Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-27
FIGHT 0N0P|UM
GROWS IN CHINA
Drastic Measures by Govern
ment for Suppression of Drug
Shows Reform Feeling.
SMUGGLER is SHOT
BY ORDER OF PEKING
Con6scated Stock of $4,000 Is
Burned at Tientsin Amid Fes-
tival Celebrations.
Foreign Correspondence Of The staF.

PEKfNG. July Il, 1873
From Lanchowfu. the capital of Kansu
province comes the report of man
named Hsi who was arrested last Feb
ruary with two coffins in his possession
containing the remains of near relatives.
around which were packed 1000 ounces
of opium which he was taking with the
corpses into Shansi. IT is the custom OF
| the Chinese to take their dead In huge
wooden collins back to the place OF their
birth.
The prisoner was tried and sentenced TO
ten years Imprisonment. The case then
was referred to the central government
in Picking, and the man was sentenced to
death. The execution has just taken
place, the prisoner being shot instead OF
decapitated, as was the practice in the
old days.
! In connection with the suppression of
the use OF opium news reaches Picking
from time To time of some drastic meas
| ure which the government is able To
enforce i'm spite of the disorganization lie
is experiencing as a result OF the reyolu-
| ton. Reports tell frequently Of fighting
between farmers who have formed bands
and armed themselves with the object OF
successfully harvesting crop of opium.
Sometimes the reports tell of Christians
l
even murder because they oppose the
growing of the poppy. The rule of keep
ing hands Off the missionary and his
property, however. Is still generally OBJ
served. as it was throughout the revo-
luton.
Death Sentence Promulgated.
Other reports tell of proclamations
threatening death for a third offense in
1 al mr. ntba
tell of great stocks of the drug being
burned amid festival celebrations.
Some $4,000 worth of confiscated opium
went up In smoke in Tientsin a few
weeks ago while bands played and peo-
pie drank tea and listened to speeches
| telling of the harm opium had done the
Chinese.
| nese alike that such drastic measures
| would not be possible at this period OF
| reconstruction Ii the feeling of the ma
| ton were not in favor of the reform.
The restriction of the importation and
growth has caused the value of opium I'm
| China to be enormously enhanced. Those
who persist In using II must now do so not
only in secret. but at prices which only
| the rich can afford. 1t is now said to be
| beyond the reach of the poor man, sell
| ing as IL does for many times what IL
cost before the suppression began. In
consequence there are great Inducements
to carry on the trade illicitly. and much
smuggling and growing In remote hill
countries Is attempted.
| Chinese Police Clever in Detection.
The cleverness of the Chinese police In
discovering smuggied shipments is shown
| by the instance given above of the big
| burning at Tientsfn. But i'm the country
| they are not always 80 clever, and many
| reports of fields of growing poppy come
| to government notice directly or Indirect
ly through foreign missionaries and their
converts.
An American missionary, +. W. Thwing.
representing the International reform bu-
reau. which has it's headquarters ar
Washing ton. has been devoting practical
ly all his time for number OF years 10
| the suppression of the opium habit. He
has been leading the campaign for the
Chinese where IL came i'm conflict with
foreigners. and. as n result, he has ac-
auired many enemies among those for
eigners interested in the continuance or
the trade.
| Thwing has shown the Chinese how to
organize anti-opium societies and how
| to deal legally and to the best advantage
| with the white men in the business, who
are subject to no Chinese laws but only
| to the jurisdiction of their own consular
courts.
speech i'm Shanghai that, while Chinese
| officials and people have suppressed the
greater part OF the traffic throughout the
country and stamped Ii out altogether in
some provinces the foreign quarter OF
Shanghai was licensing more opium shops
each year.
Traders Flee to Foreign Settlements.
The suppression i'm what Is known as
the native city had forced the opium
traders and the smokers into the foreign
settlements controlled by the foreign
consuls subject to the orders of their gov
ernments.
This. Thwing contends. is contrary to
The Hague opium convention where all
the interested powers agreed TO reduce
the number Of opium shops in the Chinese
territories controlled by them in proper
ton to the reduction made by the Chinese
government
Comment is frequently made on the face
that two of the foremost American in
teres,s i'm China. the sale of cigarettes
and the propagation of Christianity, seri-
ously conflict. Agents of American and
British missionary societies distribute
bibles and agents OF the Britfsh-American
Tobacco Company. which controls the sale
of cigarettes i'm China, both penetrate to
the far interior.
In some remote little towns in the prove
inces bordering Mongolia Thibet or Tur-
kestan the only white men will be two
small hostile groups of Americans, OF
two or three men each, one trying To IN
duce the Chinese to give up their little
water pipes for the cigarette, the other
arguing that all things American are not
good to adopt Generally these two little
groups of men are not on speaking terms
r;uh+u;uo Chuns Women