The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-06-10

fascination. and which becomes a remorseless
tyrant, driving it's victim with scorpion-whip 10
swift and certain destruction as the opium habit.
And this Is true not only of the poor heathen vic
Tins in China. but of men Of culture and of
strong intellect and power. The celebrated
author, Samuel I. Coleridge, is an example.
Using 1t as a medicine to allay intense pain, il
slowly wound its tolls about him be became
its abject slave. His friends, as a 6ual resort,
urged him to consent to be confined for a term in
q private asylum for the insane. Imagine the
shame and anguish Of such q man as be cries out.
l quote his words - There is no hope Nv
case Is q species of madness, only that il is q
derangement-an utter impotence OF the volition,
and not of the intellectual faculties. You bid
me rouse myself. Go bid a man paralytic in
both arms to net them briskly together, and shat
will cure him. Alas he would reply, 81 that
l cannot move my arms is my complaint, and my
misery" Coleridge did reform, though it cost
him intense suffering. Writing Of the day when
he felt that be could omit the dose and yet live,
he says - ~triumphed but think not that my
sufferings were ended. Think of me as one, even
when four months had passed, w~rithIng, throb-
blng. paIpitatlng. and much in the condition of
him who had been racked by the Tnquisition.
In China the Chinese have no hope of the re-
formation Of an opium smoker and the poor
victim, while be gTOans beneath his chains, and
hates with m%allgnity the instrument 81 his ruin.
desparingiy surrenders himself TO his late, having
neither the physical nor the moral resolution 10
abandon the drug.
Says Rev. Isaac Pierson -. When once the
thirst Tor opium has taken possession of a person
he Will spend his money for that rather than
food and many a man has confessed 10 me that
his daily portion of opium cost him more money
than would the entire support of another man, or
OF one or two children. Led on by this thirst,
many sell their lands, their houses, and even
their clothes and then, falling into the beggar
class, they 90 from house to house begging for
food such as we feed TO swine, sleep in the
streets where chance may give them a shelter,
and soon sieken and die. But even though they
get no food, they must have opium. and the poor
wretched beggars partially satisfy their horrible
cravings by eating the ashes from the opium
pipes Of others.
Mr.. Pierson also relates this incident At Yu-
clio he had occasion TO build Word was cent
him that there was a fine, large house near by
for sale, wholesale or retail. lie went TO see It,
and found tie materials of which 1t was built
were Of excellent quality but all was sadly cut
of repair. The paving of the court was disturbed,
bricks were missing from the walls, and tiles
from the roof, while several great cracks let the
light through what had once been Strong brick
walls. A part Of the house had already been
sold, torn down and taken away. In the main
room was a large, unburied coffin. a" was told. :"
says DR.. Person, = that 1t contained the body
OF the father, who had been dead nearly a year,
and that he had not been buried for lack of the
money necessary to pay the funeral expenses. ="
A glance at the son, who was now the owner,
told the cause of these wretched surroundings.
He was of unusually good height and well-formed
but his garments were dirty and ragged, his eye
was heavy, his face sallow and waxen. He was
an opium-smoker, and Satan had put his mark
upon him. He afterwards became a wretched
street beggar, and then suddenly he disappeared
Sometimes the use OF opium casts a blight upon
a whole village. Travelling last January -
says MIR. Pierson, q" through the province of
Shantung, | came one day at noon to a place
which had written all over 1t the opium curse.
Ii was upon a great travelled road. and was a
regular station, where almost every traveller
stopped for lodging or food, and 1t should have
been a thrifty village. But everything was as
though famine or pestilence had consumed the
life of the people. The men, women, and chill
dren were among the worst | have ever seen.
They were fit subjects for Dante's pen. When
we drove away, even my rude driver shrugged his
shoulders and said he was GLAD to escape. Such
cases are not
Now 1t is deliberately proposed to introduce
this b~lighting curse into Hawaii. What must
be the inevitable results?
l. The generalization and certain phys ical
and spiritual destruction of a large per cent. oil
our Chinese population.
2. The disa IRA ngement and deterioration of the
working force and power OF tie Chinese now In
the Islands. The vast majority OF The best labor
ing men on our plantatinns, and in other lines OF
food-production and industries are Cinnamon.
Hawaii, now claIn0fing for more and better
dUOIcTs, cdIlIlOt duuTu ~ eilisCut"tt IL laTRo per
cent. OF the II 900 quiet, industrious Cinnamon
who are now her right hand Of labor. by the Tree
introduction OF this deadly destroyer. Laying
aside all question OF morals from u mere indus
trial. money point of view, legalizing the impor-
tation and sale of opium would be a swift process
OF commercial suicide for this nation.
3. When King Kalakaua signs a bill giving
free opium 20 this kingdom, he will sign the
death-warrant Of his Own race.
20! no" you say. Let the Cinnamon
have it bur ta6u it to the natives" IL not the
Cinnamon a man, and your brother? Did not
Christ die for him as well as for you And yet
it is coolly proposed to sweep hundreds of these
Cinnamon into eternity by the introduction OF
this deadly drug. And men talk of it as though
it was a thing of no moment, so long as the
destruction is confined to Cinnamon. But il
cannot be thus confined. Make the k0bu al
stringent as you please guard the sale of it by
the most minute restrictions, and still the natives
will have it. Liquor is ta6ued to Hawaiians, and
yet we all know that it is sold to them in large
quantities. And yet the selling and drinking oil
liquor, compared with the sale and use of opium
is an open and uncomfortable thing. Liquor
selling and intoxication cannot be concealed,
But no business is SO secret as the sale of opium
and no vice hides out of sight like that of opium.
smoking.
Standing one day in a drugstore in Portland.
Oregon, Il woman glided By me, laid down q
quarter without a word, received a little parcel
and passed out. / said to the clerk Opium ? >
He answered. Yes we sell a great deal of i
in that way" By farther Conversation, l learned
that, for convenience, it was put up in little par
GELS ready for the demand.
(Mr. Cruzan then gave an illustrative aDec
dotel.
The native will have opium if it is allowed tc
be imported. The swift harvest of death which
will follow can only be imagined. One OF YOU
Government physicians tells US that 90 per cent
of the native population already have the seeds o.
death in their veins. They are a race notoriously
lacking in self control. Their blood and then
passions are as hot as your tropical sun. Give
them free rum and free opium, and the days Of
the apidly-diminishing Hawaiian race are nun.
bered.
III-WHAT REASONS ARE GIVEN FOR THE Pro
POSED LAW LEGALIzING TIE IMPORTATION AMI
SALE OF OPIUM?
| have heard but two.
l. The present law is evaded. There ii
some opium struggled into the kingdom"
ITndp,htod1u Tho Iar nainRt laroanr l.