Prisoners Can't Have Tobacco

PRISONERS CAN'T HAVE TOBACCO
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COUNTY AUDITORS REFUSE FURTHER ALLOWANCE
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Practice Is an Old One and Its Discontinuance Will Bring Gloom to Inmates of Jail
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     The county board of auditors brought gloom to the hearts of the inmates of the county jail Wednesday by deciding to discontinue the long established practice of providing the prisoners with tobacco.
     The decision was a unanimous one, the board taking the grounds that prison life should be severe, and that no attempt should be made to indulge the prisoners in luxuries.
     The prison authorities do not wish to come into collision with the board, so would no personally express themselves for publication, but they admitted that deprivation of tobacco will be a serious thing for the prisoners.
     "Some of the prisoners will simply have to have tobacco," said on of the officials, "and if the county won't allow it, we will have to buy a little with our own money. With nothing to do the men who have always used tobacco will crave it to such an extent that they will actually suffer. It only costs the county $8 to $10 a month, as we buy cheap tobacco and give it out in small lots."
     The question is also raised as to the board's authority to take such action, it being held that they are assuming the functions of the board of supervisors. 
     The county board cut the bill of Dr. C. F. Kapp, of Manchester, for caring for smallpox cases, from $1,776.25 to $974.75 The bulk of the reduction was brought about by cutting his pay from $10 to $5 a visit and from $3 per patient in one house to $1.