The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-11-15
OPIUM SMOKING in BUTTE CITY
breaking othe Practice Of the Habit IN
Secret at Home Devotss Of safes
"~' "
81, Comparatively Golestation.

Opium smoking in Butte has become [
not business but a pastime. in the be-
lief of those thoughtful students of So
Geology, the police.
The places where it used to be pos |
eible to spend so cents for smoke !
which cost the owner of the outfit five
cents to furnish have all but vanished.
In their stead there are many houses IN
which opium is smoked by no one except
the owner of the layout.
On the face of it this fact has nothing
in it to interest normal people. Below
the surface it has plenty of meaning for
all the Cinnamon in town and for stu
dents of social conditions in Butte who
may have the advantage of more educa-
ton than is at the disposal of the police.
1t means that the city's devenue from
police court fines levied upon those VINO
kept opium dens and those who smoked
therein is to be thing of the past, and
1t means further that laundry work In
many Chinese laundries will be better
done.
In many of the laundries the condition
Of the opium pipe used to be of far
greater Importance than the condition
of the polish on the shirts and collars
consigned to the Chinaman's care.
Whether the new system of things Is
an improvement Or step backward Is
something that those interested must
settle for themselves.
At any rate it has lifted great load
from the police. AS is usual with many
reforms granting that this is reform)
economy was at the bottom of it, and
the good old law Of supply and demand.
Dens Were Once Common.
TO understand the condition that now
obtains it is necessary to be acquainted
with the situation as it was before opium
smoking began to be practiced in homes
instead Of public meeting places.
In the old time it was computed that
one would not have to pass more than
five Chinese laundries before coming
upon one in which it was possible to buy
a pill of the drug and to rent pipe.
No questions We're asked OF appli-
cants. All that was needful was that
the smoker be not a member of the po-
lice force or person without money.
II those two questions were answered
satisfactorily the would be-smoker
might enter and smoke to his or her
hearts content.
1t is a demonstrated fact that the vast
majority of the criminal classes and the
classes out of which the criminals are
made are addicted to the use of drugs.
When it is not cocaine they use it is
opium, and most often it is opium.
So most of the patronage the opium
Joints received was from men and women
who were in active training for careers
of usefulness, if not actual distinction,
in the penitentiaries.
To Nip Crime.
OF course, it was to the interest of the
police to stamp out as many of these
places as possible.
They We're actuated by the same mo-
tive that sways them when they raid
disorderly saloons-they wanted to nip
crime in the bud.
The notion that in these opium dens
might be seen criminals who We're not
engaged in burglaring and other pur-
suits, and that with them might be seen
strange slant-eyed Orientals, made many
persons. who would not think Of going
to such places if the inmates were all
normal white folk, venture into China
town to see what might be seen.
Some of the weaker minded visitors
began to be habitues, and so the list OF
persons "well known to the police as
the phrase is, grew.
Then came curiosity seekers who
thought that in opium dens they would
see the gorgeous sights and magnificent
furnishings so wildly described by per-
sons who had only seen chop joints in
imagination.
The cold, hard fact is that none OF
these dens ever was or is now scene OF
splendor. The picture of what idlers eX-
pected to see and what they really die
behold might be interesting.
Luxury Never Existed.
Most persons thought that their eyes
would meet rich hangings of thick anc
multi-colored tapestry. The lamps would
burn in a semi-darkness. The carpets
would bury every football, and ever the
whole place would be the indescribablt
air of refinement and the acme of luxury
so often dreamed of by one De Quincy
who it will be remembered, was some
thing of an expert on opium, although
in another form.
Seekers after new sensations looked II
Butte opium resorts for dreams that by
no possibility could come true.
A little thought would have showl
that such pageantry would have beel
utterly impossible.
No opium resort ever was conducted
with the official sanction of the police
Every one of them is likely to be raidet
at any time and all the furnishings de
stroyed.
So cheap stuff was put in instead o
the magnificent fittings that new devo
tees and inexperienced summers though
would he in place. The actual cost OF tit
ting up place where opium could %
smoked and to which admission coul
be charged is astonishing.
Layout Costs Little.
An opium lamp over which to hea
the opium costs $3.50.
A horn canister to hold the drug cost
81
A scraper to mold the opium and
needle to hold it in the flame may b
had for so cents.
A bowl of the pipe costs the flend
cents.
The pipe itself requires an expenditur