Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-08-13

the soil or climate, for little care is taken
in preparation; the fields are never large,
and the opium is gathered by poor persons,
few of whom contribute more than two or
three baskets to the market. The Indian
opium has several grades, the difference
between which are reckoned of considera-
BILE importance in India, but not so much
thought of elsewhere. The test of good
opium is Its weight, for the best grades are
very heavy, its density, its color-which is
so dark brown as to be almost b.ack-its
strong smell and its bitter taste. The balls
must contain no leaves and no sand or grit,
and they must be hard, for soft opium is
not accounted of any value.
Opium is prepared for smoking by boil
ing or seething it, to separate the resinous
after which it is made into small
pellets, frequently mixed with poppy
trash," is placed in a pipe with some COM
bustible and the smoke inhaled, the re-
sulting effects being too well known to
need description Not all opium-using
people employ the drug in the same man
ner, and the use of tobacco in connection
with opium is common. But directly OPP
posite methods of using the two are preva-
lent in different countries. The natives
of India and the Pacific Islands chew
tobacco and smoke opium, while in Turkey
the people chew opium and smoke tobacco.
In almost all MohammeGan countries the
use of opium has been fearfullv common,
and one reason is conjectured to be the fact
that all "true believers" are forbidden to
use wine or other alcoholic stimulants, and
SO adopt opium instead. But during the
last twenty-five or thirty years both
Turks, Arabians and Egyptians have con-
strued the prohibitions of the Koran
quite Literally, and as the use of wine,
brandy and beer has increased. a proper
tionate falling off has been observed in the
consumption of opium.
Among the Chinese opium smoking has
proved terrible curse, and the Imperial
authorities estimate that not less than
100000 of the population Of China are
habitual users of this deadly drug. Its
devotees are found among the people of
every class; scholars use it to stimulate
their intellectual faculties; soldiers, to
brace their nerves against expected dan
gers; sailors, to stimulate them for hard
work; and many people of every class for
no other purpose than the exhilaratien it
affords. The Chinese Government has for
many years recognized the evil inherent
in the opium trade, and has two excellent
for desiring its abolition. The
first is the wholesale ruin it spreads among
the people of China, and the second the
sums which are annually transferred from
the Golfers of Chinese subjects to the gov
revenues of India. Some idea of
the immense extent of the business may
be gathered from the fact that the Indian
Government annually raises about $50, 000,-
900 in duties on opium, and by far the
larger quantity of this noxious drug goes
to China.
In 1884 the Imperial Government of
China protested to the Government of
Great Britain against the further import
of opium into China. The Chinese people
took hand in the dispute; the British
factories in the Chinese ports were at
tackled by mobs, and large quantities of
opium were burned in the spirit shown by
our ancestors in the destruction of the
British tea in Boston harbor. Protests to
and fro were rapidly passed, but the Chi
nese Government was firm and sent a
Commissioner to the ports where English
vessels were allowed to trade, with in
structions to put an immediate stop to
the business. The Commissioner came
and at once demanded that all the opium
in the warehouses should be delivered up.
1t was handed over under protest, about
10000 chests, valued at $10,000,000. The
entire quantity was placed in large
trenches on the seashore and covered with
quicklime, after which sea water was ad-
mitted to the trenches and the opium
efectually destroyed. Most of these cases
were the property Of British subjects, who
to their own Government, and
much discussion producing no practical
result, both sides appealed to arms, thus
bringing on what was known as the Opium
War, which prevailed from 1910 to 1912,
in the complete discontinue of
China. The Imperial Government was
to pay S2l, 100000 as indem-
nifty, S12,000,000 being the expenses of the
war, 100000 of debts due the British
subjects and S6,000,000 for the value of
the opium destroyed. By the terms of
the treaty all British goods were admitted,
and thus, to the eternal disgrace of the
English people, the most noxious of all
drugs was forced upon a nation in spite of
its own efforts to the contrary.
But the question is not settled, or rather
the Chinese Government shows some dis
position to reopen it, for in 1880 renewed
efforts were made to suppress the vice, and
by treaty made with Russia the importa-
tior Of opiup, h.y D,,ee;a,, e,,h;oo4c ,roc
prohibited. But the mischief is done; the
Chinese now raise more opium than they
import. True, the growing of the opium
plant is contrary to law, and in famine
years the provincial authorities frequently
destroy the opium plants, but at other
times the opium growers are not interfered
with, and although the drug of their fields
is of low grade and generally contains a
large admixture of leaves, it is good
enough for the Chinese, who cultivate it
in constantly increasing quantities. There
has been of late some correspondence be-
tween China and Great Britain on the
subject of the opium traffic, but as yet
nothing has come of it. In the treaty Of
1881, between China and the United
States, special clauses were inserted pro-
hibiting importation of opium into the
United States by Chinese subjects, and
also providing that no opium shall be i'm
ported into China by citizens of the United
States under penalty of from $50 to $500
fine and the forfeiture of the captured
opium. The action of the United States
in making this treaty is as one authority
states, protest against the step taken by
Great Britain to force the Indian opium
into the Chinese trade; at least the
speeches in Congress at the time indicate
that it was so regarded. China is taking
a place among the nations of the earth; if
not first place, at least position Of suffi :
cient importance to justify resistance to a
most iniquitous traffic.
1t Was Surprise.
A guest at one of the mountain resorts