Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-12-19
PORTUGUESE OPIUM
|. FARM IS OPERATED
|. UNDER GOVERNMENT
BY JUNIUS b. WOOD

Chicago Daily News-Copyright, 1927
MACAO, Dec. 1S.-Down one side
of the long, dimly-lit room filled
with the sweetly pungent smell of
baking opium, 100 hard-muscled
Chinese, naked from the waist up
ward, were silently working in front
of as many low charcoal furnaces.
Over each furnace was a bright
brass basin filled with q black,
sticky mass which the tender was
kneading with a spade-shaped piece
of wood. AS the glow from the Goals
illuminated the expressionless faces
and the slowly perspiring bodies,
one might have thought the scene
one from Dante's Inferno. Instead
it was the Portuguese governments
opium farm" and the silent work
ers were preparing the drug Of
death for China.
Hongkong also has such a farm"
These farms are the principal finan.
cial support-the official excuse for
their existence-of the rich colonies
of the two nations-Great Britain
and Portugal, which claim to have
brought civilization to China"
Great Britain supplies raw opium
for both farms from India. Of the
gross receipts from the British colo
ny's farm" 20 per cent goes direct
ly to England. Portugal does not
have a fixed percentage, but usual
ly an even larger proportion of the
earnings goes to Lisbon.
Great Profits
The drug of slow death is profit
able. The farms bring roughly ST..
100000 gold a year to Macao and
more than 100000 to Hongkong.
and the raw opium for both. Then
India profits on her fields Of peoples
there are the smugglers and others
more reputable who thrive financial
ly. Opium has founded many for
tune in the Orient, and after the sec
ond generation its telltale smell is
gone and the dope smugglers' sons
are eligible to places on colonial
councils, to knighthood or other
hOnors. The smokers sons do not
have a place in colonial society.
Lee Hi Sam, who holds the Macao
concession this year, in the name
of Lee Sing Co., resides in Hong.
kong. Familiarity and official en-
enlargement have made the opium
trade reputable in Macao, the same
as fan-tan and the lottery. The
opium farm and the gambling
houses compete with the ruins of
the cathedral, the forts and castles
and the picturesque houses Of faded
reds, blues and greens as sights for
visitors. The farm" which is &C.
tually a factory, is on the water
front, and everybody coming by boat
that being the only way to, reach
Macao--can read the sign Macao
Opium Farms" in black letters
foot high across it's yellow front. AT
the Hongkong farm visitors need
permit from the police.
Price for Concessions
When the Macao concession was
last auctioned in 1920, Mr.. Lees Of
fer was to pay $2,291 900 in gold
year to the Portuguese colony. After
the first year he induced the govern
ment to reduce the amount to ST..
100000. His concession expires in
August, 1923.
Ihe British government authorizes
India to furnish Macao with 500
chests of raw opium a year. The
Hongkong farm takes about the
same amount. A chest contains 40
balls, each weighing four pounds
and each worth $29 So. The sticky
substances from four of the leaf
wrapped balls bakes down into $50
taels Il tael equals 1-3 ounces or
100 to $50 "pipes') of the best grade
of prepared opium ready for smok.
ing.
Macao's best grade sells for SIS. so
gold tael in a can and Hongkong's
for So. 81. Profits from the inferior
grades pay the expenses of the
plants. 1t is easy to figure out that
each FARMS annual gross profits
should be between $3,5OO,O00 and s4,.
100000 and India's between $780,.
900 and S1,500,0OO.
The difference in price encourages
smuggling from Macao to Hongkong.
Prices and conditions in China en-.
courage smuggling from both those
colonies and from Singapore and
Persia.
Smugglers' Discounts
Neither colonial government VIC
iates the civil law to the extent of
officially countenancing smuggling.
However the Macao farm recognizes
that such an adjunct to business has
It's advantages and gives smugglers
a special discount from the monopoly
list prices. The monopoly does not
assume any risk but its patrons
must furnish proof that they are
bona fide smugglers-of their com.
merclal integrity in other Words
IN order to get the discount.
After the raw opium comes in it
is alternately baked and dried several
times in the brass basins. Then it is
soaked in water and run through
litter paper. The first run is baked
again until it is the pure prepared
opium of the first grade. What re-
mains in the filters is treated fur.
Their for the inferior grades.
Have a pipe and see if you en-.
JOY it" is the hospitable invitation
to visitors as they leave the depres-
sing Workrooms and are escorted to
the offices with the silver inlaid
teakwood tables and cots in the re.