U.S. At War: Golden Opportunity

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For thy sake, tobacco, I

Would do anything but die.

Thus, in 1830, wrote Charles Lamb; and thus, last week, felt most U.S. cigaret smokers. But there was little relief in sight. Across the land, men, women and even small fry continued to experiment half-heartedly with pipes. In Chicago, a chain drug store picked up a couple of hundred cartons at a Post Office auction and hauled them away, like so many square-cut emeralds, under bristling armed guard. In Manhattan, two frequently quoted women allowed themselves to be quoted. Said famed Wit Dorothy Parker: "I'm smoking whatever I can get—Strange Fruit, or whatever they're called." Said bustling Columnist Dorothy Thompson: "I go around snatching cigarets from the mouths of my young girl acquaintances and saying: Look what happened to me!'"

In Washington, D.C., the Anti-Cigarette Alliance was ecstatic. Hailing the cigaret shortage as a "golden opportunity" which it hoped would last until 1947, the Alliance offered a "simple" prescription to those who want to break themselves of the filthy habit: i) chew 5¢ worth of gentian root (or camomile blossoms) every time the craving strikes; 2) take ½ teaspoonful each of Rochelle salts and cream of tartar before breakfast; 3) cut out highly seasoned foods and stimulating drinks; 4) shun all smokers and smoke-filled rooms; 5) take Turkish baths; 6) think of something else. But U.S. cigaret smokers, finding gentian root even more awkward to buy than fags, went right on smoking Strange Fruit, or whatever they were called.