The daily worker., 1925-02-14

i"reereations officially so termed In
voIving state opium traffic, state gam
bling hells and government controlled
pawnproking-are undertaken as .
means whereby to attract immigrant
Chinese labor. e#
THE problem in Persia is quite 9TH
erwise. Here Britain holds the
state opium revenues among other
things as security for debts totalling
s92,OOO.OOO. 1t is an instructive side
light on capitalist hypocrisy to recall
that at the moment Persia was sign
ing the conditions Of the 1919 Hague
Opium conference (which she never
later ratifed) britain was simuItane-
ousIy loanina to her money on the
strength Of opium revenues referred
to. ~ -'issi fT w A'e' Es ,, ase-
IEOR the three years beginning 1919,
Persia produced 162 tons; 149 +
tons and ,162. tons; and in the same
period Britain purchased from her 1873
tons, 80 tons and 121 tons respective
ly (The IL per cent. morphine content
of Persian opium is 4 per cent strong
er than Indian) This provides ia
striking commentary upon the extent
of England's drug industries. Rus
| sia's opium imports from Persia drop
ped from 3OO,S72 lbs. in 1917 to S2,S26
lbs. in 1921.
ONCE 1S43 when Britain defeated
- China and compelled her at the
point of the bayonet to throw her
doors open to the import of Indian
opium the situation-excepting the
noble effort 1907-1917 has intensely
become worse. Britain from Hong
Kong; Portugal from Macas; (where
in 1920 the opium state rights were
sold to private company for the an
nual sum of 100000 dollars); France
from Indo China; Japan and until re-
Gently America also, have and still
continue to proftably debauch China
and her people.
AS result China joins suicide with
murder. The China year book (1924)
estimates that China herself produces
annually not less than 20 million lbs.
of opium. DR.. WI Lien (Pekin Times
1920 gave publicity to the still more
appalling statement: That the import
of morphia increased from 5H tons
in 1911 to 221s tons in 1918.
THE UNITED STATES also has a
L huge drug problem. The state
treasury estimates there exist over
one million drug addicts.s Independ-
ent authorities, however, place the
figure as high as four millions. Lead
ing criminologists state that 60 per
cent-100 per cent of the inmates of
reformatories and some prisons are
drug addicts.
OF these 80 per cent are heroin ad-
diets. This drug can be easily Snug
gled. The life of heroin addict av-
erages % years. One dose for six
successive days makes an addict; one
ounce is sufficient to make 1000 such
addicts within one week. 1t prac-
tically destroys all moral and social
responsibility and is responsible for a
large part Of Americas annual 5000
million dollar crime and prevention Of
crimes costs. The United States
| (191015) consumed four times more
drugs than the combined totals of
Britain, France, Italy and Germany.
This means for Americas high capi-
talist development a great danger.
THE interest Of America in the
L opium problem, however is not
fully explained by these important do
nestle difficulties. There are two rea-
sons for its conflict with European
nations over the Far East: (1) The
successful solution of Americas drug
problem is dependent upon the sue
cessful solution of the opium traffic
in the Orient and (2) China Is the
largest and best country wherein the
United States can invest it's surplus
wealth and develop new markets.
/ Sc