The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-09
The Governments Efforts to Abolish the Use of the
 Deadly Drug.
COUNTRY ENFEEBLED BY IT
Many of the Official Profoundly in Earnest in Enforcing the
 Regulations.

| in China Is largely due to the convic-
 ton of the Chinese, to which the ex-
 ample of Japan has powerfully con-
 tributed. that they can never be a
 strong nation, whom the great mili-
 tary powers of the West will respect
 until they get rid of a habit which
 saps the energy of officers ar.d men
 and is fatal to the efficiency of an
 army. Whatever the origin of the
 movement, patriotic Englishman can
 but rejoice in it. and desire to help it
 forward in every possible way, as
 some little atonement for the wrong his country has done to China in this
 mater in the past Yet it would be de- plorable that the wealth and energy
 saved to the Chinese nation by it's
 redemption from the course of opium
 should be squandered in huge arma-
 ments. Occasionally opportunities oc-
 cur, however, of bringing this side of
 the question before the Chinese
 An instance of this occurred on my
 visit to Hanyang, one of the three
 great cities which surround the con-
 fiuence of the Han with the Yang
 tse-kiang, in the heart of China, 300
 miles from the sea, Hankow and Wu-
 chang being the other two. My friend,
 Rev. Joseph s. Adams, an EngIishman
 in the service of the American Bap-
 tist mission. invited me to take part
 in their Sunday morning service, and
 told the congregation, through his interpretation. how the Sunday before Christmas is largely observed in Eng
 land and other countries as peace Sunday. l dwelt on the fact that al-
 though we are no longer witnessing a
 great war such as that which was go- ing on in north China only two years
 ago, the nations of the earth are still facing one another with suspicion and fear and keeping up huge armaments for mutuyl defense, but made no spe-
 cial reference to China in this connec-
 ton. After quoting saving of Men, cius that there was no such thing as
 a righteous war, l referred to the opi-
 um war, which resulted in forcing the |
 wicked war, and expressed grahfica-
 ton at the national repentance shown
 in Englands wish at the present time
 to cooperate with the Chinese gov-
 ernment in suppressing the traffic.
 After hymn had been sung a vem-
 erable native pastor came forward and
 applied what had been said about the
 burdens of militarism to his own coun-
 try Why was food so dear, he asked
 as compared with what 1t formerly
 was? Because of the armies that are
 being raised, who do not work them
 selves, but depend on the farmer
 who, according to Chinese saving,
 feeds everybody. Then. too, these
 men learn to play cards and gamble,
 they despise work. they become the
 bullies of their neighborhood. Pass
 ing to the opium question. he said that the physical effects of opium were manifest, but far more serious are the
 moral effects on those who yield to the habit. He had been greatly mov- , ed by hearing an Englishman confess the sin of his own countip and ex- , press sympathy for Chinas sufferings
 from opium. In China, he said the , people of one city do not care for what happens in another city: one pro-
 vince is quite indifferent to the evils |. of the next. Yet people far away in England had been working and pray
 ing to put an end to the evils of opi-
 um in China. Only the grace of God
 could produce this result
 A wellknown patriotic Chinese gen tleman In Hong Kong expressed tc me his fear that the armies which
 are now being raised in China may lead to internecine war between its
 provinces A missionary at Canton tc t whom this remark was repeated con. { cured in thinking this not unlikely , and told me of the terrible clan fight; | which he had witnessed.
 ' As regards opium I find the same e universal and cordial welcome amons r the Chinese in China as in the Malay l peninsula For five weeks I had thu . company of Rev. Check Hong Cheons Y from Melbourne, whose meetings on thu s opium question in the United King V dom IS years ago will he remembered o by many, and who has been for 2 f years the leader of the movement il n Australia which eliminated a yea a ago in the total prohibition of the i'm d port of opium into the commonwealth S except for medical use He is also con s vinced both of the incompatibilitv q - war with Christianity and of the folf! q of establishing great standing arm, - in China. We had some very influentia e meetings, especially in Foochow - where a grest-grandson of Commis e sioner Lin, the opium destroyer, pre- | sided at great reception; and il e Shanghai. where number of gentle g men holding high official position Il were on the platform.
 That many of the officials are pro
 foundly in earnest in putting into ex
 ecution the recent imperial regulation n for the suppression of opium is clea n from various facts that have come t O our notice. Tn Soochow, the capital O e Kiang-su province. the provineia 1T treasurer. whose office is only secon e to that of the governor, had all tn IS opium smoking officials brought be e fore him. and informed them tha n they would be allowed three months t r. get rid of the habit, during whic o time substitutes would be provided d do their work. and that if they wer Il not then cured they would be dis n missed. This gentleman subscribes s1O D. a month to the local anti-opium soci le etv. and takes keen interest in il e work. In the same city the governo ,e fixed the 18th instant, being the frs r. day of the 11th moon. Chinese caler lg dar, as the date from which the si in months will run, at the close of whic T. all opium-smoking shops (opiun dens