The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-07-07
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CANADA'S OPIUM BUSINESS.
Its Man MIA cture Proves One of the
Most Profitable Industries of
British Columbia.

lie manufacture of opium is one of
the (most profitable industries of Brit
ish Columbia, as it employs some 400
or no men in making charcoal, which
7ls led exclusively for cooking pur-
poyes, in addition to the cooks and
other employees. The Canadian license
for the manufacture of opium is $500
year. The government, in addition to
providing employment for large num-
bef of people, and besides bringing into
theacountry a great amount of money
from the United States, derives neat
little revenue each year, all at the ex-
peDse of the United States.
The development and manufacture of
opium is an interesting study. The Chi
nese are the greatest consumers in the
world. Next to that race come the
srmese and the inhabitants of the
Strait of Malacca, the latter consuming
opium to the value of e1,OO0,OOO an
nually. The cultivation of the poppy,
from which the juice is extracted and
subsequently reduced by boiling until
it becomes liquid resembling molasses,
when it is termed refined opium, is car
ried on in many parts of Asia, Persia,
Turkey and some parts of China. The
chief district is along the Gauges river,
India, and embraces an area 600 miles
long by 200 miles in width, and is di-
vided into two districts, Bahar and
Benares. The cities of Patna and
Gazepore are the principal depots or
shipping points, where the factories for
making crude opium are situated. The
producers are required to sell their
product to the Indian government,
which in turn supplies the great Chi
nese importing houses. Before the
fields of India were developed opium
came from Turkey and Persia, and was
used for medicinal purposes for the
reason that it contained more than ten
per cent. of morphia. quantity that is
too rich for smoking. Opium used
for the latter purpose contains about
six per cent.
The method by which opium is manu-
featured is interesting to observe, al
though a sickening odor pervades the
atmosphere and will cause a novice to
become deathly i'll. The balls of crude
opium are slit open, moistened with
water and boiled to paste. This paste
is dried, remoistened and again boiled
after which it is strained. 1t goes
through this process several times, each
time being carefully strained and all
foreign substance removed until it has
| a rich brown color.
The drug is boiled in large, hemis.
pherical brass pans about twenty inches
in diameter. The other utensils con
sist of bamboo filter, sprinklers
stainers and pots. When it is proper
ly boiled down, it is sealed up in brass
tins containing six ounces each. The
factories in China can manufacture a
better quality of opium for $3.50 less a
pound than the factories on the
Pacific coast. A good opium cook
in China is paid $40 month
and at Victoria $40 month
A days work consists of refining q:
balls of crude opium. Each ball max
ing 5 Steal cans Of prepared opium
For each additional ball refined it is
customary to pay the cook so cents.
The evil habit of opium smoking has
| obtained such power over the Chinese
and some classes of white people in
| the United States that it is physical
| impossibility to wholly stop the i'm
portation and use of the drug.-Seattle
pnSt-Tnte liopncpr