The Red Cloud chief., 1881-08-25
Opium.SmOAin, i'm California.

Opium-Smoking is a scnsuouS pleas
ure and depends tor its full enjoyment
y o leisure and society. The MAORI
" OF the better class of Chinese in san
Francisco smone opium. but not i'll ex-
cess. They viii lounge on their ! tile
hunks. enjoy twelve or fifteen pipes in
the course of an afternoon or evening,
chat. Smo>e tobacco. and drink tea OF
rice brandy. Few except the confirm
ell opium-smokerS Use the drar To pro-
duce inScnsibility or the opium sleep.
The primary effect of opium Is that of
good tobacco, increased tenfold. 1t
soothes and tranquillizes the nerves and
laps the smoker in a delicious state of
Sybaritic ease and .voluptuOus enjoy
ment. it induces n species of day
dream, but its ELECTS in this regard
have been greatly exaggerated. II Sc
dom prod ices the drunken stupor
which follows undue in Iulgence in
liquor. The European who contracts
the habit of Opium-smoking usually
Graves an inord.nate amOun OF the
drug. A man whom l know smokes
regularly every day six bits (75 cents
worth of opium, or about fifty pipes.
He is u walking skeleton. and. when not
un'!er the influence of the narcotic, he
trembles like a paralytic. His cheeks
are sunkcn, the bones seem starting
through the pallid skin. AMI the whole
man is a living wre k-strength. energy,
will, manhood, al clean gone He lives
Ily for his daily indulgence in the
drug, and his BODY could dispense with
il no more than his lungs could per-
form their functions without ar. He
is a walking barometer: sensitive TO the
slightest change in temperature and
racked by neuralgia pains when exposed
TO cold. Fatally %inSiiiouS, too, is this
opium habit. 1t saps the moral strength
and enfeebles the will: then. shorn of
these two allies, it takes a man of eX-
ceptional strength of character to free
himself from its thralldom.
The poorer classes of Chinese in Cal
ifornia land these comprise nine-tenths
of the whole number-use opium as 4
solace to their hard life. 1t is one OF
the few pleasures they allow them
selves in 4 slaviSh struggle To Law up
money. No store. wash house. manu-
factory or restaurant is without its
opium layout" The habit of opium
smoking is universal, as common as the
use OF tobacco among American men.
A very intelligen, Chinese merchant.
who speaks excellent English. in a re-
cen conversation with ME on the evils
of opium smoking. said: lit is the
curse Of our people, and is far worse in
its effects than vOur whisky-drinking.
A man who drinks liquor gets some
strength from the stimulant, though
this mas last only a few M nuies. He
nav even live TO old are and never 90
to bed sober. But the effects OF opium
are far different. 1t taxes away
strength, it never gives anv. 1t weak
a man. Trims his blood and steals al!
his energy. 1t makes him feel the cold.
makes him what YOU call i~nvalid-no
good Tor any real work. He NAV work
at n trade. but he cannot carry on any
business which requires thought or cal
culaticn. For myself. l smoke a few
pipes frequently with friends. |. is So
cial and pleasant. but | always take the
greatest care not to smoke twice in sue.
cesSion at the same hour. When l feel
the longing to smoke. which always at
tacks YOU Just twenty four hours after
your last indulgence, | never give way
to it,"
The bane of opium-smoking in Cali
fornia is seen in the younger genera
ton. California children are very pre-.
cocious; 'they seem to Rave an exagger-
ated desire to indulge in every thing
which is forbidden. Every Chinese
wash-house throughout the State is the
center of evil. Young bows learn there
10 smoke op UNI and contract the habit
which ruins them body and soul. The
Chinese receive BOYS with great favor.
and are always ready 10 initiate them
into anv vice. In the cities the evil is
worse, as the opportunities for its graf
ification are met on every side. There
are many squalid opium ''dens' in the
Chinese quarters. and these have their
REGULAR white customers. The police
make frequent raids upon them, but the
PAYMENT of twenty dollars fine releases
the proprietor. Now it is customary
for the smoker to deposit this amount
before be ginning his. indulgence. in
order 10 insure the release of the patron
in case of arrest. The wee is most
prevalent among the hoodlums of this
City and the women Of the town, but