The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-03-04
4 SMUGGLERS' PARADISE
How Cinnamon Gain Access to the
United States From the
Dominion.
Topography and Geography OF the
Northwest Corner of Wash
ington State.
Inadequate, Inefacient and Corrupt Police
-Cnntraband Orientals and Opium
How Both Are Struggled.

1uAuG4VWkCs
-Contraband Orientals and opium
How Both Are Struggled.
Looking at the map one may see that the
northwest corner of Washington is torn OIL,
and the space that is left is filled with
water. dotted with an archipelago. Inc
island of Vancouver fits partially into the
capinr corner as if it had been torn out by
some gigantic convulsion. The tatters n
debris of the rent form the archipelago.
Our national interest centered IN that cor
ner long ago when that portion OF the
boundary was in dispute, and the tension
Of a war feeling was only relieved when a
FOREIGN arbitrator settled the boundary,
and gave us the island Of San Juan, the
most important in the group. The city OF
Victoria confines nearly all the population
on hat corner of Vancouver island; the
CITY Of Vancouver is the main settlemen'
ON the British Columbia shore; and on our
borders are such little places as Whstcom'
New Dunpeness and PORT Angeles. in the
state of Washington. Port Townsend on Pu-
Get sound, ia the principal American town
raar nv. and the headquarters of the scanty
force 81 customs officials who are supposed
TO guard against the Smuggling. n VINO
are entitled to the presumption that they
are doing their best in this direction. Vic
toris has only 10000 population, Vancouver
fswer still, and the islands only here and
there n house, Deer abound upon these
stands. which are heavily timbered,
writes Julian Ralph in harper's
Magazine for March,, and the water
ways between them feel Inc Aeels OF
-. ---.1~- 1f Vrnn at all. GYC4OG Jne
smallest craft, outside the main channels
T. would be hard to imagine a more dlfflcult
-eo;on tn nolice. or a fairer field for SNUG
rlers. Old London itself has scarcely a
Greater tangle of crooked n confusing
t~horouchfares than this archipelago posses,
ses and these waterways are SO narrow ana
shattered that mere oarsInen can SAFELY ana
eas;iu tr,vel many of them. 1t is a snug
Those Who transport the Cinnamon are
al white men. The resident Cnlnese acs
as their ~confederates and as the agents OF
the smuggled men, but 40 no paIt % .ne
actnaI smuggling, that is to say, the BOAT
no The great smuggling is OF opium.
1The Introduction of the Chinese themselves
10 If small account, SO far as the dehance
# our laws ia concerned, as compared with
the introduction of OPIUM. 1et Ghat e1-
tensiye business also is carried on oy wnite
men. The Chinese cannes pass Ass 70 Is a1a t Nno
as WllG6 u6u CdAS
traffic to the whites.
These white men are OF the Grass ohe
vonld EXPECT to find in such business. A
government employe in Victoria told me
That / would "be surprised to know what
important and respectable persons were
connected with the smugR'' a%pliob DIS ne 4.
and Is / failed to obtain any proof
That any number of so-called respectable
men profited directly by the business, a1d
not and do not believe that there are many
such. Those who do the smuggling OF the
Chinese are unprincipled n reckless cnarL
acters. Thew make their bargains VIII
those Chinese whose business it is to ar
range for the carriage of their co9ntrymer
into our country. The boats employed ar
small %sail-boats, and quite as small steam
launohes, When the owner OF one of thes'
boats has secured a sufficient number o
Chinese to make the venture profitable II !
ancceeds. the Journey is made at night
without compliance with the law which re
ouires vessels sailing after dark to displa.
lights at their sides. At times the contra
Bands are landed near Whatcom, a
times near Port Angeles or New
D~ungeness. San Juan island, within tim
Victoria, and has a few Chinese residen
upon it. At times Cinnamon are carried
there. Once there they can cross to tn
mainland with more freedom, and with
possibility of obtaining testimony to TIL
effect that they are and have long beer
domiciled on American soil: The SNUG
plers charge 800 to S25 for landing eacl
Chinaman on our coast; $50 is the ordinar,
and usual charge. Wherever the China
men are landed they find either men O
their own nationality to secrete them, o
white men awaiting their arrival, an
ready to take them to some Chinese qual
ter. Once on land the danger of arrest
cxoo&ly loocopa6 md after a newly SmuC
pled Chinaman has made his way to one c
the larger towns or cities near the coas'
his fear of detention by our governmer
vanishes entirely.
Opium is manufactured in the cities {
Victoria and Vancouver, British tolumbl;
AS one manufacturer expressed it, "suff
cient is made in one week in either city
meet the demands of British Columbia fc
two years." There are ten or a dozen MAJ
ufscturers in Vancouver, and more yet
Victoria. The opium imported is of a Be
ond quality and is of Indian origin.
comes in the form of sap, and in the shat
of balls that weigh about three pounds, an
are encased in all envelope made by pres
ing leaves against the sticky substanc
The Canadian revenue laws impose a du
of one dollar a pound on this raw materls
whilst our impost upon finished opium
ten dollars a pound. The difference WI
the raw material is worked into the ii
ished product is therefore very great, a.
the temptation to smuggle is in direct pr
portion to the profit. The Chinese nj
chants in British Columbia find the meth
! of manufacture very simple. The st
costs $3.50 raw, or $3.50 a pound with
duty added. When it has been cooked II
smokers opium it has cost in the neit
borhood of 81, and it fetches from $3.50
S12.D a pound in various parts of
United States.
There are thirty or forty firms of Chi
men manufacturing it constantly i'll I
two British Columbian cities, and one ii
not the largest-admitted to me Il
they produce from two hundred to tn
hundred pounds a month. There is scar
" a devisable name of concealment
the little cans in which the opium is put
that is not practised in smuggling this
ticls over the border 1t comes in barn
of beer, in women's bustles. i'll trunks
satchels. under the loose shirts of sailt
in boat-loads by night, in every concei
Bile way. By COLLISION with steamboat
steamship captains, and through corr
officials in our country, the greatest pre-
are made possible.