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

The assembling of the internatiena
opium conference, which has just be
gun it's second session at The Hague
will undoubtedly go down TO history
one of the most important achieve
ments of the United States in the fiel'
Of Far Eastern diplomacy. While tn
Chinese people deserve full credit 10
the remarkable movement to abolish
opium smoking in their own country
il is primarily due to the United State
that the question has become an inter
national one, involving many govern
nents and the regulation and suppress
sion of a worldwide trade in injurious
irugs. The proceedings of the presen
conference will be of unusual interest,"
fssr this reason, but still more so be-
cause theSahferefce Is expected tc
ievote special attention to the eeeno'
mic aspect of the problem. the great
importance of which is only just be-
ginning to be realized.
The suppression of the opium trade
a.aAsja today means little less than an
An1asnic revolution. Millions of dol
ms invested in the business Will have
10 seek new channels. Hundreds oil
thousands of peasants in India and
china will be thrown out of employ
uent. Vast tracts of agricultural land
win have to be put to less profitable
nepsd Above all, new sources of rev.
niue must be found by dozen Aslatic
governments to take the place OF the
,pitliiisfarms and regies" which hith-
arto have proved so profitable. Indeed,
he outcome of the present delibera-
lions at The Hague. will have an im7
s6fta1t effect tipafis such seemingly un-
.eIated nattsrsas the cost of living in
Siam. the extension of education in
India. and the success of the Chinese
revolution. aae 99
stsis hard to realize the magnitude of
he opium trade or the important part
t has. played in the economic life OF
Asia. Perhaps figure or two will give
some conception of it. 1t is estimated
hat the profit on Indian opium, or the
amount paid by China and Eastern
Asia for that drug above it's cost price
Turing the last century and quarter,
amounts to something over two billion,
,ne hundred million dollars. The In
.ently about SIG, oo0, 900 a year for its
sniBa. which is grown as Govern
nent monopoly. Opium occupies Sec
md place on the list of Chinese i'm
sorts although at the beginning of the
present crusade imported opium repre-
septe6, barely one-seventh of the total
amount consumed in China. That
amount reached in one year the enor-
nous total of 22.5SS tons and supplied
The needs of at least 100000 smokers.
IN The Countries Affected.
The growth of the opium poppy is
practically confined to four countries:
China India, Persia and Turkey Opt
lfffi is said 10 have been introduced in
ID China by the Arabs in the thirteenth
century, but the habit of smoking it
lid not gain much Roadway until well
into the seventeenth century. At first
The drug Vas entirely imported, but
Early in the last century the poppy be-
came one of China's staple crops. AT
the time when the present agitation
began, over three million acres were
pfanted to peoples annually. Opium
was introduced into India by the Mo
hamfnedans, and the growth of the
much prized poppy became monopoly
IF the Mogul Government. from which
II passed to the East India Company
and thence to the British Government
Practically all the opium used in east
erfi Asia, exclusive of China, comes
from this source. Persia and Turkey
both produce opium, but in much
smaller quantities. The drug is expor-
ted in a crude state to Europe and
trade and serves as basis for the
manufacture of morphine.
The problem of REIMBURSEMENT in all
four Of these countries will be no easy
)ne to solve. British India. as the larg
est exporting country, will be one of
the earliest to suffer. The production
1fg,opium there is Government monop-
oily and yields large annual reve-
nue. Opium is also grown in several
of the native states, notably Indore,
Gwalior and Bhopal. When the Chi
taese Government, in 1906. announced
It's intention of putting an end to the
national vice the British Government
agreed to cooperate with Peking, and
IN 1907 undertook to reduce its exports
to China annually by 500 chests, or
one-tenth of the total amount at that
date Last May u futher agreement
was. entered into whereby India under
took to continue the reductions; to
send opium TO no Chinese province in
which production had ceased and to
discontinue the trade altogether as
soon as China could prove that it had
suppressed its own production entirely.
AT first the higher prices realized for
Jpium offset the reduction in imports.
,itt today the Indian Government is
'acing an immediate deficit of many
millions of dollars in its revenues. To
make this good a large loan will have
TO be fioated or new taxes levied
which. will fall largely on poor peas
ants, who can i'll afford TO pay more
than--ahey already do. At the same
tirRF the crying need tor the extension
IF education -Iess than six per cent. OF
the' inhahitailts of India can read and
wr4te@-will have to remain a crying
nesq :f6r some time to come, for lacR
Of MHlas to pay for II. The native
states are in a still worse position
Some Of them are almost entirely de,
pendent on the opium reyenne to carrs
on stheir administration and wouls
iarfeSay avoid bankruptcy If ina
should he suddenly abolished. At the
saRe time new uses will have to b.