Evening star., 1901-01-12
SUICIDES ARE FREQUENT
Copyright. 1900, by Frank G. Carpenter.)


Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star.
MACAO, December 3, 1900.
There is a great opium farm at Macao,
where about ten million dollars worth of
opium is made every year. There is a SIM
liar farm at Hong Kong, and there are
others scattered over China. The Chi
nese consumption of opium is steadily grow
ing Two hundred years ago it was prac-
tically nothing. Today it costs more than
the liquor bill of the United States. 1t
probably amounts to more than st00,OOO,0OO
annually, for tie foreign doctors In some
Of the districts estimate that 20 per cent OF
the people are addicted to Its USE In other
Slaces the percentage is less. falling among
some classes low as 90 and 30 per cert
Say for instance. that on the average 1t
amounts to only 90 per cent and you have
2OO,o0.Oo0 people who are opium eaters oS
opium smokers Some of these annually
spend hundreds of dollars for the drug;
others hundreds of cents, but at the low
average of 81 a year the opium consumed
would cost $4o0.OOO,o0o.
visited the opium farm here today. 1t is
situated in the heart OF the city. 1t is sur
rounded by great buildings, and all totd
1t does not cover an acre of space Never
theless its produce is worth 100000 Week.
or more than s10.0Go.0O0 a year. The Ma
'O>
I'm our sense Of the word. 1t Is an opium
factory. monopoly farmed out by the
government The rent Of the farm Is
$3.50 600 a year. and the farmer pays TINS
for the privilege of turning the crude juice
of the poppy into the little tin boxes or
opium ready for the pipe OF the smoker.
The most of the opium used comes from
India. 1t is raised on the plans OF f1ih
dOostan under the superintendenee or the
English government, shipped by II TO boin-
bay and Calcutta and from there sent 10
hnN
of four pounds each The balls are OF a
brown color. They are as rough as sahu
stone and they look as though they hau
been busted with oatmeal Each ban Is
about as hig as YOUR head. 1t consists OF
the Iuice Of the poppy as 1t was sathereo
from the pods by the Hindoos ana haus
into these balls under the Enslish. asheo
the head Of the factory to allow me 10
photograph one Of these balls but he re-
fused to permit the camera to be useo III
the works.
How Opium Is Refined.
lie permitted me- however, to go through
tn, establishment and l spent seVerai
hours in the different rooms making notes.
1t is one Of the busiest places l have seen
I'm China Take the melting rooms. where
the opium is boiled and refined. 1t is more
like a foundry than anything else IL is
knD feet long and not more than twenty 1eet
wide. 1t has earthen floor, and along
each wall. running the full length OF the
which is u great fiat brass BASIN in when
the opium is cooking. The stuff looks ike
a thick black molasses; 1t seethes and
boils as the half-naked Chinese worker
stirs il to and fro with a great ladle
Some Of the basins are as big around as
n washtub ara all are sending forth opium
fumes. The room is filled with White Vapof
from the hundreds of boiling pans the
fumes get into my nOStrils. my head aches,
and for the time l have all the sensations
of the opium drunkard
~ Chinese devils
their helish work, and as l do So 1t seems
to me that l can see the pictures of the
ruin which 1t il to create as 1t Is
scattered throughout the Chinese empire.
can see dens in which scores of haggard-
eyed. yellow-faeed mortals are lying and
smoking away the wages which should go
TO the support OF their families. There are
women as well as men, and children as
we'll as grown-ups. Here is mother with
her baby at her feet lying before the opium
lamp. The pipe has fallen from her mouth,
and the little one is playing with 1t, suck
ing It. l can see the opium parlors of the
rich and the hels of vice which l have
seen at Shanghai-a score of pictures
which have been registered my brain
since Went through China.
Kncadins the Poppy Juice.
1 leave this room and go into another.
Here the opium, having been boiled to the
consistency of taffy, is being kneaded,
rubbed ana stirred into a paste-like mass.
The men who do the work coolies, bare
TO the waist. They are perspiring, and the
white drops stand out upon their skin and
roll down into the mass which they are
kneading. The stuff is boiled several
times 1t IS mixed with water and
strained. 1t is boiled again and strained
again, until finally 1t has come to the
right consistency and condition for sale
1t is now put up in tin boxes and IS ready
fOr shipment to China, the United States
and other countries where opium is used.
The increase in the use of opium among
the Chinese is enormous Last year letters
were sent out TO one hundred foreign doc
tors stationed in different parts OF the en-
pire. They We're asked for statistics as to
opium and its effects in their respective dis
fricts. These reports We're gathered to-
Eether by DIR. Park, the surgeon of the i'm
perial maritime customs, who has charge
of the big hospital at Soochow. | have the
copy before me. and from it take much of
the following information:
Many of the doctors estimate that from
80 to 80 per cent Of the Chinese are opium
smokers. They say that the manGarins
smoke the most and that thousands of
wealthy people are impoverishing them
selves by the of the drug. They say
that the laboriug men smoke less because
the act Of smoking takes great deal of
time. 1t cannot be done whils work is go
ing on, and the smoker is almost sure to
lose his job. No Will employ an Opium
smoker if he can help it. lie is as a rule
unreliable, generally weak and often a
thief
The Chinese themselves denounce the i,ab-
1t. ThcE class 1t among the three greatest
of sins, and attempt to regulate il by law
They license the opium selling shops, col
lect taxes upon II and treat il much as we
do drink in the United States The people
call opium smokers opium devils, and al
though nearly all use more or less opium,