Evening star., 1925-01-23
The Issue at Geneva.

With the American and the British
delegations deadlocked, the effort to
solve the worlds opium problem at
Geneva seemed, Wednesday morning,
destined to bear little If any fruit.
Then the Swedish delegation came for
ward with a proposal TO adjourn the
conference until Saturday while a
commission made a last attempt to
reconcile the British and American
points OF view. The proposal was ac-
cepted.
The American program, boiled down
TO It's essentials. cmtemplates two
main planks, to the end that opium,
save as a medicinal or scientific agent,
may be done away with. The first
calls for a worldwide control Of the
production of opium, so that there may
be none available for non-scientific
consumption. The second calls for
worldwide suppression of the opium
smoking habit through a progressive
reduction of the annual importation Of
opium by each country represented at
the conference.
Opposition to the American plan has
developed chiefly in the British dele
cation. which has been supported in
'Sts position by the French, the Dutch
and the Portuguese groups. 1t is
based upon the contention that the
British government cannot pledge
itself 10 the suppression of q vice
when It knows beforehand that, be-
cause OF the uncomfortable Illicit pro-
duction of opium in China, such sup
preston cannot be achieved; and that
the American plan is in certain OF Its
ramifcations an unwarraRted interfer-
ence in the individual colonial prob
lens of nations with colonies in the
East, in that, while it is proper for the
conference to deal with the problem
of international traffic in opium, the
problem of what India-grown opium
shall be consumed in India is one to
be solved by India and the British
government.
It should be noted, as one contem-
plates the chances for a fruitful out
come at the conference, that the clash
between the British and the American
delegations arose over but one OF the
two principal American planks--that
dealing with opium smoking. The
British insist that the process Of sup
pressing opium-smoking progressively
over period of Is years shall only be
inaugurated when a commission ap-
pointed by the conference shall an
nounce that China is sufficiently in
control Of Chinese opium to prevent
smuggling in the drug. The Ameri-
cans insist that the 15-year period
should be started at once and that
the problem Of Chinese opium-smug-
Cling should be dealt with while the
process of international suppression of
opium-smoking is being put into ef-
feet.
The other plank of the American
program--the plank which would
limit the production Of opium to the
amount required for scientific pur-
poses-has not as yet been touched by
the conference. It still lies in the
hands Of a significantly silent com
rnittee. And it is charged with in
nniteIy greater possibilities for discord
than the opium-smoking plank, in that
it involves what its opponents claim to
be an invasion of the rights Of a ma
1ion to solve its own colonial problems.
The opium smoking plank inspired
British opposition largely as a matter
of academic doubts as to It's practi-
eality, for opium is not smoked in
India, but eaten. The opium -produc-
tion plank, when it comes from COM
xnittee, will, from every indication,
meet with even sitter challenge.
It is earnestly to- be hoped that the
ncrimony Of the recent discussions
may be forgotten when the delega-
tions meet again tomorrow. For
6f the problem IS to be solved at all,
and solved it should be, it will only
be through patient, earnest, sincere
eKort.
There is ariStocracy even among