Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-28
INTERESTING FIGURES.
Importation of Opium and the Smoking
.s4e . pe4..rs Habit.
From the PAlddelpbia Ledger.

From the PHILADELPHIA Ledger.
A writer in the New York Sun pub
fishes an article on the increase of the
habit of opium smoking, in which an at
tempt is made to prove by the official re-
turns. showing the importations of opium
prepared for smoking, that the increase
in the rate of duty, from So to $40 per
pound, had the effect to cheaper the price
of opium, and therefore to increase the
imp0rtAtions and the habit of smoking
that article. The writer in the SUR
says. 'The attention of Congress
was called to the tact that in 1880
the importations of opium for smok-
ing purposes were u, 1876 pounds, and
those for 1888 were 2SS, 1853 pounds. Con-
gress then attempted to check the traffic,
and the duty. of SO per pound was on July
l, 1888, increased to $40. The imports for
1884 fell to 1,066 pounds, and for the first
six months of this year they were practi-
cally nothing. Now" continues the wri-
ter, "has Congress checked opium smok-
ing by this big duty? No. The practice
was never more prevalent, and it is
spreading all over the country. The &C
ton of Congress had the effect of adj
vancing the duty and cheapening the ar
ticle."
The figures used In this statement are
correct, but the use the writer makes of
them is misleading. The attention of Con-
gress may have been called to the fact
that over n, 900 pounds we're imported In
the year ending June 80, 1880, but the at
tentiOn of that body could not have been
directed to the fact that 2SS, l53 pounds
were imported during the year ending
June 30, 1888, because the act by which
the duty was increased to $40 per pound
was passed March 3 of that year, four
months before the close of the fiscal year,
and at least six months before the
official figures for that year were made
up. The large increase In the
impOrtatiOns in 1888 of opium for
smoking, were due not to the increase in
the smoking habit but to the fact that il
was proposed to add 81 per pound to the
rate of duty then existing In anticipa-
tiOn Of the large increase to the rate OF
duty, importers brought in unusually
large quantities of opium for smoking in
the interval between March 3, the date of
the passage of the act, and July /, the
date when 1t became operative. This is
shown by the OfficialretuFns. Ofthe 49,,
1853 pounds imported during the fiscal year
1888, the entries for the last quarter OF
that year--April, May, and June-were
1883 pounds, which exceeds the entire
quantity imported during the preceding
nine months of that year. AS the pro-
DObcu AuCIGAnC was hnOWH al lcdbb bNO
months prior to the passage of the act
it's fair TO assume that importations for
part of February and all Of March were
in consequence unusually large. 1t will
be thus seen that the increased importa-
tiOn OF opium for smoking In 1888 was not
owing to1he increase Of the opium habit,
as alleged, but to the fact that advantage
was taken by importers of the four
months time intervening between the
date Of the passage and the date fixed for
the operation of the act increasing the
rate Of duty TO lay in large supplies OF
smoking opium. The annexed table
shows the number of pounds of green or
gum opium, and opium prepared for
smoking, imported into the United States
during the fiscal years indicated, the
figures for 1885 being for the nine months
ending March 81, last.