Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 247, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1913 — AGAIN RAISING THE POPPY [ARTICLE]

AGAIN RAISING THE POPPY

Chinese Backslide on Their Agreement Not to Boom Business in Opium. London.—The report of Sir J. N. Jordan, British minister\o China, on the opium question indicates that there has been some backsliding in the effort to suppress the cultivation of the poppy since the introduction of the republican regime. The report declares that since the fall of the Manchus the policy of suppression agreed upon between China and Great Britain has been weakened and that there has been an immense recrudenscence in the cultivation of the drug. In the provinces of Anhui, Hunan and Shantung the campaign the suppression of the cultivation of the plant his been successful, and in consequence the importation of Indian opium into these provinces will cease. But investigation in other parts of the republic tells a different tale, in many of the provinces the authorities are powerless to prevent cultivation. In others there is collusion between the powers and the growers, and in still others the officials are not inclined to deprive themselves of a rich source of revenue. The reports, however, are not all from official sources, many being supplied by missionaries and travelers, so exact figures are impossible. The minister concludes with the statement that a great deal must be done before the work of suppression can be considered as complete.