Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 September 1886 — Opium in the United States. [ARTICLE]

Opium in the United States.

Like all other articles of trade, opium has shown a wide variety of quotations. During the rebellion it rose from $t a pound to S2O, and when the inevitable shrinkage took place a number of operators were ruined. The market has gradually declined until the present low figure, and this decline has led to a drop in morphia. The American population, for instance, has hardly doubled since the opening of the late war, but the importation of opium has increased nearly seven-fold during this interval. Taking the year 1860, the annual report, made up within six months of that date, was 71,739 pounds. Last year, however, it was 471,276 pounds, or more than 2 5 tons, this being an increase over the previous year of sixty-nine tons. Truly one may ask whither we are drifting.— Kochester Chronicle.