Chapter II: Part 2

"Constant solicitude for the welfare of his people won the sympathy and devotion which enabled this white man, supported by an insignificant army and police, to establish the peaceful occupations of civilization in place of barbarous tyranny and oppression." How thoroughly this "civilizing" process was accomplished may be judged somewhat by turning to the Colonial Office List for 1917, where on page 436 we read: "Sarawak: The principal sources of revenue are the opium, gambling, pawn shops, and arrack, producing:

1908 $483,019
1909 460,416
1910 385,070
1911 420,151
1912 426,867
1913 492,455"

In the Statesman's Year Book for 1916 we find the total revenue for this well-governed little colony as follows, given however in pounds sterling, instead of dollars, as in the above table. Thus:

Revenue--1910 221,284 pounds sterling
1911 159,456
1912 175,967
1913 210,342
1914 208,823

It would seem as if forty-nine years of constant solicitude for the welfare of a people, establishing the peaceful occupations of civilization, might have resulted in something better than a revenue derived from opium, gambling, pawn shops and arrack.

IX

SHANGHAI

In the New York Library there is an interesting little book, about a quarter of an inch thick, and easy reading. It is entitled: "Municipal Ethics: Some Facts and Figures from the Municipal Gazette, 1907-1914. An Examination of the Opium License policy of the Shanghai Municipality. In an Open Letter to the Chairman of the Council, by Arnold Foster, Wuchang. For 42 years Missionary to the Chinese."

Shanghai, being a Treaty Port, is of two parts. The native or Shanghai city, under the control and administration of the Chinese. And the foreign concessions, that part of the city under the control and administration of foreigners. This is generally known as the International Settlement (also called the model settlement), and the Shanghai Municipal Council is the administrative body. Over this part the Chinese have no control. In 1907, when China began her latest fight against the opium evil, she enacted and enforced drastic laws prohibiting opium smoking and opium selling on Chinese soil, but was powerless to enforce these laws on "foreign" soil. In the foreign concessions, the Chinese were able to buy as much opium as they pleased, merely by stepping over an imaginary line, into a portion of the town where the rigid anti-opium laws of China did not apply.

Says Mr. Arnold, in his Open Letter: "It will be seen that the title of the pamphlet, Municipal Ethics, describes a situation which is a complex one. It concerns first the actual attitude of the Shanghai Municipal Council towards the Chinese national movement for the suppression of the use of opium. This, we are assured by successive Chairmen of the Council, has been one of "sincere sympathy," "the greatest sympathy," and more to the same effect. Certainly no one would have guessed this from the facts and figures reproduced in this pamphlet from the columns of the "Municipal Gazette."

"The second element in the ethical situation is the actual attitude of the Council not only towards the Chinese national movement, but also towards its own official assurances, protestations and promises.

"It is on this second branch of the subject before us that I specially desire to focus attention, and for the facts here stated that I would bespeak the most searching examination. The protestations of the Council as to its own virtuous attitude in regard to opium reform in China are made the more emphatic, and also the more open to criticism, by being coupled with some very severe insinuations made at the time, as to the _insincerity_ and _unreliability_ of the Chinese authorities in what they were professing, and in what _they_ were planning to do in the same matter of opium reform. It so happens, as the event proves, that these sneers and insinuations were not only quite uncalled for, but were absolutely and utterly unjust. When a comparison is instituted between (a) 'official pronouncements' made two years ago by the Chinese authorities as to what they then _intended_ to do for the suppression of the opium habit, and (b) the 'actual administrative results' that in the meanwhile have been accomplished, the Chinese have no cause to be ashamed of the verdict of impartial judges. What they have done may not always have been wise, it may sometimes have been very stern, but the outcome has been to awaken the astonishment and admiration of the whole civilized world! When, on the other hand, a comparison is instituted between (a) the fine professions and assurances of the Shanghai Municipal Council made six or seven years ago as to its _own_ attitude towards the 'eradication of the opium evil' and (b) the 'actual administrative results' of the Council's own proceedings, the feelings awakened are of very different order. Here, not to mention any other consideration, two hard facts stare one in the face: First, in October, 1907, there were _eighty-seven_ licensed opium shops in the International Settlement. In May, 1914, there were _six hundred and sixty-three_. In 1907 the _average_ monthly revenue from opium licenses, dens and shops _combined_, was Taels 5,450. In May, 1914, the revenue from licenses and _opium shops alone_ was Taels 10,995. The Council will not dispute these figures."

At the beginning of the anti-opium campaign in 1907, there were 700 dens (for smoking) in the Native City, and 1600 in the International Settlement. The Chinese closed their dens and shops at once. In the Settlement, the dens were not all closed until two years later, and the number of shops in the Settlement increased by leaps and bounds. Table I shows an outline of the Municipal opium-shop profits concurrent with the closing of the opium houses--and subsequently:

_Year_ _Month_ _Dens_ _Shops_ _Monthly revenue,_
_shops only_

1908 Jan. 1436 87 Taels, 338
Oct. 1005 131 623
1909 Jan. 599 166 1,887
Oct. 297 231 2,276
1910 Oct. Closed 306 5,071
1911 Oct. 348 5,415
1912 Nov. 402 5,881
1913 Dec. 560 8,953
1914 March 628 10,188
April 654 10,772

Mr. Arnold quotes part of a speech made by the Chairman of the Municipal Council, in March, 1908. The Chairman says in part: "The advice which we have received from the British Government is, in brief, that we should do more than keep pace with the native authorities, we should be in advance of them, and where possible, encourage them to follow us." It must have been most disheartening to the native authorities, suppressing the opium traffic with the utmost rigor, to see their efforts defied and nullified by the increased opportunities for obtaining opium in that part of Shanghai over which the Chinese have no control. A letter from a Chinese to a London paper, gives the Chinese point of view: "China ... is obliged to submit to the ruthless and heartless manner in which British merchants, under the protection of the Shanghai 'Model Settlement' are exploiting her to the fullest extent of their ability."

There is lots of money in opium, however. The following tables compiled by Mr. Arnold show the comparison between the amount derived from opium licenses as compared with the amount derived from other sorts of licenses.

1913. Wheelbarrows Taels, 38,670
Carts 22,944
Motor cars 12,376
Cargo boats 5,471
Chinese boats 4,798
Steam launches 2,221 Total, 86,480
Opium shops 86,386 Opium, 86,386

Another table shows the licensed institutions in Shanghai representing normal social life (chiefly of the Chinese) as compared with revenue from opium shops:

1913. Tavern Taels, 16,573
Foreign liquor seller 19,483
Chinese wine shop 28,583
" tea shop 9,484
" theater 8,714
" club 3,146
------
Total 85,983
Opium shops 86,386

Treaty Ports are those cities in China, in which the foreign powers have extra-territorial holdings, not subject to Chinese jurisdiction. Shanghai is one of them, the largest and most important. The Statistical Abstract Relating to British India for 1903-4 to 1912-13 shows the exports of British opium into these Treaty Ports.

1903-4 1,610,296 pounds sterling
1904-5 1,504,604
1905-6 1,130,372
1906-7 1,031,065
1907-8 1,215,142
1908-9 2,703,871
1909-10 1,234,432
1910-11 2,203,670
1911-12 3,614,887
1912-13 3,242,902

It was in 1907 that China began her great fight against the opium evil, and enacted stringent laws for its prohibition on Chinese soil. On page 15 of his little book, Mr. Arnold quotes from Commissioner Carl, of Canton: "The 1912 figure (for the importation of foreign opium) is the largest on record since 1895. The great influx of Chinese into the foreign concessions, where the anti-opium smoking regulations cannot be enforced by the Chinese authorities, and where smoking can be indulged in without fear of punishment, no doubt accounts for the unusual increase under foreign opium."

X

INDIA

India is the source and fount of the British opium trade, and it is from Indian opium that the drug is chiefly supplied to the world. As we have said before, it is a government monopoly. Cultivators, who wish to plant poppies, may borrow money from the Government free of interest, the sole condition being that the crop be sold back to the Government again. It is manufactured into opium at the Government factory at Ghazipur, and once a month, the Government holds auctions at Calcutta, by means of which the drug finds its way into the trade channels of the world--illicit and otherwise.[2]

[2] This description of the Opium Department is to be found in
Statistics of British India, Financial Statistics, Vol. II, 8th
Issue, page 159:

OPIUM. The region in which the poppy was cultivated in 1916-17
for the manufacture of "Bengal opium" comprises 32 districts of
the United Provinces of Agra and Ouhd. The whole Department has,
with effect from the 29th September, 1910, been under the control
of one Opium Agent, with headquarters at Ghazipur. At Ghazipur
there is a Government factory where the crude opium is
manufactured into the form in which it passes into consumption.
The cultivation of the poppy and the manufacture of opium are
regulated by Act XIII of 1857, as amended by Act I of 1911, and
are under the general control of the Lieutenant Governor and the
Board of Revenue of the United Provinces, and the immediate
supervision of the Opium Agent at Ghazipur. The possession,
transport, import and export of opium are regulated by rules
framed under the Indian Opium Act. Cultivation is permitted only
under licenses granted under the authority of the Opium Agent.
The area to be cultivated is fixed by the license, and the
cultivator is bound to sell the whole of his production to the
Opium Department at the rate fixed by Government.... Advances, on
which no interest is charged, are given to licensed cultivators
at the time of executing the agreement and from time to time
(though ordinarily no more than two advances are given) until
final delivery. In March, April and May the opium is made over to
the officers of the Department, and weighed and tested, and as
soon as possible afterwards each cultivator's accounts are
adjusted, and the balance due is paid him. After weighment the
opium is forwarded to the Government factory at Ghazipur, where
it is manufactured in 3 forms--(a) opium intended for export to
foreign countries, departmentally known as "provision opium"--(b)
opium intended for consumption in India and Burma, departmentally
known as "excise opium" and (c) medical opium for export to
London. Provision opium is made up in the form of balls or cakes,
each weighing 3.5 lbs., and is packed in chests, each chest
containing forty cakes, weighing 140 1/7 lbs. It is generally of
71 deg. efficiency. Excise opium is made up in cubical packets, each
weighing one seer, 60 of which are packed in a case. It is of
higher consistency than the "provision opium." Medical opium is
made up into cakes weighing 2 lbs. Provision opium is sold by
public auction in Calcutta. A notification is published annually,
generally about the month of June, stating the number of chests
which will be put up for sale in each month of the next calendar
year, and the quantities so notified are not altered without
three months notice. Sales are conducted month by month by the
Bengal Government; 7,000 chests were notified for sale in 1917
for shipment to non-China markets. The number of chests actually
sold was 4,615. In addition to this, 4,500 chests were sold to
the Government of the Straits Settlements, 2,200 to the
Government of Netherland Indies, and 410 to the Government of
Hongkong. The duty levied by Government on each chest may be
taken to be the difference between the average price realized and
the average cost.

The following facts are taken from "Statistics of British India. Financial Statistics, Volume II, Eighth Issue," to be found at the New York Public Library:

AREA UNDER POPPY CULTIVATION

Acreage: 1910-11 362,868
1911-12 200,672
1912-13 178,263
1913-14 144,561
1914-15 164,911
1915-16 167,155
1916-17 204,186

In the hey-day of the China trade, 613,996 acres were under cultivation in the years 1905-6, consequently this is a drop in the extent of acreage. But, as we have said before, the closing of the China market simply means that other outlets must be found, and apparently they are being found, since from 1914 onwards, the acreage devoted to poppy planting is slowly increasing again.

The opium manufactured in the Government factory is of three kinds--provision opium for export; excise opium, for consumption in India, and medical opium, for export to London. It is this latter form of opium which, according to Mr. MacDonald, in his "Trade Politics and Christianity in Africa and the East" is being manufactured into morphia by three British firms, two in Edinburgh and one in London, which morphia the Japanese are buying and smuggling into North China.

The "Statistics of British India" shows the countries into which Indian opium has been exported: we will take the figures for the last five years, which show the number of chests sent out.

_1912-13_ _1913-14_ _1914-15_ _1915-16_ _1916-17_

China 19,575 4,061 1,000 734 500

Straits Settlements 5,098 1,537 755 605 239

United Kingdom 11 115 498 199 0

Mauretius 10 19 23 65 120

Ceylon 50 105 80 65 80

Cochin-China 805 875 2,690 2,035 3,440

Java 3,010 3,265 2,650 1,835 1,965

Other countries 2,815 1,929 3,160 3,248 2,366

Total 31,374 11,906 10,858 8,786 8,710

In some countries we see a falling off, as in China. Cochin-China, the French colony, shows a considerable increase--the little Annamites, Tonquinese, Cambodgians and other inhabitants of this colony of the French Republic being shown what's what. Mauretius, a British Colony five hundred miles off the coast of Madagascar, in the Indian ocean, seems to be coming on. The falling off in shipments to the United Kingdom may possibly have been due to the war and the scarcity of ships. "Other countries" seem to be holding their own. With the end of the war, the increase in ships, and general trade revival, we may yet see compensation for the loss of China. With the increase of drug addicts in the United States, it may be that in time America will no longer be classed under "other countries" but will have a column all to itself.

In another table we find a comparison as to the number of chests of provision or export opium and of excise opium, or that intended for consumption in India. Thus:

_Provision Opium_ _Excise Opium_

1910-11 15,000 chests 8,611 chests
1911-12 14,000 9,126
1912-13 7,000 9,947
1913-14 12,000 8,307
1914-15 10,000 8,943
1915-16 12,000 8,391
1916-17 12,000 8,732

Each chest contains roughly about one hundred and forty pounds.

REVENUE

The revenue of India is derived from various sources, and is classified under eight heads. Thus: for 1916-17.

I. Land
Forest
Tribute from Native States Total L25,124,489
II. Opium 3,160,005
III. Taxation:
1. Salt
2. Stamps
3. Excise
4. Customs
5. Provincial rates
6. Income tax
7. Registration 32,822,976
IV. Debt Services 1,136,504
V. Civil Services 2,364,985
VI. Military Services 1,575,946
VII. Commercial:
1. Post
2. Telegraph
3. Railways
4. Irrigation 51,393,566
VIII. Miscellaneous Receipts 1,221,497
Grand total L118,799,968

Out of these eight classifications, opium comes fourth on the list.

But in addition to the direct opium revenue, we must add another item, Excise, which is found under the third heading, taxation. In the "India Office List for 1918" we find "Excise" explained as follows: Page 383: "Excise and Customs: Excise duties in India are levied with the two fold object of raising revenue and restricting the use of intoxicants and narcotics." In the same book, on page 385, we also read: "Excise and Customs Revenues: The total of the excise and customs revenues on liquors and drugs in 1915-16 was in round figures ten million pounds. This total gives an average of rather more than ninepence a head on the whole population of British India as the revenue charge on drink and drugs during the year."

These excise duties are collected on spirits, beer, opium and intoxicating drugs, such as ganja, charas, and bhang, all forms or preparations of Indian hemp (Cannabis Indica), known in some countries as hashish. In 1917-18 there were 17,369 drug shops throughout India. The excise duties collected from these sources was pretty evenly distributed. Excise revenue for a period of years is as follows:

_Excise_ _Opium_ _Total Revenue_

1907-8 L6,214,210 L5,244,986 L88,670,329
1908-9 6,389,628 5,884,788 86,074,624
1909-10 6,537,854 5,534,683 91,130,296
1910-11 7,030,314 7,521,962 97,470,114
1911-12 7,609,753 5,961,278 100,580,799
1912-13 8,277,919 5,124,592 106,254,327
1913-14 8,894,300 1,624,878 105,220,777
1914-15 8,856,881 1,572,218 101,534,375
1915-16 8,632,209 1,913,514 104,704,041
1916-17 9,215,899 3,160,005 118,799,968

The "Statistics of British India for 1918" has this to say on the subject of Excise (page 218): "Revenue: During the ten years ending with 1916-17 the net receipts from Excise duties increased ... at the rate of 47 per cent. The receipts from opium (consumed in India, not exported) being at the rate of 44 per cent. The net receipts from liquors and from drugs other than opium ... the increase at the rate of 48 per cent. This large increase is due not merely to the expansion of consumption, but also to the imposition of progressively higher rates of duty and the increasingly extensive control of the excise administration. The revenue from drugs, (excluding opium) has risen in ten years ... the increase being at the rate of 67 per cent."

A national psychology that can review these figures with complacency, satisfaction and pride is not akin to American psychology. A nation that can subjugate 300,000,000 helpless people, and then turn them into drug addicts--for the sake of revenue--is a nation which commits a cold-blooded atrocity unparalleled by any atrocities committed in the rage and heat of war. The Blue Book shows no horror at these figures. Complacent approval greets the increase of 44 per cent of opium consumption, and the increase of 67 per cent in the use of other habit-forming drugs. Approval, and a shrewd appreciation of the possibilities for more revenue from "progressively higher rates of duty," knowing well that drug addicts will sell soul and body in order to procure their daily supply.

XI

TURKEY AND PERSIA

Next to India, the greatest two opium-producing countries in the world are Turkey and Persia. The Statesman's Year Book for 1918 has this to say about it. On page 1334: "The principal exports from Turkey into the United Kingdom ... in two years were:

_1915_ _1916_

Barley L156,766 L49,413
Raisins 127,014 34,003
Dried fruit 375,519 540,633
Wool 36,719 143,216
Tobacco 149,100 3,711
Opium 262,293 48,090"

These are the only articles mentioned in this list of chief exports. There are others, doubtless, but the Statesman's Year Book is a condensed and compact little volume, dealing only with the principal things exported. In 1915 we therefore notice that the opium export was second on the list, being exceeded by but one other, dried fruit. In 1916, the third year of the war, the opium export is decidedly less, as are all the other articles exported, except dried fruit and wool--which were articles probably more vital to the United Kingdom at that time even than opium.

PERSIA

The same authority, the Statesman's Year Book for 1918, gives a table on page 1162, showing the value of the chief exports from Persia. The values are given in thousands of kran, sixty kran equaling one pound sterling.

_1914-15_ _1915-16_

Opium 41,446 kran 41,732 kran

Since the war, both Turkey and Persia are more or less under control of the British Empire, which gives Great Britain virtual control of the world's output of opium. With this monopoly of the opium-producing countries, and with a million or so square miles added to her immense colonial Empire, one wonders what use Great Britain will make of the mandatory powers she has assumed over the lives and welfare of all these subject peoples! Will she find these helpless millions ready for her opium trade? Will she establish opium shops, and opium divans, and reap half the costs of upkeep of these newly acquired states by means of this shameful traffic?

XII

MAURETIUS

Another British colony is Mauretius, acquired by conquest in 1810, and formally ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. This island is in the Indian Ocean, 500 miles east of Madagascar, with an area of about 720 square miles. The population is about 377,000, of which number 258,000 are Indian, and 3,000 Chinese. Opium appears to be sold in the colony, since the Blue Book mentions that licenses are required for opium sellers. As far as we can discover, by perusal of these Government Reports, the sale of opium is not conducted by the Government itself, as in India, the Straits Settlements, Hongkong, etc., but is carried on by private dealers who obtain licenses before they can open opium shops. A part of the revenue, however, is derived from opium; thus, according to the Blue Book for the Colony of Mauretius for 1915, page V 73, we read that the imports of opium for the year amounted to 1,353 kilos, with a duty collected of 54,126 rupees. The Blue Book for 1916 shows a gratifying increase. Thus, the import of crude opium from India amounted to 5,690 kilos, with a duty collected of 227,628 rupees. (See page V 64.)

_1915_ _1916_
Imports of opium 1,353 kilos 5,690 kilos
Duty on opium 54,126 rupees 7,628 rupees

Total duty on all imports 3,765,677 rupees 4,143,085 rupees

Statistics for British India, Eighth Issue, gives these figures:

OPIUM EXPORTED TO MAURETIUS

1912-13 10 chests
1913-14 19 "
1914-15 23 "
1915-16 65 "
1916-17 120 "

This is a poor little colony, but has its possibilities. The consumption of opium appears to be increasing steadily in a most satisfactory manner. Congratulations all round.

XIII

BRITISH NORTH BORNEO

British North Borneo occupies the northern part of the island of Borneo. Area, about 31,000 square miles, with a coast line of over 900 miles. Population (1911 census), 208,000, consisting mainly of Mohammedan settlers on the coast and aboriginal tribes inland. The Europeans numbered 355; Chinese 26,000; Malays, 1,612; East Indians about 5,000 and Filipinos 5,700. The number of natives cannot be more than approximately estimated, but is placed at about 170,000. The territory is under the jurisdiction of the British North Borneo Company, being held under grants from the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu (Royal Charter in 1881).

Like many other British colonies, opium is depended upon for part of the revenue. The Statesman's Year Book for 1916 observes on page 107: "Sources of revenue: Opium, birds' nests, court fees, stamp duty, licenses, import and export duties, royalties, land sales, etc. No public debt."

In this frank manner, our attention is called to opium, which appears first on the list of sources of revenue.

Going over the files of the Government reports, we will begin with the "Supplement to the Official Gazette for British North Borneo. Administration Report for the Year 1910." Published June 1, 1911. On page 3 we read: "Customs and Trade: The import and export trade of the state shows a healthy expansion.... It is interesting to note that imports show an increase at every station. Out of the 47 headings of Tariff, there are only 7 which show decreases.... The largest increases appear under cloth, $147,106; opium, $132,692, and iron ware, $118,620.... The general all round increases ... are of course due to the demand for supplies of all kinds in connection with the opening of rubber estates."

The Supplement to the Official Gazette, Report for 1912 (published in December, 1913) is also a report of general prosperity. Page 4: "Trade: The volume of trade for the year 1912 was $11,139,122, giving an increase over 1911 of 18 per cent.... Imports: As in 1911, all stations show an increase of imports. Out of 47 headings, 33 show increases, 12 show decreases, and 2 remain stationary. Increases: There was an increase under rice, flour and grain ... the increase under other headings include sundries, opium, machinery, etc."

The next Government Report is not so happy. Opium imports show no "healthy expansion." Thus, the Supplement to the Official Gazette, Report for 1913 (published 1 February, 1915) says on page 4: "Other decreases in imports were opium, $109,180. The decrease in opium was due to the abolition of the Opium Farm, which also held the Labuan Farm, and opium was therefore no longer imported from Labuan for use in the West Coast and the Interior."

Still more bad news as to opium, in the report for 1914, (published 1 February, 1916). All imports drop. Page 4 records "Decrease in imports.... Railway and telegraph material, rice, flour, grain and opium." In this year the opium imports only amount to $58,464. This general falling off in all imports may have been due to the war. But the opium situation was apparently growing serious. On page 17 of this same report we read that "Thirty-two ordinances were passed by the Council and became laws during the year. Among them the Opium and Chandu."

The brevity and meagerness of these official reports often leave one puzzled as to their meaning. The Supplement to the Official Gazette for 1915 (published October, 1916), shows still more discouraging news as to opium. Imports that year amounted to only $31,299. But, in spite of this discouragement, hope still remains. The same report shows optimism under the head of Excise. "Excise: $627,225, against $467,078, an increase in the net revenue of $160,147, due to Government taking over the sole control of the sale of chandu (smoking opium) and the collection of other Excise duties, formerly farmed."

This explains the Ordinance passed by the Council the preceding year, regarding Opium and Chandu. Since the Government has taken over "sole control of the sale of chandu" and will collect the excise duties systematically and thoroughly, we may still hope for some future report which will show once more a "healthy expansion" in the opium revenue.

XIV

BRITISH GUIANA

Situated in South America. Area, 89,480 square miles. Population at census of 1911, excluding aborigines in the unfrequented parts of the colony, 296,000. The Statesman's Year Book, which gives us these brief facts, has very little to say about this British colony in our Western Hemisphere, and gives no dates or information as to how and when it was acquired. The Government reports are also meager and unsatisfactory, and there is no wealth of detail as to exports and imports. The country, however, is rich in gold, mining having commenced in 1886. Diamonds have also been discovered.

The chief sources of revenue, however, are customs, excise and licenses. With the word "excise" we have come to have unpleasant associations. From "The Statistical Abstract for British Self-Governing Dominions, Colonies, Possessions and Protectorates" we find a table showing the imports of opium into the various countries under British rule. The opium imports into British Guiana are as follows:

1910 1,251 pounds sterling
1911 1,270
1912 2,474
1913 4,452
1914 5,455
1915 4,481

These figures would seem to indicate that even on the Western Hemisphere the taste for opium may be cultivated. It need not necessarily be confined to the Oriental peoples. The population of much of South America is a mixed lot, the result of mixed breeding between Spanish settlers, Indians, native tribes of all sorts. All this jumble, including the aborigines referred to, might, with a little teaching become profitable customers of the Opium Monopoly. Time and a little effort, given this fertile field, ought to produce a "healthy expansion" in the opium trade.

And that this insidious habit is indeed taking hold, in at least one more country in South America, one may infer from the following paragraph which appeared in the New York Times, 4 October, 1919:

DRUG EVIL IN ARGENTINA

Buenos Aires Opens Fight on Use of Narcotics

The city government of Buenos Aires, Argentina, has begun a
determined fight to wipe out the drug evil by the enactment of
stringent laws governing the sale of narcotics. This step was taken
after an investigation by the authorities had disclosed that not
only was the narcotic habit strong among the poor, but that it was
spreading throughout virtually every class in the city.

Until the passage of the laws druggists were permitted to sell
cocaine, morphine and opium to any purchaser. The new laws forbid
the sale of these drugs except in filling prescriptions prepared by
registered physicians. The city also has established dispensaries
for the treatment of drug addicts.

XV

HISTORY OF THE OPIUM TRADE IN CHINA

In a vague way, we are familiar with the "opium evil" in China, and some of us have hazy ideas as to how it came about. The China Year Book for 1916 has this to say on the subject: "The poppy has been known in China for 12 centuries, and its medicinal use for 9 centuries.... It was not until the middle of the 17th century that the practice of mixing opium with tobacco for smoking purposes was introduced into China. This habit was indulged in by the Dutch in Java, and by them taken to Formosa, whence it spread to Amoy and the mainland generally. There is no record to show when opium was first smoked by itself, but it is thought to have originated about the end of the 18th century. Foreign opium was first introduced by the Portuguese from Goa at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1729, when the foreign import was 200 chests, the Emperor Yung Ching issued the first anti-opium edict, enacting severe penalties on the sale of opium and the opening of opium-smoking divans. The importation, however, continued to increase, and by 1790 it amounted to over 4,000 chests annually. In 1796 opium smoking was again prohibited, and in 1800 the importation of foreign opium was again declared illegal. Opium was now contraband, but the fact had no effect on the quantity introduced into the country, which rose to 5,000 chests in 1820; 16,000 chests in 1830; 20,000 chests in 1838, and 70,000 chests in 1858."

The China Year Book makes no mention of the traders who carried these chests of opium into China. The opium came from India, however, and the increase in importation corresponds with the British occupation of India, and the golden days of the East India Company. "Opium was now contraband, but that fact had no effect on the quantity introduced into the country,"--smuggled in wholesale by the enterprising British traders.

China was powerless to protect herself from this menace, either by protests or prohibition. And as more and more of the drug was smuggled in, and more and more of the people became victims of the habit, the Chinese finally had a tea-party, very much like our Boston Tea Party, but less successful in outcome. In 1839, in spite of the fact that opium smoking is an easy habit to acquire and had been extensively encouraged, the British traders found themselves with 20,000 chests of unsold opium on their store-ships, just below Canton. The Chinese had repeatedly appealed to the British Government to stop these imports, but the British Government had turned a persistently deaf ear. Therefore the Emperor determined to deal with the matter on his own account. He sent a powerful official named Lin to attend to it, and Lin had a sort of Boston Tea Party, as we have said, and destroyed some twenty thousand chests of opium in a very drastic way. Mr. H. Wells Williams describes it thus: "The opium was destroyed in the most thorough manner, by mixing it in parcels of 200 chests, in trenches, with lime and salt water, and then drawing off the contents into an adjacent creek at low tide."

After this atrocity, followed the first Opium War, when British ships sailed up the river, seized port after port, and bombarded and took Canton. Her ships sailed up the Yangtsze, and captured the tribute junks going up the Grand Canal with revenue to Peking, thus stopping a great part of China's income. Peace was concluded in 1843, and Great Britain came out well. She recompensed herself by taking the island of Hongkong; an indemnity of 21 million dollars, and Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai were opened up as "treaty ports"--for the importation of opium and the "open-door" in general.

Mr. Wells, in his "Middle Kingdom" describes the origin of this first war with England: "This war was extraordinary in its origin as growing chiefly out of a commercial misunderstanding; remarkable in its course as being waged between strength and weakness, conscious superiority and ignorant pride; melancholy in its end as forcing the weaker to pay for opium within its borders against all its laws, thus paralyzing the little moral power its feeble government could exert to protect its subjects.... It was a turning point in the national life of the Chinese race, but the compulsory payment of six million dollars for the opium destroyed has left a stigma upon the English name."

He also says, "The conflict was now fairly begun; its issue between the parties so unequally matched--one having almost nothing but the right on its side, the other assisted by every material and physical advantage--could easily be foreseen" and again, after speaking of it as being unjust and immoral, he concludes "Great Britain, the first Christian power, really waged this war against the pagan monarch who had only endeavored to put down a vice harmful to his people. The war was looked upon in this light by the Chinese; it will always be so looked upon by the candid historian, and known as the Opium War."

Within fifteen years after this first war, there was another one, and again Great Britain came off victorious. China had to pay another indemnity, three million dollars, and five more treaty ports were opened up. By the terms of the Treaty of Tientsin, the sale of opium in China was legalized in 1858.

From a small pamphlet, "Opium: England's Coercive Policy and Its Disastrous Results in China and India" by the Rev. John Liggins, we find the following: "As a specimen of how both wars were carried on, we quote the following from an English writer on the bombardment of Canton: 'Field pieces loaded with grape were planted at the end of long, narrow streets crowded with innocent men, women and children, to mow them down like grass till the gutters flowed with their blood.'" In one scene of carnage, the _Times_ correspondent recorded that half an army of 10,000 men were in ten minutes destroyed by the sword, or forced into the broad river. "The Morning Herald" asserted that "a more horrible or revolting crime than this bombardment of Canton has never been committed in the worst ages of barbaric darkness."

Naturally, therefore, after the termination of these two wars, China gave up the struggle. She had fought valiantly to protect her people from opium, but the resources of a Christian nation were too much for her. Seeing therefore that the opium trade was to be forced upon her, and that her people were doomed to degradation, she decided to plant poppies herself. There should be competition at least, and the money should not all be drained out of the country. Thus it came about that after 1858 extensive tracts of land were given over to poppy production. Whole provinces or parts of provinces, ceased to grow grain and other necessities, and diverted their rich river bottoms to the raising of opium. Chinese opium, however, never supplanted Indian opium, being inferior to that raised in the rich valley of the Ganges. The country merely had double quantities of the drug, used straight or blended, to suit the purse or taste of the consumer.

Then, in 1906, the incredible happened. After over a hundred years of steady demoralization, with half her population opium addicts, or worse still, making enormous profits out of the trade, China determined to give up opium. In all history, no nation has ever set itself such a gigantic task, with such a gigantic handicap. China, a country of immense distances, with scant means of communication; with no common language, a land where only the scholars can read and write, suddenly decided to free herself from this vice. The Emperor issued an edict saying that in ten years' time all opium traffic must cease, and an arrangement was made with Great Britain whereby this might be accomplished. To the honor of America be it said that we assisted China in this resolution. We agreed to see her through.

A bargain was then made between China and Great Britain, in 1907, China agreeing to diminish poppy cultivation year by year for a period of ten years, and Great Britain agreeing to a proportional decrease in the imports of Indian opium. A three years' test was first agreed to, a trial of China's sincerity and ability, for Great Britain feared that this was but a ruse to cut off Indian opium, while leaving China's opium alone in the field. At the end of three years, however, China had proved her ability to cope with the situation. Thus, for a period of ten years, both countries have lived up to their bargain, the amount of native and foreign opium declining steadily in a decreasing scale. April 1, 1917, saw the end of the accomplishment.

China's part was most difficult. In the remote, interior provinces, poppies were grown surreptitiously, connived at by corrupt officials who made money from the crops. However, drastic laws were enacted and severe penalties imposed upon those who broke them. If poppy cultivation could not be stopped, England would not hold to her end of the bargain. Not only was there a nation of addicts to deal with, but these could obtain copious supplies of opium from the foreign concessions, over which the Chinese had no control. We shall show, in another article, to what extent this was carried on. Yet somehow, in some manner, the impossible happened. Year by year, little by little, one province after another was freed from poppy cultivation, until in 1917, China was practically free from the native-grown drug, and foreign importation had practically ended.

In this manner, first by large smuggling, then by two opium wars, was China drugged with opium. And in this manner, and to this extent, has she succeeded in freeing herself from the curse. But in one way, she is not free. She has no control over the extra-territorial holdings of European powers, for in each treaty port are the foreign concessions already mentioned--German, Austrian, British, French, Russian. And in these concessions, opium may be procured. Simply by crossing an imaginary line, in such cities as Shanghai and Hongkong, can the Chinese buy as much opium as they choose. China will never be rid of this menace till she is rid of these extraterritorial holdings. Opium shops, licensed by foreign governments, are always ready to supply her people with the forbidden drug.

We say that the China market is closed. So it is, in one way. But the British Opium Monopoly is not ended. The year 1917 saw a tremendous blow dealt to the British opium dealers, but other markets will be found. There are other countries than China whose inhabitants can be taught this vice. The object of this discussion is to consider these other countries, and to see to what extent the world is menaced by this possibility.

XVI

CONCLUSION

There are many people who advocate the use of opium, and who defend the policy of the Opium Monopoly. They argue that it is not harmful--if taken in moderation. They even assert that it is no more objectionable than alcohol or tobacco. Leaving out of account, therefore, the consensus of opinion of the medical profession as to the evils of habit-forming drugs, and accepting the theory that opium is harmless, we should then like to ask why the use of opium is so carefully restricted to the peoples of subject states, who have no voice in their own affairs? Why should the benefits of opium be confined to Oriental races, and why should not the white race be given the same opportunities for indulgence? Is there any reason for this discrimination? As a source of revenue, it certainly has advantages. Yet curiously enough, those European countries which derive much profit through the sale of opium to their subject races, seem to have an aversion to introducing it to their people at home. And there is a further coincidence in the fact that none of the self-governing colonies of European countries--Australia, New Zealand and Canada--permit this traffic. It appears to be only the subject peoples, whose well-being has become the White Man's Burden, who receive the blessings of this peculiar form of altruism. Is it because the white race is worth preserving, worth protecting, and because subject nations are fair game for exploitation of any kind?

Another argument advanced by advocates of Government opium is that the Oriental peoples are "different"--that opium does them no harm. Every writer on the subject of opium in China, produces evidence to show the shocking results upon that country, during the hey-day of the deluge. The complete moral degradation, and economic ruin of thousands of helpless individuals. Nor do we think the medical profession would agree with this assumption that opium is harmless to Orientals, because they are "different." Their only real difference lies in their helplessness to protect themselves from foreign aggression.

Another argument advanced by the upholders of the Monopoly is that the Orientals have always been users of opium, that they like it, it suits them, it would be unfair to deprive them of it. We have seen to what extent the Chinese liked it, and how it was forced upon them by two wars. Not until they were completely crushed, and had to accept the terms of the conquerer, did they submit. It can hardly, therefore, be called a vice indigenous to the Chinese. Japan is another Oriental nation that disproves this argument. As we have said before, there are no opium shops in Japan, and the sale of opium is not conducted by the Japanese Government. On the contrary, the Japanese have the same fear of this drug that a European nation has, and exercises the same precautions to protect its people. But, as we have said before, Japan is the only Oriental nation that has not been subjugated by a European nation, and therefore has never had opium thrust upon her. She is the only country in the Far East that has managed to preserve her sovereignty, and has never been subject to certain blighting influences of European culture.

Another exception to this assumption that the Orientals cannot do without opium lies in the Philippines. When America acquired those islands some twenty years ago, our first act was to eliminate the opium traffic, which had been established there by our predecessors. It had been in existence for decades, but we immediately set about to abolish it. Root and branch we did away with it, and shed no crocodile tears as to the "hardship" this would be to the people who had come under our protection. We wished no revenue coming from such a source as this. Yet we might have cut in half the cost of our Philippine budget had we followed the example set by other nations. We have seen that certain British colonies, Hongkong and the Straits Settlements, for example, derive from one-third to one-half of their upkeep expenses from this traffic. But we refrained from treating our Filipinos in this manner. We are called sentimentalists out in the East--at such times as we are not called money-getters. To-day, the Philippines are very nearly ready for self-government. Would they have been so nearly ready had we continued to drug them as they had been drugged before we took possession? Drugged peoples are usually docile and submissive--perhaps that is the secret of much of the successful colonizing, about which we hear so much.

But let us leave aside the question of the Orientals, and whether or no opium is good for them. We recognize quite clearly that it is not good for ourselves, for Americans. We recognize that fact quite as clearly as England realizes that it is not good for the inhabitants of the British Isles. Quite as clearly as France, while setting up opium shops in her colony of Indo-China, refuses to establish them in Paris or Marseilles. America is unique in the fact that although we have colonial possessions, we do not have a double standard of morality. We attempt to throw around our colonies the same safeguards that we throw around ourselves at home. But the question arises, how successful are we in protecting ourselves at home? Not particularly so, according to the daily press.

How great the danger to ourselves was recognized some thirty-seven years ago by an Episcopal missionary to China, the Rev. John Liggins. In 1882 he published a small book, already referred to, entitled: "England's Coercive Opium Policy and Its Disastrous Results in China and India." The preface to this unheeded warning runs thus. "Our aim in this sketch is to present, as briefly as possible, the most important facts and testimonies concerning a traffic which is as disgraceful to England as it is ruinous to China and hurtful to India.... It is also of the highest importance that the people throughout our wide domain should be aroused concerning the new, fascinating and deadly foe which has entered our country through the Golden Gate, and which already numbers its victims by the thousands, and will soon do so by the tens of thousands."

The Rev. Mr. Liggins saw it coming--that danger which is almost ready to overwhelm us to-day. He recognized clearly that the Opium Monopoly of that great nation which rules nearly one-third of the world--the British Empire--would in time reach further and further afield for new victims. It is too lucrative a trade to be confined to only a few countries. Markets must not only be created and legalized in subject states, but new ones added in outside countries, through smuggling. All too fatally easy of accomplishment, and so profitable, financially, as to be worth any risk and effort. The prediction as to our own danger, made in 1882, seems to be abundantly realized.

The number of drug addicts in America to-day are fairly startling. The number is variously estimated in New York City alone as from ten thousand to one hundred thousand. It is said that there may be a million in the country. Yet these figures are the merest guesswork, by no means substantiated. Certain it is that the campaign of the New York Health Department has uncovered thousands of them, and any other city that chose to do so, could produce facts equally startling.

The laws on our statute books concerning the prescription of narcotic drugs are powerless to deal with the situation. It is shooting into the air to try to "regulate" this condition. It is as thoroughly well "regulated" as it can ever be by the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act, a Federal Law whose enforcement is in the hands of the Internal Revenue Department. By the provisions of this Act, every pound of opium or its derivatives that comes into this country, legitimately, is accounted for, and its distribution, both wholesale and retail, made a matter of record. Thus, the Board of Trade returns show the amount imported by the big wholesale drug houses. These must account for their sales to the retail drug stores, and the amounts must tally. The drug stores can only sell narcotic drugs on a physician's prescription, and the prescriptions are kept on file, and the quantity sold must correspond to the quantity called for by these prescriptions, as well as to the amount obtained from the wholesale drug house. In prescribing narcotics, the physician is obliged to write his prescription in triplicate--one copy for his own protection, one copy for the local druggist, and one copy to be filed with the health department. Nor is he allowed to prescribe narcotics for an addict without decreasing the dosage. His prescription cannot call for thirty grains of morphia day after day--it must show, in a chronic case of this kind, a daily diminution of the amount prescribed, thus indicating a desire to get the patient off the drug, eventually. All these records are kept on file, open to inspection whenever an accounting is demanded, consequently any leak can be instantly accounted for. This Harrison Act is as comprehensive and as nearly perfect as possible, yet it does not cover the situation. By this means, violations can be detected, whether on the part of an unscrupulous physician or druggist, or even the wholesale house, but these violations are only occasional. The root of the evil remains untouched.

At one time, it was believed that carelessness on the part of the physician was chiefly responsible for creating drug addicts, but the recent campaign against violators of the Harrison Act seems to have completely exonerated him of this charge. For one patient who becomes a drug addict while under a doctor's care, through the accidental misuse of morphia, there are a hundred who form the habit through other ways. It is not the occasional, accidental victim, given morphia for the relief of pain, which is creating our thousands of drug users. It is not the occasional unscrupulous physician who is responsible. If this was all, we could easily cope with these unwitting abuses, or even deliberate instances of misuse. But the question goes deeper than this.

The Opium Monopoly was not established for any humane or altruistic purpose. It was not established to provide the medical profession with a drug for the relief of pain, to ease the agony of the injured and wounded, or to calm the last days of those dying with an incurable disease. This, which may be called the legitimate use of opium, is not the object of the Opium Monopoly. Used only in this manner, there would be no money in it. It is only when opium is produced in quantities far in excess of the legitimate needs of the world that it becomes worth while--to the Opium Monopoly. That Monopoly was established not to relieve pain and suffering, but with the deliberate intention of creating pain and suffering, by creating drug victims by the thousand. It is these hundreds of thousands of customers that are profitable. The menace to America lies in the large amounts of opium which are smuggled into the country for this purpose. Boys and girls of sixteen and seventeen first acquire this habit through curiosity, through association with what they call "bad company," peddlers who first offer it free, as a gift, well knowing that after a few doses the fatal habit will be formed. Where do these vendors obtain their supplies?

The daily papers often contain suggestive paragraphs. Thus the "New York Times," under date of February 28, 1919: "Seize Opium in Schenectady. Opium, valued by Federal officials at $10,000 was seized in Schenectady, and four Chinamen were arrested in a raid on Chinese places of business on Centre street to-day. The Federal officials expressed the belief that opium had been smuggled, and that Schenectady is the distributing point for this part of the State."

An item in the "Seattle Union Record," of June 24, 1919, gives us cause for further consideration.

BRITISH DRUG SHIP HELD BY UNITED STATES

FINE OF $49,265 ASSESSED FOR BRINGING "DOPE" TO AMERICA

LINER ALLOWED TO MOVE UNDER BOND

NO ARRESTS MADE, THOUGH BOOZE IS FOUND ABOARD

No arrests were made up to Tuesday noon in connection with the
enormous seizure of opium, cocaine and liquor on the Blue Funnel
liner Cyclops, although the investigation is being continued by
federal officials. The ship has been seized and a fine of $49,265
has been assessed against her for having drugs not listed in the
ship's manifest.

United States District Attorney Robert C. Saunders filed a libel
Monday night against the Cyclops, the boat being seized later by
the customs service. Bond was fixed at $100,000, or twice the fine.
The Fidelity Surety Company filed the bond Monday. The ship was
released Tuesday morning.

A civil libel suit may be filed against Capt. W. Duncan, holding
him responsible for the liquor found on the ship. Captain Duncan,
questioned Monday by customs officials, claimed to know nothing
about the contraband.

The result of Monday's checking of the opium and cocaine showed
that the seizure amounted to 778 tins of opium, 670 ounces of
cocaine and 16 ounces of morphine.