The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News
Correspondent Andy Rooney.
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Every once in a while, there's some good news. Half as many
Americans smoke cigarettes now, compared to the number who used
to smoke them, and that's good news.
(Still over 22.5% of American smoke. That's adds up to nearly
50,000,000 smokers and 250,000,000 non-smokers are being
adversely affected by their smoking!)
The percentage of high school kids smoking
is lower than it's ever been.
An interesting thing about smoking
statistics, 42 percent of those who don't graduate from high
school smoke, but only 12 percent of college graduates
smoke.
People with graduate degrees smoke least of
all -- 7 percent of them. In other words, if I can say this
without offending anyone, the dumbest people smoke the most.
Maybe it would be politically correct to say "the smartest
people smoke the least."
American tobacco companies are pushing lung
cancer in foreign countries now.
That's how to win friends for the United
States, isn't it?
How would you like to be in the ashtray
business now that no one wants anyone smoking around them?
My mother always had ashtrays around.
This beautiful Steuben crystal ashtray was
on the coffee table in our living room for 35 years.
There was an ashtray on every table in
every restaurant. Mexican restaurant. Bookbinders in
Philadelphia. The famous Stork Club in New York.
This is a silver cigarette box my father
brought home from Japan in 1930.
They handed out matchbooks everywhere with
advertising. Salem Cigarettes, Marriott Hotels. The Harbor
Motor Hotel in Steamboat Springs.
Actors like Humphrey Bogart used cigarettes
as a prop - and Bette Davis, Jackie Gleason on 60 Minutes.
Some smokers kept their distance with
cigarette holders.
This little beauty is made of ivory. An
elephant died for this smoker.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt made this model
famous.
He looked great with his cigarette holder.
Most people kept the pack in their pocket
but some smokers put them in silver cases. This leather case
has the owner's initials. Why would you put your initials on
a cigarette case?
Lighters were more fun to play with than
matches. That's what you gave a smoker for Christmas - a
cigarette lighter. This Ronson was on most living room
coffee tables.
The most famous lighter was the ZIPPO.
Soldiers always carried Zippos in World War II. They worked
better than matches in the mud.
The inescapable fact that smoking causes
lung cancer has obviously had a big effect on cigarette
sales, but I think there's another reason, too. We bought
these Marlboros to have on my desk. This carton cost us $75.
Who can afford to burn tobacco at those prices?
Written By Andy Rooney © MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All
Rights Reserved.
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