The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1882-06-02
sTEE oPIrn HABIT. !.
Sermcn By Rev. John A. Gray on the
Subject t--Some Astonishing
Revelations.

last night preached sermon TO a
crowded house on "'rhe Opium Hah-
it," says the Portland Telegram.
The following is but brief outline
of the address.
After some general statements in
regard to the growth of opium. the
speaker dwelt on the prevalence OF
the habit. Some of the best minds
OF Christemdom were almost totally
wrecked by it in the beginning OF
this century. Tie history Of Coler-
-idge and DrQn;ncy are familiar.
VIM. Blair, one of the ripest scholars
of Il e church, Richard laaxter, au-
thor of "'The Sai::t's Res>." Robt.
Hall. the eloquent divine, VIM. VIII
berfocre, aud john Randolph. OF
! Roanoke, were all victims.
Smoking is habit but recently in
troluce,l. The first white smoker in
America is sail 10 haYe been sport
irg man by the name of CIendenyn.
This was in California III 1868. II
was three years before he induced
another to try it. Then the practice
spread quietly and rapidly among
gamblers aud prostitutes. l. first
came TO the notice the police authori
ties of San Francisco in 1875. An
ordinance was passed againstiI; bnt in
spite of this the practice grew stead
lily, and although the large smoking
houses were closed the small dcns in
Chinatown were we'll patroniZed. 1t
soon began to spread to other towns.
In 1876 smoking dens were establish
I'd in Chicago, St. Louis and New
Orl: ans and few months later ii,
New York city. To day in that city
there are many dens and over 800
hatilual smokers. The residents of
Hot Springs, Arkansas, have taken
measures. to suppress it. Persons
addicted to the habit say that now
"layonts" can be found IN almost all
the smaller towns on the lines OF
travel in the United States. Police
officer James Mahoney OF San Fran
cisco says that the habit in past
years, SO far "a the whites are con-
crrned, was confined to hood .nms
and prostitutes, but now there are
scores of places where the habit can
he contracted in clean rooms and re-
spectacle portions OF the city. The
extended up practice will gradually
the social scale. School boys and
clerks are already finding out the
respec,abl places and learning the
halit. If the practice is rapidly
spreading there would be cores
ponaing increase in Importation.
This is easy determined, as the smok-
ing opium is subject to heavy duty
of Sc per pound, while ordinary
opium is taxed only one dollar. The
statistics of the treasury department
show that in 1880 there was an ad-
vance over 1879 in The amount i'm
ported OF 1900 pounds. The whole
amount imported in 1880 was some
thing over $4,000 pounds. 1t is es-
timated that there arc over 5000
white habitual smnk kers in the United
States. That is doubtless not full
estimate. Our people have little
idea of the rapid spread Of this habit,
aud are not awake to the peril it III
wolves. During the crusade temper
ance excitement here, our citizens
were thrilled with horror 10 know
that there were IS puolic drink
ing places in tn city of Portland.
To-day there are l4o opium dcns in
this city. One hundred public places
and some forty more private. Be-
sides the opium is smoked in many
private houses.
We may learn some lessons from
the spread of the habit in China.
Since 1920, when the English GOV
ernment compelled the Chinese to
legalize the traffic, the habit has
spread SO rapidly that it is estimate ell
that there are fifteen million smokers
who consume 700 tons annually.
the Chinese do not take readily to
s,imulants and have great sell CON-
troll If the habit spread SO rapidly
among that race, what may we not
fear in orr land with our excitable
and nervous temperments and ten~
dencv TO stimnlants?
The speaker then gave many
points showing the effects of the
habit. It has to be learned. The
system recojls from it at first, but