The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-10-16
Opium Eating in China.

The great vice of the Chinese 1s the
use of opium. In single year the I'M
portation of opium amounted to nearly
$45, ,OOO, ,0O0-more than half the impor-
tations of the empire. The people are
enslaved by it, and the government ls
wholly unable to control it. Once they
DESTROYED 10000 chests, for which had
been offered $11 900; but they had waited
too long, for opium eating had become q
national indulgence. The native culti-
vators now compete with the producers
of India, and each year send to the mar
ket millions of chests. The native artl-
Gle is less destructive than the foreign,
and in the hope that it's use will lessen
the evil, the government encourages
home cultivation, believing that the
natiyo article will soon exclude the
foreign. Many of the Chinese believe that
opium is the instrument in the hands OF
some mysterious power to effect the de-
struchon of their people. They say:
Gall the stems of the bamboos Of the
south, if converted into pens, could not
record the evils of opium" A Chinese
society has published an appeal, in
which they say: eff this evil is allowed
to 90 on, there will remain no remedy.
no salvation for our country. We ask,
in the name Of heaven, what unheard-of
crime have we committed that we should
thus be punisheda Since the creation
down to our days no plague has so much
ravished our country" In the provinces
where the drug is cultivated the peo-
pie were formerly sober, thrifty and
prosperous; but they have become idle,
corrupt and hopeless, committing crimes
for opium, dying of hunger, and II not
q few instances, eating even human
flesh. The number of opium consumers
is not known. The lower classes do not
alone use it, but the very highest, and
these offer it to their guests. as wine is
offered in Europe. The city Of Ming
poo, with population Of 400, 900, has
3, 700 opium shops. It is estimated that
throughout the empire 600, 900 opium
victims die annually. Though the use
of the deadly drug does not produce the
violent effects of some other into1icants,
at first, it is in the end more pernicious
and irremediable. Its victims become
ivid, their eyes lose their brightness,
their cheeks wither, labor becomes un-
endurable, and all their evil instincts
are naturally excited. Among the laun-
drymen of San Francisco there are seve-
raj slaves to the opium habit. They can
readily be distinguished from their fel-
lows by the symptoms described above,
and at times, especially on Sunday
afternoon, when there is not much work
on hand, they can be seen lying in the
dens where they eat and sleep, stupehed
from the effects of the poisonous drug,
or smoking from their uliar.shaped
pipes, and gradually becoming intoxi-
Gated. The Chinese say that cnly Eng
land can assist them in recovery, if re-.
covery be possible, from this dreadful
curse, and that by restraining the mer-
chants OF India from Offering it for sale
in their countries. Once assured that
none would be allowed to be sent from
India, the imperial government would
prohibit it's home production; and with
this result in view they have applied to
England for restrictive policy.