Not then considered the health risk that it is known to be today, in 1933 when this report was written, tobacco was nearly as important as food for some people. The unemployed Greenfield men who petitioned the Board of Selectmen were working on a sewer-pipe installation in exchange for room and board. They requested a tobacco ration because, with the coming of winter, they were no longer able to “recycle” the cigarette butts that they found on the ground. The snow covering the streets had either obscured or dissolved them. A spokesman for the workers argued that had the men been in the county jail or the town infirmary, they would have received a tobacco ration. However, the selectmen had no funds available to grant their request. During the same meeting the unemployed were allowed evening use of a local school hall.
Greenfield Daily Recorder-Gazette. “Welfare Workers on Hope Street Job Ask Two Packages of Tobacco.” January 14, 1933. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l06-009/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
Please note: Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.