Coffin nails

Little white slavers

Dope sticks

Devil’s toothpicks

Satan sticks

Coffin pills

Little white devils.

These are names for cigarettes in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

Residents of Washington State were so opposed to cigarettes that they passed a law, in March of 1893, prohibiting any person to “buy, sell, give away, or manufacture cigarettes or cigarette paper.”

This law, a first of its kind in the country, was struck down in the Federal Court four months later.  The Federal Court declared it unconstitutional on the grounds that it improperly restrained interstate trade. 

The anti-cigarette lobby did not give up – they got another prohibition bill introduced in the State Legislature in 1907 and that law passed as well.  Two years later the Legislature enacted an even more draconian law banning the mere possession of cigarettes and cigarette paper.

Washington State was not, however, alone in its concern for this unhealthy substance.  Fifteen states passed laws prohibiting sale and manufacture of cigarettes in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Even if they did not get a law passed, many other States, debated the topic. 

The Seattle P-I ran a satirical piece – an interview with Mr. Cigarette (“the attenuated friend of the undertaker”).  The cigarette was quoted as saying:  “I have learned to love the Puget Sound country. I have many close friends in Seattle. It is sad to part with them. I have become attached to scores of them, and it is a consolation to me to know that they will miss me.”

After it became clear that the law could not be enforced – too many violators – it was repealed in 1911.  That was the end of cigarette prohibition. 

To put this in context of the ‘Prohibition” that we are more familiar with – prohibition on alcohol –

Washington State passed a law prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol in 1916.  The rest of the country caught up with Washington State by passing the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution which prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol in 1920.

(Photo: Prohibition Agents destroying barrels of whiskey – Wikimedia Commons)

The 18^th Amendment was repealed by the 21^st Amendment in 1933. 

SOURCE:

Cigarette Prohibition in Washington, 1893-1911 – HistoryLink.org

 Karen Treiger is the author of the new book – Standing on the Crack: The Legacy of Five Jewish Families from Seattle’s Gilded Age.

Website: Homepage – Karen Treiger – Author

Her weekly blog about the history of Seattle and stories about her ancestors can be found here: Ancestry, Genealogy, Legacy, History: Stories of Five Jewish Families in Seattle