Chesterton on smoking

Last night in La Crosse our local Chesterton Society met and discussed an outstanding article written by the Great GK and published September 11, 1909.  The whole article can be found in The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton: The Illustrated London News, 1908-1910.  He could be called the Prophet of Common Sense.  He references how 8 states in the US had banned smoking completely(and officers could legally arrest someone for it).  Here is how the article is wrapped up:

The thing[smoking] is a typical mild human indulgence, enjoyed by most people and over-enjoyed by a few people, a thing like scent or sweetmeats.   Realize that the reality which we all know it to be, and then measure that mad abyss of disproportion, on the other side of which are the eight States holding up their streets with policemen and treating every man who is carrying a cigarette as if he were carrying a bomb.  Thus all our cranks of culture are leading us back (or onward) into barbarism.  For the essence of barbarism is idolatry; that is the worship of something other than the best reason and justice of the Universe.  Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice.  The Moslems say, "There is no God but God."  The English Moslems, the abstainers, have to learn and remember also that there is no Satan but Satan. 

I can think of many other "Satans" that society has setup in place of the real one.  Trans-fats?  Salt?  Who knows what's next, beer?!  God forbid!