GREEDY TOBACCO FARMERS

Editor -- Jeez . . . what's all this fawning over the poor tobacco
farmers?! The writing has been on the wall for at least the last 15 to 20
years that the tobacco industry was in trouble; plenty of time for these
poor, discriminated against farmers to diversify and ultimately change
crops.

Many have done so, moved to cotton, soy beans, etc., but the bottom line is
it isn't as lucrative. The farmers that are still raising tobacco are in it
for the money, pure and simple. That's fine . . . that's the American Way.
But when demand and/or subsidies drop, that's also simply business.

I personally don't mind tobacco farmers or even tobacco smokers, I just
don't want to subsidize them. I much rather my tax money went to retraining
some of the many thousands of folks that are unceremoniously put out of
work each year by these obscene mega- mergers, rather than give it to the
tobacco farmers who have voluntarily chosen to stay in the business to
squeeze out every last possible dime.

JIM GRIGG Alameda

THE ULTIMATE `DUH'

Editor -- Regarding your shocking Saturday April 11 headline, ``Cancer
Institute's Warning on Cigars: Just as bad as cigarettes,'' I think I speak
for us all when I say, ``Duh.''

CHRIS RASMUSSEN Berkeley

WHAT THE TOBACCO MERCHANTS DESERVE

Editor -- Help me out with this. What have we traditionally done with
people who sell a substance known to be addictive and life-threatening to
children? If I am clear on my history, we confiscate their property; we
imprison them; and, in some cases, we kill them. We do not let them stay in
business, bargain for their penalty, and, pay their fines by selling their
addictive, life-threatening substance to other people's children who live
outside the country. As this is true, why are we even testing the idea of
letting the tobacco companies, which we now know have done these things,
escape from prison and confiscation, to say nothing of execution? How many
of us have lost a loved one to cancer caused by tobacco? There are 350,000
more slated to die this year! Let us do the logical, correct, moral and
traditional thing with the tobacco merchants. Take their property, slap
them in jail, and, in some egregious cases, extract the same penalty we
would impose on any other assassin of our children. As for the farmers, let
them grow something useful.

JAMES D. BISHOP San Francisco

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle