special References for Class Study 1. I Nephi 2:19-22; 2. I Nephi 3:7; 3. II Nephi 26:13; 4. Alma 40; 5. Ether 4:19. Questions and Problems 1. What had Nephi done to merit the divine promise recorded in I Nephi 2:19-22? 2. Show that Nephi's declaration recorded in I Nephi 3:7 is a promise to every individual. 3. On what condition are we promised divine interposition or special help from the Lord? II Nephi 26:13. 4. Mention what three promises concerning the resurrection are re- corded in Alma 40. 5. Quote and name the author of the promise recorded in Ether 4:19. Lesson XX — Prophecies with Promise to Nations and Peoples Special References for Class Study 1. Nephi 10:7, 8; 2. II Nephi 29:7, 8; 3. Mosiah 26:30; 4. Ether 1 :43 ; 5. Ether 2:9-12. Questions and Problems 1. Tell how the prediction in II Nephi 10:8 is being fulfilled today. 2. What two peoples are referred to in II Nephi 29:8 and how is the prediction being fulfilled? 3. Give some scriptural or historical evidence of the fulfilment of the promise recorded in Mosiah 26:30. 4. In the light of Ether 1 :43, what was the relative greatness of the Jaredite nation at the time of its existence? 5. Using the divine declaration recorded in Ethe'r 2:9-12, what are the conditions upon which national greatness may be perpetuated on this continent? 6. Discuss the proposition: To the extent that a people popularizes iniquity, and a nation legalizes evil, their cup of iniquity is becoming full.

480 IMPROVEMENT ERA Lesson XXI — Prophecies in the Book of Mormon Not Found in Any Other Scripture Special References for Class Study 1. IINephil:7; 2. Ill Nephi 16 :10; 3. Ill Nephi 20:24-27 ; 4. Ether 4:6, 7; 5. Ether 4:11. Questions and Problems 1. Accepting as true the declaration recorded in II Nephi 1:7, what is the price of liberty in this land of Promise? 2. Who is the author of III Nephi 16:10, and to what nation is the prophet declaring a most solemn warning? 3. Show from II Nephi 20:24-27 that Jesus was acquainted with what the people had been doing on this continent before he was born, and tell what he meant by calling them the children of the covenant. 4. What book contains the fulfilment of Ether 4:7? 5. What book contains "these things" spoken of in the promise re- corded in Ether 4:11? Prayer and Service I dreamed, And the dream was the dream of a youth Exploring the future in quest of truth, Reaching to grasp with one mighty span, All the vastness of God's infinite plan. I paused On my voyage down life's restles stream And slowly I awoke from youth's ardent dream, I woke to learn that wisdom divine, Gives "Precept on precept, line upon line." I prayed, And the pray'r was the pray'r of a man, One meeting life's problems with thoughtful scan; Each hour, each day. new problems to meet, No time for worry, no place to retreat. I mused Till the faith-lamps within, burning low, Flamed higher and brighter, a lambent glow, Bearing a message fresh from the scroll And blazing its truth on my hungry soul ! I served, And the clouds from my skies rolled away, Revealing, in spendor, God's flush of day! He bade me be brave, hopeful and true, Finding life's joys in the service I do! Phoenix, Arizona. M. A. STEWART.

Editors ^lable God's Will and Man's Will If one threatening word, carrying the greatest danger to our civilization, were named, that word might be — pride! Through pride, the once mighty Lightbearer in the heavens, among the sons of God, fell from his high estate, when he refused to submit to the majority, and decided to fight for his views and plans, after they had been rejected. Pride is still the besetting sin wherever his influence is uppermost among the children of men. Proud man weighs the sun and the planets, and measures the distances between universes in infinite space. Proud man analyzes the atoms and counts the electrons circling in their infinitesimal orbits. He seemingly annihilates space and time, and in many ways commands the mighty forces of nature to do his bidding. Like the pharaoh of the oppression, he then sits back on his throne and defiantly asks: "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice?" Or, with Nebuchadnezzar, exclaims, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built * * * by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?" And then the fall is not far away. When human progress, human achievement and greatness, fail to give God the honor and glory, disaster is near. For, "In nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments." (Doc. and Cov. 59:21). This pride is manifest nowhere more strikingly than in philosophical speculations whose object is to account for the creation of worlds and the existence of man, without a divine, personal agency; and, in the same way, for individual achievement or suc- cess, or for history, without the guiding hand of Providence. Pride lurketh at the bottom of this philosophy. For if there be no Creator, or if God is so far separated from mortal beings that he neither can. nor cares to, take any cognizance of their existence, their needs, their joys and sorrows, then man is supreme, without any obligations of obedience or worship. He is the sole master of his fate, the only captain of his soul. Was that not the allurement of the tempter when he promised our first parents that by disobedience they should become wise and powerful as Elohim, and be able to exist forever, independent of the Lord? (Gen. 3:5) . Man, his own creator, his own savior! His will supreme! In our urge to individual efficiency, progress and so-called success, we have gone to this extreme, and often count our wills

482 IMPROVEMENT ERA supreme; we can be what we will! This is true, if our will is guided and directed by God's will, which is the will expressed in the gospel of Jesus Christ; but if it is not, the doctrine is funda- mentally false. By this philosophy, the human will, instead of the will of God and the will and doctrine of his Son Jesus Christ, is made our salvation and Savior. There is no passage either in ancient or modern scripture that supports this theory as against faith in Jesus Christ, or that places human will, instead of the will of the Son of God, as our Savior. "By the help of God," or "God being willing," were formerly fundamental sentiments, underlying the will of men; now the tendency is to place man's will as the basis of all action, a drift which is very certain to lead in an erroneous direction. This philosophy of man's will being supreme is no longer con- fined to the schools and institutes of secular learning. It has found its way into some theological colleges and Protestant pulpits, and taken the place of the divine message of salvation to a fallen world, revealed through Jesus Christ. To be sure, this is not yet openly admitted, but it is a fact. The divinity of Jesus is openly denied, and this implies unquestionably the rejection of the divine plan of salvation, in its entirety. The word of God tells us, that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," that sin is exceedingly sinful, that the sinner is under condemnation, and that there is no atonement, no justification, no redemption from the power of sin, except through Jesus Christ, by obedience to his conditions as offered in the gospel. Paul learned this by his own experience, for whether on Mars Hill, at Athens, among philosophers; or at Corinth, where "not many wise men," nor mighty men or noble, were called; whether among Jews or Gentiles, he "determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Paul was, perhaps, the most intellectual, the most energetic, and, humanly speaking, at the same time the most successful of the early standard bearers of the gospel. But never did he attribute any of his gifts and graces to his own efforts. Hear him: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration [baptism] and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Tit. 3:5, 6). Again: "By grace [the gospel] are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it [the gospel] is the gift of God: not [the result] of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8 and 9). Paul was well acquainted with human nature, its excellencies and its shortcomings. He knew the condition of the human will, as well as the human desires and emotions. And he did not hesitate to confess: "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to per-