The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-05-03
China Protests Smuggling
 By Japs
BY EDNA LEE BOOKER, International News Service Staff Cor
 reSDOndeDt,


 II respondent.
 | Shanghai, May 3.-Declaring that the Japanese are perpetuating the opium curse in a very wide area of 1 China, the Chinese press Is denounc- ing Japanese dealers in the Illicit sale
 of smuggled opium and morphia.
 The Journal of Commerce, a lead ing Chinese publication. prints the
 which the Japanese smugglers are 1 using to increase the sale of the drugs in China;
 Opium being a poisonous drugs,
 moral obligation by all civilized peo- pies. All our foreign friends have | taken an active interest in the cause | of opium suppression in this country. The worst that foreign nation can do toward this campaign is to with | hold its support.
 But unfortunately in the case of | our Eastern neighbor. Japan we find | that sales in opium for the consump- tion of Chinese are indulged in on a l scale so extensive as to perpetuate the opium curse is a very wide area | of Chinese soil.
 | Not of Recent Origin The history of the illicit traffic fin smuggled opium and mophia on the part of interruptions Japanese Is not | one of recent origin. But it is for the first time that confession of this l crime has come from the lips of Japanese. We have before us a thor ough statement made by the Secre- | tary of the Department of Civil Ad- statement 1t is possible not only to | learn the nature of the abomina-
 ble traffic, but of the sinister meth
 ods employed by the smugglerss to fill their pockets with filthy lucre. 1 If the charges had come from a Chi
 nese source the Japanese would at | once proceed to whitewash their of
 lenses. In the present case white washing would not be so easy. With | the Japanese trade in opium and ] nlorphia in view, we fail to under
 stand the meaning of the claim of | Japanese diplomats to the effect that Japan has at heart the moral welfare l of the nations.
 | Perhaps it will be wondered how | the Japanese come to have all the needed facilities for indulging in the | illicit traffic of smuggled opium and | moItphia on so big a scale. There are | three factors at work which are re- l sponsible for this dep1orable state of | things. In the first place the Japan ese smugglers take full advantage of | the right of immunity from Chinese | law under the shield of eStra-territo- riality. In the second place, these | heartless smugglers are able to out wit the watchfulness of customs in | spectorS by having the obnoxious drugs sent to them as parcels, under the inspection-proof mantle of the Japanese mailbag. In the third place,
 Dairen being Japanese leased terri tory serves as a good and safe mar ket place for dispoSing of the illicit opium which finds in Tsingtau of to- day a second market, with equal fa- | ci1ities.
 1 Commission to Investigate
 At the Washington conference a l definite date had been appointed for 1 the withdrawal of the foreign post | offices in China The question of the ab bolttion of extra-territoriality will | largely hinge on the report of the in l ternatfonal commission that will | visit China for the purpose of inves- | this country. Since any one nation may assert it's right in agreeing wholly or partially with reservations l to the findings of this commission, Japan will be sure to come forward with the argument that the time IS | yet premature for the abolition of eX- | tra-territorianty in China. In the | case of Japanese leased territories we | find that Japan has been c1inging like a bulldog in Dairen and Port Arthur | although the restoration of Tsingtau under certain stipulated conditions 1 had been agreed upon. This survey l of Japan's attitude regarding the inn portant issues with which the illicit l traffic in opium and kindred drugs are intimately associated, leads to the l one obvious conclusion, namely, that as long as the Japanese smugglers can avail themselves of the present privi- | leges which give them a free hand to carry on the condemnab1e traffic in the campaign for the suppression of opium in China will be confronted with singlar difficulties which initiate against it's complete success"