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THE OPIUM MONOPOLY
* * * * *
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO . DALLAS
ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
TORONTO
* * * * *
[Illustration: Wrapper of packet of opium, as sold in licensed opium
shops of Singapore. Each packet contains enough opium for about six
smokes.]
THE OPIUM MONOPOLY
by
ELLEN N. LA MOTTE
Author of "Backwash of War," "Peking Dust,"
"Civilization," Etc.
New York
The Macmillan Company
1920
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1920
By The Macmillan Company
Set up and electrotyped. Published January, 1920.
"If this was our battle, if these were our ends,
Which were our enemies, which were our friends?"
_Witter Bynner_, in The Nation.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION ix
I. GREAT BRITAIN'S OPIUM MONOPOLY 1
II. THE INDIAN OPIUM MONOPOLY 6
III. JAPAN AS AN OPIUM DISTRIBUTOR 11
IV. SINGAPORE 18
V. THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS OPIUM COMMISSION 23
VI. OPIUM IN SIAM 26
VII. HONGKONG 30
VIII. SARAWAK 35
IX. SHANGHAI 37
X. INDIA 44
XI. TURKEY AND PERSIA 54
XII. MAURETIUS 56
XIII. BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 58
XIV. BRITISH GUIANA 62
XV. HISTORY OF THE OPIUM TRADE IN CHINA 65
XVI. CONCLUSION 73
INTRODUCTION
We first became interested in the opium traffic during a visit to the
Far East in 1916. Like most Americans, we had vaguely heard of this
trade, and had still vaguer recollections of a war between Great
Britain and China, which took place about seventy-five years ago, known
as the Opium War. From time to time we had heard of the opium trade as
still flourishing in China, and then later came reports and assurances
that it was all over, accompanied by newspaper pictures of bonfires of
opium and opium pipes. Except for these occasional and incidental
memories, we had neither knowledge of, nor interest in the subject. On
our way out to Japan, in the July of 1916, we met a young Hindu on the
boat, who was outspoken and indignant over the British policy of
establishing the opium trade in India, as one of the departments of the
Indian Government. Of all phases of British rule in India, it was this
policy which excited him most, and which caused him most ardently to
wish that India had some form of self-government, some voice in the
control and management of her own affairs, so that the country could
protect itself from this evil. Without this, he declared, his country
was powerless to put a stop to this traffic imposed upon it by a
foreign government, and he greatly deplored the slow, but steady
demoralization of the nation which was in consequence taking place. As
he produced his facts and figures, showing what this meant to his
people--this gradual undermining of their moral fiber and economic
efficiency--we grew more and more interested. That such conditions
existed were to us unheard of, and unbelievable. It seemed incredible
that in this age, with the consensus of public opinion sternly opposed
to the sale and distribution of habit-forming drugs, and with
legislation to curb and restrict such practices incorporated in the
laws of all ethical and civilized governments, that here, on the other
side of the world, we should come upon opium traffic conducted as a
government monopoly. Not only that, but conducted by one of the
greatest and most highly civilized nations of the world, a nation which
we have always looked up to as being in the very forefront of advanced,
progressive and humane ideals. So shocked were we by what this young
Hindu told us, that we flatly refused to believe him. We listened to
what he had to say on the subject, but thinking that however earnest he
might be, however sincere in his sense of outrage at such a policy,
that he must of necessity be mistaken. We decided not to take his word
for it, but to look into the matter for ourselves.
We did look into the matter. During a stay in the Far East of nearly a
year, in which time we visited Japan, China, Hongkong, French
Indo-China, Siam and Singapore, we looked into the matter in every
country we visited. Wherever possible we obtained government reports,
and searched them carefully for those passages giving statistics
concerning the opium trade--the amount of opium consumed, the number of
shops where it was sold, and the number of divans where it was smoked.
We found these shops established under government auspices, the dealers
obtaining their supplies of opium from the government, and then
obtaining licenses from the government to retail it. In many countries,
we visited these shops and divans in person, and bought opium in them
freely, just as one goes to a shop to buy cigarettes. We found a
thorough and complete establishment of the opium traffic, run by the
government, as a monopoly. Revenue was derived through the sale of
opium, through excise taxes upon opium, and through license fees paid
by the keepers of opium shops and divans. A complete, systematic
arrangement, by which the foreign government profited at the expense of
the subject peoples under its rule. In European countries and in
America, we find the governments making every effort to repress the
sale of habit-forming drugs. Here, in the Far East, a contrary attitude
prevails. The government makes every effort to encourage and extend it.
Two notable exceptions presented themselves. One was Japan. There are
no opium shops in Japan, and the Japanese Government is as careful to
protect its people from the evils and dangers of opium as any European
country could be. It must be remembered, however, that Japan is a free
and independent country. It has never been conquered by a European
country, and perhaps one explanation as to why the Japanese are a
powerful, virile people, is because Japan is the one Oriental nation
that has never been dominated by a European power, and in consequence,
never drugged.
The other exception is our own possession of the Philippines, which
although a subject country, has never had the opium traffic established
as part of the machinery of an alien government.
On our return to America, we were greatly exercised over these facts
which we had unearthed. We continued our researches as to the opium
traffic in the New York Public Library, and in the Library of Congress,
in Washington, in both of which places there is a rich and abundant
literature on the subject. We obtained ready access to official blue
books and government reports, issued by the British Government, and it
is from these sources that the material in this book is largely drawn.
We were somewhat hampered in our investigations by the fact that
because of the war, these blue books have not always been of recent
date, some of them being two or three years old. For this reason, it
has not always been possible to give the most recent figures as to
opium consumption and distribution in the various countries. However,
we feel that we have obtained enough information to uphold our case,
and in any event, there is no doubt that the opium traffic, as fostered
by the British Government, still continues. In looking over the list of
British colonies where it is established, we may find here and there a
diminution in the amount of opium consumed, but this is probably due to
the exigencies of war, to the lack of shipping and transportation,
rather than to any conscientious scruples or moral turnover; because
the revenue derived from the opium trade is precious. In some
instances, as in the case of the Straits Settlements, the local British
Government derives from forty to fifty per cent of its revenue from
this source. Yet, taken in relation to the whole, it is not large.
However valuable it may be, however large the percentage in the case of
any particular colony, it can surely never be large enough to
compensate for the stigma attached. It is a blot upon the honor of a
great nation to think that she deliberately runs her colonies on opium.
No revenue, whether large or small, can be justified when coming from
such a source as this.
In all these blue books and official reports, the question of the Opium
Monopoly, as it is called, is dealt with freely. There is no attempt to
hide or suppress the facts. The subject is reported frankly and fully.
It is all there, for any one to read who chooses. How then, does it
happen that we in America know nothing about Great Britain's Opium
Monopoly? That the facts are new to us and come to us as a shock? One
is because of our admiration for Great Britain. Those who know--and
there are a few--hesitate to state them. Those who know, feel that it
is a policy unworthy of her. We hesitate to call attention to the
shortcomings of a friend. There are other reasons also for this
conspiracy of silence--fear of international complications, fear of
endangering the good feeling between the two countries, England and
America. Consequently England has been able to rely upon those who know
the facts to keep silent, either through admiration or through fear.
Also the complete ignorance of the rest of us has been an additional
safeguard. Therefore, for nearly a century, she has been running her
Opium Monopoly undisturbed. It began as a private industry, about the
time of the East India Company, but later on passed out of the hands of
private individuals into the department of Opium Administration, one of
the branches of the colonial government. But, loyal as we have been all
these years, we can remain silent no longer. The time is now rapidly
approaching when the two countries, England and America, are to become
closely united. How can we become truly united, however, when on such a
great moral question as this we stand diametrically opposed?
There is still another reason why we should break silence. The welfare
of our own country is now at stake. The menace of opium is now
threatening America, and our first duty is to ourselves. Little by
little, surreptitiously, this drug has been creeping in over our
borders, and to-day many thousands of our young men and young women are
drug addicts, habituated to the use of one of the opium derivatives,
morphia or heroin. The recent campaign against drug users, conducted by
the New York Department of Health, has uncovered these addicts in great
numbers; has brought them before us, made us see, in spite of
ourselves, that thousands of them exist and that new ones are being
created daily. The question arises, how do they obtain the drug? It was
the fortune of the writer to be present during the first week of the
opening of the Health Department Clinic for Drug Addicts, and her work
consisted in taking the histories of these pitiful, abject wrecks of
men and women who swarmed to the clinic in hundreds, seeking supplies
of the drug which they could not obtain elsewhere. The history of these
patients was almost invariably the same--there was a monotony in their
tragic, pathetic recital as to how they became victims, how they first
became acquainted with the drug. As a rule, they began in extreme
youth, generally between fifteen and twenty years of age, one boy
having begun at the age of thirteen. In nearly every case they had
tried it as a lark, as an experiment. At "parties," they said, when
some one of the company would pass round a box full of heroin, inviting
them to snuff it. To snuff it, these children, very much as a small boy
goes behind the barn to try his first cigarette. In many instances
those who produced the box were peddlers, offering it as a gift at
first, knowing that after a dose or two the fatal habit would be formed
and another customer created. These peddlers doubtless obtained their
supplies from smugglers. But that takes us back to our argument,
namely, the part played by that great nation which grows and
distributes opium to the world. For that nation produces an over-supply
of opium, far more than is needed by the medical profession for the
relief of pain. Opium is not profitable in its legitimate use. It is
only profitable because of the demands of addicts, men and women
deliberately debauched, either through the legalized machinery of
colonial governments, or through the illegal activities of smugglers. A
moral sentiment that will balk at this immense over-production, the
sole object of which is to create drug victims, is the only weapon to
fight it. In giving this book to the public, we are calling upon that
moral sentiment. We feel that we shall number among our staunchest
supporters that great body of men and women in England who have for
years been vainly fighting the opium traffic. No more bitter opponents
of this policy are to be found than amongst the English people
themselves. From time to time, in Parliament, sharp debates have arisen
as to the advisability of continuing it, and some of the greatest men
in England have been steadfastly opposed. The great Gladstone has
described it as "morally indefensible." The time has now come for us,
people of both countries, to unite to stop it.
THE OPIUM MONOPOLY
I
GREAT BRITAIN'S OPIUM MONOPOLY
In a book shop in Shanghai, we came upon a small book with an arresting
title, "Drugging a Nation," by Samuel Merwin. It was published in 1908,
eight years before we chanced upon it, shabby and shop worn, its pages
still uncut. The people of Shanghai, the great International Settlement
of this largest city and most important seaport of China, did not have
to read it. They knew, doubtless, all that its pages could disclose.
We, however, found it most enlightening. In it there is this
description of the British Opium Monopoly:
"In speaking of it as a 'monopoly' I am not employing a cant word for
effect. I am not making a case. That is what it is officially styled in
a certain blue book on my table which bears the title, 'Statement
Exhibiting the Moral and Material Progress of India during the year
1905-'6,' and which was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed,
May 10, 1907.... Now to get down to cases, just what this Government
Opium Monopoly is, and just how does it work? An excerpt from the
rather ponderous blue book will tell us. It may be dry but it is
official and unassailable. It is also short.
"'The opium revenue'--thus the blue book--'is partly raised by a
monopoly of the production of the drug in Bengal and the United
provinces, and partly by the levy of a duty on all opium imported from
native states.... In these two provinces, the crop is grown under the
control of a government department, which arranges the total area which
is to be placed under the crop, with a view to the amount of opium
required.'
"So much for the broader outline. Now for a few of the details: 'The
cultivator of opium in these monopoly districts receives a license, and
is granted advances to enable him to prepare the land for the crop, and
he is required to deliver the whole of the product at a fixed price to
opium agents, by whom it is dispatched to the government factories at
Patna and Ghazipur.'
"The money advanced to the cultivator bears no interest. The British
Indian government lends money without interest in no other cases.
Producers of crops other than opium are obliged to get along without
free money.
"When it has been manufactured, the opium must be disposed of in one
way and another; accordingly: 'The supply of prepared opium required
for consumption in India is made over to the Excise Department ... the
chests of "provision" opium, for export, are sold at monthly sales,
which take place at Calcutta.' For the meaning of the curious term,
'provision opium' we have only to read on a little further. 'The opium
is received and prepared at the government factories, where the
out-turn of the year included 8,774 chests of opium for the Excise
Department, about three hundred pounds of various opium alkaloids,
thirty maunds of medical opium; and 51,770 chests of provision opium
for the Chinese market.' There are about 140 pounds in a chest.... Last
year the government had under poppy cultivation 654,928 acres. And the
revenue to the treasury, including returns from auction sales, duties
and license fees, and deducting all 'opium expenditures' was nearly
$22,000,000."
As the blue book states, this opium is auctioned off once a month. At
that point, the British Government, as a government, washes its hands
of the business. Who buys the opium at these government auctions, and
what afterwards becomes of it? "The men who buy in the opium at these
monthly auctions and afterwards dispose of it are a curious crowd of
Parsees, Mohammedans, Hindoos and Asiatic Jews. Few British names
appear in the opium trade to-day. British dignity prefers not to stoop
beneath the taking in of profits; it leaves the details of a dirty
business to dirty hands. This is as it has been from the first. The
directors of the East India Company, years and years before that
splendid corporation relinquished the actual government of India,
forbade the selling of its specially-prepared opium direct to China,
and advised a trading station on the coast whence the drug might find
its way 'without the company being exposed to the disgrace of being
engaged in illicit commerce.'"
"So clean hands and dirty hands went into partnership. They are in
partnership still, save that the most nearly Christian of governments
has officially succeeded the company as party of the first part."
You will say, if the British Government chooses to deal in opium, that
is not our concern. It is most emphatically our concern. Once a month,
at these great auction sales, the British Government distributes
thousands of pounds of opium, which are thus turned loose upon the
world, to bring destruction and ruin to the human race. The buyers of
this opium are not agents of the British Government. They are merely
the distributors, through whom this drug is directed into the channels
of trade. The British Government derives a certain portion of its
revenue from the sale of opium, therefore depends upon these dealers to
find a market for it. They are therefore, as distributors, the
unofficial agents of the British Government, through whom it is sold
legitimately, or smuggled around the world. In seeking to eradicate the
drug evil, we must face the facts, and recognize clearly that the
source of supply is the British Government, through whose agents,
official and unofficial, it is distributed.
America, so they tell us, is now menaced by the drug evil. Now that
prohibition is coming into effect, we are told that we are now
confronted by a vice more terrible, far more deteriorating and
dangerous. If that is true, then we must recognize our danger and guard
against it. Some of the opium and morphia which reaches this country is
smuggled in; the rest is imported by the big wholesale drug houses.
There is an unlimited supply of it. As we have seen, the British
Government encourages poppy production, even to the extent of lending
money _without interest_ to all those who are willing to raise this
most profitable crop. The monopoly opium is sold once a month to the
highest bidders, and some of these highest bidders are unscrupulous men
who must find their markets how and where they can. That fact, of
course, is of no moment to the British Government. It is of deepest
concern to Americans, however. To the north of us we have the Dominion
of Canada. To the south, the No-Man's Land of Mexico. At the present
moment, the whole country is alarmed at the growing menace of the drug
habit, which is assuming threatening proportions.
II
THE INDIAN OPIUM MONOPOLY
Let us quote from another dry official record, of unimpeachable
veracity--the Statesman's Year-Book, for 1916. On page 140, under the
heading of The British Empire: India and Dependencies, we read: "Opium.
In British territory the cultivation of the poppy for the production of
opium is mainly restricted to the United Provinces, and the manufacture
of the opium from this region is a State monopoly. A limited amount is
also grown in the Punjab for local consumption and to produce poppy
seeds. In the monopoly districts the cultivator receives advances from
Government to enable him to prepare the land for the crop, and he is
bound to sell the whole of the produce at a fixed price to Government
agents, by whom it is despatched to the Government factory at Ghazipur
to be prepared for the market. The chests of manufactured opium are
sold by auction in Calcutta at monthly sales. A reserve is kept in hand
to supply the deficiencies of bad seasons, and a considerable quantity
is distributed by the Indian excise departments. Opium is also grown in
many of the Native States of Rajputana and Central India. These Native
States have agreed to conform to the British system. No opium may pass
from them into British territory for consumption without payment of
duty.
"The bulk of the exports of opium from India has been to China. By
arrangements with that country, the first one being in 1907, the
exports from India have been limited, and provision made for the
cessation of the export to China when the native Chinese production of
opium shall be suppressed. The trade with China is now practically
suspended."
The important things to notice in the above statement are these: The
growing of poppies, the manufacture of opium, and the monthly auction
sales continue. Also, the opium trade with China is practically at an
end. The history of the opium traffic in China is a story complete in
itself and will be dealt with in another chapter. At present, we must
notice that the trade with China is practically suspended, but that the
British Government is still auctioning off, once a month at Calcutta,
great quantities of opium. Where does this opium go--who are the
consumers? If not to China, then where?
The same reliable authority, the Statesman's Year-Book for 1918, has
this to say on the subject. On page 130 we read: "Opium: In British
territory the cultivation of the poppy for the production of opium is
practically confined to the United Provinces, and the manufacture of
opium from this region is a State monopoly. The bulk of the exported
opium is at present either sent to the United Kingdom, or supplied
direct to the Governments of consuming countries in the Far East; a
certain quantity is also sold by auction in Calcutta at monthly sales.
Opium is also grown in many of the Native States of Rajputana and
Central India, which have agreed to conform to the British system." The
following tables, taken from most reliable authority, give some idea of
the exports to the "consuming countries of the Far East." Note that
Japan began buying opium in 1911-12. We shall have something to say
about the Japanese smuggling later. Also note that it was in 1907 that
Great Britain and China entered into agreement, the outcome to be the
suppression of the opium trade in China. But see the increasing imports
into the treaty ports; up till almost the very last moment British
opium being poured into China. In the second table, observe the
increasing importation into England, (United Kingdom), synchronous with
the increased exports to Japan, which will be discussed later.
STATISTICAL ABSTRACT RELATING TO BRITISH INDIA 1903-4 TO 1912-13
EXPORTS OF OPIUM
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 1903-4 | 1904-5 | 1905-6 | 1906-7 | 1907-8
| L | L | L | L | L
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 1908-9 | 1909-10 | 1910-11 | 1911-12 | 1912-13
| L | L | L | L | L
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
China | 1,610,296 | 1,504,604 | 1,130,372 | 1,031,065 | 1,215,147
Treaty | | | | |
Ports | 2,703,871 | 1,234,432 | 2,203,670 | 3,614,887 | 3,242,902
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Hongkong | 3,576,431 | 4,036,436 | 3,775,826 | 3,771,409 | 3,145,403
| | | | |
| 2,230,755 | 3,377,222 | 3,963,264 | 3,019,858 | 2,400,084
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Straits | 1,365,743 | 1,262,834 | 1,163,529 | 1,150,506 | 1,169,018
Settlements | | | | |
| 1,032,220 | 1,234,763 | 1,692,053 | 1,099,801 | 704,870
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Java | 63,402 | 78,383 | 70,960 | 78,117 | 113,343
| | | | |
| 88,410 | 138,035 | 386,825 | 362,120 | 383,408
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Siam | 93,323 | 58,000 | 47,062 | 30,150 | 4,383
| | | | |
| 17,533 | 0 | 10,217 | 190,657 | 263,177
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Macao | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
| | | | |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 236,420
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Japan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
| | | | |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 76,817 | 129,545
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
French | 212,247 | 76,333 | 50,345 | 52,673 | 84,742
Indo-China | | | | |
| 118,933 | 207,287 | 207,722 | 325,500 | 99,018
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Other | 58,668 | 65,705 | 76,418 | 82,361 | 49,616
Countries | | | | |
| 41,107 | 17,366 | 45,565 | 36,420 | 15,659
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Total | 6,980,110 | 7,082,295 | 6,314,512 | 6,205,281 | 5,781,652
| | | | |
| 6,232,829 | 6,209,105 | 8,509,316 | 8,726,060 | 7,481,088
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Page 196 Table 170 Congressional Library HA 1713-A3-Ref.
FROM STATISTICAL ABSTRACT RELATING TO BRITISH INDIA, 1905-6 TO 1911-15.
PAGE 181. TABLE 164. EXPORTS OF OPIUM TO VARIOUS COUNTRIES.
1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 1913-14 1914-15
French Indo-China L 129,502 291,425
Java 472,199 282,252
Siam 164,030 204,328
China-Hongkong 1,084,093 110,712
Straits Settlements 226,500 80,572
United Kingdom 927 2,907 1,180 18,433 58,148
Treaty Ports, China 27,833 0
Macao 18,295 0
Japan 119,913 100,659
Other countries 19,223 47,543
---------- ----------
Total L2,280,031 1,175,639
III
JAPAN AS AN OPIUM DISTRIBUTOR
In an article which appeared in the _New York Times_, under date of
February 14, 1919, we read: "A charge that the Japanese Government
secretly fosters the morphia traffic in China and other countries in
the Far East is made by a correspondent in the _North China Herald_ in
its issue of December 21st last. The correspondent asserts that the
traffic has the financial support of the Bank of Japan, and that the
Japanese postal service in China aids, although 'Japan is a signatory
to the agreement which forbids the import into China of morphia or of
any appliances used in its manufacture or application.'
"Morphia no longer can be purchased in Europe, the correspondent
writes. The seat of industry has been transferred to Japan, and morphia
is now manufactured by the Japanese themselves. Literally, tens of
millions of yen are transferred annually from China to Japan for the
payment of Japanese morphia....
"In South China, morphia is sold by Chinese peddlers, each of whom
carries a passport certifying that he is a native of Formosa, and
therefore entitled to Japanese protection. Japanese drug stores
throughout China carry large stocks of morphia. Japanese medicine
vendors look to morphia for their largest profits. Wherever Japanese
are predominant, there the trade flourishes. Through Dairen, morphia
circulates throughout Manchuria and the province adjoining; through
Tsingtao, morphia is distributed over Shantung province, Anhui, and
Kiangsu, while from Formosa morphia is carried with opium and other
contraband by motor-driven fishing boats to some point on the mainland,
from which it is distributed throughout the province of Fukien and the
north of Kuangtung. Everywhere it is sold by Japanese under
extra-territorial protection."
The article is rather long, and proves beyond doubt the existence of a
well-organized and tremendous smuggling business, by means of which
China is being deluged with morphia. In the body of the article we find
this paragraph:
"While the morphia traffic is large, there is every reason to believe
that the opium traffic upon which Japan is embarking with enthusiasm,
is likely to prove even more lucrative. _In the Calcutta opium sales,
Japan has become one of the considerable purchasers of Indian opium....
Sold by the Government of India, this opium is exported under permits
applied for by the Japanese Government_, is shipped to Kobe, and from
Kobe is transshipped to Tsingtao. Large profits are made in this trade,
in which are interested some of the leading firms of Japan."
This article appears to be largely anti-Japanese. In fact, more
anti-Japanese than anti-opium. Anti-Japanese sentiment in America is
played upon by showing up the Japanese as smugglers of opium. The part
the British Government plays in this traffic is not emphasized. "In the
Calcutta opium sales, Japan has become one of the considerable
purchasers of Indian opium ... sold by the Government of India." We are
asked to condemn the Japanese, who purchase their stocks of opium as
individuals, and who distribute it in the capacity of smugglers. We are
not asked to censure the British Government which produces,
manufactures and sells this opium as a State monopoly. We are asked to
denounce the Japanese and their nefarious smuggling and shameful
traffic, but the source of supply, which depends upon these smugglers
as customers at the monthly auctions, is above reproach. A delicate
ethical distinction.
However, there is no doubt that the Japanese are ardent smugglers. In
an article in the March, 1919, number of "Asia" by Putnam Weale, we
find the following bit:[1] "At all ports where Japanese commissioners
of Maritime Customs (in China) hold office, it is undeniable that
centres of contraband trade have been established, opium and its
derivatives being so openly smuggled that the annual net import of
Japanese morphia (although this trade is forbidden by International
Convention) is now said to be something like 20 tons a year--sufficient
to poison a whole nation."
[1] "A Fair Chance for Asia," by Putnam Weale, page 227.
Mr. Weale is an Englishman, therefore more anti-Japanese than
anti-opium. We do not recall any of his writings in which he protests
against the opium trade as conducted by his Government, nor the part
his Government plays in fostering and encouraging it.
However, there are other Englishmen who see the situation in a more
impartial light, and who are equally critical of both Great Britain and
Japan. In his book, "Trade Politics and Christianity in Africa and the
East," by A. J. Macdonald, M.A., formerly of Trinity College,
Cambridge, we find the facts presented with more balance. Thus, on page
229: "... In the north of China another evil is springing up. The
eradication of the opium habit is being followed by the development of
the morphia traffic...." The morphia habit in northern China, especially
Manchuria, is already widespread. The Chinese Government is alert to
the evil, but their efforts to repress it are hampered by the action of
traders, mainly Japanese, who elude the restrictions imposed by the
Chinese and Japanese Governments.... China is being drenched with
morphia. It is incredible that anything approaching the amount could
possibly be devoted to legitimate purposes. It is said that in certain
areas coolies are to be seen 'covered all over with needle punctures.'
An injection of the drug can be obtained for three or four cents. In
Newchang 2,000 victims of the morphia habit died in the winter of
1914-15. Morphia carries off its victims far more rapidly than
opium.... Morphia is not yet manufactured in any appreciable quantities
in the East, and certainly even Japan cannot yet manufacture the
hypodermic injectors by means of which the drug is received. The bulk
of the manufacture takes place in England, Germany and Austria.... In
this traffic, two firms in Edinburgh and one in London are engaged. The
trade is carried on through Japanese agents. The Board of Trade returns
show that the export of morphia from Great Britain to the East has
risen enormously during the last few years--
1911 5-1/2 tons
1912 7-1/2 "
1913 11-1/4 "
1914 14 "
"... The freedom which allows three British firms to supply China with
morphia for illicit purposes is a condemnation of English
Christianity."
This book of Mr. Macdonald's was published in 1916. Mr. Weale's article
was published in 1919, in which he speaks of an importation of about
twenty tons of morphia. Apparently the three British firms which
manufacture morphia, two in Edinburgh and one in London are still going
strong. Japan, however, appears to be growing impatient with all this
opprobrium cast upon her as the distributor of drugs, especially since
much of the outcry against this comes from America. Our own country
seems to be assisting in this traffic in a most extensive manner. The
Japan Society Bulletin No. 60 calls attention to this:
NEW TURN IN MORPHIA TRAFFIC
The morphia traffic in China has taken a new turn, according to the
_Japan Advertiser_. It quotes Putnam Weale to the effect that
whilst in recent years the main distributors have been Japanese,
the main manufacturers have been British. The morphia has been
exported in large quantities from Edinburgh to Japan, but as the
result of licensing the exports of this drug from Great Britain,
the shipments to Japan dropped from 600,229 ounces in 1917 to
one-fourth that amount in 1918. _The Japan Chronicle_, speaking
from "absolutely authentic information," states that 113,000 ounces
of morphia arrived in Kobe from the United States in the first five
months of 1919. These figures are not given as the total shipments
received in Kobe, but merely as the quantity of which _The
Chronicle_ has actual knowledge. It states further that this
morphia is being transhipped in Kobe harbor to vessels bound for
China. Dr. Paul S. Reinsch, who has resigned his post as Minister
to China, has stated that he will use every resource in his power
to stop the shipment from America of morphia intended for
distribution in China, in defiance of the international convention
which prohibits the sale of the drug in that country.
* * * * *
If sufficient publicity is cast upon the distributors, Japanese,
English and American, public sentiment may in time take cognizance
of the source of all this mischief, namely, the producer.
IV
SINGAPORE
In January, 1917, we found ourselves at Singapore, a British
dependency, situated at the end of the Malay Peninsula, and one of the
greatest seaports of the Orient. We were stopping at the Hotel de
l'Europe, a large and first class hotel. The first morning at
breakfast, the waiter stood beside us, waiting for our order. He was a
handsome young Malay, dressed in white linen clothes, and wearing a
green jade bracelet on one wrist. We gave him our order and he did not
move off. He continued to stand quietly beside our chairs, as in a
trance. We repeated the order--one tea, one coffee, two papayas. He
continued to stand still beside us, stupidly. Finally he went away. We
waited for a long time and nothing happened. At last, after a long
wait, he returned and set before us a teapot filled with hot water.
Nothing else. We repeated again--tea, coffee, papayas. We said it two
or three times. Then he went away and came back with some tea. We
repeated again, coffee and fruit. Eventually he brought us some coffee.
Finally, after many endeavors, we got the fruit. It all took a long
time. We then began to realize that something was the matter with him.
He could understand English well enough to know what orders we were
giving him, but he seemed to forget as soon as he left our sight. We
then realized that he was probably drugged. It was the same thing every
day. In the morning he was stupid and dull, and could not remember what
we told him. By evening his brain was clearer, and at dinner he could
remember well enough. The effects of whatever he had been taking had
apparently worn off during the day.
We learned that the opium trade was freely indulged in, at Singapore,
fostered by the Government. Singapore is a large city of about 300,000
inhabitants, a great number of which are Chinese. It has wide,
beautiful streets, fine government buildings, magnificent quays and
docks--a splendid European city at the outposts of the Orient. We
found that a large part of its revenue is derived from the opium
traffic--from the sale of opium, and from license fees derived from
shops where opium may be purchased, or from divans where it may be
smoked. The customers are mainly Chinese.
I wanted to visit these Government-licensed opium shops and opium dens.
A friend lent me two servants, as guides. We three got into rickshaws
and went down to the Chinese quarter, where there are several hundred
of these places, all doing a flourishing business. It was early in the
afternoon, but even then, trade was brisk. The divans were rooms with
wide wooden benches running round the sides, on which benches, in
pairs, sharing a lamp between them, lay the smokers. They purchased
their opium on entering, and then lay down to smoke it. The packages
are little, triangular packets, each containing enough for about six
smokes. Each packet bears a label, red letters on a white ground,
"Monopoly Opium."
In one den there was an old man--but you can't tell whether a drug
addict is old or not, he looked as they all do, gray and emaciated--but
as he caught my eye, he laid down the needle on which he was about to
cook his pill, and glanced away. I stood before him, waiting for him to
continue the process, but he did not move.
"Why doesn't he go on?" I asked my guide. "He is ashamed to have you
see him," came the reply.
"But why should he be ashamed?" I asked, "The British Government is not
ashamed to sell to him, to encourage him to drug himself, to ruin
himself. Why should he be ashamed?"
"Nevertheless, he is," replied the guide. "You see what he looks
like--what he has become. He is not quite so far gone as the others--he
is a more recent victim. He still feels that he has become degraded.
Most of them do not feel that way--after a while."
So we went on and on, down the long street. There was a dreadful
monotony about it all. House after house of feeble, emaciated, ill
wrecks, all smoking Monopoly Opium, all contributing, by their shame
and degradation, to the revenues of the mighty British Empire.
[Illustration: Packet of opium, actual size, as sold in licensed opium
shop in Singapore. The local government here derives from forty to
fifty per cent of its revenue through the sale of opium.]
That evening after dinner, I sat on the wide verandah of the hotel,
looking over a copy of the "Straits Times." One paragraph, a dispatch
from London, caught my eye. "Chinese in Liverpool. Reuter's Telegram.
London, January 17, 1917. Thirty-one Chinese were arrested during
police raids last night on opium dens in Liverpool. Much opium was
seized. The police in one place were attacked by a big retriever and by
a number of Chinese, who threw boots and other articles from the
house-top."
Coming fresh from a tour of the opium-dens of Singapore, I must say
that item caused some mental confusion. It must also be confusing to
the Chinese. It must be very perplexing to a Chinese sailor, who
arrives in Liverpool on a ship from Singapore, to find such a variation
in customs. To come from a part of the British Empire where opium
smoking is freely encouraged, to Great Britain itself where such
practices are not tolerated. He must ask himself, why it is that the
white race is so sedulously protected from such vices, while the
subject races are so eagerly encouraged. It may occur to him that the
white race is valuable and must be preserved, and that subject races
are not worth protecting. This double standard of international justice
he must find disturbing. It would seem, at first glance, as if subject
races were fair game--if there is money in it. Subject races,
dependents, who have no vote, no share in the government and who are
powerless to protect themselves--fair game for exploitation. Is this
double-dealing what we mean when we speak of "our responsibility to
backward nations," or of "the sacred trust of civilization" or still
again when we refer to "the White Man's burden"?
Pondering over these things as I sat on the hotel verandah, I finally
reached the conclusion that to print such a dispatch as that in the
"Straits Times" was, to say the least, most tactless.
V
THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS OPIUM COMMISSION
From time to time, certain people in England apparently have qualms as
to Great Britain's opium traffic, and from time to time questions are
raised as to whether or not such traffic is morally defensible. In
February, 1909, apparently in answer to such scruples and questionings
on the part of a few, a very interesting report was published,
"Proceedings of the Commission appointed to Enquire into Matters
Relating to the Use of Opium in the Straits Settlements and the
Federated Malay States. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by
Command of His Majesty." This document may be found in the New York
Public Library and is well worth careful perusal.
This Commission consisted of about a dozen men, some English, some
natives of the Straits Settlements. They apparently made an intensive
and exhaustive study of the subject, carefully examining it from every
angle. Countless witnesses appeared before them, giving testimony as to
the effects of opium upon the individual. This testimony is interesting,
in that it is of a contradictory nature, some witnesses saying that
moderate opium indulgence is nothing worse than indulgence in alcoholic
beverages, and like alcohol, only pernicious if taken to excess. Other
witnesses seemed to think that it was most harmful. The Commission made
careful reports as to the manner of licensing houses for smoking, the
system of licensing opium farms, etc., and other technical details
connected with this extensive Government traffic. Finally, the question
of revenue was considered, and while the harmfulness of opium smoking
was a matter of divided opinion, when it came to revenue there was no
division of opinion at all. As a means of raising revenue, the traffic
was certainly justifiable. It was proven that about fifty per cent of
the revenues of the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States
came from the opium trade, and, as was naively pointed out, to hazard
the prosperity of the Colony by lopping off half its revenues, was an
unthinkable proceeding.
The figures given are as follows.
1898 Revenue derived from Opium 45.9 per cent
1899 44.8
1900 43.3
1901 53.2
1902 48.3
1903 47.1
1904 59.1
1905 46.
1906 53.3
There was one dissenting voice as to the conclusions reached by this
Opium Commission, that of a Bishop who presented a minority report. But
what are moral scruples against cold facts--that there's money in the
opium trade?
This Commission made its report in 1909. But the opium business is
apparently still flourishing in the Straits Settlements. Thus we read
in the official Blue Book for 1917, "Colony of the Straits Settlements"
that of the total revenue for the year, $19,672,104, that $9,182,000
came from opium.
What per cent is that?
VI
OPIUM IN SIAM
Bangkok, Siam, January, 1917. Siam, an independent kingdom. As a matter
of fact, "protected" very sternly and thoroughly by Great Britain and
France, so that its "independence" would about cover an oyster cracker.
However, it is doubtless protected "benevolently" for what protectorate
is anything but benevolent? The more rigorous the protectorate, the
more benevolent its character. The Peace Conference seems to have given
us a new word in "mandatory." We do not know as yet what adjective will
be found to qualify mandatory, but it will doubtless be fitting and
indicative of idealism--of sorts. Therefore, all will be well. Our
suspicions will be lulled. It is high time that a substitute was found
for "benevolent protectorate."
The particular form of benevolence noted in Siam was the total
inability of the Siamese to exclude British opium. They are allowed, by
the benevolent powers, to impose an import duty on all commodities
imported--except opium. That is free. The treaty between Siam and Great
Britain in 1856 says so. We rather fancy that Great Britain had more to
say about this in 1856 than Siam, but maybe not. Anyway, poor old Siam,
an independent kingdom, is bound to receive as much opium as may be
imported, and is quite powerless, by the terms of this treaty, to enact
laws to exclude it. In the last year or two, the Government of Siam has
been obliged to put the opium traffic under government control, in
order to minimize the worst evils in connection with it, although to
restrict and regulate an evil is a poor substitute for the ability to
abolish it.
All this, you will see, is rather tough on the Siamese, but good
business for the British Empire.
However, opium is not bad for one. There are plenty of people to
testify to that. We Americans have a curious notion to the contrary,
but then, we Americans are so hysterical and gullible. An Englishman
whom we met in Bangkok told me that opium was not only harmless, but
actually beneficial. He said once that he was traveling through the
jungle, into the interior somewhere. He had quite a train of coolies
with him, carrying himself and his baggage through the dense forests.
By nightfall, he found his coolies terribly exhausted with the long
march. But he was in a hurry to press on, so, as he expressed it, he
gave each of them a "shot" of morphia, whereupon all traces of fatigue
vanished. They forgot the pain of their weary arms and legs and were
thus enabled to walk all night. He said that morphia certainly knocked
a lot of work out of men--you might say, doubled their capacity for
endurance.
The night we left Bangkok, we got aboard the boat at about nine in the
evening. The hatch was open, and we looked into the hold upon a crowd
of coolies who had been loading sacks of rice aboard the ship. There
they lay upon the rice sacks, two or three dozen of them, all smoking
opium. Two coolies to a lamp. I rather wondered that a lamp did not
upset and set the boat on fire, but they are made of heavy glass, with
wide bottoms, so that the chances of overturning them are slight. So we
leaned over the open hatch, looking down at these little fellows,
resting and recuperating themselves after their work, refreshing
themselves for the labor of the morrow.
Opium is wonderful, come to think of it. But why, since it is so
beneficial and so profitable, confine it to the downtrodden races of
the world? Why limit it to the despised races, who have not sense
enough to govern themselves anyway?
The following figures are taken from the Statistical Year Books for the
Kingdom of Siam:
Foreign trade and navigation of the port of Bangkok, imports of opium:
1911-12 1,270 chests of opium
1912-13 1,775
1913-14 1,186
1914-15 2,000 Imported from India and Singapore.
1915-16 2,000
1916-17 1,100
1917-18 1,850
Also, from the same source, we find the number of retail opium shops:
1912-13 2,985
1913-14 3,025
1914-15 3,132
1915-16 3,104
1916-17 3,111
VII
HONGKONG
"The Crown Colony of Hongkong was ceded by China to Great Britain in
January, 1841; the cession was confirmed by the treaty of Nanking in
August, 1842; and the charter bears date April 5, 1843. Hongkong is the
great center for British commerce with China and Japan, and a military
and naval station of first-class importance."