The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-16
special permit from the customs will
he p0nfScafpd

be co~nhscated.
As to Raising Opium.
The greater par of the opium used
in China is raised at home. That i'm
ported from India amounts to mill
lions of dollars a year, but a far
greater quantity is grown upon Chi
nese soil Poppy plantations are cul-
tvated as far north as Manchuria.
and Their are provinces in southern
and western China where opium Is
one Of the principal crops. h re-
cucing of the areas of cultivation is
causing a considerable loss TO the
farmers. The government realizes
this, but. nevertheless, it insusts that
the laws be enforced. According to
them, no ground can be planted to
peoples, and the old fields must be
cut down one-tenth of their original
size every year.
In some provinces the vfceroys
have ordered the immediate stoppage
of all cultivation of opium. and in
others they have RENTED the taxes
for five or ten years upon opium lands
which ave been turned over to other
rop In Yunnan the soldiers ave
been directed to dig up the poppy
fields, and the viceroy of Making re-
Gently issued An order hat his farm
ers must destroy their opium seeds,
and that such as had planted them
should dig their fields over and put
in something else.
All the Opium-raising lands have
been registered and the government
at Picking is keeping a close watch
over the amount cultivated The
prince regent has offered medals and
rewards to those who have changed
their crops from the p to grains.
and they are to be freed from ma
tional taxes for a fixed period.
In short, there is no doubt about
the earnest and active efforts of the
officials and Of a large part of the
people to do away with the opium
habit. Many are resolved that It
must be cut out of China at any cost,
and the government is willing to sub
nit to the enormous loss of revenue
which it entails, for the good of the
people.
Millions Of Opium Smokers.
On the other hand. 1t is a question
whether the opium evil is anything
like SO great as is generally supposed.
It has been stated that more han
100, 600, 600 of the Chinese are opium
users. Some will tell you that the
whole race is drugged and that all
the men. women and children use
opium daily. This is uatrue on it's
face. I doubt whether h opium
habit is as prevalent among the Chi
nese as the whiskey and beer drink
ing habit is among the English. Ger
mans or Americans. In the first
place, it is costly, and the bulk of the
1lIut dIc pOOI- ASfAA Tic dIIlOun
of opium raised in China is pretty
we'll known, and we have accu-
rate statistics of all that is imported.
Foreigners estimate the total annual
consumption at something like 40. 00o,a
600 pounds. If this were divided
equally among the people, 1t would
equal only one ounce per year per
head. Now the average confirmed
smoker takes about three mace q
day, or ninety mace in one month.
Ten mace makes an ounce, and this
would equal nine ounces a month. or
40, 900, 900 pounds by nine gives a
quotient of less than four and one
half millions, the total number OF
confirmed SmOkers required to ON
sumo all the opium raised in China
In other wards. If one-tenth Of the
smokers they would consume all the
opium which China now has. If the
estimate is doubled the number would
be less than 100000
DR.. George Morrison. OF the Lon
don Times, who is one of our most
careful writers on things Chinese and
who knows the country better than
any Chinese I am acquainted with. es-
Inmates the possible at less
thar 5000. 900.
Whiskey Versus Opium.
In face, opium is consumed here
about as much as spirituous liquors
are in England and the United States
Both habits are a mighty evil, and
both cause a vast deal OF misery; but
to say that every man, woman and
child in China is an opium flcnd is
as false on it's ace as it would be to
allege that every man, woman and
child in England and America is ad-
dicted to drunkenness.
In closing this letter I would say
that it will be a long time before the
hopes of the Chinese statesmen and
patriots can come to fruitiOn. The
work of repression is going on rap
idly, but opium is still smoked largely
in secret and an enormous amount Of
u~nderhand selling and smuggling is
done. These people are just as hui
man as we are and the same cOndi-