The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-10-12

consumption viii increase. 2d. 1t viii de
stroy all discipline on the plantations d
this Kingdom and result in much loss Of
time to the employer and employee. The
law as it now stands prohibiting its use, /;
the only means Of preventing chaos among
the thousands Of Chinese and japanese
Sd 1t Will, if passed, be in violation OF q
pledge to His Imperial Majesty the EN-
peror of Japan, which country was ire
| vocably opposed 10 the drug. 1t would be
/ wrong to bring the subjects OF His l. NJ.
! the Mikado of Japan 70 Hawaii and ruin
/ them morally and physically. 1t Is as
wrong TO them as to the rising gener-
alton of Hawaiians. 1t would be a
| wrong 10 humanity and q last
! ing injury 10 all Hawaiis subjects.
/ 4th-Its provisions are pernIcious and bad.
| 1t would lead to fraud, dishonesty and all
/ manner of corruption. Even the medical
/ men would be corrupted, and it would end
/ in the utter damnation of the Hawaiians.
! The effects of opium are worse than any
/ other stimulaut known. Go into the
| Criminal Courts Of San Francisco and look
! upon the young men and women there
/ seven-tenths of whom have been brought
to crime through smoking opium. You
| see them with dazed eyes, pallid hands and
look of shame on their countenance. So
strong is the hold of opium upon its vota-
ries that they live only TO crafty their
love of it. 1t never loses its grasp when
once taken. They will steal for the where
withal to buy it. They will commit any
crime - Indifferent TO consequences - so
long as the poisonous drug can be pro-
cured, that in its deadly embrace they
may see the bewitching, but false, visions
that lure them on. They go down surely,
step by step, to degradation, the same as a
plummet sinks to the bottom of the sea,
and very few are rescued. The drunkard
will at times, when the fumes OF alcohol
are blown away, wash and dry himself and
walk erect before his fellow-men and try to
regain their respect, but the opium smoker,
never. His course Is ever downward, down,
down, until the lowest level of human
degradation is reached. The opium
smoker viii face his fellOw-men, clad in
rags, covered with vermin, and never
blush. He cares not what the world thinks
of him; he crawIs back to his den and in
the fumes of opium smoke, dreams pleas
ant dreams. | appeal to you members,
both native and foreign, to kill this bill, for
the sake of your fellow-men. Do not vote
to fasten SO great a curse upon your
brothers-a curse that will hang heavy
upon them, and bring them down to
shame, disgrace, penury and want, and
make existence misery, from which they
will never be relieved until covered by
their mother earth.
Mr. ThuTston said that an entirely new
bill had been introduced and he thought
the introducer should state his reasons for !
doing SO.
Mr.. Kaunamano said he introduced the |
bill and had been asked to state his rea- |
sons. He had not one, but many reasons |
for doing so. Opium had been used in |
Hawaii as far back as 1856. They knew |
the men who used it at that time. The |
Attorney General had told them all about |
the evil effects of the use of opium, but he /
was only speaking from theory. He (the |
speaker) had used opium and could speak |
of it after fair trial. In 1880 law was
passed Furnishing all those who brought |
opium in, but it was brought in in spite of .
all laws. 1t was used when Mr.. ThurstOn
was a little boy, and no doubt he had
smelled the fumes but did not know what
it was. This present bill gives one man a
license, and every tin of opium that comes
in will have to have a stamp on it. All
other opium that comes in will be SNUG
gled opium.
Mr.. Thurston said: Last week we had
under discussion the question of raising
the taxes, and the increase was carried
through the House with a swing That
was a question which affected property,
To-day we have before us a question which
involves not only property, but life both
here and hereafter. Opium as a medicine
has been used for centuries; for smoking
purposes it has only been used to any ex-
tent since the beginning of this century.
The Portuguese initiated its export from
India TO China, and the East India Com
pany took it up and increased it until it
became one of the greatest exports of
India and one of its greatest sources of
revenue. The Chinese Government did
everything in its power to prevent its use.
Its importation was prohibited, and pun
for its use was death or Transport
tation for life; but the English persisted,
and finally about 1910 there occurred the
opium war, whereby England forced China
to allow the importation of opium. This
viii ever stand blot on England's name.
England's treatment OF Ireland and the
forcing of opium upon China will ever re
main two great stains on her character.
History repeats itself. 1t is not enough
that the English nation should have
forced opium on unwilling China, but 1t is
reserved to an Englishman to champion
the cause of opium and attempt to force it
upon unwilling Hawaii. The present
Minister of Foreign Affairs has for the last
wear or more proclaimed himself in favor
of an opium license; in his paper, the P.
c. ADVERTISER, in season and out of sea
son. on the floor of this House and else
where he has worked for it. Had not
England disgraced herself enough already,
that she should still further lower herself
by sending one of her citizens here to do
this thing? How does he know; has he
seen its effects? If we go from the state
ments of those who do not know, to those
who do, we get at the truth. Mr.. Dayton
has told me of the bad effects from opium
when it was licensed. 1t has been said
that if this bill passed we should not have
any more opium in than now, and that it
would increase the revenue. That may be
a facetious argument, but it would not be