Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-25

bSen uTS6Q With HUGH JuSbitt Tia
England, and not the Indians, is re-
sponsible for the opium industry in
India, and that if England's conscience
now bids her put an end to the bust
ness she should not leave it to Indian
peasants to pay the bill 1t is more
than likely in fact, that sooner or later
the British Government viii be called
on to contribute part of the cost of the
abolition of the industry particularly
as the Indian peasants, who will have
to pay more for their salt, and the
rulers of the native states, whose reve-
nues have been swept away from them
at the stroke of a pen, were not so
much as consulted by Great Britain
when she made her agreement with
China.
The loss of $20000,000 of revenue to
India does not mark the sum of Eng
lands obligations, however All her
colonies in Eastern Asia will be seri
ously affected. One-third of the reve-
hue of Hong Kong is derived from the
government opium farm. The Fed
Grated Malay States obtain from ten
to twelve per cent of their revenues
from taxes on imported opium and
from licenses, while about half the
cost of running the Straits Settle
ments is betrayed from the same
source. Holland is not quite so deep
ly concerned as Great Britain for the
profits of her opium regime in the
Dutch East Indies amount to only
$2,500,000 annually; but France has
her problem in Indo China, where the
imported drug is government
and furnishes one-sixth of
the total colonial revenue; while Siam
is in more serious position still, for
from fifteen to twenty per cent. of the
money with which she has been or
ganizing a modern government along
Western lines has been provided by
the profits from licensed opium. All
these states will be obliged to find
large new sources of revenue if the ma
lions participating in the present con-
ference decide on the complete sup
preston of the trade.
Ghina's problem is naturally the
most serious. Her revenues will have
to be completely recognized. 1t is
hard to get accurate statistics, but the
annual return from all the taxes on
opium, provincial and imperial, seems
to have been until recently about $50
oo9, 600. The Province of Szechuan,
which furnished about two-thirds of
the nativegrown opium, has been
largely dependent on the revenue de-
rived from it. 1t is an interesting
fact that Szechuan, the province in
which the suppression of poppy eulti-
vation has been the most severe. is also
the province which gave birth to the
present revolution. The ostensible
cause of the outbreak was a foreign
railway loan, but much dissatisfaction
at the opium suppression undoubtedly
existed among the poppy growers and
the lower classes.
From the moment of its inception
the movement in China has been a re-
one. In the face of immense
opposition, at the bidding of an almost
powerless Central Government, ma
ton that was universally declared to
be sunk in apathy suddenly aroused it.
self to action and, TO use the homely
figure, practically lifted itself by it's
boot-straps' out of the slough into
which it had fallen. The exact extent
to which the vice has been stamped
out to date is a matter of estimates
and figures, which will not be known
until the present conference makes
public its full report. There is no
doubt, however, about the main fact.
China set out to down opium and she
has made good"
China Really in Earnest.
The methods pursued by the Gov
eminent in coping with the situation
have been sngularly businesslize
Notice was given that the production
and use of the drug must cease with
in ten years. Provision was made
that in every province the acreage
sown to peppies shoiild beTdecreased
by at least oheEtenth each Year. Opt
UNI dens Were ordered closed within
six months and the sale of apparatus
was declared illegal after one year
from the date of the decree. All
smokers were required to register
their names and such of them as
We're under sixty years Of age We're
to decrease their allowance of opium,
one-fifth annually. Finally, al man
darins and officers in Government
employ were commanded to discontin-
ne the use of the drug within sin
months, under pain of dismissal from
office.
1t goes without saying that such
laws We're too sweeping to be carried
out to tie letter. A hundred ways
were found to circumvent them, more
often than not with the active sup
port of the local officers. 1t is toler-
ably certain that the Government at
Peking had no idea when it issued
the first decree that very much would
come of 1t. The amazing success of
the movement, as surprising to the
authorities as to any foreigner, is due
to the force of public opinion The
great majority of the Chinese people
believed that the time had come to
throw off the letters of opium. They
insisted that the laws should be en-
forced and they were. Anti-opium
societies We're formed in all the prov
inces Vast quantities of pipes and
other smokers paraphernalia We're
collected and publicly burned Pres
sure was brought To bear on man
darlns to do their duty and in some
districts the Jealous officers even
went so far as to behead persons who
refused to comply with the imperial
commands Public opinion that most