Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1912 — The FIGHT AGAINST the OPIUM EVIL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The FIGHT AGAINST the OPIUM EVIL

5 HE past few montbs have witChina that are fraught with W X« grave import for the people 3?- : - JrSsß of the most populous country // ** on the globe. At the same me tbere has been working t° a culmtoation another evolution in public affairs that holds almost as much signifi-ef>-SS3 cance for the inhabitants of ■ ■ the Orient as does the upheaval of the machinery of government. This late development Is a crusade to free the Chinese, and, incidentallly, other peoples of ) the world, from the bondage of the opium habit which has for so many years been a drag upon their Intellectual and- material progress. z We, as Americans, must feel an especial pride and Interest in this breaking of the grip of the deadliest drug habit because it has been brought about largely through the efforts of the United States. Or, in other words. Uncle Sam set the ball rolling. At

- ■ —■' ■. ■- first the movement simply had as its object the banishment of opium from China, . but gradually the scope of the anti-opium “missionary work” expanded until it embraced the whole world —every section of the globe where the use of opium has become a habit—and Anally within the past few months the fight against the evil has been expanded in scope until it embraces prohibitive or restrictive action not only against opium, but also against morphine, cocaine, and, In short, all habitforming drugs. -rThe fight against the opium evil, with Uncle Sam as the chief aggressor, has been going on steadily for some years past but it is only now on the eve of complete success that it hits come to attract attention from all classes of the community. From the time when. Chinese began to settle in the United States, bringing with them, many of them, their love of opium smoking It was realized that the evil was one the menace of which would sooner or later be brought home to our people—particularly those residing on the Pacific slope and in the western section of the country where the bulk of the Mongolians settled. However, it was only after Uncle Sam came into possession of the Philippines, following the Spanish-American war. that our publicmen and government officials were thoroughly . aroused to the necessity of grappling with the problem. In the Philippines our people found great numbers of Chinese who were confirmed opium smokers, and, worse yet, they were rapidly teaching the destructive habit to the natives of the islands. There was much agitation of the subject both in the Philippines and here in the United States and the upshot of the matter was that the congress of the United Spates passed laws prohibiting the importation of opium into the Philippines except for medicinal purposes. From that moment there was a marked Improvement of conditions. The example of Uncle Sam’s action and the complete success which attended it, awakened China to her own need and gave hope of a solution. The progressive men of China were deeply moved by the spectacle of another nation* (and one that had always been traditionally friendly to China) combating at the ▼ety doors of the Orient with an evil that was realized by all thinking men to be sap ping the life blood of a large share of Asia’s population. The result was a strong antiopium movement in China and out of this “ grew a direct appeal to then President Roosevelt from representatives of missionary societies in the Fax East and from commercial organizations and institutions in- the United States. It was the plea of these various interests that the United States government, considering its historical attitude in regard to the opium traffic in the Orient, should take theinitiative in assisting China to secure the prohibition of-that traffic. . This was In the year 1904, but it was a couple of years later that definite plans were made for an international concert of action In the matter. In that year Bishop Charles H. Brent of the Philippines, who was, naturIn a position to appreciate the havoc wrought by opium, wrote to President Roosevelt appealing to him “to promote some movement that would gather tn its embrace representatives from all the countries where the traffic In and the use of opium is a matter of moment.” Thereupon President Roosevelt had his secretary of state, Mr. EHhu Root, Open up correspondence with all the powers

having possessions in the Far East to ascertain if it would not be possible to form a distinguished international commission that would study the opium problem as it then appeared in the quarter of the globe where it. had proven the greatest menace, and would,

further, report the wisest measures for bettering the situation. ~ It required a year and a half of letter writing, back and forth, before the governments concerned could be induced to meet each other on a common basis.. In explanation of this reluctance It may be pointed out that a number of the countries, notably Great Britain, and her colonies, France, Holland and Siam, derive large revenues from the opium traffic, and in some instances opium production is a government monopoly. Should the traffic in opium be virtually abolished, as it is likely to be in time, these various powers stand to lose revenue to the enormous aggregate of one hundred million dollars a year. No wonder they hesitated. However, in the end the common cause of humanity triumphed and it was arranged that an international opium commission should be created. This commission, which took up its work at the city of Shanghai, China, early in the year 1909, discussed all phases of the moral, eco-

nomic, scientific and political aspects of the opium problem, not only as existing in the Far East but throughout the world. ~The outcome of the gathering was the unanimous adoption of a series of recommendations in which the delegates and experts assembled, strongly urged that their respective countries take action in three matters, namely an overhauling by each nation of its own regulations with reference to the opium traffic; the adoption of measures for the suppression of opium smoking, anti, finally, the enforcement of restrictions upon the manufacture and sale of morphine. The experts of the different nations having agreed upon the measures that ought to be taken to curb the evil, it was up to the UnitedStates, she having Inaugurated the project, to make the next move in the matter. This she did With no loss of time. Our officials wrote to the various powers suggesting that they get together and take action on the recommendations that, had come from Shang-

hal. In other words, it was suggested that as a sequel to the earlier effort there should now be International co-operation for the placing of the production and traffic in opium under international law. The culmination of the long fight is now in sight. An international conference held recently at The Hague, the capital of the Netherlands, to arrange for measures that will put up the bars against upturn and other habit-forming drugs all over the world. Many of the men who attended the Shanghai conference were appointed by their respective governments to represent them at The Hague. The power and significance of the two gatherings was vastly different, however. At the Shanghai conference those in attendance could only advise and • recommend- At The Hague conference the delegates were empowered by their respective governments to agree upon definite measures. After prolonged seesions/ measures were decided upon which,, it is expected, will fully carry out and put into effect the objects of the conference. These measures will be reported to the various governments represented, to be followed by legislative action on the part of their law-making bodies putting into execution the regulations agreed upon. This is supposedly a mere matter of routine, as all the powers have given, their promise. Foremost of the regulations agreed upon ire those for uniform national laws and regulations to control the production, manufacture and distribution of opium and its derivatives. Almost as important will be the regulation by the universal postal union of the transmission of opium through the mails. Going yet further in the direction of complete control will be the restrictions that are to be placed upon the cultivation of the poppy, from which opium is derived, and limiting the number of ports through which the drug may be shipped by opium-producing countries. There was adopted also uniform marks of identification for packages containing opium in international transit. i_ The nations that are interested in this world-wide crusade and were represented at the conference include the United States, China, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia and Siam. Some of the other powers, notably Austria-Hungary, were not directly represented because they are not much affected by the opium evil, but they have given assurance that they will abide by the regulations which have been agreed upon by the conference. When the international conference was first proposed, China showed her intense interest by appointing a strong delej gation including such progressive men as Dr. Yen, who was educated in American, colleges and is in sympathy with American ideas and ideals.