The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-06-12
1000 OPIUM SMOKERS.
Extent OF the Wee in San francisco and
its Effects.

- W 81 III ANsAt . t7&O WV
its Effects.
Democrat says:
The police estimate that in this city. with
its population Of about 300. 600, there are
not less than 1000 iabitual opium smokers.
From a rather extended study of the class,
in and ont of Chinatown, | should say that
this estimate is not exaggerated. The hood
lum, of course, furnishes th~ree-quarters of
this number. He takes to vice like a duck
to water. and he is specially enamored of
anything forbidden. Beginning before he
is in his teens with the cheap and nnwhole-
some cigarette, it is not strange that opium
claims him for her own before he has
reached young manhood. If it were not
for his vices and his false ideals of life. he
would make a bad member of society.
as he is frequently energetic, and some
times betrays great mechanical ability.
The opium vice, however, is spreading
rapidly, and, if it once becomes general
among this class, there will be no way of
checking it. The best method which can
be suggested for limiting the evil is to i'm
pose a heavy fine, or make it a penal of
fense to sell Opium to any white person.
\ few convictions under sach 4 law would
strike terror into all the Chinese dealers.
who have a virtual monopoly of tie drug,
and would cut off the supply OIL opiuIn. 1t
might not break up the habit among white
smokers, but it might reduce it within
ing Generalization among a large class of
young people in this city and State.
ONT EFFEeTs OF THE VICE.
There are certain corners in this city
which are the ~favorite haunts Of the opium
smokers. Here on any pleasant afternoon
one may see the victims of the vice in all
its stages. Most of them are young men,
d~eeently dressed, but giving unmistakable
signs OF their vicious life by their palIid
faces, CHASTITY look and emaeiated forms.
Their skin is like that of e%onyicts long shut
out from sun and air: their c~heek-bones
protrude above deep hollows, while the
skin is drawn about the mouth in a way
which is disagreeably suggestive of a grin
ming skeleton, All smoke cigarettes and
all drink, for that the big vices brushes out
the little ones is a paradox which cannot
be proved by experience. Most of these
young men have been brought to this con-
dition inside Of three years. The living
skeletons among them. who are SO weak
and nerveless that they brace themselves
for support against a cellar railing or the
side of Il house, have been smoking for
years. In eight or ten years at the ont
side they will give up the ghost. diving 4
death by inches, like the consumptive. ever
deluded by false hopes of recovery, and
suffering the torments Of the damned for
the violation of natures laws.
HOW THE cHINEsE ESCAPE.
No contrast between the Oriental and
the European can be greater than that af-
forded by the effect of the opium habit ON
the two races. The American suffers
worse than the English or the Germans
from the drug, because his nervous system
is usually more intense. Five years is
sufficient to hopelessly wreck the consti-
tuition of any American who regularly
smokes opium, and no one can escape
the regularity of the indulgence who comes
once under the influence Of the drug. The
Chinese, on the other hand, seems To have
his appetite under better control. He sell
don, a1Iouc hIn,aa1f -. ha c,Ia.I h. A..
habit. and those with whom | have talked
declare that they never smoke at the same
hour on two successive days. Many aban-
don the habit for months and then resume
it, as a European would do with liquor or
tobacco, but | have never found but one
European. who acknowledged that he gave
up opium after he had thoroughly acquired
the tabit.
II EXPERIENCE OF REFORMED SMOKER
There is no question that the drug has
rare medicinal powers. but the man who
ventures to test it runs a fearful risk.
A friend of mne, an old miner and store
keeper who had lived years in the far
North, sometimes coming down to Victoria.
b. c.. only once in the course Of the year.
told me one day of his experiences with
opium. He said that he had exposed HIM
self during one of the severe winter storms.
and a cold on his lungs began TO develop
symptoms of consumption. He became
alarmed. and was on the point of starting
for the nearest settlement to get medical
assistance when an old Chinaman in the
camp advised him to smoke opium, and
guaranteed that it would curc his cough.
He tried the remedy and found that it soon
cured him. but when he endeavored to stop
the use of the drug he found himself pow
erless. Finally lie adopted the expedient
of going to a ~neighboring mining camp,
where no Chinese were employed, and
where it would be impossible to obtain
any opium. He went through the usual
fortunes for lack of the drug, was delirious
for several days, but at last recovered.
Nothing, le declared, would ever induce
him to touch the drug again.
An exchange says: You may be able
to get a large weekly newspaper filled with
accounts of murders, scandal eases, cock
fights, etc, for the same money you pay
for your local papers, but those city week