Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-05-04
OPIUM SMUGGLING AND LIQUOR
SELLING MENAcEs TO CHINA.

SELLING MENACES ~ sCfaiNA.
{Mrs. Rem Yin Mel, Worlds w. c. T.
u. Organizer. Extracts from address
delivered before the local w. c. T..
ID
During the last three years that l
have been associated with the w. G..
T. u. work, 1 have had the privilege
of visiting Mukden, Chill, Nganhuei,
.Shantung, Kansu, Chekiang and XII
angst provinces. Everywhere l visit
ed 1 found men and women using
opium, boys and smart-looking young
ladies smoke cigarettes, respectable
men and women, yes, Christians and
Y. M. C. A. workers drink wine at
feasts. Our street walls are as badly
disfgured with advertisements OF
these as any of the civilized western
countries. Wine shops are open at
every turn of the streets, so no Won
der our people fall victims to these
poisons. Up to the present time, evil
influences have had full sway. Chris
tians have not united their forces to
fight against any Of these, and our
people welcome cigarettes, cigars, al
coholic and soft drinks, and uncen-
sored moving picture shows, as part
r o,,y,1.1otinn
If you had lectured, as l have, to
anultitudes of Chinese students and
business men, you would be surprised
TO find how eager they are to. hear wo-
men speak and to find out from them
the after-efects of these poisons. l
am glad we women folks stand by this
prohibition movement, for after all,
what do men know of the after eff
-fects of alcohol? When they are in
the clutches of liquor they bring de-
.struction to their homes, insanity and
poverty to their children and wives.
Luckily for themselves they die cas-
lily from pneumonia, tuberculosis or
delirium tremens. Intelligent Chinese
men are more than willing to give
up the occasional cup of wine, or the
habit of tobacco smoking, as soon as
they hear that by so doing they are
helping to prevent the japanese from
smuggling into China more of the
opium that is sapping the vitality of
their nation and bringing destruction
to their families. have had the JOY
,of seeing many influential Chinese
stop their lifelong habit of drinking
and smoking as result of my lee
lures. Just to assure me that they are
sill total abstainers, they have sent
me cards and letters to that effect.
Since / came to Shanghai I have
been investigating how opium reaches
our ports and why so many Chinese
IN the French Concession smoke
.opium. I was told that the people in
this settlement can smoke opium as
lawfully as the ricksha coolie can pull
q ricksha-namely, by paying a tax
.avery quarter! Last year the profit
.aers in this Infamous business earned
six million dollars from the poor, en-
shaved Chinese! How much are they
planning to earn this year? China is
borrowing money every year from
other nations in order to help defray
expenses and to pay off some of her
debts. Why not practice some econo-
my on the opium question?
Probably you have heard that the
Japanese send opium through parcel
post from Manchuria, where they
have their own sentry. But they do
not send all of it that way. A great
deal of it is being shipped into the
country with the cow hides, some in
milk cans and some in shoe soles.
And now they have induced the Chi
nese merchant to manufacture plates
of copper sheet between which they
sandwich opium. 1t is also packed in
umbrella handles and in the handles
.of picture scrolls. And so, through the
hands of unprincipled people, China
is being exploited in more than one
way.
We w. C. 7. U. workers are doing
all we can to help, enlighten the
masses ofthe people with knowledge
of the evils of opium and alcoholics.
If they once can know the evils of
these drugs they will abhor them as
we do. We are spreading our work
by organizing the w. c. 7. U. in all
the boys and girls schools and col
leges, by lecturing and holding mass
meetings, and by writing articles for
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