The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-01-29

M
se for opium exported from Cscutts and Bombay
affords no clue tho amount imported China
live thousand chests 60 10 Netherlands Iaa; two
Siam, Csmooja and Cochin China take few thousand
But Ia Impossible for to say exactly In tbs
shnS nou 70, January Of the present year. the tota
Epga] and "a o001rom Bombay. In subsequent numbs
OF the journal 6nd given in the preceding Ia
chests that port to be accounted for
somewhere out of China. Perhaps should not b
far wrong NJ coming to the conclusion that IL 600 OF
chess have been for several past taken up
By the ULTRA Gangetc nations ,usve Of China and
from to 5000 annually for tae twenty years pre-.
cecing 1850 II 10 always bes. to take fair view OF
every case--there il moth pg got BY exaggeration.
As TO the PROBABLE number OF smokers, we h.v only
approximate calculations. Innes, writing on t1e sub
jec In Decemb 1885, supposed that tae or IN ounce
day, ID the proper allowance for a conh ned opium
smoker writer in the depository for 0,toSe 1887,
moderate smoker. Both estimates to b. Ia error
the being excessive and the other detective On m
quiry Of the Chinese in snaughae IN the present day the
invariable il dra,hm day, Tor m ode
rate smokers. adding that there are Few who conhne
themselves to this amount; The most OF them con
Stunning two three and five mace day. in order -
keep up the stimulus once excited BY single
mace. Let not any suppose that the com aon peo
PIE and the s !, 'os . sassss e1 drn h''
ridly cheap The last quotation In the Shangh.e
Prize Cuuen. was, for patna aud Bsnarss, $3.50
and for Malwa si20 Takirg the average at $500 the
chest each chest contains 70 cIttes OF smokAbe
tract the price for drcam would only Be "a
cash. IL Id actually sold Ia Inc retail OPIUM shops az W
cash per Tits is only half the wages ola bo,ing
man, which he might easily expend ia the way above
Gescrbtd and leave enough food aud clothing Tins
il not hey md the of the daily borcr t. pro
and consume mace day The mercantile and literary
classes AFFORD and do much mere, and
crafty themselves with . tael These do no. gen
orally 60 t. the FETAL saops but buy hs opium by the
ball. and prepare II themselves in whieh it does not
cost item more than 20 cash per mace.
An objection may be brought by some that such
quantity Of The narcotic would kilt them ~ onoe an
therefore they e,ud not take ii to winch u win be SUIT
q lent 10 reply tina. II does not a medical who
has had much to de win opium smokers AID is we'll
quainte5 With he quantity each consumes, AMI the eff
isct produced upon has system says that If man uses
orly drachm dayt does his general health little 10
jury. Confirmed inyetcra.e pale skinned smokers
2, ., 4, and even or ma day.
Ferons only a,qnsi0sei with the effects of opium Ia
Europe would still and aghast the statement that
CninaTnsn viii consume half day with ,ut
ling him But 1. must be remsm Dor ei that the Chi
only smoke IL thay do not swallow IL. One mace
mixed With ardent SPIRITS and taken into the stomach
would nc sufficient TO p scn at once and many do
poison themselves in this way Bat passing as II does
by Of the pipe through the lupgs, its poisonous
qushce greatly diminishei.
The rnoking extract sscve spoken Of does not amount
to haif Of the bulk of The opium. From careful
pertinent made il appears that catty 10 tas,s yields
If extract taels mace candsreens. being suction
CT 81 cent chest Of PStna therefore, weighing l40
pounds. gives only 10 lbs Of extract Th's ID very
raysgant mode OF using the opium but it is the method
the Chinese have adopted and its awful gables
them to throw away than hs The narcotic pc
OF the drug and TO the other in such that the
results upon the system are only ZENITH Of what
W.
unhspply some il Europe do.
Assuming the proportion of mace a day the
rage amount of daily consumption of each person to be
correct easily arrive at the number of smokers
throughout the empire. Proceeding upon the statement
Of the Chind Nail that 81 600 chests delivered in
China last year ane that each chest 10 catss
of kabe extract allowing to each smoker one mace
per day, we have little more than two million m,ke,s
for the whole empire. Some contend that large guam
lily OF OPIUM Is grown 10 Chua; Mr.. Fort me the
oppy growing for the purpose Of baining the nspiss
,cd juice. Neither he, however, nor .her man
be half Of the amount imported IL would then
raise the amount of smokers to somewhere about three
mionsabout per cent Of the 70 pua,ion. For this
addition, however the Chinese themselves rsspons
be- Foreigners have hing to do with it. except in
far as they them the appetite for the drug and LED
them to supply their wants at Il cheaper or more
convenient rate than tn could do by procuring II from
abroad.
u msy be worth while before leaving the statistical
liable above given TO say few words regarding the East
lnea Company with reference TO the production Of TIL
article.
rrsyisus to the year 1897 the amount OF opium sen. to
China, principally by the Portuguese, did not exceed 200
chests In that year it reached 900. In 177S small
adventure in opium was undeyt aiken by the East tn,
Company. In lis0 Depot for IL was formed IN Lacks
Bay IN 17sl SEQ chests sent by the company t.
canton ard bought by of the Hong merchants thsse.
ne was oo.ges 70 sx?ort the principal part
1ieS to the present time, the share taken by the
pany in opinm has been large and the profits consider
and supply Is very remarkable. AT the frs Commence
ent Of The trade in 11e2 the opium realized
re more than ~ rupees per chest he reduced
the supply little in 1900 and the p-e rose to nearly
double that Ttey reduced the supply still ia
1862 and the price up to nearly GOO They
went on reducing The quantity, And the price agda
in leo3 TO 13co and IN 1905 reached nearly o05 ru
PEGS They increased the supply. aud the pr fsl in
1905 10 500 rupees. They keps it then e.dy,
aDd the prices emined a. 1900 Tor several In
1922 they the supply and The prise 10 1000
rupees. From that time till 1880 t kept steady at from
SEQ 10 600 rupees. Since 1880 the supply of opuu
from Bengal rapidly increaeJ but the prices it izei
very little exceeded coo rupees During the last five
years they have brought The supply of Patna aud b.
up 70 so COO chests annually but the price OBJ
tained for II is not than 700 rupees In this may
be bow cupioisy sometimes defea its ends.
The object have been to raise largr reveaue
frcfa TIE opium in order to do this the company laid
out times the quantity Of valuable land in The cnlti
vatsn # tbs drug, and led capital twelve tines
ss mub rs they orIneTy 9b.aine9 Thus The 10 re they
extended the cultivation the less comparatively they
got for it, It Is trce The gross amount Ct their gains 10
The last twenty years four times that of the preceding
thirty; but TIE capital and ritory employed obtain
ing il vastly prepnderates in the latter period
pared with the former Perhaps ~ consider
this good speculation others may, ho Eever, question
it. If Dau has to exert ten twelve timss the amount
Of strength. ard succeeds 10 Rising weight only
the beneficial result Of such expenditure is in iu
proportion TO the given exertion, and that he
had bet.er husband his atsergh or apply 1t in some
other way than lavish it profusey to little In
creased advsntago loss OF power ia discovered in
the working Of The machine, the machinst viii examine
TO whether il arise from friction from the eacae
stoam and try 10 remedy the Defect but certainly will
continue TO work in the direction without
enquiry. The chances tha. IL the same scheme Is
carried or By the company to much larger extent It
viii defeat itsef When the opium at 900 and 900
rupees Chest the cos. of pToauc ion was 800 400
pes; the price is reduced TO $50, The
must be laid out IN Rising IT, Let the company in failure
double treble ts supply, and they will bring down the
pIice low tina. It will be longer prolb's TO pro.
duee IT at all and then their expensive fsctorie
houses, apparatus and machioery TO. increasing he
supply Of opium will be rendered useless and the large
population previously engaged in it be thrown oa of
employ. Viewed merely as means for raising large
revenue, the plan the company are pursuing Is
self destructive But there another light ia which the
scheme ought to be viewed and that is the eest IL has
had aud Is likely have upon Others To osneG ones
finances nj tbs pecun1ry yeuse OF nelxhbors
may be all very well according to the code OF lhis
worlds morality, but when the profit accruiny t.,
tel Is ms in proporti1 to the loss that falls upon
other ard when that loss not merely Of pesunsry
lind but TIA moral conse 1t then
tie bouden daty OF the Spectator to refsct upou his
conduct and pause in his proceedings Mr.. 81. George
Tucker Il no authority 10 matters OF finance Hc
managed the important firm Of Pslmer Co. in Calcutta
at time when they doing their largest business
aId afer haylag the earnest solicitation Of she go
vefnment t,ken upon himself the management Of the
ho from a ifnun nj