The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-01-24
China Awakened Throws
Off Deadly Habit .
SMOKING PROHIBITED
Sale Of Pipes. Lamps and Other Ap-
pliances Must Cease Within q
Year-Vigorous Measures to Dis.
pei Legacy Forced Upon 1t by
Christian Traders.

tle slavery of opium smoking forced
ol her by the Christian traders. For
more than hundred years she has
been prostrated by the pungent
fumes of the drug-the most pre-
cious and the most deadly known in
materia medica.
The situation is not conceivable to
an American. The problem is more
serious than the slavery or trust
question In the United States. The
insidious Chinese vice is not sectional
or of class. A conservative esti-
mate places the number of victims of
the opium habit in China at 100,-
100000, or one-fourth more than
the population of the United Statss,
says the New York Times.
In the tropical meadows of India,
in Persia, Turkey, and Egypt arc
great fields of poppies-red, purple
and white. AS the sun sets, dark
skinned natives pass among them
wounding the green pods. To-mor-
row they will return and scrape
away the milky juice that has flowed
from the wounds, and dry and
knead 1t for weeks until 1t becomes
reddish-brown cake. 1t Is packed
in great bales, and, under the old
order os things, the Christian trader
started with it for China to sell 1t to
the Mongolians
Curiously enough, the story of
opium in China is record of official
condemnation and individual abuse,
of theoretical morality and actual
vice. Opium was not much used be-
fore the seventeenth century. AS
early as 1895 edicts of the Chinese
Imperial Government declared the
traffic in the drug to be illegal. The
DEGREES were not enforcd. OF what
value were prohibitions when even
the men who spread them abroad
were victims of the vice? The mer-
chants connived in the opium trade.
They found 1t profitable. The Brit
ish Government refused to suppress
re traffic Why should China heed
Ne condemnation of the Christian
" itsionaries, when they could see
people of British India profiting
. the Chinese opium trade in sums
nging from S5,OOO,OOO to $S,OOO,-
600 a year?
IN August 1906 China asked the
Government of British India to con-
sent to the annual reduction of the
importation of opium into China in
such a way as to end the trading in
ten years. AS an evidence of good
faith, it was announced that the en-
ployment of opium smokers by the
Imperial Government would be for
bidden, and that the cultivation Of
the poppy in China would cease in
ten years
The imperial edict, made public on
September 21, expressed the deter
mination of the Throne to eradicate
the evil effects Of the widespread use
OF opium, and the Council of State
Affairs was commanded to draft reg
ulations giving effect to the decree
and providing for restrictions In the
cultivation of the poppy. 1t was also
provided that negotiations should be
opened with the British, French,
Dutch and Persian Ministers to ter
inmate the importation of opium in
ten years. The importation Of mo-
phia and hypodermics was pro-
hibited.
The regulations for the cure OF
those addicted to the vice apply to
several classes. All under 60 years
Of age must reduce the amount of
opium consumed 90 percent. yearly,
so that their use of 1t shall cease In
Ave years. They must also pay IL
cense fees for the privilege of using
opium. II they have not broken
themselves OF the habit in ten years
they will be publicly disgraced. Gov
ernment officials under sixty years
of age must give up the use of the
d. G In six months, and the soldiers,
g. lors, teachers and scholars In
three months. Anti-opium literature
will be distributed, the formation of
anti-opium societies is being encour-
aged, and medicines will be prepared
for those who seek to break them
selves Of the habit.
All places for smoking the drug
must be closed within six months.
Smoking is prohibited in places of
public resort. The sale of pipes,
lamps, and other appliances must
cease within a year. All shops in
which opium is sold must be regis
tered, no new ones can be opened,
and those In existence must show
decreased sales each year, or they
will be closed and their contents con-
fscated. All the shops must cease
to exist In ten years.
A large part of the credit for this
great reform is given 70 Wang-Ta-
seth, the Chinese Ambassador to
Great Britain, reformer who re-
Gently formulated Constitution for
China. His plans for the abolition
of the opium vice were put into
shape by Tang-Shao-yi in Pekin, and
finally, through the influence of
Viceroy Yuan Shih-kai, were adopt
ed by the Council Of State Affairs.
1t Is not what an advertiser pays