El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-03-12
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
ON
The Drug Habi-Amercan Society from the Underworld the
Unemployed c F1aS us hundreds of Thousands Drug DvOee
81 ELLA WHERLEP w1Icnr -

W. HEN you talk about the opium
/ w habit Of the Chinese people
do you know who started
them on this long lane which has so
few turnings Cand those turnings al
ways dOwnward?)
Those pagan people" were forced
into the opfum traffic by the most
! orthodox OF Christian nations, the
! British
opium brings England $2O,OOO,oOO a
J year.
/ At one time a parliamentary COM
/ mission was appointed to Investigate
! the effect of opium on the Chinese race
and the British official in charge Of
/ the matter SWore roundly that II was
/ no more harmful than 'twiddling ones
/ thumbs"
This in face OK the awful evils which
result from the drug. To such depths
viii a desire for financial profit drag
| Christians.
America is honeycombed with opium
denS. And American society, from the
underworld to the unemployed rich,
has its hundreds Of thousands Of drug
devotees.
Ask the messenger boys OF any OF
our large cities what they know about
It These boys are the gObetWeens
who bring the drugs to the unfOrCun-
ate victims Of the habit in dens of
vice and in palatial homes, Oftentimes
house would not permit the poison to
enter in any regular manner. But the
messenger boy can always enter. Just
as the physician can always enter
In the days Of our pilgrim fathers
and their successors there was no such
IhIng as a drug menace. It seemed
TO enter America during the civil war
And since then it has grown, until il
is a colossal evil, aided and abetted
by large percentage of physicians
ana helped by druggists and virtually
ignored by the church aud society.
Sorrow Is Turned Into JOY.
A woman has written from facts a
most remarkable novel in which This
national menace is terribly and truth
Iully depicted The book of Job gives
the title to this novel in the follow
ing quotation on the fly leaf:
Canst thou draw out I,eviatban
with hook? Upon the earth thee
IS not one like him. He is king over
al the children Of pride When he
IalseIh himself up, the mighty are ,
AFRAID. In his neck remaineth strength
him.
It is because Of this last sentence
perhaps, that the dread drug can be |
most ukened to LeViathan. siace so 1
many sad souls and troubled hearts 1
ana suffering bodies find Temporary !
Joy IN the merciless grasp of The /
But God and all his hosts Of minis.
terlng angels must come to the rescue /
Oh one VINO seeks such joy, for the end |
Is misery, shame and despair.
me author has painted in vivid col
ors the terrible fight made by a brave
souI TO overcome the drug habit after
IL mad been contracted and after re-
peaJed efforts to abandon it. and sno
7nds her great book with her hero
.ured and in perfect health and the
-aLher of robust children.
me author makes this charge.
opium, Iaudanum. mOrphia etc IS |
lot the tragedy of the underworld. nor
II the lap dog world. It is the TRAGEDY
II the working world-of doctors.
Prlters lecturers, scientists. teachers. (
'tudents-bOth men and women"
Then she adds:
1t a national problem that cannot
'e settled by sending one man or even
many to jail It's a monster that mas
rawled up out Of the dark on the
american people. What are we gong
o do about it? What are the doctors
,olng. to do about it. the federal au-
horlties, public spirited men and Zy0.
len, public opinion, the press?
1t is national problem, and watch
lg boundaries, guarding ports. max
lg occasional raids, can accomplish I
ut little to keep back the evil; medi-
q! men united, an aroused public /
DInlon, the work Of women, the press.
suppose, could do everything. Here !