The War on Spit

"A copious shower of yellow rain" ~ Dickens

Trade card - distributed at stores, placed on sales counters free for the taking, and passed out by "drummers" who walked the streets looking for customers ~ Source

The streets of 19th century America were alive with a distinctive, and often unsightly, habit—chewing tobacco.

From bustling cities to quiet rural towns, the sight of men chewing and spitting was as common as the spittoons strategically placed to catch the tobacco “juice.”

Another "Jackson's Best" trade card ~ Source

The incessant sound of expectoration and the sight of stained sidewalks were so pervasive that it drew sharp criticism from visitors. Among them was the renowned author, Charles Dickens - disgusted with America’s spitting culture.

In his "American Notes (1877)," Dickens describes a country awash in tobacco - “an exaggeration of nastiness, which cannot be outdone.”

“As Washington may be called the head-quarters of tobacco-tinctured saliva, the time is come when I must confess, without any disguise, that the prevalence of those two odious practices of chewing and expectorating began about this time to be anything but agreeable, and soon became most offensive and sickening.”

Dicken’s “American Notes” was illustrated by the American editorial cartoonist - Thomas Nast. Below his “National Spittoon" replaces Washington’s grand public buildings.

"The National Spittoon: The Headquarters of Tobacco-Tinctured Saliva" by Thomas Nast, in Charles Dickens's “Pictures from Italy and American Notes” (1877) ~ Source

Another Nast illustration captured Dicken’s revulsion for spitting’s domination of public places - such as - Congress.

“The Honorable Member” by Thomas Nast, in Charles Dickens's “Pictures from Italy and American Notes” (1877) ~ Source

In all the public places of America, this filthy custom is recognised. In the courts of law, the judge has his spittoon … In the hospitals, the students of medicine are requested, by notices upon the wall, to eject their tobacco juice into the boxes provided for that purpose, and not to discolour the stairs.

In public buildings, visitors are implored, through the same agency, to squirt the essence of their quids, or “plugs,” as I have heard them called by gentlemen learned in this kind of sweetmeat, into the national spittoons, and not about the bases of the marble columns.

… On board this steamboat, there were two young gentlemen… sat down opposite each other, to chew. In less than a quarter of an hour’s time, these hopeful youths had shed about them on the clean boards, a copious shower of yellow rain; clearing, by that means, a kind of magic circle, within whose limits no intruders dared to come, and which they never failed to refresh and re-refresh before a spot was dry.

The Rise of Anti-Spitting Campaigns

As the 19th century drew to a close, the streets of America were awash with more than just people. The germ theory of tuberculosis, developed in the 1880s, revealed that spit was not merely an unsightly nuisance but a public health menace. Reformers launched a campaign to clean up the streets and save lives.

"The first and most significant rule was to forbid 'persons suspected to have consumption [tuberculosis] to spit on the floor or on cloths unless the latter be immediately burned.' This connection between spitting and the transmission of tuberculosis marked the beginning of a decades-long public health campaign." ~ Patrick James O'Connor's, “Spitting Positively Forbidden”: The Anti-Spitting Campaign, 1896-1910

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Legislation and Public Reaction

New York led the charge with its 1896 spitting ban, quickly followed by other cities. Signs went up on public transportation and other spitting hot spots, warning of arrest and a $500 fine.

“In New York, of the 2,513 arrested, there were 2,099 convicted, one of every seven escaping,” writes a 1910 New York Times article.

Two women mop up a spot on the sidewalk where someone expectorated by an anti-spitting sign during a public health campaign in Syracuse, New York, in 1900 ~ Source

By 1910, nearly 150 cities and several states had laws on the books against public spitting. These laws were a necessary reminder of the invisible dangers lurking in every glob of spit.

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As the anti-spitting campaign gained momentum, its influence extended well into the 20th century. The arrival of the 1918 flu epidemic, commonly known as the Spanish Flu, underscored the critical importance of public hygiene measures. With millions falling ill and public health at the forefront of national concern, the lessons from the anti-spitting crusade proved invaluable.

The campaign not only helped curb the spread of tuberculosis but also set a precedent for handling infectious diseases in crowded urban environments. By the time World War I ended, the movement had transformed public behavior and health policies across America.

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