diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-8.txt | 4522 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 102811 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 897130 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/33586-h.htm | 4567 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 37819 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i004.jpg | bin | 0 -> 47848 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i005.jpg | bin | 0 -> 17725 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i032left.jpg | bin | 0 -> 43920 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i032right.jpg | bin | 0 -> 43142 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i057bottom.jpg | bin | 0 -> 64547 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i057top.jpg | bin | 0 -> 35083 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i063bottom.jpg | bin | 0 -> 52223 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i063top.jpg | bin | 0 -> 43180 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i079left.jpg | bin | 0 -> 51104 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i079right.jpg | bin | 0 -> 47911 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i101left.jpg | bin | 0 -> 41401 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i101right.jpg | bin | 0 -> 47413 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i129bottom.jpg | bin | 0 -> 44505 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i129top.jpg | bin | 0 -> 49842 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i171.jpg | bin | 0 -> 62241 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586-h/images/i191.jpg | bin | 0 -> 64921 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586.txt | 4522 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33586.zip | bin | 0 -> 102767 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
26 files changed, 13627 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33586-8.txt b/33586-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9af0424 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4522 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Drugging a Nation, by Samuel Merwin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Drugging a Nation + The Story of China and the Opium Curse + +Author: Samuel Merwin + +Release Date: August 30, 2010 [EBook #33586] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRUGGING A NATION *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +DRUGGING A NATION + + + + +[Illustration: H. E. TONG SHAO-I One of the Leaders of the Opium Reform +Movement in China] + + + + + Drugging a Nation + + The Story of China + and the Opium Curse + + + A Personal Investigation, during an + Extended Tour, of the Present Conditions + of the Opium Trade in China + and Its Effects upon the Nation + + + By SAMUEL MERWIN + + + NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO + Fleming H. Revell Company + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + + + + Copyright, 1908, by + FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY + + Copyright, 1907-1908, by + SUCCESS COMPANY + + + New York: 158 Fifth Avenue + Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue + Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. + London: 21 Paternoster Square + Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street + + + + +NOTE + + +These chapters were originally published during 1907 and 1908 in _Success +Magazine_. Though frankly journalistic in tone, the book presents +something more than the hasty conclusions of a journalist. During its +preparation the author travelled around the world, inquiring into the +problem at first hand in China and in England, reading all available +printed matter which seemed to bear in any way on the subject, and +interviewing several hundred gentlemen who have had special opportunities +to study the problem from various standpoints. The writing was not begun +until this preliminary work was completed and the natural conclusions had +become convictions in the author's mind. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. CHINA'S PREDICAMENT 9 + + II. THE GOLDEN OPIUM DAYS 20 + + III. A GLIMPSE INTO AN OPIUM PROVINCE 53 + + IV. CHINA'S SINCERITY 70 + + V. SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--SHANGHAI 101 + + VI. SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--TIENTSIN AND HONGKONG 129 + + VII. HOW BRITISH CHICKENS CAME HOME TO ROOST 154 + + VIII. THE POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN 178 + + APPENDIX 204 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + _Facing page_ + + H. E. TONG SHAO-I _Title_ + + KNEADING CRUDE OPIUM WITH OIL TO MAKE ROUND OR FLAT CAKES 27 + + MAKING ROUND CAKES OF OPIUM 27 + + THE OPIUM HULKS OF SHANGHAI 50 + + AN OPIUM RECEIVING SHIP OR "GODOWN" AT SHANGHAI 50 + + THE VILLAGES WERE LITTLE MORE THAN HEAPS OF RUINS 54 + + AT LAST HE CRAWLS OUT ON THE HIGHWAY, WHINING, CHATTERING AND + PRAYING THAT A FEW COPPER CASH BE THROWN HIM 54 + + WRECK AND RUIN IN CHINA 68 + + ENFORCING THE EDICT AT SHANGHAI 88 + + IN AN OPIUM DEN, SHANGHAI 114 + + OPIUM-SMOKING 114 + + WEIGHING OPIUM IN A GOVERNMENT FACTORY IN INDIA 154 + + WHERE THE CHINAMAN TRAVELS, OPIUM TRAVELS TOO 172 + + + + +Drugging a Nation + + + + +I + +CHINA'S PREDICAMENT + + +In September, 1906, an edict was issued from the Imperial Court at Peking +which states China's predicament with naïveté and vigour. + +"The cultivation of the poppy," runs the edict, in the authorized +translation, "is the greatest iniquity in agriculture, and the provinces +of Szechuen, Shensi, Kansu, Yunnan, Kweichow, Shansi, and Kanghuai abound +in its product, which, in fact, is found everywhere. Now that it is +decided to abandon opium smoking within ten years, the limiting of this +cultivation should be taken as a fundamental step ... opium has been in +use so long by the people that nearly three-tenths or four-tenths of them +are smokers." + +"Three-tenths or four-tenths" of the Chinese people,--one hundred and +fifty million opium-smokers--mean three or four times the population of +Great Britain, a good many more than the population of the United States! + +The Chinese are notoriously inexact in statistical matters. The officials +who drew up the edict probably wished to convey the impression that the +situation is really grave, and employed this form of statement in order to +give force to the document. No accurate estimate of the number of opium +victims in China is obtainable; but it is possible to combine the +impressions which have been set down by reliable observers in different +parts of the "Middle Kingdom," and thus to arrive at a fair, general +impression of the truth. The following, for example, from Mr. Alexander +Hosie, the commercial attaché to the British legation at Peking, should +carry weight. He is reporting on conditions in Szechuen Province: + +"I am well within the mark when I say that in the cities fifty per cent. +of the males and twenty per cent. of the females smoke opium, and that in +the country the percentage is not less than twenty-five for men and five +per cent. for women." There are about forty-two million people in Szechuen +Province; and they not only raise and consume a very great quantity of +opium, they also send about twenty thousand tons down the Yangtse River +every year for use in other provinces. The report of other travellers, +merchants, and official investigators indicate that about all of the +richest soil in Szechuen is given over to poppy cultivation, and that the +labouring classes show a noticeable decline of late in physique and +capacity for work. + +In regard to another so-called "opium province," Yunnan, we have the +following statement: "I saw practically the whole population given over to +its abuse. The ravages it is making in men, women, and children are +deplorable.... I was quite able to realize that any one who had seen the +wild abuse of opium in Yunnan would have a wild abhorrence of it." + +In later chapters we shall go into the matter more at length. Here let me +add to these statements merely a few typical scraps of information, +selected from a bundle of note-books full of records of chats and +interviews with travellers of almost every nationality and of almost every +station in life. The secretary of a life insurance company which does a +considerable business up and down the coast told me that, roughly, fifty +per cent of the Chinese who apply for insurance are opium-smokers. Another +bit comes from a man who lived for several years in an inland city of a +quarter of a million inhabitants. The local Anti-opium League had 750 +members, he said and he believed that about every other man in the city +was a smoker. "It is practically a case of everybody smoking," he +concluded. + +Twenty-five years ago, when the consumption of opium in China could hardly +have been more than half what it is to-day, a British consul estimated the +proportion of smokers in the region he had visited as follows: "Labourers +and small farmers, ten per cent.; small shopkeepers, twenty per cent.; +soldiers, thirty per cent.; merchants, eighty per cent.; officials and +their staff, ninety per cent.; actors, prostitutes, vagrants, thieves, +ninety-five per cent." The labourers and farmers, the real strength of +China, as of every other land, had not yet been overwhelmed--but they were +going under, even then. The most startling news to-day is from these lower +classes, even from the country villages, the last to give way. Dr. Parker, +the American Methodist missionary at Shanghai, informed me that reports to +this effect were coming in steadily from up country; and during my own +journey I heard the same bad news almost everywhere along a route which +measured, before I left China, something more than four thousand miles. + +Perhaps the most convincing summing up of China's predicament is found in +another translation from a recent Chinese document, this time an appeal to +the throne from four viceroys. The quaintness of the language does not, I +think, impair its effectiveness and its power as a protest: "China can +never become strong and stand shoulder and shoulder with the powers of the +world unless she can get rid of the habit of opium-smoking by her +subjects, about one quarter of whom have been reduced to skeletons and +look half-dead." + +This then is the curse which the imperial government has talked so +quaintly of "abandoning." This is the debauchery which is to be put down +by officials, ninety per cent of whom were supposed to be more or less +confirmed smokers. Such almost childlike optimism brings to mind a certain +Sunday in New York City when Theodore Roosevelt, with the whole police +force under his orders, tried to close the saloons. It brings to mind +other attempts in Europe and America, to check and control vice and +depravity--attempts which have never, I think, been wholly +successful--and one begins to understand the discouraging immensity of the +task which China has undertaken. Really, to "stop using opium" would mean +a very rearranging of the agricultural plan of the empire. It would make +necessary an immediate solution of China's transportation problem (no +other crop is so easy to carry as opium) and an almost complete +reconstruction of the imperial finances; indeed, few observers are so glib +as to suggest offhand a substitute for the immense opium revenue to the +Chinese government. And nobody to accomplish all this but those sodden +officials, of whom it is safe to guess that fifty per cent have some sort +or other of a financial stake in the traffic! + +In the minds of most of us, I think, there has been a vague notion that +the Chinese have always smoked opium, that opium is in some peculiar way a +necessity to the Chinese constitution. Even among those who know the +extraordinary history of this morbidly fascinating vegetable product, who +know that the India-grown British drug was pushed and smuggled and +bayoneted into China during a century of desperate protest and even armed +resistance from these yellow people, it has been a popular argument to +assert that the Chinese have only themselves to blame for the "demand" +that made the trade possible. Of this "demand," and of how it was worked +up by Christian traders, we shall speak at some length in later chapters. +"Educational methods" in the extending of trade can hardly be said to have +originated with the modern trust. The curious fact is that the Chinese +didn't use opium and didn't want opium. + +Your true opium-smoker stretches himself on a divan and gives up ten or +fifteen minutes to preparing his thimbleful of the brown drug. When it has +been heated and worked to the proper consistency, he places it in the tiny +bowl of his pipe, holds it over a lamp, and draws a few whiffs of the +smoke deep into his lungs. It seems, at first, a trivial thing; indeed, +the man who is well fed and properly housed and clothed seems able to keep +it up for a considerable time and without appreciable ill results. The +greater difficulty in China is, of course, that very few opium-smokers are +well fed and properly housed and clothed. + +I heard little about the beautiful dreams and visions which opium is +supposed to bring; all the smokers with whom I talked could be roughly +divided into two classes--those who smoked in order to relieve pain or +misery, and those miserable victims who smoked to relieve the acute +physical distress brought on by the opium itself. Probably the majority of +the victims take it up as a temporary relief; many begin in early +childhood; the mother will give the baby a whiff to stop its crying. It is +a social vice only among the upper classes. The most notable outward +effect of this indulgence is the resulting physical weakness and +lassitude. The opium-smoker cannot work hard; he finds it difficult to +apply his mind to a problem or his body to a task. As the habit becomes +firmly fastened on him, there is a perceptible weakening of his moral +fibre; he shows himself unequal to emergencies which make any sudden +demand upon him. If opium is denied him, he will lie and steal in order to +obtain it. + +Opium-smoking is a costly vice. A pipefull of a moderately good native +product costs more than a labourer can earn in a day; consequently the +poorer classes smoke an unspeakable compound based on pipe scrapings and +charcoal. Along the highroads the coolies even scrape the grime from the +packsaddles to mix with this dross. The clerk earning from twenty-five to +fifty Mexican dollars a month will frequently spend from ten to twenty +dollars a month on opium. The typical confirmed smoker is a man who spends +a considerable part of the night in smoking himself to sleep, and all the +next morning in sleeping off the effects. If he is able to work at all, it +is only during the afternoon, and even at that there will be many days +when the official or merchant is incompetent to conduct his affairs. +Thousands of prominent men are ruined every year. + +The Cantonese have what they call "The Ten Cannots regarding The +Opium-Smoker." "He cannot (1) give up the habit; (2) enjoy sleep; (3) wait +for his turn when sharing his pipe with his friends; (4) rise early; (5) +be cured if sick; (6) help relations in need; (7) enjoy wealth; (8) plan +anything; (9) get credit even when an old customer; (10) walk any +distance." + +This is the land into which the enterprising Christian traders introduced +opium, and into which they fed opium so persistently and forcibly that at +last a "good market" was developed. England did not set out to ruin China. +One finds no hint of a diabolical purpose to seduce and destroy a +wonderful old empire on the other side of the world. The ruin worked was +incidental to that far Eastern trade of which England has been so proud. +It was the triumph of the balance sheet over common humanity. + +And so it is to-day. British India still holds the cream of the trade, for +the Chinese grown opium cannot compete in quality with the Indian drug. +The British Indian government raises the poppy in the rich Ganges Valley +(more than six hundred thousand acres of poppies they raised there last +year), manufactures it in government factories at Patna and +Ghazipur--manufactures four-fifths of it especially to suit the Chinese +taste, and sells it at annual government auctions in Calcutta. + +The result of this traffic is so very grave that it is a difficult matter +to discuss in moderate language. To the traveller who leaves the railroad +and steamboat lines and ventures, in springless native cart or swaying +mule litter, along the sunken roads and the hills of western and +northwestern China, the havoc and misery wrought by the "white man's +smoke," the "foreign dust," becomes unpleasantly evident. Some hint of the +meaning of it, a faint impression of the terrible devastation of this +drug--let loose, as it has been, on a backward, poverty-stricken race--is +seared, hour by hour and day by day into his brain. + +A terrible drama is now being enacted in the Far East. The Chinese race is +engaged in a fight to a finish with a drug--and the odds are on the drug. + + + + +II + +THE GOLDEN OPIUM DAYS + + +In the splendid, golden days of the East India Company, the great Warren +Hastings put himself on record in these frank words: + +"Opium is a pernicious article of luxury, which ought not to be permitted +but for the purpose of foreign commerce only." The new traffic promised to +solve the Indian fiscal problem, if skillfully managed; accordingly, the +production and manufacture of opium was made a government monopoly. China, +after all, was a long way off--and Chinamen were only Chinamen. That the +East India Company might be loosing an uncontrollable monster not only on +China but on the world hardly occurred to the great Warren Hastings--the +British chickens might, a century later, come home to roost in Australia +and South Africa was too remote a possibility even for speculative +inquiry. + +Now trade supports us, governs us, controls our dependencies, represents +us at foreign courts, carries on our wars, signs our treaties of peace. +Trade, like its symbol the dollar, is neither good nor bad; it has no +patriotism, no morals, no humanity. Its logic applies with the same +relentless force and precision to corn, cotton, rice, wheat, human slaves, +oil, votes, opium. It is the power that drives human affairs; and its law +is the law of the balance sheet. So long as any commodity remains in the +currents of trade the law of trade must reign, the balance sheet must +balance. It is difficult to get a commodity into these currents, but once +you have got the commodity in, you will find it next to impossible to get +it out. There has been more than one prime minister, I fancy, more than +one secretary of state for India, who has wished the opium question in +Jericho. It is not pleasant to answer the moral indignation of the British +empire with the cynical statement that the India government cannot exist +without that opium revenue. Why, oh, why, did not the great Warren +Hastings develop the cotton rather than the opium industry! But the +interesting fact is that he did not. He chose opium, and opium it is. + +The India Government Opium Monopoly is an import factor in this +extraordinary story of a debauchery of a third of the human race by the +most nearly Christian among Christian nations. We must understand what it +is and how it works before we can understand the narrative of that greed, +with its attendant smuggling, bribery and bloodshed which has brought the +Chinese empire to its knees. 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 10th, 1907. + +It is easy, with or without evidence, to charge a great corporation or a +great government with inhuman crimes. If the charge be unjust it is +difficult for the corporation or the government to set itself right before +the people. Six truths cannot overtake one lie. That is why, in this day +of popular rule, the really irresponsible power that makes and unmakes +history lies in the hands of the journalist. As the charge I am bringing +is so serious as to be almost unthinkable, and as I wish to leave no +loophole for the counter-charge that I am colouring this statement, I +think I can do no better than to lift my description of the Opium Monopoly +bodily from that rather ponderous blue book. + +There is nothing new in this charge, nothing new in the condition which +invites it. It is rather a commonplace old condition. Millions of men, for +more than a hundred years, have taken it for granted, just as men once +took piracy for granted, just as men once took the African slave-trade for +granted, just as men to-day take the highly organized traffic in +unfortunate women and girls for granted. Ask a Tory political leader of +to-day--Mr. Balfour say--for his opinion on the opium question, and if he +thinks it worth his while to answer you at all he will probably deal +shortly with you for dragging up an absurd bit of fanaticism. For a +century or more, about all the missionaries, and goodness knows how many +other observers, have protested against this monstrous traffic in poison. +Sixty-five years ago Lord Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury) agitated +the question in Parliament. Fifty years ago he obtained from the Law +Officers of the Crown the opinion that the opium trade was "at variance" +with the "spirit and intention" of the treaty between England and China. +In 1891, the House of Commons decided by a good majority that "the system +by which the Indian opium revenue is raised is morally indefensible." And +yet, I will venture to believe that to most of my readers, British as well +as American, the bald statement that the British Indian government +actually manufactures opium on a huge scale in its own factories to suit +the Chinese taste comes with the force of a shock. It is not the sort of a +thing we like to think of as among the activities of an Anglo-Saxon +government. It would seem to be government ownership with a vengeance. + +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." + +This 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 by auction 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 for the year included 8,774 +chests of opium for the Excise Department, about 300 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. Four grains of opium, administered in one dose to a person +unaccustomed to its use, is apt to prove fatal. + +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 (£4,486,562). + +The best grade of opium-poppy bears a white blossom. One sees mauve and +pink tints in a field, at blossom-time, but only the seeds from the white +flowers are replanted. The opium of commerce is made from the gum obtained +by gashing the green seed pod with a four-bladed knife. After the first +gathering, the pod is gashed a second time, and the gum that exudes makes +an inferior quality of opium. The raw opium from the country districts is +sent down to the government factories in earthenware jars, worked up in +mixing vats, and made into balls about six or eight inches in diameter. +The balls, after a thorough drying on wooden racks, are packed in chests +and sent down to the auction. + + +[Illustration: KNEADING CRUDE OPIUM WITH OIL TO MAKE ROUND OR FLAT CAKES] + +[Illustration: MAKING ROUND CAKES OF OPIUM] + + +The men who buy in the opium at these monthly auctions and afterwards +dispose of it at the Chinese ports 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 sending 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 an 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. And +sixty-five tons of Indian opium go to China every week. + +As soon as the shipments of opium have reached Hongkong and Shanghai (I am +quoting now in part from a straightforward account by the Rev. T. G. +Selby), they are broken up and pass in the ordinary courses of trade into +the hands of retail dealers. The opium balls are stripped of the dried +leaves in which they have been packed, torn like paste dumplings into +fragments, put into an iron pan filled with water and boiled over a slow +fire. Various kinds of opium are mixed with each other, and some shops +acquire a reputation for their ingenious and tasteful blends. After the +opium has been boiled to about the consistency of coal tar or molasses, it +is put into jars and sold for daily consumption in quantities ranging from +the fiftieth part of an ounce to four or five ounces. "I am sorry to say," +observes Mr. Selby, "that the colonial governments of Hongkong and +Singapore, not content with the revenue drawn from this article by the +Anglo-Indian government, have made opium boiling a monopoly of the Crown, +and a large slice of the revenue of these two Eastern dependencies is +secured by selling the exclusive rights to farm this industry to the +highest bidder." + +The most Mr. Clean Hands has been able to say for himself is that, "Opium +is a fiscal, not a moral question;" or this, that "In the present state of +the revenue of India, it does not appear advisable to abandon so important +a source of revenue." After all, China is a long way off. So much for Mr. +Clean Hands! His partner, Dirty Hands, is more interesting. It is he who +has "built up the trade." It is he who has carried on the smuggling and +the bribing and knifing and shooting and all-round, strong-arm work which +has made the trade what it is. To be sure, as we get on in this narrative +we shall not always find the distinction between Clean and Dirty so clear +as we would like. Through the dust and smoke and red flame of all that +dirty business along "the Coast" we shall glimpse for an instant or so, +now and then, a face that looks distressingly like the face of old +Respectability himself. I have found myself in momentary bewilderment when +walking through the splendid masonry-lined streets of Hongkong, when +sitting beneath the frescoed ceiling of that pinnacled structure that +houses the most nearly Christian of parliaments, trying to believe that +this opium drama can be real. And I have wondered, and puzzled, until a +smell like the smell of China has come floating to the nostrils of memory; +until a picture of want and disease and misery--of crawling, swarming +human misery unlike anything which the untravelled Western mind can +conceive--has appeared before the eyes of memory. I have thought of those +starving thousands from the famine districts creeping into Chinkiang to +die, of those gaunt, seemed faces along the highroad that runs +southwestward from Peking to Sian-fu; I have thought of a land that knows +no dentistry, no surgery, no hygiene, no scientific medicine, no +sanitation; of a land where the smallpox is a lesser menace beside the +leprosy, plague, tuberculosis, that rage simply at will, and beside +famines so colossal in their sweep, that the overtaxed Western mind simply +refuses to comprehend them. And De Quincey's words have come to me: "What +was it that drove me into the habitual use of opium? Misery--blank +desolation--settled and abiding darkness----?" These words help to clear +it up. China was a wonderful field, ready prepared for the ravages of +opium--none better. The mighty currents of trade did the rest. The +balance sheet reigned supreme as by right. The balance sheet reigns +to-day. + +But we must get on with our narrative. I will try to pass it along in the +form in which it has presented itself to me. If Clean and Dirty appear in +closer and more puzzling alliance than we like to see them, I cannot help +that. + +It was not easy getting opium, the commodity, into the currents of trade. +There was an obstacle. The Chinese were not an opium-consuming race. They +did not use opium, they did not want opium, they steadily resisted the +inroads of opium. But the rulers of the company were far-seeing men. Tempt +misery long enough and it will take to opium. Two centuries ago when small +quantities of the drug were brought in from Java, the Chinese government +objected. In 1729 the importation was prohibited. As late as 1765, this +importation, carried on by energetic traders in spite of official +resistance, had never exceeded two hundred chests a year. But with the +advent of the company in 1773, the trade grew. In spite of a second +Chinese prohibition in 1796, half-heartedly enforced by corrupt mandarins, +the total for 1820 was 4,000 chests. The Chinese government was faced not +only with the possibility of a race debauchery but also with an immediate +and alarming drain of silver from the country. The balance of the trade +was against them. Either as an economic or moral problem, the situation +was grave. + +The smoking of opium began in China and is peculiar to the Chinese. The +Hindoos and Malays eat it. Complicated and wide-spread as the smoking +habit is to-day, it is a modern custom as time runs in China. There seems +to be little doubt in the minds of those Sinologues who have traced the +opium thread back to the tangle of early missionary reports and imperial +edicts, that the habit started either in Formosa or on the mainland across +the Straits, where malaria is common. Opium had been used, generations +before, as a remedy for malaria; and these first smokers seem to have +mixed a little opium with their tobacco, which had been introduced by the +Portuguese in the early seventeenth century. From this beginning, it would +appear, was developed the rather elaborate outfit which the opium-smoker +of to-day considers necessary to his pleasure. + +Nothing but solid Anglo-Saxon persistence had enabled the company to +build up the trade. Seven years after their first small adventure, or in +1780, a depot of two small receiving hulks was established in Lark's Bay, +south of Macao. A year later the company freighted a ship to Canton, but +finding no demand were obliged to sell the lot of 1,600 chests at a loss +to Sinqua, a Canton "Hong-merchant," who, not being able to dispose of it +to advantage, reshipped it. The price in that year was $550 (Mexican) a +chest; Sinqua had paid the company only $200, but even at a bargain he +found no market. Meantime, in the words of a "memorandum," prepared by +Joshua Rowntree for the debate in parliament last year, "British merchants +spread the habit up and down the coast; opium store-ships armed as +fortresses were moored at the mouth of the Canton River." + +In 1782, the company's supercargoes at Canton wrote to Calcutta: "The +importation of opium being strongly prohibited by the Chinese government, +and a business altogether new to us, it was necessary for us to take our +measures (for disposing of a cargo) with the utmost caution." + +This "business altogether new to us" was, of course, plain smuggling. From +the first it had been necessary to arm the smuggling vessels; and as +these grew in number the Chinese sent out an increasing number of armed +revenue junks or cruisers. The traders usually found it possible to buy +off the commanders of the revenue junks, but as this could not be done in +every case it was inevitable that there should be encounters now and then, +with occasional loss of life. These affrays soon became too frequent to be +ignored. + +Meantime the British government had succeeded the company in the rule of +India and the control of the far Eastern trade. As this trade was from two +thirds to four-fifths opium, a prohibited article, and as the whole +question of trade was complicated by the fact that China was ignorant of +the greatness and power of the Western nations and did not care to treat +or deal with them in any event, a government trade agent had been sent out +to Canton to look after British interests and in general to fill the +position of a combined consul and unaccredited minister. In the late +1830's this agent, Captain Charles Elliot (successor to Lord Napier, the +first agent), found himself in the delicate position of protecting English +smugglers, who were steadily drawing their country towards war because +the Chinese government was making strong efforts to drive them out of +business. From what Captain Elliot has left on record it is plain that he +was having a bad time of it. In 1837, he wrote to Lord Palmerston of "the +wide-spreading public mischief" arising from "the steady continuance of a +vast, prohibited traffic in an article of vicious luxury," and suggested +that "a gradual check to our own growth and imports would be salutary." +Two years later he wrote that "the Chinese government have a just ground +for harsh measures towards the lawful trade, upon the plea that there is +no distinction between the right and the wrong." + +He even said: "No man entertains a deeper detestation of the disgrace and +sin of this forced traffic;" and, "I see little to choose between it and +piracy." But when the war cloud broke, and responsibility for the welfare +of Britain's subjects and trade interests in China devolved upon him, he +compromised. "It does not consort with my station," he wrote, "to sanction +measures of general and undistinguishing violence against His Majesty's +officers and subjects." + +It will be interesting before we consider the opium war and its immense +significance in history, to glance over the attitude of the company and +later of its successor, the government, towards the whole miserable +business. The company's board of directors, in 1817, had sent this +dispatch from Calcutta in answer to a question, "Were it possible to +prevent the using of the drug altogether, except strictly for the purpose +of medicine, we would gladly do it in compassion to mankind." + +It would be pleasant to believe that the East India Company was sincere in +this ineffective if well-phrased expression of "compassion." The spectacle +of a great corporation in any century giving up a lucrative traffic on +merely human and moral grounds would be illuminating and uplifting. But +unfortunate business corporations are, in their very nature, slaves of the +balance sheet, organized representatives of the mighty laws of trade. I +have already quoted enough evidence to show that the company was not only +awake to the dangers of opium, but that it had deliberately and +painstakingly worked up the traffic. Had there been, then, a change of +heart in the directorate? I fear not. Among the East Indian +correspondence of 1830, this word from the company's governor-general came +to light: "We are taking measures for extending the cultivation of the +poppy, with a view to a larger increase in the supply of opium." And in +this same year, 1830, a House of Commons committee reported that "The +trade, which is altogether contraband, has been largely extended of late +years." + +G. H. M. Batten, a formal official of the Indian Civil Service, who +contributed the chapter on opium in Sir John Strachey's work on "India, +its Administration and Progress," has been regarded of late years as one +of the ablest defenders of the whole opium policy. He believes that "The +daily use of opium in moderation is not only harmless but of positive +benefit, and frequently even a necessity of life." This man, seeing little +but good in opium, doubts "if it ever entered into the conception of the +court of directors to suppress in the interests of morality the +cultivation of the poppy." + +Perhaps the most striking testimony bearing against the policy of the +company was that given by Robert Inglis, of Canton, a partner in the large +opium-trading firm of Dent & Co., to the Select Committee on China Trade +(House of Commons, 1840). Here it is: + +Mr. Inglis.--"I told him (Captain Elliot) that I was sure the thing could +not go on." + +Mr. Gladstone.--"How long ago have you told him that you were sure the +thing could not go on?" + +Mr. Inglis.--"For four or five years past." + +Chairman.--"What gave you that impression?" + +Mr. Inglis.--"An immense quantity of opium being forced upon the Chinese +every year, and that in its turn forcing it up the coast in our vessels." + +Chairman.--"When you use the words 'forcing it upon them,' do you mean +that they were not voluntary purchasers?" + +Mr. Inglis.--"No, but the East India Company were increasing the quantity +of opium almost every year, without reference to the demand in China; that +is to say, there was always an immense supply of opium in China, and the +company still kept increasing the quantity at lower prices." + +Three years later, just after the war, Sir George Staunton, speaking from +experience as a British official in the East, said in the House of +Commons, "I never denied the fact that if there had been no opium +smuggling there would have been no war. + +"Even if the opium habit had been permitted to run its natural course, if +it had not received an extraordinary impulse from the measures taken by +the East India Company to promote its growth, which almost quadrupled the +supply, I believe it would never have created that extraordinary alarm in +the Chinese authorities which betrayed them into the adoption of a sort of +_coup d' etât_ for its suppression." + +Sir William Muir, some time lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Provinces +of India, is on record thus: "By increasing its supply of 'provision' +opium, it (the Bengal government) has repeatedly caused a glut in the +Chinese market, a collapse of prices in India, an extensive bankruptcy and +misery in Malwa." + +The most interesting summing-up of the whole question I have seen is from +the pen of Sir Arthur Cotton, who wrote after sixty years' experience in +Indian affairs, protesting against "continuing this trading upon the sins +and miseries of the greatest nation in the world in respect of +population, on the ground of our needing the money." + +What was China doing to protect herself from these aggressions? The +British merchants and the British trade agent had by this time worked into +the good-will of the Chinese merchants and the corrupt mandarins, and had +finally established their residence at Canton and their depot of +store-ships at Whampoa, a short journey down the river. In 1839 there were +about 20,000 chests of opium stored in these hulks. In that same year the +Chinese emperor sent a powerful and able official named Lin Tse-hsu from +Peking to Canton with orders to put down the traffic at any cost. +Commissioner Lin was a man of unusual force. He perfectly understood the +situation in so far as it concerned China. He had his orders. He knew what +they meant. He proposed to put them into effect. There was only one +important consideration which he seems to have overlooked--it was that +India "needed the money." His proposal that the foreign agents deliver up +their stores of "the prohibited article" did not meet with an immediate +response. The traders had not the slightest notion of yielding up 20,000 +chests of opium, worth, at that time, $300 a chest. Lin's appeals to the +most nearly Christian of queens, were no more successful. He did not seem +to understand that China was a long way off; it was very close to him. +Here is a translation of what he had to say. To our eyes to-day, it seems +fairly intelligent, even reasonable: + +"Though not making use of it one's self, to venture on the manufacture and +sale of it (opium) and with it to seduce the simple folk of this land is +to seek one's own livelihood by the exposure of others to death. Such acts +are bitterly abhorrent to the nature of man and are utterly opposed to the +ways of heaven. We would now then concert with your 'Hon. Sovereignty' +means to bring a perpetual end to this opium traffic so hurtful to +mankind, we in this land forbidding the use of it and you in the nations +under your dominion forbidding its manufacture." + +Her "Hon. Sovereignty," if she ever saw this appeal (which may be +doubted), neglected to reply. Meeting with small consideration from the +traders, as from their sovereign, Commissioner Lin set about carrying out +his orders. There was an admirable thoroughness in his methods. He +surrounded the residence of the traders, Captain Elliot's among them, +with an army of howling, drum-beating Chinese soldiers, and again proposed +that they deliver up those 20,000 chests. Now, the avenues of trade do not +lead to martyrdom. Traders rarely die for their principles--they prefer +living for them. The 20,000 chests were delivered up, with a rapidity that +was almost haste; and the merchants, under the leadership of the agent, +withdrew to the doubtful shelter of their own guns, down the river. +Commissioner Lin, still with that exasperatingly thorough air, mixed the +masses of opium with lime and emptied it into the sea. England, her +dignity outraged, hurt at her tenderest point, sent out ships, men and +money. She seized port after port; bombarded and took Canton; swept +victoriously up the Yangtse, and by blocking the Grand Canal at Chinkiang +interrupted the procession of tribute junks sailing up the Peking and thus +cut off an important source of the Chinese imperial revenue. This resulted +in the treaty of Nanking, in 1843, which was negotiated by the British +government by Sir Henry Pottinger. + +Sir Henry, like Commissioner Lin, had his orders. His methods, like Lin's, +were admirable in their thoroughness. He secured the following terms from +the crestfallen Chinese government: 1. There was to be a "lasting peace" +between the two nations. 2. Canton, Amoy, Foochou, Ningpo, and Shanghai +were to be open as "treaty ports." 3. The Island of Hongkong was to be +ceded to Great Britain. 4. An indemnity of $21,000,000 was to be paid, +$6,000,000 as the value of the opium destroyed, $3,000,000 for the +destruction of the property of British subjects, and $12,000,000 for the +expenses of the war. It was further understood that the British were to +hold the places they had seized until these and a number of other +humiliating conditions were to be fulfilled. Thus was the energy and +persistence of the opium smugglers rewarded. Thus began that partition of +China which has been going on ever since. It is difficult to be a +Christian when far from home. + +It is difficult to get an admission even to-day, from a thorough-going +British trader, that opium had anything to do with the war of 1840-43. He +is likely to insist either that the war was caused by the refusal of +Chinese officials to admit English representatives on terms of equality, +or that it was caused by "the stopping of trade." There was, indeed, a +touch of the naively Oriental in the attitude of China. To the Chinese +official mind, China was the greatest of nations, occupying something like +five-sixths of the huge flat disc called the world. England, Holland, +Spain, France, Portugal, and Japan were small islands crowded in between +the edge of China and the rim of the disc. That these small nations should +wish to trade with "the Middle Kingdom" and to bring tribute to the "Son +of Heaven," was not unnatural. But that the "Son of Heaven" must admit +them whether he liked or not, and as equals, was preposterous. Stripping +these notions of their quaint Orientalism, they boiled down to the simple +principle that China recognized no law of earth or heaven which could +force her to admit foreign traders, foreign ministers, or foreign +religions if she preferred to live by herself and mind her own business. +That China has minded her own business and does mind her own business is, +I think, indisputable. + +The notions which animated the English were equally simple. Stripped of +their quaint Occidental shell of religion and respectability and theories +of personal liberty, they seem to boil down to about this--that China was +a great and undeveloped market and therefore the trading nations had a +right to trade with her willy-nilly, and any effective attempt to stop +this trade was, in some vague way, an infringement of their rights as +trading nations. In maintaining this theory, it is necessary for us to +forget that opium, though a "commodity," was an admittedly vicious and +contraband commodity, to be used "for purposes of foreign commerce only." + +In providing that there should be a "lasting peace" between the two +nations, it was probably the idea to insure British traders against +attack, or rather to provide a technical excuse for reprisals in case of +such attacks. But for some reason nothing whatever was said about opium in +the treaty. Now opium was more than ever the chief of the trade. England +had not the slightest notion of giving it up; on the contrary, opium +shipments were increased and the smuggling was developed to an +extraordinary extent. How a "lasting peace" was to be maintained while +opium, the cause of all the trouble, was still unrecognized by either +government as a legitimate commodity, while, indeed, the Chinese, however +chastened and humiliated, were still making desperate if indirect efforts +to keep it out of the country and the English were making strong efforts +to get it into the country, is a problem I leave to subtler minds. The +upshot was, of course, that the "lasting peace" did not last. Within +fifteen years there was another war. By the second treaty (that of +Tientsin, 1858) Britain secured 4,000,000 taels of indemnity money (about +$3,000,000), the opening of five more treaty ports, toleration for the +Christian religion, and the admission of opium under a specified tariff. +The Tientsin Treaty legalized Christianity and opium. China had defied the +laws of trade, and had learned her lesson. It had been a costly +lesson--$24,000,000 in money, thousands of lives, the fixing on the race +of a soul-blighting vice, the loss of some of her best seaports, more, the +loss of her independence as a nation--but she had learned it. And +therefore, except for a crazy outburst now and then as the foreign grip +grew tighter, she was to submit. + +But China's trouble was not over. If she was to be debauched whether or +no, must she also be ruined financially? There were the indemnity payments +to meet, with interest; and no way of meeting them other than to squeeze +tighter a poverty-stricken nation which was growing more poverty-stricken +as her silver drained steadily off to the foreigners. There was a solution +to the problem--a simple one. It was to permit the growth of opium in +China itself, supplant the Indian trade, keep the silver at home. But +China was slow to adopt this solution. It might solve the fiscal problem; +but incidentally it might wreck China. She sounded England on the +subject,--once, twice. There seemed to have been some idea that England, +convinced that China had her own possibility of crowding out the Indian +drug, might, after all, give up the trade, stop the production in India, +and make the great step unnecessary. But England could not see it in that +light. China wavered, then took the great step. The restrictions on +opium-growing were removed. This was probably a mistake, though opinions +still differ about that. To the men who stood responsible for a solution +of Chinese fiscal problem it doubtless seemed necessary. At all events, +the last barrier between China and ruin was removed by the Chinese +themselves. And within less than half a century after the native growth of +the poppy began, the white and pink and mauve blossoms have spread across +the great empire, north and south, east and west, until to-day, in +blossom-time almost every part of every province has its white and mauve +patches. You may see them in Manchuria, on the edge of the great desert of +Gobi, within a dozen miles of Peking; you may see them from the headwaters +of the mighty Yangtse to its mouth, up and down the coast for two thousand +miles, on the distant borders of Thibet. + +No one knows how much opium was grown in China last year. There are +estimates--official, missionary, consular; and they disagree by thousands +and tens of thousands of tons. But it is known that where the delicate +poppy is reared, it demands and receives the best land. It thrives in the +rich river-bottoms. It has crowded out grain and vegetables wherever it +has spread, and has thus become a contributing factor to famines. Its +product, opium, has run over China like a black wave, leaving behind it a +misery, a darkness, a desolation that has struck even the Chinese, even +its victims, with horror. China has passed from misery to disaster. And as +if the laws of trade had chosen to turn capriciously from their inexorable +business and wreak a grim joke on a prostrate race, the solution, the +great step, has failed in its purpose. The trade in Indian opium has been +hurt, to be sure, but not supplanted. It will never be supplanted until +the British government deliberately puts it down. For the Chinese cannot +raise opium which competes in quality with the Indian drug. Indian opium +is in steady demand for the purpose of mixing with Chinese opium. No +duties can keep it out; duties simply increase the cost to the Chinese +consumer, simply ruin him a bit more rapidly. So authoritative an expert +as Sir Robert Hart, director of the Chinese imperial customs, had hoped +that the great step would prove effective. In "These from the Land of +Sinim" he has expressed his hope: + +"Your legalized opium has been a cure in every province it penetrates, and +your refusal to limit or decrease the import has forced us to attempt a +dangerous remedy--legalized native opium--not because we approve of it, +but to compete with and drive out the foreign drug; and it is expelling +it, and when we have only the native production to deal with, and thus +have the business in our own hands, we hope to stop the habit in our own +way." + +The great step has failed. Indian opium has not been expelled. For the +Chinese to put down the native drug without stopping the import is +impossible as well as useless. The Chinese seem determined, in one way or +another, to put down both. Once, again, after a weary century of struggle, +they have approached the British government. Once again the British +government has been driven from the Scylla of healthy Anglo-Saxon moral +indignation to the Charybdis behind that illuminating phrase--"India needs +the money." Twenty million dollars is a good deal of money. The balance +sheet reigns; and the balance sheet is an exacting ruler, even if it has +triumphed over common decency, over common morality, over common humanity. + + * * * * * + +Will you ride with me (by rickshaw) along the International Bund at +Shanghai--beyond the German Club and the Hongkong Bank--over the little +bridge that leads to Frenchtown--past a half mile of warehouses and +chanting coolies and big yellow Hankow steamers--until we turn out on the +French Bund? It is a raw, cloudy, March morning; the vendors of queer +edibles who line the curbing find it warmer to keep their hands inside +their quilted sleeves. + + +[Illustration: AN OPIUM RECEIVING SHIP OR "GODOWN" AT SHANGHAI The +Imported Indian Opium is Stored in These Ships Until it Passes the Chinese +Imperial Customs] + +[Illustration: THE OPIUM HULKS OF SHANGHAI "They Symbolize China's +Degredation"] + + +It is a lively day on the river. Admiral Brownson's fleet of white +cruisers lie at anchor in midstream. A lead-gray British cruiser swings +below them, an anachronistic Chinese gunboat lower still. Big black +merchantmen fill in the view--a P. and O. ship is taking on coal--a +two-hundred-ton junk with red sails moves by. Nearer at hand, from the +stone quay outward, the river front is crowded close with sampans and +junks, rows on rows of them, each with its round little house of yellow +matting, each with its swarm of brown children, each with its own pungent +contribution to the all-pervasive odour. Gaze out through the forests of +masts, if you please, and you will see two old hulks, roofed with what +looks suspiciously like shingles, at anchor beyond. They might be ancient +men-of-war, pensioned off to honourable decay. You can see the square +outline of what once were portholes, boarded up now. The carved, wooden +figure-heads at the prow of each are chipped and blackened with age and +weather. What are they and why do they lie here in mid-channel, where +commerce surges about them? + +These are the opium hulks of Shanghai. In them is stored the opium which +the government of British India has grown and manufactured for consumption +in China. They symbolize China's degradation. + + + + +III + +A GLIMPSE INTO AN OPIUM PROVINCE + + +The opium provinces of China--that is, the provinces which have been most +nearly completely ruined by opium--lie well back in the interior. They +cover, roughly, an area 1,200 miles long by half as wide, say about +one-third the area of the United States; and they support, after a +fashion, a population of about 160,000,000. There had been plenty of +evidence obtainable at Shanghai, Hankow, Peking, and Tientsin, of the +terrible ravages of opium in these regions, but it seemed advisable to +make a journey into one of these unfortunate provinces and view the +problem at short range. The nearest and most accessible was Shansi +Province. It lies to the west and southwest of Peking, behind the blue +mountains which one sees from the Hankow-Peking Railroad. There seemed to +be no doubt that the opium curse could there be seen at its worst. +Everybody said so--legation officials, attachés, merchants, missionaries. +Dr. Piell, of the London Mission hospital at Peking, estimated that ninety +per cent. of the men, women, and children in Shansi smoke opium. He called +in one of his native medical assistants, who happened to be a Shansi man, +and the assistant observed, with a smile, that ninety per cent. seemed +pretty low as an estimate. Another point in Shansi's favour was that the +railroads were pushing rapidly through to T'ai Tuan-fu, the capital (and +one of the oldest cities in oldest China). So I picked up an interpreter +at the _Grand Hotel des Wagon-lits_, and went out there. + + +[Illustration: THE VILLAGES WERE LITTLE MORE THAN HEAPS OF RUINS These +Holes in the Ground are Occupied by Formerly Well-to-do Opium Smokers] + +[Illustration: AT LAST HE CRAWLS OUT ON THE HIGHWAY, WHINING, CHATTERING +AND PRAYING THAT A FEW COPPER CASH BE THROWN TO HIM] + + +The new Shansi railroad was not completed through to Tai-Yuan-fu, the +provincial capital, and it was necessary to journey for several days by +cart and mule-litter. While this sort of travelling is not the most +comfortable in the world, it has the advantage of bringing one close to +the life that swarms along the highroad, and of making it easier to gather +facts and impressions. + +Every hour or so, as the cart crawls slowly along, you come upon a dusty +gray village nestling in a hollow or clinging to the hillside. And nearly +every village is a little more than a heap of ruins. I was prepared to +find ruins, but not to such an extent. When I first drew John, the +interpreter's, attention to them, he said, "Too much years." As an +explanation this was not satisfactory, because many of the ruined +buildings were comparatively new--certainly, too new to fall to pieces. At +the second village John made another guess at the cause of such complete +disaster. "Poor--too poor," he said, and then traced it back to the last +famine, about which, he found, the peasants were still talking. "Whole lot +o' mens die," he explained. It was later on that I got at the main +contributing cause of the wreck and ruin which one finds almost everywhere +in Shansi Province, after I had picked up, through John and his cook, the +roadside gossip of many days during two or three hundred miles of travel, +after I had talked with missionaries of life-long experience, with +physicians who are devoting their lives to work among these misery-ridden +people, with merchants, travellers, and Chinese and Manchu officials. + +Before we take up in detail the ravages of opium throughout this and other +provinces, I wish to say a word about one source of information, which +every observer of conditions in China finds, sooner or later, that he is +forced to employ. Along the China coast one hears a good deal of talk +about the "missionary question." Many of the foreign merchants abuse the +missionaries. I will confess that the "anti-missionary" side had been so +often and so forcibly presented to me that before I got away from the +coast I unconsciously shared the prejudice. But now, brushing aside the +exceptional men on both sides of the controversy, and ignoring for the +moment the deeper significance of it, let me give the situation as it +presented itself to me before I left China. + +There are many foreign merchants who study the language, travel +extensively, and speak with authority on things Chinese. But the typical +merchant of the treaty port, that is, the merchant whom one hears so +loudly abusing the missionaries, does not speak the language. He transacts +most of his business through his Chinese "_Compradore_," and apparently +divides the chief of his time between the club, the race-track, and +various other places of amusement. This sort of merchant is the kind most +in evidence, and it is he who contributes most largely to the +anti-missionary feeling "back home." The missionaries, on the other hand, +almost to a man, speak, read, and write one or more native dialects. They +live among the Chinese, and, in order to carry on their work at all, they +must be continually studying the traditions, customs, and prejudices of +their neighbours. In almost every instance the missionaries who supplied +me with information were more conservative than the British and American +diplomatic, consular, military, and medical observers who have travelled +in the opium provinces. I have since come to the conclusion that the +missionaries are over-conservative on the opium question, probably +because, being constantly under fire as "fanatics" and "enthusiasts," they +unconsciously lean too far towards the side of under-statement. The +published estimates of Dr. Du Bose, of Soochow, president of the +Anti-opium League, are much more conservative than those of Mr. Alex +Hosie, the British commercial _attaché_ and former consul-general. Dr. +Parker, of Shanghai, the gentlemen of the London Mission, the American +Board, and the American Presbyterian Missions at Peking, scores of other +missionaries whom I saw in their homes in the interior or at the +missionary conference at Shanghai, and Messrs. Gaily, Robertson, and +Lewis, of the International Young Men's Christian Association, all +impressed me as men whose opinions were based on information and not on +prejudice. Dr. Morrison, the able Peking correspondent of the London +_Times_, said to me when I arrived at the capital, "You ought to talk with +the missionaries." I did talk with them, and among many different sources +of information I found them worthy of the most serious consideration. + +The phrase, "opium province," means, in China, that an entire province +(which, in extent and in political outline, may be roughly compared to one +of the United States) has been ravaged and desolated by opium. It means +that all classes, all ages, both sexes, are sodden with the drug; that all +the richer soil, which in such densely-populated regions, is absolutely +needed for the production of food, is given over to the poppy; that the +manufacture of opium, of pipes, of lamps, and of the various other +accessories, has become a dominating industry; that families are wrecked, +that merchants lose their acumen, and labourers their energy; that after a +period of wide-spread debauchery and enervation, economic, as well as +moral and physical disaster, settles down over the entire region. The +population of these opium provinces ranges from fifteen or twenty million +to eighty million. + +"In Shansi," I have quoted an official as saying, "everybody smokes +opium." Another cynical observer has said that "eleven out of ten Shansi +men are opium-smokers." In one village an English traveller asked some +natives how many of the inhabitants smoked opium, and one replied, +indicating a twelve-year-old child, "That boy doesn't." Still another +observer, an English scientist, who was born in Shansi, who speaks the +dialect as well as he speaks English, and who travels widely through the +remoter regions in search of rare birds and animals, puts the proportion +of smokers as low as seventy-five per cent. of the total population. I had +some talks with this man at T'ai Yuan-fu, and later at Tientsin, and I +found his information so precise and so interesting that I asked him one +day to dictate to a stenographer some random observations on the opium +problem in Shansi. These few paragraphs make up a very small part of what +I have heard him and others say, but they are so grimly picturesque, and +they give so accurately the sense of the mass of notes and interviews +which fill my journal of the Shansi trip, that it has seemed to me I could +do no better than to print them just as he talked them off on that +particular day at Tientsin. + +"The opium-growers always take the best piece of land," he said, "in their +land--the best fertilized, and with the most water upon it. They find that +it pays them a great deal better than growing wheat or anything else. +Around Chao Cheng, especially, they grow opium to a large extent just +beside the rivers, where they can get plenty of water. The seeds are sown +about the beginning of May, and they have to be transplanted. It takes +until about the middle of July before the opium ripens. Just before it is +ripe men are employed to cut the seed pods, when a white sap exudes, and +this dries upon the pod and turns brown, and in about a week after it has +been cut they come around and scrape it off. The wages are from twenty to +thirty cents (Mexican) per day. Men and women are employed in the work. +The heads of the poppy are all cut off, when they are dried and stored +away for the seed of the next year. + +"It is a very fragile crop, and until it gets to be nine inches high it is +very easily broken. The full-grown poppy plant is from three to four feet +high. The Chao Cheng opium is considered the best. + +"In the Chao Cheng district the people have been more or less ruined by +opium. I have heard of a family, a man and his wife, who had only one suit +of clothes between them. + +"In Taiku there is a large family by the name of Meng, perhaps the +wealthiest family in the province of Shansi. For the past few years they +have been steadily going down, simply from the fact that the heads of the +family have become opium-smokers. In Taiku there is a large fair held each +year, and all the old bronzes, porcelains, furniture, etc., that this +family possesses are sold. Last year enough of their possessions were on +sale to stock ten or twelve small shops at the fair. + +"Another man, a rich man in Jen Tsuen, possessed a fine summer residence +previous to 1900. This residence contained several large houses and some +fine trees and shrubs, but during the last seven years he has taken to +opium and has been steadily going down. He has been selling out this +residence, pulling down the houses and cutting down the trees, and selling +the wood and old bricks. He is now a beggar in the streets of Jen Tsuen. + +"All through the hills west of Tai Yuan-fu the peasants are addicted to +the use of opium. About seventy per cent. of the population take opium in +one form or another. I was speaking to a number of them who had come into +an inn at which I was stopping. I asked them if they wanted to give up the +use of opium. They said yes, but that they had not the means to do so. +Everybody would like to give it up. The women smoke, as well as the men. + +"The smoker does not trouble himself to plant seeds, nor to go out. + +"The houses in Shansi are very good; in fact, they are better than in +other provinces, but they are rapidly going to ruin owing to the excessive +smoking of opium, and wherever one goes the ruins are seen on every side. +On the roads the people can get a little money by selling things, but off +the main roads the distress is worse than anywhere else. + +"Up in the hills I stopped at a village and inquired if they had any food +for sale, and they told me that they had nothing but frozen potatoes. So I +asked to be shown those, and I went into one of the hovels and found +little potatoes, perhaps one-half an inch across, frozen, and all strewn +over the _kang_ (the brick bed), where they were drying. As soon as they +were dry, they were to be ground down into a meal of which dumplings were +made, and these were steamed. That was their only diet, and had been for +the past month. They had no money at all. What money they had possessed +had been spent on opium, and they could not expect anything to make up the +crop of potatoes the following autumn. I noticed in a basin a few dried +sticks, and I asked what they were for, and the man told me they were the +sticks taken from the sieve through which the opium was filtered for +purification. These sticks are soaked in hot water, and the water, which +contains a little opium, is drunk. They were using this in place of opium. +I gave this man twenty cents, and the next day when I returned he was +enjoying a pipe of opium. + +"While passing through an iron-smelting village I noticed that the +blacksmiths who beat up the pig iron were regular living skeletons. They +work from about five in the morning until about five in the evening, +stopping twice during that time for meals. When they leave off in the +evening, after a hasty meal they start with their pipes and go on until +they are asleep. I do not know how these men can work. I presume that it +was the hard work that made them take to opium-smoking. + +"On asking people why they had taken to the drug, they invariably replied +that it was for the cure of a pain of some sort--for relieving the +suffering. The women often take to it after childbirth, and this is +generally what starts them to smoking. + +"The wealthier men who smoke opium nearly all day cannot enter another +room until this room has first been filled with the fumes of opium. Some +one has to go into the room first and smoke a few pipes, so that the air +of the room may be in proper condition. + +"There was an official in Shau-ying who used to keep six slave girls going +all day filling his pipes. The slave girls and brides very often try to +commit suicide by eating opium, owing to the harsh treatment they +receive." + +Everywhere along the highroad and in the cities and villages of Shansi you +see the opium face. The opium-smoker, like the opium-eater, rapidly loses +flesh when the habit has fixed itself on him. The colour leaves his skin, +and it becomes dry, like parchment. His eye loses whatever light and +sparkle it may have had, and becomes dull and listless. The opium face has +been best described as a "peculiarly withered and blasted countenance." +With this face is usually associated a thin body and a languid gait. Opium +gets such a powerful grip on a confirmed smoker that it is usually unsafe +for him to give up the habit without medical aid. His appetite is taken +away, his digestion is impaired, there is congestion of the various +internal organs, and congestion of the lungs. Constipation and diarrhoea +result, with pain all over the body. By the time he has reached this +stage, the smoker has become both physically and mentally weak and +inactive. With his intellect deadened, his physical and moral sense +impaired, he sinks into laziness, immorality, and debauchery. He has lost +his power of resistance to disease, and becomes predisposed to colds, +bronchitis, diarrhoea, dysentery, and dyspepsia. Brigade Surgeon J. H. +Condon, M. D., M. R. C. S., speaking of opium-eaters before the Royal +Commission on Opium, said: "They become emaciated and debilitated, +miserable-looking wretches, and finally die, most commonly of diarrhoea +induced by the use of opium." + +When a man has got himself into this condition, he must have opium, and +must have it all the time. I have already pointed out that opium-smoking +not only is perhaps the most expensive of the vices, but that, unlike +opium-eating, it consumes an immense amount of time. Few smokers can keep +slaves to fill their pipes for them, like that wealthy official at +Shau-ying. It takes a seasoned smoker from fifteen minutes to half an hour +to prepare a pipe to his satisfaction, smoke it, and rouse himself to +begin the operation again. If he smokes ten or twenty pipes a day, which +is common, and then sleeps off the effects, it is not hard to figure out +the number of hours left for business each day. When he has slept, and the +day is well started, his body at once begins to clamour for more opium. He +must begin smoking again, or he will suffer an agony of physical and +mental torture. His ten to twenty pipes a day will cost him from fifty +cents or a dollar (if he is a poor man and smokes the scrapings from the +rich man's pipe), to ten or twenty dollars (or more, if he smokes a high +grade of opium). I learned of many wealthy merchants and officials who +smoke from forty to sixty pipes a day. + +It is just at this period, when the smoker is so enslaved by the drug that +he has lost his earning power, that his opium expenditure increases most +rapidly. He is buying opium now, not so much to gratify his selfish vice, +as to keep himself alive. He becomes frantic for opium. He will sell +anything he has to buy the stuff. His moral sense is destroyed. A +diseased, decrepit, insane being, he forgets even his family. He sells his +bric-a-brac, his pictures, his furniture. He sells his daughters, even his +wife, if she has attractions, as slaves to rich men. He tears his house to +pieces, sells the tiles of his roof, the bricks of his walls, the woodwork +about his doors and windows. He cuts down the trees in his yard and sells +the wood. And at last he crawls out on the highway, digs himself a cave in +the loess (if he has strength enough), and prostrates himself before the +camel and donkey drivers, whining, chattering, praying that a few copper +cash be thrown to him. + +Since there are no statistics in China, I can give the reader only the +observations and impressions of a traveller. But Shansi Province is full +of ruins. So are Szechuan and Yunnan and Kuei-chow, and half a dozen +others. It is with the province as a whole much as it is with the +individuals of that province. The raising of opium to supply this enormous +demand crowds off the land the grains and vegetables that are absolutely +needed for human food. The manufacture of opium and its accessories +absorbs the energy and capital that should go into legitimate industry. +The government of the province and the government of the empire have +become so dependent on the immense revenue from the taxation of this +"vicious article of luxury" that they dare not give it up. In the body +politic an unhealthy condition not only exists, but also controls. +Drifting into it half-consciously, the province has been sapped by a +vicious economic habit. That is what is the matter with Shansi. That is +what is the matter with China. All the way along my route in Shansi I +photographed the ruins that typify the disaster which has overtaken this +opium province. And a few of these photographs are reproduced here, all +showing houses of men who were well-to-do only a few years ago. It will be +plainly seen from the cuts, I think, that these ruins are not the result +of age. The sun-dried bricks of the walls show few signs of crumbling. +The walls themselves are not weather-beaten, and have evidently been +destroyed by the hand of man, and not by time. + + +[Illustration: WRECK AND RUIN IN CHINA These Houses were Torn Down by +their Owners, the Woodwork and Bricks Sold, and the Money Used to Purchase +Opium] + + + + +IV + +CHINA'S SINCERITY + + +China is the land of paradox. If it is an absolute, despotic monarchy, it +is also a very democratic country, with its self-made men, its powerful +public opinion, and a "states' rights" question of its own. It is one of +the most corrupt of nations; on the other hand, the standard of personal +and commercial honesty is probably higher in China than in any other +country in the world. Woman, in China, is made to serve; her status is so +low that it would be a discourtesy even to ask a man if he has a daughter: +yet the ablest ruler China has had in many centuries is a woman. It is a +land where the women wear socks and trousers, and the men wear stockings +and robes; where a man shakes his own hand, not yours; where white, not +black, is a sign of mourning; where the compass points south, not north; +where books are read backward, not forward; where names and titles are put +in reverse order, as in our directories--Theodore Roosevelt would be +Roosevelt Theodore in China, Uncle Sam would be Sam Uncle; where fractions +are written upside down, as 8/5, not 5/8; where a bride wails bitterly as +she is carried to her wedding, and a man laughs when he tells you of his +mother's death. + +Chinese life, or the phases of it that you see along the highroads of the +northwest, would appear to be a very simple, honest life, industrious, +methodical, patient in poverty. The men, even of the lowest classes, are +courteous to a degree that would shame a Frenchman. I have seen my two +soldiers, who earned ten or twenty cents, Mexican, a day, greet my cook +with such grace and charm of manner that I felt like a crude barbarian as +I watched them. The simplicity and industry of this life, as it presented +itself to me, seemed directly opposed to any violence or outrage. Yet only +seven years ago Shansi Province was the scene of one of the most atrocious +massacres in history, modern or ancient. During a few weeks, in the summer +of 1900, one hundred and fifty-nine white foreigners, men, women, and +children, were killed within the province, forty-six of them in the city +of T'ai Yuan-fu. The massacre completely wiped out the mission churches +and schools and the opium refuges, the only missionaries who escaped being +those who happened to be away on leave at the time. The attack was not +directed at the missionaries as such, but at the foreigners in general. It +was widely believed among the peasantry that the foreign devils made a +practice of cutting out the eyes, tongues, and various other organs of +children and women and shipping them, for some diabolical purpose, out of +the country. The slaughter was directed, from beginning to end, by the +rabid Manchu governor, Yü Hsien, and some of the butchering was done by +soldiers under his personal command. But the interesting fact is that the +docile, long-suffering people of Shansi did some butchering on their own +account, as soon as the word was passed around that no questions would be +asked by the officials. + +Apparently, the Shansi peasant can be at one time simple, industrious, +loyal, and at another time a slaying, ravishing maniac. The Chinaman +himself is the greatest paradox of all. He is the product of a +civilization which sprang from a germ and has developed in a soil and +environment different from anything within our Western range of +experience. Naturally he does not see human relations as we see them. His +habits and customs are enough different from ours to appear bizarre to us; +but they are no more than surface evidences of the difference between his +mind and ours. Thanks to our strong racial instinct, we can be fairly +certain of what an Anglo-Saxon, or even a European, will think in certain +deeply human circumstances--in the presence of death, for instance. We +cannot hope to understand the mental processes of a Chinaman. There is too +great a difference in the shape of our heads, as there is in the texture +of our traditions. + +But we can see quite clearly that the imperial government of China is, +while it endures, a strong and effective government. It is significant +that the Chinese people rarely indulge in massacres on their own account. +Why not? The hatred of foreigners must be always there, under the placid +surface, for these people rarely fail to turn into slaying demons once the +officials let the word be passed around. There have been thirty-five +serious anti-foreign riots and massacres in China within thirty-five +years, besides the Boxer uprising of 1900; and among these there was +probably not one which the mandarins could not have suppressed had they +wished. The Boxer trouble was worked up by Yü Hsien while he was governor +of Shantung Province. When the foreign powers protested he was transferred +to Shansi, which had scarcely heard of the Boxer Society, and almost at +once there was a "Boxer" outbreak and massacre in Shansi. The Peking +government meanwhile carried on Yü Hsien's horrible work at Peking and +Tientsin. The siege of the legations at Peking was conducted by imperial +soldiers, not by mobs. During all the trouble of that bloody summer, Yuan +Shi K'ai, who succeeded to the governorship in Shantung, seemed to have no +difficulty in keeping that province quiet, though it was the scene of the +original trouble. + +Chang Chi Tung, "the great viceroy," subdued the Upper Yangtse provinces +with a firm hand, though the Boxer difficulty there was complicated by the +ever-seething revolution. In a word, the officials in China seem perfectly +able to control their populace and protect foreigners. As Dr. Ferguson, of +Shanghai, put it to me, "No other government in the world can so +effectively enforce a law as the Chinese government--when they want to!" + +You soon learn, in China, that you can trust a Chinaman to carry through +anything he agrees to do for you. When I reached T'ai Yuan-fu I handed my +interpreter a Chinese draft for $200 (Mexican), payable to bearer, and +told him to go to the bank and bring back the money. I had known John a +little over a week; yet any one who knows China will understand that I was +running no appreciable risk. The individual Chinaman is simply a part of a +family, the family is part of a neighbourhood, the neighbourhood is part +of a village or district, and so on. In all its relations with the central +government, the province is responsible for the affairs of its larger +districts, these for the smaller districts, the smaller districts for the +villages, the villages for the neighbourhoods, the neighbourhoods for the +family, the family for the individual. If John had disappeared with my +money after cashing the draft, and had afterwards been caught, punishment +would have been swift and severe. Very likely he would have lost his head. +If the authorities had been unable to find John, they would have punished +his family. Punishment would surely have fallen on somebody. + +The real effect of this system, continued as it has been through +unnumbered centuries, has naturally been to develop a clear, keen sense +of personal responsibility. For, whatever may occur, somebody is +responsible. The family, in order to protect itself, trains its +individuals to live up to their promises, or else not to make promises. +The neighbourhood, well knowing that it will be held accountable for its +units, watches them with a close eye. When a new family comes into a +neighbourhood, the neighbours crowd about and ask questions which are not, +in view of the facts, so impertinent as they might sound. Indeed, this +sense of family and neighbourhood accountability is so deeply rooted that +it is not uncommon, on the failure of a merchant to meet his obligations, +for his family and friends to step forward and help him to settle his +accounts. It is the only way in which they can clear themselves. + +All these evidences would seem to indicate that the Chinese people, on the +one hand, have an innate fear of and respect for their government and +their law, such as they are; and that the government, on the other hand, +is, in the matter of enforcing the traditional law, one of the most +powerful governments on earth. None but an exceedingly well-organized +government could deliberately incite its people to repeated riots and +massacres without losing control of them. The Chinese government has +seemed to have not the slightest difficulty in keeping the people +quiet--when it wanted to. The story of Shantung Province makes this clear. +It was driven into what appeared to be anarchy by a rabid governor. But +only a few months later this governor's successor had little difficulty in +keeping the entire province in almost perfect order while the adjoining +province was actually at war with the allied powers of the world and was +overrun with foreign troops. No; a government which has within it the +power, on occasion, to carry through such an achievement as this, can +hardly be called weak. + +We begin, then, by admitting that the Chinese government has the strength +and the organization necessary to carry out any ordinary reform--if it +wants to. The putting down of the opium evil is, of course, no ordinary +reform. It is an undertaking so colossal and so desperate that it staggers +imagination, as I trust I have made plain in the preceding articles. But +setting aside, for the moment, our doubts as to whether or not the Chinese +government, or any other government on earth, could hope to check so +insidious and pervading an evil, we have to consider other doubts which +arise from even a slight acquaintance with that puzzling organism, the +Chinese official mind. If the Chinese business man is, as many think, the +most honest and straightforward business man on earth, the Chinese +official, or mandarin, is about the most subtle and bewildering. His +duplicity is simply beyond our understanding. He has a bland and childish +smile, but his ways are peculiar. Most of us know that our own state +department has a neat little custom of issuing letters to travellers +ordering our diplomatic and consular representatives abroad to extend +special courtesies, and sending, at the same time, a notice to these same +representatives advising them to take no notice of the letters. In Chinese +diplomacy everything is done in this way, but very much more so. Documents +issued by the Chinese government usually bear about the same relation to +any existing facts or intentions as a Thanksgiving proclamation does. You +must be very astute, indeed, to perceive from the speech, manner, or +writing of a mandarin what he is really getting at. Motive underlies +motive; self-interest lies deeper still; and the base of it all is an +Oriental conception of life and affairs which cannot be so remodelled or +reshaped as to fit into our square-shaped Western minds. No one else was +so eloquent on the horrors of opium as the great Li Hung Chang, when +talking with foreigners; yet Li Hung Chang was one of the largest +producers of opium in China. When the Chinese army, under imperial +direction, was fiercely bombarding the legations in Peking, the imperial +government was officially sending fruit and other delicacies, accompanied +by courteous notes, asking if there was not something they could do for +the comfort of the hard-pressed foreigners. + +This indirection would seem to be the result of a constant effort, on the +part of everybody in authority, to shirk the responsibility for difficult +situations. Under a system which holds a man mercilessly accountable for +carrying through any undertaking for which he is known to be responsible, +he naturally tries to avoid assuming any responsibility whatever. An +official is punished for failure and rewarded for success in China, as in +other countries. And the official on whom is saddled the extremely +difficult job of pleasing, at one time, an empress who believes that a +Boxer can render himself invisible to foreign sharpshooters by a little +mumbling and dancing, a set of courtiers and palace eunuchs who are +constantly undermining one another with the deepest Oriental guile, a +populace with little more understanding and knowledge of the world than +the children of Israel in the Sinai Peninsula, and a hostile band of keen, +modern diplomats with trade interests and "concessions" on their tongues +and machine guns and magazine rifles at call in their legation compounds, +is not in for an easy time. + +It hardly seems, then, as if we should blame the Chinese official too +harshly if his whole career appears to be made up of a series of +"side-steppings" and "ducks"--of what the American boxer aptly calls "foot +work." On the other hand, it is not difficult to sympathize with the +foreign diplomat who has, year after year, to play this baffling game. He +is always making progress and never getting anywhere. He has his choice of +going mad or settling down into a confirmed and weary cynicism. In most +cases he chooses the latter, and ultimately drifts into a frame of mind in +which he doubts anything and everything. He takes it for granted that the +Chinese government is always insincere. It is incredible to him that a +Chinese official could mean what he says. And so, when the Chinese +government declared against the opium evil, the cynical foreign diplomats +and traders at once began looking between and behind the lines in the +effort to find out what the crafty yellow men were really getting at. That +they might mean what they said seemed wholly out of the question. But what +deep motive might underlie the proposal was a puzzle. At first the gossips +of Peking and the ports ran to the effect that the real scheme was to +arouse the anti-opium public opinion in England, and force the British +Indian government to give up its opium business. Very good, so far. But +why? In order that China, by successfully shutting out the Indian opium, +might set up a government monopoly of its own, for revenue, of the +home-grown drug? This was the first notion at Peking and the ports. I +heard it voiced frequently everywhere. But it proved a hard theory to +maintain. + +In the first place, the Chinese government could set up a pretty effective +government opium business, if it wanted to, without bothering about the +Indian-grown drug. Opium is produced everywhere in China. The demand has +grown to a point where the Indian article alone could not begin to supply +it. But, on the other hand, the stopping of the importation is necessarily +the first step in combating the evil; for, if the Chinese should begin by +successfully decreasing their own production of opium, the importation +would automatically increase, and consumption remain the same. + +In the second place, if it is wholly a "revenue" matter to the Chinese +government, why give up the large annual revenue from customs duties on +the imported opium? In asking the British to stop their opium traffic the +Chinese are proposing deliberately to sacrifice $5,000,000 annually in +customs and _liking_ duties on the imported drug, or between a fifth and a +sixth of the entire revenue of the imperial customs. + +One very convincing indication of the sincerity of the Chinese government +in this matter, which I will take up in detail a little later, is the way +in which the opium prohibition is being enforced by the Chinese +authorities. But before going into that, I should like to call attention +to two other evidences of Chinese sincerity in its war on opium. The +first is the patent fact that public opinion all over China, among rich +and poor, mandarins and peasants, has turned strongly against the use of +opium. I have had this information from too many sources to doubt it. +Travellers from the remotest provinces are reporting to this effect. The +anti-opium sentiment is found in the highest official circles, in the +army, in the navy, in the schools. Within the past year or so it has been +growing steadily stronger. Opium-smoking used to be taken as a matter of +course; now, where you find a man smoking too much, you also find a group +of friends apologizing for him. I have already explained that +opium-smoking is not tolerated in the "new" army. There is now a rapidly +growing number of officials and merchants who refuse to employ +opium-smokers in any capacity. + +Now, why is the public opinion of China setting so strongly against opium? +Even apart from moral considerations, bringing the matter down to a +"practical" basis, why is this so? I will venture to offer an answer to +the question. Said one Tientsin foreign merchant, an American who has had +unusual opportunities to observe conditions in Northern China: "If the +Chinese do succeed in shutting down on opium, it may mean the end of the +foreigners in China. Opium is the one thing that is holding the Chinese +back to-day." + +Ten or twelve of the legations at Peking now have "legation guards" of +from one hundred to three hundred men each. In all, there are eighteen +hundred foreign soldiers in Peking, "a force large enough," said one +officer, "to be an insult to China, but not large enough to defend us +should they really resent the insult." + +Twelve hundred miles up the Yangtse River, above the rapids, there is a +fleet of tiny foreign gunboats, English and French, which were carried up +in sections and put together "to stay." At every treaty port there are one +or more foreign settlements, maintained under foreign laws. The Imperial +Maritime Customs Service of China is directed and administered throughout +by foreigners; this, to insure the proper collection of the "indemnity" +money. Foreign "syndicates" have been gobbling up the wonderful coal and +iron deposits of China wherever they could find them. And so on. I could +give many more illustrations of the foreign grip on China, but these will +serve. And back of these facts looms the always impending "partition of +China." The Chinese are not fools. They have sat tight, wearing that +inscrutable smile, while the foreigners discussed the cutting up of China +as if it were a huge cake. They have seen the Japanese, a race of little +brown men, inhabiting a few little islands, face the dreaded bear of +Russia and drive it back into Siberia. Now, at last, these patient +Chinamen are picking up some odds and ends of Western science. They are +building railroads, and manufacturing the rails for them. They are talking +about saving China "for the Chinese." In 1906 they mobilized an army of +30,000 "modern" troops for manoeuvres in Honan Province. If they are to +succeed with this notion, they must begin at the beginning. Opium is +dragging them down hill. Opium will not build railroads. Opium will not +win battles. Opium will not administer the affairs of the hugest nation on +earth. Therefore, no matter what it costs in revenue, no matter how +staggering the necessary reform and reorganization, opium must go. + +China may be a puzzling land. The Chinese officials may be capable of the +most baffling duplicity. But we are forced to believe that they are +"sincere" in putting down the opium traffic. It appears, for China, to be +a case of sink or swim. + +The next question would seem to be, if the Chinese are really trying to +put down the opium traffic, how are they succeeding? We will pass over +that part of the problem which relates to Great Britain and the Indian +opium trade, with the idea of taking it up in a later chapter. Let us +consider now what China, flabby, backward, long-suffering China, is +actually doing in this tremendous effort to cure her disorder in order +that she may take a new place among the nations. We will deal here with +the enforcement of the edict in Shansi Province, taking up in later +chapters the results of the prohibition movement in the other provinces. + +The plan outlined in the edicts prohibiting opium is clear, direct, +forcible. It was evidently meant to be effective. It provides (first) that +the governors of the provinces shall ascertain, through the local +authorities, the exact number of acres under poppy cultivation. The area +of the land used for this purpose shall then be cut down by one-ninth part +each year, "so that at the end of nine years there will be no more land +used for such purposes, and the land thus disused"--I am quoting here from +the Chinaman who translated the regulations for me--"shall never be used +for the said purposes again. Should the owners of such lands disobey the +decree, their lands shall be confiscated. Local officials who make special +efforts and be able to stop the cultivation of poppy before the said time, +they shall be rewarded with promotions." + +The plan provides (second) that "all smokers, irrespective of class or +sex, must go to the nearest authorities to get certificates, in which they +are to write their names, addresses, profession, ages, and the amount of +opium smoked each day." Latitude is allowed smokers over sixty years of +age, but those under sixty "must get cured before arriving at sixty years +of age. Persons who smoke or buy opium without certificates will be +punished. No new smokers will be allowed from the date of prohibition. The +amount of opium supplied to each smoker must decrease by one-third each +year, so that within a few years there will be no opium smoked at all." +Officials who overstep the law are to be deprived of their rank. In the +case of common people, "their names will be posted up thoroughfares, and +will be deprived of privileges in all public gatherings." + +Opium dens, as also all restaurants, hotels, and wine-shops which provide +couches and lamps for smokers were to be closed at once. If any regular +opium den was found open after the prohibition (May, 1907), the property +would be confiscated. No new stores for the sale of opium could be opened. +"Good opium remedies must be prepared. Multiply the number of anti-opium +clubs. If any citizens who can, through their efforts, get many people +cured, they will be rewarded.... All officials, and the officers of the +army and navy, and professors of schools, colleges, and universities, must +all get cured within six months." And further, it was decided to "open +negotiations with Great Britain, arranging with that power to have less +and less opium imported into China each year, till at the end of nine +years no opium will be imported at all." The Chinese, it is evident, are +not wanting in hopeful sentiment. Reading this, it is almost possible to +forget that India needs the money. + +"There is another drug, called morphia, which has done (thus my Chinaman's +translation) or is doing more harm than opium. The custom authorities +are to be instructed to prohibit strictly the importation of it, except +for medical uses." + + +[Illustration: ENFORCING THE EDICT AT SHANGHAI + +Burning Opium Pipes of Ivory and Costly Woods + +Breaking the Opium Lamps] + + +A clean-cut programme, this; apparently meant to be effective. It was with +no small curiosity that I looked about in Shansi Province to see whether +there seemed any likelihood of enforcement. The time was ripe. It was +April; in May the six months would be up. Opium had ruled in Shansi: could +they hope to depose it before the final havoc should be wrought? + +The nub of the situation was, of course, the limiting of the crop. +Theoretically, it should be easier to prohibit opium than to prohibit +alcoholic drinks. Wines and liquors are made from grains and fruits which +must be grown anyway, for purposes of food. It would not do to attempt to +prohibit liquor by stopping the cultivation of grains and fruits. The +poppy, on the other hand, produces nothing but opium and its alkaloids. In +stopping the growth of the poppy you are depriving man of no useful or +necessary article. The poppy must be grown in the open, along the +river-bottoms (where the roads run). It cannot be hidden. As government +regulating goes, nothing is easier than to find a field of poppies and +measure it. The plans of the Shansi farmers for the coming year should +throw some light on the sincerity of the opium reforms. Were they really +arranging to plant less opium? Yes, they were. Reports came to me from +every side, and all to the same effect. West and northwest of T'ai Yuan-fu +many of the farmers had announced that they were planting no poppies at +all. This, remember, was in April: planting time was near; it was a +practical proposition to those Shansi peasants. In other regions men were +planting either none at all, or "less than last year." The reason +generally given was that the closing of the dens in the cities had +lessened the demand for opium. + +The officials were planning not only to make poppy-growing unprofitable to +the farmers, they were planning also to advise and assist them in the +substitution of some other crop for the poppy. But here they encountered +one of the peculiar difficulties in the way of opium reform, the +transportation problem. All transportation, off the railroads, is slow and +costly. No other product is so easy to transport as opium. A man can carry +several hundred dollars' worth on his person; a man with a mule can carry +several thousand dollars' worth. That is one of the reasons why opium is +a more profitable crop than potatoes or wheat. But the law descends +without waiting for solutions of all the problems involved. The closing of +the opium dens all over Shansi had the immediate effect of limiting the +crop. It also had the effect of driving out of business a great many firms +engaged in the manufacture of pipes and lamps. Sixty-two manufacturing +houses in one city, Taiku, either went out of business altogether during +the spring months, or turned to new enterprises. I add an interesting bit +of evidence as to the effectiveness of the enforcement. It is from a +missionary. + +"I was calling on one of the foreigners in T'ai Yuan-fu and found a beggar +lying on one of the door-steps, with his pipe and lamp all going. I told +him to clear out. I asked him why he was there, and he told me he had +nowhere else to go, now that the smoking-dens were all closed, and that he +had to find some sheltered nook where he could have his smoke." + +It was not the plan to close the opium sale shops; theoretically, it will +take nine or ten years to do that. But after closing all the places where +opium was smoked socially and publicly, it should become possible to +register all the individuals who buy the drug for home consumption. It was +the closing of the dens, the places for public smoking, in all the cities +of Shansi, which had the immediate effect of limiting the crop and the +manufacture of smoking instruments. The one hundred and twenty-nine dens +of T'ai Yuan-fu were all closed before I arrived there. In T'ai Yuan-fu, +as in Peking, you could buy an opium-smoker's outfit for next to nothing. +Cloisonné pipes, mounted with ivory and jade, were offered at absurd +prices. + +One of the saddest features of the situation in Shansi is the activity of +the opium-cure fraud. The opium-smoking habit can be cured, once the +social element is eliminated, as easily as the morphine or cocaine +habits--more easily, some would claim. I do not mean to say that a +degraded, degenerate being can be made over, in a week, into a normal, +healthy being; but it does not seem to be very difficult to tide even the +confirmed smoker over the discomfort and danger that attend breaking off +the habit. In Shansi, as in all the opium provinces, "opium refuges" are +maintained by the various missions. The usual plan is to charge a small +fee for the medicines administered, in order to make the refuges +self-supporting. It takes a week or ten days to effect a cure by the +methods usually followed. The patient is confined to a room, less and less +opium is allowed from day to day, stimulants (either strychnine or +atropine) are administered, and local symptoms are treated as may seem +necessary to the physician in charge. Some of the missions at first took a +stand against the reduction method, believing that medical missionaries +should not administer opium in any form; but after a death or two they +accepted the inevitable compromise, recognizing that it is not safe to +shut down the supply too abruptly. But the number of these refuges is +pitifully small beside the extent of the evil. They have been at work for +a generation without bringing about any perceptible change in the +situation. There are now fewer refuges than formerly in Shansi Province, +for none of the missions is fully recruited as yet, after the terrible +set-back of 1900. + +The opium-cure faker in China, as in the United States and Europe, usually +sells morphia under another name. Dr. Edwards, the author of "Fire and +Sword in Shansi," last year spent five weeks in travelling northwest of +T'ai Yuan-fu, and reported finding a great many men employed in selling +so-called anti-opium medicines. The demand for cures existed everywhere. +Now that the popular sentiment is setting in so strongly against the opium +habit, the Chinese are peculiarly easy prey for these rascals. They have +no conception of medicine as it is practiced in Western countries, and +eagerly take whatever is offered to them in the guise of a "cure." The +following, told to me by an Englishman who lives in the province, +illustrates this: + +"There is a lot of mischief being done in Shansi just now by men who have +bought drugs in Tientsin, are selling them at random, and making a good +thing for themselves. I was travelling one day and was taken violently +ill, and I happened to reach a place where I knew a man who had some +drugs, so I sent for him and asked him to bring me some medicine. He came +along with three bottles, none of which was labelled. He could not tell me +what any one of them contained. He said they were all good for +stomach-ache, and proposed to mix the three up and give me a good, strong +dose. It is needless to say I refused. That man is running a proper +establishment and making a lot of money on the drugs he sells, and that +is all he knows about the business." + +The upshot of my investigations and inquiries in Shansi was that the +anti-opium edicts were being enforced to the letter. This conclusion +reached, I naturally looked about to find the man behind the enforcement. +Judging from the work done, he should prove worth seeing. Further +inquiries drew out the information that he was one of the three rulers of +the province, with the title of provincial judge, and that his name was +Ting Pao Chuen. + +Calling upon a prominent Chinese official is, to a plain, democratic +person, rather an impressive undertaking. The Rev. Mr. Sowerby had kindly +volunteered to act as interpreter, and him I impressed for instructor and +guide through the mazes of official etiquette. It was arranged that I +should call at Mr. Sowerby's compound at a quarter to four. From there we +would each ride in a Peking cart with a driver and one extra servant in +front. There was nothing, apparently, for the extra servant to do; but it +was vitally important that he should sit on the front platform of the +cart. + +A Peking cart is a red-and-blue dog house, balanced, without springs, on +an axle between two heavy wheels. The sides, back, and rounding roof are +covered with blue cloth. A curtain hangs in front. In the middle of each +side is a tiny window, and it is at such windows that you occasionally get +the only glimpses you are ever likely to get of Chinese ladies. There is +no seat in a Peking cart; you sit on the padded floor. When you get in, +the servant holds up the front curtain, you vault to the front platform, +and, placing your hands on the floor, propel yourself backward, with as +much dignity as possible, taking care not to knock your hat against the +roof, until you have disappeared inside. If you are long of leg, your feet +will stick out in front of the curtain, leaving scant room for the two +servants, who sit, one on each side, with their feet hanging down in front +of the wheels. The two carts, two drivers, and two extra servants, set out +from the Baptist Mission compound, to convey Mr. Sowerby and me to the +Yâmen, or official residence, of His Excellency. + +Every Yâmen has three great gates barring the way to the inner compound. +If the resident official wishes to humiliate you, he has his man stop your +cart at the first gate and compels you to enter on foot. Fortunately for +us, since it was raining hard, His Excellency had chosen to treat us with +marked courtesy. The carts halted at the second gate while Mr. Sowerby's +servant ran in with our red Chinese cards. There was a brief wait, and +then we drove on through a long courtyard to the inner or screen gate, +where massive timbered doors were closed against us. Soon these swung +open; the carts crossed a paved yard and pulled up under the projecting +roof of the Yâmen porch; and we scrambled down from the carts, while two +tall mandarins, in official caps and buttons, dressed in flowing robes of +silk and embroidery, came rapidly forward to meet us. One of these, the +younger and shorter, I recognized as Mr. Wen, the interpreter for the +Shansi foreign bureau. + +The other mandarin was a man of ability and charm. Some of us, perhaps, +have formed our notion of the Chinaman from the Cantonese laundryman type +which we may have seen at his bench or on the Third Avenue elevated +railway in New York. This would be about as accurate as to call the coster +at his barrow the typical Englishman; just about as accurate as to call +the Bowery loafer the typical American. His Excellency appeared to be +close to six feet in height; he was erect and lithe of figure, with marked +physical grace. He greeted Mr. Sowerby by clasping his hands before his +breast and bowing, then turned, and with a genial smile extended his right +hand to grip mine. He used no English, but the Chinese language, as he +spoke it, was both dignified and musical, and not at all like the singsong +jabbering I had heard on the streets and about the hotels. + +Ting led the way into a reception-room which was furnished in red cloth +and dark woods. There was a seat and a table against each side, and two +red cushions on the edge of a platform across the end of the room, with a +low table between them. An attendant appeared with tea. Ting took a +covered tea bowl in his two hands, extended it towards me, bowed, then +placed it on the low stand--thus indicating the seat which I was to take, +on the platform. Mr. Wen said, in my ear, "Sit down." Mr. Sowerby was +placed at the other side of the stand; the two Chinese gentlemen seated +themselves at the two side-tables, facing each other. One thing I +remembered from Mr. Sowerby's coaching--I must not touch my bowl of tea. I +must not even look at it. The tea is not to drink; it is brought in order +that the caller may be enabled to take his leave gracefully. The Chinese +gentlefolk are so wedded to life's little ceremonies that guest and host +cannot bring themselves to talk right out about terminating a visit. The +guest would shiver at the notion of saying, "Well, I must go, now." +Instead, he fingers his tea bowl, or perhaps merely glances at it; and +then he and his host both rise. + +His Excellency fixed his eyes on me and uttered a deliberate, musical +sentence. "He says," translated Mr. Sowerby, "that you have come to help +China." I am afraid I blushed at this. It had not occurred to me to state +my mission in just those words. I replied that I had come, as a +journalist, to learn the truth about the opium question. We talked for an +hour about the wonderful warfare which China is waging against her +besetting vice. "China is sincere in this struggle," he said. "Public +opinion was never more determined." He asked me if I had investigated the +new Malay drug which had lately been heralded as a specific for +opium-poisoning. "If," he said, "you should learn of any real cure, while +you are investigating this subject, I wish you would advise me about it." +I promised him I would do so. I had already heard from a number of sources +that Ting was personally giving two to three thousand taels a month (a +tael is about seventy-five cents) to the support of opium refuges and for +the purchase of drugs for distribution among the poor. "China is sick," he +said; "she must be cured so that she may hold up her head among the +nations." + +Shortly after we had driven back through the rain and had mounted the +stairs to Mr. Sowerby's library, a Yâmen runner was shown into the room, +bearing presents from the provincial judge. The runner bowed to me and +presented his tray. On it, beside the large red "card" of Ting Pao Chuen, +were four bottles of native wine, or "shumshoo," two cans of beef tongue, +and two cans of sauerkraut! + + + + +V + +SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--SHANGHAI + + +In her development China is dependent on the adoption of Western ideas and +is influenced by the example set by Western civilization. This modernizing +influence is strongest at the point where the Westerner meets the +Chinaman, where the two civilizations come into direct contact. At +Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankow, Hongkong, and the other ports there are some +thirty to forty thousand Europeans, Englishmen, and Americans. They build +splendid buildings and lay good pavements. They bring with them the best +liquors. The life they live gives about as accurate an impression of +Western civilization--of what the Western nations stand for--as the great +majority of the Chinese (a most observing race) are ever likely to +receive. We have examined into China's sincerity, now let us examine into +the honesty of purpose of the foreign "concessions" and "settlements" +which fringe the China Coast. If these communities are representing our +civilization out there, it seems fair to ask whether they are +representing it well; for if they are misrepresenting us, if they are +contributing to the sort of international misunderstanding which breeds +trouble, we may as well know it. + +When, in the course of her gropings and strugglings towards civilization, +China turns for enlightenment to the great, successful nations of Europe +and America, what does she see? Well, for one thing, she sees Shanghai. + +Shanghai has been called the Paris of the extreme East. It is the paradise +of the adventurer and the adventuress, of the gambler, the beach-comber, +and the long-chance promoter. Midway of the China Coast, at the mouth of +the mighty Yangtse River, it is the principal port of entrance into China. +From England, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, the United States, and +Canada comes an endless column of steamships to Shanghai. To Hongkong, +Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore, Chefoo, Tientsin, and the uppermost ports of +the Yangtse, 1,250 miles inland, go endless columns of steamships from +Shanghai. And of the travellers on these ships nearly all have, or expect +to have, or have had, business or pleasure at Shanghai. + +It is the most truly cosmopolitan city in the world; for Paris, after all, +is mainly French; London, after all, is mainly English; New York, after +all, is mainly American. Shanghai has its French hotels, its imposing +German Club, its English Country Club, its race-track, its Russian Bank, +its Japanese mercantile houses, its American post-office. It is ruled by a +council of Englishmen, Germans, and Americans. It is policed by English +bobbies, Irishmen, Sikhs from India, and Chinamen. On the Bubbling Well +Road, of a sunny spring afternoon, where the latest thing in motor cars +weaves through the line of smart carriages, you may see Spaniard elbowing +Filipino, Portuguese jostling Parsee, Austrian chatting with Bavarian; and +they all talk, gamble, drink, and buy in pidgin English. + +This settlement of fifteen thousand Europeans, living apart from that +public opinion which compells the maintenance of a social standard in +every European country, and indifferent to that local public opinion which +keeps up a certain curious standard among the Chinese themselves, seems to +have practically no standard at all. The problem of every decent American +or Englishman who finds himself established in business is whether he +dare bring his wife and family and introduce them into circles so degraded +that families disintegrate and children grow up under disheartening +influences. The heavy drinking of the China Coast ports is proverbial, yet +the drinking seems little more than an incident in a city where the social +atmosphere is tainted and altogether unwholesome. + +I stood one night in the barroom of one of the big hotels. It was one +o'clock in the morning, and nearly every one of the dozen white men in the +room was more or less drunk. They were roaring out maudlin songs, and +shouting incoherent cries. Two men, well-dressed gentlemen, were on the +floor. And behind the bar, yawning, waiting for an opportunity to close up +and go to sleep, stood two Chinese men and one boy. They were neat, +respectful, and perfectly sober. Their almond eyes flitted about the room, +taking in every detail of that beastly scene. It would be impossible to +say what they were thinking, but I observed that they did not smile as a +Chinaman usually does. Perhaps, to the reader who does not know the China +Coast, it seems unfair to cite this case as an example of the active +influence of our civilization in China. I will not do so. I will merely +ask if you could ever hope to make those three young Chinamen believe that +our civilization is superior to theirs. + +Where such a low moral tone prevails, in a self-governing community, it is +bound to limit the perception and the power of the government of that +community. Let any observing visitor acquaint himself with Shanghai and +its social and moral standards (which will not be difficult, for these +will be thrust upon him soon after his arrival) and he will soon see for +himself that the residents of Shanghai, while they freely and hotly +criticize their council, never accuse it of priggishness or of moral +restraint. This is enough to show that the council makes no effort to +oppose the prevailing sentiment. The gambling business attains, in +Shanghai, to the altitude of a considerable industry. During the race +weeks, spring and fall, the vacant lots near the race-track are rented at +high rates by those gamblers of all nations who have no regular quarters, +and the games go on merrily in the open air, within full view of the +crowds in the road. Now seven of the nine members of the council are +Englishmen. English ideas are supposed to prevail in the settlement, +feebly seconded by German and American. And the laws under which Shanghai +is theoretically governed forbid gambling. + +All the lower forms of organized vice combine to form a large and highly +profitable branch of Shanghai's commerce. Partly because of the +willingness of the locally stronger nations to shoulder off the +responsibility for a disgraceful state of things, and partly because of +the number of adventurous and unprincipled Americans who have drained off +to the China Coast, America has had to endure more than her share of the +blame for this condition. For years every degraded woman who could speak +the language has called herself an "American girl"; until the term, which +at home arouses a natural pride, has grown so unpleasant that decent +Americans have chafed under the insult. To-day it is best not to use the +phrase "American girl" on the China Coast. + +Of the other and less vicious sorts of adventurers who turn up like bad +pennies at Shanghai, the beach-comber is easily the most picturesque. Many +writers, notably Robert Louis Stevenson, have employed him as a character +in fiction. The majority of the beach-combers probably are or have been +seafaring men. Next in numerical order, probably, come the discharged +soldiers and the deserters. It takes either a certain amount of money or +a certain amount of ability for any unattached American or European to get +out to the China Coast, and an equal amount for him to get back. Therefore +the stranded soldiers and sailors, brought out there at the cost of nation +or ship owner, beating their way from port to port, drinking, gambling, +starving, ready for any dubious enterprise that promises quick returns on +a small investment, are a sorry lot. The sharps, swindlers, and shadowy +promoters, on the other hand, are men necessarily possessed either of +money or wit sufficient to get them out to China, and not unnaturally they +represent the higher grades of their various crafts. From Peking to +Hongkong, the coast is infested with these gentlemanly rascals, each with +impressive garments and a convincing story. Josiah Flynt once wrote a tale +of some enthusiastic young promoters who undertook, at a considerable +outlay in capital and in personal risk, to sell a steam calliope to the +Grand Lama of Thibet. After a brief acquaintance with the diverse and +ingenious schemes that sprout, flower, and go to seed on the China Coast, +this tale seems not nearly so improbable as it perhaps sounds to the +casual reader. + +Other, and more recent, types of adventurers are the stranded free-lance +journalist and camp-followers who were lured Eastward by the prospect of +pickings along the trails of the Japanese and Russian armies during the +late war, and who later found themselves unable to get back home. In 1906, +Consul-General Rodgers, of Shanghai, reported as follows on the subject of +unscrupulous Americans who have been imposing on the Chinese to the +detriment of American trade: + +"There are many things which can be given as current reasons for retarding +American trade in the Orient. The advent of a class of Americans, like +those who came from Manila after a brief experience there, and those who +tried their fortunes in connection with the events of the Russo-Japanese +War, has done a great deal to injure the American name and reputation with +the Chinese. This class, usually indigent, has, by reason of imposition +upon the Chinese, destroyed to some extent a confidence which has existed +for many years and which had borne good fruit. There are good reasons for +saying that every American firm which contemplates sending a +representative to China should be very certain of his character, and, +other things being equal, should choose the quiet, orderly person rather +than the reverse type, in spite of the current opinion that such are +indicated for the Orient." + +If Shanghai is the sort of a place that it would here appear to be, if it +sets a vicious example in its government, in its business practice, and in +the character of many of its inhabitants, the fact would seem to indicate +that it is most decidedly misrepresenting out there the sort of +civilization that we, Europeans as well as Americans, have always supposed +that we stood for. It would appear that the Chinese, at the point of +contact with our civilization, are getting a false impression of us. It +would be easy to dismiss as remote and unimportant the vicious example set +by a group of adventurers and promoters on the China Coast; but +unfortunately this little group is the most important single contributing +factor in the exceedingly delicate matter of the rapidly developing +relations between China and the great Christian nations. + +The influence of the Shanghai example on China is real and positive. +Geographically, Shanghai commands the trade of the middle coast, the +immense Yangtse Valley, and the Grand Canal. Every night a big river +steamer leaves for Hankow and the intermediate river ports. Every day a +big river steamer comes in from the same cities. Trading junks and small +steamers innumerable ply between the river and coast ports and Shanghai. +Chinese merchants come from hundreds of miles around to trade with the +foreigners or with the native "compradores" attached to foreign houses. On +their return to their various interior cities or villages these traders +spread tales of the foreign devils who inhabit the great city near the +sea. Foreign merchants, travelling salesmen, engineers, and insurance +agents travel up and down the great river, up and down the coast; they +penetrate, by steamer, railroad, mule-litter, or cart, into the interior +cities of the great provinces, leaving everywhere on plastic minds +distinct and ineffaceable impressions of their manners, business methods, +and morals. + +In the foreign settlement of Shanghai, and apart from the population of +the native city which adjoins it, there are, roughly, 450,000 Chinese who +have chosen to dwell in the territory and under the laws of the white men. +This population is not fixed, but fluctuates as the floating element comes +and goes; and everywhere that this floating element travels when out of +the city it leaves an impression--a story, a bit of gossip, an example of +the sharp dealing learned from the foreigner--of the manners, business +methods, and morals of Shanghai. The native newspapers comment frankly on +life and conditions in the great seaport, and their comments are reprinted +in the papers of the interior. Shanghai exerts a direct and +result-breeding influence on fifty to seventy-five million native minds, +and an indirect influence on all China. How many scores of fair-minded, +straightforward merchants, how many thousands of scattered missionaries +and teachers will it take, think you, to counteract that influence? + +China, grappling with the problem of decay, fighting desperately against +an evil which the most nearly Christian of the Christian nations has +fastened on her, looks westward for enlightenment, and sees--Shanghai. And +Shanghai--well Shanghai plays the races and the roulette wheel, and +drinks, and forgets the sacred significance of marriage and the economic +importance of the home, and goes to the club, and except in casting up +profits gives never a thought to that vast, muttering populace that +waits--waits--for the day of the under-dog to come. + +Such was the condition of things when the Chinese war on opium began to +assume effective proportions during the spring of 1906. Now, Shanghai--the +"settlement," that is--was in a peculiar, an unfortunate, condition as +regarded the anti-opium crusade. I have already given, in an earlier +chapter, the estimate of Robert E. Lewis, general secretary of the Y. M. +C. A., at Shanghai, that there were, in 1906, nearly 22,000 places in the +international settlement, little and big, where opium could be purchased, +more than 19,000 of which kept pipes, lamps, and divans on the premises +for smokers. All of the dens which were openly conducted were paying a +regular license fee to the municipal government, amounting last year to +98,000 Shanghai taels, or about $70,000 in gold. It is against the law to +permit women or children to enter the smoking-dens, and a clause to this +effect is printed on the license as a condition in granting it; yet when +Captain Borisragon, the chief of police, was asked how many regular women +inmates were in the dens, he replied, in writing, that there were at least +3,200 women so kept, and doubtless a great many more who did not appear +on his records. When the tax and license department was asked why this +clause was not enforced, the reply was made, without the slightest attempt +at excuse or explanation, that when a license was issued to the keeper of +an "opium brothel" the clause prohibiting women inmates was erased. + +These curious facts combine to present an appearance familiar to one who +has studied the municipal protection of vice in this country. It is asking +too much of human credulity to expect one to believe that this clause was +regularly erased for nothing. But apart from what individual graft there +may have been in it, that $70,000 in revenue was an item not to be lightly +given up by the hard-headed municipal council. And the amount of money put +into circulation by the patrons of these dens was also an attractive item, +as Shanghai sees things. The prevailing opinion among the foreigners of +"the settlement" was simply and flatly that the settlement could not +afford to close the dens. The leading English newspaper hastened to defend +the sordid attitude of the council by explaining that, as the licenses +were issued for a year, they had no right to close the places, at least +before the spring of 1908. + +The interesting and significant fact is that while this miserable +condition of affairs was allowed to drag along in the international +settlement, where the white men rule, the Chinese native city, immediately +adjoining, was strictly enforcing the anti-opium edicts. The Chinese +authorities went about the enforcement in a thoroughly effective manner. +The date set for the closing of the dens was May 22, 1907. There was some +fear that the closing down might precipitate a riot, and, accordingly, the +authorities took measures to keep the populace in hand. Chinese soldiers +were placed on guard at the places where crowds would be most likely to +gather, the dens were quietly closed, padlocked, and the shutters put up; +and red signs, calling attention to the imperial edict prohibiting opium, +were pasted up on doors or shutters. It was quite evident that the +proprietors of these dens took the enforcement most seriously. Some of +them went immediately into other lines of business; others made their +places over into tea-houses. + + +[Illustration: IN AN OPIUM DEN, SHANGHAI] + +[Illustration: OPIUM SMOKING] + + +So at Shanghai the Chinese warfare on the "foreign smoke" was waged +earnestly and effectively in the native city. The Chinese authorities +closed the dens--permanently, it seems fair to believe. And the only +result of their heroic action,--and it is an heroic action to suppress a +prosperous and thoroughly established branch of commerce in any city,--the +only result was that the opium business went over to the adjoining city of +the foreigners, who gladly accepted it, and took the money which had +formerly been spent in the native city. The foreigners live wholly outside +of and above Chinese law. They have their own strips of land, their own +courts, their own local government, all guaranteed to them by the treaties +which China has, at one time or another, been forced to sign. When the +Chinese first proposed to stamp out opium, these foreigners laughed, and +talked about the chronic insincerity of the Chinese government. When the +yellow men did stamp out opium in that native city a mile or so away, +these foreigners said that it would not be fair to the holders of licenses +to close down in the settlement. As I have had occasion to say before, the +Chinese are not fools. They grasped the significance of the situation, and +spoke out frankly. The local mandarins protested to the settlement +council. The native newspapers called attention to it. And all this clear +insight into an extraordinary situation and the frank comment on it were +communicated, by the routes and the means which I have described earlier +in this chapter, to the fifty or seventy-five million Chinese who are +directly influenced by conditions at Shanghai. Now, in the light of these +facts, in the light of what they see and know, it is time to ask, and to +ask with feeling--How can you hope to make those fifty to seventy-five +million Chinamen believe that our civilization, with its science, and its +whisky, and its keen grasp on "revenue," and its contradictory and +confusing teachings of Christianity, is superior to their civilization? +And if they do not believe that our civilization is superior, how long do +you suppose they will endure the treatment they receive from us? As time +rolls on, there will be more "Boxer" uprisings in China, more crazy and +disastrous protests against foreign domination and exploitation. When +these troubles come, it will be well to recall that Shanghai,--not the +individual inhabitants, but the government of that little "settlement" of +foreigners which lies upon the west bank of the Woosung River,--officially +and for profit maintained its traffic in the drug that is China's curse +after the Chinese had stopped their own opium traffic. It will be well to +recall it, because it is quite certain that the Chinese themselves will +not have forgotten it. + +I have gone thus at length into the deplorable example which Shanghai, the +most important foreign settlement in China, exhibits to the struggling, +opium-ridden yellow men, because it is typical of the whole course of the +foreigner in China. In the next chapter we shall consider further evidence +in looking into the conditions of life and of the opium problem at +Hongkong and Tientsin. It is of course peculiarly unfortunate that +Shanghai, when the great opportunity came to extend a helping hand to +China in the opium fight, should have failed, utterly, ignominiously. But +the slightest acquaintance with the place is enough to make it plain that +Shanghai, as it has been and still is, is not likely to extend a helping +hand to anybody. The helping hand is not exactly what Shanghai stands for. +It really stands for the domination of the great Yangtse Valley, for the +exploitation of China, and, incidentally, for a sort of snug harbour for +criminals and degenerates. There can be no doubt that the fifty to +seventy-five millions of Chinese who come directly within the radiating +influence of Shanghai know this perfectly well. It is also quite likely +that these and the few hundred other millions who make up "the Middle +Kingdom" know perfectly well, that the complicated commercial +establishments of all the various foreign nations in China stand for +similar principles. And they doubtless know further that the very +important and very cynical gentlemen who represent the great and +prosperous foreign powers at Peking, are there for no other purpose than +diplomatically to put on the pressure whenever China chances to block a +move or gain a piece in this sordid and unholy game of chess. So perhaps +we had better give up, once and for all, any serious consideration of the +charges made by certain foreign powers that China is insincere in her +warfare on opium. Such charges and insinuations, coming from such sources, +hardly command respect. + +It is plain that this greedy exploitation, going so far as even to snatch +a profit out of the opium struggle, is not a healthy basis of intercourse +between great nations. If the Chinese were a Congo tribe, or a race of +American Indians, this policy might pay commercially; for in that case it +would be a matter for the Christian nations of simply killing off the +Chinese or driving them off the land, and then of fighting among +themselves over the division of the spoils. But this policy, which +succeeds against weak and numerically small nations, will hardly succeed +in China. Driving four hundred million Chinese off the land would be a +large order, a very different thing, indeed, from wiping out a tribe of +"Fuzzy Wuzzys" with machine guns. All of the military observers with whom +I have talked in China show a tendency to grow thoughtful over the subject +of China's potential military strength. From the days of the T'ai Ping +Rebellion and "Chinese" Gordon's "ever victorious" army, down to the +review of 30,000 of Yuan Shi K'ai's troops, with modern weapons and modern +drill, in Honan Province in the summer of 1906, it has been plain that the +Chinese make splendid soldiers when properly led. And yet it seems to have +occurred to few white statesmen that the deepest interests of trade +itself, sordid trade, demand that China be treated fairly and that the +relations between China and the powers be established on a basis that +makes for mutual respect and for peace, rather than on a basis that makes +for exploitation, outrage, massacre, warfare, "indemnity," and smouldering +hate. John Hay saw over the balance-sheet, when he established the "open +door" policy. Elihu Root has seen over the balance-sheet in arranging to +waive the future claims of this country for indemnity money. And Lord +Elgin, for England, saw over the balance-sheet when he outlined that sound +policy which he was afterwards one of the first to violate--"Never to make +an unjust demand of China, and never to recede from a demand once made." +To-day it seems apparent that the great nations cannot be brought together +to agree on any really enlightened policy in China. Even had such a thing +been possible a few years ago, the untrustworthy methods of Russia and the +growing ambitions of Japan would make it impossible to-day. Nations which, +when brought together in a "Peace Conference," cannot even agree upon the +rules of war, will hardly forego the chance of seizing some special +advantage in the colossal grab-bag which is China. And so it seems likely +that the genial commercial adventurers and gamblers and vice promoters of +Shanghai will go on sowing the wind in China--and that the sullen hate of +those silent, observing millions of yellow men will deepen and smoulder +until the final day of reckoning, the day of reaping, shall come. + +There is one ray of light which, to-day, illuminates the China Coast. It +is a small ray, when we consider the number of dark corners to be +illuminated, and yet there is the bare possibility that it may prove the +beginning of better conditions. Somewhat less than two years ago the +United States government established a wholly new institution, the United +States Court for China. L. R. Wilfley, one of the legal officers whom +Judge Taft had trained in Manila during his governorship of the +Philippines, was appointed the first judge of this court, and was sent +out, with a district attorney, a marshal, and a clerk, to administer +justice to Americans up and down the China Coast and along the Yangtse +River. By treaty, all American citizens are exempt from judgment under the +Chinese law, that peculiar jumble of tradition, superstition, common +sense, and Oriental severity. Formerly, justice had been dealt out in +courts presided over by the consul-generals and the consuls in their +respective districts. + +Now it should be obvious to the most casual observer that the peculiar +conditions and the peculiar industries which thrive in the treaty ports +give rise to a considerable number of legal entanglements. There is, of +course, a large volume of legitimate business transacted on the Coast, +which gives legitimate employment to a few lawyers; but there is a volume +of illegitimate and semi-legitimate business which would also naturally +give employment to other lawyers. At the time of Judge Wilfley's +appointment one thing was clear to the enlightened heads of our Department +of State at Washington; the consular courts, thanks to the skill and +resource of the American lawyer on the Coast, were in a constant tangle of +perplexed inefficiency, and the American name was sinking steadily lower +in China. + +It is likely that no American judge ever faced so peculiar and difficult a +task as that assigned to Judge Wilfley. It was his duty to take the place +of a lacking public opinion, and to raise the drooping prestige of his +country. He had behind him no settled code of laws, but merely a few +treaties and a few orders from the Department of State. He had not only to +judge cases between Americans, but also cases between Americans and +citizens of other nationalities, including the Chinese themselves. He had +to establish rulings on the most complicated matters of coastwise +commerce, in a land where coastwise commerce is involved with perplexing +local customs and superstitions. Above all, he had, from the start, to +fight a well-organized, well-entrenched band of shady characters who had +run their course for so long without anything in the nature of a public +opinion to hold them in check that they resented his advent as an +encroachment on their vested right to do as they chose. The last and most +perplexing of his problems was that in rooting out these evils he was in +danger at every turn of arraying against him the citizens of other +nationalities and even of arousing the active enmity of the courts and the +officials of other nations, most of whom had been content to let Shanghai +jog along in its easy-going, sordid way. + +It is to Judge Wilfley's everlasting credit that, with a full knowledge of +the difficulties and dangers before him, he went straight to the heart of +the problem. Seeing that certain American lawyers had long stood between +the old consular courts and anything which could be called justice, he +set to work first to solve the problem of the lawyers. His campaign for a +higher standard on the Coast has not been without its humorous moments. +Mr. Bassett, his shrewd young district attorney, preceded him to Shanghai +to "look the ground over." The little group of American lawyers at +Shanghai made haste to get acquainted with him. One of the ablest among +them invited him, casually and informally, to dinner. When Bassett arrived +at the dinner he found himself, to his astonishment, confronted with +thirty or forty "leading citizens," including all the American lawyers and +several men of questionable business character whom he rather expected to +be prosecuting a little later on. + +After the coffee and cigars, the host rose, and in a neat little speech +called on Bassett to tell the company something about Judge Wilfley and +what work he meant to do in Shanghai. It was a difficult situation. A +slow-witted man might have found himself in a fix. But Bassett, if I may +credit the account which reached me, was equal to the situation. He rose, +and looked around the table from face to face. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "as I have come unprepared for this pleasure, I +shall have to fall back on story-telling. In the small hours, one morning, +two men who had been having rather too good a time were navigating from +street corner to street corner. Said Smith, 'Jonesh, shtime to go home. +Shgetting broad daylight. Theresh sun shining up there.' + +"'No, Shmith,' replied Jones, 'you're mistaken. Tha'sh moon up there, and +it's night.' They staggered down the street, Smith insisting that it was +day, Jones insisting that it was night, until they met a fellow inebriate +clinging to a fire plug. To him they appealed their dispute. He heard them +out, and then looked thoughtfully up at the moon. For a long time he +puzzled over the problem, and finally, giving it up, turned to them and +said politely, 'Gentlemen, you'll have to 'scuse me. I'm a stranger in +town.' + +"And, gentlemen," said Bassett, again looking about from face to face, +"you'll have to excuse me. I'm a stranger in town." + +Judge Wilfley began by calling upon every American lawyer who was +practicing in Shanghai to bring a certificate of good moral character and +to pass an examination before he could be admitted to practice in the new +court. The examination was given, and only two of the lawyers passed. At +once there was a hubbub. The judge was attacked hotly. One of the lawyers +who failed to pass hurried over to this country, making a speech at +Honolulu, on the way, in which he insinuated charges of corruption against +Judge Wilfley. Shortly after his arrival at San Francisco, he prevailed +upon the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, on the Pacific Coast, to reverse +one of Judge Wilfley's decisions without having the facts of the whole +case in hand and without a hearing from the China court. He went on to +Washington, and within a month or two last winter actually got a bill +through the United States Senate reinstating all the disqualified lawyers. +The bill is before the House at this present session. He has conducted a +newspaper campaign against Judge Wilfley in this country since his return +last year. It seems only fair to call attention to these facts on a +fearless and able man, because Judge Wilfley is too hard at work in a +distant country to be able to defend himself. In the course of my travels +from port to port last year, it became clear to me that this new court was +the one uplifting factor in a distressing general condition. + +Judge Wilfley, like his district attorney, seems to hold no visionary +theories, in spite of the high standard he has set. Before leaving China, +I made it a point to call on him and talk with him about the work he is +doing in the interest of the American name. He seemed to recognize clearly +enough that vice and depravity can no more be put down out of hand in +Shanghai than they can be put down out of hand in New York or Chicago or +Boston. But he maintained that the disreputably open flaunting of vice can +be stopped. In fining the "American girls" $500 (gold) each, and driving a +number of them off the Coast, his attack has been directed mainly against +the dishonourable use of an honourable phrase. In imprisoning or driving +away the American gamblers, he has been trying to put gambling down more +nearly to the place it occupies, in this country, as a minor rather than +as a major branch of industry. Judge Wilfley has undertaken an Herculean +task. It seems to be the hope of all that patient minority, the better +class of Americans on the China Coast, that he will be permitted to +continue his fight unhampered by political machinery "back home." + +There are two other points, besides Shanghai, at which the two kinds of +civilization, Western and Eastern, come into contact--Hongkong and +Tientsin. Each is different from the other as well as from Shanghai; and +each plays a curious part in the opium drama. We shall take them up in the +next chapter. + + + + +VI + +SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--TIENTSIN AND HONGKONG + + +If you could avoid the suburbs of mud huts and walled compounds, and step +directly down from an airship on the broad piazza of the Astor House at +Tientsin (no treaty port is complete without its Astor House), you might +also imagine yourself in a thriving English town. Set about this piazza +are round tables, in bowers of potted plants, where sit Britishers, +Germans, and Americans, with a gay sprinkling of soldiery. Across the +street there is a green little park, where plump British babies are +wheeled about and children romp among the shrubbery, and where the Sikh +band plays on Sundays. There is nothing, unless it be the group of +rickshaw coolies at the curb, or the fat Chinese policeman in the roadway, +to recall China to the mind. + +Yet Tientsin dominates all Northern China much as Shanghai dominates the +mighty valley of the Yangtse. The railways and waterways (including the +Grand Canal) all lead to Tientsin. It is Peking's seaport. The viceroy of +the Northern Provinces makes it his seat of government. The chief point of +contact between these Northern Provinces and Western civilization, it is +through Tientsin that the new ideas which are stirring the sluggish +Chinese mind to new desires and to a new purpose filter into one hundred +million Mongoloid heads. + +The foreign settlement is simply a polyglot cluster of nationalities, each +with its "concession" or allotment of land wrung from a browbeaten empire, +each with its separate municipal government ruled by its own +consul-general, and the whole combined, for purposes of defense and +aggression, into a loosely knit city of seven or eight thousand whites +under the general direction of a dozen consulates. The British have their +polo, golf, and racing grounds; the French have their wealthy church +orders and their Parisian moving pictures; the Germans have their beer +halls and delicatessen shops. The Japanese, the Russians, the Italians, +the Austrians, all the powers, in fact, excepting the United States--which +holds no land in China--contribute their lesser shares to the colour and +the activity of this extraordinary place. And only a mile or two away, +further up the crooked river, lies the huge, sprawling Chinese city, where +nine hundred and fifty thousand blue-clad celestials--nearly a round +million of them--ceaselessly watch the squabbling groups of foreigners, +and by means of newspapers, travelling merchants, and the thousand and one +other instruments for the spreading of gossip, tell all Northern China +what they see. + +Tientsin, then, like Shanghai, is a potent, an electric, force in its +influence on China. Whatever the Chinese are to become in their struggle +towards the light of day will be in some measure due to the example set by +these two cities, the only samples of Western civilization which the +Chinaman can scrutinize at close range. The missionary tells him of the +God of the Western peoples, and of how His Spirit regenerates humankind; +the Chinaman listens stolidly, and then turns to look at the samples of +regenerated peoples that fringe his Coast. What he actually sees will +stick in his mind long after what he merely hears shall have passed out at +the other ear. And these impressions that stick in the Chinaman's mind are +precisely the highly charged forces that are revolutionizing China to-day. + +While still at Peking, I had picked up more or less gossip which seemed +to indicate that the Tientsin foreign concessions were setting an +unfortunate example in the matter of opium. In several of the concessions +there are thousands of Chinese traders who have crowded in the white man's +territory, in order to make a living. These Chinese districts demand their +opium, and they have always been allowed to have it. The opium shops and +dens are licensed, as are our saloons, and the resulting revenue is +cheerfully accepted by the various municipalities. When the Chinese +officials set out to fight opium last winter and spring, they asked the +foreign consuls to cooperate with them. This could be no more than a +friendly request, for the concessions are foreign soil, that have passed +wholly out of China's control; but it was obviously of no use to close the +dens of the native city if smokers could continue to gratify their desire +by simply walking down the road. + +This request bothered the consuls. The Chinese had adroitly placed them in +a difficult position. A failure to cooperate would look bad; but revenue +is revenue, on the Chinese Coast as elsewhere. More, if they could play +for time, the enforcement in the native city, by driving the smokers over +into the concessions, would actually increase the revenue. So the consuls +played for time. They spread the impression "back home" that they were +going to close the dens. When? Oh, soon--very soon. There were matters of +detail to attend to. The licenses must run out. Then, too, perhaps the +Chinese proposals were "insincere"--a little time would show. + +The British concession boasted proudly that it had no opium dens. This was +true. The concession is wholly taken up with British shops and British +homes, and there is no room for Chinese residents. The German concession +had so few natives that it closed some of its dens and took what credit it +could. The Japanese quietly put on the lid. But all the other concessions +remained "wide open." + +So ran the Peking gossip. It seemed to me worth while to follow it up; for +if it should prove true that the concessions were actually profiting, like +Shanghai, by the native prohibition, that fact would be significant. It +would leave little to say for the representatives of foreign civilization +in China. + +There was a particular reason why the prohibition should be made +effective in and about Tientsin. The one official who stood before his +country and the world as the anti-opium leader, who personified, in fact, +the reform spirit which is leavening the Chinese mass, was Yuan Shi K'ai, +the Northern viceroy. Tientsin was his viceregal capital. Before he could +hope to convince the cynical observers of Britain and Europe that the +anti-opium crusade was really on, he had to make good in his own city. + +Yuan Shi K'ai is a remarkable man. Unlike some of his colleagues who have +travelled and studied abroad, he has never, I believe, been over the sea; +yet no Chinese official shows a firmer grasp on his biggest and most +bewildering of the world's governmental problems. Practically a self-made +man (his father was a soldier), he worked up from rank to rank, himself a +part and a product of the antiquated absolutism of his country, until he +emerged at the top, a red-button mandarin, a viceroy, with a personality +towering above the superstitious, tradition-ridden court, and yet +sufficiently able and skillful to work with and through that court. We +have seen, in an earlier chapter, how Yuan, then a governor, kept Shantung +Province quiet during the Boxer outbreak. It is he who is building up the +"new army" with the aid of German and Japanese drill-masters. It is he who +succeeded in introducing the study of modern science into the education of +the official classes. He is committed to the abolition of the palace +eunuch system. He has, during the past year, made great headway with his +bold plan to remodel this land of fossilized ideas into a constitutional +monarchy, with a representative parliament. But first, and above all else, +he places the opium reforms. Unless this curse can be checked, and at +least partially removed, there is no hope of progress. + +Throughout this magnificent struggle for a new China, Viceroy Yuan has +radically opposed the very spirit and genius of his race; but far from +ostracizing himself or splitting the government, he has grown steadily in +power and influence, until now, as a sort of prime minister, he appears to +hold the substance of imperial authority in his hands. Try to imagine a +self-made, reform politician outwitting and beating down the traditions of +Tammany Hall in New York City, multiply his difficulties by a thousand or +two, and you will perhaps have some notion of the sheer ability of this +great man, who has risen above the traditions, even above the age-old +prejudices of his own people. There are many Europeans in his +retinue--physicians, military men, engineers, educators--all of whom +apparently look up to him as a genuine superior. An _attaché_ summed up +for me this feeling which Yuan inspires in those who know him: "You forget +to think of him as a Chinaman," said this _attaché_, "as in any way +different from the rest of us." + +The viceroy took a personal hand in the Tientsin situation. On December 2, +1906, he issues the following document to the North and South Police +Commissioners of Tientsin native city. Rather than altar the quaint +wording, I quote just as it was translated for me: + +"I have just received instructions from the cabinet ministers enjoining me +to act according to the regulations which they presented to the throne, +and which received their Majesties' consent. The evil effects of opium are +known to all. It is the duty of us all to act according to the +regulations, and do our utmost to get rid of them. + +"The North and South police commissioners are authorized to close the +opium dens, which have been the refuge of idle hands and young people who +are not allowed to smoke at home. The said dens are to be closed at the +end of the Tenth Moon (December 14th), at the same time notifying the +keepers of restaurants and wine shops not to have opium-smoking +instruments or opium prepared for their customers, nor are their customers +allowed to take opium and smoke there. + +"As to the concessions, the Customs Taotai is authorized to open +conference with the different consuls, asking them to close the opium dens +within a limited time." + +The two police commissioners at once made the proclamation public; and, as +is evident from the following "Reply to a petition," met with difficulties +in enforcing it: + +"It is impossible to change the date of closing dens. What is said in the +petition, that the keepers cannot square their accounts with their +customers, may be true, but the viceroy's order must be obeyed. The dens +shall be closed at the specified time." + +These orders were carried out. It is one of the advantages of a +patriarchal form of government that orders can be carried out. There were +no injunctions, no writs to show cause, no technical appeals. The few den +keepers who dared to violate the prohibition were mildly punished on the +first offense--most of them receiving two full weeks at hard labour. The +real responsibility was placed upon the owners of the property rented out +to the den keepers. It was recognized that these owners were the ones who +really profited by the vice. They were given an opportunity to report any +violations occurring on their property; but if a violation occurred, and +the owner failed to report, his property was promptly confiscated. Here we +see successfully employed a method which we in this country have been +unable as yet to put into effect. The futility of punishing engineers and +switchmen for the sins of railroad corporations, of punishing clerks for +the offenses of bank directors, of punishing keepers of disorderly houses +in cases where we know that the real profit goes, in the form of a high +rental, to the respectable owner of the property, has long been recognized +among us. In China, while we see much that seems intolerable in the +enforcement of law, we must admit that it is refreshing to find laws +really enforced, and to see responsibility sometimes put where it belongs. +We of the United States are far ahead of the Chinese in all that goes to +make up what we call civilization. But we have, among others, a law +forbidding the sale of liquor on Sundays in New York City. We couldn't +enforce the law if we tried; and we haven't enough moral courage to strike +it off the books for the dead letter it is. + +Yes, the Tientsin situation has its refreshing side. Yuan Shi K'ai--a +Chinaman,--set about it to close the opium dens that supplied this +swarming cityful of Chinamen, and succeeded. He solved that most difficult +problem which confronts human governments everywhere--in every climate, +under every sky--the problem of moral regulation. He drove the +manufacturers of opium and of opium accessories out of business. He cut +his way through a tangle of "interests," vested and otherwise, not so +different in their essence from the liquor interests of this country. +Thanks to his own character and resource, thanks to the cheerful +directness of Chinese methods of governing (when directness and not +indirectness is really wanted), he "got results." And not only in Tientsin +native city, but also in Peking, and Pao-ting-fu, and all Chili Province, +and throughout Shansi Province, and over large portions of Shantung, +Shansi, and Manchuria. It was not a case of Maine prohibition, or Kansas +prohibition, or New York excise regulation. He closed the dens! + +While he was accomplishing this result, and while the native Chamber of +Commerce was appropriating a sum of money to found a hospital for the cure +of opium victims, the "Customs Taotai," obeying the viceroy's +instructions, courteously requested the consuls, as rulers of the foreign +city, to help along by closing the dens in their municipalities. It was +mainly to see whether or not the consuls were "helping" that I went down +to Tientsin. There was no need to ask questions or to burrow among +statistics. The opium dens of the concessions were either or they were +not. Accordingly, I set out from the Astor House at nine o'clock one +evening, by rickshaw. For interpreter I had Mr. Sung, the secretary of the +Native Young Men's Christian Association, and with us went a young +Englishman who spoke the language. This test seemed a fair one to apply, +for it was April 23d, nearly five months after Viceroy Yuan's +proclamation, and several weeks after the closing of the last dens in the +native city. + +We began with the French concession; and our first glimpses of the +thriving opium business of the little municipality astonished us. The +Taiku Road, the main street, where one finds churches, mission compounds, +offices, and shops, displayed a row of red lights. Our three rickshaws +pulled up at the first and we went in. + +An opium den usually takes up one floor of a building. Against the walls +is a continuous wooden platform, perhaps two feet high and extending over +seven or eight feet into the room. This platform is divided at intervals +of five or six feet by low partitions, sometimes but a few inches in +height, into compartments, each of which accommodates two smokers, with +one lamp between them. Sometimes a rug or a bit of matting is laid on this +hard couch, sometimes not; for the Chinaman, accustomed to sleeping on +bricks, prefers his couches hard. A man always lies down to smoke opium; +for the porous pill, which is pressed into the tiny orifice of the pipe, +cannot be ignited, but is held directly over the lamp and the flame drawn +up through it. + +The first den we entered was on the second floor of a rickety building. We +climbed the steep, infinitely dirty stairway, crossed a narrow hall, and +opened a door. At first I found it difficult to see distinctly in the dim +light and through the thick blue haze; and the overpowering, sickish fumes +of the drug got into my nose and throat and made breathing a noticeable +effort. There was a desk by the door, behind which sat the keeper of the +den, with a litter of pipes and thimble-like cups before him. In a corner +of the desk was a jar of opium, a thick, sticky substance, dark brown in +colour, in appearance not unlike molasses in January. There were twenty +smokers on the couches, some preparing the pellet of opium by kneading it +and pressing it on the pipe-bowl, some dozing off the fumes, and a few +smoking. An attendant moved about the room with fresh supplies of the +drug. For each thimbleful, enough for one or two smokes, the price was +fifteen cents (Mexican). + +The smokers seemed to be mainly of the lower classes; though hardly so low +as coolies, who are lucky to earn as much as fifteen cents in a day. It +was evident to both of my companions, from the appearance of these men and +from their talk, that they could ill afford the luxury. The number of +smokes indulged in seemed to range from three or four up to an indefinite +number. The youngest and healthiest appearing man in the room told us that +after three pipes he could go home and go to sleep in comfort. He had been +at it less than a year, he said; and, judging from the expression of +peaceful content that came over his face as he held the pipe-bowl over the +lamp and drew the smoke deep into his lungs, he had not yet begun to feel +the ravages of the drug. + +The next den we entered was small, crowded, and dirty. The price was only +ten cents. But the third den was the largest and decidedly the most +interesting of any that we saw. Like the others, it was situated in a +prosperous section of the Taiku Road, with its red light conspicuously +displayed over the door. From the facts that it was frankly open for +business and that not the slightest concern was shown at our entrance, it +seemed fair to believe that the keepers had no fear whatever of publicity +or of the law. Even when we announced ourselves to be investigators, our +questions were answered cheerfully and fully, and the man who escorted us +from room to room was apparently proud of the establishment. The couches +were not all occupied, but I counted thirty-five men sitting or reclining +on them. One man had a child with him, a girl of some six or eight years +of age, and when he had prepared his pipe and smoked it he permitted her +to take a whiff or two. In a rear room we saw four women smoking with the +men. The price of a smoke in this den was twenty-five cents. + +I do not know how many opium dens were open for business in the French +concession on this particular April 23d, 1907, but of those that were open +I personally either entered or at least saw fifteen or sixteen, and that +without attempting anything in the nature of an exhaustive search. In the +Italian and Russian concessions I found about sixty dens open, mostly of a +very low grade. But the worst of the concessions, in this regard, was the +Austrian. Lying nearest to the native city, it had profited more largely +than any of the others by the native prohibition. It seemed also to have +the largest Chinese population; indeed, in appearance it was more like the +quaint old Chinese city than any of the other foreign municipalities. + +We entered only three of the Austrian dens. But we saw the signs and +glanced in through the doorways of so many others that I was quite ready +to accept Mr. Sung's rough estimate of the total number within the narrow +confines of the concession: he put it at fifty to one hundred. It is +difficult to be exact in these estimates, because where laws are so +languidly enforced the official returns hardly begin to state the full +number of flourishing establishments. These three dens which we entered +were enough to make an ineffaceable impression on the mind of one +traveller. I have eaten and slept in native hostelries, in the interior, +so unspeakably dirty and insanitary that to describe them in these pages +would exceed all bounds of taste, but I have never been in a filthier +place than at least one of these Austrian dens. And the other two were +little better. It would require some means more adequate than pen, ink, +and paper, to convey to the reader an accurate notion of the mingled, +half-blended odours which seemed to underlie, or to form a background for, +the overpowering fumes of what passed here for opium. What this drug +compound was I really do not know; but it was sold at the rate of two +pipes for three cents, Mexican, equivalent to a cent and a half, gold. For +real opium, of fair or good quality, it is quite possible, in China, to +pay from ten to twenty times as much. Such dens as this, then, are not +only vicious resorts maintained for the purpose of catering to a +degrading habit; they are also breeding places of disease and pestilence. + +Thus one night's work made it plain that the foreign concessions were +taking no steps that would evidence a spirit of coöperation with the +Chinese authorities in their vigorous attempt to check and control the +ravages of opium. Tientsin, like Shanghai, did not care. Tientsin, like +Shanghai, is sowing the wind in China. + +Let us now turn aside for a moment to consider the third important point +of contact between the two kinds of civilization--Hongkong. + +Hongkong is neither a "settlement" nor a "concession." It is a British +crown colony, with its own government and its own courts. The original +property, a mountainous island lying near the mouth of the Canton River, +was taken from the Chinese in 1842, as a part of the penalty which China +had to pay for losing the Opium War. Later, a strip of the mainland +opposite was added to the colony. Hongkong is one of the most important +seaports in the world. It is the meeting place for freight and passenger +ships from North America, South America, New Zealand and Australia, India, +Europe, Africa, and the Philippines and other Pacific islands. It +commands the trade of the Canton River Valley, which, though not +geographically so imposing as the wonderful valley of the Yangtse, +supports, nevertheless, the densely populated region reached by the +innumerable canal-like branches of the river. The city of Canton alone, +eighty or ninety miles inland from Hongkong, claims 2,500,000 inhabitants. +It is safe to say that fifty million Chinamen are constantly under the +influence of the civilizing example set by Hongkong. + +What is the attitude of the Colonial government towards the opium +question? Simply that the opium habit is a legitimate source of revenue. +The British gentlemen who administer the government seem never to have +been disturbed by doubts as to the morality or humanity of their attitude. +Let me quote from the report of the Philippine Commission: + +"Farming is the system adopted (renting out the monopoly control of the +drug to an individual or a corporation) and a considerable part of the +income of the colony is obtained from this source. The habit seems to be +spreading. No effort--except the increased price demanded by the farmer to +compensate for the increased price he has to pay to secure the +monopoly--is made to deter persons from using opium in the colony. Most of +the opium comes from India." + +The attitude of the residents and merchants of the colony seems to be +expressed plainly enough by an editorial in a leading Hongkong paper which +lies before me, dated December 1, 1906: "It will take volumes of imperial +edicts to convince us that China ever honestly intends or is ever likely +to suppress the opium trade. It is up to China to take the initiative in +such a way as to leave no doubt that her intentions are honest and that +the native opium trade will be abandoned. Until that is done, it is idle +to discuss the question." + +In other words, Hongkong refuses to consider giving up its opium revenue +until the Chinese take the market away from it. + +I think we may consider the point established that Great Britain is +directly responsible for the introduction of opium into China, and, +through the ingenuity and persistence of her merchants and her diplomats, +for the growth of the habit in that country. To-day, in spite of an +unmistakable tendency on the part of the Home government (which we shall +consider in a later chapter) to yield to the pressure of the anti-opium +agitation in England, the government of India continues to grow and +manufacture vast quantities of the drug for the Chinese trade. To-day the +representatives of that government at Hongkong are profiting largely from +a monopoly control of the opium importation. To-day, at Shanghai, where +the British predominate in population, in trade, and in the city +government, the opium evil is mishandled in a scandalous manner, and--as +elsewhere--for profit. Small wonder, therefore, that other and less +scrupulous foreign nations, where they have an opportunity to profit by +this vicious traffic, as at Tientsin, hasten to do so. + +These three great ports--Shanghai, Tientsin, and Hongkong--are in constant +touch commercially with a grand total of very nearly 200,000,000 Chinese. +They are, therefore, constantly exerting a direct influence on that number +of Chinese minds. As I have pointed out, this influence, because it is +concentrated and tangible, is much stronger than the admittedly potent +influence of the widely scattered missionaries, physicians, and teachers. +From the life and example of the Western nations, as they exist at these +ports, the Chinaman is drawing most of his ideas of progress and +enlightenment. + +In a word, the new China that we shall sooner or later have to deal with +among the nations of the world is the new China that the ports are helping +to make--for this new China is to-day in process of development. She is +struggling heroically to digest and assimilate the Western ideas which +alone can bring life and vigour to the sluggish Chinese mass. And yet, +turning westward for aid, China is confronted with--Shanghai, Tientsin, +and Hongkong. Turning to Britain for a helping hand in her effort to check +the inroads of opium, she hears this cheerful doctrine from the one +British colony which China can really see and partly understand, +Hongkong--"It is up to China." Dr. Morrison has stated in one of his +letters to the _Times_ that Britain's attitude towards China is one of +sympathy, tempered by a lack of information. One very eminent British +diplomat with whom I discussed the opium question assured me that that +attitude of his government was "most sympathetic." Later, in London, I +found that this same government was quieting an aroused public opinion +with assurances that steps were being taken towards an agreement with +China in the matter of opium. All this was in the spring and summer of +1907. Six months later, the one British colony in China, and the two great +international ports, were cheerfully continuing their cynical policy of +sneering at or ignoring the attempts of the Chinese to overcome their +master-vice, and were cheerfully profiting by the situation. + +It would perhaps seem fanciful to suggest that the great nations should +unite to regulate the coast ports. It would appear obvious that such +regulation, in so far as it might create a better understanding between +the Chinese and the representatives of foreign civilizations with whom +they must come in contact, would work to the advantage of commercial +interests. Anti-foreign riots are in progress to-day in China which have +their roots partly in racial misconception, partly in a long tradition of +injustice and bad faith; and it is hardly necessary to suggest that an +atmosphere of injustice, bad faith, and rioting is not the best atmosphere +in which to carry on trade. But, nevertheless, the inevitable difficulties +in the way of drawing the great nations together in the interests of a +better understanding with the Chinese people would seem to make such a +solution academic rather than practical. + +But, still hoping that something may be done about it, something that may +lessen the likelihood of the reaping of a whirlwind in China, suppose that +we alter the phrase of that Hongkong editorial and state that instead of +the problem being up to China, it is distinctly up to Great Britain? Great +Britain brought the opium into China. Great Britain kept it there until it +took root and spread over the native soil. Great Britain has admitted her +guilt, and had pledged herself by a majority vote in Parliament, and by +the promises of her governing ministers, to do something about it. Suppose +that Great Britain be called upon to make good her pledge? It would be an +interesting experiment. All that is necessary is to cut down the +production of opium in India, year by year, until it ceases altogether, +and with it the exportation into China. This course would solve +automatically the opium problem at Hongkong; and it would put it up to the +municipal authorities at Shanghai and Tientsin in an interesting fashion. +It would in no way jeopardize Britain's interest in the diplomatic balance +of the Far East. It would work for the good rather than the harm of the +trade with China. And it would be the first necessary step in the arduous +matter of cleaning up the treaty ports and setting a higher example to +China. + +To this course Great Britain would appear to be committed by the +utterances for her government. But the world, like the man from Missouri, +has yet to be "shown." In a later chapter we shall consider this question +of promise and performance in the light of Britain's peculiar governmental +problem. + + + + +VII + +HOW BRITISH CHICKENS CAME HOME TO ROOST + + +We have seen, in the preceding chapters, that the Anglo-Indian government +controls absolutely the production of opium in India, prepares the drug +for the market in government-owned and government-operated factories, and +sells it at monthly auctions. Let me also recall to the reader that +four-fifths of this opium is prepared to suit the known taste of Chinese +consumers. The annual value to the Anglo-Indian government of this curious +industry, it will be recalled, is well over $20,000,000. + +Now we have to consider the last strong defense of this policy which the +British government has seen fit to offer to a protesting world, the report +of the Royal Commission on Opium. Against this stout defense of the opium +traffic in all its branches, we are able to set not only the findings of +other governments, such as those of Japan, the Philippines, and Australia, +which have opium problems of their own to deal with, but also the +curious attitude of a certain British colony, amounting almost to what +might be called an opium panic, on that occasion when the Oriental drug +found its way near enough home to menace British subjects and British +children. + + +[Illustration: WEIGHING OPIUM IN A GOVERNMENT FACTORY, INDIA] + + +The men who administer the government of India have a chronically +difficult job on their hands. In order to keep it on their hands they have +got to please the British public; and that is not so easy as it perhaps +sounds. It would apparently please both the government and the public if +the whole opium question could be thrown after the twenty thousand chests +of Canton--into the sea. But the British public is hard-headed, and proud +of it; and the spectacle of the magnificent, panoplied government of India +gone bankrupt, or so embarrassed as to be calling upon the Home government +for aid, would not please it at all. Of the two evils, debauching China or +gravely impairing the finances of India, there has been reason to believe +that it would prefer debauching China. That, at least, is what successive +governments of Britain and of India seem to have concluded. It has seemed +wiser to endure a known quantity of abuse for sticking to opium than to +risk the cold British scorn for the bankrupt; and, accordingly, the Indian +government with the approval of one Home government after another, has +stuck to opium. The only alternative course, that of developing a new, +healthy source of revenue to supplant opium, the unhealthy, would involve +real ideas and an immense amount of trouble; and these two things are only +less abhorrent to the administrative mind than political annihilation +itself. + +But there came a time, not so long ago, when a wave of "anti-opium" +feeling swept over England, and the British public suddenly became very +hard to please. Parliament agreed that the idea of a government opium +monopoly in India was "morally indefensible," and even went so far as to +send out a "Royal Commission" to investigate the whole question. Now this +commission, after travelling twenty thousand miles, asking twenty-eight +thousand questions, and publishing two thousand pages (double columns, +close print) of evidence, arrived at some remarkable conclusions. "Opium," +says the Royal Commission, "is harmful, harmless, or even beneficial, +according to the measure and discretion with which it is used.... It is +[in India] the universal household remedy.... It is extensively +administered to infants, and the practice does not appear, to any +appreciable extent, injurious.... It does not appear responsible for any +disease peculiar to itself." As to the traffic with China, the Commission +states--"Responsibility mainly lies with the Chinese government." And, +finally (which seems to bring out the pith of the matter), "In the present +circumstances the revenue derived from opium is indispensable for carrying +on with efficiency the government of India." + +To one familiar with this extraordinary summing-up of the evidence, it +seems hardly surprising that the Rt. Hon. John Morley, the present +Secretary of State for India, should have said in Parliament (May, +1906)--"I do not wish to speak in disparagement of the Commission, but +somehow or other its findings have failed to satisfy public opinion in +this country and to ease the consciences of those who have taken up the +matter." + +The methods employed by a Royal Commission which could arrive at such +remarkable conclusions could hardly fail to be interesting. The Government +opium traffic was a scandal. Parliament was on record against it. There +was simply nothing to be said for opium or for the opium monopoly. It was +"morally indefensible"--officially so. It was agreed that the Indian +government should be "urged" to cease to grant licenses for the +cultivation of the poppy and for the sale of opium in British India. This +was interesting--even gratifying. There was but one obstacle in the way of +putting an end to the whole business; and that obstacle was, in some +inexplicable way, this same British government. The opium monopoly, +morally indefensible or not, seemed to be going serenely and steadily on. +If the Indian government was urged in the matter, there was no record of +it. + +Two years passed. Mr. Gladstone, the great prime minister, deplored the +opium evil--and took pains not to stop or limit it. Like the House of +Peers in the Napoleonic wars, he "did nothing in particular--and did it +very well." So the vigilant crusaders came at the government again. In +June, 1893, Mr. Alfred Webb moved a resolution which (so ran the hopes of +these crusaders) the most nearly Christian government could not resist or +evade. Sure of the anti-opium majority, the new resolution, "having regard +to the opinion expressed by the vote of this House on the 10th of April, +1891, that the system by which the Indian opium revenue is raised is +morally indefensible,... and recognizing that the people of India ought +not to be called upon to bear the cost involved in this change of policy," +demanded that "a Royal Commission should be appointed ... to report as to +(1) What retrenchments and reforms can be effected in the military and +civil expenditures of India; (2) By what means Indian resources can be +best developed; and (3) What, if any, temporary assistance from the +British Exchequer would be required in order to meet any deficit of +revenue which would be occasioned by the suppression of the opium +traffic." + +The crusaders had underestimated the parliamentary skill of Mr. Gladstone. +He promptly moved a counter resolution, proposing that "this House press +on the Government of India to continue their policy of greatly diminishing +the cultivation of the poppy and the production and sale of opium, and +demanding a Royal Commission to report as to (1) Whether the growth of the +poppy and the manufacture and sale of opium in British India should be +prohibited.... (4) The effect on the finances of India of the prohibition +... taking into consideration (a) the amount of compensation payable; (b) +the cost of the necessary preventive measures; (c) the loss of revenue.... +(5) The disposition of the people of India in regard to (a) the use of +opium for non-medical purposes; (b) their willingness to bear in whole or +in part the cost of prohibitive measures." + +Mr. Gladstone's resolution looked, to the unthinking, like an anti-opium +document. He doubtless meant that it should, for in his task of +maintaining the opium traffic he had to work through an anti-opium +majority. Mr. Webb's resolution, starting from the assumption that the +government was committed to suppressing the traffic, called for a +commission merely to arrange the necessary details. Mr. Gladstone's +resolution raised the whole question again, and instructed the commission +not only to call particular attention to the cost of prohibition (the +shrewd premier knew his public!), not only to find out if the victims of +opium in India wished to continue the habit, but also threw the whole +burden of cost on the poverty-stricken people of India--which he knew +perfectly well they could not bear. The original resolution had sprung +out of a moral outcry against the China trade. Mr. Gladstone, in beginning +again at the beginning, ignored the China trade and the effects of opium +on the Chinese. + +But more interesting, if less significant than this attitude, was the +suggestion that the Indian government "continue their policy of greatly +diminishing the cultivation of the poppy." Now this suggestion conveyed an +impression that was either true or false. Either the Indian government was +putting down opium or it was not. In either event, if Mr. Gladstone was +not fully informed, it was his own fault, for the machinery of government +was in his hands. The best way to straighten out this tangle would seem to +be to consult the report of Mr. Gladstone's commission. This commission, +on its arrival in India, found no trace of a policy of suppressing the +trade. Sir David Balfour, the head of the Indian Finance Department, said +to the commission: "I was not aware that that was the policy of the Home +government until the statement was made.... The policy has been for some +time to sell about the same amount every year, neither diminishing that +amount nor increasing it. I should say decidedly, that at present our +desire is to obtain the maximum revenue from the opium consumed in India." +As regarded the China trade, Sir David added: "We will not largely +increase the cultivation because we shall be attacked if we do so." And +this--"We have adopted a middle course and preserved the _status quo_ with +reference to the China trade." + +Mr. Gladstone's resolution was adopted by 184 votes to 105, the anti-opium +crusaders voting against it. And the Royal Commission, with instructions +not, as had been intended, to arrange the details of a plan for stopping +the opium traffic, but with instructions to consider whether it would pay +to stop it, and if not, whether the people of India could be made to stand +the loss, started out on its rather hopeless journey. + +One thing the crusaders had succeeded in accomplishing--they had forced +the government to send a commission to India. They had got one or two of +their number on the body. The commission would have to hear the evidence, +would be forced to air the situation thoroughly, showing a paternal +government not only manufacturing opium for the China trade, but actually, +since 1891, manufacturing pills of opium mixed with spices for the +children and infants of India. If the Indian government, now at last +brought to an accounting, wished to keep the opium business going, they +could do two things--they could see that the "right" sort of evidence was +given to the commission, and they could try to influence the commission +directly. They adopted both courses; though it appears now, to one who +goes over the attitude of the majority of the commission and especially of +Lord Brassey, the chairman, as shown in the records, that little direct +influence was necessary. Lord Brassey and his majority were pro-opium, +through and through. The Home government had seen to that. + +The problem, then, of the administrators of the Indian government and of +this pro-opium commission was to defend a "morally indefensible" condition +of affairs in order to maintain the revenue of the Indian government. It +was a problem neither easy nor pleasant. + +The Viceroy of India was Lord Lansdowne. He went at the problem with +shrewdness and determination. His attitude was precisely what one has +learned to expect in the viceroys of India. A later viceroy, Lord Curzon, +has spoken with infinite scorn of the "opium faddists." Lord Lansdowne +approached the business in the same spirit. He began by sending a telegram +from his government to the British Secretary of State for India, which +contained the following passage: "We shall be prepared to suggest +non-official witnesses, who will give independent evidence, but we cannot +undertake to specially search for witnesses who will give evidence against +opium. We presume this will be done by the Anti-Opium Society." This +message had been sent in August, 1893, but it was not made public until +the 18th of the following November. On November 20th Lord Lansdowne sent a +letter to Lord Brassey, "which," says Mr. Henry J. Wilson, M. P., in his +minority report, "was passed around among the members [of the commission] +for perusal. It contained a statement in favour of the existing opium +system, and against interference with that system as likely to lead to +serious trouble. This appeared to me a departure from the judicial +attitude which might have been expected from Her Majesty's +representatives." + +From this Mr. Wilson goes on, in his report, to lay bare the methods of +the Indian government in preparing evidence for the commission. To say +that these methods show a departure from the expected "judicial attitude" +is to speak with great moderation. It is not necessary, I think, to weary +the reader with the details of these extended operations. That is not the +purpose of this writing. It should be enough to say that Lord Lansdowne +and his Indian government ordered that all evidence should be submitted to +the commission through their offices; that only pro-opium evidence was +submitted; that a government official travelled with the commission and +openly worked up the evidence in advance; that the minority members were +hindered and hampered in their attempts at real investigation, and were +shadowed by detectives when they travelled independently in the +opium-producing regions; and, finally, that Lord Brassey abruptly closed +the report of the commission without giving the minority members an +opportunity to discuss it in detail. The result of these methods was +precisely what might have been expected. Opium was declared a mild and +harmless stimulant for all ages. No home, in short, was complete without +it. + +There is an answer to the report of the Royal Commission on opium more +telling than can be found in speeches or in minority reports. In an +earlier article we examined into the beginnings of opium. We saw how it is +grown and manufactured; how it passes out of the hands of the British +government into the currents of trade; how it is carried along on these +currents--small quantities of it washing up in passing the Straits and the +Malay Archipelago--to China; how it blends at the Chinese ports in the +flood of the new native-grown opium and divides among the trade currents +of that great empire until every province receives its supply of the +"foreign dirt." Now let us follow it farther; for it does not stop there. + +The Chinese are great traders and great travellers. The weight of the +national misery presses them out into whatever new regions promise a +reward for industry. They swarmed over the Pacific to America in a yellow +cloud until America, in sheer self-defense, barred them out. They swarmed +southward to Australia until Australia closed the doors on them. They +swarm to-day into the Philippines and into Malaysia. In the Straits +Settlement, in a total population of a little over half a million, more +than half (282,000) are Chinese. When America would build the Panama +Canal, her first impulse is to import the cheap Chinese labourer, who is +always so eager to come. When Britain took over the Transvaal she imported +70,000 Chinese labourers. And where the Chinese travel, opium travels too. + +The real answer to the Royal Commission on opium should be found in the +attitude of these countries which have had to face the opium problem along +with the Chinese problem. Let us include in the list Japan, a country +which has had a remarkable opportunity to view the opium menace at short +range. What Japan thinks about opium, what Australia and the Transvaal and +the United States think, what the Philippines think, is more to the point +than any first-hand statements of a magazine reporter. We will take Japan +first. Does Japan think that opium is invaluable as a general household +remedy? Does Japan think that opium is good for children? + +Here is what the Philippine Opium Commission, whose report is accepted +to-day as the most authoritative survey of the opium situation, has to say +about opium in Japan: + +"Japan, which is a non-Christian country, is the only country visited by +the committee where the opium question is dealt with in the purely moral +and social aspect.... Legislation is enacted without the distraction of +commercial motives and interest.... No surer testimony to the reality of +the evil effects of opium can be found than the horror with which China's +next-door neighbour views it.... The Japanese to a man fear opium as we +fear the cobra or the rattlesnake, and they despise its victims. There has +been no moment in the nation's history when the people have wavered in +their uncompromising attitude towards the drug and its use, so that an +instinctive hatred possesses them. China's curse has been Japan's warning, +and a warning heeded. An opium user in Japan would be socially a leper. + +"The opium law of Japan forbids the importation, the possession, and the +use of the drug, except as a medicine; and it is kept to the letter in a +population of 47,000,000, of whom perhaps 25,000 are Chinese. So rigid are +the provisions of the law that it is sometimes, especially in interior +towns, almost impossible to secure opium or its alkaloids in cases of +medical necessity.... The government is determined to keep the opium +habit strictly confined to what they deem to be its legitimate use, which +use even, they seem to think, is dangerous enough to require special +safeguarding. + +"Certain persons are authorized by the head official of each district to +manufacture and prepare opium for medicinal purposes.... That which is up +to the required standard (in quality) is sold to the government: and that +which falls short is destroyed. The accepted opium is sealed in proper +receptacles and sold to a selected number of wholesale dealers +(apothecaries) who in turn provide physicians and retail dealers with the +drug for medicinal uses only. It can reach the patient for whose relief it +is desired only through the prescription of the attending physician. The +records of those who thus use opium in any of its various forms must be +preserved for ten years. + +"The people not merely obey the law, but they are proud of it; they would +not have it altered if they could. It is the law of the government, but it +is the law of the people also.... Apparently, the vigilance of the police +is such that even when opium is successfully smuggled in, it cannot be +smoked without detection. The pungent fumes of cooked opium are +unmistakable, and betray the user almost inevitably.... There is an +instance on record where a couple of Japanese lads in North Formosa +experimented with opium just for a lark; and though they were guilty only +on this occasion, they were detected, arrested, and punished." + +That is what Japan thinks about opium. + +The conclusions of this Philippine Commission formed the basis of the new +opium prohibition in the Philippines, which went into effect March 1, +1908. The plan is a modification of the Japanese system of dealing with +the evil. + +Australia and New Zealand have also been forced to face the opium problem. +New Zealand, by an act of 1901, amended in 1903, prohibits the traffic, +and makes offenders liable to a penalty not exceeding $2,500 (£500) for +each offense. In the Australian Federal Parliament the question was +brought to an issue two or three years ago. Petitions bearing 200,000 +signatures were presented to the parliament, and in response a law was +enacted absolutely prohibiting the importation of opium, except for +medicinal uses, after January 1, 1906. All the state governments of +Australia lose revenue by this prohibition. The voice of the Australian +people was apparently expressed in the Federal Parliament by Hon. V. L. +Solomon, who said: "In the cities of the Southern States anybody going to +the opium dens would see hundreds of apparently respectable Europeans +indulging in this horrible habit. It is a hundredfold more damaging, both +physically and morally, than the indulgence in alcoholic liquors." + +That is what Australia and New Zealand think about opium. + +The attitude of the United States is thus described by the Philippine +Commission: "It is not perhaps generally known that in the only instance +where America has made official utterances relative to the use of opium in +the East, she has spoken with no uncertain voice. By treaty with China in +1880, and again in 1903, no American bottoms are allowed to carry opium in +Chinese waters. This ... is due to a recognition that the use of opium is +an evil for which no financial gain can compensate, and which America will +not allow her citizens to encourage even passively." By the terms of this +treaty, citizens of the United States are forbidden to "import opium into +any of the open ports of China, or transport from one open port to any +other open port, or to buy and sell opium in any of the open ports of +China. This absolute prohibition ... extends to vessels owned by the +citizens or subjects of either power, to foreign vessels employed by them, +or to vessels owned by the citizens or subjects of either power and +employed by other persons for the transportation of opium." Thus the +United States is flatly on record as forbidding her citizens to engage, in +any way whatever, in the Chinese opium traffic. + +The last item of expert evidence which I shall present from the countries +most deeply concerned in the opium question is from that British colony, +the Transvaal. Were the subject less grim, it would be difficult to +restrain a smile over this bit of evidence--it is so human, and so +humorous. For a century and more, Anglo-Indian officials have been kept +busy explaining that opium is a heaven-sent blessing to mankind. It is +quite possible that many of them have come to believe the words they have +repeated so often. Why not? China was a long way off--and India certainly +did need the money. The poor official had to please the sovereign people +back home, one way or another. If a choice between evils seemed +necessary, was he to blame? We must try not to be too hard on the +government official. Perhaps opium _was_ good for children. Keep your +blind eye to the telescope and you can imagine anything you like. + + +[Illustration: WHERE THE CHINAMAN TRAVELS, OPIUM TRAVELS TOO A Consignment +of Opium from China to the United States, Photographed in the Custom +House, San Francisco] + + +The situation was given its grimly humorous twist when the monster opium +began to invade regions nearer home. It came into the Transvaal after the +Boer War, along with those 70,000 Chinese labourers. The result can only +be described as an opium panic. I quote, regarding it, from that +"Memorandum Concerning Indo-Chinese Opium Trade," which was prepared for +the debate in Parliament during May, 1906: + +"The Transvaal offers a striking illustration of the old proverb as to +chickens coming home to roost. + +"On the 6th of September, 1905, Sir George Farrar moved the adjournment of +the Legislative Council at Pretoria, to call attention to 'the enormous +quantity of opium' finding its way into the Transvaal. He urged that +'measures should be taken for the immediate stopping of the traffic.' On +6th October, an ordinance was issued, restricting the importation of opium +to registered chemists, only, according to regulations to be prescribed +by permits by the lieutenant-governor--under a penalty not exceeding £500 +($2,500), or imprisonment not exceeding six months. + +"Any person in possession of such substance ... except for medicinal +purposes, unless under a permit, is liable to similar penalties. Stringent +rights of search are given to police, constables, under certain +circumstances, without even the necessity of a written authority. + +"The under-secretary for the colonies has also stated, 'that the Chinese +Labour Importation Ordinance, 1904, has been amended to penalize the +possession by, and supply to, Chinese labourers of opium.'" + +Apparently opium is not good for the children of South Africa. That it +would be good (to get still nearer home) for the children and infants of +Great Britain, is an idea so monstrous, so horrible, that I hardly dare +suggest it. No one, I think, would go so far as to say that the Royal +Commission would have reached those same extraordinary conclusions had the +problem lain in Great Britain instead of in far-off India and China. Walk +about, of a sunny afternoon, in Kensington Gardens. Watch the ruddy, +healthy children sailing their boats in the Round Pond, or playing in the +long grass where the sheep are nibbling, or running merrily along the +well-kept borders of the Serpentine. They are splendid youngsters, these +little Britishers. Their skins are tanned, their eyes are clear, their +little bodies are compactly knit. Each child has its watchful nurse. What +would the mothers say if His Majesty's Most Excellent Government should +undertake the manufacture and distribution of attractive little pills of +opium and spices for these children, and should defend its course not only +on the ground that "the practice does not appear to any appreciable extent +injurious," but also on the ground that "the revenue obtained is +indispensable for carrying on the government with efficiency"? + +What would these British mothers say? It is a fair question. The +"conservative" pro-opiumist is always ready with an answer to this +question. He claims that it is not fair. He maintains that the Oriental is +different from the Occidental--racially. Opium, he says, has no such +marked effect on the Chinaman as it has on the Englishman, no such marked +effect on the Chinese infant as it has on the British infant. I have met +this "conservative" pro-opiumist many times on coasting and river steamers +and in treaty port hotels. I have been one of a group about a rusty little +stove in a German-kept hostelry where this question was thrashed out. Your +"conservative" is so cock-sure about it that he grows, in the heat of his +argument, almost triumphant. At first I thought that perhaps he might be +partially right. One man's meat is occasionally another man's poison. The +Chinese differ from us in so many ways that possibly they might have a +greater capacity to withstand the ravages of opium. + +It was partly to answer this question that I went to China. I did not +leave China until I had arrived at an answer that seemed convincing. If, +in presenting the facts in these columns, the picture I have been painting +of China's problem should verge on the painful, that, I am afraid, will be +the fault of the facts. It is a picture of the hugest empire in the whole +world, fighting a curse which has all but mastered it, turning for aid, in +sheer despair, to the government, that has brought it to the edge of ruin. +Strange to say, this British government, as it is to-day constituted, +would apparently like to help. But, across the path of assistance stands, +like a grotesque, inhuman dragon,--the Indian Revenue. + + + + +VIII + +THE POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN + + +An observant correspondent recently wrote from Shanghai to a New York +newspaper: "China has missed catching the fire of the West in the manner +of Japan, and has lain idle and supine while neighbour and foreigner +despoiled her. Her statesmanship has been languid and irresolute, and her +armies slow and spiritless in the field. Observers who know China, and are +familiar at the same time with the symptoms of opium, say that it is as if +the listless symptoms of the drug were to be seen in the very nation +itself. Many conclude that the military and political inertia of the +Chinese is due to the special prevalence of the opium habit among the two +classes of Chinamen directly responsible: both the soldiers and the +scholars, among whom all the civil and political posts are held in +monopoly, are notoriously addicted to opium." + +The point which these chapters should make clear is that opium is the +evil thing which is not only holding China back but is also actually +threatening to bring about the most complete demoralization and decadence +that any large portion of the world has ever experienced. It is evident, +in this day of extended trade interests, that such a paralysis of the +hugest and the most industrious of the great races would amount to a +world-disaster. Already the United States is suffering from the weakness +of the Chinese government in Manchuria, which permits Japan to control in +the Manchurian province and to discriminate against American trade. This +discrimination would appear to have been one strong reason for the sailing +of the battleship fleet to the Pacific. If this relatively small result of +China's weakness and inertia can arouse great nations and can play a part +in the moving of great fleets, it is not difficult to imagine the +world-importance of a complete breakdown. Every great Western nation has a +trade or territorial footing in China to defend and maintain. Every great +Western nation is watching the complicated Chinese situation with +sleepless eyes. Such a breakdown might quite possibly mean the +unconditional surrender of China's destiny into the hands of Japan; +which, with Japan's growing desire to dominate the Pacific, and with it +the world, might quite possibly mean the rapid approach of the great +international conflict. + +We have seen, in the course of these chapters, that China appears to be +almost completely in the grasp of her master-vice. The opium curse in +China is a dreadful example of the economic waste of evil. It has not only +lowered the vitality, and therefore the efficiency of men, women, and +children in all walks of life, but it has also crowded the healthier crops +off the land, usurped no small part of the industrial life, turned the +balance of trade against China, plunged her into wars, loaded her with +indemnity charges, taken away part of her territory, and made her the +plundering ground of the nations. She has been compelled to look +indolently on while Japan, alight with the fire of progress, has raised +her brown head proudly among the peoples of the West. So China has at last +been driven to make a desperate stand against the encroachments of the +curse which is wrecking her. The fight is on to-day. It is plain that +China is sincere; she must be sincere, because her only hope lies in +conquering opium. She has turned for help to Great Britain, for Britain's +Indian government developed the opium trade ("for purposes of foreign +commerce only") and continues to-day to pour a flood of the drug into the +channels of Chinese trade. Once China thought to crowd out the Indian +product by producing the drug herself, as a preliminary to controlling the +traffic, but she has never been able to develop a grade of opium that can +compete with the brown paste from the Ganges Valley. + +This summing up brings us to a consideration of two questions which must +be considered sooner or later by the people of the civilized world: + +1. Can China hope to conquer the opium curse without the help of Great +Britain? + +2. What is Great Britain doing to help her? + +In attempting to work out the answer to these questions, we must think of +them simply as practical problems bearing on the trade, the territorial +development, and the military and naval power of the nations. We must try +for the present to ignore the mere moral and ethical suggestions which the +questions arouse. + +First, then: can China, single-handed, possibly succeed in this fight, now +going on, against the slow paralysis of opium? + +China is not a nation in the sense in which we ordinarily use the word. If +we picture to ourselves the countries of Europe, with their different +languages and different customs drawn together into a loose confederation +under the government of a conquering race, we shall have some small +conception of what this Chinese "nation" really is. The peoples of these +different European countries are all Caucasians; the different peoples of +China are all Mongolians. These Chinese people speak eighteen or twenty +"languages," each divided into almost innumerable dialects and +sub-dialects. They are governed by Manchu, or Tartar, conquerors who +spring from a different stock, wear different costumes, and speak, among +themselves, a language wholly different from any of the eighteen or twenty +native tongues. + +In making this diversity clear, it is necessary only to cite a few +illustrations. There is not even a standard of currency in China. Each +province or group of provinces has its own standard tael, differing +greatly in value from the tael which may be the basis of value in the next +province or group. There is no government coinage whatever. All the mints +are privately owned and are run for profit in supplying the local demand +for currency, and the basis of this currency is the Mexican dollar, a +foreign unit. They make dollar bills in Honan Province. I went into Chili +Province and offered some of these Honan bills in exchange for purchases. +The merchants merely looked at them and shook their heads. "Tientsin +dollar have got?" was the question. So the money of a community or a +province is simply a local commodity and has either a lower value or no +value elsewhere, for the simple reason that the average Chinaman knows +only his local money and will accept no other. The diversity of language +is as easily observed as the diversity of coinage. On the wharves at +Shanghai you can hear a Canton Chinaman and a Shanghai Chinaman talking +together in pidgin English, their only means of communication. When I was +travelling in the Northwest, I was accosted in French one day by a Chinese +station-agent, on the Shansi Railroad, who frankly said that he was led to +speak to me, a foreigner, by the fact that he was a "foreigner" too. With +his blue gown and his black pigtail, he looked to me no different from the +other natives; but he told me that he found the language and customs of +Shansi "difficult," and that he sometimes grew homesick for his native +city in the South. + +That the Chinese of different provinces really regard one another as +foreigners may be illustrated by the fact that, during the Boxer troubles +about Tientsin, it was a common occurrence for the northern soldiers to +shoot down indiscriminately with the white men any Cantonese who appeared +within rifle-shot. + +This diversity, probably a result of the cost and difficulty of travel, is +a factor in the immense inertia which hinders all progress in China. +People who differ in coinage, language, and customs, who have never been +taught to "think imperially" or in terms other than those of the village +or city, cannot easily be led into coöperation on a large scale. It is +difficult enough, Heaven knows, to effect any real change in the +government of an American city or state, or of the nation, let alone +effecting any real changes in the habits of men. Witness our own struggle +against graft. Witness also the vast struggle against the liquor traffic +now going on in a score of our states. Even in this land of ours, which is +so new that there has hardly been time to form traditions; which is alert +to the value of changes and quick to leap in the direction of progress; +which is essentially homogeneous in structure, with but one language, +innumerable daily newspapers, and a close network of fast, comfortable +railway trains to keep the various communities in touch with the +prevailing idea of the moment, how easy do we find it to wipe out +race-track gambling, say, or to make our insurance laws really effective, +or to check the corrupt practices of corporations, or to establish the +principle of local municipal ownership? To put it in still another light, +how easy do we find it to bring about a change which the great majority of +us agree would be for the better, such as making over the costly, +cumbersome express business into a government parcels post? + +But there are large money interests which would suffer by such reforms, +you say? True; and there are large money interests suffering by the opium +reforms in China, relatively as large as any money interests we have in +this country. The opium reforms affect the large and the small farmers, +the manufacturers, the transportation companies, the bankers, the +commission men, the hundreds of thousands of shopkeepers, and the +government revenues, for the opium traffic is an almost inextricable +strand in the fabric of Chinese commerce. In addition to these bewildering +complications of the problem, there is the discouraging inertia to +overcome of a land which, far from being alert and active, is sunk in the +lethargy of ancient local custom. + +No, in putting down her master-vice, China must not only overcome all the +familiar economic difficulties that tend to block reform everywhere, but, +in addition, must find a way to rouse and energize the most backward and +(outside of the age-old grooves of conduct and government) the most +unmanageable empire in the world. + +On what element in her population must China rely to put this huge reform +into effect? On the officials, or mandarins, who carry out the +governmental edicts in every province, administer Chinese justice, and +control the military and finances. But of these officials, more than +ninety per cent. have been known to be opium-smokers, and fully fifty per +cent. have been financially interested in the trade. + +Still another obstacle blocking reform is the powerful example and +widespread influence of the treaty ports. Perhaps the white race is +"superior" to the yellow; I shall not dispute that notion here. But one +fact which I know personally is that every one of the treaty ports, where +the white men rule, including the British crown colony of Hongkong, chose +last year to maintain its opium revenue regardless of the protests of the +Chinese officials. + +Putting down opium in China would appear to be a pretty big job. The +"vested interests," yellow and white, are against a change; the personal +habits of the officials themselves work against it; the British keep on +pouring in their Indian opium; and by way of a positive force on the +affirmative side of the question there would appear to be only the +lethargy and impotence of a decadent, chaotic race. How would you like to +tackle a problem of this magnitude, as Yuan Shi K'ai and Tong Shao-i have +done? Try to organize a campaign in your home town against the bill-board +nuisance; against corrupt politics; against drink or cigarettes. Would it +be easy to succeed? When you have thought over some of the difficulties +that would block you on every hand, multiply them by fifty thousand and +then take off your hat to Tong Shao-i and Yuan Shi K'ai. Personally, I +think I should prefer undertaking to stamp out drink in Europe. I should +know, of course, that it would be rather a difficult business, but still +it would be easier than this Chinese proposition. + +So much for the difficulties of the problem. Suppose now we take a look at +the results of the first year of the fight. There are no exact statistics +to be had, but based as it is on personal travel and observation, on +reports of travelling officials, merchants, missionaries, and of other +journalists who have been in regions which I did not reach, I think my +estimate should be fairly accurate. Remember, this is a fight to a finish. +If the Chinese government loses, opium will win. + +The plan of the government, let me repeat, is briefly as follows: First, +the area under poppy cultivation is to be decreased about ten per cent. +each year, until that cultivation ceases altogether; and simultaneously +the British government is to be requested to decrease the exportation of +opium from India ten per cent. each year. Second, all opium dens or places +where couches or lamps are supplied for public smoking are to be closed at +once under penalty of confiscation. Third, all persons who purchase opium +at sale shops are to be registered, and the amount supplied to them to be +diminished from month to month. Meantime, the farmer is to be given all +possible advice and aid in the matter of substituting some other crop for +the poppy; opium cures and hospitals are to be established as widely as +possible; and preachers and lecturers are to be sent out to explain the +dangers of opium to the illiterate millions. + +The central government at Peking started in by giving the high officials +six months in which to change their habits. At the end of that period a +large number were suspended from office, including Prince Chuau and Prince +Jui. + +In one opium province, Shansi, we have seen that the enforcement was at +the start effective. The evidence, gathered with some difficulty from +residents and travellers, from roadside gossip, and from talks with +officials, all went to show that the dens in all the leading cities were +closed, that the manufacturers of opium and its accessories were going out +of business, and that the farmers were beginning to limit their crops. + +The enforcements in the adjoining province, Chih-li, in which lies Peking, +was also thoroughly effective at the start. The opium dens in all the +large cities were closed during the spring, and the restaurants and +disorderly houses which had formerly served opium to their customers +surrendered their lamps and implements. Throughout the other provinces +north of the Yangtse River, while there was evidence of a fairly +consistent attempt to enforce the new regulations, the results were not +altogether satisfying. Along the central and southern coast, from Shanghai +to Canton, the enforcement was effective in about half the important +centers of population. In Canton, or Kwangtung Province, the prohibition +was practically complete. + +The real test of the prohibition movement is to come in the great interior +provinces of the South, Yunnan and Kweichou, and in the huge western +province of Sze-chuan. It is in these regions that opium has had its +strongest grip on the people, and where the financial and agricultural +phases of the problems are most acute. All observers recognized that it +was unfair to expect immediate and complete prohibition in these regions, +where opium-growing is quite as grave a question as opium-smoking. The +beginning of the enforcement in Sze-chuan seems to have been cautious but +sincere. In this one province the share of the imperial tax on opium +alone, over and above local needs, amounts to more than $2,000,000 +(gold), and, thanks to the constant demands of the foreign powers for +their "indemnity" money, the imperial government is hardly in a position +to forego its demands on the provinces. But recognizing that a new revenue +must be built up to supplant the old, the three new opium commissioners of +Sze-chuan have begun by preparing addresses explaining the evils of opium, +and sending out "public orators" to deliver them to the people. They have +also used the local newspapers extensively for their educational work; and +they have sent out the provincial police to make lists of all +opium-smokers, post their names on the outside of their houses, and make +certain that they will be debarred from all public employment and from +posts of honour. The chief commissioner, Tso, declares that he will clear +Chen-tu, the provincial capital, a city of 400,000 inhabitants, of opium +within four years; and no one seems to doubt that he will do it as +effectively as he has cleared the streets of the beggars for which Chen-tu +was formerly notorious. When Mr. J. G. Alexander, of the British +Anti-Opium Society, was in Chen-tu last year, this same Commissioner Tso +called a mass-meeting for him, at which the native officials and gentry +sat on the platform with representatives of the missionary societies, and +ten thousand Chinese crowded about to hear Mr. Alexander's address. + +The most disappointing region in the matter of the opium prohibition is +the upper Yangtse Valley. In the lower valley, from Nanking down to +Soochow and Shanghai (native city), the enforcement ranges from partial to +complete. But in the upper valley, from Nanking to Hankow and above, I +could not find the slightest evidence of enforcement. At the river ports +the dens were running openly, many of them with doors opening directly off +the street and with smokers visible on the couches within. The viceroy of +the upper Yangtse provinces, Chang-chi-tung, "the Great Viceroy," has been +recognized for a generation as one of China's most advanced thinkers and +reformers. His book, "China's Only Hope," has been translated into many +languages, and is recognized as the most eloquent analysis of China's +problems ever made by Chinese or Manchu. In it he is flatly on record +against opium. Indeed, when governor of Shansi, twenty odd years ago, this +same official sent out his soldiers to beat down the poppy crop. Yet it +was in this viceroyalty alone, among all the larger subdivisions of China, +that there was no evidence whatever last year of an intention to enforce +the anti-opium edicts. The only explanation of this state of things seems +to be that Chang-chi-tung is now a very old man, and that to a great +extent he has lost his vigour and his grip on his work. Whatever the +reason, this fact has been used with telling effect in pro-opium arguments +in the British Parliament as an illustration of China's "insincerity." + +The situation seems to sum up about as follows: The prohibition of opium +was immediately effective over about one-quarter of China, and partially +effective over about two-thirds. This, it has seemed to me, considering +the difficulty and immensity of the problem, is an extraordinary record. +Every opium den actually closed in China represents a victory. Whether the +dens will stay closed, after the first frenzy of reform has passed, or +whether the prohibition movement will gain in strength and effectiveness, +time alone will tell. But there is an ancient popular saying in China to +this effect, "Do not fear to go slowly; fear to stop." + +We have seen, then, that while the Chinese are fighting the opium evil +earnestly, and in part effectively, they are still some little way short +of conquering it. Also, we must not forget, that all reforms are strongest +in their beginnings. The Chinese, no less than the rest of us, will take +up a moral issue in a burst of enthusiasm. But human beings cannot +continue indefinitely in a bursting condition. Reaction must always follow +extraordinary exertion, and it is then that the habits of life regain +their ascendency. Remarkable as this reform battle has been in its +results, it certainly cannot show a complete, or even a half-complete, +victory over the brown drug. And meantime the government of British India +is pouring four-fifths of its immense opium production into China by way +of Hongkong and the treaty ports. It should be added, further, that while +the various self-governing ports, excepting Shanghai, have very recently +been forced, one by one, to cover up at least the appearance of evil, the +crown colony of Hongkong, which is under the direct rule of Great Britain, +is still clinging doggedly to its opium revenues. The whole miserable +business was summed up thus in a recent speech in the House of Commons: +"The mischief is in China; the money is in India." + +What is Great Britain doing to help China? His Majesty's government has +indulged in a resolution now and then, has expressed diplomatic "sympathy" +with its yellow victims, and has even "urged" India in the matter, but is +it really doing anything to help? + +There are reasons why the world has a right to ask this question. + +If China is to grow weaker, she must ultimately submit to conquest by +foreign powers. There are nine or ten of these powers which have some sort +of a footing in China. No one of them trusts any one of the others, +therefore each must be prepared to fight in defense of its own interests. +It is not safe to tempt great commercial nations with a prize so rich as +China; they might yield. Once this conquest, this "partition," sets in, +there can result nothing but chaos and world-wide trouble. + +The trend of events is to-day in the direction of this world-wide trouble. +The only apparent way to head it off is to begin strengthening China to a +point where she can defend herself against conquest. The first step in +this strengthening process is the putting down of opium--there is no +other first step. Before you can put down opium, you have got to stop +opium production in India. And therefore the Anglo-Indian opium business +is not England's business, but the world's business. The world is to-day +paying the cost of this highly expensive luxury along with China. Every +sallow morphine victim on the streets of San Francisco, Chicago, and New +York is helping to pay for this government traffic in vice. + +But is Great Britain planning to help China? + +The government of the British empire is at present in the hands of the +Liberal party, which has within it a strong reform element. From the Tory +party nothing could be expected; it has always worshipped the Things that +Are, and it has always defended the opium traffic. If either party is to +work this change, it must be that one which now holds the reins of power. +And yet, after generations of fighting against the government opium +industry on the part of all the reform organizations in England, after +Parliament has twice been driven to vote a resolution condemning the +traffic, after generations of statesmen, from Palmerston through Gladstone +to John Morley, have held out assurances of a change, after the Chinese +government, tired of waiting on England, has begun the struggle, this is +the final concession on England's part: + +The British government has agreed to decrease the exportation of Indian +opium about eight per cent. per year during a trial period of three years, +in order to see whether the cultivation of the poppy and the number of +opium-smokers is lessened. Should such be the case, exportation to China +will be further decreased gradually. + +The reader will observe here some very pretty diplomatic juggling. There +is here none of the spirit which animated the United States last year in +proposing voluntarily to give up a considerable part of its indemnity +money. The British government is yielding to a tremendous popular clamour +at home; but nothing more. Could a government offer less by way of +carrying out the conviction of a national parliament to the effect that +"the methods by which our Indian opium revenues are derived are morally +indefensible"? The English people are urging their government, the Chinese +are diplomatically putting on pressure, the United States is organizing an +international opium commission on the ground that the nations which +consume Indian and Chinese opium have, willy-nilly, a finger in the pie. +And by way of response to this pressure the British government agrees to +lessen very slightly its export for a few years, or until the pressure is +removed and the trade can slip back to normal! + +There are not even assurances that the agreement will be carried out. +While this very agitation has been going on, since these chapters began to +appear in _Success Magazine_, the annual export of Bengal opium has +increased (1906-1908) from 96,688 chests to 101,588 chests. And it is well +to remember that after Mr. Gladstone, as prime minister, had given +assurances of a "great reduction" in the traffic, the officials of India +admitted that they had not heard of any such reduction. + +A few months ago, the Government issued a "White Paper" containing the +correspondence with China on the opium question, so that there is no +dependence on hearsay in this arraignment of the British attitude. Let us +glance at an excerpt or two from these official British letters. This, for +example: + +"The Chinese proposal, on the other hand, which involves extinction of the +import in nine years, would commit India irrevocably, and in advance of +experience, to the complete suppression of an important trade, and goes +beyond the underlying condition of the scheme, that restriction of import +from abroad, and reduction of production in China, shall be brought _pari +passu_ into play." + +Not content with this rather sordid expression, His Majesty's Government +goes on to point out that, under existing treaties, China cannot refuse to +admit Indian opium; that China cannot even increase the import duty on +Indian opium without the permission of Great Britain; that before Great +Britain will consider the question of permanently reducing her production +China must prove that the number of her smokers has diminished; that the +opium traffic is to be continued at least for another ten years; and then +indulges in this superb deliverance: + +The proposed limitation of the export to 60,000 chests from 1908 is +thought to be a very substantial reduction on this figure, and the view of +the Government of India is that such a standard ought to satisfy the +Chinese Government for the present. + +Even by their own estimate, after taking out the proposed total decrease +of 15,300 chests in the Chinese trade, the Indian Government will, during +the next three years, unload more than 170,000 chests of opium on a race +which it has brought to degradation, which is to-day struggling to +overcome demoralization, and which is appealing to England and to the +whole civilized world for aid in the unequal contest. + +We must try to be fair to the gentlemen-officials who see the situation +only in this curious half-light. "It is a practical question," they say. +"The law of trade is the balance-sheet. It is not our fault as individuals +that opium, the commodity, was launched out into the channels of trade; +but since it is now in those channels, the law of trade must rule, the +balance-sheet must balance. Opium means $20,000,000 a year to the Indian +Government--we cannot give it up." + +The real question would seem to be whether they can afford to continue +receiving this revenue. Opium does not appear to be a very valuable +commodity in India itself. Just as in China, it degrades the people. The +profits in production, for everybody but the government, are so small that +the strong hand of the law has often, nowadays, to be exerted in order to +keep the _ryots_ (farmers) at the task of raising the poppy. There are +many thoughtful observers of conditions in India who believe it would be +highly "practical" to devote the rich soil of the Ganges Valley to crops +which have a sound economic value to the world. + +But more than this, the opium programme saps India as it saps China. The +position of the Englishman in India to-day is by no means so secure that +he can afford to indulge in bad government. The spirit of democracy and +socialism has already spread through Europe and has entered Asia. In +Japan, trade-unions are striking for higher wages. In China and India, are +already heard the mutterings of revolution. The British government may yet +have to settle up, in India as well as in China, for its opium policy. And +when the day for settling up comes, it may perhaps be found that a higher +balance-sheet than that which rules the government opium industry may +force Great Britain to pay--and pay dear. + +Yes, the world has some right to make demands of England in this matter. +China can make no real progress in its struggle until the Indian +production and exportation are flatly abolished. + +The situation has distinctly not grown better since the magazine +publication of the first of these chapters, a year ago. If the reader +would like to have an idea of where Great Britain stands to-day on the +opium business, he can do no better than to read the following excerpts +from a speech made last spring by the Hon. Theodore C. Taylor, M. P., on +his return from a journey round the world, undertaken for the purpose of +personally investigating the opium problem. + +First, this: + +"We shall not begin to have the slightest right to ask that China should +give proof of her genuineness about reform until we show more proof of our +own genuineness about reform, and until we suppress the opium traffic +where we can. China has taken this difficult reform in hand. She has done +much, but not everything. In Shanghai, Hongkong, and the Straits, we have +done nothing at all. I want to say this morning, as pricking the bubble of +our own Pharisaism, that from the point of view of reform, the blackest +opium spots in China are the spots under British rule." + +And then, in conclusion, this: + +"I am convinced, and deeply convinced, as every observant and thoughtful +man is that knows anything of China, that China is a great coming power. I +was talking to a fellow member of the House of Commons who lately went to +China, and went into barracks and camps with the Chinese, and who made it +his business to study Chinese military affairs, which generally excite so +much laughter outside China. He spent a good deal of time with the Chinese +soldier. He said to me, as many other people have said to me, 'The +Chinaman is splendid raw material as a soldier, and, if his officers would +properly lead the Chinaman, he would follow and make the finest soldier in +the world, bar none.' It will take China a long, long time to organize +herself; it will take her a long time to organize her army and navy; it +will take a long time to get rid of the system of bribery in China, which +is one of the hindrances to putting down the opium traffic; but, depend +upon it, the time is coming, not perhaps very soon, but by and by--and +nations have long memories--when those who are alive to see the +development of China will be very glad that, when China was weak and we +were strong, we, of our own motion, without being made to, helped China to +get away from this terrible curse." + + + + +Appendix--A Letter from the Field + +THE OPIUM CLIMAX IN SHANGHAI + + +_Editor "Success Magazine":_ + +It is fitting that in the columns of _Success_, a magazine which has so +recently investigated and so thoroughly and ably reported upon the opium +curse in China, there should appear the account of a unique ceremony held +in the International Settlement of Shanghai, illustrating in a striking +manner the general feeling of the Chinese towards the anti-opium movement +and setting an example that will make its influence felt in the most +remote provinces of the empire. In response to liberal advertising there +assembled in the spacious grounds of Chang Su Ho's Gardens, on the +afternoon of Sunday, May 3, 1908, some two or three thousand of Shanghai's +leading Chinese business men, together with a goodly sprinkling of +Europeans and Americans, to witness the destruction of the opium-pipes, +lamps, etc., taken from the Nan Sun Zin Opium Palace. In America, such a +scene as this would have appeared little less than a farce, but here the +obvious earnestness of the Chinese, the great value of the property to be +destroyed and the deep meaning of this sacrifice, should have been +sufficient to put the blush of shame upon the cheeks of the Shanghai +voters and councilmen, who, representing the most enlightened nations of +the earth, have compromised with the opium evil and permitted +three-fourths of this nefarious business to linger in the "Model +Settlement" when it has been so summarily dealt with by the native +authorities throughout the land. + +Within a roped-in, circular enclosure, marked by two large, yellow +Dragon-Flags, were stacked the furnishings of the Opium Palace, consisting +of opium boxes, pipes, lamps, tables, trays, etc., and as the spectators +arrived the work of destruction was going rapidly on. Two native +blacksmiths were busily engaged in splitting on an anvil the metal +fittings from the pipes, and a brawny coolie, armed with a sledgehammer, +was driving flat the artistic opium lamps as they were taken from the +tables and placed on the ground before him. Meanwhile the pipes, mellowed +and blackened by long use and many of them showing rare workmanship, were +dipped into a large tin of kerosine and stacked in two piles on stone +bases, to form the funeral pyre, while the center of each stack was filled +in with kindling from the opium trays, similarly soaked with oil. On one +of the tables within the enclosure were two small trays, each containing a +complete smoking outfit and a written sheet of paper announcing that these +were the offerings of Mr. Lien Yue Ming, manager of the East Asiatic +Dispensary, and Miss Kua Kuei Yen, a singing girl, respectively. Both +these quondam smokers sent in their apparatus to be burned, with a pledge +that henceforth they would abstain from the use of the drug. + +During the preparations for the burning, Mr. Sun Ching Foong, a prominent +business man, delivered a powerful exhortation on the opium evil to the +enthusiastic multitude and introduced the leading speaker of the +afternoon, Mr. Wong Ching Foo, representing the Committee of the +Commercial Bazaar. Mr. Wong spoke in the Mandarin language and stated that +all of China was looking to Shanghai for a lead in the matter of +suppressing opium and that it was with great pleasure the committee had +noticed the earnest desire of the foreign Municipal Council (and he was +_not_ intending to be _sarcastic_!) to assist the Chinese in their +endeavour to do away entirely with this traffic. It was a very commendable +effort, and he was sure the foreigners there would agree that no effort on +their part could be too strong to do away with this curse, which was not +only undermining the best intellects of China, but by the example of +parents was affecting seriously the rising generation. To-day a gentleman, +who had been a smoker for twenty-nine years and had realized the great +harm it had done him, was present, and had brought with him his opium +utensils to be destroyed with those from the opium saloons of French-town. +The Nan Sun Zin Opium Palace, from which the pipes and other opium +utensils had been brought for destruction, was the largest in Shanghai +and, he had heard, the largest in China, patronized by the most notable +people. The example of Shanghai was felt in Nanking, Peking, and all over +China, for the young men who visited here took with them the report of the +pleasures they saw practiced in this settlement and thus gave the natives +different ideas. These young men often came here to see the wonderful +work accomplished by foreigners, and it was not right that they should +take this curse back with them. It had been originally intended to burn +also the chairs and tables from the palace, but as this would make too +large and dangerous a fire it had been decided to sell these and use the +proceeds for the furtherance of the anti-opium movement. + +Among the pipes were some for which $500 had been offered, but the +Committee of the Commercial Bazaar had purchased the whole outfit to +destroy, and they hoped to be able to buy up a good many more of the +palaces and thus utterly destroy all traces of the opium-smoking practice. +Mr. Wong remarked that China had recently been under a cloud and in +Shanghai there had been protracted rains, but to-day it was fine and it +was evident that heaven was looking down upon them and blessing their +efforts. With heaven's blessing they would be able to overcome the curse +and be even quicker than the Municipal Council in completely wiping out +this abominable custom. + +As the speeches were concluded, the Chinese Volunteer Band struck up a +lively air and amid the deafening din of crackers and bombs a torch was +applied to the oil-soaked stacks of pipes which at once burned up +fiercely. Extra oil was thrown upon the flames and the glass lamp-covers, +bowls, etc., were heaped upon the flames, thus completing a ceremony full +of earnestness and meaning. + +It has come as a matter of great surprise to many sceptical foreigners +that the Chinese should be making such strenuous efforts to do away with +the opium-smoking curse. Not a few have thrown cold water upon the +scheme, sneered at the Chinese in this endeavour, and doubted both their +desire and ability to suppress the sale of opium. The Commercial Bazaar +Committee, consisting of well-known Chinese business men, is not only +seconding the Municipal Council in its gradual withdrawal of licenses in +the foreign settlements but has also accomplished the closing of many +opium dens through its own efforts by bringing pressure to bear upon the +owners of the dens. Already, many private individuals have given up their +beloved pipes and some dens have voluntarily closed. It has also been +agreed by the Chinese concerned that all of the shops run by women are to +cease the sale of opium. This activity on the part of the Chinese +themselves is a striking rebuke to those who cast suspicion upon the +honesty of purpose of both the Chinese government and people, refusing to +immediately abolish the opium licenses in the foreign settlements of +Shanghai, despite the appeals from the American, British, and Japanese +governments, the petitions of the leading Chinese of the place and the +general popularity of the anti-opium movement. Yielding to great pressure +from all sides, the Shanghai Municipal Council _did_ consent to introduce +a resolution upon this question before the Ratepayers Meeting to be held +March 20th, but the concession made was small indeed compared with what +was generally desired or what might be anticipated from the leading lights +of "civilized and highly moral" nations. The resolution was as follows:-- + +"_Resolution VI._ That the number of licensed opium houses be reduced by +one-quarter from July 1, 1908, or from such other early date and in such +manner as may appear advisable to the Council for 1908-1909." + +While there was in this a definite reduction of one-fourth of the +opium-joints in the settlement, there was nothing definite as to any +future policy, though the implication was that the houses would be all +closed within a period of two years. In his speech introducing this +resolution before the ratepayers, the British chairman of the council +said, among other things, "I feel sure that every one of us has the +greatest sympathy with the Chinese nation in its effort to dissipate the +opium habit, but we are not unfamiliar with Chinese official procedure, +and how far short actual administrative results fall when compared with +the official pronouncements that precede them. It is impossible not to be +sceptical as to the intentions of the Chinese government with regard to +this matter, although on this occasion we quite recognize that many +officials are sincere in their desire to eradicate the opium evil, and I +am sure there is every intention on the part of this community to assist +them. Yet we know of no programme that they have drawn up to make this +great reform possible, if indeed they have a programme.... The absence of +these, so to speak, first business essentials, on the part of the Chinese +government, was among the reasons which led us to the view that the +settlement was called upon to do little more than continue its work of +supervision over opium licenses, and wait for the cessation of supplies of +the drug to render that supervision unnecessary.... The advice we have +received from the British Government is, in brief, that we should do more +than keep pace with the native authorities, we should be in advance of +them and where possible encourage them to follow us." + +In the following quotations from a letter written by Dr. DuBose, of +Soochow, President of the Anti-Opium League, to the municipal council, the +attitude of the reformers is clearly shown. + +"The prohibition of opium-smoking is the greatest reformation the world +has ever seen, and its benefits are already patent. Let the ratepayers +effectually second the efforts being made by the Chinese government to +abolish the use of opium throughout the empire. + +"It has proved a peaceful reformation. In the cities and towns about +one-half million dens, at the expiration of six months, were closed +promptly without resistance or complaint. The government will grant all +the necessary privileges of inspection to the municipal police in the +prevention of illicit smoking. + +"The consumption of opium in the cities has fallen off thirty per cent.; +in the towns fifty per cent.; while in the rural districts in the eastern +and middle provinces it is reduced to a minimum. It is well for Shanghai +to be allied with Soochow, Hangchow, and Nanking, and not to permit itself +to be a refuge for bad men. + +"The Chinese merchants in the International Settlement have sent in +earnest appeals to the Council on this question. As friends of China, +might not the ratepayers give their appeals a courteous consideration? + +"The question of opium at the Annual Meeting commands world-wide attention +and Saturday's papers throughout Christendom will bear record of and +comment upon the action. + +"To close the dens is right. Shanghai cannot afford to be the black spot +on Kiangsu's map. _Opium delendum est._ + + "In behalf of the Anti-Opium League, + "HAMPDEN C. DUBOSE, _President_." + +The appeals from Great Britain, America, China, and Japan, like the +petitions of merchants, missionaries, and officials, were without effect. +The "vested interests" carried the day, and a resolution, ordering the +closing of the dens on or before the end of December, 1909, was lost by a +vote of 128 to 189, the council, as usual, influencing and controlling the +votes and carrying the original motion--the only concession it would grant +to this gigantic movement. + +Another surprise came to the cynical foreigner, when, on April 18th, the +whole of the opium licensees participated in a public drawing in the town +hall, to decide by lottery which establishments should be shut down on the +1st of July, numbering one-fourth of the total number, this method being +adopted by the council to avoid any suspicion of partiality in the +selection. The keepers of the dens cheerfully acquiesced in the proposal, +the sporting chance no doubt appealing to the gambling spirit for which +they are noted, and in the town hall this remarkable drawing was held +without any sign of disfavour or rowdyism. The keepers of the Shanghai +opium shops are no doubt thoroughly convinced that the feeling of the +native community is entirely against the retention of these places and +are ready to bow to the inevitable. None of the trouble or rioting feared +by the Council, materialized, and it is certain that the entire list of +licenses might have been immediately revoked without disturbance of any +kind--and without protest. Three hundred and fifty-nine licenses thus +cease with the end of June, and it is doubtful, with the present spirit +manifest in the Chinese, that such another drawing will be necessary at +all. The funeral pyre of opium-pipes, we trust, marks the end, or the +immediate beginning of the end, of Shanghai's reproach, and it is +distinctly to the credit of the 500,000 Chinese living within the +jurisdiction of this foreign community, that they themselves are taking +the lead in wiping out this stain on the "Model Settlement"--doing what +the foreigner _dared not_ and the "vested interest" _would not_ do. + +CHARLES F. GAMMON. + + + + +MISSIONARY--TRAVELS + + +The Call of Korea + + Illustrated, net, 75c. H. G. UNDERWOOD + +"Dr. Underwood knows Korea, its territory, its people, and its needs, and +his book has the special value that attaches to expert judgment. The +volume is packed with information, but it is written in so agreeable a +style that it is as attractive as a novel, and particularly well suited to +serve as a guide to our young people in their study of missions."--_The +Examiner._ + + +Things Korean A Collection of Sketches and Anecdotes, Diplomatic and +Missionary. + + Illustrated, net, $1.25. HORACE N. ALLEN + +Gathered from a twenty years' residence in Korea and neighboring countries +by the late Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United +States to Korea. + + +Breaking Down Chinese Walls From a Doctor's Viewpoint. + + Illustrated, net, $1.00. ELLIOTT I. OSGOOD + +"Dr. Osgood was for eight years a physician at Chu Cheo, and conducted a +hospital and dispensary, visiting and preaching the Gospel in the villages +round about. He writes from experience. The object is to show the +influence and power of the medical missionary service, and of the daily +lives of the missionaries upon the natives, told in a most interesting +manner by the record of the living examples."--_United Presbyterian._ + + +Present-Day Conditions in China + + Boards, net, 50c. MARSHALL BROOMHALL + +"This book is very impressive to those who do know something of +"present-day conditions in China," and most startling to those who do not. +Maps, tables and letterpress combine to give a marvelous presentation of +facts."--_Eugene Stock, Church Missionary Society._ + + +The New Horoscope of Missions + + Net, $1.00. JAMES S. DENNIS + +"Dr. Dennis, who has long been a close student of foreign missions, and +speaks with authority, gives in this volume a broad general view of the +present aspects of the missionary situation, as foundation for 'the new +horoscope' which he aims to give. The book is made up of lectures +delivered at the McCormick Theological Seminary on The John H. Converse +Foundation."--_Examiner._ + + +The Kingdom in India + +With Introductory Biographical Sketch by Henry N. Cobb, D.D. + + Net, $1.50. JACOB CHAMBERLAIN + +"This volume is Mr. Chamberlain's own account of what he did, saw and +felt. As a teacher, a preacher and a medical missionary, Dr. Chamberlain +stood in the front ranks. If all who are abroad could have the ability, +the training, and the heart interest in the redemption of the endarkened +lands that Mr. Chamberlain's life reveals, and the support for carrying on +the gospel were adequately furnished, the future would be radiant with +hope."--_Religious Telescope._ + + +The History of Protestant Missions in India + + Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, net, $2.50. JULIUS RICHTER + +The author of this book is the authority in Germany on missionary +subjects. This, his latest work, has proven so valuable as to demand this +translation into English. India is a vast field and the missionary +operations there are carried on by many societies. This survey of the +field is broad and accurate, it reaches every part of the work and every +society in the field, and gives a splendid summary of what has actually +been accomplished. It has the unqualified approbation of the workers on +the field themselves. + + +Overweights of Joy A Story of Mission Work in Southern India. + + Net, $1.00. AMY WILSON CARMICHAEL + +Mission-loving men and women, if you would know India, and the glorious +uphill fighting of its missionaries, you _must_ read this book, hot with +actual experiences, and learn the truth. + +"A priceless contribution to Missionary literature."--_Illustrated +Missionary News._ + + +Bishop Hannington and The Story of the Uganda Mission + + Illustrated, net, $1.00. W. GRINTON BERRY + +The personality of Bishop Hannington was full of color and vigor, and the +story of his work, particularly of his adventures in East Africa, ending +with his martyrdom on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, is one of the +most fascinating in missionary annals. Hannington was himself a +picturesque writer, with a noteworthy gift of producing dashing and +humorous descriptive sketches, and quite a third of the present volume +consists of Hannington's own narratives. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "sod" corrected to "pod" (page 26) + "suport" corrected to "support" (advertisements) + +Other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and +hyphenation have been retained from the original. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Drugging a Nation, by Samuel Merwin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRUGGING A NATION *** + +***** This file should be named 33586-8.txt or 33586-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/8/33586/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/33586-8.zip b/33586-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..07af899 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-8.zip diff --git a/33586-h.zip b/33586-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0c942b --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h.zip diff --git a/33586-h/33586-h.htm b/33586-h/33586-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fcdf99 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/33586-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4567 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Drugging a Nation, by Samuel Merwin. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + body {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; font-style: normal;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .note {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + .center {text-align: center;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; color: gray; margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + p.dropcap:first-letter{float: left; padding-right: 3px; font-size: 250%; line-height: 83%; width:auto;} + .caps {text-transform:uppercase;} + + a:link {color:#0000ff; text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#6633cc; text-decoration:none} + + .spacer {padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;} + + ins.correction {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin solid gray;} + + .adverts {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Drugging a Nation, by Samuel Merwin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Drugging a Nation + The Story of China and the Opium Curse + +Author: Samuel Merwin + +Release Date: August 30, 2010 [EBook #33586] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRUGGING A NATION *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h1>DRUGGING A NATION</h1> +<p> <a name="front" id="front"></a></p><p> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i004.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">H. E. TONG SHAO-I<br /> +One of the Leaders of the Opium Reform Movement in China</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> +<h1>Drugging a Nation</h1> +<p> </p> +<h2>The Story of China<br />and the Opium Curse</h2> +<p> </p> +<h4>A Personal Investigation, during an<br />Extended Tour, of the Present Conditions<br /> +of the Opium Trade in China<br />and Its Effects upon the Nation</h4> +<p> </p> +<h4>By</h4> +<h3>SAMUEL MERWIN</h3> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i005.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">New York</span><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="smcap">Chicago</span><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="smcap">Toronto</span><br /><big>Fleming H. Revell Company</big><br /><span class="smcap">London and Edinburgh</span></p> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center">Copyright, 1908, by<br />FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY</p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">Copyright, 1907-1908, by<br />SUCCESS COMPANY</p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">New York: 158 Fifth Avenue<br />Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue<br /> +Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W.<br />London: 21 Paternoster Square<br />Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2>NOTE</h2> + +<div class="note"> +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">These</span> chapters were originally published during 1907 and 1908 in <i>Success +Magazine</i>. Though frankly journalistic in tone, the book presents +something more than the hasty conclusions of a journalist. During its +preparation the author travelled around the world, inquiring into the +problem at first hand in China and in England, reading all available +printed matter which seemed to bear in any way on the subject, and +interviewing several hundred gentlemen who have had special opportunities +to study the problem from various standpoints. The writing was not begun +until this preliminary work was completed and the natural conclusions had +become convictions in the author’s mind.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="contents"> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#I">I.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">China’s Predicament</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#II">II.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">The Golden Opium Days</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#III">III.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">A Glimpse Into an Opium Province</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#IV">IV.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">China’s Sincerity</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#V">V.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Sowing the Wind in China—Shanghai</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#VI">VI.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Sowing the Wind in China—Tientsin and Hongkong</span> </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#VII">VII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">How British Chickens Came Home to Roost</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#VIII">VIII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">The Position of Great Britain</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td><span class="smcap">Appendix</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr></table> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><i>Facing page</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">H. E. Tong Shao-I</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#front"><i>Title</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Kneading Crude Opium with Oil to Make Round or Flat Cakes</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Making Round Cakes of Opium</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Opium Hulks of Shanghai</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_51">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">An Opium Receiving Ship or “Godown” at Shanghai</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_51">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Villages were Little More than Heaps of Ruins</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">At Last He Crawls Out on the Highway, Whining, Chattering<br /><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Praying that a Few Copper Cash be Thrown Him</span></span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Wreck and Ruin in China</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_69">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Enforcing the Edict at Shanghai</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_89">88</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">In an Opium Den, Shanghai</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Opium-smoking</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Weighing Opium in a Government Factory in India</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_155">154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Where the Chinaman Travels, Opium Travels too</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_173">172</a></td></tr></table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> +<h1>Drugging a Nation</h1> +<p> </p> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> +<h3>CHINA’S PREDICAMENT</h3> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">In</span> September, 1906, an edict was issued from the Imperial Court at Peking +which states China’s predicament with naïveté and vigour.</p> + +<p>“The cultivation of the poppy,” runs the edict, in the authorized +translation, “is the greatest iniquity in agriculture, and the provinces +of Szechuen, Shensi, Kansu, Yunnan, Kweichow, Shansi, and Kanghuai abound +in its product, which, in fact, is found everywhere. Now that it is +decided to abandon opium smoking within ten years, the limiting of this +cultivation should be taken as a fundamental step ... opium has been in +use so long by the people that nearly three-tenths or four-tenths of them +are smokers.”</p> + +<p>“Three-tenths or four-tenths” of the Chinese people,—one hundred and +fifty million opium-smokers—mean three or four times the population<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> of +Great Britain, a good many more than the population of the United States!</p> + +<p>The Chinese are notoriously inexact in statistical matters. The officials +who drew up the edict probably wished to convey the impression that the +situation is really grave, and employed this form of statement in order to +give force to the document. No accurate estimate of the number of opium +victims in China is obtainable; but it is possible to combine the +impressions which have been set down by reliable observers in different +parts of the “Middle Kingdom,” and thus to arrive at a fair, general +impression of the truth. The following, for example, from Mr. Alexander +Hosie, the commercial attaché to the British legation at Peking, should +carry weight. He is reporting on conditions in Szechuen Province:</p> + +<p>“I am well within the mark when I say that in the cities fifty per cent. +of the males and twenty per cent. of the females smoke opium, and that in +the country the percentage is not less than twenty-five for men and five +per cent. for women.” There are about forty-two million people in Szechuen +Province; and they not only raise and consume a very great quantity of +opium, they also send about twenty thousand tons down the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> Yangtse River +every year for use in other provinces. The report of other travellers, +merchants, and official investigators indicate that about all of the +richest soil in Szechuen is given over to poppy cultivation, and that the +labouring classes show a noticeable decline of late in physique and +capacity for work.</p> + +<p>In regard to another so-called “opium province,” Yunnan, we have the +following statement: “I saw practically the whole population given over to +its abuse. The ravages it is making in men, women, and children are +deplorable.... I was quite able to realize that any one who had seen the +wild abuse of opium in Yunnan would have a wild abhorrence of it.”</p> + +<p>In later chapters we shall go into the matter more at length. Here let me +add to these statements merely a few typical scraps of information, +selected from a bundle of note-books full of records of chats and +interviews with travellers of almost every nationality and of almost every +station in life. The secretary of a life insurance company which does a +considerable business up and down the coast told me that, roughly, fifty +per cent of the Chinese who apply for insurance are opium-smokers. Another +bit comes from a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> man who lived for several years in an inland city of a +quarter of a million inhabitants. The local Anti-opium League had 750 +members, he said and he believed that about every other man in the city +was a smoker. “It is practically a case of everybody smoking,” he +concluded.</p> + +<p>Twenty-five years ago, when the consumption of opium in China could hardly +have been more than half what it is to-day, a British consul estimated the +proportion of smokers in the region he had visited as follows: “Labourers +and small farmers, ten per cent.; small shopkeepers, twenty per cent.; +soldiers, thirty per cent.; merchants, eighty per cent.; officials and +their staff, ninety per cent.; actors, prostitutes, vagrants, thieves, +ninety-five per cent.” The labourers and farmers, the real strength of +China, as of every other land, had not yet been overwhelmed—but they were +going under, even then. The most startling news to-day is from these lower +classes, even from the country villages, the last to give way. Dr. Parker, +the American Methodist missionary at Shanghai, informed me that reports to +this effect were coming in steadily from up country; and during my own +journey I heard the same bad news almost everywhere along a route which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +measured, before I left China, something more than four thousand miles.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most convincing summing up of China’s predicament is found in +another translation from a recent Chinese document, this time an appeal to +the throne from four viceroys. The quaintness of the language does not, I +think, impair its effectiveness and its power as a protest: “China can +never become strong and stand shoulder and shoulder with the powers of the +world unless she can get rid of the habit of opium-smoking by her +subjects, about one quarter of whom have been reduced to skeletons and +look half-dead.”</p> + +<p>This then is the curse which the imperial government has talked so +quaintly of “abandoning.” This is the debauchery which is to be put down +by officials, ninety per cent of whom were supposed to be more or less +confirmed smokers. Such almost childlike optimism brings to mind a certain +Sunday in New York City when Theodore Roosevelt, with the whole police +force under his orders, tried to close the saloons. It brings to mind +other attempts in Europe and America, to check and control vice and +depravity—attempts which have never, I think, been wholly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +successful—and one begins to understand the discouraging immensity of the +task which China has undertaken. Really, to “stop using opium” would mean +a very rearranging of the agricultural plan of the empire. It would make +necessary an immediate solution of China’s transportation problem (no +other crop is so easy to carry as opium) and an almost complete +reconstruction of the imperial finances; indeed, few observers are so glib +as to suggest offhand a substitute for the immense opium revenue to the +Chinese government. And nobody to accomplish all this but those sodden +officials, of whom it is safe to guess that fifty per cent have some sort +or other of a financial stake in the traffic!</p> + +<p>In the minds of most of us, I think, there has been a vague notion that +the Chinese have always smoked opium, that opium is in some peculiar way a +necessity to the Chinese constitution. Even among those who know the +extraordinary history of this morbidly fascinating vegetable product, who +know that the India-grown British drug was pushed and smuggled and +bayoneted into China during a century of desperate protest and even armed +resistance from these yellow people, it has been a popular argument to +assert<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> that the Chinese have only themselves to blame for the “demand” +that made the trade possible. Of this “demand,” and of how it was worked +up by Christian traders, we shall speak at some length in later chapters. +“Educational methods” in the extending of trade can hardly be said to have +originated with the modern trust. The curious fact is that the Chinese +didn’t use opium and didn’t want opium.</p> + +<p>Your true opium-smoker stretches himself on a divan and gives up ten or +fifteen minutes to preparing his thimbleful of the brown drug. When it has +been heated and worked to the proper consistency, he places it in the tiny +bowl of his pipe, holds it over a lamp, and draws a few whiffs of the +smoke deep into his lungs. It seems, at first, a trivial thing; indeed, +the man who is well fed and properly housed and clothed seems able to keep +it up for a considerable time and without appreciable ill results. The +greater difficulty in China is, of course, that very few opium-smokers are +well fed and properly housed and clothed.</p> + +<p>I heard little about the beautiful dreams and visions which opium is +supposed to bring; all the smokers with whom I talked could be roughly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +divided into two classes—those who smoked in order to relieve pain or +misery, and those miserable victims who smoked to relieve the acute +physical distress brought on by the opium itself. Probably the majority of +the victims take it up as a temporary relief; many begin in early +childhood; the mother will give the baby a whiff to stop its crying. It is +a social vice only among the upper classes. The most notable outward +effect of this indulgence is the resulting physical weakness and +lassitude. The opium-smoker cannot work hard; he finds it difficult to +apply his mind to a problem or his body to a task. As the habit becomes +firmly fastened on him, there is a perceptible weakening of his moral +fibre; he shows himself unequal to emergencies which make any sudden +demand upon him. If opium is denied him, he will lie and steal in order to +obtain it.</p> + +<p>Opium-smoking is a costly vice. A pipefull of a moderately good native +product costs more than a labourer can earn in a day; consequently the +poorer classes smoke an unspeakable compound based on pipe scrapings and +charcoal. Along the highroads the coolies even scrape the grime from the +packsaddles to mix with this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> dross. The clerk earning from twenty-five to +fifty Mexican dollars a month will frequently spend from ten to twenty +dollars a month on opium. The typical confirmed smoker is a man who spends +a considerable part of the night in smoking himself to sleep, and all the +next morning in sleeping off the effects. If he is able to work at all, it +is only during the afternoon, and even at that there will be many days +when the official or merchant is incompetent to conduct his affairs. +Thousands of prominent men are ruined every year.</p> + +<p>The Cantonese have what they call “The Ten Cannots regarding The +Opium-Smoker.” “He cannot (1) give up the habit; (2) enjoy sleep; (3) wait +for his turn when sharing his pipe with his friends; (4) rise early; (5) +be cured if sick; (6) help relations in need; (7) enjoy wealth; (8) plan +anything; (9) get credit even when an old customer; (10) walk any +distance.”</p> + +<p>This is the land into which the enterprising Christian traders introduced +opium, and into which they fed opium so persistently and forcibly that at +last a “good market” was developed. England did not set out to ruin China. +One finds no hint of a diabolical purpose to seduce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> and destroy a +wonderful old empire on the other side of the world. The ruin worked was +incidental to that far Eastern trade of which England has been so proud. +It was the triumph of the balance sheet over common humanity.</p> + +<p>And so it is to-day. British India still holds the cream of the trade, for +the Chinese grown opium cannot compete in quality with the Indian drug. +The British Indian government raises the poppy in the rich Ganges Valley +(more than six hundred thousand acres of poppies they raised there last +year), manufactures it in government factories at Patna and +Ghazipur—manufactures four-fifths of it especially to suit the Chinese +taste, and sells it at annual government auctions in Calcutta.</p> + +<p>The result of this traffic is so very grave that it is a difficult matter +to discuss in moderate language. To the traveller who leaves the railroad +and steamboat lines and ventures, in springless native cart or swaying +mule litter, along the sunken roads and the hills of western and +northwestern China, the havoc and misery wrought by the “white man’s +smoke,” the “foreign dust,” becomes unpleasantly evident. Some hint of the +meaning of it, a faint impression of the terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> devastation of this +drug—let loose, as it has been, on a backward, poverty-stricken race—is +seared, hour by hour and day by day into his brain.</p> + +<p>A terrible drama is now being enacted in the Far East. The Chinese race is +engaged in a fight to a finish with a drug—and the odds are on the drug.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> +<h3>THE GOLDEN OPIUM DAYS</h3> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">In</span> the splendid, golden days of the East India Company, the great Warren +Hastings put himself on record in these frank words:</p> + +<p>“Opium is a pernicious article of luxury, which ought not to be permitted +but for the purpose of foreign commerce only.” The new traffic promised to +solve the Indian fiscal problem, if skillfully managed; accordingly, the +production and manufacture of opium was made a government monopoly. China, +after all, was a long way off—and Chinamen were only Chinamen. That the +East India Company might be loosing an uncontrollable monster not only on +China but on the world hardly occurred to the great Warren Hastings—the +British chickens might, a century later, come home to roost in Australia +and South Africa was too remote a possibility even for speculative +inquiry.</p> + +<p>Now trade supports us, governs us, controls our dependencies, represents +us at foreign courts,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> carries on our wars, signs our treaties of peace. +Trade, like its symbol the dollar, is neither good nor bad; it has no +patriotism, no morals, no humanity. Its logic applies with the same +relentless force and precision to corn, cotton, rice, wheat, human slaves, +oil, votes, opium. It is the power that drives human affairs; and its law +is the law of the balance sheet. So long as any commodity remains in the +currents of trade the law of trade must reign, the balance sheet must +balance. It is difficult to get a commodity into these currents, but once +you have got the commodity in, you will find it next to impossible to get +it out. There has been more than one prime minister, I fancy, more than +one secretary of state for India, who has wished the opium question in +Jericho. It is not pleasant to answer the moral indignation of the British +empire with the cynical statement that the India government cannot exist +without that opium revenue. Why, oh, why, did not the great Warren +Hastings develop the cotton rather than the opium industry! But the +interesting fact is that he did not. He chose opium, and opium it is.</p> + +<p>The India Government Opium Monopoly is an import factor in this +extraordinary story of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> debauchery of a third of the human race by the +most nearly Christian among Christian nations. We must understand what it +is and how it works before we can understand the narrative of that greed, +with its attendant smuggling, bribery and bloodshed which has brought the +Chinese empire to its knees. 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 10th, 1907.</p> + +<p>It is easy, with or without evidence, to charge a great corporation or a +great government with inhuman crimes. If the charge be unjust it is +difficult for the corporation or the government to set itself right before +the people. Six truths cannot overtake one lie. That is why, in this day +of popular rule, the really irresponsible power that makes and unmakes +history lies in the hands of the journalist. As the charge I am bringing +is so serious as to be almost unthinkable, and as I wish to leave no +loophole for the counter-charge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> that I am colouring this statement, I +think I can do no better than to lift my description of the Opium Monopoly +bodily from that rather ponderous blue book.</p> + +<p>There is nothing new in this charge, nothing new in the condition which +invites it. It is rather a commonplace old condition. Millions of men, for +more than a hundred years, have taken it for granted, just as men once +took piracy for granted, just as men once took the African slave-trade for +granted, just as men to-day take the highly organized traffic in +unfortunate women and girls for granted. Ask a Tory political leader of +to-day—Mr. Balfour say—for his opinion on the opium question, and if he +thinks it worth his while to answer you at all he will probably deal +shortly with you for dragging up an absurd bit of fanaticism. For a +century or more, about all the missionaries, and goodness knows how many +other observers, have protested against this monstrous traffic in poison. +Sixty-five years ago Lord Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury) agitated +the question in Parliament. Fifty years ago he obtained from the Law +Officers of the Crown the opinion that the opium trade was “at variance” +with the “spirit and intention” of the treaty <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>between England and China. +In 1891, the House of Commons decided by a good majority that “the system +by which the Indian opium revenue is raised is morally indefensible.” And +yet, I will venture to believe that to most of my readers, British as well +as American, the bald statement that the British Indian government +actually manufactures opium on a huge scale in its own factories to suit +the Chinese taste comes with the force of a shock. It is not the sort of a +thing we like to think of as among the activities of an Anglo-Saxon +government. It would seem to be government ownership with a vengeance.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> crop, with a view to the amount of opium required.”</p> + +<p>So much for the broader outline. Now for a few of the details:</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>This 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.</p> + +<p>When it has been manufactured, the opium must be disposed of in one way +and another; accordingly:</p> + +<p>“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 by auction 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> opium is received and prepared at +the government factories, where the out-turn for the year included 8,774 +chests of opium for the Excise Department, about 300 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. Four grains of opium, administered in one dose to a person +unaccustomed to its use, is apt to prove fatal.</p> + +<p>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 (£4,486,562).</p> + +<p>The best grade of opium-poppy bears a white blossom. One sees mauve and +pink tints in a field, at blossom-time, but only the seeds from the white +flowers are replanted. The opium of commerce is made from the gum obtained +by gashing the green seed pod with a four-bladed knife. After the first +gathering, the <ins class="correction" title="original: sod">pod</ins> is gashed a second time, and the gum that exudes makes +an inferior quality of opium. The raw opium from the country districts is +sent down to the government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> factories in earthenware jars, worked up in +mixing vats, and made into balls about six or eight inches in diameter. +The balls, after a thorough drying on wooden racks, are packed in chests +and sent down to the auction.</p> + +<p> </p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td align="center"><img src="images/i032left.jpg" alt="" /></td> + <td><span class="spacer"> </span></td> + <td align="center"><img src="images/i032right.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">KNEADING CRUDE OPIUM WITH OIL<br />TO MAKE ROUND OR FLAT CAKES</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">MAKING ROUND CAKES OF OPIUM</td></tr></table> +<p> </p> + +<p>The men who buy in the opium at these monthly auctions and afterwards +dispose of it at the Chinese ports 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 sending 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 an illicit commerce.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> first part. And +sixty-five tons of Indian opium go to China every week.</p> + +<p>As soon as the shipments of opium have reached Hongkong and Shanghai (I am +quoting now in part from a straightforward account by the Rev. T. G. +Selby), they are broken up and pass in the ordinary courses of trade into +the hands of retail dealers. The opium balls are stripped of the dried +leaves in which they have been packed, torn like paste dumplings into +fragments, put into an iron pan filled with water and boiled over a slow +fire. Various kinds of opium are mixed with each other, and some shops +acquire a reputation for their ingenious and tasteful blends. After the +opium has been boiled to about the consistency of coal tar or molasses, it +is put into jars and sold for daily consumption in quantities ranging from +the fiftieth part of an ounce to four or five ounces. “I am sorry to say,” +observes Mr. Selby, “that the colonial governments of Hongkong and +Singapore, not content with the revenue drawn from this article by the +Anglo-Indian government, have made opium boiling a monopoly of the Crown, +and a large slice of the revenue of these two Eastern dependencies is +secured by selling the exclusive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> rights to farm this industry to the +highest bidder.”</p> + +<p>The most Mr. Clean Hands has been able to say for himself is that, “Opium +is a fiscal, not a moral question;” or this, that “In the present state of +the revenue of India, it does not appear advisable to abandon so important +a source of revenue.” After all, China is a long way off. So much for Mr. +Clean Hands! His partner, Dirty Hands, is more interesting. It is he who +has “built up the trade.” It is he who has carried on the smuggling and +the bribing and knifing and shooting and all-round, strong-arm work which +has made the trade what it is. To be sure, as we get on in this narrative +we shall not always find the distinction between Clean and Dirty so clear +as we would like. Through the dust and smoke and red flame of all that +dirty business along “the Coast” we shall glimpse for an instant or so, +now and then, a face that looks distressingly like the face of old +Respectability himself. I have found myself in momentary bewilderment when +walking through the splendid masonry-lined streets of Hongkong, when +sitting beneath the frescoed ceiling of that pinnacled structure that +houses the most nearly Christian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> of parliaments, trying to believe that +this opium drama can be real. And I have wondered, and puzzled, until a +smell like the smell of China has come floating to the nostrils of memory; +until a picture of want and disease and misery—of crawling, swarming +human misery unlike anything which the untravelled Western mind can +conceive—has appeared before the eyes of memory. I have thought of those +starving thousands from the famine districts creeping into Chinkiang to +die, of those gaunt, seemed faces along the highroad that runs +southwestward from Peking to Sian-fu; I have thought of a land that knows +no dentistry, no surgery, no hygiene, no scientific medicine, no +sanitation; of a land where the smallpox is a lesser menace beside the +leprosy, plague, tuberculosis, that rage simply at will, and beside +famines so colossal in their sweep, that the overtaxed Western mind simply +refuses to comprehend them. And De Quincey’s words have come to me: “What +was it that drove me into the habitual use of opium? Misery—blank +desolation—settled and abiding darkness——?” These words help to clear +it up. China was a wonderful field, ready prepared for the ravages of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>opium—none better. The mighty currents of trade did the rest. The +balance sheet reigned supreme as by right. The balance sheet reigns +to-day.</p> + +<p>But we must get on with our narrative. I will try to pass it along in the +form in which it has presented itself to me. If Clean and Dirty appear in +closer and more puzzling alliance than we like to see them, I cannot help +that.</p> + +<p>It was not easy getting opium, the commodity, into the currents of trade. +There was an obstacle. The Chinese were not an opium-consuming race. They +did not use opium, they did not want opium, they steadily resisted the +inroads of opium. But the rulers of the company were far-seeing men. Tempt +misery long enough and it will take to opium. Two centuries ago when small +quantities of the drug were brought in from Java, the Chinese government +objected. In 1729 the importation was prohibited. As late as 1765, this +importation, carried on by energetic traders in spite of official +resistance, had never exceeded two hundred chests a year. But with the +advent of the company in 1773, the trade grew. In spite of a second +Chinese prohibition in 1796, half-heartedly enforced by corrupt mandarins, +the total for 1820 was 4,000 chests.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> The Chinese government was faced not +only with the possibility of a race debauchery but also with an immediate +and alarming drain of silver from the country. The balance of the trade +was against them. Either as an economic or moral problem, the situation +was grave.</p> + +<p>The smoking of opium began in China and is peculiar to the Chinese. The +Hindoos and Malays eat it. Complicated and wide-spread as the smoking +habit is to-day, it is a modern custom as time runs in China. There seems +to be little doubt in the minds of those Sinologues who have traced the +opium thread back to the tangle of early missionary reports and imperial +edicts, that the habit started either in Formosa or on the mainland across +the Straits, where malaria is common. Opium had been used, generations +before, as a remedy for malaria; and these first smokers seem to have +mixed a little opium with their tobacco, which had been introduced by the +Portuguese in the early seventeenth century. From this beginning, it would +appear, was developed the rather elaborate outfit which the opium-smoker +of to-day considers necessary to his pleasure.</p> + +<p>Nothing but solid Anglo-Saxon persistence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> had enabled the company to +build up the trade. Seven years after their first small adventure, or in +1780, a depot of two small receiving hulks was established in Lark’s Bay, +south of Macao. A year later the company freighted a ship to Canton, but +finding no demand were obliged to sell the lot of 1,600 chests at a loss +to Sinqua, a Canton “Hong-merchant,” who, not being able to dispose of it +to advantage, reshipped it. The price in that year was $550 (Mexican) a +chest; Sinqua had paid the company only $200, but even at a bargain he +found no market. Meantime, in the words of a “memorandum,” prepared by +Joshua Rowntree for the debate in parliament last year, “British merchants +spread the habit up and down the coast; opium store-ships armed as +fortresses were moored at the mouth of the Canton River.”</p> + +<p>In 1782, the company’s supercargoes at Canton wrote to Calcutta: “The +importation of opium being strongly prohibited by the Chinese government, +and a business altogether new to us, it was necessary for us to take our +measures (for disposing of a cargo) with the utmost caution.”</p> + +<p>This “business altogether new to us” was, of course, plain smuggling. From +the first it had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> been necessary to arm the smuggling vessels; and as +these grew in number the Chinese sent out an increasing number of armed +revenue junks or cruisers. The traders usually found it possible to buy +off the commanders of the revenue junks, but as this could not be done in +every case it was inevitable that there should be encounters now and then, +with occasional loss of life. These affrays soon became too frequent to be +ignored.</p> + +<p>Meantime the British government had succeeded the company in the rule of +India and the control of the far Eastern trade. As this trade was from two +thirds to four-fifths opium, a prohibited article, and as the whole +question of trade was complicated by the fact that China was ignorant of +the greatness and power of the Western nations and did not care to treat +or deal with them in any event, a government trade agent had been sent out +to Canton to look after British interests and in general to fill the +position of a combined consul and unaccredited minister. In the late +1830’s this agent, Captain Charles Elliot (successor to Lord Napier, the +first agent), found himself in the delicate position of protecting English +smugglers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> who were steadily drawing their country towards war because +the Chinese government was making strong efforts to drive them out of +business. From what Captain Elliot has left on record it is plain that he +was having a bad time of it. In 1837, he wrote to Lord Palmerston of “the +wide-spreading public mischief” arising from “the steady continuance of a +vast, prohibited traffic in an article of vicious luxury,” and suggested +that “a gradual check to our own growth and imports would be salutary.” +Two years later he wrote that “the Chinese government have a just ground +for harsh measures towards the lawful trade, upon the plea that there is +no distinction between the right and the wrong.”</p> + +<p>He even said: “No man entertains a deeper detestation of the disgrace and +sin of this forced traffic;” and, “I see little to choose between it and +piracy.” But when the war cloud broke, and responsibility for the welfare +of Britain’s subjects and trade interests in China devolved upon him, he +compromised. “It does not consort with my station,” he wrote, “to sanction +measures of general and undistinguishing violence against His Majesty’s +officers and subjects.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>It will be interesting before we consider the opium war and its immense +significance in history, to glance over the attitude of the company and +later of its successor, the government, towards the whole miserable +business. The company’s board of directors, in 1817, had sent this +dispatch from Calcutta in answer to a question, “Were it possible to +prevent the using of the drug altogether, except strictly for the purpose +of medicine, we would gladly do it in compassion to mankind.”</p> + +<p>It would be pleasant to believe that the East India Company was sincere in +this ineffective if well-phrased expression of “compassion.” The spectacle +of a great corporation in any century giving up a lucrative traffic on +merely human and moral grounds would be illuminating and uplifting. But +unfortunate business corporations are, in their very nature, slaves of the +balance sheet, organized representatives of the mighty laws of trade. I +have already quoted enough evidence to show that the company was not only +awake to the dangers of opium, but that it had deliberately and +painstakingly worked up the traffic. Had there been, then, a change of +heart in the directorate? I fear not. Among the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> East Indian +correspondence of 1830, this word from the company’s governor-general came +to light: “We are taking measures for extending the cultivation of the +poppy, with a view to a larger increase in the supply of opium.” And in +this same year, 1830, a House of Commons committee reported that “The +trade, which is altogether contraband, has been largely extended of late +years.”</p> + +<p>G. H. M. Batten, a formal official of the Indian Civil Service, who +contributed the chapter on opium in Sir John Strachey’s work on “India, +its Administration and Progress,” has been regarded of late years as one +of the ablest defenders of the whole opium policy. He believes that “The +daily use of opium in moderation is not only harmless but of positive +benefit, and frequently even a necessity of life.” This man, seeing little +but good in opium, doubts “if it ever entered into the conception of the +court of directors to suppress in the interests of morality the +cultivation of the poppy.”</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most striking testimony bearing against the policy of the +company was that given by Robert Inglis, of Canton, a partner in the large +opium-trading firm of Dent & Co., to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> Select Committee on China Trade +(House of Commons, 1840). Here it is:</p> + +<p>Mr. Inglis.—“I told him (Captain Elliot) that I was sure the thing could +not go on.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Gladstone.—“How long ago have you told him that you were sure the +thing could not go on?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Inglis.—“For four or five years past.”</p> + +<p>Chairman.—“What gave you that impression?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Inglis.—“An immense quantity of opium being forced upon the Chinese +every year, and that in its turn forcing it up the coast in our vessels.”</p> + +<p>Chairman.—“When you use the words ‘forcing it upon them,’ do you mean +that they were not voluntary purchasers?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Inglis.—“No, but the East India Company were increasing the quantity +of opium almost every year, without reference to the demand in China; that +is to say, there was always an immense supply of opium in China, and the +company still kept increasing the quantity at lower prices.”</p> + +<p>Three years later, just after the war, Sir George Staunton, speaking from +experience as a British<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> official in the East, said in the House of +Commons, “I never denied the fact that if there had been no opium +smuggling there would have been no war.</p> + +<p>“Even if the opium habit had been permitted to run its natural course, if +it had not received an extraordinary impulse from the measures taken by +the East India Company to promote its growth, which almost quadrupled the +supply, I believe it would never have created that extraordinary alarm in +the Chinese authorities which betrayed them into the adoption of a sort of +<i>coup d’ etât</i> for its suppression.”</p> + +<p>Sir William Muir, some time lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Provinces +of India, is on record thus: “By increasing its supply of ‘provision’ +opium, it (the Bengal government) has repeatedly caused a glut in the +Chinese market, a collapse of prices in India, an extensive bankruptcy and +misery in Malwa.”</p> + +<p>The most interesting summing-up of the whole question I have seen is from +the pen of Sir Arthur Cotton, who wrote after sixty years’ experience in +Indian affairs, protesting against “continuing this trading upon the sins +and miseries of the greatest nation in the world in respect of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +population, on the ground of our needing the money.”</p> + +<p>What was China doing to protect herself from these aggressions? The +British merchants and the British trade agent had by this time worked into +the good-will of the Chinese merchants and the corrupt mandarins, and had +finally established their residence at Canton and their depot of +store-ships at Whampoa, a short journey down the river. In 1839 there were +about 20,000 chests of opium stored in these hulks. In that same year the +Chinese emperor sent a powerful and able official named Lin Tse-hsu from +Peking to Canton with orders to put down the traffic at any cost. +Commissioner Lin was a man of unusual force. He perfectly understood the +situation in so far as it concerned China. He had his orders. He knew what +they meant. He proposed to put them into effect. There was only one +important consideration which he seems to have overlooked—it was that +India “needed the money.” His proposal that the foreign agents deliver up +their stores of “the prohibited article” did not meet with an immediate +response. The traders had not the slightest notion of yielding up 20,000 +chests of opium, worth, at that time,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> $300 a chest. Lin’s appeals to the +most nearly Christian of queens, were no more successful. He did not seem +to understand that China was a long way off; it was very close to him. +Here is a translation of what he had to say. To our eyes to-day, it seems +fairly intelligent, even reasonable:</p> + +<p>“Though not making use of it one’s self, to venture on the manufacture and +sale of it (opium) and with it to seduce the simple folk of this land is +to seek one’s own livelihood by the exposure of others to death. Such acts +are bitterly abhorrent to the nature of man and are utterly opposed to the +ways of heaven. We would now then concert with your ‘Hon. Sovereignty’ +means to bring a perpetual end to this opium traffic so hurtful to +mankind, we in this land forbidding the use of it and you in the nations +under your dominion forbidding its manufacture.”</p> + +<p>Her “Hon. Sovereignty,” if she ever saw this appeal (which may be +doubted), neglected to reply. Meeting with small consideration from the +traders, as from their sovereign, Commissioner Lin set about carrying out +his orders. There was an admirable thoroughness in his methods. He +surrounded the residence of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> traders, Captain Elliot’s among them, +with an army of howling, drum-beating Chinese soldiers, and again proposed +that they deliver up those 20,000 chests. Now, the avenues of trade do not +lead to martyrdom. Traders rarely die for their principles—they prefer +living for them. The 20,000 chests were delivered up, with a rapidity that +was almost haste; and the merchants, under the leadership of the agent, +withdrew to the doubtful shelter of their own guns, down the river. +Commissioner Lin, still with that exasperatingly thorough air, mixed the +masses of opium with lime and emptied it into the sea. England, her +dignity outraged, hurt at her tenderest point, sent out ships, men and +money. She seized port after port; bombarded and took Canton; swept +victoriously up the Yangtse, and by blocking the Grand Canal at Chinkiang +interrupted the procession of tribute junks sailing up the Peking and thus +cut off an important source of the Chinese imperial revenue. This resulted +in the treaty of Nanking, in 1843, which was negotiated by the British +government by Sir Henry Pottinger.</p> + +<p>Sir Henry, like Commissioner Lin, had his orders. His methods, like Lin’s, +were admirable in their thoroughness. He secured the following<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> terms from +the crestfallen Chinese government: 1. There was to be a “lasting peace” +between the two nations. 2. Canton, Amoy, Foochou, Ningpo, and Shanghai +were to be open as “treaty ports.” 3. The Island of Hongkong was to be +ceded to Great Britain. 4. An indemnity of $21,000,000 was to be paid, +$6,000,000 as the value of the opium destroyed, $3,000,000 for the +destruction of the property of British subjects, and $12,000,000 for the +expenses of the war. It was further understood that the British were to +hold the places they had seized until these and a number of other +humiliating conditions were to be fulfilled. Thus was the energy and +persistence of the opium smugglers rewarded. Thus began that partition of +China which has been going on ever since. It is difficult to be a +Christian when far from home.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to get an admission even to-day, from a thorough-going +British trader, that opium had anything to do with the war of 1840-43. He +is likely to insist either that the war was caused by the refusal of +Chinese officials to admit English representatives on terms of equality, +or that it was caused by “the stopping of trade.” There was, indeed, a +touch of the naively<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> Oriental in the attitude of China. To the Chinese +official mind, China was the greatest of nations, occupying something like +five-sixths of the huge flat disc called the world. England, Holland, +Spain, France, Portugal, and Japan were small islands crowded in between +the edge of China and the rim of the disc. That these small nations should +wish to trade with “the Middle Kingdom” and to bring tribute to the “Son +of Heaven,” was not unnatural. But that the “Son of Heaven” must admit +them whether he liked or not, and as equals, was preposterous. Stripping + +these notions of their quaint Orientalism, they boiled down to the simple +principle that China recognized no law of earth or heaven which could +force her to admit foreign traders, foreign ministers, or foreign +religions if she preferred to live by herself and mind her own business. +That China has minded her own business and does mind her own business is, +I think, indisputable.</p> + +<p>The notions which animated the English were equally simple. Stripped of +their quaint Occidental shell of religion and respectability and theories +of personal liberty, they seem to boil down to about this—that China was +a great and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> undeveloped market and therefore the trading nations had a +right to trade with her willy-nilly, and any effective attempt to stop +this trade was, in some vague way, an infringement of their rights as +trading nations. In maintaining this theory, it is necessary for us to +forget that opium, though a “commodity,” was an admittedly vicious and +contraband commodity, to be used “for purposes of foreign commerce only.”</p> + +<p>In providing that there should be a “lasting peace” between the two +nations, it was probably the idea to insure British traders against +attack, or rather to provide a technical excuse for reprisals in case of +such attacks. But for some reason nothing whatever was said about opium in +the treaty. Now opium was more than ever the chief of the trade. England +had not the slightest notion of giving it up; on the contrary, opium +shipments were increased and the smuggling was developed to an +extraordinary extent. How a “lasting peace” was to be maintained while +opium, the cause of all the trouble, was still unrecognized by either +government as a legitimate commodity, while, indeed, the Chinese, however +chastened and humiliated, were still making desperate if indirect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> efforts +to keep it out of the country and the English were making strong efforts +to get it into the country, is a problem I leave to subtler minds. The +upshot was, of course, that the “lasting peace” did not last. Within +fifteen years there was another war. By the second treaty (that of +Tientsin, 1858) Britain secured 4,000,000 taels of indemnity money (about +$3,000,000), the opening of five more treaty ports, toleration for the +Christian religion, and the admission of opium under a specified tariff. +The Tientsin Treaty legalized Christianity and opium. China had defied the +laws of trade, and had learned her lesson. It had been a costly +lesson—$24,000,000 in money, thousands of lives, the fixing on the race +of a soul-blighting vice, the loss of some of her best seaports, more, the +loss of her independence as a nation—but she had learned it. And +therefore, except for a crazy outburst now and then as the foreign grip +grew tighter, she was to submit.</p> + +<p>But China’s trouble was not over. If she was to be debauched whether or +no, must she also be ruined financially? There were the indemnity payments +to meet, with interest; and no way of meeting them other than to squeeze +tighter a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> poverty-stricken nation which was growing more poverty-stricken +as her silver drained steadily off to the foreigners. There was a solution +to the problem—a simple one. It was to permit the growth of opium in +China itself, supplant the Indian trade, keep the silver at home. But +China was slow to adopt this solution. It might solve the fiscal problem; +but incidentally it might wreck China. She sounded England on the +subject,—once, twice. There seemed to have been some idea that England, +convinced that China had her own possibility of crowding out the Indian +drug, might, after all, give up the trade, stop the production in India, +and make the great step unnecessary. But England could not see it in that +light. China wavered, then took the great step. The restrictions on +opium-growing were removed. This was probably a mistake, though opinions +still differ about that. To the men who stood responsible for a solution +of Chinese fiscal problem it doubtless seemed necessary. At all events, +the last barrier between China and ruin was removed by the Chinese +themselves. And within less than half a century after the native growth of +the poppy began, the white and pink and mauve blossoms have spread across<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +the great empire, north and south, east and west, until to-day, in +blossom-time almost every part of every province has its white and mauve +patches. You may see them in Manchuria, on the edge of the great desert of +Gobi, within a dozen miles of Peking; you may see them from the headwaters +of the mighty Yangtse to its mouth, up and down the coast for two thousand +miles, on the distant borders of Thibet.</p> + +<p>No one knows how much opium was grown in China last year. There are +estimates—official, missionary, consular; and they disagree by thousands +and tens of thousands of tons. But it is known that where the delicate +poppy is reared, it demands and receives the best land. It thrives in the +rich river-bottoms. It has crowded out grain and vegetables wherever it +has spread, and has thus become a contributing factor to famines. Its +product, opium, has run over China like a black wave, leaving behind it a +misery, a darkness, a desolation that has struck even the Chinese, even +its victims, with horror. China has passed from misery to disaster. And as +if the laws of trade had chosen to turn capriciously from their inexorable +business and wreak a grim joke on a prostrate race, the solution, the +great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> step, has failed in its purpose. The trade in Indian opium has been +hurt, to be sure, but not supplanted. It will never be supplanted until +the British government deliberately puts it down. For the Chinese cannot +raise opium which competes in quality with the Indian drug. Indian opium +is in steady demand for the purpose of mixing with Chinese opium. No +duties can keep it out; duties simply increase the cost to the Chinese +consumer, simply ruin him a bit more rapidly. So authoritative an expert +as Sir Robert Hart, director of the Chinese imperial customs, had hoped +that the great step would prove effective. In “These from the Land of +Sinim” he has expressed his hope:</p> + +<p>“Your legalized opium has been a cure in every province it penetrates, and +your refusal to limit or decrease the import has forced us to attempt a +dangerous remedy—legalized native opium—not because we approve of it, +but to compete with and drive out the foreign drug; and it is expelling +it, and when we have only the native production to deal with, and thus +have the business in our own hands, we hope to stop the habit in our own +way.”</p> + +<p>The great step has failed. Indian opium has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> not been expelled. For the +Chinese to put down the native drug without stopping the import is +impossible as well as useless. The Chinese seem determined, in one way or +another, to put down both. Once, again, after a weary century of struggle, +they have approached the British government. Once again the British +government has been driven from the Scylla of healthy Anglo-Saxon moral +indignation to the Charybdis behind that illuminating phrase—“India needs +the money.” Twenty million dollars is a good deal of money. The balance +sheet reigns; and the balance sheet is an exacting ruler, even if it has +triumphed over common decency, over common morality, over common humanity.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span></p> + +<p>Will you ride with me (by rickshaw) along the International Bund at +Shanghai—beyond the German Club and the Hongkong Bank—over the little +bridge that leads to Frenchtown—past a half mile of warehouses and +chanting coolies and big yellow Hankow steamers—until we turn out on the +French Bund? It is a raw, cloudy, March morning; the vendors of queer +edibles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> who line the curbing find it warmer to keep their hands inside +their quilted sleeves.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i057top.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">AN OPIUM RECEIVING SHIP OR “GODOWN” AT SHANGHAI<br /> +The Imported Indian Opium is Stored in These Ships Until it Passes the Chinese Imperial Customs</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 318px;"><img src="images/i057bottom.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">THE OPIUM HULKS OF SHANGHAI<br />“They Symbolize China’s Degredation”</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>It is a lively day on the river. Admiral Brownson’s fleet of white +cruisers lie at anchor in midstream. A lead-gray British cruiser swings +below them, an anachronistic Chinese gunboat lower still. Big black +merchantmen fill in the view—a P. and O. ship is taking on coal—a +two-hundred-ton junk with red sails moves by. Nearer at hand, from the +stone quay outward, the river front is crowded close with sampans and +junks, rows on rows of them, each with its round little house of yellow +matting, each with its swarm of brown children, each with its own pungent +contribution to the all-pervasive odour. Gaze out through the forests of +masts, if you please, and you will see two old hulks, roofed with what +looks suspiciously like shingles, at anchor beyond. They might be ancient +men-of-war, pensioned off to honourable decay. You can see the square +outline of what once were portholes, boarded up now. The carved, wooden +figure-heads at the prow of each are chipped and blackened with age and +weather. What are they and why do they lie here in mid-channel, where +commerce surges about them?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>These are the opium hulks of Shanghai. In them is stored the opium which +the government of British India has grown and manufactured for consumption +in China. They symbolize China’s degradation.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> +<h3>A GLIMPSE INTO AN OPIUM PROVINCE</h3> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> opium provinces of China—that is, the provinces which have been most +nearly completely ruined by opium—lie well back in the interior. They +cover, roughly, an area 1,200 miles long by half as wide, say about +one-third the area of the United States; and they support, after a +fashion, a population of about 160,000,000. There had been plenty of +evidence obtainable at Shanghai, Hankow, Peking, and Tientsin, of the +terrible ravages of opium in these regions, but it seemed advisable to +make a journey into one of these unfortunate provinces and view the +problem at short range. The nearest and most accessible was Shansi +Province. It lies to the west and southwest of Peking, behind the blue +mountains which one sees from the Hankow-Peking Railroad. There seemed to +be no doubt that the opium curse could there be seen at its worst. +Everybody said so—legation officials, attachés,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> merchants, missionaries. +Dr. Piell, of the London Mission hospital at Peking, estimated that ninety +per cent. of the men, women, and children in Shansi smoke opium. He called +in one of his native medical assistants, who happened to be a Shansi man, +and the assistant observed, with a smile, that ninety per cent. seemed +pretty low as an estimate. Another point in Shansi’s favour was that the +railroads were pushing rapidly through to T’ai Tuan-fu, the capital (and +one of the oldest cities in oldest China). So I picked up an interpreter +at the <i>Grand Hotel des Wagon-lits</i>, and went out there.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 500px; height: 377px;"><img src="images/i063top.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">THE VILLAGES WERE LITTLE MORE THAN HEAPS OF RUINS<br /> +These Holes in the Ground are Occupied by Formerly Well-to-do Opium Smokers</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 500px; height: 383px;"><img src="images/i063bottom.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">AT LAST HE CRAWLS OUT ON THE HIGHWAY, WHINING, CHATTERING<br />AND PRAYING THAT A FEW COPPER CASH BE THROWN TO HIM</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>The new Shansi railroad was not completed through to Tai-Yuan-fu, the +provincial capital, and it was necessary to journey for several days by +cart and mule-litter. While this sort of travelling is not the most +comfortable in the world, it has the advantage of bringing one close to +the life that swarms along the highroad, and of making it easier to gather +facts and impressions.</p> + +<p>Every hour or so, as the cart crawls slowly along, you come upon a dusty +gray village nestling in a hollow or clinging to the hillside. And nearly +every village is a little more than a heap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> of ruins. I was prepared to +find ruins, but not to such an extent. When I first drew John, the +interpreter’s, attention to them, he said, “Too much years.” As an +explanation this was not satisfactory, because many of the ruined +buildings were comparatively new—certainly, too new to fall to pieces. At +the second village John made another guess at the cause of such complete +disaster. “Poor—too poor,” he said, and then traced it back to the last +famine, about which, he found, the peasants were still talking. “Whole lot +o’ mens die,” he explained. It was later on that I got at the main +contributing cause of the wreck and ruin which one finds almost everywhere +in Shansi Province, after I had picked up, through John and his cook, the +roadside gossip of many days during two or three hundred miles of travel, +after I had talked with missionaries of life-long experience, with +physicians who are devoting their lives to work among these misery-ridden +people, with merchants, travellers, and Chinese and Manchu officials.</p> + +<p>Before we take up in detail the ravages of opium throughout this and other +provinces, I wish to say a word about one source of information, which +every observer of conditions in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> China finds, sooner or later, that he is +forced to employ. Along the China coast one hears a good deal of talk +about the “missionary question.” Many of the foreign merchants abuse the +missionaries. I will confess that the “anti-missionary” side had been so +often and so forcibly presented to me that before I got away from the +coast I unconsciously shared the prejudice. But now, brushing aside the +exceptional men on both sides of the controversy, and ignoring for the +moment the deeper significance of it, let me give the situation as it +presented itself to me before I left China.</p> + +<p>There are many foreign merchants who study the language, travel +extensively, and speak with authority on things Chinese. But the typical +merchant of the treaty port, that is, the merchant whom one hears so +loudly abusing the missionaries, does not speak the language. He transacts +most of his business through his Chinese “<i>Compradore</i>,” and apparently +divides the chief of his time between the club, the race-track, and +various other places of amusement. This sort of merchant is the kind most +in evidence, and it is he who contributes most largely to the +anti-missionary feeling “back home.” The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>missionaries, on the other hand, +almost to a man, speak, read, and write one or more native dialects. They +live among the Chinese, and, in order to carry on their work at all, they +must be continually studying the traditions, customs, and prejudices of +their neighbours. In almost every instance the missionaries who supplied +me with information were more conservative than the British and American +diplomatic, consular, military, and medical observers who have travelled +in the opium provinces. I have since come to the conclusion that the +missionaries are over-conservative on the opium question, probably +because, being constantly under fire as “fanatics” and “enthusiasts,” they +unconsciously lean too far towards the side of under-statement. The +published estimates of Dr. Du Bose, of Soochow, president of the +Anti-opium League, are much more conservative than those of Mr. Alex +Hosie, the British commercial <i>attaché</i> and former consul-general. Dr. +Parker, of Shanghai, the gentlemen of the London Mission, the American +Board, and the American Presbyterian Missions at Peking, scores of other +missionaries whom I saw in their homes in the interior or at the +missionary conference at Shanghai, and Messrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> Gaily, Robertson, and +Lewis, of the International Young Men’s Christian Association, all +impressed me as men whose opinions were based on information and not on +prejudice. Dr. Morrison, the able Peking correspondent of the London +<i>Times</i>, said to me when I arrived at the capital, “You ought to talk with +the missionaries.” I did talk with them, and among many different sources +of information I found them worthy of the most serious consideration.</p> + +<p>The phrase, “opium province,” means, in China, that an entire province +(which, in extent and in political outline, may be roughly compared to one +of the United States) has been ravaged and desolated by opium. It means +that all classes, all ages, both sexes, are sodden with the drug; that all +the richer soil, which in such densely-populated regions, is absolutely +needed for the production of food, is given over to the poppy; that the +manufacture of opium, of pipes, of lamps, and of the various other +accessories, has become a dominating industry; that families are wrecked, +that merchants lose their acumen, and labourers their energy; that after a +period of wide-spread debauchery and enervation, economic, as well as +moral and physical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> disaster, settles down over the entire region. The +population of these opium provinces ranges from fifteen or twenty million +to eighty million.</p> + +<p>“In Shansi,” I have quoted an official as saying, “everybody smokes +opium.” Another cynical observer has said that “eleven out of ten Shansi +men are opium-smokers.” In one village an English traveller asked some +natives how many of the inhabitants smoked opium, and one replied, +indicating a twelve-year-old child, “That boy doesn’t.” Still another +observer, an English scientist, who was born in Shansi, who speaks the +dialect as well as he speaks English, and who travels widely through the +remoter regions in search of rare birds and animals, puts the proportion +of smokers as low as seventy-five per cent. of the total population. I had +some talks with this man at T’ai Yuan-fu, and later at Tientsin, and I +found his information so precise and so interesting that I asked him one +day to dictate to a stenographer some random observations on the opium +problem in Shansi. These few paragraphs make up a very small part of what +I have heard him and others say, but they are so grimly picturesque, and +they give so accurately the sense of the mass of notes and interviews<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +which fill my journal of the Shansi trip, that it has seemed to me I could +do no better than to print them just as he talked them off on that +particular day at Tientsin.</p> + +<p>“The opium-growers always take the best piece of land,” he said, “in their +land—the best fertilized, and with the most water upon it. They find that +it pays them a great deal better than growing wheat or anything else. +Around Chao Cheng, especially, they grow opium to a large extent just +beside the rivers, where they can get plenty of water. The seeds are sown +about the beginning of May, and they have to be transplanted. It takes +until about the middle of July before the opium ripens. Just before it is +ripe men are employed to cut the seed pods, when a white sap exudes, and +this dries upon the pod and turns brown, and in about a week after it has +been cut they come around and scrape it off. The wages are from twenty to +thirty cents (Mexican) per day. Men and women are employed in the work. +The heads of the poppy are all cut off, when they are dried and stored +away for the seed of the next year.</p> + +<p>“It is a very fragile crop, and until it gets to be nine inches high it is +very easily broken. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> full-grown poppy plant is from three to four feet +high. The Chao Cheng opium is considered the best.</p> + +<p>“In the Chao Cheng district the people have been more or less ruined by +opium. I have heard of a family, a man and his wife, who had only one suit +of clothes between them.</p> + +<p>“In Taiku there is a large family by the name of Meng, perhaps the +wealthiest family in the province of Shansi. For the past few years they +have been steadily going down, simply from the fact that the heads of the +family have become opium-smokers. In Taiku there is a large fair held each +year, and all the old bronzes, porcelains, furniture, etc., that this +family possesses are sold. Last year enough of their possessions were on +sale to stock ten or twelve small shops at the fair.</p> + +<p>“Another man, a rich man in Jen Tsuen, possessed a fine summer residence +previous to 1900. This residence contained several large houses and some +fine trees and shrubs, but during the last seven years he has taken to +opium and has been steadily going down. He has been selling out this +residence, pulling down the houses and cutting down the trees, and selling +the wood and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> old bricks. He is now a beggar in the streets of Jen Tsuen.</p> + +<p>“All through the hills west of Tai Yuan-fu the peasants are addicted to +the use of opium. About seventy per cent. of the population take opium in +one form or another. I was speaking to a number of them who had come into +an inn at which I was stopping. I asked them if they wanted to give up the +use of opium. They said yes, but that they had not the means to do so. +Everybody would like to give it up. The women smoke, as well as the men.</p> + +<p>“The smoker does not trouble himself to plant seeds, nor to go out.</p> + +<p>“The houses in Shansi are very good; in fact, they are better than in +other provinces, but they are rapidly going to ruin owing to the excessive +smoking of opium, and wherever one goes the ruins are seen on every side. +On the roads the people can get a little money by selling things, but off +the main roads the distress is worse than anywhere else.</p> + +<p>“Up in the hills I stopped at a village and inquired if they had any food +for sale, and they told me that they had nothing but frozen potatoes. So I +asked to be shown those, and I went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> into one of the hovels and found +little potatoes, perhaps one-half an inch across, frozen, and all strewn +over the <i>kang</i> (the brick bed), where they were drying. As soon as they +were dry, they were to be ground down into a meal of which dumplings were +made, and these were steamed. That was their only diet, and had been for +the past month. They had no money at all. What money they had possessed +had been spent on opium, and they could not expect anything to make up the +crop of potatoes the following autumn. I noticed in a basin a few dried +sticks, and I asked what they were for, and the man told me they were the +sticks taken from the sieve through which the opium was filtered for +purification. These sticks are soaked in hot water, and the water, which +contains a little opium, is drunk. They were using this in place of opium. +I gave this man twenty cents, and the next day when I returned he was +enjoying a pipe of opium.</p> + +<p>“While passing through an iron-smelting village I noticed that the +blacksmiths who beat up the pig iron were regular living skeletons. They +work from about five in the morning until about five in the evening, +stopping twice during that time for meals. When they leave off in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +evening, after a hasty meal they start with their pipes and go on until +they are asleep. I do not know how these men can work. I presume that it +was the hard work that made them take to opium-smoking.</p> + +<p>“On asking people why they had taken to the drug, they invariably replied +that it was for the cure of a pain of some sort—for relieving the +suffering. The women often take to it after childbirth, and this is +generally what starts them to smoking.</p> + +<p>“The wealthier men who smoke opium nearly all day cannot enter another +room until this room has first been filled with the fumes of opium. Some +one has to go into the room first and smoke a few pipes, so that the air +of the room may be in proper condition.</p> + +<p>“There was an official in Shau-ying who used to keep six slave girls going +all day filling his pipes. The slave girls and brides very often try to +commit suicide by eating opium, owing to the harsh treatment they +receive.”</p> + +<p>Everywhere along the highroad and in the cities and villages of Shansi you +see the opium face. The opium-smoker, like the opium-eater, rapidly loses +flesh when the habit has fixed itself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> on him. The colour leaves his skin, +and it becomes dry, like parchment. His eye loses whatever light and +sparkle it may have had, and becomes dull and listless. The opium face has +been best described as a “peculiarly withered and blasted countenance.” +With this face is usually associated a thin body and a languid gait. Opium +gets such a powerful grip on a confirmed smoker that it is usually unsafe +for him to give up the habit without medical aid. His appetite is taken +away, his digestion is impaired, there is congestion of the various +internal organs, and congestion of the lungs. Constipation and diarrhœa +result, with pain all over the body. By the time he has reached this +stage, the smoker has become both physically and mentally weak and +inactive. With his intellect deadened, his physical and moral sense +impaired, he sinks into laziness, immorality, and debauchery. He has lost +his power of resistance to disease, and becomes predisposed to colds, +bronchitis, diarrhœa, dysentery, and dyspepsia. Brigade Surgeon J. H. +Condon, M. D., M. R. C. S., speaking of opium-eaters before the Royal +Commission on Opium, said: “They become emaciated and debilitated, +miserable-looking wretches, and finally die, most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> commonly of diarrhœa +induced by the use of opium.”</p> + +<p>When a man has got himself into this condition, he must have opium, and +must have it all the time. I have already pointed out that opium-smoking +not only is perhaps the most expensive of the vices, but that, unlike +opium-eating, it consumes an immense amount of time. Few smokers can keep +slaves to fill their pipes for them, like that wealthy official at +Shau-ying. It takes a seasoned smoker from fifteen minutes to half an hour +to prepare a pipe to his satisfaction, smoke it, and rouse himself to +begin the operation again. If he smokes ten or twenty pipes a day, which +is common, and then sleeps off the effects, it is not hard to figure out +the number of hours left for business each day. When he has slept, and the +day is well started, his body at once begins to clamour for more opium. He +must begin smoking again, or he will suffer an agony of physical and +mental torture. His ten to twenty pipes a day will cost him from fifty +cents or a dollar (if he is a poor man and smokes the scrapings from the +rich man’s pipe), to ten or twenty dollars (or more, if he smokes a high +grade of opium). I learned of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> many wealthy merchants and officials who +smoke from forty to sixty pipes a day.</p> + +<p>It is just at this period, when the smoker is so enslaved by the drug that +he has lost his earning power, that his opium expenditure increases most +rapidly. He is buying opium now, not so much to gratify his selfish vice, +as to keep himself alive. He becomes frantic for opium. He will sell +anything he has to buy the stuff. His moral sense is destroyed. A +diseased, decrepit, insane being, he forgets even his family. He sells his +bric-a-brac, his pictures, his furniture. He sells his daughters, even his +wife, if she has attractions, as slaves to rich men. He tears his house to +pieces, sells the tiles of his roof, the bricks of his walls, the woodwork +about his doors and windows. He cuts down the trees in his yard and sells +the wood. And at last he crawls out on the highway, digs himself a cave in +the loess (if he has strength enough), and prostrates himself before the +camel and donkey drivers, whining, chattering, praying that a few copper +cash be thrown to him.</p> + +<p>Since there are no statistics in China, I can give the reader only the +observations and impressions of a traveller. But Shansi Province is full +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> ruins. So are Szechuan and Yunnan and Kuei-chow, and half a dozen +others. It is with the province as a whole much as it is with the +individuals of that province. The raising of opium to supply this enormous +demand crowds off the land the grains and vegetables that are absolutely +needed for human food. The manufacture of opium and its accessories +absorbs the energy and capital that should go into legitimate industry. +The government of the province and the government of the empire have +become so dependent on the immense revenue from the taxation of this +“vicious article of luxury” that they dare not give it up. In the body +politic an unhealthy condition not only exists, but also controls. +Drifting into it half-consciously, the province has been sapped by a +vicious economic habit. That is what is the matter with Shansi. That is +what is the matter with China. All the way along my route in Shansi I +photographed the ruins that typify the disaster which has overtaken this +opium province. And a few of these photographs are reproduced here, all +showing houses of men who were well-to-do only a few years ago. It will be +plainly seen from the cuts, I think, that these ruins are not the result +of age. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>The sun-dried bricks of the walls show few signs of crumbling. +The walls themselves are not weather-beaten, and have evidently been +destroyed by the hand of man, and not by time.</p> + +<p> </p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td align="center"><img src="images/i079left.jpg" alt="" /></td> + <td><span class="spacer"> </span></td> + <td align="center"><img src="images/i079right.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">WRECK AND RUIN IN CHINA<br />These Houses were Torn Down by their Owners, the Woodwork and Bricks Sold, and the Money Used to Purchase Opium</td></tr></table> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> +<h3>CHINA’S SINCERITY</h3> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">China</span> is the land of paradox. If it is an absolute, despotic monarchy, it +is also a very democratic country, with its self-made men, its powerful +public opinion, and a “states’ rights” question of its own. It is one of +the most corrupt of nations; on the other hand, the standard of personal +and commercial honesty is probably higher in China than in any other +country in the world. Woman, in China, is made to serve; her status is so +low that it would be a discourtesy even to ask a man if he has a daughter: +yet the ablest ruler China has had in many centuries is a woman. It is a +land where the women wear socks and trousers, and the men wear stockings +and robes; where a man shakes his own hand, not yours; where white, not +black, is a sign of mourning; where the compass points south, not north; +where books are read backward, not forward; where names and titles are put +in reverse order, as in our <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>directories—Theodore Roosevelt would be +Roosevelt Theodore in China, Uncle Sam would be Sam Uncle; where fractions +are written upside down, as <span style="font-size: 0.8em;"><sup>8</sup></span>⁄<span style="font-size: 0.6em;">5</span>, +not <span style="font-size: 0.8em;"><sup>5</sup></span>⁄<span style="font-size: 0.6em;">8</span>; where a bride wails bitterly as +she is carried to her wedding, and a man laughs when he tells you of his mother’s death.</p> + +<p>Chinese life, or the phases of it that you see along the highroads of the +northwest, would appear to be a very simple, honest life, industrious, +methodical, patient in poverty. The men, even of the lowest classes, are +courteous to a degree that would shame a Frenchman. I have seen my two +soldiers, who earned ten or twenty cents, Mexican, a day, greet my cook +with such grace and charm of manner that I felt like a crude barbarian as +I watched them. The simplicity and industry of this life, as it presented +itself to me, seemed directly opposed to any violence or outrage. Yet only +seven years ago Shansi Province was the scene of one of the most atrocious +massacres in history, modern or ancient. During a few weeks, in the summer +of 1900, one hundred and fifty-nine white foreigners, men, women, and +children, were killed within the province, forty-six of them in the city +of T’ai Yuan-fu. The massacre completely wiped out the mission<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> churches +and schools and the opium refuges, the only missionaries who escaped being +those who happened to be away on leave at the time. The attack was not +directed at the missionaries as such, but at the foreigners in general. It +was widely believed among the peasantry that the foreign devils made a +practice of cutting out the eyes, tongues, and various other organs of +children and women and shipping them, for some diabolical purpose, out of +the country. The slaughter was directed, from beginning to end, by the +rabid Manchu governor, Yü Hsien, and some of the butchering was done by +soldiers under his personal command. But the interesting fact is that the +docile, long-suffering people of Shansi did some butchering on their own +account, as soon as the word was passed around that no questions would be +asked by the officials.</p> + +<p>Apparently, the Shansi peasant can be at one time simple, industrious, +loyal, and at another time a slaying, ravishing maniac. The Chinaman +himself is the greatest paradox of all. He is the product of a +civilization which sprang from a germ and has developed in a soil and +environment different from anything within our Western range of +experience. Naturally he does not see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> human relations as we see them. His +habits and customs are enough different from ours to appear bizarre to us; +but they are no more than surface evidences of the difference between his +mind and ours. Thanks to our strong racial instinct, we can be fairly +certain of what an Anglo-Saxon, or even a European, will think in certain +deeply human circumstances—in the presence of death, for instance. We +cannot hope to understand the mental processes of a Chinaman. There is too +great a difference in the shape of our heads, as there is in the texture +of our traditions.</p> + +<p>But we can see quite clearly that the imperial government of China is, +while it endures, a strong and effective government. It is significant +that the Chinese people rarely indulge in massacres on their own account. +Why not? The hatred of foreigners must be always there, under the placid +surface, for these people rarely fail to turn into slaying demons once the +officials let the word be passed around. There have been thirty-five +serious anti-foreign riots and massacres in China within thirty-five +years, besides the Boxer uprising of 1900; and among these there was +probably not one which the mandarins could not have suppressed had they +wished. The Boxer trouble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> was worked up by Yü Hsien while he was governor +of Shantung Province. When the foreign powers protested he was transferred +to Shansi, which had scarcely heard of the Boxer Society, and almost at +once there was a “Boxer” outbreak and massacre in Shansi. The Peking +government meanwhile carried on Yü Hsien’s horrible work at Peking and +Tientsin. The siege of the legations at Peking was conducted by imperial +soldiers, not by mobs. During all the trouble of that bloody summer, Yuan +Shi K’ai, who succeeded to the governorship in Shantung, seemed to have no +difficulty in keeping that province quiet, though it was the scene of the +original trouble.</p> + +<p>Chang Chi Tung, “the great viceroy,” subdued the Upper Yangtse provinces +with a firm hand, though the Boxer difficulty there was complicated by the +ever-seething revolution. In a word, the officials in China seem perfectly +able to control their populace and protect foreigners. As Dr. Ferguson, of +Shanghai, put it to me, “No other government in the world can so +effectively enforce a law as the Chinese government—when they want to!”</p> + +<p>You soon learn, in China, that you can trust a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> Chinaman to carry through +anything he agrees to do for you. When I reached T’ai Yuan-fu I handed my +interpreter a Chinese draft for $200 (Mexican), payable to bearer, and +told him to go to the bank and bring back the money. I had known John a +little over a week; yet any one who knows China will understand that I was +running no appreciable risk. The individual Chinaman is simply a part of a +family, the family is part of a neighbourhood, the neighbourhood is part +of a village or district, and so on. In all its relations with the central +government, the province is responsible for the affairs of its larger +districts, these for the smaller districts, the smaller districts for the +villages, the villages for the neighbourhoods, the neighbourhoods for the +family, the family for the individual. If John had disappeared with my +money after cashing the draft, and had afterwards been caught, punishment +would have been swift and severe. Very likely he would have lost his head. +If the authorities had been unable to find John, they would have punished +his family. Punishment would surely have fallen on somebody.</p> + +<p>The real effect of this system, continued as it has been through +unnumbered centuries, has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> naturally been to develop a clear, keen sense +of personal responsibility. For, whatever may occur, somebody is +responsible. The family, in order to protect itself, trains its +individuals to live up to their promises, or else not to make promises. +The neighbourhood, well knowing that it will be held accountable for its +units, watches them with a close eye. When a new family comes into a +neighbourhood, the neighbours crowd about and ask questions which are not, +in view of the facts, so impertinent as they might sound. Indeed, this +sense of family and neighbourhood accountability is so deeply rooted that +it is not uncommon, on the failure of a merchant to meet his obligations, +for his family and friends to step forward and help him to settle his +accounts. It is the only way in which they can clear themselves.</p> + +<p>All these evidences would seem to indicate that the Chinese people, on the +one hand, have an innate fear of and respect for their government and +their law, such as they are; and that the government, on the other hand, +is, in the matter of enforcing the traditional law, one of the most +powerful governments on earth. None but an exceedingly well-organized +government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> could deliberately incite its people to repeated riots and +massacres without losing control of them. The Chinese government has +seemed to have not the slightest difficulty in keeping the people +quiet—when it wanted to. The story of Shantung Province makes this clear. +It was driven into what appeared to be anarchy by a rabid governor. But +only a few months later this governor’s successor had little difficulty in +keeping the entire province in almost perfect order while the adjoining +province was actually at war with the allied powers of the world and was +overrun with foreign troops. No; a government which has within it the +power, on occasion, to carry through such an achievement as this, can +hardly be called weak.</p> + +<p>We begin, then, by admitting that the Chinese government has the strength +and the organization necessary to carry out any ordinary reform—if it +wants to. The putting down of the opium evil is, of course, no ordinary +reform. It is an undertaking so colossal and so desperate that it staggers +imagination, as I trust I have made plain in the preceding articles. But +setting aside, for the moment, our doubts as to whether or not the Chinese +government, or any other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> government on earth, could hope to check so +insidious and pervading an evil, we have to consider other doubts which +arise from even a slight acquaintance with that puzzling organism, the +Chinese official mind. If the Chinese business man is, as many think, the +most honest and straightforward business man on earth, the Chinese +official, or mandarin, is about the most subtle and bewildering. His +duplicity is simply beyond our understanding. He has a bland and childish +smile, but his ways are peculiar. Most of us know that our own state +department has a neat little custom of issuing letters to travellers +ordering our diplomatic and consular representatives abroad to extend +special courtesies, and sending, at the same time, a notice to these same +representatives advising them to take no notice of the letters. In Chinese +diplomacy everything is done in this way, but very much more so. Documents +issued by the Chinese government usually bear about the same relation to +any existing facts or intentions as a Thanksgiving proclamation does. You +must be very astute, indeed, to perceive from the speech, manner, or +writing of a mandarin what he is really getting at. Motive underlies +motive; self-interest lies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> deeper still; and the base of it all is an +Oriental conception of life and affairs which cannot be so remodelled or +reshaped as to fit into our square-shaped Western minds. No one else was +so eloquent on the horrors of opium as the great Li Hung Chang, when +talking with foreigners; yet Li Hung Chang was one of the largest +producers of opium in China. When the Chinese army, under imperial +direction, was fiercely bombarding the legations in Peking, the imperial +government was officially sending fruit and other delicacies, accompanied +by courteous notes, asking if there was not something they could do for +the comfort of the hard-pressed foreigners.</p> + +<p>This indirection would seem to be the result of a constant effort, on the +part of everybody in authority, to shirk the responsibility for difficult +situations. Under a system which holds a man mercilessly accountable for +carrying through any undertaking for which he is known to be responsible, +he naturally tries to avoid assuming any responsibility whatever. An +official is punished for failure and rewarded for success in China, as in +other countries. And the official on whom is saddled the extremely +difficult job<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> of pleasing, at one time, an empress who believes that a +Boxer can render himself invisible to foreign sharpshooters by a little +mumbling and dancing, a set of courtiers and palace eunuchs who are +constantly undermining one another with the deepest Oriental guile, a +populace with little more understanding and knowledge of the world than +the children of Israel in the Sinai Peninsula, and a hostile band of keen, +modern diplomats with trade interests and “concessions” on their tongues +and machine guns and magazine rifles at call in their legation compounds, +is not in for an easy time.</p> + +<p>It hardly seems, then, as if we should blame the Chinese official too +harshly if his whole career appears to be made up of a series of +“side-steppings” and “ducks”—of what the American boxer aptly calls “foot +work.” On the other hand, it is not difficult to sympathize with the +foreign diplomat who has, year after year, to play this baffling game. He +is always making progress and never getting anywhere. He has his choice of +going mad or settling down into a confirmed and weary cynicism. In most +cases he chooses the latter, and ultimately drifts into a frame of mind in +which he doubts anything and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>everything. He takes it for granted that the +Chinese government is always insincere. It is incredible to him that a +Chinese official could mean what he says. And so, when the Chinese +government declared against the opium evil, the cynical foreign diplomats +and traders at once began looking between and behind the lines in the +effort to find out what the crafty yellow men were really getting at. That +they might mean what they said seemed wholly out of the question. But what +deep motive might underlie the proposal was a puzzle. At first the gossips +of Peking and the ports ran to the effect that the real scheme was to +arouse the anti-opium public opinion in England, and force the British +Indian government to give up its opium business. Very good, so far. But +why? In order that China, by successfully shutting out the Indian opium, +might set up a government monopoly of its own, for revenue, of the +home-grown drug? This was the first notion at Peking and the ports. I +heard it voiced frequently everywhere. But it proved a hard theory to +maintain.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the Chinese government could set up a pretty effective +government opium business, if it wanted to, without bothering about the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +Indian-grown drug. Opium is produced everywhere in China. The demand has +grown to a point where the Indian article alone could not begin to supply +it. But, on the other hand, the stopping of the importation is necessarily +the first step in combating the evil; for, if the Chinese should begin by +successfully decreasing their own production of opium, the importation +would automatically increase, and consumption remain the same.</p> + +<p>In the second place, if it is wholly a “revenue” matter to the Chinese +government, why give up the large annual revenue from customs duties on +the imported opium? In asking the British to stop their opium traffic the +Chinese are proposing deliberately to sacrifice $5,000,000 annually in +customs and <i>liking</i> duties on the imported drug, or between a fifth and a +sixth of the entire revenue of the imperial customs.</p> + +<p>One very convincing indication of the sincerity of the Chinese government +in this matter, which I will take up in detail a little later, is the way +in which the opium prohibition is being enforced by the Chinese +authorities. But before going into that, I should like to call attention +to two other evidences of Chinese sincerity in its war<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> on opium. The +first is the patent fact that public opinion all over China, among rich +and poor, mandarins and peasants, has turned strongly against the use of +opium. I have had this information from too many sources to doubt it. +Travellers from the remotest provinces are reporting to this effect. The +anti-opium sentiment is found in the highest official circles, in the +army, in the navy, in the schools. Within the past year or so it has been +growing steadily stronger. Opium-smoking used to be taken as a matter of +course; now, where you find a man smoking too much, you also find a group +of friends apologizing for him. I have already explained that +opium-smoking is not tolerated in the “new” army. There is now a rapidly +growing number of officials and merchants who refuse to employ +opium-smokers in any capacity.</p> + +<p>Now, why is the public opinion of China setting so strongly against opium? +Even apart from moral considerations, bringing the matter down to a +“practical” basis, why is this so? I will venture to offer an answer to +the question. Said one Tientsin foreign merchant, an American who has had +unusual opportunities to observe conditions in Northern China: “If the +Chinese<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> do succeed in shutting down on opium, it may mean the end of the +foreigners in China. Opium is the one thing that is holding the Chinese +back to-day.”</p> + +<p>Ten or twelve of the legations at Peking now have “legation guards” of +from one hundred to three hundred men each. In all, there are eighteen +hundred foreign soldiers in Peking, “a force large enough,” said one +officer, “to be an insult to China, but not large enough to defend us +should they really resent the insult.”</p> + +<p>Twelve hundred miles up the Yangtse River, above the rapids, there is a +fleet of tiny foreign gunboats, English and French, which were carried up +in sections and put together “to stay.” At every treaty port there are one +or more foreign settlements, maintained under foreign laws. The Imperial +Maritime Customs Service of China is directed and administered throughout +by foreigners; this, to insure the proper collection of the “indemnity” +money. Foreign “syndicates” have been gobbling up the wonderful coal and +iron deposits of China wherever they could find them. And so on. I could +give many more illustrations of the foreign grip on China, but these will +serve. And back of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> these facts looms the always impending “partition of +China.” The Chinese are not fools. They have sat tight, wearing that +inscrutable smile, while the foreigners discussed the cutting up of China +as if it were a huge cake. They have seen the Japanese, a race of little +brown men, inhabiting a few little islands, face the dreaded bear of +Russia and drive it back into Siberia. Now, at last, these patient +Chinamen are picking up some odds and ends of Western science. They are +building railroads, and manufacturing the rails for them. They are talking +about saving China “for the Chinese.” In 1906 they mobilized an army of +30,000 “modern” troops for manœuvres in Honan Province. If they are to +succeed with this notion, they must begin at the beginning. Opium is +dragging them down hill. Opium will not build railroads. Opium will not +win battles. Opium will not administer the affairs of the hugest nation on +earth. Therefore, no matter what it costs in revenue, no matter how +staggering the necessary reform and reorganization, opium must go.</p> + +<p>China may be a puzzling land. The Chinese officials may be capable of the +most baffling duplicity. But we are forced to believe that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> they are +“sincere” in putting down the opium traffic. It appears, for China, to be +a case of sink or swim.</p> + +<p>The next question would seem to be, if the Chinese are really trying to +put down the opium traffic, how are they succeeding? We will pass over +that part of the problem which relates to Great Britain and the Indian +opium trade, with the idea of taking it up in a later chapter. Let us +consider now what China, flabby, backward, long-suffering China, is +actually doing in this tremendous effort to cure her disorder in order +that she may take a new place among the nations. We will deal here with +the enforcement of the edict in Shansi Province, taking up in later +chapters the results of the prohibition movement in the other provinces.</p> + +<p>The plan outlined in the edicts prohibiting opium is clear, direct, +forcible. It was evidently meant to be effective. It provides (first) that +the governors of the provinces shall ascertain, through the local +authorities, the exact number of acres under poppy cultivation. The area +of the land used for this purpose shall then be cut down by one-ninth part +each year, “so that at the end of nine years there will be no more land<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +used for such purposes, and the land thus disused”—I am quoting here from +the Chinaman who translated the regulations for me—“shall never be used +for the said purposes again. Should the owners of such lands disobey the +decree, their lands shall be confiscated. Local officials who make special +efforts and be able to stop the cultivation of poppy before the said time, +they shall be rewarded with promotions.”</p> + +<p>The plan provides (second) that “all smokers, irrespective of class or +sex, must go to the nearest authorities to get certificates, in which they +are to write their names, addresses, profession, ages, and the amount of +opium smoked each day.” Latitude is allowed smokers over sixty years of +age, but those under sixty “must get cured before arriving at sixty years +of age. Persons who smoke or buy opium without certificates will be +punished. No new smokers will be allowed from the date of prohibition. The +amount of opium supplied to each smoker must decrease by one-third each +year, so that within a few years there will be no opium smoked at all.” +Officials who overstep the law are to be deprived of their rank. In the +case of common people, “their names will be posted up thoroughfares, and +will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> be deprived of privileges in all public gatherings.”</p> + +<p>Opium dens, as also all restaurants, hotels, and wine-shops which provide +couches and lamps for smokers were to be closed at once. If any regular +opium den was found open after the prohibition (May, 1907), the property +would be confiscated. No new stores for the sale of opium could be opened. +“Good opium remedies must be prepared. Multiply the number of anti-opium +clubs. If any citizens who can, through their efforts, get many people +cured, they will be rewarded.... All officials, and the officers of the +army and navy, and professors of schools, colleges, and universities, must +all get cured within six months.” And further, it was decided to “open +negotiations with Great Britain, arranging with that power to have less +and less opium imported into China each year, till at the end of nine +years no opium will be imported at all.” The Chinese, it is evident, are +not wanting in hopeful sentiment. Reading this, it is almost possible to +forget that India needs the money.</p> + +<p>“There is another drug, called morphia, which has done (thus my Chinaman’s +translation) or is doing more harm than opium. The custom <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>authorities +are to be instructed to prohibit strictly the importation of it, except +for medical uses.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td align="center"><img src="images/i101left.jpg" alt="" /></td> + <td><span class="spacer"> </span></td> + <td align="center"><img src="images/i101right.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">ENFORCING THE EDICT AT SHANGHAI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Burning Opium Pipes of Ivory and Costly Woods</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">Breaking the Opium Lamps</td></tr></table> +<p> </p> + +<p>A clean-cut programme, this; apparently meant to be effective. It was with +no small curiosity that I looked about in Shansi Province to see whether +there seemed any likelihood of enforcement. The time was ripe. It was +April; in May the six months would be up. Opium had ruled in Shansi: could +they hope to depose it before the final havoc should be wrought?</p> + +<p>The nub of the situation was, of course, the limiting of the crop. +Theoretically, it should be easier to prohibit opium than to prohibit +alcoholic drinks. Wines and liquors are made from grains and fruits which +must be grown anyway, for purposes of food. It would not do to attempt to +prohibit liquor by stopping the cultivation of grains and fruits. The +poppy, on the other hand, produces nothing but opium and its alkaloids. In +stopping the growth of the poppy you are depriving man of no useful or +necessary article. The poppy must be grown in the open, along the +river-bottoms (where the roads run). It cannot be hidden. As government +regulating goes, nothing is easier than to find a field of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> poppies and +measure it. The plans of the Shansi farmers for the coming year should +throw some light on the sincerity of the opium reforms. Were they really +arranging to plant less opium? Yes, they were. Reports came to me from +every side, and all to the same effect. West and northwest of T’ai Yuan-fu +many of the farmers had announced that they were planting no poppies at +all. This, remember, was in April: planting time was near; it was a +practical proposition to those Shansi peasants. In other regions men were +planting either none at all, or “less than last year.” The reason +generally given was that the closing of the dens in the cities had +lessened the demand for opium.</p> + +<p>The officials were planning not only to make poppy-growing unprofitable to +the farmers, they were planning also to advise and assist them in the +substitution of some other crop for the poppy. But here they encountered +one of the peculiar difficulties in the way of opium reform, the +transportation problem. All transportation, off the railroads, is slow and +costly. No other product is so easy to transport as opium. A man can carry +several hundred dollars’ worth on his person; a man with a mule can carry +several<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> thousand dollars’ worth. That is one of the reasons why opium is +a more profitable crop than potatoes or wheat. But the law descends +without waiting for solutions of all the problems involved. The closing of +the opium dens all over Shansi had the immediate effect of limiting the +crop. It also had the effect of driving out of business a great many firms +engaged in the manufacture of pipes and lamps. Sixty-two manufacturing +houses in one city, Taiku, either went out of business altogether during +the spring months, or turned to new enterprises. I add an interesting bit +of evidence as to the effectiveness of the enforcement. It is from a +missionary.</p> + +<p>“I was calling on one of the foreigners in T’ai Yuan-fu and found a beggar +lying on one of the door-steps, with his pipe and lamp all going. I told +him to clear out. I asked him why he was there, and he told me he had +nowhere else to go, now that the smoking-dens were all closed, and that he +had to find some sheltered nook where he could have his smoke.”</p> + +<p>It was not the plan to close the opium sale shops; theoretically, it will +take nine or ten years to do that. But after closing all the places where +opium was smoked socially and publicly, it should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> become possible to +register all the individuals who buy the drug for home consumption. It was +the closing of the dens, the places for public smoking, in all the cities +of Shansi, which had the immediate effect of limiting the crop and the +manufacture of smoking instruments. The one hundred and twenty-nine dens +of T’ai Yuan-fu were all closed before I arrived there. In T’ai Yuan-fu, +as in Peking, you could buy an opium-smoker’s outfit for next to nothing. +Cloisonné pipes, mounted with ivory and jade, were offered at absurd +prices.</p> + +<p>One of the saddest features of the situation in Shansi is the activity of +the opium-cure fraud. The opium-smoking habit can be cured, once the +social element is eliminated, as easily as the morphine or cocaine +habits—more easily, some would claim. I do not mean to say that a +degraded, degenerate being can be made over, in a week, into a normal, +healthy being; but it does not seem to be very difficult to tide even the +confirmed smoker over the discomfort and danger that attend breaking off +the habit. In Shansi, as in all the opium provinces, “opium refuges” are +maintained by the various missions. The usual plan is to charge a small +fee for the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>medicines administered, in order to make the refuges +self-supporting. It takes a week or ten days to effect a cure by the +methods usually followed. The patient is confined to a room, less and less +opium is allowed from day to day, stimulants (either strychnine or +atropine) are administered, and local symptoms are treated as may seem +necessary to the physician in charge. Some of the missions at first took a +stand against the reduction method, believing that medical missionaries +should not administer opium in any form; but after a death or two they +accepted the inevitable compromise, recognizing that it is not safe to +shut down the supply too abruptly. But the number of these refuges is +pitifully small beside the extent of the evil. They have been at work for +a generation without bringing about any perceptible change in the +situation. There are now fewer refuges than formerly in Shansi Province, +for none of the missions is fully recruited as yet, after the terrible +set-back of 1900.</p> + +<p>The opium-cure faker in China, as in the United States and Europe, usually +sells morphia under another name. Dr. Edwards, the author of “Fire and +Sword in Shansi,” last year spent five weeks in travelling northwest of +T’ai Yuan-fu,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> and reported finding a great many men employed in selling +so-called anti-opium medicines. The demand for cures existed everywhere. +Now that the popular sentiment is setting in so strongly against the opium +habit, the Chinese are peculiarly easy prey for these rascals. They have +no conception of medicine as it is practiced in Western countries, and +eagerly take whatever is offered to them in the guise of a “cure.” The +following, told to me by an Englishman who lives in the province, +illustrates this:</p> + +<p>“There is a lot of mischief being done in Shansi just now by men who have +bought drugs in Tientsin, are selling them at random, and making a good +thing for themselves. I was travelling one day and was taken violently +ill, and I happened to reach a place where I knew a man who had some +drugs, so I sent for him and asked him to bring me some medicine. He came +along with three bottles, none of which was labelled. He could not tell me +what any one of them contained. He said they were all good for +stomach-ache, and proposed to mix the three up and give me a good, strong +dose. It is needless to say I refused. That man is running a proper +establishment and making a lot of money on the drugs he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> sells, and that +is all he knows about the business.”</p> + +<p>The upshot of my investigations and inquiries in Shansi was that the +anti-opium edicts were being enforced to the letter. This conclusion +reached, I naturally looked about to find the man behind the enforcement. +Judging from the work done, he should prove worth seeing. Further +inquiries drew out the information that he was one of the three rulers of +the province, with the title of provincial judge, and that his name was +Ting Pao Chuen.</p> + +<p>Calling upon a prominent Chinese official is, to a plain, democratic +person, rather an impressive undertaking. The Rev. Mr. Sowerby had kindly +volunteered to act as interpreter, and him I impressed for instructor and +guide through the mazes of official etiquette. It was arranged that I +should call at Mr. Sowerby’s compound at a quarter to four. From there we +would each ride in a Peking cart with a driver and one extra servant in +front. There was nothing, apparently, for the extra servant to do; but it +was vitally important that he should sit on the front platform of the +cart.</p> + +<p>A Peking cart is a red-and-blue dog house,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> balanced, without springs, on +an axle between two heavy wheels. The sides, back, and rounding roof are +covered with blue cloth. A curtain hangs in front. In the middle of each +side is a tiny window, and it is at such windows that you occasionally get +the only glimpses you are ever likely to get of Chinese ladies. There is +no seat in a Peking cart; you sit on the padded floor. When you get in, +the servant holds up the front curtain, you vault to the front platform, +and, placing your hands on the floor, propel yourself backward, with as +much dignity as possible, taking care not to knock your hat against the +roof, until you have disappeared inside. If you are long of leg, your feet +will stick out in front of the curtain, leaving scant room for the two +servants, who sit, one on each side, with their feet hanging down in front +of the wheels. The two carts, two drivers, and two extra servants, set out +from the Baptist Mission compound, to convey Mr. Sowerby and me to the +Yâmen, or official residence, of His Excellency.</p> + +<p>Every Yâmen has three great gates barring the way to the inner compound. +If the resident official wishes to humiliate you, he has his man stop your +cart at the first gate and compels you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> to enter on foot. Fortunately for +us, since it was raining hard, His Excellency had chosen to treat us with +marked courtesy. The carts halted at the second gate while Mr. Sowerby’s +servant ran in with our red Chinese cards. There was a brief wait, and +then we drove on through a long courtyard to the inner or screen gate, +where massive timbered doors were closed against us. Soon these swung +open; the carts crossed a paved yard and pulled up under the projecting +roof of the Yâmen porch; and we scrambled down from the carts, while two +tall mandarins, in official caps and buttons, dressed in flowing robes of +silk and embroidery, came rapidly forward to meet us. One of these, the +younger and shorter, I recognized as Mr. Wen, the interpreter for the +Shansi foreign bureau.</p> + +<p>The other mandarin was a man of ability and charm. Some of us, perhaps, +have formed our notion of the Chinaman from the Cantonese laundryman type +which we may have seen at his bench or on the Third Avenue elevated +railway in New York. This would be about as accurate as to call the coster +at his barrow the typical Englishman; just about as accurate as to call +the Bowery loafer the typical American. His Excellency <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>appeared to be +close to six feet in height; he was erect and lithe of figure, with marked +physical grace. He greeted Mr. Sowerby by clasping his hands before his +breast and bowing, then turned, and with a genial smile extended his right +hand to grip mine. He used no English, but the Chinese language, as he +spoke it, was both dignified and musical, and not at all like the singsong +jabbering I had heard on the streets and about the hotels.</p> + +<p>Ting led the way into a reception-room which was furnished in red cloth +and dark woods. There was a seat and a table against each side, and two +red cushions on the edge of a platform across the end of the room, with a +low table between them. An attendant appeared with tea. Ting took a +covered tea bowl in his two hands, extended it towards me, bowed, then +placed it on the low stand—thus indicating the seat which I was to take, +on the platform. Mr. Wen said, in my ear, “Sit down.” Mr. Sowerby was +placed at the other side of the stand; the two Chinese gentlemen seated +themselves at the two side-tables, facing each other. One thing I +remembered from Mr. Sowerby’s coaching—I must not touch my bowl of tea. I +must not even look at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> it. The tea is not to drink; it is brought in order +that the caller may be enabled to take his leave gracefully. The Chinese +gentlefolk are so wedded to life’s little ceremonies that guest and host +cannot bring themselves to talk right out about terminating a visit. The +guest would shiver at the notion of saying, “Well, I must go, now.” +Instead, he fingers his tea bowl, or perhaps merely glances at it; and +then he and his host both rise.</p> + +<p>His Excellency fixed his eyes on me and uttered a deliberate, musical +sentence. “He says,” translated Mr. Sowerby, “that you have come to help +China.” I am afraid I blushed at this. It had not occurred to me to state +my mission in just those words. I replied that I had come, as a +journalist, to learn the truth about the opium question. We talked for an +hour about the wonderful warfare which China is waging against her +besetting vice. “China is sincere in this struggle,” he said. “Public +opinion was never more determined.” He asked me if I had investigated the +new Malay drug which had lately been heralded as a specific for +opium-poisoning. “If,” he said, “you should learn of any real cure, while +you are investigating this subject, I wish you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> would advise me about it.” +I promised him I would do so. I had already heard from a number of sources +that Ting was personally giving two to three thousand taels a month (a +tael is about seventy-five cents) to the support of opium refuges and for +the purchase of drugs for distribution among the poor. “China is sick,” he +said; “she must be cured so that she may hold up her head among the +nations.”</p> + +<p>Shortly after we had driven back through the rain and had mounted the +stairs to Mr. Sowerby’s library, a Yâmen runner was shown into the room, +bearing presents from the provincial judge. The runner bowed to me and +presented his tray. On it, beside the large red “card” of Ting Pao Chuen, +were four bottles of native wine, or “shumshoo,” two cans of beef tongue, +and two cans of sauerkraut!</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> +<h3>SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA—SHANGHAI</h3> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">In</span> her development China is dependent on the adoption of Western ideas and +is influenced by the example set by Western civilization. This modernizing +influence is strongest at the point where the Westerner meets the +Chinaman, where the two civilizations come into direct contact. At +Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankow, Hongkong, and the other ports there are some +thirty to forty thousand Europeans, Englishmen, and Americans. They build +splendid buildings and lay good pavements. They bring with them the best +liquors. The life they live gives about as accurate an impression of +Western civilization—of what the Western nations stand for—as the great +majority of the Chinese (a most observing race) are ever likely to +receive. We have examined into China’s sincerity, now let us examine into +the honesty of purpose of the foreign “concessions” and “settlements” +which fringe the China Coast. If these communities are representing our +civilization out there,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> it seems fair to ask whether they are +representing it well; for if they are misrepresenting us, if they are +contributing to the sort of international misunderstanding which breeds +trouble, we may as well know it.</p> + +<p>When, in the course of her gropings and strugglings towards civilization, +China turns for enlightenment to the great, successful nations of Europe +and America, what does she see? Well, for one thing, she sees Shanghai.</p> + +<p>Shanghai has been called the Paris of the extreme East. It is the paradise +of the adventurer and the adventuress, of the gambler, the beach-comber, +and the long-chance promoter. Midway of the China Coast, at the mouth of +the mighty Yangtse River, it is the principal port of entrance into China. +From England, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, the United States, and +Canada comes an endless column of steamships to Shanghai. To Hongkong, +Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore, Chefoo, Tientsin, and the uppermost ports of +the Yangtse, 1,250 miles inland, go endless columns of steamships from +Shanghai. And of the travellers on these ships nearly all have, or expect +to have, or have had, business or pleasure at Shanghai.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>It is the most truly cosmopolitan city in the world; for Paris, after all, +is mainly French; London, after all, is mainly English; New York, after +all, is mainly American. Shanghai has its French hotels, its imposing +German Club, its English Country Club, its race-track, its Russian Bank, +its Japanese mercantile houses, its American post-office. It is ruled by a +council of Englishmen, Germans, and Americans. It is policed by English +bobbies, Irishmen, Sikhs from India, and Chinamen. On the Bubbling Well +Road, of a sunny spring afternoon, where the latest thing in motor cars +weaves through the line of smart carriages, you may see Spaniard elbowing +Filipino, Portuguese jostling Parsee, Austrian chatting with Bavarian; and +they all talk, gamble, drink, and buy in pidgin English.</p> + +<p>This settlement of fifteen thousand Europeans, living apart from that +public opinion which compells the maintenance of a social standard in +every European country, and indifferent to that local public opinion which +keeps up a certain curious standard among the Chinese themselves, seems to +have practically no standard at all. The problem of every decent American +or Englishman who finds himself established in business is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> whether he +dare bring his wife and family and introduce them into circles so degraded +that families disintegrate and children grow up under disheartening +influences. The heavy drinking of the China Coast ports is proverbial, yet +the drinking seems little more than an incident in a city where the social +atmosphere is tainted and altogether unwholesome.</p> + +<p>I stood one night in the barroom of one of the big hotels. It was one +o’clock in the morning, and nearly every one of the dozen white men in the +room was more or less drunk. They were roaring out maudlin songs, and +shouting incoherent cries. Two men, well-dressed gentlemen, were on the +floor. And behind the bar, yawning, waiting for an opportunity to close up +and go to sleep, stood two Chinese men and one boy. They were neat, +respectful, and perfectly sober. Their almond eyes flitted about the room, +taking in every detail of that beastly scene. It would be impossible to +say what they were thinking, but I observed that they did not smile as a +Chinaman usually does. Perhaps, to the reader who does not know the China +Coast, it seems unfair to cite this case as an example of the active +influence of our civilization in China. I will not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> do so. I will merely +ask if you could ever hope to make those three young Chinamen believe that +our civilization is superior to theirs.</p> + +<p>Where such a low moral tone prevails, in a self-governing community, it is +bound to limit the perception and the power of the government of that +community. Let any observing visitor acquaint himself with Shanghai and +its social and moral standards (which will not be difficult, for these +will be thrust upon him soon after his arrival) and he will soon see for +himself that the residents of Shanghai, while they freely and hotly +criticize their council, never accuse it of priggishness or of moral +restraint. This is enough to show that the council makes no effort to +oppose the prevailing sentiment. The gambling business attains, in +Shanghai, to the altitude of a considerable industry. During the race +weeks, spring and fall, the vacant lots near the race-track are rented at +high rates by those gamblers of all nations who have no regular quarters, +and the games go on merrily in the open air, within full view of the +crowds in the road. Now seven of the nine members of the council are +Englishmen. English ideas are supposed to prevail in the settlement, +feebly seconded by German and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>American. And the laws under which Shanghai +is theoretically governed forbid gambling.</p> + +<p>All the lower forms of organized vice combine to form a large and highly +profitable branch of Shanghai’s commerce. Partly because of the +willingness of the locally stronger nations to shoulder off the +responsibility for a disgraceful state of things, and partly because of +the number of adventurous and unprincipled Americans who have drained off + +to the China Coast, America has had to endure more than her share of the +blame for this condition. For years every degraded woman who could speak +the language has called herself an “American girl”; until the term, which +at home arouses a natural pride, has grown so unpleasant that decent +Americans have chafed under the insult. To-day it is best not to use the +phrase “American girl” on the China Coast.</p> + +<p>Of the other and less vicious sorts of adventurers who turn up like bad +pennies at Shanghai, the beach-comber is easily the most picturesque. Many +writers, notably Robert Louis Stevenson, have employed him as a character +in fiction. The majority of the beach-combers probably are or have been +seafaring men. Next in numerical order, probably, come the discharged +soldiers and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> the deserters. It takes either a certain amount of money or +a certain amount of ability for any unattached American or European to get +out to the China Coast, and an equal amount for him to get back. Therefore +the stranded soldiers and sailors, brought out there at the cost of nation +or ship owner, beating their way from port to port, drinking, gambling, +starving, ready for any dubious enterprise that promises quick returns on +a small investment, are a sorry lot. The sharps, swindlers, and shadowy +promoters, on the other hand, are men necessarily possessed either of +money or wit sufficient to get them out to China, and not unnaturally they +represent the higher grades of their various crafts. From Peking to +Hongkong, the coast is infested with these gentlemanly rascals, each with +impressive garments and a convincing story. Josiah Flynt once wrote a tale +of some enthusiastic young promoters who undertook, at a considerable +outlay in capital and in personal risk, to sell a steam calliope to the +Grand Lama of Thibet. After a brief acquaintance with the diverse and +ingenious schemes that sprout, flower, and go to seed on the China Coast, +this tale seems not nearly so improbable as it perhaps sounds to the +casual reader.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>Other, and more recent, types of adventurers are the stranded free-lance +journalist and camp-followers who were lured Eastward by the prospect of +pickings along the trails of the Japanese and Russian armies during the +late war, and who later found themselves unable to get back home. In 1906, +Consul-General Rodgers, of Shanghai, reported as follows on the subject of +unscrupulous Americans who have been imposing on the Chinese to the +detriment of American trade:</p> + +<p>“There are many things which can be given as current reasons for retarding +American trade in the Orient. The advent of a class of Americans, like +those who came from Manila after a brief experience there, and those who +tried their fortunes in connection with the events of the Russo-Japanese +War, has done a great deal to injure the American name and reputation with +the Chinese. This class, usually indigent, has, by reason of imposition +upon the Chinese, destroyed to some extent a confidence which has existed +for many years and which had borne good fruit. There are good reasons for +saying that every American firm which contemplates sending a +representative to China should be very certain of his character, and, +other things being equal, should choose the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> quiet, orderly person rather +than the reverse type, in spite of the current opinion that such are +indicated for the Orient.”</p> + +<p>If Shanghai is the sort of a place that it would here appear to be, if it +sets a vicious example in its government, in its business practice, and in +the character of many of its inhabitants, the fact would seem to indicate +that it is most decidedly misrepresenting out there the sort of +civilization that we, Europeans as well as Americans, have always supposed +that we stood for. It would appear that the Chinese, at the point of +contact with our civilization, are getting a false impression of us. It +would be easy to dismiss as remote and unimportant the vicious example set +by a group of adventurers and promoters on the China Coast; but +unfortunately this little group is the most important single contributing +factor in the exceedingly delicate matter of the rapidly developing +relations between China and the great Christian nations.</p> + +<p>The influence of the Shanghai example on China is real and positive. +Geographically, Shanghai commands the trade of the middle coast, the +immense Yangtse Valley, and the Grand Canal. Every night a big river +steamer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> leaves for Hankow and the intermediate river ports. Every day a +big river steamer comes in from the same cities. Trading junks and small +steamers innumerable ply between the river and coast ports and Shanghai. +Chinese merchants come from hundreds of miles around to trade with the +foreigners or with the native “compradores” attached to foreign houses. On +their return to their various interior cities or villages these traders +spread tales of the foreign devils who inhabit the great city near the +sea. Foreign merchants, travelling salesmen, engineers, and insurance +agents travel up and down the great river, up and down the coast; they +penetrate, by steamer, railroad, mule-litter, or cart, into the interior +cities of the great provinces, leaving everywhere on plastic minds +distinct and ineffaceable impressions of their manners, business methods, +and morals.</p> + +<p>In the foreign settlement of Shanghai, and apart from the population of +the native city which adjoins it, there are, roughly, 450,000 Chinese who +have chosen to dwell in the territory and under the laws of the white men. +This population is not fixed, but fluctuates as the floating element comes +and goes; and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>everywhere that this floating element travels when out of +the city it leaves an impression—a story, a bit of gossip, an example of +the sharp dealing learned from the foreigner—of the manners, business +methods, and morals of Shanghai. The native newspapers comment frankly on +life and conditions in the great seaport, and their comments are reprinted +in the papers of the interior. Shanghai exerts a direct and +result-breeding influence on fifty to seventy-five million native minds, +and an indirect influence on all China. How many scores of fair-minded, +straightforward merchants, how many thousands of scattered missionaries +and teachers will it take, think you, to counteract that influence?</p> + +<p>China, grappling with the problem of decay, fighting desperately against +an evil which the most nearly Christian of the Christian nations has +fastened on her, looks westward for enlightenment, and sees—Shanghai. And +Shanghai—well Shanghai plays the races and the roulette wheel, and +drinks, and forgets the sacred significance of marriage and the economic +importance of the home, and goes to the club, and except in casting up +profits gives never a thought to that vast, muttering populace that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +waits—waits—for the day of the under-dog to come.</p> + +<p>Such was the condition of things when the Chinese war on opium began to +assume effective proportions during the spring of 1906. Now, Shanghai—the +“settlement,” that is—was in a peculiar, an unfortunate, condition as +regarded the anti-opium crusade. I have already given, in an earlier +chapter, the estimate of Robert E. Lewis, general secretary of the Y. M. +C. A., at Shanghai, that there were, in 1906, nearly 22,000 places in the +international settlement, little and big, where opium could be purchased, +more than 19,000 of which kept pipes, lamps, and divans on the premises +for smokers. All of the dens which were openly conducted were paying a +regular license fee to the municipal government, amounting last year to +98,000 Shanghai taels, or about $70,000 in gold. It is against the law to +permit women or children to enter the smoking-dens, and a clause to this +effect is printed on the license as a condition in granting it; yet when +Captain Borisragon, the chief of police, was asked how many regular women +inmates were in the dens, he replied, in writing, that there were at least +3,200 women so kept, and doubtless a great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> many more who did not appear +on his records. When the tax and license department was asked why this +clause was not enforced, the reply was made, without the slightest attempt +at excuse or explanation, that when a license was issued to the keeper of +an “opium brothel” the clause prohibiting women inmates was erased.</p> + +<p>These curious facts combine to present an appearance familiar to one who +has studied the municipal protection of vice in this country. It is asking +too much of human credulity to expect one to believe that this clause was +regularly erased for nothing. But apart from what individual graft there +may have been in it, that $70,000 in revenue was an item not to be lightly +given up by the hard-headed municipal council. And the amount of money put +into circulation by the patrons of these dens was also an attractive item, +as Shanghai sees things. The prevailing opinion among the foreigners of +“the settlement” was simply and flatly that the settlement could not +afford to close the dens. The leading English newspaper hastened to defend +the sordid attitude of the council by explaining that, as the licenses +were issued for a year, they had no right to close the places, at least +before the spring of 1908.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>The interesting and significant fact is that while this miserable +condition of affairs was allowed to drag along in the international +settlement, where the white men rule, the Chinese native city, immediately +adjoining, was strictly enforcing the anti-opium edicts. The Chinese +authorities went about the enforcement in a thoroughly effective manner. +The date set for the closing of the dens was May 22, 1907. There was some +fear that the closing down might precipitate a riot, and, accordingly, the +authorities took measures to keep the populace in hand. Chinese soldiers +were placed on guard at the places where crowds would be most likely to +gather, the dens were quietly closed, padlocked, and the shutters put up; +and red signs, calling attention to the imperial edict prohibiting opium, +were pasted up on doors or shutters. It was quite evident that the +proprietors of these dens took the enforcement most seriously. Some of +them went immediately into other lines of business; others made their +places over into tea-houses.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 500px; height: 381px;"><img src="images/i129top.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">IN AN OPIUM DEN, SHANGHAI</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 500px; height: 383px;"><img src="images/i129bottom.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">OPIUM SMOKING</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>So at Shanghai the Chinese warfare on the “foreign smoke” was waged +earnestly and effectively in the native city. The Chinese<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> authorities +closed the dens—permanently, it seems fair to believe. And the only +result of their heroic action,—and it is an heroic action to suppress a +prosperous and thoroughly established branch of commerce in any city,—the +only result was that the opium business went over to the adjoining city of +the foreigners, who gladly accepted it, and took the money which had +formerly been spent in the native city. The foreigners live wholly outside +of and above Chinese law. They have their own strips of land, their own +courts, their own local government, all guaranteed to them by the treaties +which China has, at one time or another, been forced to sign. When the +Chinese first proposed to stamp out opium, these foreigners laughed, and +talked about the chronic insincerity of the Chinese government. When the +yellow men did stamp out opium in that native city a mile or so away, +these foreigners said that it would not be fair to the holders of licenses +to close down in the settlement. As I have had occasion to say before, the +Chinese are not fools. They grasped the significance of the situation, and +spoke out frankly. The local mandarins protested to the settlement +council. The native<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> newspapers called attention to it. And all this clear +insight into an extraordinary situation and the frank comment on it were +communicated, by the routes and the means which I have described earlier +in this chapter, to the fifty or seventy-five million Chinese who are +directly influenced by conditions at Shanghai. Now, in the light of these +facts, in the light of what they see and know, it is time to ask, and to +ask with feeling—How can you hope to make those fifty to seventy-five +million Chinamen believe that our civilization, with its science, and its +whisky, and its keen grasp on “revenue,” and its contradictory and +confusing teachings of Christianity, is superior to their civilization? +And if they do not believe that our civilization is superior, how long do +you suppose they will endure the treatment they receive from us? As time +rolls on, there will be more “Boxer” uprisings in China, more crazy and +disastrous protests against foreign domination and exploitation. When +these troubles come, it will be well to recall that Shanghai,—not the +individual inhabitants, but the government of that little “settlement” of +foreigners which lies upon the west bank of the Woosung River,—officially +and for profit maintained its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> traffic in the drug that is China’s curse +after the Chinese had stopped their own opium traffic. It will be well to +recall it, because it is quite certain that the Chinese themselves will +not have forgotten it.</p> + +<p>I have gone thus at length into the deplorable example which Shanghai, the +most important foreign settlement in China, exhibits to the struggling, +opium-ridden yellow men, because it is typical of the whole course of the +foreigner in China. In the next chapter we shall consider further evidence +in looking into the conditions of life and of the opium problem at +Hongkong and Tientsin. It is of course peculiarly unfortunate that +Shanghai, when the great opportunity came to extend a helping hand to +China in the opium fight, should have failed, utterly, ignominiously. But +the slightest acquaintance with the place is enough to make it plain that +Shanghai, as it has been and still is, is not likely to extend a helping +hand to anybody. The helping hand is not exactly what Shanghai stands for. +It really stands for the domination of the great Yangtse Valley, for the +exploitation of China, and, incidentally, for a sort of snug harbour for +criminals and degenerates. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> can be no doubt that the fifty to +seventy-five millions of Chinese who come directly within the radiating +influence of Shanghai know this perfectly well. It is also quite likely +that these and the few hundred other millions who make up “the Middle +Kingdom” know perfectly well, that the complicated commercial +establishments of all the various foreign nations in China stand for +similar principles. And they doubtless know further that the very +important and very cynical gentlemen who represent the great and +prosperous foreign powers at Peking, are there for no other purpose than +diplomatically to put on the pressure whenever China chances to block a +move or gain a piece in this sordid and unholy game of chess. So perhaps +we had better give up, once and for all, any serious consideration of the +charges made by certain foreign powers that China is insincere in her +warfare on opium. Such charges and insinuations, coming from such sources, +hardly command respect.</p> + +<p>It is plain that this greedy exploitation, going so far as even to snatch +a profit out of the opium struggle, is not a healthy basis of intercourse +between great nations. If the Chinese were a Congo tribe, or a race of +American Indians, this policy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> might pay commercially; for in that case it +would be a matter for the Christian nations of simply killing off the +Chinese or driving them off the land, and then of fighting among +themselves over the division of the spoils. But this policy, which +succeeds against weak and numerically small nations, will hardly succeed +in China. Driving four hundred million Chinese off the land would be a +large order, a very different thing, indeed, from wiping out a tribe of +“Fuzzy Wuzzys” with machine guns. All of the military observers with whom +I have talked in China show a tendency to grow thoughtful over the subject +of China’s potential military strength. From the days of the T’ai Ping +Rebellion and “Chinese” Gordon’s “ever victorious” army, down to the +review of 30,000 of Yuan Shi K’ai’s troops, with modern weapons and modern +drill, in Honan Province in the summer of 1906, it has been plain that the +Chinese make splendid soldiers when properly led. And yet it seems to have +occurred to few white statesmen that the deepest interests of trade +itself, sordid trade, demand that China be treated fairly and that the +relations between China and the powers be established on a basis that +makes for mutual respect and for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> peace, rather than on a basis that makes +for exploitation, outrage, massacre, warfare, “indemnity,” and smouldering +hate. John Hay saw over the balance-sheet, when he established the “open +door” policy. Elihu Root has seen over the balance-sheet in arranging to +waive the future claims of this country for indemnity money. And Lord +Elgin, for England, saw over the balance-sheet when he outlined that sound +policy which he was afterwards one of the first to violate—“Never to make +an unjust demand of China, and never to recede from a demand once made.” +To-day it seems apparent that the great nations cannot be brought together +to agree on any really enlightened policy in China. Even had such a thing +been possible a few years ago, the untrustworthy methods of Russia and the +growing ambitions of Japan would make it impossible to-day. Nations which, +when brought together in a “Peace Conference,” cannot even agree upon the +rules of war, will hardly forego the chance of seizing some special +advantage in the colossal grab-bag which is China. And so it seems likely +that the genial commercial adventurers and gamblers and vice promoters of +Shanghai will go on sowing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> the wind in China—and that the sullen hate of +those silent, observing millions of yellow men will deepen and smoulder +until the final day of reckoning, the day of reaping, shall come.</p> + +<p>There is one ray of light which, to-day, illuminates the China Coast. It +is a small ray, when we consider the number of dark corners to be +illuminated, and yet there is the bare possibility that it may prove the +beginning of better conditions. Somewhat less than two years ago the +United States government established a wholly new institution, the United +States Court for China. L. R. Wilfley, one of the legal officers whom +Judge Taft had trained in Manila during his governorship of the +Philippines, was appointed the first judge of this court, and was sent +out, with a district attorney, a marshal, and a clerk, to administer +justice to Americans up and down the China Coast and along the Yangtse +River. By treaty, all American citizens are exempt from judgment under the +Chinese law, that peculiar jumble of tradition, superstition, common +sense, and Oriental severity. Formerly, justice had been dealt out in +courts presided over by the consul-generals and the consuls in their +respective districts.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>Now it should be obvious to the most casual observer that the peculiar +conditions and the peculiar industries which thrive in the treaty ports +give rise to a considerable number of legal entanglements. There is, of +course, a large volume of legitimate business transacted on the Coast, +which gives legitimate employment to a few lawyers; but there is a volume +of illegitimate and semi-legitimate business which would also naturally +give employment to other lawyers. At the time of Judge Wilfley’s +appointment one thing was clear to the enlightened heads of our Department +of State at Washington; the consular courts, thanks to the skill and +resource of the American lawyer on the Coast, were in a constant tangle of +perplexed inefficiency, and the American name was sinking steadily lower +in China.</p> + +<p>It is likely that no American judge ever faced so peculiar and difficult a +task as that assigned to Judge Wilfley. It was his duty to take the place +of a lacking public opinion, and to raise the drooping prestige of his +country. He had behind him no settled code of laws, but merely a few +treaties and a few orders from the Department of State. He had not only to +judge cases<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> between Americans, but also cases between Americans and +citizens of other nationalities, including the Chinese themselves. He had +to establish rulings on the most complicated matters of coastwise +commerce, in a land where coastwise commerce is involved with perplexing +local customs and superstitions. Above all, he had, from the start, to +fight a well-organized, well-entrenched band of shady characters who had +run their course for so long without anything in the nature of a public +opinion to hold them in check that they resented his advent as an +encroachment on their vested right to do as they chose. The last and most +perplexing of his problems was that in rooting out these evils he was in +danger at every turn of arraying against him the citizens of other +nationalities and even of arousing the active enmity of the courts and the +officials of other nations, most of whom had been content to let Shanghai +jog along in its easy-going, sordid way.</p> + +<p>It is to Judge Wilfley’s everlasting credit that, with a full knowledge of +the difficulties and dangers before him, he went straight to the heart of +the problem. Seeing that certain American lawyers had long stood between +the old consular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> courts and anything which could be called justice, he +set to work first to solve the problem of the lawyers. His campaign for a +higher standard on the Coast has not been without its humorous moments. +Mr. Bassett, his shrewd young district attorney, preceded him to Shanghai +to “look the ground over.” The little group of American lawyers at +Shanghai made haste to get acquainted with him. One of the ablest among +them invited him, casually and informally, to dinner. When Bassett arrived +at the dinner he found himself, to his astonishment, confronted with +thirty or forty “leading citizens,” including all the American lawyers and +several men of questionable business character whom he rather expected to +be prosecuting a little later on.</p> + +<p>After the coffee and cigars, the host rose, and in a neat little speech +called on Bassett to tell the company something about Judge Wilfley and +what work he meant to do in Shanghai. It was a difficult situation. A +slow-witted man might have found himself in a fix. But Bassett, if I may +credit the account which reached me, was equal to the situation. He rose, +and looked around the table from face to face.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen,” he said, “as I have come <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +unprepared for this pleasure, I shall have to fall back on story-telling. In the small hours, one morning, +two men who had been having rather too good a time were navigating from +street corner to street corner. Said Smith, ‘Jonesh, shtime to go home. +Shgetting broad daylight. Theresh sun shining up there.’</p> + +<p>“‘No, Shmith,’ replied Jones, ‘you’re mistaken. Tha’sh moon up there, and +it’s night.’ They staggered down the street, Smith insisting that it was +day, Jones insisting that it was night, until they met a fellow inebriate +clinging to a fire plug. To him they appealed their dispute. He heard them +out, and then looked thoughtfully up at the moon. For a long time he +puzzled over the problem, and finally, giving it up, turned to them and +said politely, ‘Gentlemen, you’ll have to ’scuse me. I’m a stranger in +town.’</p> + +<p>“And, gentlemen,” said Bassett, again looking about from face to face, +“you’ll have to excuse me. I’m a stranger in town.”</p> + +<p>Judge Wilfley began by calling upon every American lawyer who was +practicing in Shanghai to bring a certificate of good moral character and +to pass an examination before he could be admitted to practice in the new +court. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>examination was given, and only two of the lawyers passed. At +once there was a hubbub. The judge was attacked hotly. One of the lawyers +who failed to pass hurried over to this country, making a speech at +Honolulu, on the way, in which he insinuated charges of corruption against +Judge Wilfley. Shortly after his arrival at San Francisco, he prevailed +upon the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, on the Pacific Coast, to reverse +one of Judge Wilfley’s decisions without having the facts of the whole +case in hand and without a hearing from the China court. He went on to +Washington, and within a month or two last winter actually got a bill +through the United States Senate reinstating all the disqualified lawyers. +The bill is before the House at this present session. He has conducted a +newspaper campaign against Judge Wilfley in this country since his return +last year. It seems only fair to call attention to these facts on a +fearless and able man, because Judge Wilfley is too hard at work in a +distant country to be able to defend himself. In the course of my travels +from port to port last year, it became clear to me that this new court was +the one uplifting factor in a distressing general condition.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>Judge Wilfley, like his district attorney, seems to hold no visionary +theories, in spite of the high standard he has set. Before leaving China, +I made it a point to call on him and talk with him about the work he is +doing in the interest of the American name. He seemed to recognize clearly +enough that vice and depravity can no more be put down out of hand in +Shanghai than they can be put down out of hand in New York or Chicago or +Boston. But he maintained that the disreputably open flaunting of vice can +be stopped. In fining the “American girls” $500 (gold) each, and driving a +number of them off the Coast, his attack has been directed mainly against +the dishonourable use of an honourable phrase. In imprisoning or driving +away the American gamblers, he has been trying to put gambling down more +nearly to the place it occupies, in this country, as a minor rather than +as a major branch of industry. Judge Wilfley has undertaken an Herculean +task. It seems to be the hope of all that patient minority, the better +class of Americans on the China Coast, that he will be permitted to +continue his fight unhampered by political machinery “back home.”</p> + +<p>There are two other points, besides Shanghai,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> at which the two kinds of +civilization, Western and Eastern, come into contact—Hongkong and +Tientsin. Each is different from the other as well as from Shanghai; and +each plays a curious part in the opium drama. We shall take them up in the +next chapter.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> +<h3>SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA—TIENTSIN AND HONGKONG</h3> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">If</span> you could avoid the suburbs of mud huts and walled compounds, and step +directly down from an airship on the broad piazza of the Astor House at +Tientsin (no treaty port is complete without its Astor House), you might +also imagine yourself in a thriving English town. Set about this piazza +are round tables, in bowers of potted plants, where sit Britishers, +Germans, and Americans, with a gay sprinkling of soldiery. Across the +street there is a green little park, where plump British babies are +wheeled about and children romp among the shrubbery, and where the Sikh +band plays on Sundays. There is nothing, unless it be the group of +rickshaw coolies at the curb, or the fat Chinese policeman in the roadway, +to recall China to the mind.</p> + +<p>Yet Tientsin dominates all Northern China much as Shanghai dominates the +mighty valley of the Yangtse. The railways and waterways (including the +Grand Canal) all lead to Tientsin.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> It is Peking’s seaport. The viceroy of +the Northern Provinces makes it his seat of government. The chief point of +contact between these Northern Provinces and Western civilization, it is +through Tientsin that the new ideas which are stirring the sluggish +Chinese mind to new desires and to a new purpose filter into one hundred +million Mongoloid heads.</p> + +<p>The foreign settlement is simply a polyglot cluster of nationalities, each +with its “concession” or allotment of land wrung from a browbeaten empire, +each with its separate municipal government ruled by its own +consul-general, and the whole combined, for purposes of defense and +aggression, into a loosely knit city of seven or eight thousand whites +under the general direction of a dozen consulates. The British have their +polo, golf, and racing grounds; the French have their wealthy church +orders and their Parisian moving pictures; the Germans have their beer +halls and delicatessen shops. The Japanese, the Russians, the Italians, +the Austrians, all the powers, in fact, excepting the United States—which +holds no land in China—contribute their lesser shares to the colour and +the activity of this extraordinary place. And only a mile or two away,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +further up the crooked river, lies the huge, sprawling Chinese city, where +nine hundred and fifty thousand blue-clad celestials—nearly a round +million of them—ceaselessly watch the squabbling groups of foreigners, +and by means of newspapers, travelling merchants, and the thousand and one +other instruments for the spreading of gossip, tell all Northern China +what they see.</p> + +<p>Tientsin, then, like Shanghai, is a potent, an electric, force in its +influence on China. Whatever the Chinese are to become in their struggle +towards the light of day will be in some measure due to the example set by +these two cities, the only samples of Western civilization which the +Chinaman can scrutinize at close range. The missionary tells him of the +God of the Western peoples, and of how His Spirit regenerates humankind; +the Chinaman listens stolidly, and then turns to look at the samples of +regenerated peoples that fringe his Coast. What he actually sees will +stick in his mind long after what he merely hears shall have passed out at +the other ear. And these impressions that stick in the Chinaman’s mind are +precisely the highly charged forces that are revolutionizing China to-day.</p> + +<p>While still at Peking, I had picked up more or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> less gossip which seemed +to indicate that the Tientsin foreign concessions were setting an +unfortunate example in the matter of opium. In several of the concessions +there are thousands of Chinese traders who have crowded in the white man’s +territory, in order to make a living. These Chinese districts demand their +opium, and they have always been allowed to have it. The opium shops and +dens are licensed, as are our saloons, and the resulting revenue is +cheerfully accepted by the various municipalities. When the Chinese +officials set out to fight opium last winter and spring, they asked the +foreign consuls to cooperate with them. This could be no more than a +friendly request, for the concessions are foreign soil, that have passed +wholly out of China’s control; but it was obviously of no use to close the +dens of the native city if smokers could continue to gratify their desire +by simply walking down the road.</p> + +<p>This request bothered the consuls. The Chinese had adroitly placed them in +a difficult position. A failure to cooperate would look bad; but revenue +is revenue, on the Chinese Coast as elsewhere. More, if they could play +for time, the enforcement in the native city, by driving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> the smokers over +into the concessions, would actually increase the revenue. So the consuls +played for time. They spread the impression “back home” that they were +going to close the dens. When? Oh, soon—very soon. There were matters of +detail to attend to. The licenses must run out. Then, too, perhaps the +Chinese proposals were “insincere”—a little time would show.</p> + +<p>The British concession boasted proudly that it had no opium dens. This was +true. The concession is wholly taken up with British shops and British +homes, and there is no room for Chinese residents. The German concession +had so few natives that it closed some of its dens and took what credit it +could. The Japanese quietly put on the lid. But all the other concessions +remained “wide open.”</p> + +<p>So ran the Peking gossip. It seemed to me worth while to follow it up; for +if it should prove true that the concessions were actually profiting, like +Shanghai, by the native prohibition, that fact would be significant. It +would leave little to say for the representatives of foreign civilization +in China.</p> + +<p>There was a particular reason why the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>prohibition should be made +effective in and about Tientsin. The one official who stood before his +country and the world as the anti-opium leader, who personified, in fact, +the reform spirit which is leavening the Chinese mass, was Yuan Shi K’ai, +the Northern viceroy. Tientsin was his viceregal capital. Before he could +hope to convince the cynical observers of Britain and Europe that the +anti-opium crusade was really on, he had to make good in his own city.</p> + +<p>Yuan Shi K’ai is a remarkable man. Unlike some of his colleagues who have +travelled and studied abroad, he has never, I believe, been over the sea; +yet no Chinese official shows a firmer grasp on his biggest and most +bewildering of the world’s governmental problems. Practically a self-made +man (his father was a soldier), he worked up from rank to rank, himself a +part and a product of the antiquated absolutism of his country, until he +emerged at the top, a red-button mandarin, a viceroy, with a personality +towering above the superstitious, tradition-ridden court, and yet +sufficiently able and skillful to work with and through that court. We +have seen, in an earlier chapter, how Yuan, then a governor, kept Shantung +Province quiet during the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> Boxer outbreak. It is he who is building up the +“new army” with the aid of German and Japanese drill-masters. It is he who +succeeded in introducing the study of modern science into the education of +the official classes. He is committed to the abolition of the palace +eunuch system. He has, during the past year, made great headway with his +bold plan to remodel this land of fossilized ideas into a constitutional +monarchy, with a representative parliament. But first, and above all else, +he places the opium reforms. Unless this curse can be checked, and at +least partially removed, there is no hope of progress.</p> + +<p>Throughout this magnificent struggle for a new China, Viceroy Yuan has +radically opposed the very spirit and genius of his race; but far from +ostracizing himself or splitting the government, he has grown steadily in +power and influence, until now, as a sort of prime minister, he appears to +hold the substance of imperial authority in his hands. Try to imagine a +self-made, reform politician outwitting and beating down the traditions of +Tammany Hall in New York City, multiply his difficulties by a thousand or +two, and you will perhaps have some notion of the sheer ability of this +great man, who has risen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> above the traditions, even above the age-old +prejudices of his own people. There are many Europeans in his +retinue—physicians, military men, engineers, educators—all of whom +apparently look up to him as a genuine superior. An <i>attaché</i> summed up +for me this feeling which Yuan inspires in those who know him: “You forget +to think of him as a Chinaman,” said this <i>attaché</i>, “as in any way +different from the rest of us.”</p> + +<p>The viceroy took a personal hand in the Tientsin situation. On December 2, +1906, he issues the following document to the North and South Police +Commissioners of Tientsin native city. Rather than altar the quaint +wording, I quote just as it was translated for me:</p> + +<p>“I have just received instructions from the cabinet ministers enjoining me +to act according to the regulations which they presented to the throne, +and which received their Majesties’ consent. The evil effects of opium are +known to all. It is the duty of us all to act according to the +regulations, and do our utmost to get rid of them.</p> + +<p>“The North and South police commissioners are authorized to close the +opium dens, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> have been the refuge of idle hands and young people who +are not allowed to smoke at home. The said dens are to be closed at the +end of the Tenth Moon (December 14th), at the same time notifying the +keepers of restaurants and wine shops not to have opium-smoking +instruments or opium prepared for their customers, nor are their customers +allowed to take opium and smoke there.</p> + +<p>“As to the concessions, the Customs Taotai is authorized to open +conference with the different consuls, asking them to close the opium dens +within a limited time.”</p> + +<p>The two police commissioners at once made the proclamation public; and, as +is evident from the following “Reply to a petition,” met with difficulties +in enforcing it:</p> + +<p>“It is impossible to change the date of closing dens. What is said in the +petition, that the keepers cannot square their accounts with their +customers, may be true, but the viceroy’s order must be obeyed. The dens +shall be closed at the specified time.”</p> + +<p>These orders were carried out. It is one of the advantages of a +patriarchal form of government that orders can be carried out. There were +no injunctions, no writs to show cause, no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> technical appeals. The few den +keepers who dared to violate the prohibition were mildly punished on the +first offense—most of them receiving two full weeks at hard labour. The +real responsibility was placed upon the owners of the property rented out +to the den keepers. It was recognized that these owners were the ones who +really profited by the vice. They were given an opportunity to report any +violations occurring on their property; but if a violation occurred, and +the owner failed to report, his property was promptly confiscated. Here we +see successfully employed a method which we in this country have been +unable as yet to put into effect. The futility of punishing engineers and +switchmen for the sins of railroad corporations, of punishing clerks for +the offenses of bank directors, of punishing keepers of disorderly houses +in cases where we know that the real profit goes, in the form of a high +rental, to the respectable owner of the property, has long been recognized +among us. In China, while we see much that seems intolerable in the +enforcement of law, we must admit that it is refreshing to find laws +really enforced, and to see responsibility sometimes put where it belongs. +We of the United States are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> far ahead of the Chinese in all that goes to +make up what we call civilization. But we have, among others, a law +forbidding the sale of liquor on Sundays in New York City. We couldn’t +enforce the law if we tried; and we haven’t enough moral courage to strike +it off the books for the dead letter it is.</p> + +<p>Yes, the Tientsin situation has its refreshing side. Yuan Shi K’ai—a +Chinaman,—set about it to close the opium dens that supplied this +swarming cityful of Chinamen, and succeeded. He solved that most difficult +problem which confronts human governments everywhere—in every climate, +under every sky—the problem of moral regulation. He drove the +manufacturers of opium and of opium accessories out of business. He cut +his way through a tangle of “interests,” vested and otherwise, not so +different in their essence from the liquor interests of this country. +Thanks to his own character and resource, thanks to the cheerful +directness of Chinese methods of governing (when directness and not +indirectness is really wanted), he “got results.” And not only in Tientsin +native city, but also in Peking, and Pao-ting-fu, and all Chili Province, +and throughout Shansi Province, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> over large portions of Shantung, +Shansi, and Manchuria. It was not a case of Maine prohibition, or Kansas +prohibition, or New York excise regulation. He closed the dens!</p> + +<p>While he was accomplishing this result, and while the native Chamber of +Commerce was appropriating a sum of money to found a hospital for the cure +of opium victims, the “Customs Taotai,” obeying the viceroy’s +instructions, courteously requested the consuls, as rulers of the foreign +city, to help along by closing the dens in their municipalities. It was +mainly to see whether or not the consuls were “helping” that I went down +to Tientsin. There was no need to ask questions or to burrow among +statistics. The opium dens of the concessions were either or they were +not. Accordingly, I set out from the Astor House at nine o’clock one +evening, by rickshaw. For interpreter I had Mr. Sung, the secretary of the +Native Young Men’s Christian Association, and with us went a young +Englishman who spoke the language. This test seemed a fair one to apply, +for it was April 23d, nearly five months after Viceroy Yuan’s +proclamation, and several weeks after the closing of the last dens in the +native city.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>We began with the French concession; and our first glimpses of the +thriving opium business of the little municipality astonished us. The +Taiku Road, the main street, where one finds churches, mission compounds, +offices, and shops, displayed a row of red lights. Our three rickshaws +pulled up at the first and we went in.</p> + +<p>An opium den usually takes up one floor of a building. Against the walls +is a continuous wooden platform, perhaps two feet high and extending over +seven or eight feet into the room. This platform is divided at intervals +of five or six feet by low partitions, sometimes but a few inches in +height, into compartments, each of which accommodates two smokers, with +one lamp between them. Sometimes a rug or a bit of matting is laid on this +hard couch, sometimes not; for the Chinaman, accustomed to sleeping on +bricks, prefers his couches hard. A man always lies down to smoke opium; +for the porous pill, which is pressed into the tiny orifice of the pipe, +cannot be ignited, but is held directly over the lamp and the flame drawn +up through it.</p> + +<p>The first den we entered was on the second floor of a rickety building. We +climbed the steep, infinitely dirty stairway, crossed a narrow hall,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> and +opened a door. At first I found it difficult to see distinctly in the dim +light and through the thick blue haze; and the overpowering, sickish fumes +of the drug got into my nose and throat and made breathing a noticeable +effort. There was a desk by the door, behind which sat the keeper of the +den, with a litter of pipes and thimble-like cups before him. In a corner +of the desk was a jar of opium, a thick, sticky substance, dark brown in +colour, in appearance not unlike molasses in January. There were twenty +smokers on the couches, some preparing the pellet of opium by kneading it +and pressing it on the pipe-bowl, some dozing off the fumes, and a few +smoking. An attendant moved about the room with fresh supplies of the +drug. For each thimbleful, enough for one or two smokes, the price was +fifteen cents (Mexican).</p> + +<p>The smokers seemed to be mainly of the lower classes; though hardly so low +as coolies, who are lucky to earn as much as fifteen cents in a day. It +was evident to both of my companions, from the appearance of these men and +from their talk, that they could ill afford the luxury. The number of +smokes indulged in seemed to range from three or four up to an indefinite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +number. The youngest and healthiest appearing man in the room told us that +after three pipes he could go home and go to sleep in comfort. He had been +at it less than a year, he said; and, judging from the expression of +peaceful content that came over his face as he held the pipe-bowl over the +lamp and drew the smoke deep into his lungs, he had not yet begun to feel +the ravages of the drug.</p> + +<p>The next den we entered was small, crowded, and dirty. The price was only +ten cents. But the third den was the largest and decidedly the most +interesting of any that we saw. Like the others, it was situated in a +prosperous section of the Taiku Road, with its red light conspicuously +displayed over the door. From the facts that it was frankly open for +business and that not the slightest concern was shown at our entrance, it +seemed fair to believe that the keepers had no fear whatever of publicity +or of the law. Even when we announced ourselves to be investigators, our +questions were answered cheerfully and fully, and the man who escorted us +from room to room was apparently proud of the establishment. The couches +were not all occupied, but I counted thirty-five men sitting or reclining +on them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> One man had a child with him, a girl of some six or eight years +of age, and when he had prepared his pipe and smoked it he permitted her +to take a whiff or two. In a rear room we saw four women smoking with the +men. The price of a smoke in this den was twenty-five cents.</p> + +<p>I do not know how many opium dens were open for business in the French +concession on this particular April 23d, 1907, but of those that were open +I personally either entered or at least saw fifteen or sixteen, and that +without attempting anything in the nature of an exhaustive search. In the +Italian and Russian concessions I found about sixty dens open, mostly of a +very low grade. But the worst of the concessions, in this regard, was the +Austrian. Lying nearest to the native city, it had profited more largely +than any of the others by the native prohibition. It seemed also to have +the largest Chinese population; indeed, in appearance it was more like the +quaint old Chinese city than any of the other foreign municipalities.</p> + +<p>We entered only three of the Austrian dens. But we saw the signs and +glanced in through the doorways of so many others that I was quite ready +to accept Mr. Sung’s rough estimate of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> total number within the narrow +confines of the concession: he put it at fifty to one hundred. It is +difficult to be exact in these estimates, because where laws are so +languidly enforced the official returns hardly begin to state the full +number of flourishing establishments. These three dens which we entered +were enough to make an ineffaceable impression on the mind of one +traveller. I have eaten and slept in native hostelries, in the interior, +so unspeakably dirty and insanitary that to describe them in these pages +would exceed all bounds of taste, but I have never been in a filthier +place than at least one of these Austrian dens. And the other two were +little better. It would require some means more adequate than pen, ink, +and paper, to convey to the reader an accurate notion of the mingled, +half-blended odours which seemed to underlie, or to form a background for, +the overpowering fumes of what passed here for opium. What this drug +compound was I really do not know; but it was sold at the rate of two +pipes for three cents, Mexican, equivalent to a cent and a half, gold. For +real opium, of fair or good quality, it is quite possible, in China, to +pay from ten to twenty times as much. Such dens as this, then, are not +only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> vicious resorts maintained for the purpose of catering to a +degrading habit; they are also breeding places of disease and pestilence.</p> + +<p>Thus one night’s work made it plain that the foreign concessions were +taking no steps that would evidence a spirit of coöperation with the +Chinese authorities in their vigorous attempt to check and control the +ravages of opium. Tientsin, like Shanghai, did not care. Tientsin, like +Shanghai, is sowing the wind in China.</p> + +<p>Let us now turn aside for a moment to consider the third important point +of contact between the two kinds of civilization—Hongkong.</p> + +<p>Hongkong is neither a “settlement” nor a “concession.” It is a British +crown colony, with its own government and its own courts. The original +property, a mountainous island lying near the mouth of the Canton River, +was taken from the Chinese in 1842, as a part of the penalty which China +had to pay for losing the Opium War. Later, a strip of the mainland +opposite was added to the colony. Hongkong is one of the most important +seaports in the world. It is the meeting place for freight and passenger +ships from North America, South America, New Zealand and Australia, India, +Europe, Africa,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> and the Philippines and other Pacific islands. It +commands the trade of the Canton River Valley, which, though not +geographically so imposing as the wonderful valley of the Yangtse, +supports, nevertheless, the densely populated region reached by the +innumerable canal-like branches of the river. The city of Canton alone, +eighty or ninety miles inland from Hongkong, claims 2,500,000 inhabitants. +It is safe to say that fifty million Chinamen are constantly under the +influence of the civilizing example set by Hongkong.</p> + +<p>What is the attitude of the Colonial government towards the opium +question? Simply that the opium habit is a legitimate source of revenue. +The British gentlemen who administer the government seem never to have +been disturbed by doubts as to the morality or humanity of their attitude. +Let me quote from the report of the Philippine Commission:</p> + +<p>“Farming is the system adopted (renting out the monopoly control of the +drug to an individual or a corporation) and a considerable part of the +income of the colony is obtained from this source. The habit seems to be +spreading. No effort—except the increased price demanded by the farmer to +compensate for the increased price<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> he has to pay to secure the +monopoly—is made to deter persons from using opium in the colony. Most of +the opium comes from India.”</p> + +<p>The attitude of the residents and merchants of the colony seems to be +expressed plainly enough by an editorial in a leading Hongkong paper which +lies before me, dated December 1, 1906: “It will take volumes of imperial +edicts to convince us that China ever honestly intends or is ever likely +to suppress the opium trade. It is up to China to take the initiative in +such a way as to leave no doubt that her intentions are honest and that +the native opium trade will be abandoned. Until that is done, it is idle +to discuss the question.”</p> + +<p>In other words, Hongkong refuses to consider giving up its opium revenue +until the Chinese take the market away from it.</p> + +<p>I think we may consider the point established that Great Britain is +directly responsible for the introduction of opium into China, and, +through the ingenuity and persistence of her merchants and her diplomats, +for the growth of the habit in that country. To-day, in spite of an +unmistakable tendency on the part of the Home government (which we shall +consider in a later<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> chapter) to yield to the pressure of the anti-opium +agitation in England, the government of India continues to grow and +manufacture vast quantities of the drug for the Chinese trade. To-day the +representatives of that government at Hongkong are profiting largely from +a monopoly control of the opium importation. To-day, at Shanghai, where +the British predominate in population, in trade, and in the city +government, the opium evil is mishandled in a scandalous manner, and—as +elsewhere—for profit. Small wonder, therefore, that other and less +scrupulous foreign nations, where they have an opportunity to profit by +this vicious traffic, as at Tientsin, hasten to do so.</p> + +<p>These three great ports—Shanghai, Tientsin, and Hongkong—are in constant +touch commercially with a grand total of very nearly 200,000,000 Chinese. +They are, therefore, constantly exerting a direct influence on that number +of Chinese minds. As I have pointed out, this influence, because it is +concentrated and tangible, is much stronger than the admittedly potent +influence of the widely scattered missionaries, physicians, and teachers. +From the life and example of the Western nations, as they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> exist at these +ports, the Chinaman is drawing most of his ideas of progress and +enlightenment.</p> + +<p>In a word, the new China that we shall sooner or later have to deal with +among the nations of the world is the new China that the ports are helping +to make—for this new China is to-day in process of development. She is +struggling heroically to digest and assimilate the Western ideas which +alone can bring life and vigour to the sluggish Chinese mass. And yet, +turning westward for aid, China is confronted with—Shanghai, Tientsin, +and Hongkong. Turning to Britain for a helping hand in her effort to check +the inroads of opium, she hears this cheerful doctrine from the one +British colony which China can really see and partly understand, +Hongkong—“It is up to China.” Dr. Morrison has stated in one of his +letters to the <i>Times</i> that Britain’s attitude towards China is one of +sympathy, tempered by a lack of information. One very eminent British +diplomat with whom I discussed the opium question assured me that that +attitude of his government was “most sympathetic.” Later, in London, I +found that this same government was quieting an aroused public opinion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +with assurances that steps were being taken towards an agreement with +China in the matter of opium. All this was in the spring and summer of +1907. Six months later, the one British colony in China, and the two great +international ports, were cheerfully continuing their cynical policy of +sneering at or ignoring the attempts of the Chinese to overcome their +master-vice, and were cheerfully profiting by the situation.</p> + +<p>It would perhaps seem fanciful to suggest that the great nations should +unite to regulate the coast ports. It would appear obvious that such +regulation, in so far as it might create a better understanding between +the Chinese and the representatives of foreign civilizations with whom +they must come in contact, would work to the advantage of commercial +interests. Anti-foreign riots are in progress to-day in China which have +their roots partly in racial misconception, partly in a long tradition of +injustice and bad faith; and it is hardly necessary to suggest that an +atmosphere of injustice, bad faith, and rioting is not the best atmosphere +in which to carry on trade. But, nevertheless, the inevitable difficulties +in the way of drawing the great nations together in the interests of a +better understanding with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> Chinese people would seem to make such a +solution academic rather than practical.</p> + +<p>But, still hoping that something may be done about it, something that may +lessen the likelihood of the reaping of a whirlwind in China, suppose that +we alter the phrase of that Hongkong editorial and state that instead of +the problem being up to China, it is distinctly up to Great Britain? Great +Britain brought the opium into China. Great Britain kept it there until it +took root and spread over the native soil. Great Britain has admitted her +guilt, and had pledged herself by a majority vote in Parliament, and by +the promises of her governing ministers, to do something about it. Suppose +that Great Britain be called upon to make good her pledge? It would be an +interesting experiment. All that is necessary is to cut down the +production of opium in India, year by year, until it ceases altogether, +and with it the exportation into China. This course would solve +automatically the opium problem at Hongkong; and it would put it up to the +municipal authorities at Shanghai and Tientsin in an interesting fashion. +It would in no way jeopardize Britain’s interest in the diplomatic balance +of the Far East. It would work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> for the good rather than the harm of the +trade with China. And it would be the first necessary step in the arduous +matter of cleaning up the treaty ports and setting a higher example to +China.</p> + +<p>To this course Great Britain would appear to be committed by the +utterances for her government. But the world, like the man from Missouri, +has yet to be “shown.” In a later chapter we shall consider this question +of promise and performance in the light of Britain’s peculiar governmental problem.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> +<h3>HOW BRITISH CHICKENS CAME HOME TO ROOST</h3> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">We</span> have seen, in the preceding chapters, that the Anglo-Indian government +controls absolutely the production of opium in India, prepares the drug +for the market in government-owned and government-operated factories, and +sells it at monthly auctions. Let me also recall to the reader that +four-fifths of this opium is prepared to suit the known taste of Chinese +consumers. The annual value to the Anglo-Indian government of this curious +industry, it will be recalled, is well over $20,000,000.</p> + +<p>Now we have to consider the last strong defense of this policy which the +British government has seen fit to offer to a protesting world, the report +of the Royal Commission on Opium. Against this stout defense of the opium +traffic in all its branches, we are able to set not only the findings of +other governments, such as those of Japan, the Philippines, and Australia, +which have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> opium problems of their own to deal with, but also the +curious attitude of a certain British colony, amounting almost to what +might be called an opium panic, on that occasion when the Oriental drug +found its way near enough home to menace British subjects and British +children.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i171.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">WEIGHING OPIUM IN A GOVERNMENT FACTORY, INDIA</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>The men who administer the government of India have a chronically +difficult job on their hands. In order to keep it on their hands they have +got to please the British public; and that is not so easy as it perhaps +sounds. It would apparently please both the government and the public if +the whole opium question could be thrown after the twenty thousand chests +of Canton—into the sea. But the British public is hard-headed, and proud +of it; and the spectacle of the magnificent, panoplied government of India +gone bankrupt, or so embarrassed as to be calling upon the Home government +for aid, would not please it at all. Of the two evils, debauching China or +gravely impairing the finances of India, there has been reason to believe +that it would prefer debauching China. That, at least, is what successive +governments of Britain and of India seem to have concluded. It has seemed +wiser to endure a known quantity of abuse for sticking to opium<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> than to +risk the cold British scorn for the bankrupt; and, accordingly, the Indian +government with the approval of one Home government after another, has +stuck to opium. The only alternative course, that of developing a new, +healthy source of revenue to supplant opium, the unhealthy, would involve +real ideas and an immense amount of trouble; and these two things are only +less abhorrent to the administrative mind than political annihilation +itself.</p> + +<p>But there came a time, not so long ago, when a wave of “anti-opium” +feeling swept over England, and the British public suddenly became very +hard to please. Parliament agreed that the idea of a government opium +monopoly in India was “morally indefensible,” and even went so far as to +send out a “Royal Commission” to investigate the whole question. Now this +commission, after travelling twenty thousand miles, asking twenty-eight +thousand questions, and publishing two thousand pages (double columns, +close print) of evidence, arrived at some remarkable conclusions. “Opium,” +says the Royal Commission, “is harmful, harmless, or even beneficial, +according to the measure and discretion with which it is used.... It is +[in India] the universal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> household remedy.... It is extensively +administered to infants, and the practice does not appear, to any +appreciable extent, injurious.... It does not appear responsible for any +disease peculiar to itself.” As to the traffic with China, the Commission +states—“Responsibility mainly lies with the Chinese government.” And, +finally (which seems to bring out the pith of the matter), “In the present +circumstances the revenue derived from opium is indispensable for carrying +on with efficiency the government of India.”</p> + +<p>To one familiar with this extraordinary summing-up of the evidence, it +seems hardly surprising that the Rt. Hon. John Morley, the present +Secretary of State for India, should have said in Parliament (May, +1906)—“I do not wish to speak in disparagement of the Commission, but +somehow or other its findings have failed to satisfy public opinion in +this country and to ease the consciences of those who have taken up the +matter.”</p> + +<p>The methods employed by a Royal Commission which could arrive at such +remarkable conclusions could hardly fail to be interesting. The Government +opium traffic was a scandal. Parliament<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> was on record against it. There +was simply nothing to be said for opium or for the opium monopoly. It was +“morally indefensible”—officially so. It was agreed that the Indian +government should be “urged” to cease to grant licenses for the +cultivation of the poppy and for the sale of opium in British India. This +was interesting—even gratifying. There was but one obstacle in the way of +putting an end to the whole business; and that obstacle was, in some +inexplicable way, this same British government. The opium monopoly, +morally indefensible or not, seemed to be going serenely and steadily on. +If the Indian government was urged in the matter, there was no record of +it.</p> + +<p>Two years passed. Mr. Gladstone, the great prime minister, deplored the +opium evil—and took pains not to stop or limit it. Like the House of +Peers in the Napoleonic wars, he “did nothing in particular—and did it +very well.” So the vigilant crusaders came at the government again. In +June, 1893, Mr. Alfred Webb moved a resolution which (so ran the hopes of +these crusaders) the most nearly Christian government could not resist or +evade. Sure of the anti-opium majority, the new resolution, “having regard +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> the opinion expressed by the vote of this House on the 10th of April, +1891, that the system by which the Indian opium revenue is raised is +morally indefensible,... and recognizing that the people of India ought +not to be called upon to bear the cost involved in this change of policy,” +demanded that “a Royal Commission should be appointed ... to report as to +(1) What retrenchments and reforms can be effected in the military and +civil expenditures of India; (2) By what means Indian resources can be +best developed; and (3) What, if any, temporary assistance from the +British Exchequer would be required in order to meet any deficit of +revenue which would be occasioned by the suppression of the opium +traffic.”</p> + +<p>The crusaders had underestimated the parliamentary skill of Mr. Gladstone. +He promptly moved a counter resolution, proposing that “this House press +on the Government of India to continue their policy of greatly diminishing +the cultivation of the poppy and the production and sale of opium, and +demanding a Royal Commission to report as to (1) Whether the growth of the +poppy and the manufacture and sale of opium in British India should be +prohibited....<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> (4) The effect on the finances of India of the prohibition +... taking into consideration (a) the amount of compensation payable; (b) +the cost of the necessary preventive measures; (c) the loss of revenue.... +(5) The disposition of the people of India in regard to (a) the use of +opium for non-medical purposes; (b) their willingness to bear in whole or +in part the cost of prohibitive measures.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Gladstone’s resolution looked, to the unthinking, like an anti-opium +document. He doubtless meant that it should, for in his task of +maintaining the opium traffic he had to work through an anti-opium +majority. Mr. Webb’s resolution, starting from the assumption that the +government was committed to suppressing the traffic, called for a +commission merely to arrange the necessary details. Mr. Gladstone’s +resolution raised the whole question again, and instructed the commission +not only to call particular attention to the cost of prohibition (the +shrewd premier knew his public!), not only to find out if the victims of +opium in India wished to continue the habit, but also threw the whole +burden of cost on the poverty-stricken people of India—which he knew +perfectly well they could not bear. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> original resolution had sprung +out of a moral outcry against the China trade. Mr. Gladstone, in beginning +again at the beginning, ignored the China trade and the effects of opium +on the Chinese.</p> + +<p>But more interesting, if less significant than this attitude, was the +suggestion that the Indian government “continue their policy of greatly +diminishing the cultivation of the poppy.” Now this suggestion conveyed an +impression that was either true or false. Either the Indian government was +putting down opium or it was not. In either event, if Mr. Gladstone was +not fully informed, it was his own fault, for the machinery of government +was in his hands. The best way to straighten out this tangle would seem to +be to consult the report of Mr. Gladstone’s commission. This commission, +on its arrival in India, found no trace of a policy of suppressing the +trade. Sir David Balfour, the head of the Indian Finance Department, said +to the commission: “I was not aware that that was the policy of the Home +government until the statement was made.... The policy has been for some +time to sell about the same amount every year, neither diminishing that +amount nor increasing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> it. I should say decidedly, that at present our +desire is to obtain the maximum revenue from the opium consumed in India.” +As regarded the China trade, Sir David added: “We will not largely +increase the cultivation because we shall be attacked if we do so.” And +this—“We have adopted a middle course and preserved the <i>status quo</i> with +reference to the China trade.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Gladstone’s resolution was adopted by 184 votes to 105, the anti-opium +crusaders voting against it. And the Royal Commission, with instructions +not, as had been intended, to arrange the details of a plan for stopping +the opium traffic, but with instructions to consider whether it would pay +to stop it, and if not, whether the people of India could be made to stand +the loss, started out on its rather hopeless journey.</p> + +<p>One thing the crusaders had succeeded in accomplishing—they had forced +the government to send a commission to India. They had got one or two of +their number on the body. The commission would have to hear the evidence, +would be forced to air the situation thoroughly, showing a paternal +government not only manufacturing opium for the China trade, but actually, +since 1891, manufacturing pills of opium mixed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> with spices for the +children and infants of India. If the Indian government, now at last +brought to an accounting, wished to keep the opium business going, they +could do two things—they could see that the “right” sort of evidence was +given to the commission, and they could try to influence the commission +directly. They adopted both courses; though it appears now, to one who +goes over the attitude of the majority of the commission and especially of +Lord Brassey, the chairman, as shown in the records, that little direct +influence was necessary. Lord Brassey and his majority were pro-opium, +through and through. The Home government had seen to that.</p> + +<p>The problem, then, of the administrators of the Indian government and of +this pro-opium commission was to defend a “morally indefensible” condition +of affairs in order to maintain the revenue of the Indian government. It +was a problem neither easy nor pleasant.</p> + +<p>The Viceroy of India was Lord Lansdowne. He went at the problem with +shrewdness and determination. His attitude was precisely what one has +learned to expect in the viceroys of India. A later viceroy, Lord Curzon, +has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> spoken with infinite scorn of the “opium faddists.” Lord Lansdowne +approached the business in the same spirit. He began by sending a telegram +from his government to the British Secretary of State for India, which +contained the following passage: “We shall be prepared to suggest +non-official witnesses, who will give independent evidence, but we cannot +undertake to specially search for witnesses who will give evidence against +opium. We presume this will be done by the Anti-Opium Society.” This +message had been sent in August, 1893, but it was not made public until +the 18th of the following November. On November 20th Lord Lansdowne sent a +letter to Lord Brassey, “which,” says Mr. Henry J. Wilson, M. P., in his +minority report, “was passed around among the members [of the commission] +for perusal. It contained a statement in favour of the existing opium +system, and against interference with that system as likely to lead to +serious trouble. This appeared to me a departure from the judicial +attitude which might have been expected from Her Majesty’s +representatives.”</p> + +<p>From this Mr. Wilson goes on, in his report, to lay bare the methods of +the Indian government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> in preparing evidence for the commission. To say +that these methods show a departure from the expected “judicial attitude” +is to speak with great moderation. It is not necessary, I think, to weary +the reader with the details of these extended operations. That is not the +purpose of this writing. It should be enough to say that Lord Lansdowne +and his Indian government ordered that all evidence should be submitted to +the commission through their offices; that only pro-opium evidence was +submitted; that a government official travelled with the commission and +openly worked up the evidence in advance; that the minority members were +hindered and hampered in their attempts at real investigation, and were +shadowed by detectives when they travelled independently in the +opium-producing regions; and, finally, that Lord Brassey abruptly closed +the report of the commission without giving the minority members an +opportunity to discuss it in detail. The result of these methods was +precisely what might have been expected. Opium was declared a mild and +harmless stimulant for all ages. No home, in short, was complete without +it.</p> + +<p>There is an answer to the report of the Royal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> Commission on opium more +telling than can be found in speeches or in minority reports. In an +earlier article we examined into the beginnings of opium. We saw how it is +grown and manufactured; how it passes out of the hands of the British +government into the currents of trade; how it is carried along on these +currents—small quantities of it washing up in passing the Straits and the +Malay Archipelago—to China; how it blends at the Chinese ports in the +flood of the new native-grown opium and divides among the trade currents +of that great empire until every province receives its supply of the +“foreign dirt.” Now let us follow it farther; for it does not stop there.</p> + +<p>The Chinese are great traders and great travellers. The weight of the +national misery presses them out into whatever new regions promise a +reward for industry. They swarmed over the Pacific to America in a yellow +cloud until America, in sheer self-defense, barred them out. They swarmed +southward to Australia until Australia closed the doors on them. They +swarm to-day into the Philippines and into Malaysia. In the Straits +Settlement, in a total population of a little over half a million, more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +than half (282,000) are Chinese. When America would build the Panama +Canal, her first impulse is to import the cheap Chinese labourer, who is +always so eager to come. When Britain took over the Transvaal she imported +70,000 Chinese labourers. And where the Chinese travel, opium travels too.</p> + +<p>The real answer to the Royal Commission on opium should be found in the +attitude of these countries which have had to face the opium problem along +with the Chinese problem. Let us include in the list Japan, a country +which has had a remarkable opportunity to view the opium menace at short +range. What Japan thinks about opium, what Australia and the Transvaal and +the United States think, what the Philippines think, is more to the point +than any first-hand statements of a magazine reporter. We will take Japan +first. Does Japan think that opium is invaluable as a general household +remedy? Does Japan think that opium is good for children?</p> + +<p>Here is what the Philippine Opium Commission, whose report is accepted +to-day as the most authoritative survey of the opium situation, has to say +about opium in Japan:</p> + +<p>“Japan, which is a non-Christian country, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> the only country visited by +the committee where the opium question is dealt with in the purely moral +and social aspect.... Legislation is enacted without the distraction of +commercial motives and interest.... No surer testimony to the reality of +the evil effects of opium can be found than the horror with which China’s +next-door neighbour views it.... The Japanese to a man fear opium as we +fear the cobra or the rattlesnake, and they despise its victims. There has +been no moment in the nation’s history when the people have wavered in +their uncompromising attitude towards the drug and its use, so that an +instinctive hatred possesses them. China’s curse has been Japan’s warning, +and a warning heeded. An opium user in Japan would be socially a leper.</p> + +<p>“The opium law of Japan forbids the importation, the possession, and the +use of the drug, except as a medicine; and it is kept to the letter in a +population of 47,000,000, of whom perhaps 25,000 are Chinese. So rigid are +the provisions of the law that it is sometimes, especially in interior +towns, almost impossible to secure opium or its alkaloids in cases of +medical necessity.... The government is determined to keep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> the opium +habit strictly confined to what they deem to be its legitimate use, which +use even, they seem to think, is dangerous enough to require special +safeguarding.</p> + +<p>“Certain persons are authorized by the head official of each district to +manufacture and prepare opium for medicinal purposes.... That which is up +to the required standard (in quality) is sold to the government: and that +which falls short is destroyed. The accepted opium is sealed in proper +receptacles and sold to a selected number of wholesale dealers +(apothecaries) who in turn provide physicians and retail dealers with the +drug for medicinal uses only. It can reach the patient for whose relief it +is desired only through the prescription of the attending physician. The +records of those who thus use opium in any of its various forms must be +preserved for ten years.</p> + +<p>“The people not merely obey the law, but they are proud of it; they would +not have it altered if they could. It is the law of the government, but it +is the law of the people also.... Apparently, the vigilance of the police +is such that even when opium is successfully smuggled in, it cannot be +smoked without detection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> The pungent fumes of cooked opium are +unmistakable, and betray the user almost inevitably.... There is an +instance on record where a couple of Japanese lads in North Formosa +experimented with opium just for a lark; and though they were guilty only +on this occasion, they were detected, arrested, and punished.”</p> + +<p>That is what Japan thinks about opium.</p> + +<p>The conclusions of this Philippine Commission formed the basis of the new +opium prohibition in the Philippines, which went into effect March 1, +1908. The plan is a modification of the Japanese system of dealing with +the evil.</p> + +<p>Australia and New Zealand have also been forced to face the opium problem. +New Zealand, by an act of 1901, amended in 1903, prohibits the traffic, +and makes offenders liable to a penalty not exceeding $2,500 (£500) for +each offense. In the Australian Federal Parliament the question was +brought to an issue two or three years ago. Petitions bearing 200,000 +signatures were presented to the parliament, and in response a law was +enacted absolutely prohibiting the importation of opium, except for +medicinal uses, after January 1, 1906. All the state governments of +Australia lose revenue by this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> prohibition. The voice of the Australian +people was apparently expressed in the Federal Parliament by Hon. V. L. +Solomon, who said: “In the cities of the Southern States anybody going to +the opium dens would see hundreds of apparently respectable Europeans +indulging in this horrible habit. It is a hundredfold more damaging, both +physically and morally, than the indulgence in alcoholic liquors.”</p> + +<p>That is what Australia and New Zealand think about opium.</p> + +<p>The attitude of the United States is thus described by the Philippine +Commission: “It is not perhaps generally known that in the only instance +where America has made official utterances relative to the use of opium in +the East, she has spoken with no uncertain voice. By treaty with China in +1880, and again in 1903, no American bottoms are allowed to carry opium in +Chinese waters. This ... is due to a recognition that the use of opium is +an evil for which no financial gain can compensate, and which America will +not allow her citizens to encourage even passively.” By the terms of this +treaty, citizens of the United States are forbidden to “import opium into +any of the open<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> ports of China, or transport from one open port to any +other open port, or to buy and sell opium in any of the open ports of +China. This absolute prohibition ... extends to vessels owned by the +citizens or subjects of either power, to foreign vessels employed by them, +or to vessels owned by the citizens or subjects of either power and +employed by other persons for the transportation of opium.” Thus the +United States is flatly on record as forbidding her citizens to engage, in +any way whatever, in the Chinese opium traffic.</p> + +<p>The last item of expert evidence which I shall present from the countries +most deeply concerned in the opium question is from that British colony, +the Transvaal. Were the subject less grim, it would be difficult to +restrain a smile over this bit of evidence—it is so human, and so +humorous. For a century and more, Anglo-Indian officials have been kept +busy explaining that opium is a heaven-sent blessing to mankind. It is +quite possible that many of them have come to believe the words they have +repeated so often. Why not? China was a long way off—and India certainly +did need the money. The poor official had to please the sovereign people +back home,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> one way or another. If a choice between evils seemed +necessary, was he to blame? We must try not to be too hard on the +government official. Perhaps opium <i>was</i> good for children. Keep your +blind eye to the telescope and you can imagine anything you like.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 550px; height: 353px;"><img src="images/i191.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">WHERE THE CHINAMAN TRAVELS, OPIUM TRAVELS TOO<br /> +A Consignment of Opium from China to the United States, Photographed in the Custom House, San Francisco</p> +<p> </p> + +<p>The situation was given its grimly humorous twist when the monster opium +began to invade regions nearer home. It came into the Transvaal after the +Boer War, along with those 70,000 Chinese labourers. The result can only +be described as an opium panic. I quote, regarding it, from that +“Memorandum Concerning Indo-Chinese Opium Trade,” which was prepared for +the debate in Parliament during May, 1906:</p> + +<p>“The Transvaal offers a striking illustration of the old proverb as to +chickens coming home to roost.</p> + +<p>“On the 6th of September, 1905, Sir George Farrar moved the adjournment of +the Legislative Council at Pretoria, to call attention to ‘the enormous +quantity of opium’ finding its way into the Transvaal. He urged that +‘measures should be taken for the immediate stopping of the traffic.’ On +6th October, an ordinance was issued, restricting the importation of opium +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> registered chemists, only, according to regulations to be prescribed +by permits by the lieutenant-governor—under a penalty not exceeding £500 +($2,500), or imprisonment not exceeding six months.</p> + +<p>“Any person in possession of such substance ... except for medicinal +purposes, unless under a permit, is liable to similar penalties. Stringent +rights of search are given to police, constables, under certain +circumstances, without even the necessity of a written authority.</p> + +<p>“The under-secretary for the colonies has also stated, ‘that the Chinese +Labour Importation Ordinance, 1904, has been amended to penalize the +possession by, and supply to, Chinese labourers of opium.’”</p> + +<p>Apparently opium is not good for the children of South Africa. That it +would be good (to get still nearer home) for the children and infants of +Great Britain, is an idea so monstrous, so horrible, that I hardly dare +suggest it. No one, I think, would go so far as to say that the Royal +Commission would have reached those same extraordinary conclusions had the +problem lain in Great Britain instead of in far-off India and China. Walk +about, of a sunny afternoon, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> Kensington Gardens. Watch the ruddy, +healthy children sailing their boats in the Round Pond, or playing in the +long grass where the sheep are nibbling, or running merrily along the +well-kept borders of the Serpentine. They are splendid youngsters, these +little Britishers. Their skins are tanned, their eyes are clear, their +little bodies are compactly knit. Each child has its watchful nurse. What +would the mothers say if His Majesty’s Most Excellent Government should +undertake the manufacture and distribution of attractive little pills of +opium and spices for these children, and should defend its course not only +on the ground that “the practice does not appear to any appreciable extent +injurious,” but also on the ground that “the revenue obtained is +indispensable for carrying on the government with efficiency”?</p> + +<p>What would these British mothers say? It is a fair question. The +“conservative” pro-opiumist is always ready with an answer to this +question. He claims that it is not fair. He maintains that the Oriental is +different from the Occidental—racially. Opium, he says, has no such +marked effect on the Chinaman as it has on the Englishman, no such marked +effect on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> Chinese infant as it has on the British infant. I have met +this “conservative” pro-opiumist many times on coasting and river steamers +and in treaty port hotels. I have been one of a group about a rusty little +stove in a German-kept hostelry where this question was thrashed out. Your +“conservative” is so cock-sure about it that he grows, in the heat of his +argument, almost triumphant. At first I thought that perhaps he might be +partially right. One man’s meat is occasionally another man’s poison. The +Chinese differ from us in so many ways that possibly they might have a +greater capacity to withstand the ravages of opium.</p> + +<p>It was partly to answer this question that I went to China. I did not +leave China until I had arrived at an answer that seemed convincing. If, +in presenting the facts in these columns, the picture I have been painting +of China’s problem should verge on the painful, that, I am afraid, will be +the fault of the facts. It is a picture of the hugest empire in the whole +world, fighting a curse which has all but mastered it, turning for aid, in +sheer despair, to the government, that has brought it to the edge of ruin. +Strange to say, this British government, as it is <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>to-day constituted, +would apparently like to help. But, across the path of assistance stands, +like a grotesque, inhuman dragon,—the Indian Revenue.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> +<h3>THE POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN</h3> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">An</span> observant correspondent recently wrote from Shanghai to a New York +newspaper: “China has missed catching the fire of the West in the manner +of Japan, and has lain idle and supine while neighbour and foreigner +despoiled her. Her statesmanship has been languid and irresolute, and her +armies slow and spiritless in the field. Observers who know China, and are +familiar at the same time with the symptoms of opium, say that it is as if +the listless symptoms of the drug were to be seen in the very nation +itself. Many conclude that the military and political inertia of the +Chinese is due to the special prevalence of the opium habit among the two +classes of Chinamen directly responsible: both the soldiers and the +scholars, among whom all the civil and political posts are held in +monopoly, are notoriously addicted to opium.”</p> + +<p>The point which these chapters should make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> clear is that opium is the +evil thing which is not only holding China back but is also actually +threatening to bring about the most complete demoralization and decadence +that any large portion of the world has ever experienced. It is evident, +in this day of extended trade interests, that such a paralysis of the +hugest and the most industrious of the great races would amount to a +world-disaster. Already the United States is suffering from the weakness +of the Chinese government in Manchuria, which permits Japan to control in +the Manchurian province and to discriminate against American trade. This +discrimination would appear to have been one strong reason for the sailing +of the battleship fleet to the Pacific. If this relatively small result of +China’s weakness and inertia can arouse great nations and can play a part +in the moving of great fleets, it is not difficult to imagine the +world-importance of a complete breakdown. Every great Western nation has a +trade or territorial footing in China to defend and maintain. Every great +Western nation is watching the complicated Chinese situation with +sleepless eyes. Such a breakdown might quite possibly mean the +unconditional surrender of China’s destiny<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> into the hands of Japan; +which, with Japan’s growing desire to dominate the Pacific, and with it +the world, might quite possibly mean the rapid approach of the great +international conflict.</p> + +<p>We have seen, in the course of these chapters, that China appears to be +almost completely in the grasp of her master-vice. The opium curse in +China is a dreadful example of the economic waste of evil. It has not only +lowered the vitality, and therefore the efficiency of men, women, and +children in all walks of life, but it has also crowded the healthier crops +off the land, usurped no small part of the industrial life, turned the +balance of trade against China, plunged her into wars, loaded her with +indemnity charges, taken away part of her territory, and made her the +plundering ground of the nations. She has been compelled to look +indolently on while Japan, alight with the fire of progress, has raised +her brown head proudly among the peoples of the West. So China has at last +been driven to make a desperate stand against the encroachments of the +curse which is wrecking her. The fight is on to-day. It is plain that +China is sincere; she must be sincere, because her only hope lies in +conquering opium. She has turned for help to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> Great Britain, for Britain’s +Indian government developed the opium trade (“for purposes of foreign +commerce only”) and continues to-day to pour a flood of the drug into the +channels of Chinese trade. Once China thought to crowd out the Indian +product by producing the drug herself, as a preliminary to controlling the +traffic, but she has never been able to develop a grade of opium that can +compete with the brown paste from the Ganges Valley.</p> + +<p>This summing up brings us to a consideration of two questions which must +be considered sooner or later by the people of the civilized world:</p> + +<p>1. Can China hope to conquer the opium curse without the help of Great +Britain?</p> + +<p>2. What is Great Britain doing to help her?</p> + +<p>In attempting to work out the answer to these questions, we must think of +them simply as practical problems bearing on the trade, the territorial +development, and the military and naval power of the nations. We must try +for the present to ignore the mere moral and ethical suggestions which the +questions arouse.</p> + +<p>First, then: can China, single-handed, possibly succeed in this fight, now +going on, against the slow paralysis of opium?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>China is not a nation in the sense in which we ordinarily use the word. If +we picture to ourselves the countries of Europe, with their different +languages and different customs drawn together into a loose confederation +under the government of a conquering race, we shall have some small +conception of what this Chinese “nation” really is. The peoples of these +different European countries are all Caucasians; the different peoples of +China are all Mongolians. These Chinese people speak eighteen or twenty +“languages,” each divided into almost innumerable dialects and +sub-dialects. They are governed by Manchu, or Tartar, conquerors who +spring from a different stock, wear different costumes, and speak, among +themselves, a language wholly different from any of the eighteen or twenty +native tongues.</p> + +<p>In making this diversity clear, it is necessary only to cite a few +illustrations. There is not even a standard of currency in China. Each +province or group of provinces has its own standard tael, differing +greatly in value from the tael which may be the basis of value in the next +province or group. There is no government coinage whatever. All the mints +are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> privately owned and are run for profit in supplying the local demand +for currency, and the basis of this currency is the Mexican dollar, a +foreign unit. They make dollar bills in Honan Province. I went into Chili +Province and offered some of these Honan bills in exchange for purchases. +The merchants merely looked at them and shook their heads. “Tientsin +dollar have got?” was the question. So the money of a community or a +province is simply a local commodity and has either a lower value or no +value elsewhere, for the simple reason that the average Chinaman knows +only his local money and will accept no other. The diversity of language +is as easily observed as the diversity of coinage. On the wharves at +Shanghai you can hear a Canton Chinaman and a Shanghai Chinaman talking +together in pidgin English, their only means of communication. When I was +travelling in the Northwest, I was accosted in French one day by a Chinese +station-agent, on the Shansi Railroad, who frankly said that he was led to +speak to me, a foreigner, by the fact that he was a “foreigner” too. With +his blue gown and his black pigtail, he looked to me no different from the +other natives; but he told me that he found the language<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> and customs of +Shansi “difficult,” and that he sometimes grew homesick for his native +city in the South.</p> + +<p>That the Chinese of different provinces really regard one another as +foreigners may be illustrated by the fact that, during the Boxer troubles +about Tientsin, it was a common occurrence for the northern soldiers to +shoot down indiscriminately with the white men any Cantonese who appeared +within rifle-shot.</p> + +<p>This diversity, probably a result of the cost and difficulty of travel, is +a factor in the immense inertia which hinders all progress in China. +People who differ in coinage, language, and customs, who have never been +taught to “think imperially” or in terms other than those of the village +or city, cannot easily be led into coöperation on a large scale. It is +difficult enough, Heaven knows, to effect any real change in the +government of an American city or state, or of the nation, let alone +effecting any real changes in the habits of men. Witness our own struggle +against graft. Witness also the vast struggle against the liquor traffic +now going on in a score of our states. Even in this land of ours, which is +so new that there has hardly been time to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> form traditions; which is alert +to the value of changes and quick to leap in the direction of progress; +which is essentially homogeneous in structure, with but one language, +innumerable daily newspapers, and a close network of fast, comfortable +railway trains to keep the various communities in touch with the +prevailing idea of the moment, how easy do we find it to wipe out +race-track gambling, say, or to make our insurance laws really effective, +or to check the corrupt practices of corporations, or to establish the +principle of local municipal ownership? To put it in still another light, +how easy do we find it to bring about a change which the great majority of +us agree would be for the better, such as making over the costly, +cumbersome express business into a government parcels post?</p> + +<p>But there are large money interests which would suffer by such reforms, +you say? True; and there are large money interests suffering by the opium +reforms in China, relatively as large as any money interests we have in +this country. The opium reforms affect the large and the small farmers, +the manufacturers, the transportation companies, the bankers, the +commission men, the hundreds of thousands of shopkeepers, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> the +government revenues, for the opium traffic is an almost inextricable +strand in the fabric of Chinese commerce. In addition to these bewildering +complications of the problem, there is the discouraging inertia to +overcome of a land which, far from being alert and active, is sunk in the +lethargy of ancient local custom.</p> + +<p>No, in putting down her master-vice, China must not only overcome all the +familiar economic difficulties that tend to block reform everywhere, but, +in addition, must find a way to rouse and energize the most backward and +(outside of the age-old grooves of conduct and government) the most +unmanageable empire in the world.</p> + +<p>On what element in her population must China rely to put this huge reform +into effect? On the officials, or mandarins, who carry out the +governmental edicts in every province, administer Chinese justice, and +control the military and finances. But of these officials, more than +ninety per cent. have been known to be opium-smokers, and fully fifty per +cent. have been financially interested in the trade.</p> + +<p>Still another obstacle blocking reform is the powerful example and +widespread influence of the treaty ports. Perhaps the white race is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +“superior” to the yellow; I shall not dispute that notion here. But one +fact which I know personally is that every one of the treaty ports, where +the white men rule, including the British crown colony of Hongkong, chose +last year to maintain its opium revenue regardless of the protests of the +Chinese officials.</p> + +<p>Putting down opium in China would appear to be a pretty big job. The +“vested interests,” yellow and white, are against a change; the personal +habits of the officials themselves work against it; the British keep on +pouring in their Indian opium; and by way of a positive force on the +affirmative side of the question there would appear to be only the +lethargy and impotence of a decadent, chaotic race. How would you like to +tackle a problem of this magnitude, as Yuan Shi K’ai and Tong Shao-i have +done? Try to organize a campaign in your home town against the bill-board +nuisance; against corrupt politics; against drink or cigarettes. Would it +be easy to succeed? When you have thought over some of the difficulties +that would block you on every hand, multiply them by fifty thousand and +then take off your hat to Tong Shao-i and Yuan Shi K’ai. Personally, I +think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> I should prefer undertaking to stamp out drink in Europe. I should +know, of course, that it would be rather a difficult business, but still +it would be easier than this Chinese proposition.</p> + +<p>So much for the difficulties of the problem. Suppose now we take a look at +the results of the first year of the fight. There are no exact statistics +to be had, but based as it is on personal travel and observation, on +reports of travelling officials, merchants, missionaries, and of other +journalists who have been in regions which I did not reach, I think my +estimate should be fairly accurate. Remember, this is a fight to a finish. +If the Chinese government loses, opium will win.</p> + +<p>The plan of the government, let me repeat, is briefly as follows: First, +the area under poppy cultivation is to be decreased about ten per cent. +each year, until that cultivation ceases altogether; and simultaneously +the British government is to be requested to decrease the exportation of +opium from India ten per cent. each year. Second, all opium dens or places +where couches or lamps are supplied for public smoking are to be closed at +once under penalty of confiscation. Third, all persons who purchase opium +at sale shops are to be registered, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> amount supplied to them to be +diminished from month to month. Meantime, the farmer is to be given all +possible advice and aid in the matter of substituting some other crop for +the poppy; opium cures and hospitals are to be established as widely as +possible; and preachers and lecturers are to be sent out to explain the +dangers of opium to the illiterate millions.</p> + +<p>The central government at Peking started in by giving the high officials +six months in which to change their habits. At the end of that period a +large number were suspended from office, including Prince Chuau and Prince +Jui.</p> + +<p>In one opium province, Shansi, we have seen that the enforcement was at +the start effective. The evidence, gathered with some difficulty from +residents and travellers, from roadside gossip, and from talks with +officials, all went to show that the dens in all the leading cities were +closed, that the manufacturers of opium and its accessories were going out +of business, and that the farmers were beginning to limit their crops.</p> + +<p>The enforcements in the adjoining province, Chih-li, in which lies Peking, +was also thoroughly effective at the start. The opium dens in all the +large cities were closed during the spring,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> and the restaurants and +disorderly houses which had formerly served opium to their customers +surrendered their lamps and implements. Throughout the other provinces +north of the Yangtse River, while there was evidence of a fairly +consistent attempt to enforce the new regulations, the results were not +altogether satisfying. Along the central and southern coast, from Shanghai +to Canton, the enforcement was effective in about half the important +centers of population. In Canton, or Kwangtung Province, the prohibition +was practically complete.</p> + +<p>The real test of the prohibition movement is to come in the great interior +provinces of the South, Yunnan and Kweichou, and in the huge western +province of Sze-chuan. It is in these regions that opium has had its +strongest grip on the people, and where the financial and agricultural +phases of the problems are most acute. All observers recognized that it +was unfair to expect immediate and complete prohibition in these regions, +where opium-growing is quite as grave a question as opium-smoking. The +beginning of the enforcement in Sze-chuan seems to have been cautious but +sincere. In this one province the share of the imperial tax on opium +alone,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> over and above local needs, amounts to more than $2,000,000 +(gold), and, thanks to the constant demands of the foreign powers for +their “indemnity” money, the imperial government is hardly in a position +to forego its demands on the provinces. But recognizing that a new revenue +must be built up to supplant the old, the three new opium commissioners of +Sze-chuan have begun by preparing addresses explaining the evils of opium, +and sending out “public orators” to deliver them to the people. They have +also used the local newspapers extensively for their educational work; and +they have sent out the provincial police to make lists of all +opium-smokers, post their names on the outside of their houses, and make +certain that they will be debarred from all public employment and from +posts of honour. The chief commissioner, Tso, declares that he will clear +Chen-tu, the provincial capital, a city of 400,000 inhabitants, of opium +within four years; and no one seems to doubt that he will do it as +effectively as he has cleared the streets of the beggars for which Chen-tu +was formerly notorious. When Mr. J. G. Alexander, of the British +Anti-Opium Society, was in Chen-tu last year, this same Commissioner Tso +called a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> mass-meeting for him, at which the native officials and gentry +sat on the platform with representatives of the missionary societies, and +ten thousand Chinese crowded about to hear Mr. Alexander’s address.</p> + +<p>The most disappointing region in the matter of the opium prohibition is +the upper Yangtse Valley. In the lower valley, from Nanking down to +Soochow and Shanghai (native city), the enforcement ranges from partial to +complete. But in the upper valley, from Nanking to Hankow and above, I +could not find the slightest evidence of enforcement. At the river ports +the dens were running openly, many of them with doors opening directly off +the street and with smokers visible on the couches within. The viceroy of +the upper Yangtse provinces, Chang-chi-tung, “the Great Viceroy,” has been +recognized for a generation as one of China’s most advanced thinkers and +reformers. His book, “China’s Only Hope,” has been translated into many +languages, and is recognized as the most eloquent analysis of China’s +problems ever made by Chinese or Manchu. In it he is flatly on record +against opium. Indeed, when governor of Shansi, twenty odd years ago, this +same official<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> sent out his soldiers to beat down the poppy crop. Yet it +was in this viceroyalty alone, among all the larger subdivisions of China, +that there was no evidence whatever last year of an intention to enforce +the anti-opium edicts. The only explanation of this state of things seems +to be that Chang-chi-tung is now a very old man, and that to a great +extent he has lost his vigour and his grip on his work. Whatever the +reason, this fact has been used with telling effect in pro-opium arguments +in the British Parliament as an illustration of China’s “insincerity.”</p> + +<p>The situation seems to sum up about as follows: The prohibition of opium +was immediately effective over about one-quarter of China, and partially +effective over about two-thirds. This, it has seemed to me, considering +the difficulty and immensity of the problem, is an extraordinary record. +Every opium den actually closed in China represents a victory. Whether the +dens will stay closed, after the first frenzy of reform has passed, or +whether the prohibition movement will gain in strength and effectiveness, +time alone will tell. But there is an ancient popular saying in China to +this effect, “Do not fear to go slowly; fear to stop.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>We have seen, then, that while the Chinese are fighting the opium evil +earnestly, and in part effectively, they are still some little way short +of conquering it. Also, we must not forget, that all reforms are strongest +in their beginnings. The Chinese, no less than the rest of us, will take +up a moral issue in a burst of enthusiasm. But human beings cannot +continue indefinitely in a bursting condition. Reaction must always follow +extraordinary exertion, and it is then that the habits of life regain +their ascendency. Remarkable as this reform battle has been in its +results, it certainly cannot show a complete, or even a half-complete, +victory over the brown drug. And meantime the government of British India +is pouring four-fifths of its immense opium production into China by way +of Hongkong and the treaty ports. It should be added, further, that while +the various self-governing ports, excepting Shanghai, have very recently +been forced, one by one, to cover up at least the appearance of evil, the +crown colony of Hongkong, which is under the direct rule of Great Britain, +is still clinging doggedly to its opium revenues. The whole miserable +business was summed up thus in a recent speech in the House of Commons:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +“The mischief is in China; the money is in India.”</p> + +<p>What is Great Britain doing to help China? His Majesty’s government has +indulged in a resolution now and then, has expressed diplomatic “sympathy” +with its yellow victims, and has even “urged” India in the matter, but is +it really doing anything to help?</p> + +<p>There are reasons why the world has a right to ask this question.</p> + +<p>If China is to grow weaker, she must ultimately submit to conquest by +foreign powers. There are nine or ten of these powers which have some sort +of a footing in China. No one of them trusts any one of the others, +therefore each must be prepared to fight in defense of its own interests. +It is not safe to tempt great commercial nations with a prize so rich as +China; they might yield. Once this conquest, this “partition,” sets in, +there can result nothing but chaos and world-wide trouble.</p> + +<p>The trend of events is to-day in the direction of this world-wide trouble. +The only apparent way to head it off is to begin strengthening China to a +point where she can defend herself against conquest. The first step in +this strengthening process<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> is the putting down of opium—there is no +other first step. Before you can put down opium, you have got to stop +opium production in India. And therefore the Anglo-Indian opium business +is not England’s business, but the world’s business. The world is to-day +paying the cost of this highly expensive luxury along with China. Every +sallow morphine victim on the streets of San Francisco, Chicago, and New +York is helping to pay for this government traffic in vice.</p> + +<p>But is Great Britain planning to help China?</p> + +<p>The government of the British empire is at present in the hands of the +Liberal party, which has within it a strong reform element. From the Tory +party nothing could be expected; it has always worshipped the Things that +Are, and it has always defended the opium traffic. If either party is to +work this change, it must be that one which now holds the reins of power. +And yet, after generations of fighting against the government opium +industry on the part of all the reform organizations in England, after +Parliament has twice been driven to vote a resolution condemning the +traffic, after generations of statesmen, from Palmerston through Gladstone +to John<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> Morley, have held out assurances of a change, after the Chinese +government, tired of waiting on England, has begun the struggle, this is +the final concession on England’s part:</p> + +<p>The British government has agreed to decrease the exportation of Indian +opium about eight per cent. per year during a trial period of three years, +in order to see whether the cultivation of the poppy and the number of +opium-smokers is lessened. Should such be the case, exportation to China +will be further decreased gradually.</p> + +<p>The reader will observe here some very pretty diplomatic juggling. There +is here none of the spirit which animated the United States last year in +proposing voluntarily to give up a considerable part of its indemnity +money. The British government is yielding to a tremendous popular clamour +at home; but nothing more. Could a government offer less by way of +carrying out the conviction of a national parliament to the effect that +“the methods by which our Indian opium revenues are derived are morally +indefensible”? The English people are urging their government, the Chinese +are diplomatically putting on pressure, the United States is organizing an +international opium commission on the ground that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> nations which +consume Indian and Chinese opium have, willy-nilly, a finger in the pie. +And by way of response to this pressure the British government agrees to +lessen very slightly its export for a few years, or until the pressure is +removed and the trade can slip back to normal!</p> + +<p>There are not even assurances that the agreement will be carried out. +While this very agitation has been going on, since these chapters began to +appear in <i>Success Magazine</i>, the annual export of Bengal opium has +increased (1906-1908) from 96,688 chests to 101,588 chests. And it is well +to remember that after Mr. Gladstone, as prime minister, had given +assurances of a “great reduction” in the traffic, the officials of India +admitted that they had not heard of any such reduction.</p> + +<p>A few months ago, the Government issued a “White Paper” containing the +correspondence with China on the opium question, so that there is no +dependence on hearsay in this arraignment of the British attitude. Let us +glance at an excerpt or two from these official British letters. This, for +example:</p> + +<p>“The Chinese proposal, on the other hand, which involves extinction of the +import in nine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> years, would commit India irrevocably, and in advance of +experience, to the complete suppression of an important trade, and goes +beyond the underlying condition of the scheme, that restriction of import +from abroad, and reduction of production in China, shall be brought <i>pari +passu</i> into play.”</p> + +<p>Not content with this rather sordid expression, His Majesty’s Government +goes on to point out that, under existing treaties, China cannot refuse to +admit Indian opium; that China cannot even increase the import duty on +Indian opium without the permission of Great Britain; that before Great +Britain will consider the question of permanently reducing her production +China must prove that the number of her smokers has diminished; that the +opium traffic is to be continued at least for another ten years; and then +indulges in this superb deliverance:</p> + +<p>The proposed limitation of the export to 60,000 chests from 1908 is +thought to be a very substantial reduction on this figure, and the view of +the Government of India is that such a standard ought to satisfy the +Chinese Government for the present.</p> + +<p>Even by their own estimate, after taking out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> the proposed total decrease +of 15,300 chests in the Chinese trade, the Indian Government will, during +the next three years, unload more than 170,000 chests of opium on a race +which it has brought to degradation, which is to-day struggling to +overcome demoralization, and which is appealing to England and to the +whole civilized world for aid in the unequal contest.</p> + +<p>We must try to be fair to the gentlemen-officials who see the situation +only in this curious half-light. “It is a practical question,” they say. +“The law of trade is the balance-sheet. It is not our fault as individuals +that opium, the commodity, was launched out into the channels of trade; +but since it is now in those channels, the law of trade must rule, the +balance-sheet must balance. Opium means $20,000,000 a year to the Indian +Government—we cannot give it up.”</p> + +<p>The real question would seem to be whether they can afford to continue +receiving this revenue. Opium does not appear to be a very valuable +commodity in India itself. Just as in China, it degrades the people. The +profits in production, for everybody but the government, are so small that +the strong hand of the law has often, nowadays, to be exerted in order to +keep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> the <i>ryots</i> (farmers) at the task of raising the poppy. There are +many thoughtful observers of conditions in India who believe it would be +highly “practical” to devote the rich soil of the Ganges Valley to crops +which have a sound economic value to the world.</p> + +<p>But more than this, the opium programme saps India as it saps China. The +position of the Englishman in India to-day is by no means so secure that +he can afford to indulge in bad government. The spirit of democracy and +socialism has already spread through Europe and has entered Asia. In +Japan, trade-unions are striking for higher wages. In China and India, are +already heard the mutterings of revolution. The British government may yet +have to settle up, in India as well as in China, for its opium policy. And +when the day for settling up comes, it may perhaps be found that a higher +balance-sheet than that which rules the government opium industry may +force Great Britain to pay—and pay dear.</p> + +<p>Yes, the world has some right to make demands of England in this matter. +China can make no real progress in its struggle until the Indian +production and exportation are flatly abolished.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>The situation has distinctly not grown better since the magazine +publication of the first of these chapters, a year ago. If the reader +would like to have an idea of where Great Britain stands to-day on the +opium business, he can do no better than to read the following excerpts +from a speech made last spring by the Hon. Theodore C. Taylor, M. P., on +his return from a journey round the world, undertaken for the purpose of +personally investigating the opium problem.</p> + +<p>First, this:</p> + +<p>“We shall not begin to have the slightest right to ask that China should +give proof of her genuineness about reform until we show more proof of our +own genuineness about reform, and until we suppress the opium traffic +where we can. China has taken this difficult reform in hand. She has done +much, but not everything. In Shanghai, Hongkong, and the Straits, we have +done nothing at all. I want to say this morning, as pricking the bubble of +our own Pharisaism, that from the point of view of reform, the blackest +opium spots in China are the spots under British rule.”</p> + +<p>And then, in conclusion, this:</p> + +<p>“I am convinced, and deeply convinced, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> every observant and thoughtful +man is that knows anything of China, that China is a great coming power. I +was talking to a fellow member of the House of Commons who lately went to +China, and went into barracks and camps with the Chinese, and who made it +his business to study Chinese military affairs, which generally excite so +much laughter outside China. He spent a good deal of time with the Chinese +soldier. He said to me, as many other people have said to me, ‘The +Chinaman is splendid raw material as a soldier, and, if his officers would +properly lead the Chinaman, he would follow and make the finest soldier in +the world, bar none.’ It will take China a long, long time to organize +herself; it will take her a long time to organize her army and navy; it +will take a long time to get rid of the system of bribery in China, which +is one of the hindrances to putting down the opium traffic; but, depend +upon it, the time is coming, not perhaps very soon, but by and by—and +nations have long memories—when those who are alive to see the +development of China will be very glad that, when China was weak and we +were strong, we, of our own motion, without being made to, helped China to +get away from this terrible curse.”</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> +<h2>Appendix—A Letter from the Field</h2> +<h3>THE OPIUM CLIMAX IN SHANGHAI</h3> + +<p><br /><i>Editor “Success Magazine”:</i></p> + +<p>It is fitting that in the columns of <i>Success</i>, a magazine which has so +recently investigated and so thoroughly and ably reported upon the opium +curse in China, there should appear the account of a unique ceremony held +in the International Settlement of Shanghai, illustrating in a striking +manner the general feeling of the Chinese towards the anti-opium movement +and setting an example that will make its influence felt in the most +remote provinces of the empire. In response to liberal advertising there +assembled in the spacious grounds of Chang Su Ho’s Gardens, on the +afternoon of Sunday, May 3, 1908, some two or three thousand of Shanghai’s +leading Chinese business men, together with a goodly sprinkling of +Europeans and Americans, to witness the destruction of the opium-pipes, +lamps, etc., taken from the Nan Sun Zin Opium Palace. In America, such a +scene as this would have appeared little less than a farce, but here the +obvious earnestness of the Chinese, the great value of the property to be +destroyed and the deep meaning of this sacrifice, should have been +sufficient to put the blush of shame upon the cheeks of the Shanghai +voters and councilmen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> who, representing the most enlightened nations of +the earth, have compromised with the opium evil and permitted +three-fourths of this nefarious business to linger in the “Model +Settlement” when it has been so summarily dealt with by the native +authorities throughout the land.</p> + +<p>Within a roped-in, circular enclosure, marked by two large, yellow +Dragon-Flags, were stacked the furnishings of the Opium Palace, consisting +of opium boxes, pipes, lamps, tables, trays, etc., and as the spectators +arrived the work of destruction was going rapidly on. Two native +blacksmiths were busily engaged in splitting on an anvil the metal +fittings from the pipes, and a brawny coolie, armed with a sledgehammer, +was driving flat the artistic opium lamps as they were taken from the +tables and placed on the ground before him. Meanwhile the pipes, mellowed +and blackened by long use and many of them showing rare workmanship, were +dipped into a large tin of kerosine and stacked in two piles on stone +bases, to form the funeral pyre, while the center of each stack was filled +in with kindling from the opium trays, similarly soaked with oil. On one +of the tables within the enclosure were two small trays, each containing a +complete smoking outfit and a written sheet of paper announcing that these +were the offerings of Mr. Lien Yue Ming, manager of the East Asiatic +Dispensary, and Miss Kua Kuei Yen, a singing girl, respectively. Both +these quondam smokers sent in their apparatus to be burned, with a pledge +that henceforth they would abstain from the use of the drug.</p> + +<p>During the preparations for the burning, Mr. Sun<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> Ching Foong, a prominent +business man, delivered a powerful exhortation on the opium evil to the +enthusiastic multitude and introduced the leading speaker of the +afternoon, Mr. Wong Ching Foo, representing the Committee of the +Commercial Bazaar. Mr. Wong spoke in the Mandarin language and stated that +all of China was looking to Shanghai for a lead in the matter of +suppressing opium and that it was with great pleasure the committee had +noticed the earnest desire of the foreign Municipal Council (and he was +<i>not</i> intending to be <i>sarcastic</i>!) to assist the Chinese in their +endeavour to do away entirely with this traffic. It was a very commendable +effort, and he was sure the foreigners there would agree that no effort on +their part could be too strong to do away with this curse, which was not +only undermining the best intellects of China, but by the example of +parents was affecting seriously the rising generation. To-day a gentleman, +who had been a smoker for twenty-nine years and had realized the great +harm it had done him, was present, and had brought with him his opium +utensils to be destroyed with those from the opium saloons of French-town. +The Nan Sun Zin Opium Palace, from which the pipes and other opium +utensils had been brought for destruction, was the largest in Shanghai +and, he had heard, the largest in China, patronized by the most notable +people. The example of Shanghai was felt in Nanking, Peking, and all over +China, for the young men who visited here took with them the report of the +pleasures they saw practiced in this settlement and thus gave the natives +different ideas. These young men often came here to see the wonderful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +work accomplished by foreigners, and it was not right that they should +take this curse back with them. It had been originally intended to burn +also the chairs and tables from the palace, but as this would make too +large and dangerous a fire it had been decided to sell these and use the +proceeds for the furtherance of the anti-opium movement.</p> + +<p>Among the pipes were some for which $500 had been offered, but the +Committee of the Commercial Bazaar had purchased the whole outfit to +destroy, and they hoped to be able to buy up a good many more of the +palaces and thus utterly destroy all traces of the opium-smoking practice. +Mr. Wong remarked that China had recently been under a cloud and in +Shanghai there had been protracted rains, but to-day it was fine and it +was evident that heaven was looking down upon them and blessing their +efforts. With heaven’s blessing they would be able to overcome the curse +and be even quicker than the Municipal Council in completely wiping out +this abominable custom.</p> + +<p>As the speeches were concluded, the Chinese Volunteer Band struck up a +lively air and amid the deafening din of crackers and bombs a torch was +applied to the oil-soaked stacks of pipes which at once burned up +fiercely. Extra oil was thrown upon the flames and the glass lamp-covers, +bowls, etc., were heaped upon the flames, thus completing a ceremony full +of earnestness and meaning.</p> + +<p>It has come as a matter of great surprise to many sceptical foreigners +that the Chinese should be making such strenuous efforts to do away with +the opium-smoking curse. Not a few have thrown cold water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> upon the +scheme, sneered at the Chinese in this endeavour, and doubted both their +desire and ability to suppress the sale of opium. The Commercial Bazaar +Committee, consisting of well-known Chinese business men, is not only +seconding the Municipal Council in its gradual withdrawal of licenses in +the foreign settlements but has also accomplished the closing of many +opium dens through its own efforts by bringing pressure to bear upon the +owners of the dens. Already, many private individuals have given up their +beloved pipes and some dens have voluntarily closed. It has also been +agreed by the Chinese concerned that all of the shops run by women are to +cease the sale of opium. This activity on the part of the Chinese +themselves is a striking rebuke to those who cast suspicion upon the +honesty of purpose of both the Chinese government and people, refusing to +immediately abolish the opium licenses in the foreign settlements of +Shanghai, despite the appeals from the American, British, and Japanese +governments, the petitions of the leading Chinese of the place and the +general popularity of the anti-opium movement. Yielding to great pressure +from all sides, the Shanghai Municipal Council <i>did</i> consent to introduce +a resolution upon this question before the Ratepayers Meeting to be held +March 20th, but the concession made was small indeed compared with what +was generally desired or what might be anticipated from the leading lights +of “civilized and highly moral” nations. The resolution was as follows:—</p> + +<p>“<i>Resolution VI.</i> That the number of licensed opium houses be reduced by +one-quarter from July 1, 1908, or from such other early date and in such +manner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> as may appear advisable to the Council for 1908-1909.”</p> + +<p>While there was in this a definite reduction of one-fourth of the +opium-joints in the settlement, there was nothing definite as to any +future policy, though the implication was that the houses would be all +closed within a period of two years. In his speech introducing this +resolution before the ratepayers, the British chairman of the council +said, among other things, “I feel sure that every one of us has the +greatest sympathy with the Chinese nation in its effort to dissipate the +opium habit, but we are not unfamiliar with Chinese official procedure, +and how far short actual administrative results fall when compared with +the official pronouncements that precede them. It is impossible not to be +sceptical as to the intentions of the Chinese government with regard to +this matter, although on this occasion we quite recognize that many +officials are sincere in their desire to eradicate the opium evil, and I +am sure there is every intention on the part of this community to assist +them. Yet we know of no programme that they have drawn up to make this +great reform possible, if indeed they have a programme.... The absence of +these, so to speak, first business essentials, on the part of the Chinese +government, was among the reasons which led us to the view that the +settlement was called upon to do little more than continue its work of +supervision over opium licenses, and wait for the cessation of supplies of +the drug to render that supervision unnecessary.... The advice we have +received from the British Government is, in brief, that we should do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> more +than keep pace with the native authorities, we should be in advance of +them and where possible encourage them to follow us.”</p> + +<p>In the following quotations from a letter written by Dr. DuBose, of +Soochow, President of the Anti-Opium League, to the municipal council, the +attitude of the reformers is clearly shown.</p> + +<p>“The prohibition of opium-smoking is the greatest reformation the world +has ever seen, and its benefits are already patent. Let the ratepayers +effectually second the efforts being made by the Chinese government to +abolish the use of opium throughout the empire.</p> + +<p>“It has proved a peaceful reformation. In the cities and towns about +one-half million dens, at the expiration of six months, were closed +promptly without resistance or complaint. The government will grant all +the necessary privileges of inspection to the municipal police in the +prevention of illicit smoking.</p> + +<p>“The consumption of opium in the cities has fallen off thirty per cent.; +in the towns fifty per cent.; while in the rural districts in the eastern +and middle provinces it is reduced to a minimum. It is well for Shanghai +to be allied with Soochow, Hangchow, and Nanking, and not to permit itself +to be a refuge for bad men.</p> + +<p>“The Chinese merchants in the International Settlement have sent in +earnest appeals to the Council on this question. As friends of China, +might not the ratepayers give their appeals a courteous consideration?</p> + +<p>“The question of opium at the Annual Meeting commands world-wide attention +and Saturday’s papers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> throughout Christendom will bear record of and +comment upon the action.</p> + +<p>“To close the dens is right. Shanghai cannot afford to be the black spot +on Kiangsu’s map. <i>Opium delendum est.</i></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 8em;">“In behalf of the Anti-Opium League,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">“<span class="smcap">Hampden C. DuBose</span>, <i>President</i>.”</span></p> + +<p><br />The appeals from Great Britain, America, China, and Japan, like the +petitions of merchants, missionaries, and officials, were without effect. +The “vested interests” carried the day, and a resolution, ordering the +closing of the dens on or before the end of December, 1909, was lost by a +vote of 128 to 189, the council, as usual, influencing and controlling the +votes and carrying the original motion—the only concession it would grant +to this gigantic movement.</p> + +<p>Another surprise came to the cynical foreigner, when, on April 18th, the +whole of the opium licensees participated in a public drawing in the town +hall, to decide by lottery which establishments should be shut down on the +1st of July, numbering one-fourth of the total number, this method being +adopted by the council to avoid any suspicion of partiality in the +selection. The keepers of the dens cheerfully acquiesced in the proposal, +the sporting chance no doubt appealing to the gambling spirit for which +they are noted, and in the town hall this remarkable drawing was held +without any sign of disfavour or rowdyism. The keepers of the Shanghai +opium shops are no doubt thoroughly convinced that the feeling of the +native community is entirely against the retention<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> of these places and +are ready to bow to the inevitable. None of the trouble or rioting feared +by the Council, materialized, and it is certain that the entire list of +licenses might have been immediately revoked without disturbance of any +kind—and without protest. Three hundred and fifty-nine licenses thus +cease with the end of June, and it is doubtful, with the present spirit +manifest in the Chinese, that such another drawing will be necessary at +all. The funeral pyre of opium-pipes, we trust, marks the end, or the +immediate beginning of the end, of Shanghai’s reproach, and it is +distinctly to the credit of the 500,000 Chinese living within the +jurisdiction of this foreign community, that they themselves are taking +the lead in wiping out this stain on the “Model Settlement”—doing what +the foreigner <i>dared not</i> and the “vested interest” <i>would not</i> do.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Charles F. Gammon.</span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<div class="adverts"> +<p class="center"><strong>MISSIONARY—TRAVELS</strong></p> + +<p><big>The Call of Korea</big></p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated, net, 75c.<span class="spacer"> </span><b>H. G. UNDERWOOD</b></p> + +<p>“Dr. Underwood knows Korea, its territory, its people, and its needs, and +his book has the special value that attaches to expert judgment. The +volume is packed with information, but it is written in so agreeable a +style that it is as attractive as a novel, and particularly well suited to +serve as a guide to our young people in their study of missions.”—<i>The +Examiner.</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<p><big>Things Korean</big> A Collection of Sketches and Anecdotes, Diplomatic and Missionary.</p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated, net, $1.25.<span class="spacer"> </span><b>HORACE N. ALLEN</b></p> + +<p>Gathered from a twenty years’ residence in Korea and neighboring countries +by the late Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United +States to Korea.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p><big>Breaking Down Chinese Walls</big> From a Doctor’s Viewpoint.</p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated, net, $1.00.<span class="spacer"> </span><b>ELLIOTT I. OSGOOD</b></p> + +<p>“Dr. Osgood was for eight years a physician at Chu Cheo, and conducted a +hospital and dispensary, visiting and preaching the Gospel in the villages +round about. He writes from experience. The object is to show the +influence and power of the medical missionary service, and of the daily +lives of the missionaries upon the natives, told in a most interesting +manner by the record of the living examples.”—<i>United Presbyterian.</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<p><big>Present-Day Conditions in China</big></p> + +<p class="center">Boards, net, 50c.<span class="spacer"> </span><b>MARSHALL BROOMHALL</b></p> + +<p>“This book is very impressive to those who do know something of +“present-day conditions in China,” and most startling to those who do not. +Maps, tables and letterpress combine to give a marvelous presentation of +facts.”—<i>Eugene Stock, Church Missionary Society.</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<p><big>The New Horoscope of Missions</big></p> + +<p class="center">Net, $1.00.<span class="spacer"> </span><b>JAMES S. DENNIS</b></p> + +<p>“Dr. Dennis, who has long been a close student of foreign missions, and +speaks with authority, gives in this volume a broad general view of the +present aspects of the missionary situation, as foundation for ‘the new +horoscope’ which he aims to give. The book is made up of lectures +delivered at the McCormick Theological Seminary on The John H. Converse +Foundation.”—<i>Examiner.</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<p><big>The Kingdom in India</big></p> + +<p class="center">With Introductory Biographical Sketch by Henry N. Cobb, D.D.</p> + +<p class="center">Net, $1.50.<span class="spacer"> </span><b>JACOB CHAMBERLAIN</b></p> + +<p>“This volume is Mr. Chamberlain’s own account of what he did, saw and +felt. As a teacher, a preacher and a medical missionary, Dr. Chamberlain +stood in the front ranks. If all who are abroad could have the ability, +the training, and the heart interest in the redemption of the endarkened +lands that Mr. Chamberlain’s life reveals, and the <ins class="correction" title="original: suport">support</ins> for carrying on +the gospel were adequately furnished, the future would be radiant with +hope.”—<i>Religious Telescope.</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<p><big>The History of Protestant Missions in India</big></p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, net, $2.50.<span class="spacer"> </span><b>JULIUS RICHTER</b></p> + +<p>The author of this book is the authority in Germany on missionary +subjects. This, his latest work, has proven so valuable as to demand this +translation into English. India is a vast field and the missionary +operations there are carried on by many societies. This survey of the +field is broad and accurate, it reaches every part of the work and every +society in the field, and gives a splendid summary of what has actually +been accomplished. It has the unqualified approbation of the workers on +the field themselves.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p><big>Overweights of Joy</big> A Story of Mission Work in Southern India.</p> + +<p class="center">Net, $1.00.<span class="spacer"> </span><b>AMY WILSON CARMICHAEL</b></p> + +<p>Mission-loving men and women, if you would know India, and the glorious +uphill fighting of its missionaries, you <i>must</i> read this book, hot with +actual experiences, and learn the truth.</p> + +<p>“A priceless contribution to Missionary literature.”—<i>Illustrated Missionary News.</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<p><big>Bishop Hannington and The Story of the Uganda Mission</big></p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated, net, $1.00.<span class="spacer"> </span><b>W. GRINTON BERRY</b></p> + +<p>The personality of Bishop Hannington was full of color and vigor, and the +story of his work, particularly of his adventures in East Africa, ending +with his martyrdom on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, is one of the +most fascinating in missionary annals. Hannington was himself a +picturesque writer, with a noteworthy gift of producing dashing and +humorous descriptive sketches, and quite a third of the present volume +consists of Hannington’s own narratives.</p></div> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><b>Transcriber’s Notes:</b></p> + +<p>Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to a nearby paragraph break.</p> + +<p>The text in the list of illustrations is presented as in the original text, but the links +navigate to the page number closest to the illustration’s loaction in this document.</p> + +<p>Other than the corrections noted by hover information, inconsistencies in +spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Drugging a Nation, by Samuel Merwin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRUGGING A NATION *** + +***** This file should be named 33586-h.htm or 33586-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/8/33586/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/33586-h/images/cover.jpg b/33586-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f0b111 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i004.jpg b/33586-h/images/i004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8565699 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i004.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i005.jpg b/33586-h/images/i005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..02ecbf2 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i005.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i032left.jpg b/33586-h/images/i032left.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9744913 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i032left.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i032right.jpg b/33586-h/images/i032right.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a9dcef --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i032right.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i057bottom.jpg b/33586-h/images/i057bottom.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c00b369 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i057bottom.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i057top.jpg b/33586-h/images/i057top.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc19a17 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i057top.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i063bottom.jpg b/33586-h/images/i063bottom.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c773f0a --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i063bottom.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i063top.jpg b/33586-h/images/i063top.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea2fa3a --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i063top.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i079left.jpg b/33586-h/images/i079left.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bc583e --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i079left.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i079right.jpg b/33586-h/images/i079right.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4e98487 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i079right.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i101left.jpg b/33586-h/images/i101left.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c67542 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i101left.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i101right.jpg b/33586-h/images/i101right.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3e48df4 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i101right.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i129bottom.jpg b/33586-h/images/i129bottom.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..38a0fd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i129bottom.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i129top.jpg b/33586-h/images/i129top.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..daa1ee1 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i129top.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i171.jpg b/33586-h/images/i171.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..76cd32e --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i171.jpg diff --git a/33586-h/images/i191.jpg b/33586-h/images/i191.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9685fd9 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586-h/images/i191.jpg diff --git a/33586.txt b/33586.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a4c012 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4522 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Drugging a Nation, by Samuel Merwin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Drugging a Nation + The Story of China and the Opium Curse + +Author: Samuel Merwin + +Release Date: August 30, 2010 [EBook #33586] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRUGGING A NATION *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +DRUGGING A NATION + + + + +[Illustration: H. E. TONG SHAO-I One of the Leaders of the Opium Reform +Movement in China] + + + + + Drugging a Nation + + The Story of China + and the Opium Curse + + + A Personal Investigation, during an + Extended Tour, of the Present Conditions + of the Opium Trade in China + and Its Effects upon the Nation + + + By SAMUEL MERWIN + + + NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO + Fleming H. Revell Company + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + + + + Copyright, 1908, by + FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY + + Copyright, 1907-1908, by + SUCCESS COMPANY + + + New York: 158 Fifth Avenue + Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue + Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. + London: 21 Paternoster Square + Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street + + + + +NOTE + + +These chapters were originally published during 1907 and 1908 in _Success +Magazine_. Though frankly journalistic in tone, the book presents +something more than the hasty conclusions of a journalist. During its +preparation the author travelled around the world, inquiring into the +problem at first hand in China and in England, reading all available +printed matter which seemed to bear in any way on the subject, and +interviewing several hundred gentlemen who have had special opportunities +to study the problem from various standpoints. The writing was not begun +until this preliminary work was completed and the natural conclusions had +become convictions in the author's mind. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. CHINA'S PREDICAMENT 9 + + II. THE GOLDEN OPIUM DAYS 20 + + III. A GLIMPSE INTO AN OPIUM PROVINCE 53 + + IV. CHINA'S SINCERITY 70 + + V. SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--SHANGHAI 101 + + VI. SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--TIENTSIN AND HONGKONG 129 + + VII. HOW BRITISH CHICKENS CAME HOME TO ROOST 154 + + VIII. THE POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN 178 + + APPENDIX 204 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + _Facing page_ + + H. E. TONG SHAO-I _Title_ + + KNEADING CRUDE OPIUM WITH OIL TO MAKE ROUND OR FLAT CAKES 27 + + MAKING ROUND CAKES OF OPIUM 27 + + THE OPIUM HULKS OF SHANGHAI 50 + + AN OPIUM RECEIVING SHIP OR "GODOWN" AT SHANGHAI 50 + + THE VILLAGES WERE LITTLE MORE THAN HEAPS OF RUINS 54 + + AT LAST HE CRAWLS OUT ON THE HIGHWAY, WHINING, CHATTERING AND + PRAYING THAT A FEW COPPER CASH BE THROWN HIM 54 + + WRECK AND RUIN IN CHINA 68 + + ENFORCING THE EDICT AT SHANGHAI 88 + + IN AN OPIUM DEN, SHANGHAI 114 + + OPIUM-SMOKING 114 + + WEIGHING OPIUM IN A GOVERNMENT FACTORY IN INDIA 154 + + WHERE THE CHINAMAN TRAVELS, OPIUM TRAVELS TOO 172 + + + + +Drugging a Nation + + + + +I + +CHINA'S PREDICAMENT + + +In September, 1906, an edict was issued from the Imperial Court at Peking +which states China's predicament with naivete and vigour. + +"The cultivation of the poppy," runs the edict, in the authorized +translation, "is the greatest iniquity in agriculture, and the provinces +of Szechuen, Shensi, Kansu, Yunnan, Kweichow, Shansi, and Kanghuai abound +in its product, which, in fact, is found everywhere. Now that it is +decided to abandon opium smoking within ten years, the limiting of this +cultivation should be taken as a fundamental step ... opium has been in +use so long by the people that nearly three-tenths or four-tenths of them +are smokers." + +"Three-tenths or four-tenths" of the Chinese people,--one hundred and +fifty million opium-smokers--mean three or four times the population of +Great Britain, a good many more than the population of the United States! + +The Chinese are notoriously inexact in statistical matters. The officials +who drew up the edict probably wished to convey the impression that the +situation is really grave, and employed this form of statement in order to +give force to the document. No accurate estimate of the number of opium +victims in China is obtainable; but it is possible to combine the +impressions which have been set down by reliable observers in different +parts of the "Middle Kingdom," and thus to arrive at a fair, general +impression of the truth. The following, for example, from Mr. Alexander +Hosie, the commercial attache to the British legation at Peking, should +carry weight. He is reporting on conditions in Szechuen Province: + +"I am well within the mark when I say that in the cities fifty per cent. +of the males and twenty per cent. of the females smoke opium, and that in +the country the percentage is not less than twenty-five for men and five +per cent. for women." There are about forty-two million people in Szechuen +Province; and they not only raise and consume a very great quantity of +opium, they also send about twenty thousand tons down the Yangtse River +every year for use in other provinces. The report of other travellers, +merchants, and official investigators indicate that about all of the +richest soil in Szechuen is given over to poppy cultivation, and that the +labouring classes show a noticeable decline of late in physique and +capacity for work. + +In regard to another so-called "opium province," Yunnan, we have the +following statement: "I saw practically the whole population given over to +its abuse. The ravages it is making in men, women, and children are +deplorable.... I was quite able to realize that any one who had seen the +wild abuse of opium in Yunnan would have a wild abhorrence of it." + +In later chapters we shall go into the matter more at length. Here let me +add to these statements merely a few typical scraps of information, +selected from a bundle of note-books full of records of chats and +interviews with travellers of almost every nationality and of almost every +station in life. The secretary of a life insurance company which does a +considerable business up and down the coast told me that, roughly, fifty +per cent of the Chinese who apply for insurance are opium-smokers. Another +bit comes from a man who lived for several years in an inland city of a +quarter of a million inhabitants. The local Anti-opium League had 750 +members, he said and he believed that about every other man in the city +was a smoker. "It is practically a case of everybody smoking," he +concluded. + +Twenty-five years ago, when the consumption of opium in China could hardly +have been more than half what it is to-day, a British consul estimated the +proportion of smokers in the region he had visited as follows: "Labourers +and small farmers, ten per cent.; small shopkeepers, twenty per cent.; +soldiers, thirty per cent.; merchants, eighty per cent.; officials and +their staff, ninety per cent.; actors, prostitutes, vagrants, thieves, +ninety-five per cent." The labourers and farmers, the real strength of +China, as of every other land, had not yet been overwhelmed--but they were +going under, even then. The most startling news to-day is from these lower +classes, even from the country villages, the last to give way. Dr. Parker, +the American Methodist missionary at Shanghai, informed me that reports to +this effect were coming in steadily from up country; and during my own +journey I heard the same bad news almost everywhere along a route which +measured, before I left China, something more than four thousand miles. + +Perhaps the most convincing summing up of China's predicament is found in +another translation from a recent Chinese document, this time an appeal to +the throne from four viceroys. The quaintness of the language does not, I +think, impair its effectiveness and its power as a protest: "China can +never become strong and stand shoulder and shoulder with the powers of the +world unless she can get rid of the habit of opium-smoking by her +subjects, about one quarter of whom have been reduced to skeletons and +look half-dead." + +This then is the curse which the imperial government has talked so +quaintly of "abandoning." This is the debauchery which is to be put down +by officials, ninety per cent of whom were supposed to be more or less +confirmed smokers. Such almost childlike optimism brings to mind a certain +Sunday in New York City when Theodore Roosevelt, with the whole police +force under his orders, tried to close the saloons. It brings to mind +other attempts in Europe and America, to check and control vice and +depravity--attempts which have never, I think, been wholly +successful--and one begins to understand the discouraging immensity of the +task which China has undertaken. Really, to "stop using opium" would mean +a very rearranging of the agricultural plan of the empire. It would make +necessary an immediate solution of China's transportation problem (no +other crop is so easy to carry as opium) and an almost complete +reconstruction of the imperial finances; indeed, few observers are so glib +as to suggest offhand a substitute for the immense opium revenue to the +Chinese government. And nobody to accomplish all this but those sodden +officials, of whom it is safe to guess that fifty per cent have some sort +or other of a financial stake in the traffic! + +In the minds of most of us, I think, there has been a vague notion that +the Chinese have always smoked opium, that opium is in some peculiar way a +necessity to the Chinese constitution. Even among those who know the +extraordinary history of this morbidly fascinating vegetable product, who +know that the India-grown British drug was pushed and smuggled and +bayoneted into China during a century of desperate protest and even armed +resistance from these yellow people, it has been a popular argument to +assert that the Chinese have only themselves to blame for the "demand" +that made the trade possible. Of this "demand," and of how it was worked +up by Christian traders, we shall speak at some length in later chapters. +"Educational methods" in the extending of trade can hardly be said to have +originated with the modern trust. The curious fact is that the Chinese +didn't use opium and didn't want opium. + +Your true opium-smoker stretches himself on a divan and gives up ten or +fifteen minutes to preparing his thimbleful of the brown drug. When it has +been heated and worked to the proper consistency, he places it in the tiny +bowl of his pipe, holds it over a lamp, and draws a few whiffs of the +smoke deep into his lungs. It seems, at first, a trivial thing; indeed, +the man who is well fed and properly housed and clothed seems able to keep +it up for a considerable time and without appreciable ill results. The +greater difficulty in China is, of course, that very few opium-smokers are +well fed and properly housed and clothed. + +I heard little about the beautiful dreams and visions which opium is +supposed to bring; all the smokers with whom I talked could be roughly +divided into two classes--those who smoked in order to relieve pain or +misery, and those miserable victims who smoked to relieve the acute +physical distress brought on by the opium itself. Probably the majority of +the victims take it up as a temporary relief; many begin in early +childhood; the mother will give the baby a whiff to stop its crying. It is +a social vice only among the upper classes. The most notable outward +effect of this indulgence is the resulting physical weakness and +lassitude. The opium-smoker cannot work hard; he finds it difficult to +apply his mind to a problem or his body to a task. As the habit becomes +firmly fastened on him, there is a perceptible weakening of his moral +fibre; he shows himself unequal to emergencies which make any sudden +demand upon him. If opium is denied him, he will lie and steal in order to +obtain it. + +Opium-smoking is a costly vice. A pipefull of a moderately good native +product costs more than a labourer can earn in a day; consequently the +poorer classes smoke an unspeakable compound based on pipe scrapings and +charcoal. Along the highroads the coolies even scrape the grime from the +packsaddles to mix with this dross. The clerk earning from twenty-five to +fifty Mexican dollars a month will frequently spend from ten to twenty +dollars a month on opium. The typical confirmed smoker is a man who spends +a considerable part of the night in smoking himself to sleep, and all the +next morning in sleeping off the effects. If he is able to work at all, it +is only during the afternoon, and even at that there will be many days +when the official or merchant is incompetent to conduct his affairs. +Thousands of prominent men are ruined every year. + +The Cantonese have what they call "The Ten Cannots regarding The +Opium-Smoker." "He cannot (1) give up the habit; (2) enjoy sleep; (3) wait +for his turn when sharing his pipe with his friends; (4) rise early; (5) +be cured if sick; (6) help relations in need; (7) enjoy wealth; (8) plan +anything; (9) get credit even when an old customer; (10) walk any +distance." + +This is the land into which the enterprising Christian traders introduced +opium, and into which they fed opium so persistently and forcibly that at +last a "good market" was developed. England did not set out to ruin China. +One finds no hint of a diabolical purpose to seduce and destroy a +wonderful old empire on the other side of the world. The ruin worked was +incidental to that far Eastern trade of which England has been so proud. +It was the triumph of the balance sheet over common humanity. + +And so it is to-day. British India still holds the cream of the trade, for +the Chinese grown opium cannot compete in quality with the Indian drug. +The British Indian government raises the poppy in the rich Ganges Valley +(more than six hundred thousand acres of poppies they raised there last +year), manufactures it in government factories at Patna and +Ghazipur--manufactures four-fifths of it especially to suit the Chinese +taste, and sells it at annual government auctions in Calcutta. + +The result of this traffic is so very grave that it is a difficult matter +to discuss in moderate language. To the traveller who leaves the railroad +and steamboat lines and ventures, in springless native cart or swaying +mule litter, along the sunken roads and the hills of western and +northwestern China, the havoc and misery wrought by the "white man's +smoke," the "foreign dust," becomes unpleasantly evident. Some hint of the +meaning of it, a faint impression of the terrible devastation of this +drug--let loose, as it has been, on a backward, poverty-stricken race--is +seared, hour by hour and day by day into his brain. + +A terrible drama is now being enacted in the Far East. The Chinese race is +engaged in a fight to a finish with a drug--and the odds are on the drug. + + + + +II + +THE GOLDEN OPIUM DAYS + + +In the splendid, golden days of the East India Company, the great Warren +Hastings put himself on record in these frank words: + +"Opium is a pernicious article of luxury, which ought not to be permitted +but for the purpose of foreign commerce only." The new traffic promised to +solve the Indian fiscal problem, if skillfully managed; accordingly, the +production and manufacture of opium was made a government monopoly. China, +after all, was a long way off--and Chinamen were only Chinamen. That the +East India Company might be loosing an uncontrollable monster not only on +China but on the world hardly occurred to the great Warren Hastings--the +British chickens might, a century later, come home to roost in Australia +and South Africa was too remote a possibility even for speculative +inquiry. + +Now trade supports us, governs us, controls our dependencies, represents +us at foreign courts, carries on our wars, signs our treaties of peace. +Trade, like its symbol the dollar, is neither good nor bad; it has no +patriotism, no morals, no humanity. Its logic applies with the same +relentless force and precision to corn, cotton, rice, wheat, human slaves, +oil, votes, opium. It is the power that drives human affairs; and its law +is the law of the balance sheet. So long as any commodity remains in the +currents of trade the law of trade must reign, the balance sheet must +balance. It is difficult to get a commodity into these currents, but once +you have got the commodity in, you will find it next to impossible to get +it out. There has been more than one prime minister, I fancy, more than +one secretary of state for India, who has wished the opium question in +Jericho. It is not pleasant to answer the moral indignation of the British +empire with the cynical statement that the India government cannot exist +without that opium revenue. Why, oh, why, did not the great Warren +Hastings develop the cotton rather than the opium industry! But the +interesting fact is that he did not. He chose opium, and opium it is. + +The India Government Opium Monopoly is an import factor in this +extraordinary story of a debauchery of a third of the human race by the +most nearly Christian among Christian nations. We must understand what it +is and how it works before we can understand the narrative of that greed, +with its attendant smuggling, bribery and bloodshed which has brought the +Chinese empire to its knees. 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 10th, 1907. + +It is easy, with or without evidence, to charge a great corporation or a +great government with inhuman crimes. If the charge be unjust it is +difficult for the corporation or the government to set itself right before +the people. Six truths cannot overtake one lie. That is why, in this day +of popular rule, the really irresponsible power that makes and unmakes +history lies in the hands of the journalist. As the charge I am bringing +is so serious as to be almost unthinkable, and as I wish to leave no +loophole for the counter-charge that I am colouring this statement, I +think I can do no better than to lift my description of the Opium Monopoly +bodily from that rather ponderous blue book. + +There is nothing new in this charge, nothing new in the condition which +invites it. It is rather a commonplace old condition. Millions of men, for +more than a hundred years, have taken it for granted, just as men once +took piracy for granted, just as men once took the African slave-trade for +granted, just as men to-day take the highly organized traffic in +unfortunate women and girls for granted. Ask a Tory political leader of +to-day--Mr. Balfour say--for his opinion on the opium question, and if he +thinks it worth his while to answer you at all he will probably deal +shortly with you for dragging up an absurd bit of fanaticism. For a +century or more, about all the missionaries, and goodness knows how many +other observers, have protested against this monstrous traffic in poison. +Sixty-five years ago Lord Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury) agitated +the question in Parliament. Fifty years ago he obtained from the Law +Officers of the Crown the opinion that the opium trade was "at variance" +with the "spirit and intention" of the treaty between England and China. +In 1891, the House of Commons decided by a good majority that "the system +by which the Indian opium revenue is raised is morally indefensible." And +yet, I will venture to believe that to most of my readers, British as well +as American, the bald statement that the British Indian government +actually manufactures opium on a huge scale in its own factories to suit +the Chinese taste comes with the force of a shock. It is not the sort of a +thing we like to think of as among the activities of an Anglo-Saxon +government. It would seem to be government ownership with a vengeance. + +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." + +This 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 by auction 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 for the year included 8,774 +chests of opium for the Excise Department, about 300 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. Four grains of opium, administered in one dose to a person +unaccustomed to its use, is apt to prove fatal. + +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 (L4,486,562). + +The best grade of opium-poppy bears a white blossom. One sees mauve and +pink tints in a field, at blossom-time, but only the seeds from the white +flowers are replanted. The opium of commerce is made from the gum obtained +by gashing the green seed pod with a four-bladed knife. After the first +gathering, the pod is gashed a second time, and the gum that exudes makes +an inferior quality of opium. The raw opium from the country districts is +sent down to the government factories in earthenware jars, worked up in +mixing vats, and made into balls about six or eight inches in diameter. +The balls, after a thorough drying on wooden racks, are packed in chests +and sent down to the auction. + + +[Illustration: KNEADING CRUDE OPIUM WITH OIL TO MAKE ROUND OR FLAT CAKES] + +[Illustration: MAKING ROUND CAKES OF OPIUM] + + +The men who buy in the opium at these monthly auctions and afterwards +dispose of it at the Chinese ports 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 sending 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 an 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. And +sixty-five tons of Indian opium go to China every week. + +As soon as the shipments of opium have reached Hongkong and Shanghai (I am +quoting now in part from a straightforward account by the Rev. T. G. +Selby), they are broken up and pass in the ordinary courses of trade into +the hands of retail dealers. The opium balls are stripped of the dried +leaves in which they have been packed, torn like paste dumplings into +fragments, put into an iron pan filled with water and boiled over a slow +fire. Various kinds of opium are mixed with each other, and some shops +acquire a reputation for their ingenious and tasteful blends. After the +opium has been boiled to about the consistency of coal tar or molasses, it +is put into jars and sold for daily consumption in quantities ranging from +the fiftieth part of an ounce to four or five ounces. "I am sorry to say," +observes Mr. Selby, "that the colonial governments of Hongkong and +Singapore, not content with the revenue drawn from this article by the +Anglo-Indian government, have made opium boiling a monopoly of the Crown, +and a large slice of the revenue of these two Eastern dependencies is +secured by selling the exclusive rights to farm this industry to the +highest bidder." + +The most Mr. Clean Hands has been able to say for himself is that, "Opium +is a fiscal, not a moral question;" or this, that "In the present state of +the revenue of India, it does not appear advisable to abandon so important +a source of revenue." After all, China is a long way off. So much for Mr. +Clean Hands! His partner, Dirty Hands, is more interesting. It is he who +has "built up the trade." It is he who has carried on the smuggling and +the bribing and knifing and shooting and all-round, strong-arm work which +has made the trade what it is. To be sure, as we get on in this narrative +we shall not always find the distinction between Clean and Dirty so clear +as we would like. Through the dust and smoke and red flame of all that +dirty business along "the Coast" we shall glimpse for an instant or so, +now and then, a face that looks distressingly like the face of old +Respectability himself. I have found myself in momentary bewilderment when +walking through the splendid masonry-lined streets of Hongkong, when +sitting beneath the frescoed ceiling of that pinnacled structure that +houses the most nearly Christian of parliaments, trying to believe that +this opium drama can be real. And I have wondered, and puzzled, until a +smell like the smell of China has come floating to the nostrils of memory; +until a picture of want and disease and misery--of crawling, swarming +human misery unlike anything which the untravelled Western mind can +conceive--has appeared before the eyes of memory. I have thought of those +starving thousands from the famine districts creeping into Chinkiang to +die, of those gaunt, seemed faces along the highroad that runs +southwestward from Peking to Sian-fu; I have thought of a land that knows +no dentistry, no surgery, no hygiene, no scientific medicine, no +sanitation; of a land where the smallpox is a lesser menace beside the +leprosy, plague, tuberculosis, that rage simply at will, and beside +famines so colossal in their sweep, that the overtaxed Western mind simply +refuses to comprehend them. And De Quincey's words have come to me: "What +was it that drove me into the habitual use of opium? Misery--blank +desolation--settled and abiding darkness----?" These words help to clear +it up. China was a wonderful field, ready prepared for the ravages of +opium--none better. The mighty currents of trade did the rest. The +balance sheet reigned supreme as by right. The balance sheet reigns +to-day. + +But we must get on with our narrative. I will try to pass it along in the +form in which it has presented itself to me. If Clean and Dirty appear in +closer and more puzzling alliance than we like to see them, I cannot help +that. + +It was not easy getting opium, the commodity, into the currents of trade. +There was an obstacle. The Chinese were not an opium-consuming race. They +did not use opium, they did not want opium, they steadily resisted the +inroads of opium. But the rulers of the company were far-seeing men. Tempt +misery long enough and it will take to opium. Two centuries ago when small +quantities of the drug were brought in from Java, the Chinese government +objected. In 1729 the importation was prohibited. As late as 1765, this +importation, carried on by energetic traders in spite of official +resistance, had never exceeded two hundred chests a year. But with the +advent of the company in 1773, the trade grew. In spite of a second +Chinese prohibition in 1796, half-heartedly enforced by corrupt mandarins, +the total for 1820 was 4,000 chests. The Chinese government was faced not +only with the possibility of a race debauchery but also with an immediate +and alarming drain of silver from the country. The balance of the trade +was against them. Either as an economic or moral problem, the situation +was grave. + +The smoking of opium began in China and is peculiar to the Chinese. The +Hindoos and Malays eat it. Complicated and wide-spread as the smoking +habit is to-day, it is a modern custom as time runs in China. There seems +to be little doubt in the minds of those Sinologues who have traced the +opium thread back to the tangle of early missionary reports and imperial +edicts, that the habit started either in Formosa or on the mainland across +the Straits, where malaria is common. Opium had been used, generations +before, as a remedy for malaria; and these first smokers seem to have +mixed a little opium with their tobacco, which had been introduced by the +Portuguese in the early seventeenth century. From this beginning, it would +appear, was developed the rather elaborate outfit which the opium-smoker +of to-day considers necessary to his pleasure. + +Nothing but solid Anglo-Saxon persistence had enabled the company to +build up the trade. Seven years after their first small adventure, or in +1780, a depot of two small receiving hulks was established in Lark's Bay, +south of Macao. A year later the company freighted a ship to Canton, but +finding no demand were obliged to sell the lot of 1,600 chests at a loss +to Sinqua, a Canton "Hong-merchant," who, not being able to dispose of it +to advantage, reshipped it. The price in that year was $550 (Mexican) a +chest; Sinqua had paid the company only $200, but even at a bargain he +found no market. Meantime, in the words of a "memorandum," prepared by +Joshua Rowntree for the debate in parliament last year, "British merchants +spread the habit up and down the coast; opium store-ships armed as +fortresses were moored at the mouth of the Canton River." + +In 1782, the company's supercargoes at Canton wrote to Calcutta: "The +importation of opium being strongly prohibited by the Chinese government, +and a business altogether new to us, it was necessary for us to take our +measures (for disposing of a cargo) with the utmost caution." + +This "business altogether new to us" was, of course, plain smuggling. From +the first it had been necessary to arm the smuggling vessels; and as +these grew in number the Chinese sent out an increasing number of armed +revenue junks or cruisers. The traders usually found it possible to buy +off the commanders of the revenue junks, but as this could not be done in +every case it was inevitable that there should be encounters now and then, +with occasional loss of life. These affrays soon became too frequent to be +ignored. + +Meantime the British government had succeeded the company in the rule of +India and the control of the far Eastern trade. As this trade was from two +thirds to four-fifths opium, a prohibited article, and as the whole +question of trade was complicated by the fact that China was ignorant of +the greatness and power of the Western nations and did not care to treat +or deal with them in any event, a government trade agent had been sent out +to Canton to look after British interests and in general to fill the +position of a combined consul and unaccredited minister. In the late +1830's this agent, Captain Charles Elliot (successor to Lord Napier, the +first agent), found himself in the delicate position of protecting English +smugglers, who were steadily drawing their country towards war because +the Chinese government was making strong efforts to drive them out of +business. From what Captain Elliot has left on record it is plain that he +was having a bad time of it. In 1837, he wrote to Lord Palmerston of "the +wide-spreading public mischief" arising from "the steady continuance of a +vast, prohibited traffic in an article of vicious luxury," and suggested +that "a gradual check to our own growth and imports would be salutary." +Two years later he wrote that "the Chinese government have a just ground +for harsh measures towards the lawful trade, upon the plea that there is +no distinction between the right and the wrong." + +He even said: "No man entertains a deeper detestation of the disgrace and +sin of this forced traffic;" and, "I see little to choose between it and +piracy." But when the war cloud broke, and responsibility for the welfare +of Britain's subjects and trade interests in China devolved upon him, he +compromised. "It does not consort with my station," he wrote, "to sanction +measures of general and undistinguishing violence against His Majesty's +officers and subjects." + +It will be interesting before we consider the opium war and its immense +significance in history, to glance over the attitude of the company and +later of its successor, the government, towards the whole miserable +business. The company's board of directors, in 1817, had sent this +dispatch from Calcutta in answer to a question, "Were it possible to +prevent the using of the drug altogether, except strictly for the purpose +of medicine, we would gladly do it in compassion to mankind." + +It would be pleasant to believe that the East India Company was sincere in +this ineffective if well-phrased expression of "compassion." The spectacle +of a great corporation in any century giving up a lucrative traffic on +merely human and moral grounds would be illuminating and uplifting. But +unfortunate business corporations are, in their very nature, slaves of the +balance sheet, organized representatives of the mighty laws of trade. I +have already quoted enough evidence to show that the company was not only +awake to the dangers of opium, but that it had deliberately and +painstakingly worked up the traffic. Had there been, then, a change of +heart in the directorate? I fear not. Among the East Indian +correspondence of 1830, this word from the company's governor-general came +to light: "We are taking measures for extending the cultivation of the +poppy, with a view to a larger increase in the supply of opium." And in +this same year, 1830, a House of Commons committee reported that "The +trade, which is altogether contraband, has been largely extended of late +years." + +G. H. M. Batten, a formal official of the Indian Civil Service, who +contributed the chapter on opium in Sir John Strachey's work on "India, +its Administration and Progress," has been regarded of late years as one +of the ablest defenders of the whole opium policy. He believes that "The +daily use of opium in moderation is not only harmless but of positive +benefit, and frequently even a necessity of life." This man, seeing little +but good in opium, doubts "if it ever entered into the conception of the +court of directors to suppress in the interests of morality the +cultivation of the poppy." + +Perhaps the most striking testimony bearing against the policy of the +company was that given by Robert Inglis, of Canton, a partner in the large +opium-trading firm of Dent & Co., to the Select Committee on China Trade +(House of Commons, 1840). Here it is: + +Mr. Inglis.--"I told him (Captain Elliot) that I was sure the thing could +not go on." + +Mr. Gladstone.--"How long ago have you told him that you were sure the +thing could not go on?" + +Mr. Inglis.--"For four or five years past." + +Chairman.--"What gave you that impression?" + +Mr. Inglis.--"An immense quantity of opium being forced upon the Chinese +every year, and that in its turn forcing it up the coast in our vessels." + +Chairman.--"When you use the words 'forcing it upon them,' do you mean +that they were not voluntary purchasers?" + +Mr. Inglis.--"No, but the East India Company were increasing the quantity +of opium almost every year, without reference to the demand in China; that +is to say, there was always an immense supply of opium in China, and the +company still kept increasing the quantity at lower prices." + +Three years later, just after the war, Sir George Staunton, speaking from +experience as a British official in the East, said in the House of +Commons, "I never denied the fact that if there had been no opium +smuggling there would have been no war. + +"Even if the opium habit had been permitted to run its natural course, if +it had not received an extraordinary impulse from the measures taken by +the East India Company to promote its growth, which almost quadrupled the +supply, I believe it would never have created that extraordinary alarm in +the Chinese authorities which betrayed them into the adoption of a sort of +_coup d' etat_ for its suppression." + +Sir William Muir, some time lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Provinces +of India, is on record thus: "By increasing its supply of 'provision' +opium, it (the Bengal government) has repeatedly caused a glut in the +Chinese market, a collapse of prices in India, an extensive bankruptcy and +misery in Malwa." + +The most interesting summing-up of the whole question I have seen is from +the pen of Sir Arthur Cotton, who wrote after sixty years' experience in +Indian affairs, protesting against "continuing this trading upon the sins +and miseries of the greatest nation in the world in respect of +population, on the ground of our needing the money." + +What was China doing to protect herself from these aggressions? The +British merchants and the British trade agent had by this time worked into +the good-will of the Chinese merchants and the corrupt mandarins, and had +finally established their residence at Canton and their depot of +store-ships at Whampoa, a short journey down the river. In 1839 there were +about 20,000 chests of opium stored in these hulks. In that same year the +Chinese emperor sent a powerful and able official named Lin Tse-hsu from +Peking to Canton with orders to put down the traffic at any cost. +Commissioner Lin was a man of unusual force. He perfectly understood the +situation in so far as it concerned China. He had his orders. He knew what +they meant. He proposed to put them into effect. There was only one +important consideration which he seems to have overlooked--it was that +India "needed the money." His proposal that the foreign agents deliver up +their stores of "the prohibited article" did not meet with an immediate +response. The traders had not the slightest notion of yielding up 20,000 +chests of opium, worth, at that time, $300 a chest. Lin's appeals to the +most nearly Christian of queens, were no more successful. He did not seem +to understand that China was a long way off; it was very close to him. +Here is a translation of what he had to say. To our eyes to-day, it seems +fairly intelligent, even reasonable: + +"Though not making use of it one's self, to venture on the manufacture and +sale of it (opium) and with it to seduce the simple folk of this land is +to seek one's own livelihood by the exposure of others to death. Such acts +are bitterly abhorrent to the nature of man and are utterly opposed to the +ways of heaven. We would now then concert with your 'Hon. Sovereignty' +means to bring a perpetual end to this opium traffic so hurtful to +mankind, we in this land forbidding the use of it and you in the nations +under your dominion forbidding its manufacture." + +Her "Hon. Sovereignty," if she ever saw this appeal (which may be +doubted), neglected to reply. Meeting with small consideration from the +traders, as from their sovereign, Commissioner Lin set about carrying out +his orders. There was an admirable thoroughness in his methods. He +surrounded the residence of the traders, Captain Elliot's among them, +with an army of howling, drum-beating Chinese soldiers, and again proposed +that they deliver up those 20,000 chests. Now, the avenues of trade do not +lead to martyrdom. Traders rarely die for their principles--they prefer +living for them. The 20,000 chests were delivered up, with a rapidity that +was almost haste; and the merchants, under the leadership of the agent, +withdrew to the doubtful shelter of their own guns, down the river. +Commissioner Lin, still with that exasperatingly thorough air, mixed the +masses of opium with lime and emptied it into the sea. England, her +dignity outraged, hurt at her tenderest point, sent out ships, men and +money. She seized port after port; bombarded and took Canton; swept +victoriously up the Yangtse, and by blocking the Grand Canal at Chinkiang +interrupted the procession of tribute junks sailing up the Peking and thus +cut off an important source of the Chinese imperial revenue. This resulted +in the treaty of Nanking, in 1843, which was negotiated by the British +government by Sir Henry Pottinger. + +Sir Henry, like Commissioner Lin, had his orders. His methods, like Lin's, +were admirable in their thoroughness. He secured the following terms from +the crestfallen Chinese government: 1. There was to be a "lasting peace" +between the two nations. 2. Canton, Amoy, Foochou, Ningpo, and Shanghai +were to be open as "treaty ports." 3. The Island of Hongkong was to be +ceded to Great Britain. 4. An indemnity of $21,000,000 was to be paid, +$6,000,000 as the value of the opium destroyed, $3,000,000 for the +destruction of the property of British subjects, and $12,000,000 for the +expenses of the war. It was further understood that the British were to +hold the places they had seized until these and a number of other +humiliating conditions were to be fulfilled. Thus was the energy and +persistence of the opium smugglers rewarded. Thus began that partition of +China which has been going on ever since. It is difficult to be a +Christian when far from home. + +It is difficult to get an admission even to-day, from a thorough-going +British trader, that opium had anything to do with the war of 1840-43. He +is likely to insist either that the war was caused by the refusal of +Chinese officials to admit English representatives on terms of equality, +or that it was caused by "the stopping of trade." There was, indeed, a +touch of the naively Oriental in the attitude of China. To the Chinese +official mind, China was the greatest of nations, occupying something like +five-sixths of the huge flat disc called the world. England, Holland, +Spain, France, Portugal, and Japan were small islands crowded in between +the edge of China and the rim of the disc. That these small nations should +wish to trade with "the Middle Kingdom" and to bring tribute to the "Son +of Heaven," was not unnatural. But that the "Son of Heaven" must admit +them whether he liked or not, and as equals, was preposterous. Stripping +these notions of their quaint Orientalism, they boiled down to the simple +principle that China recognized no law of earth or heaven which could +force her to admit foreign traders, foreign ministers, or foreign +religions if she preferred to live by herself and mind her own business. +That China has minded her own business and does mind her own business is, +I think, indisputable. + +The notions which animated the English were equally simple. Stripped of +their quaint Occidental shell of religion and respectability and theories +of personal liberty, they seem to boil down to about this--that China was +a great and undeveloped market and therefore the trading nations had a +right to trade with her willy-nilly, and any effective attempt to stop +this trade was, in some vague way, an infringement of their rights as +trading nations. In maintaining this theory, it is necessary for us to +forget that opium, though a "commodity," was an admittedly vicious and +contraband commodity, to be used "for purposes of foreign commerce only." + +In providing that there should be a "lasting peace" between the two +nations, it was probably the idea to insure British traders against +attack, or rather to provide a technical excuse for reprisals in case of +such attacks. But for some reason nothing whatever was said about opium in +the treaty. Now opium was more than ever the chief of the trade. England +had not the slightest notion of giving it up; on the contrary, opium +shipments were increased and the smuggling was developed to an +extraordinary extent. How a "lasting peace" was to be maintained while +opium, the cause of all the trouble, was still unrecognized by either +government as a legitimate commodity, while, indeed, the Chinese, however +chastened and humiliated, were still making desperate if indirect efforts +to keep it out of the country and the English were making strong efforts +to get it into the country, is a problem I leave to subtler minds. The +upshot was, of course, that the "lasting peace" did not last. Within +fifteen years there was another war. By the second treaty (that of +Tientsin, 1858) Britain secured 4,000,000 taels of indemnity money (about +$3,000,000), the opening of five more treaty ports, toleration for the +Christian religion, and the admission of opium under a specified tariff. +The Tientsin Treaty legalized Christianity and opium. China had defied the +laws of trade, and had learned her lesson. It had been a costly +lesson--$24,000,000 in money, thousands of lives, the fixing on the race +of a soul-blighting vice, the loss of some of her best seaports, more, the +loss of her independence as a nation--but she had learned it. And +therefore, except for a crazy outburst now and then as the foreign grip +grew tighter, she was to submit. + +But China's trouble was not over. If she was to be debauched whether or +no, must she also be ruined financially? There were the indemnity payments +to meet, with interest; and no way of meeting them other than to squeeze +tighter a poverty-stricken nation which was growing more poverty-stricken +as her silver drained steadily off to the foreigners. There was a solution +to the problem--a simple one. It was to permit the growth of opium in +China itself, supplant the Indian trade, keep the silver at home. But +China was slow to adopt this solution. It might solve the fiscal problem; +but incidentally it might wreck China. She sounded England on the +subject,--once, twice. There seemed to have been some idea that England, +convinced that China had her own possibility of crowding out the Indian +drug, might, after all, give up the trade, stop the production in India, +and make the great step unnecessary. But England could not see it in that +light. China wavered, then took the great step. The restrictions on +opium-growing were removed. This was probably a mistake, though opinions +still differ about that. To the men who stood responsible for a solution +of Chinese fiscal problem it doubtless seemed necessary. At all events, +the last barrier between China and ruin was removed by the Chinese +themselves. And within less than half a century after the native growth of +the poppy began, the white and pink and mauve blossoms have spread across +the great empire, north and south, east and west, until to-day, in +blossom-time almost every part of every province has its white and mauve +patches. You may see them in Manchuria, on the edge of the great desert of +Gobi, within a dozen miles of Peking; you may see them from the headwaters +of the mighty Yangtse to its mouth, up and down the coast for two thousand +miles, on the distant borders of Thibet. + +No one knows how much opium was grown in China last year. There are +estimates--official, missionary, consular; and they disagree by thousands +and tens of thousands of tons. But it is known that where the delicate +poppy is reared, it demands and receives the best land. It thrives in the +rich river-bottoms. It has crowded out grain and vegetables wherever it +has spread, and has thus become a contributing factor to famines. Its +product, opium, has run over China like a black wave, leaving behind it a +misery, a darkness, a desolation that has struck even the Chinese, even +its victims, with horror. China has passed from misery to disaster. And as +if the laws of trade had chosen to turn capriciously from their inexorable +business and wreak a grim joke on a prostrate race, the solution, the +great step, has failed in its purpose. The trade in Indian opium has been +hurt, to be sure, but not supplanted. It will never be supplanted until +the British government deliberately puts it down. For the Chinese cannot +raise opium which competes in quality with the Indian drug. Indian opium +is in steady demand for the purpose of mixing with Chinese opium. No +duties can keep it out; duties simply increase the cost to the Chinese +consumer, simply ruin him a bit more rapidly. So authoritative an expert +as Sir Robert Hart, director of the Chinese imperial customs, had hoped +that the great step would prove effective. In "These from the Land of +Sinim" he has expressed his hope: + +"Your legalized opium has been a cure in every province it penetrates, and +your refusal to limit or decrease the import has forced us to attempt a +dangerous remedy--legalized native opium--not because we approve of it, +but to compete with and drive out the foreign drug; and it is expelling +it, and when we have only the native production to deal with, and thus +have the business in our own hands, we hope to stop the habit in our own +way." + +The great step has failed. Indian opium has not been expelled. For the +Chinese to put down the native drug without stopping the import is +impossible as well as useless. The Chinese seem determined, in one way or +another, to put down both. Once, again, after a weary century of struggle, +they have approached the British government. Once again the British +government has been driven from the Scylla of healthy Anglo-Saxon moral +indignation to the Charybdis behind that illuminating phrase--"India needs +the money." Twenty million dollars is a good deal of money. The balance +sheet reigns; and the balance sheet is an exacting ruler, even if it has +triumphed over common decency, over common morality, over common humanity. + + * * * * * + +Will you ride with me (by rickshaw) along the International Bund at +Shanghai--beyond the German Club and the Hongkong Bank--over the little +bridge that leads to Frenchtown--past a half mile of warehouses and +chanting coolies and big yellow Hankow steamers--until we turn out on the +French Bund? It is a raw, cloudy, March morning; the vendors of queer +edibles who line the curbing find it warmer to keep their hands inside +their quilted sleeves. + + +[Illustration: AN OPIUM RECEIVING SHIP OR "GODOWN" AT SHANGHAI The +Imported Indian Opium is Stored in These Ships Until it Passes the Chinese +Imperial Customs] + +[Illustration: THE OPIUM HULKS OF SHANGHAI "They Symbolize China's +Degredation"] + + +It is a lively day on the river. Admiral Brownson's fleet of white +cruisers lie at anchor in midstream. A lead-gray British cruiser swings +below them, an anachronistic Chinese gunboat lower still. Big black +merchantmen fill in the view--a P. and O. ship is taking on coal--a +two-hundred-ton junk with red sails moves by. Nearer at hand, from the +stone quay outward, the river front is crowded close with sampans and +junks, rows on rows of them, each with its round little house of yellow +matting, each with its swarm of brown children, each with its own pungent +contribution to the all-pervasive odour. Gaze out through the forests of +masts, if you please, and you will see two old hulks, roofed with what +looks suspiciously like shingles, at anchor beyond. They might be ancient +men-of-war, pensioned off to honourable decay. You can see the square +outline of what once were portholes, boarded up now. The carved, wooden +figure-heads at the prow of each are chipped and blackened with age and +weather. What are they and why do they lie here in mid-channel, where +commerce surges about them? + +These are the opium hulks of Shanghai. In them is stored the opium which +the government of British India has grown and manufactured for consumption +in China. They symbolize China's degradation. + + + + +III + +A GLIMPSE INTO AN OPIUM PROVINCE + + +The opium provinces of China--that is, the provinces which have been most +nearly completely ruined by opium--lie well back in the interior. They +cover, roughly, an area 1,200 miles long by half as wide, say about +one-third the area of the United States; and they support, after a +fashion, a population of about 160,000,000. There had been plenty of +evidence obtainable at Shanghai, Hankow, Peking, and Tientsin, of the +terrible ravages of opium in these regions, but it seemed advisable to +make a journey into one of these unfortunate provinces and view the +problem at short range. The nearest and most accessible was Shansi +Province. It lies to the west and southwest of Peking, behind the blue +mountains which one sees from the Hankow-Peking Railroad. There seemed to +be no doubt that the opium curse could there be seen at its worst. +Everybody said so--legation officials, attaches, merchants, missionaries. +Dr. Piell, of the London Mission hospital at Peking, estimated that ninety +per cent. of the men, women, and children in Shansi smoke opium. He called +in one of his native medical assistants, who happened to be a Shansi man, +and the assistant observed, with a smile, that ninety per cent. seemed +pretty low as an estimate. Another point in Shansi's favour was that the +railroads were pushing rapidly through to T'ai Tuan-fu, the capital (and +one of the oldest cities in oldest China). So I picked up an interpreter +at the _Grand Hotel des Wagon-lits_, and went out there. + + +[Illustration: THE VILLAGES WERE LITTLE MORE THAN HEAPS OF RUINS These +Holes in the Ground are Occupied by Formerly Well-to-do Opium Smokers] + +[Illustration: AT LAST HE CRAWLS OUT ON THE HIGHWAY, WHINING, CHATTERING +AND PRAYING THAT A FEW COPPER CASH BE THROWN TO HIM] + + +The new Shansi railroad was not completed through to Tai-Yuan-fu, the +provincial capital, and it was necessary to journey for several days by +cart and mule-litter. While this sort of travelling is not the most +comfortable in the world, it has the advantage of bringing one close to +the life that swarms along the highroad, and of making it easier to gather +facts and impressions. + +Every hour or so, as the cart crawls slowly along, you come upon a dusty +gray village nestling in a hollow or clinging to the hillside. And nearly +every village is a little more than a heap of ruins. I was prepared to +find ruins, but not to such an extent. When I first drew John, the +interpreter's, attention to them, he said, "Too much years." As an +explanation this was not satisfactory, because many of the ruined +buildings were comparatively new--certainly, too new to fall to pieces. At +the second village John made another guess at the cause of such complete +disaster. "Poor--too poor," he said, and then traced it back to the last +famine, about which, he found, the peasants were still talking. "Whole lot +o' mens die," he explained. It was later on that I got at the main +contributing cause of the wreck and ruin which one finds almost everywhere +in Shansi Province, after I had picked up, through John and his cook, the +roadside gossip of many days during two or three hundred miles of travel, +after I had talked with missionaries of life-long experience, with +physicians who are devoting their lives to work among these misery-ridden +people, with merchants, travellers, and Chinese and Manchu officials. + +Before we take up in detail the ravages of opium throughout this and other +provinces, I wish to say a word about one source of information, which +every observer of conditions in China finds, sooner or later, that he is +forced to employ. Along the China coast one hears a good deal of talk +about the "missionary question." Many of the foreign merchants abuse the +missionaries. I will confess that the "anti-missionary" side had been so +often and so forcibly presented to me that before I got away from the +coast I unconsciously shared the prejudice. But now, brushing aside the +exceptional men on both sides of the controversy, and ignoring for the +moment the deeper significance of it, let me give the situation as it +presented itself to me before I left China. + +There are many foreign merchants who study the language, travel +extensively, and speak with authority on things Chinese. But the typical +merchant of the treaty port, that is, the merchant whom one hears so +loudly abusing the missionaries, does not speak the language. He transacts +most of his business through his Chinese "_Compradore_," and apparently +divides the chief of his time between the club, the race-track, and +various other places of amusement. This sort of merchant is the kind most +in evidence, and it is he who contributes most largely to the +anti-missionary feeling "back home." The missionaries, on the other hand, +almost to a man, speak, read, and write one or more native dialects. They +live among the Chinese, and, in order to carry on their work at all, they +must be continually studying the traditions, customs, and prejudices of +their neighbours. In almost every instance the missionaries who supplied +me with information were more conservative than the British and American +diplomatic, consular, military, and medical observers who have travelled +in the opium provinces. I have since come to the conclusion that the +missionaries are over-conservative on the opium question, probably +because, being constantly under fire as "fanatics" and "enthusiasts," they +unconsciously lean too far towards the side of under-statement. The +published estimates of Dr. Du Bose, of Soochow, president of the +Anti-opium League, are much more conservative than those of Mr. Alex +Hosie, the British commercial _attache_ and former consul-general. Dr. +Parker, of Shanghai, the gentlemen of the London Mission, the American +Board, and the American Presbyterian Missions at Peking, scores of other +missionaries whom I saw in their homes in the interior or at the +missionary conference at Shanghai, and Messrs. Gaily, Robertson, and +Lewis, of the International Young Men's Christian Association, all +impressed me as men whose opinions were based on information and not on +prejudice. Dr. Morrison, the able Peking correspondent of the London +_Times_, said to me when I arrived at the capital, "You ought to talk with +the missionaries." I did talk with them, and among many different sources +of information I found them worthy of the most serious consideration. + +The phrase, "opium province," means, in China, that an entire province +(which, in extent and in political outline, may be roughly compared to one +of the United States) has been ravaged and desolated by opium. It means +that all classes, all ages, both sexes, are sodden with the drug; that all +the richer soil, which in such densely-populated regions, is absolutely +needed for the production of food, is given over to the poppy; that the +manufacture of opium, of pipes, of lamps, and of the various other +accessories, has become a dominating industry; that families are wrecked, +that merchants lose their acumen, and labourers their energy; that after a +period of wide-spread debauchery and enervation, economic, as well as +moral and physical disaster, settles down over the entire region. The +population of these opium provinces ranges from fifteen or twenty million +to eighty million. + +"In Shansi," I have quoted an official as saying, "everybody smokes +opium." Another cynical observer has said that "eleven out of ten Shansi +men are opium-smokers." In one village an English traveller asked some +natives how many of the inhabitants smoked opium, and one replied, +indicating a twelve-year-old child, "That boy doesn't." Still another +observer, an English scientist, who was born in Shansi, who speaks the +dialect as well as he speaks English, and who travels widely through the +remoter regions in search of rare birds and animals, puts the proportion +of smokers as low as seventy-five per cent. of the total population. I had +some talks with this man at T'ai Yuan-fu, and later at Tientsin, and I +found his information so precise and so interesting that I asked him one +day to dictate to a stenographer some random observations on the opium +problem in Shansi. These few paragraphs make up a very small part of what +I have heard him and others say, but they are so grimly picturesque, and +they give so accurately the sense of the mass of notes and interviews +which fill my journal of the Shansi trip, that it has seemed to me I could +do no better than to print them just as he talked them off on that +particular day at Tientsin. + +"The opium-growers always take the best piece of land," he said, "in their +land--the best fertilized, and with the most water upon it. They find that +it pays them a great deal better than growing wheat or anything else. +Around Chao Cheng, especially, they grow opium to a large extent just +beside the rivers, where they can get plenty of water. The seeds are sown +about the beginning of May, and they have to be transplanted. It takes +until about the middle of July before the opium ripens. Just before it is +ripe men are employed to cut the seed pods, when a white sap exudes, and +this dries upon the pod and turns brown, and in about a week after it has +been cut they come around and scrape it off. The wages are from twenty to +thirty cents (Mexican) per day. Men and women are employed in the work. +The heads of the poppy are all cut off, when they are dried and stored +away for the seed of the next year. + +"It is a very fragile crop, and until it gets to be nine inches high it is +very easily broken. The full-grown poppy plant is from three to four feet +high. The Chao Cheng opium is considered the best. + +"In the Chao Cheng district the people have been more or less ruined by +opium. I have heard of a family, a man and his wife, who had only one suit +of clothes between them. + +"In Taiku there is a large family by the name of Meng, perhaps the +wealthiest family in the province of Shansi. For the past few years they +have been steadily going down, simply from the fact that the heads of the +family have become opium-smokers. In Taiku there is a large fair held each +year, and all the old bronzes, porcelains, furniture, etc., that this +family possesses are sold. Last year enough of their possessions were on +sale to stock ten or twelve small shops at the fair. + +"Another man, a rich man in Jen Tsuen, possessed a fine summer residence +previous to 1900. This residence contained several large houses and some +fine trees and shrubs, but during the last seven years he has taken to +opium and has been steadily going down. He has been selling out this +residence, pulling down the houses and cutting down the trees, and selling +the wood and old bricks. He is now a beggar in the streets of Jen Tsuen. + +"All through the hills west of Tai Yuan-fu the peasants are addicted to +the use of opium. About seventy per cent. of the population take opium in +one form or another. I was speaking to a number of them who had come into +an inn at which I was stopping. I asked them if they wanted to give up the +use of opium. They said yes, but that they had not the means to do so. +Everybody would like to give it up. The women smoke, as well as the men. + +"The smoker does not trouble himself to plant seeds, nor to go out. + +"The houses in Shansi are very good; in fact, they are better than in +other provinces, but they are rapidly going to ruin owing to the excessive +smoking of opium, and wherever one goes the ruins are seen on every side. +On the roads the people can get a little money by selling things, but off +the main roads the distress is worse than anywhere else. + +"Up in the hills I stopped at a village and inquired if they had any food +for sale, and they told me that they had nothing but frozen potatoes. So I +asked to be shown those, and I went into one of the hovels and found +little potatoes, perhaps one-half an inch across, frozen, and all strewn +over the _kang_ (the brick bed), where they were drying. As soon as they +were dry, they were to be ground down into a meal of which dumplings were +made, and these were steamed. That was their only diet, and had been for +the past month. They had no money at all. What money they had possessed +had been spent on opium, and they could not expect anything to make up the +crop of potatoes the following autumn. I noticed in a basin a few dried +sticks, and I asked what they were for, and the man told me they were the +sticks taken from the sieve through which the opium was filtered for +purification. These sticks are soaked in hot water, and the water, which +contains a little opium, is drunk. They were using this in place of opium. +I gave this man twenty cents, and the next day when I returned he was +enjoying a pipe of opium. + +"While passing through an iron-smelting village I noticed that the +blacksmiths who beat up the pig iron were regular living skeletons. They +work from about five in the morning until about five in the evening, +stopping twice during that time for meals. When they leave off in the +evening, after a hasty meal they start with their pipes and go on until +they are asleep. I do not know how these men can work. I presume that it +was the hard work that made them take to opium-smoking. + +"On asking people why they had taken to the drug, they invariably replied +that it was for the cure of a pain of some sort--for relieving the +suffering. The women often take to it after childbirth, and this is +generally what starts them to smoking. + +"The wealthier men who smoke opium nearly all day cannot enter another +room until this room has first been filled with the fumes of opium. Some +one has to go into the room first and smoke a few pipes, so that the air +of the room may be in proper condition. + +"There was an official in Shau-ying who used to keep six slave girls going +all day filling his pipes. The slave girls and brides very often try to +commit suicide by eating opium, owing to the harsh treatment they +receive." + +Everywhere along the highroad and in the cities and villages of Shansi you +see the opium face. The opium-smoker, like the opium-eater, rapidly loses +flesh when the habit has fixed itself on him. The colour leaves his skin, +and it becomes dry, like parchment. His eye loses whatever light and +sparkle it may have had, and becomes dull and listless. The opium face has +been best described as a "peculiarly withered and blasted countenance." +With this face is usually associated a thin body and a languid gait. Opium +gets such a powerful grip on a confirmed smoker that it is usually unsafe +for him to give up the habit without medical aid. His appetite is taken +away, his digestion is impaired, there is congestion of the various +internal organs, and congestion of the lungs. Constipation and diarrhoea +result, with pain all over the body. By the time he has reached this +stage, the smoker has become both physically and mentally weak and +inactive. With his intellect deadened, his physical and moral sense +impaired, he sinks into laziness, immorality, and debauchery. He has lost +his power of resistance to disease, and becomes predisposed to colds, +bronchitis, diarrhoea, dysentery, and dyspepsia. Brigade Surgeon J. H. +Condon, M. D., M. R. C. S., speaking of opium-eaters before the Royal +Commission on Opium, said: "They become emaciated and debilitated, +miserable-looking wretches, and finally die, most commonly of diarrhoea +induced by the use of opium." + +When a man has got himself into this condition, he must have opium, and +must have it all the time. I have already pointed out that opium-smoking +not only is perhaps the most expensive of the vices, but that, unlike +opium-eating, it consumes an immense amount of time. Few smokers can keep +slaves to fill their pipes for them, like that wealthy official at +Shau-ying. It takes a seasoned smoker from fifteen minutes to half an hour +to prepare a pipe to his satisfaction, smoke it, and rouse himself to +begin the operation again. If he smokes ten or twenty pipes a day, which +is common, and then sleeps off the effects, it is not hard to figure out +the number of hours left for business each day. When he has slept, and the +day is well started, his body at once begins to clamour for more opium. He +must begin smoking again, or he will suffer an agony of physical and +mental torture. His ten to twenty pipes a day will cost him from fifty +cents or a dollar (if he is a poor man and smokes the scrapings from the +rich man's pipe), to ten or twenty dollars (or more, if he smokes a high +grade of opium). I learned of many wealthy merchants and officials who +smoke from forty to sixty pipes a day. + +It is just at this period, when the smoker is so enslaved by the drug that +he has lost his earning power, that his opium expenditure increases most +rapidly. He is buying opium now, not so much to gratify his selfish vice, +as to keep himself alive. He becomes frantic for opium. He will sell +anything he has to buy the stuff. His moral sense is destroyed. A +diseased, decrepit, insane being, he forgets even his family. He sells his +bric-a-brac, his pictures, his furniture. He sells his daughters, even his +wife, if she has attractions, as slaves to rich men. He tears his house to +pieces, sells the tiles of his roof, the bricks of his walls, the woodwork +about his doors and windows. He cuts down the trees in his yard and sells +the wood. And at last he crawls out on the highway, digs himself a cave in +the loess (if he has strength enough), and prostrates himself before the +camel and donkey drivers, whining, chattering, praying that a few copper +cash be thrown to him. + +Since there are no statistics in China, I can give the reader only the +observations and impressions of a traveller. But Shansi Province is full +of ruins. So are Szechuan and Yunnan and Kuei-chow, and half a dozen +others. It is with the province as a whole much as it is with the +individuals of that province. The raising of opium to supply this enormous +demand crowds off the land the grains and vegetables that are absolutely +needed for human food. The manufacture of opium and its accessories +absorbs the energy and capital that should go into legitimate industry. +The government of the province and the government of the empire have +become so dependent on the immense revenue from the taxation of this +"vicious article of luxury" that they dare not give it up. In the body +politic an unhealthy condition not only exists, but also controls. +Drifting into it half-consciously, the province has been sapped by a +vicious economic habit. That is what is the matter with Shansi. That is +what is the matter with China. All the way along my route in Shansi I +photographed the ruins that typify the disaster which has overtaken this +opium province. And a few of these photographs are reproduced here, all +showing houses of men who were well-to-do only a few years ago. It will be +plainly seen from the cuts, I think, that these ruins are not the result +of age. The sun-dried bricks of the walls show few signs of crumbling. +The walls themselves are not weather-beaten, and have evidently been +destroyed by the hand of man, and not by time. + + +[Illustration: WRECK AND RUIN IN CHINA These Houses were Torn Down by +their Owners, the Woodwork and Bricks Sold, and the Money Used to Purchase +Opium] + + + + +IV + +CHINA'S SINCERITY + + +China is the land of paradox. If it is an absolute, despotic monarchy, it +is also a very democratic country, with its self-made men, its powerful +public opinion, and a "states' rights" question of its own. It is one of +the most corrupt of nations; on the other hand, the standard of personal +and commercial honesty is probably higher in China than in any other +country in the world. Woman, in China, is made to serve; her status is so +low that it would be a discourtesy even to ask a man if he has a daughter: +yet the ablest ruler China has had in many centuries is a woman. It is a +land where the women wear socks and trousers, and the men wear stockings +and robes; where a man shakes his own hand, not yours; where white, not +black, is a sign of mourning; where the compass points south, not north; +where books are read backward, not forward; where names and titles are put +in reverse order, as in our directories--Theodore Roosevelt would be +Roosevelt Theodore in China, Uncle Sam would be Sam Uncle; where fractions +are written upside down, as 8/5, not 5/8; where a bride wails bitterly as +she is carried to her wedding, and a man laughs when he tells you of his +mother's death. + +Chinese life, or the phases of it that you see along the highroads of the +northwest, would appear to be a very simple, honest life, industrious, +methodical, patient in poverty. The men, even of the lowest classes, are +courteous to a degree that would shame a Frenchman. I have seen my two +soldiers, who earned ten or twenty cents, Mexican, a day, greet my cook +with such grace and charm of manner that I felt like a crude barbarian as +I watched them. The simplicity and industry of this life, as it presented +itself to me, seemed directly opposed to any violence or outrage. Yet only +seven years ago Shansi Province was the scene of one of the most atrocious +massacres in history, modern or ancient. During a few weeks, in the summer +of 1900, one hundred and fifty-nine white foreigners, men, women, and +children, were killed within the province, forty-six of them in the city +of T'ai Yuan-fu. The massacre completely wiped out the mission churches +and schools and the opium refuges, the only missionaries who escaped being +those who happened to be away on leave at the time. The attack was not +directed at the missionaries as such, but at the foreigners in general. It +was widely believed among the peasantry that the foreign devils made a +practice of cutting out the eyes, tongues, and various other organs of +children and women and shipping them, for some diabolical purpose, out of +the country. The slaughter was directed, from beginning to end, by the +rabid Manchu governor, Yue Hsien, and some of the butchering was done by +soldiers under his personal command. But the interesting fact is that the +docile, long-suffering people of Shansi did some butchering on their own +account, as soon as the word was passed around that no questions would be +asked by the officials. + +Apparently, the Shansi peasant can be at one time simple, industrious, +loyal, and at another time a slaying, ravishing maniac. The Chinaman +himself is the greatest paradox of all. He is the product of a +civilization which sprang from a germ and has developed in a soil and +environment different from anything within our Western range of +experience. Naturally he does not see human relations as we see them. His +habits and customs are enough different from ours to appear bizarre to us; +but they are no more than surface evidences of the difference between his +mind and ours. Thanks to our strong racial instinct, we can be fairly +certain of what an Anglo-Saxon, or even a European, will think in certain +deeply human circumstances--in the presence of death, for instance. We +cannot hope to understand the mental processes of a Chinaman. There is too +great a difference in the shape of our heads, as there is in the texture +of our traditions. + +But we can see quite clearly that the imperial government of China is, +while it endures, a strong and effective government. It is significant +that the Chinese people rarely indulge in massacres on their own account. +Why not? The hatred of foreigners must be always there, under the placid +surface, for these people rarely fail to turn into slaying demons once the +officials let the word be passed around. There have been thirty-five +serious anti-foreign riots and massacres in China within thirty-five +years, besides the Boxer uprising of 1900; and among these there was +probably not one which the mandarins could not have suppressed had they +wished. The Boxer trouble was worked up by Yue Hsien while he was governor +of Shantung Province. When the foreign powers protested he was transferred +to Shansi, which had scarcely heard of the Boxer Society, and almost at +once there was a "Boxer" outbreak and massacre in Shansi. The Peking +government meanwhile carried on Yue Hsien's horrible work at Peking and +Tientsin. The siege of the legations at Peking was conducted by imperial +soldiers, not by mobs. During all the trouble of that bloody summer, Yuan +Shi K'ai, who succeeded to the governorship in Shantung, seemed to have no +difficulty in keeping that province quiet, though it was the scene of the +original trouble. + +Chang Chi Tung, "the great viceroy," subdued the Upper Yangtse provinces +with a firm hand, though the Boxer difficulty there was complicated by the +ever-seething revolution. In a word, the officials in China seem perfectly +able to control their populace and protect foreigners. As Dr. Ferguson, of +Shanghai, put it to me, "No other government in the world can so +effectively enforce a law as the Chinese government--when they want to!" + +You soon learn, in China, that you can trust a Chinaman to carry through +anything he agrees to do for you. When I reached T'ai Yuan-fu I handed my +interpreter a Chinese draft for $200 (Mexican), payable to bearer, and +told him to go to the bank and bring back the money. I had known John a +little over a week; yet any one who knows China will understand that I was +running no appreciable risk. The individual Chinaman is simply a part of a +family, the family is part of a neighbourhood, the neighbourhood is part +of a village or district, and so on. In all its relations with the central +government, the province is responsible for the affairs of its larger +districts, these for the smaller districts, the smaller districts for the +villages, the villages for the neighbourhoods, the neighbourhoods for the +family, the family for the individual. If John had disappeared with my +money after cashing the draft, and had afterwards been caught, punishment +would have been swift and severe. Very likely he would have lost his head. +If the authorities had been unable to find John, they would have punished +his family. Punishment would surely have fallen on somebody. + +The real effect of this system, continued as it has been through +unnumbered centuries, has naturally been to develop a clear, keen sense +of personal responsibility. For, whatever may occur, somebody is +responsible. The family, in order to protect itself, trains its +individuals to live up to their promises, or else not to make promises. +The neighbourhood, well knowing that it will be held accountable for its +units, watches them with a close eye. When a new family comes into a +neighbourhood, the neighbours crowd about and ask questions which are not, +in view of the facts, so impertinent as they might sound. Indeed, this +sense of family and neighbourhood accountability is so deeply rooted that +it is not uncommon, on the failure of a merchant to meet his obligations, +for his family and friends to step forward and help him to settle his +accounts. It is the only way in which they can clear themselves. + +All these evidences would seem to indicate that the Chinese people, on the +one hand, have an innate fear of and respect for their government and +their law, such as they are; and that the government, on the other hand, +is, in the matter of enforcing the traditional law, one of the most +powerful governments on earth. None but an exceedingly well-organized +government could deliberately incite its people to repeated riots and +massacres without losing control of them. The Chinese government has +seemed to have not the slightest difficulty in keeping the people +quiet--when it wanted to. The story of Shantung Province makes this clear. +It was driven into what appeared to be anarchy by a rabid governor. But +only a few months later this governor's successor had little difficulty in +keeping the entire province in almost perfect order while the adjoining +province was actually at war with the allied powers of the world and was +overrun with foreign troops. No; a government which has within it the +power, on occasion, to carry through such an achievement as this, can +hardly be called weak. + +We begin, then, by admitting that the Chinese government has the strength +and the organization necessary to carry out any ordinary reform--if it +wants to. The putting down of the opium evil is, of course, no ordinary +reform. It is an undertaking so colossal and so desperate that it staggers +imagination, as I trust I have made plain in the preceding articles. But +setting aside, for the moment, our doubts as to whether or not the Chinese +government, or any other government on earth, could hope to check so +insidious and pervading an evil, we have to consider other doubts which +arise from even a slight acquaintance with that puzzling organism, the +Chinese official mind. If the Chinese business man is, as many think, the +most honest and straightforward business man on earth, the Chinese +official, or mandarin, is about the most subtle and bewildering. His +duplicity is simply beyond our understanding. He has a bland and childish +smile, but his ways are peculiar. Most of us know that our own state +department has a neat little custom of issuing letters to travellers +ordering our diplomatic and consular representatives abroad to extend +special courtesies, and sending, at the same time, a notice to these same +representatives advising them to take no notice of the letters. In Chinese +diplomacy everything is done in this way, but very much more so. Documents +issued by the Chinese government usually bear about the same relation to +any existing facts or intentions as a Thanksgiving proclamation does. You +must be very astute, indeed, to perceive from the speech, manner, or +writing of a mandarin what he is really getting at. Motive underlies +motive; self-interest lies deeper still; and the base of it all is an +Oriental conception of life and affairs which cannot be so remodelled or +reshaped as to fit into our square-shaped Western minds. No one else was +so eloquent on the horrors of opium as the great Li Hung Chang, when +talking with foreigners; yet Li Hung Chang was one of the largest +producers of opium in China. When the Chinese army, under imperial +direction, was fiercely bombarding the legations in Peking, the imperial +government was officially sending fruit and other delicacies, accompanied +by courteous notes, asking if there was not something they could do for +the comfort of the hard-pressed foreigners. + +This indirection would seem to be the result of a constant effort, on the +part of everybody in authority, to shirk the responsibility for difficult +situations. Under a system which holds a man mercilessly accountable for +carrying through any undertaking for which he is known to be responsible, +he naturally tries to avoid assuming any responsibility whatever. An +official is punished for failure and rewarded for success in China, as in +other countries. And the official on whom is saddled the extremely +difficult job of pleasing, at one time, an empress who believes that a +Boxer can render himself invisible to foreign sharpshooters by a little +mumbling and dancing, a set of courtiers and palace eunuchs who are +constantly undermining one another with the deepest Oriental guile, a +populace with little more understanding and knowledge of the world than +the children of Israel in the Sinai Peninsula, and a hostile band of keen, +modern diplomats with trade interests and "concessions" on their tongues +and machine guns and magazine rifles at call in their legation compounds, +is not in for an easy time. + +It hardly seems, then, as if we should blame the Chinese official too +harshly if his whole career appears to be made up of a series of +"side-steppings" and "ducks"--of what the American boxer aptly calls "foot +work." On the other hand, it is not difficult to sympathize with the +foreign diplomat who has, year after year, to play this baffling game. He +is always making progress and never getting anywhere. He has his choice of +going mad or settling down into a confirmed and weary cynicism. In most +cases he chooses the latter, and ultimately drifts into a frame of mind in +which he doubts anything and everything. He takes it for granted that the +Chinese government is always insincere. It is incredible to him that a +Chinese official could mean what he says. And so, when the Chinese +government declared against the opium evil, the cynical foreign diplomats +and traders at once began looking between and behind the lines in the +effort to find out what the crafty yellow men were really getting at. That +they might mean what they said seemed wholly out of the question. But what +deep motive might underlie the proposal was a puzzle. At first the gossips +of Peking and the ports ran to the effect that the real scheme was to +arouse the anti-opium public opinion in England, and force the British +Indian government to give up its opium business. Very good, so far. But +why? In order that China, by successfully shutting out the Indian opium, +might set up a government monopoly of its own, for revenue, of the +home-grown drug? This was the first notion at Peking and the ports. I +heard it voiced frequently everywhere. But it proved a hard theory to +maintain. + +In the first place, the Chinese government could set up a pretty effective +government opium business, if it wanted to, without bothering about the +Indian-grown drug. Opium is produced everywhere in China. The demand has +grown to a point where the Indian article alone could not begin to supply +it. But, on the other hand, the stopping of the importation is necessarily +the first step in combating the evil; for, if the Chinese should begin by +successfully decreasing their own production of opium, the importation +would automatically increase, and consumption remain the same. + +In the second place, if it is wholly a "revenue" matter to the Chinese +government, why give up the large annual revenue from customs duties on +the imported opium? In asking the British to stop their opium traffic the +Chinese are proposing deliberately to sacrifice $5,000,000 annually in +customs and _liking_ duties on the imported drug, or between a fifth and a +sixth of the entire revenue of the imperial customs. + +One very convincing indication of the sincerity of the Chinese government +in this matter, which I will take up in detail a little later, is the way +in which the opium prohibition is being enforced by the Chinese +authorities. But before going into that, I should like to call attention +to two other evidences of Chinese sincerity in its war on opium. The +first is the patent fact that public opinion all over China, among rich +and poor, mandarins and peasants, has turned strongly against the use of +opium. I have had this information from too many sources to doubt it. +Travellers from the remotest provinces are reporting to this effect. The +anti-opium sentiment is found in the highest official circles, in the +army, in the navy, in the schools. Within the past year or so it has been +growing steadily stronger. Opium-smoking used to be taken as a matter of +course; now, where you find a man smoking too much, you also find a group +of friends apologizing for him. I have already explained that +opium-smoking is not tolerated in the "new" army. There is now a rapidly +growing number of officials and merchants who refuse to employ +opium-smokers in any capacity. + +Now, why is the public opinion of China setting so strongly against opium? +Even apart from moral considerations, bringing the matter down to a +"practical" basis, why is this so? I will venture to offer an answer to +the question. Said one Tientsin foreign merchant, an American who has had +unusual opportunities to observe conditions in Northern China: "If the +Chinese do succeed in shutting down on opium, it may mean the end of the +foreigners in China. Opium is the one thing that is holding the Chinese +back to-day." + +Ten or twelve of the legations at Peking now have "legation guards" of +from one hundred to three hundred men each. In all, there are eighteen +hundred foreign soldiers in Peking, "a force large enough," said one +officer, "to be an insult to China, but not large enough to defend us +should they really resent the insult." + +Twelve hundred miles up the Yangtse River, above the rapids, there is a +fleet of tiny foreign gunboats, English and French, which were carried up +in sections and put together "to stay." At every treaty port there are one +or more foreign settlements, maintained under foreign laws. The Imperial +Maritime Customs Service of China is directed and administered throughout +by foreigners; this, to insure the proper collection of the "indemnity" +money. Foreign "syndicates" have been gobbling up the wonderful coal and +iron deposits of China wherever they could find them. And so on. I could +give many more illustrations of the foreign grip on China, but these will +serve. And back of these facts looms the always impending "partition of +China." The Chinese are not fools. They have sat tight, wearing that +inscrutable smile, while the foreigners discussed the cutting up of China +as if it were a huge cake. They have seen the Japanese, a race of little +brown men, inhabiting a few little islands, face the dreaded bear of +Russia and drive it back into Siberia. Now, at last, these patient +Chinamen are picking up some odds and ends of Western science. They are +building railroads, and manufacturing the rails for them. They are talking +about saving China "for the Chinese." In 1906 they mobilized an army of +30,000 "modern" troops for manoeuvres in Honan Province. If they are to +succeed with this notion, they must begin at the beginning. Opium is +dragging them down hill. Opium will not build railroads. Opium will not +win battles. Opium will not administer the affairs of the hugest nation on +earth. Therefore, no matter what it costs in revenue, no matter how +staggering the necessary reform and reorganization, opium must go. + +China may be a puzzling land. The Chinese officials may be capable of the +most baffling duplicity. But we are forced to believe that they are +"sincere" in putting down the opium traffic. It appears, for China, to be +a case of sink or swim. + +The next question would seem to be, if the Chinese are really trying to +put down the opium traffic, how are they succeeding? We will pass over +that part of the problem which relates to Great Britain and the Indian +opium trade, with the idea of taking it up in a later chapter. Let us +consider now what China, flabby, backward, long-suffering China, is +actually doing in this tremendous effort to cure her disorder in order +that she may take a new place among the nations. We will deal here with +the enforcement of the edict in Shansi Province, taking up in later +chapters the results of the prohibition movement in the other provinces. + +The plan outlined in the edicts prohibiting opium is clear, direct, +forcible. It was evidently meant to be effective. It provides (first) that +the governors of the provinces shall ascertain, through the local +authorities, the exact number of acres under poppy cultivation. The area +of the land used for this purpose shall then be cut down by one-ninth part +each year, "so that at the end of nine years there will be no more land +used for such purposes, and the land thus disused"--I am quoting here from +the Chinaman who translated the regulations for me--"shall never be used +for the said purposes again. Should the owners of such lands disobey the +decree, their lands shall be confiscated. Local officials who make special +efforts and be able to stop the cultivation of poppy before the said time, +they shall be rewarded with promotions." + +The plan provides (second) that "all smokers, irrespective of class or +sex, must go to the nearest authorities to get certificates, in which they +are to write their names, addresses, profession, ages, and the amount of +opium smoked each day." Latitude is allowed smokers over sixty years of +age, but those under sixty "must get cured before arriving at sixty years +of age. Persons who smoke or buy opium without certificates will be +punished. No new smokers will be allowed from the date of prohibition. The +amount of opium supplied to each smoker must decrease by one-third each +year, so that within a few years there will be no opium smoked at all." +Officials who overstep the law are to be deprived of their rank. In the +case of common people, "their names will be posted up thoroughfares, and +will be deprived of privileges in all public gatherings." + +Opium dens, as also all restaurants, hotels, and wine-shops which provide +couches and lamps for smokers were to be closed at once. If any regular +opium den was found open after the prohibition (May, 1907), the property +would be confiscated. No new stores for the sale of opium could be opened. +"Good opium remedies must be prepared. Multiply the number of anti-opium +clubs. If any citizens who can, through their efforts, get many people +cured, they will be rewarded.... All officials, and the officers of the +army and navy, and professors of schools, colleges, and universities, must +all get cured within six months." And further, it was decided to "open +negotiations with Great Britain, arranging with that power to have less +and less opium imported into China each year, till at the end of nine +years no opium will be imported at all." The Chinese, it is evident, are +not wanting in hopeful sentiment. Reading this, it is almost possible to +forget that India needs the money. + +"There is another drug, called morphia, which has done (thus my Chinaman's +translation) or is doing more harm than opium. The custom authorities +are to be instructed to prohibit strictly the importation of it, except +for medical uses." + + +[Illustration: ENFORCING THE EDICT AT SHANGHAI + +Burning Opium Pipes of Ivory and Costly Woods + +Breaking the Opium Lamps] + + +A clean-cut programme, this; apparently meant to be effective. It was with +no small curiosity that I looked about in Shansi Province to see whether +there seemed any likelihood of enforcement. The time was ripe. It was +April; in May the six months would be up. Opium had ruled in Shansi: could +they hope to depose it before the final havoc should be wrought? + +The nub of the situation was, of course, the limiting of the crop. +Theoretically, it should be easier to prohibit opium than to prohibit +alcoholic drinks. Wines and liquors are made from grains and fruits which +must be grown anyway, for purposes of food. It would not do to attempt to +prohibit liquor by stopping the cultivation of grains and fruits. The +poppy, on the other hand, produces nothing but opium and its alkaloids. In +stopping the growth of the poppy you are depriving man of no useful or +necessary article. The poppy must be grown in the open, along the +river-bottoms (where the roads run). It cannot be hidden. As government +regulating goes, nothing is easier than to find a field of poppies and +measure it. The plans of the Shansi farmers for the coming year should +throw some light on the sincerity of the opium reforms. Were they really +arranging to plant less opium? Yes, they were. Reports came to me from +every side, and all to the same effect. West and northwest of T'ai Yuan-fu +many of the farmers had announced that they were planting no poppies at +all. This, remember, was in April: planting time was near; it was a +practical proposition to those Shansi peasants. In other regions men were +planting either none at all, or "less than last year." The reason +generally given was that the closing of the dens in the cities had +lessened the demand for opium. + +The officials were planning not only to make poppy-growing unprofitable to +the farmers, they were planning also to advise and assist them in the +substitution of some other crop for the poppy. But here they encountered +one of the peculiar difficulties in the way of opium reform, the +transportation problem. All transportation, off the railroads, is slow and +costly. No other product is so easy to transport as opium. A man can carry +several hundred dollars' worth on his person; a man with a mule can carry +several thousand dollars' worth. That is one of the reasons why opium is +a more profitable crop than potatoes or wheat. But the law descends +without waiting for solutions of all the problems involved. The closing of +the opium dens all over Shansi had the immediate effect of limiting the +crop. It also had the effect of driving out of business a great many firms +engaged in the manufacture of pipes and lamps. Sixty-two manufacturing +houses in one city, Taiku, either went out of business altogether during +the spring months, or turned to new enterprises. I add an interesting bit +of evidence as to the effectiveness of the enforcement. It is from a +missionary. + +"I was calling on one of the foreigners in T'ai Yuan-fu and found a beggar +lying on one of the door-steps, with his pipe and lamp all going. I told +him to clear out. I asked him why he was there, and he told me he had +nowhere else to go, now that the smoking-dens were all closed, and that he +had to find some sheltered nook where he could have his smoke." + +It was not the plan to close the opium sale shops; theoretically, it will +take nine or ten years to do that. But after closing all the places where +opium was smoked socially and publicly, it should become possible to +register all the individuals who buy the drug for home consumption. It was +the closing of the dens, the places for public smoking, in all the cities +of Shansi, which had the immediate effect of limiting the crop and the +manufacture of smoking instruments. The one hundred and twenty-nine dens +of T'ai Yuan-fu were all closed before I arrived there. In T'ai Yuan-fu, +as in Peking, you could buy an opium-smoker's outfit for next to nothing. +Cloisonne pipes, mounted with ivory and jade, were offered at absurd +prices. + +One of the saddest features of the situation in Shansi is the activity of +the opium-cure fraud. The opium-smoking habit can be cured, once the +social element is eliminated, as easily as the morphine or cocaine +habits--more easily, some would claim. I do not mean to say that a +degraded, degenerate being can be made over, in a week, into a normal, +healthy being; but it does not seem to be very difficult to tide even the +confirmed smoker over the discomfort and danger that attend breaking off +the habit. In Shansi, as in all the opium provinces, "opium refuges" are +maintained by the various missions. The usual plan is to charge a small +fee for the medicines administered, in order to make the refuges +self-supporting. It takes a week or ten days to effect a cure by the +methods usually followed. The patient is confined to a room, less and less +opium is allowed from day to day, stimulants (either strychnine or +atropine) are administered, and local symptoms are treated as may seem +necessary to the physician in charge. Some of the missions at first took a +stand against the reduction method, believing that medical missionaries +should not administer opium in any form; but after a death or two they +accepted the inevitable compromise, recognizing that it is not safe to +shut down the supply too abruptly. But the number of these refuges is +pitifully small beside the extent of the evil. They have been at work for +a generation without bringing about any perceptible change in the +situation. There are now fewer refuges than formerly in Shansi Province, +for none of the missions is fully recruited as yet, after the terrible +set-back of 1900. + +The opium-cure faker in China, as in the United States and Europe, usually +sells morphia under another name. Dr. Edwards, the author of "Fire and +Sword in Shansi," last year spent five weeks in travelling northwest of +T'ai Yuan-fu, and reported finding a great many men employed in selling +so-called anti-opium medicines. The demand for cures existed everywhere. +Now that the popular sentiment is setting in so strongly against the opium +habit, the Chinese are peculiarly easy prey for these rascals. They have +no conception of medicine as it is practiced in Western countries, and +eagerly take whatever is offered to them in the guise of a "cure." The +following, told to me by an Englishman who lives in the province, +illustrates this: + +"There is a lot of mischief being done in Shansi just now by men who have +bought drugs in Tientsin, are selling them at random, and making a good +thing for themselves. I was travelling one day and was taken violently +ill, and I happened to reach a place where I knew a man who had some +drugs, so I sent for him and asked him to bring me some medicine. He came +along with three bottles, none of which was labelled. He could not tell me +what any one of them contained. He said they were all good for +stomach-ache, and proposed to mix the three up and give me a good, strong +dose. It is needless to say I refused. That man is running a proper +establishment and making a lot of money on the drugs he sells, and that +is all he knows about the business." + +The upshot of my investigations and inquiries in Shansi was that the +anti-opium edicts were being enforced to the letter. This conclusion +reached, I naturally looked about to find the man behind the enforcement. +Judging from the work done, he should prove worth seeing. Further +inquiries drew out the information that he was one of the three rulers of +the province, with the title of provincial judge, and that his name was +Ting Pao Chuen. + +Calling upon a prominent Chinese official is, to a plain, democratic +person, rather an impressive undertaking. The Rev. Mr. Sowerby had kindly +volunteered to act as interpreter, and him I impressed for instructor and +guide through the mazes of official etiquette. It was arranged that I +should call at Mr. Sowerby's compound at a quarter to four. From there we +would each ride in a Peking cart with a driver and one extra servant in +front. There was nothing, apparently, for the extra servant to do; but it +was vitally important that he should sit on the front platform of the +cart. + +A Peking cart is a red-and-blue dog house, balanced, without springs, on +an axle between two heavy wheels. The sides, back, and rounding roof are +covered with blue cloth. A curtain hangs in front. In the middle of each +side is a tiny window, and it is at such windows that you occasionally get +the only glimpses you are ever likely to get of Chinese ladies. There is +no seat in a Peking cart; you sit on the padded floor. When you get in, +the servant holds up the front curtain, you vault to the front platform, +and, placing your hands on the floor, propel yourself backward, with as +much dignity as possible, taking care not to knock your hat against the +roof, until you have disappeared inside. If you are long of leg, your feet +will stick out in front of the curtain, leaving scant room for the two +servants, who sit, one on each side, with their feet hanging down in front +of the wheels. The two carts, two drivers, and two extra servants, set out +from the Baptist Mission compound, to convey Mr. Sowerby and me to the +Yamen, or official residence, of His Excellency. + +Every Yamen has three great gates barring the way to the inner compound. +If the resident official wishes to humiliate you, he has his man stop your +cart at the first gate and compels you to enter on foot. Fortunately for +us, since it was raining hard, His Excellency had chosen to treat us with +marked courtesy. The carts halted at the second gate while Mr. Sowerby's +servant ran in with our red Chinese cards. There was a brief wait, and +then we drove on through a long courtyard to the inner or screen gate, +where massive timbered doors were closed against us. Soon these swung +open; the carts crossed a paved yard and pulled up under the projecting +roof of the Yamen porch; and we scrambled down from the carts, while two +tall mandarins, in official caps and buttons, dressed in flowing robes of +silk and embroidery, came rapidly forward to meet us. One of these, the +younger and shorter, I recognized as Mr. Wen, the interpreter for the +Shansi foreign bureau. + +The other mandarin was a man of ability and charm. Some of us, perhaps, +have formed our notion of the Chinaman from the Cantonese laundryman type +which we may have seen at his bench or on the Third Avenue elevated +railway in New York. This would be about as accurate as to call the coster +at his barrow the typical Englishman; just about as accurate as to call +the Bowery loafer the typical American. His Excellency appeared to be +close to six feet in height; he was erect and lithe of figure, with marked +physical grace. He greeted Mr. Sowerby by clasping his hands before his +breast and bowing, then turned, and with a genial smile extended his right +hand to grip mine. He used no English, but the Chinese language, as he +spoke it, was both dignified and musical, and not at all like the singsong +jabbering I had heard on the streets and about the hotels. + +Ting led the way into a reception-room which was furnished in red cloth +and dark woods. There was a seat and a table against each side, and two +red cushions on the edge of a platform across the end of the room, with a +low table between them. An attendant appeared with tea. Ting took a +covered tea bowl in his two hands, extended it towards me, bowed, then +placed it on the low stand--thus indicating the seat which I was to take, +on the platform. Mr. Wen said, in my ear, "Sit down." Mr. Sowerby was +placed at the other side of the stand; the two Chinese gentlemen seated +themselves at the two side-tables, facing each other. One thing I +remembered from Mr. Sowerby's coaching--I must not touch my bowl of tea. I +must not even look at it. The tea is not to drink; it is brought in order +that the caller may be enabled to take his leave gracefully. The Chinese +gentlefolk are so wedded to life's little ceremonies that guest and host +cannot bring themselves to talk right out about terminating a visit. The +guest would shiver at the notion of saying, "Well, I must go, now." +Instead, he fingers his tea bowl, or perhaps merely glances at it; and +then he and his host both rise. + +His Excellency fixed his eyes on me and uttered a deliberate, musical +sentence. "He says," translated Mr. Sowerby, "that you have come to help +China." I am afraid I blushed at this. It had not occurred to me to state +my mission in just those words. I replied that I had come, as a +journalist, to learn the truth about the opium question. We talked for an +hour about the wonderful warfare which China is waging against her +besetting vice. "China is sincere in this struggle," he said. "Public +opinion was never more determined." He asked me if I had investigated the +new Malay drug which had lately been heralded as a specific for +opium-poisoning. "If," he said, "you should learn of any real cure, while +you are investigating this subject, I wish you would advise me about it." +I promised him I would do so. I had already heard from a number of sources +that Ting was personally giving two to three thousand taels a month (a +tael is about seventy-five cents) to the support of opium refuges and for +the purchase of drugs for distribution among the poor. "China is sick," he +said; "she must be cured so that she may hold up her head among the +nations." + +Shortly after we had driven back through the rain and had mounted the +stairs to Mr. Sowerby's library, a Yamen runner was shown into the room, +bearing presents from the provincial judge. The runner bowed to me and +presented his tray. On it, beside the large red "card" of Ting Pao Chuen, +were four bottles of native wine, or "shumshoo," two cans of beef tongue, +and two cans of sauerkraut! + + + + +V + +SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--SHANGHAI + + +In her development China is dependent on the adoption of Western ideas and +is influenced by the example set by Western civilization. This modernizing +influence is strongest at the point where the Westerner meets the +Chinaman, where the two civilizations come into direct contact. At +Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankow, Hongkong, and the other ports there are some +thirty to forty thousand Europeans, Englishmen, and Americans. They build +splendid buildings and lay good pavements. They bring with them the best +liquors. The life they live gives about as accurate an impression of +Western civilization--of what the Western nations stand for--as the great +majority of the Chinese (a most observing race) are ever likely to +receive. We have examined into China's sincerity, now let us examine into +the honesty of purpose of the foreign "concessions" and "settlements" +which fringe the China Coast. If these communities are representing our +civilization out there, it seems fair to ask whether they are +representing it well; for if they are misrepresenting us, if they are +contributing to the sort of international misunderstanding which breeds +trouble, we may as well know it. + +When, in the course of her gropings and strugglings towards civilization, +China turns for enlightenment to the great, successful nations of Europe +and America, what does she see? Well, for one thing, she sees Shanghai. + +Shanghai has been called the Paris of the extreme East. It is the paradise +of the adventurer and the adventuress, of the gambler, the beach-comber, +and the long-chance promoter. Midway of the China Coast, at the mouth of +the mighty Yangtse River, it is the principal port of entrance into China. +From England, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, the United States, and +Canada comes an endless column of steamships to Shanghai. To Hongkong, +Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore, Chefoo, Tientsin, and the uppermost ports of +the Yangtse, 1,250 miles inland, go endless columns of steamships from +Shanghai. And of the travellers on these ships nearly all have, or expect +to have, or have had, business or pleasure at Shanghai. + +It is the most truly cosmopolitan city in the world; for Paris, after all, +is mainly French; London, after all, is mainly English; New York, after +all, is mainly American. Shanghai has its French hotels, its imposing +German Club, its English Country Club, its race-track, its Russian Bank, +its Japanese mercantile houses, its American post-office. It is ruled by a +council of Englishmen, Germans, and Americans. It is policed by English +bobbies, Irishmen, Sikhs from India, and Chinamen. On the Bubbling Well +Road, of a sunny spring afternoon, where the latest thing in motor cars +weaves through the line of smart carriages, you may see Spaniard elbowing +Filipino, Portuguese jostling Parsee, Austrian chatting with Bavarian; and +they all talk, gamble, drink, and buy in pidgin English. + +This settlement of fifteen thousand Europeans, living apart from that +public opinion which compells the maintenance of a social standard in +every European country, and indifferent to that local public opinion which +keeps up a certain curious standard among the Chinese themselves, seems to +have practically no standard at all. The problem of every decent American +or Englishman who finds himself established in business is whether he +dare bring his wife and family and introduce them into circles so degraded +that families disintegrate and children grow up under disheartening +influences. The heavy drinking of the China Coast ports is proverbial, yet +the drinking seems little more than an incident in a city where the social +atmosphere is tainted and altogether unwholesome. + +I stood one night in the barroom of one of the big hotels. It was one +o'clock in the morning, and nearly every one of the dozen white men in the +room was more or less drunk. They were roaring out maudlin songs, and +shouting incoherent cries. Two men, well-dressed gentlemen, were on the +floor. And behind the bar, yawning, waiting for an opportunity to close up +and go to sleep, stood two Chinese men and one boy. They were neat, +respectful, and perfectly sober. Their almond eyes flitted about the room, +taking in every detail of that beastly scene. It would be impossible to +say what they were thinking, but I observed that they did not smile as a +Chinaman usually does. Perhaps, to the reader who does not know the China +Coast, it seems unfair to cite this case as an example of the active +influence of our civilization in China. I will not do so. I will merely +ask if you could ever hope to make those three young Chinamen believe that +our civilization is superior to theirs. + +Where such a low moral tone prevails, in a self-governing community, it is +bound to limit the perception and the power of the government of that +community. Let any observing visitor acquaint himself with Shanghai and +its social and moral standards (which will not be difficult, for these +will be thrust upon him soon after his arrival) and he will soon see for +himself that the residents of Shanghai, while they freely and hotly +criticize their council, never accuse it of priggishness or of moral +restraint. This is enough to show that the council makes no effort to +oppose the prevailing sentiment. The gambling business attains, in +Shanghai, to the altitude of a considerable industry. During the race +weeks, spring and fall, the vacant lots near the race-track are rented at +high rates by those gamblers of all nations who have no regular quarters, +and the games go on merrily in the open air, within full view of the +crowds in the road. Now seven of the nine members of the council are +Englishmen. English ideas are supposed to prevail in the settlement, +feebly seconded by German and American. And the laws under which Shanghai +is theoretically governed forbid gambling. + +All the lower forms of organized vice combine to form a large and highly +profitable branch of Shanghai's commerce. Partly because of the +willingness of the locally stronger nations to shoulder off the +responsibility for a disgraceful state of things, and partly because of +the number of adventurous and unprincipled Americans who have drained off +to the China Coast, America has had to endure more than her share of the +blame for this condition. For years every degraded woman who could speak +the language has called herself an "American girl"; until the term, which +at home arouses a natural pride, has grown so unpleasant that decent +Americans have chafed under the insult. To-day it is best not to use the +phrase "American girl" on the China Coast. + +Of the other and less vicious sorts of adventurers who turn up like bad +pennies at Shanghai, the beach-comber is easily the most picturesque. Many +writers, notably Robert Louis Stevenson, have employed him as a character +in fiction. The majority of the beach-combers probably are or have been +seafaring men. Next in numerical order, probably, come the discharged +soldiers and the deserters. It takes either a certain amount of money or +a certain amount of ability for any unattached American or European to get +out to the China Coast, and an equal amount for him to get back. Therefore +the stranded soldiers and sailors, brought out there at the cost of nation +or ship owner, beating their way from port to port, drinking, gambling, +starving, ready for any dubious enterprise that promises quick returns on +a small investment, are a sorry lot. The sharps, swindlers, and shadowy +promoters, on the other hand, are men necessarily possessed either of +money or wit sufficient to get them out to China, and not unnaturally they +represent the higher grades of their various crafts. From Peking to +Hongkong, the coast is infested with these gentlemanly rascals, each with +impressive garments and a convincing story. Josiah Flynt once wrote a tale +of some enthusiastic young promoters who undertook, at a considerable +outlay in capital and in personal risk, to sell a steam calliope to the +Grand Lama of Thibet. After a brief acquaintance with the diverse and +ingenious schemes that sprout, flower, and go to seed on the China Coast, +this tale seems not nearly so improbable as it perhaps sounds to the +casual reader. + +Other, and more recent, types of adventurers are the stranded free-lance +journalist and camp-followers who were lured Eastward by the prospect of +pickings along the trails of the Japanese and Russian armies during the +late war, and who later found themselves unable to get back home. In 1906, +Consul-General Rodgers, of Shanghai, reported as follows on the subject of +unscrupulous Americans who have been imposing on the Chinese to the +detriment of American trade: + +"There are many things which can be given as current reasons for retarding +American trade in the Orient. The advent of a class of Americans, like +those who came from Manila after a brief experience there, and those who +tried their fortunes in connection with the events of the Russo-Japanese +War, has done a great deal to injure the American name and reputation with +the Chinese. This class, usually indigent, has, by reason of imposition +upon the Chinese, destroyed to some extent a confidence which has existed +for many years and which had borne good fruit. There are good reasons for +saying that every American firm which contemplates sending a +representative to China should be very certain of his character, and, +other things being equal, should choose the quiet, orderly person rather +than the reverse type, in spite of the current opinion that such are +indicated for the Orient." + +If Shanghai is the sort of a place that it would here appear to be, if it +sets a vicious example in its government, in its business practice, and in +the character of many of its inhabitants, the fact would seem to indicate +that it is most decidedly misrepresenting out there the sort of +civilization that we, Europeans as well as Americans, have always supposed +that we stood for. It would appear that the Chinese, at the point of +contact with our civilization, are getting a false impression of us. It +would be easy to dismiss as remote and unimportant the vicious example set +by a group of adventurers and promoters on the China Coast; but +unfortunately this little group is the most important single contributing +factor in the exceedingly delicate matter of the rapidly developing +relations between China and the great Christian nations. + +The influence of the Shanghai example on China is real and positive. +Geographically, Shanghai commands the trade of the middle coast, the +immense Yangtse Valley, and the Grand Canal. Every night a big river +steamer leaves for Hankow and the intermediate river ports. Every day a +big river steamer comes in from the same cities. Trading junks and small +steamers innumerable ply between the river and coast ports and Shanghai. +Chinese merchants come from hundreds of miles around to trade with the +foreigners or with the native "compradores" attached to foreign houses. On +their return to their various interior cities or villages these traders +spread tales of the foreign devils who inhabit the great city near the +sea. Foreign merchants, travelling salesmen, engineers, and insurance +agents travel up and down the great river, up and down the coast; they +penetrate, by steamer, railroad, mule-litter, or cart, into the interior +cities of the great provinces, leaving everywhere on plastic minds +distinct and ineffaceable impressions of their manners, business methods, +and morals. + +In the foreign settlement of Shanghai, and apart from the population of +the native city which adjoins it, there are, roughly, 450,000 Chinese who +have chosen to dwell in the territory and under the laws of the white men. +This population is not fixed, but fluctuates as the floating element comes +and goes; and everywhere that this floating element travels when out of +the city it leaves an impression--a story, a bit of gossip, an example of +the sharp dealing learned from the foreigner--of the manners, business +methods, and morals of Shanghai. The native newspapers comment frankly on +life and conditions in the great seaport, and their comments are reprinted +in the papers of the interior. Shanghai exerts a direct and +result-breeding influence on fifty to seventy-five million native minds, +and an indirect influence on all China. How many scores of fair-minded, +straightforward merchants, how many thousands of scattered missionaries +and teachers will it take, think you, to counteract that influence? + +China, grappling with the problem of decay, fighting desperately against +an evil which the most nearly Christian of the Christian nations has +fastened on her, looks westward for enlightenment, and sees--Shanghai. And +Shanghai--well Shanghai plays the races and the roulette wheel, and +drinks, and forgets the sacred significance of marriage and the economic +importance of the home, and goes to the club, and except in casting up +profits gives never a thought to that vast, muttering populace that +waits--waits--for the day of the under-dog to come. + +Such was the condition of things when the Chinese war on opium began to +assume effective proportions during the spring of 1906. Now, Shanghai--the +"settlement," that is--was in a peculiar, an unfortunate, condition as +regarded the anti-opium crusade. I have already given, in an earlier +chapter, the estimate of Robert E. Lewis, general secretary of the Y. M. +C. A., at Shanghai, that there were, in 1906, nearly 22,000 places in the +international settlement, little and big, where opium could be purchased, +more than 19,000 of which kept pipes, lamps, and divans on the premises +for smokers. All of the dens which were openly conducted were paying a +regular license fee to the municipal government, amounting last year to +98,000 Shanghai taels, or about $70,000 in gold. It is against the law to +permit women or children to enter the smoking-dens, and a clause to this +effect is printed on the license as a condition in granting it; yet when +Captain Borisragon, the chief of police, was asked how many regular women +inmates were in the dens, he replied, in writing, that there were at least +3,200 women so kept, and doubtless a great many more who did not appear +on his records. When the tax and license department was asked why this +clause was not enforced, the reply was made, without the slightest attempt +at excuse or explanation, that when a license was issued to the keeper of +an "opium brothel" the clause prohibiting women inmates was erased. + +These curious facts combine to present an appearance familiar to one who +has studied the municipal protection of vice in this country. It is asking +too much of human credulity to expect one to believe that this clause was +regularly erased for nothing. But apart from what individual graft there +may have been in it, that $70,000 in revenue was an item not to be lightly +given up by the hard-headed municipal council. And the amount of money put +into circulation by the patrons of these dens was also an attractive item, +as Shanghai sees things. The prevailing opinion among the foreigners of +"the settlement" was simply and flatly that the settlement could not +afford to close the dens. The leading English newspaper hastened to defend +the sordid attitude of the council by explaining that, as the licenses +were issued for a year, they had no right to close the places, at least +before the spring of 1908. + +The interesting and significant fact is that while this miserable +condition of affairs was allowed to drag along in the international +settlement, where the white men rule, the Chinese native city, immediately +adjoining, was strictly enforcing the anti-opium edicts. The Chinese +authorities went about the enforcement in a thoroughly effective manner. +The date set for the closing of the dens was May 22, 1907. There was some +fear that the closing down might precipitate a riot, and, accordingly, the +authorities took measures to keep the populace in hand. Chinese soldiers +were placed on guard at the places where crowds would be most likely to +gather, the dens were quietly closed, padlocked, and the shutters put up; +and red signs, calling attention to the imperial edict prohibiting opium, +were pasted up on doors or shutters. It was quite evident that the +proprietors of these dens took the enforcement most seriously. Some of +them went immediately into other lines of business; others made their +places over into tea-houses. + + +[Illustration: IN AN OPIUM DEN, SHANGHAI] + +[Illustration: OPIUM SMOKING] + + +So at Shanghai the Chinese warfare on the "foreign smoke" was waged +earnestly and effectively in the native city. The Chinese authorities +closed the dens--permanently, it seems fair to believe. And the only +result of their heroic action,--and it is an heroic action to suppress a +prosperous and thoroughly established branch of commerce in any city,--the +only result was that the opium business went over to the adjoining city of +the foreigners, who gladly accepted it, and took the money which had +formerly been spent in the native city. The foreigners live wholly outside +of and above Chinese law. They have their own strips of land, their own +courts, their own local government, all guaranteed to them by the treaties +which China has, at one time or another, been forced to sign. When the +Chinese first proposed to stamp out opium, these foreigners laughed, and +talked about the chronic insincerity of the Chinese government. When the +yellow men did stamp out opium in that native city a mile or so away, +these foreigners said that it would not be fair to the holders of licenses +to close down in the settlement. As I have had occasion to say before, the +Chinese are not fools. They grasped the significance of the situation, and +spoke out frankly. The local mandarins protested to the settlement +council. The native newspapers called attention to it. And all this clear +insight into an extraordinary situation and the frank comment on it were +communicated, by the routes and the means which I have described earlier +in this chapter, to the fifty or seventy-five million Chinese who are +directly influenced by conditions at Shanghai. Now, in the light of these +facts, in the light of what they see and know, it is time to ask, and to +ask with feeling--How can you hope to make those fifty to seventy-five +million Chinamen believe that our civilization, with its science, and its +whisky, and its keen grasp on "revenue," and its contradictory and +confusing teachings of Christianity, is superior to their civilization? +And if they do not believe that our civilization is superior, how long do +you suppose they will endure the treatment they receive from us? As time +rolls on, there will be more "Boxer" uprisings in China, more crazy and +disastrous protests against foreign domination and exploitation. When +these troubles come, it will be well to recall that Shanghai,--not the +individual inhabitants, but the government of that little "settlement" of +foreigners which lies upon the west bank of the Woosung River,--officially +and for profit maintained its traffic in the drug that is China's curse +after the Chinese had stopped their own opium traffic. It will be well to +recall it, because it is quite certain that the Chinese themselves will +not have forgotten it. + +I have gone thus at length into the deplorable example which Shanghai, the +most important foreign settlement in China, exhibits to the struggling, +opium-ridden yellow men, because it is typical of the whole course of the +foreigner in China. In the next chapter we shall consider further evidence +in looking into the conditions of life and of the opium problem at +Hongkong and Tientsin. It is of course peculiarly unfortunate that +Shanghai, when the great opportunity came to extend a helping hand to +China in the opium fight, should have failed, utterly, ignominiously. But +the slightest acquaintance with the place is enough to make it plain that +Shanghai, as it has been and still is, is not likely to extend a helping +hand to anybody. The helping hand is not exactly what Shanghai stands for. +It really stands for the domination of the great Yangtse Valley, for the +exploitation of China, and, incidentally, for a sort of snug harbour for +criminals and degenerates. There can be no doubt that the fifty to +seventy-five millions of Chinese who come directly within the radiating +influence of Shanghai know this perfectly well. It is also quite likely +that these and the few hundred other millions who make up "the Middle +Kingdom" know perfectly well, that the complicated commercial +establishments of all the various foreign nations in China stand for +similar principles. And they doubtless know further that the very +important and very cynical gentlemen who represent the great and +prosperous foreign powers at Peking, are there for no other purpose than +diplomatically to put on the pressure whenever China chances to block a +move or gain a piece in this sordid and unholy game of chess. So perhaps +we had better give up, once and for all, any serious consideration of the +charges made by certain foreign powers that China is insincere in her +warfare on opium. Such charges and insinuations, coming from such sources, +hardly command respect. + +It is plain that this greedy exploitation, going so far as even to snatch +a profit out of the opium struggle, is not a healthy basis of intercourse +between great nations. If the Chinese were a Congo tribe, or a race of +American Indians, this policy might pay commercially; for in that case it +would be a matter for the Christian nations of simply killing off the +Chinese or driving them off the land, and then of fighting among +themselves over the division of the spoils. But this policy, which +succeeds against weak and numerically small nations, will hardly succeed +in China. Driving four hundred million Chinese off the land would be a +large order, a very different thing, indeed, from wiping out a tribe of +"Fuzzy Wuzzys" with machine guns. All of the military observers with whom +I have talked in China show a tendency to grow thoughtful over the subject +of China's potential military strength. From the days of the T'ai Ping +Rebellion and "Chinese" Gordon's "ever victorious" army, down to the +review of 30,000 of Yuan Shi K'ai's troops, with modern weapons and modern +drill, in Honan Province in the summer of 1906, it has been plain that the +Chinese make splendid soldiers when properly led. And yet it seems to have +occurred to few white statesmen that the deepest interests of trade +itself, sordid trade, demand that China be treated fairly and that the +relations between China and the powers be established on a basis that +makes for mutual respect and for peace, rather than on a basis that makes +for exploitation, outrage, massacre, warfare, "indemnity," and smouldering +hate. John Hay saw over the balance-sheet, when he established the "open +door" policy. Elihu Root has seen over the balance-sheet in arranging to +waive the future claims of this country for indemnity money. And Lord +Elgin, for England, saw over the balance-sheet when he outlined that sound +policy which he was afterwards one of the first to violate--"Never to make +an unjust demand of China, and never to recede from a demand once made." +To-day it seems apparent that the great nations cannot be brought together +to agree on any really enlightened policy in China. Even had such a thing +been possible a few years ago, the untrustworthy methods of Russia and the +growing ambitions of Japan would make it impossible to-day. Nations which, +when brought together in a "Peace Conference," cannot even agree upon the +rules of war, will hardly forego the chance of seizing some special +advantage in the colossal grab-bag which is China. And so it seems likely +that the genial commercial adventurers and gamblers and vice promoters of +Shanghai will go on sowing the wind in China--and that the sullen hate of +those silent, observing millions of yellow men will deepen and smoulder +until the final day of reckoning, the day of reaping, shall come. + +There is one ray of light which, to-day, illuminates the China Coast. It +is a small ray, when we consider the number of dark corners to be +illuminated, and yet there is the bare possibility that it may prove the +beginning of better conditions. Somewhat less than two years ago the +United States government established a wholly new institution, the United +States Court for China. L. R. Wilfley, one of the legal officers whom +Judge Taft had trained in Manila during his governorship of the +Philippines, was appointed the first judge of this court, and was sent +out, with a district attorney, a marshal, and a clerk, to administer +justice to Americans up and down the China Coast and along the Yangtse +River. By treaty, all American citizens are exempt from judgment under the +Chinese law, that peculiar jumble of tradition, superstition, common +sense, and Oriental severity. Formerly, justice had been dealt out in +courts presided over by the consul-generals and the consuls in their +respective districts. + +Now it should be obvious to the most casual observer that the peculiar +conditions and the peculiar industries which thrive in the treaty ports +give rise to a considerable number of legal entanglements. There is, of +course, a large volume of legitimate business transacted on the Coast, +which gives legitimate employment to a few lawyers; but there is a volume +of illegitimate and semi-legitimate business which would also naturally +give employment to other lawyers. At the time of Judge Wilfley's +appointment one thing was clear to the enlightened heads of our Department +of State at Washington; the consular courts, thanks to the skill and +resource of the American lawyer on the Coast, were in a constant tangle of +perplexed inefficiency, and the American name was sinking steadily lower +in China. + +It is likely that no American judge ever faced so peculiar and difficult a +task as that assigned to Judge Wilfley. It was his duty to take the place +of a lacking public opinion, and to raise the drooping prestige of his +country. He had behind him no settled code of laws, but merely a few +treaties and a few orders from the Department of State. He had not only to +judge cases between Americans, but also cases between Americans and +citizens of other nationalities, including the Chinese themselves. He had +to establish rulings on the most complicated matters of coastwise +commerce, in a land where coastwise commerce is involved with perplexing +local customs and superstitions. Above all, he had, from the start, to +fight a well-organized, well-entrenched band of shady characters who had +run their course for so long without anything in the nature of a public +opinion to hold them in check that they resented his advent as an +encroachment on their vested right to do as they chose. The last and most +perplexing of his problems was that in rooting out these evils he was in +danger at every turn of arraying against him the citizens of other +nationalities and even of arousing the active enmity of the courts and the +officials of other nations, most of whom had been content to let Shanghai +jog along in its easy-going, sordid way. + +It is to Judge Wilfley's everlasting credit that, with a full knowledge of +the difficulties and dangers before him, he went straight to the heart of +the problem. Seeing that certain American lawyers had long stood between +the old consular courts and anything which could be called justice, he +set to work first to solve the problem of the lawyers. His campaign for a +higher standard on the Coast has not been without its humorous moments. +Mr. Bassett, his shrewd young district attorney, preceded him to Shanghai +to "look the ground over." The little group of American lawyers at +Shanghai made haste to get acquainted with him. One of the ablest among +them invited him, casually and informally, to dinner. When Bassett arrived +at the dinner he found himself, to his astonishment, confronted with +thirty or forty "leading citizens," including all the American lawyers and +several men of questionable business character whom he rather expected to +be prosecuting a little later on. + +After the coffee and cigars, the host rose, and in a neat little speech +called on Bassett to tell the company something about Judge Wilfley and +what work he meant to do in Shanghai. It was a difficult situation. A +slow-witted man might have found himself in a fix. But Bassett, if I may +credit the account which reached me, was equal to the situation. He rose, +and looked around the table from face to face. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "as I have come unprepared for this pleasure, I +shall have to fall back on story-telling. In the small hours, one morning, +two men who had been having rather too good a time were navigating from +street corner to street corner. Said Smith, 'Jonesh, shtime to go home. +Shgetting broad daylight. Theresh sun shining up there.' + +"'No, Shmith,' replied Jones, 'you're mistaken. Tha'sh moon up there, and +it's night.' They staggered down the street, Smith insisting that it was +day, Jones insisting that it was night, until they met a fellow inebriate +clinging to a fire plug. To him they appealed their dispute. He heard them +out, and then looked thoughtfully up at the moon. For a long time he +puzzled over the problem, and finally, giving it up, turned to them and +said politely, 'Gentlemen, you'll have to 'scuse me. I'm a stranger in +town.' + +"And, gentlemen," said Bassett, again looking about from face to face, +"you'll have to excuse me. I'm a stranger in town." + +Judge Wilfley began by calling upon every American lawyer who was +practicing in Shanghai to bring a certificate of good moral character and +to pass an examination before he could be admitted to practice in the new +court. The examination was given, and only two of the lawyers passed. At +once there was a hubbub. The judge was attacked hotly. One of the lawyers +who failed to pass hurried over to this country, making a speech at +Honolulu, on the way, in which he insinuated charges of corruption against +Judge Wilfley. Shortly after his arrival at San Francisco, he prevailed +upon the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, on the Pacific Coast, to reverse +one of Judge Wilfley's decisions without having the facts of the whole +case in hand and without a hearing from the China court. He went on to +Washington, and within a month or two last winter actually got a bill +through the United States Senate reinstating all the disqualified lawyers. +The bill is before the House at this present session. He has conducted a +newspaper campaign against Judge Wilfley in this country since his return +last year. It seems only fair to call attention to these facts on a +fearless and able man, because Judge Wilfley is too hard at work in a +distant country to be able to defend himself. In the course of my travels +from port to port last year, it became clear to me that this new court was +the one uplifting factor in a distressing general condition. + +Judge Wilfley, like his district attorney, seems to hold no visionary +theories, in spite of the high standard he has set. Before leaving China, +I made it a point to call on him and talk with him about the work he is +doing in the interest of the American name. He seemed to recognize clearly +enough that vice and depravity can no more be put down out of hand in +Shanghai than they can be put down out of hand in New York or Chicago or +Boston. But he maintained that the disreputably open flaunting of vice can +be stopped. In fining the "American girls" $500 (gold) each, and driving a +number of them off the Coast, his attack has been directed mainly against +the dishonourable use of an honourable phrase. In imprisoning or driving +away the American gamblers, he has been trying to put gambling down more +nearly to the place it occupies, in this country, as a minor rather than +as a major branch of industry. Judge Wilfley has undertaken an Herculean +task. It seems to be the hope of all that patient minority, the better +class of Americans on the China Coast, that he will be permitted to +continue his fight unhampered by political machinery "back home." + +There are two other points, besides Shanghai, at which the two kinds of +civilization, Western and Eastern, come into contact--Hongkong and +Tientsin. Each is different from the other as well as from Shanghai; and +each plays a curious part in the opium drama. We shall take them up in the +next chapter. + + + + +VI + +SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--TIENTSIN AND HONGKONG + + +If you could avoid the suburbs of mud huts and walled compounds, and step +directly down from an airship on the broad piazza of the Astor House at +Tientsin (no treaty port is complete without its Astor House), you might +also imagine yourself in a thriving English town. Set about this piazza +are round tables, in bowers of potted plants, where sit Britishers, +Germans, and Americans, with a gay sprinkling of soldiery. Across the +street there is a green little park, where plump British babies are +wheeled about and children romp among the shrubbery, and where the Sikh +band plays on Sundays. There is nothing, unless it be the group of +rickshaw coolies at the curb, or the fat Chinese policeman in the roadway, +to recall China to the mind. + +Yet Tientsin dominates all Northern China much as Shanghai dominates the +mighty valley of the Yangtse. The railways and waterways (including the +Grand Canal) all lead to Tientsin. It is Peking's seaport. The viceroy of +the Northern Provinces makes it his seat of government. The chief point of +contact between these Northern Provinces and Western civilization, it is +through Tientsin that the new ideas which are stirring the sluggish +Chinese mind to new desires and to a new purpose filter into one hundred +million Mongoloid heads. + +The foreign settlement is simply a polyglot cluster of nationalities, each +with its "concession" or allotment of land wrung from a browbeaten empire, +each with its separate municipal government ruled by its own +consul-general, and the whole combined, for purposes of defense and +aggression, into a loosely knit city of seven or eight thousand whites +under the general direction of a dozen consulates. The British have their +polo, golf, and racing grounds; the French have their wealthy church +orders and their Parisian moving pictures; the Germans have their beer +halls and delicatessen shops. The Japanese, the Russians, the Italians, +the Austrians, all the powers, in fact, excepting the United States--which +holds no land in China--contribute their lesser shares to the colour and +the activity of this extraordinary place. And only a mile or two away, +further up the crooked river, lies the huge, sprawling Chinese city, where +nine hundred and fifty thousand blue-clad celestials--nearly a round +million of them--ceaselessly watch the squabbling groups of foreigners, +and by means of newspapers, travelling merchants, and the thousand and one +other instruments for the spreading of gossip, tell all Northern China +what they see. + +Tientsin, then, like Shanghai, is a potent, an electric, force in its +influence on China. Whatever the Chinese are to become in their struggle +towards the light of day will be in some measure due to the example set by +these two cities, the only samples of Western civilization which the +Chinaman can scrutinize at close range. The missionary tells him of the +God of the Western peoples, and of how His Spirit regenerates humankind; +the Chinaman listens stolidly, and then turns to look at the samples of +regenerated peoples that fringe his Coast. What he actually sees will +stick in his mind long after what he merely hears shall have passed out at +the other ear. And these impressions that stick in the Chinaman's mind are +precisely the highly charged forces that are revolutionizing China to-day. + +While still at Peking, I had picked up more or less gossip which seemed +to indicate that the Tientsin foreign concessions were setting an +unfortunate example in the matter of opium. In several of the concessions +there are thousands of Chinese traders who have crowded in the white man's +territory, in order to make a living. These Chinese districts demand their +opium, and they have always been allowed to have it. The opium shops and +dens are licensed, as are our saloons, and the resulting revenue is +cheerfully accepted by the various municipalities. When the Chinese +officials set out to fight opium last winter and spring, they asked the +foreign consuls to cooperate with them. This could be no more than a +friendly request, for the concessions are foreign soil, that have passed +wholly out of China's control; but it was obviously of no use to close the +dens of the native city if smokers could continue to gratify their desire +by simply walking down the road. + +This request bothered the consuls. The Chinese had adroitly placed them in +a difficult position. A failure to cooperate would look bad; but revenue +is revenue, on the Chinese Coast as elsewhere. More, if they could play +for time, the enforcement in the native city, by driving the smokers over +into the concessions, would actually increase the revenue. So the consuls +played for time. They spread the impression "back home" that they were +going to close the dens. When? Oh, soon--very soon. There were matters of +detail to attend to. The licenses must run out. Then, too, perhaps the +Chinese proposals were "insincere"--a little time would show. + +The British concession boasted proudly that it had no opium dens. This was +true. The concession is wholly taken up with British shops and British +homes, and there is no room for Chinese residents. The German concession +had so few natives that it closed some of its dens and took what credit it +could. The Japanese quietly put on the lid. But all the other concessions +remained "wide open." + +So ran the Peking gossip. It seemed to me worth while to follow it up; for +if it should prove true that the concessions were actually profiting, like +Shanghai, by the native prohibition, that fact would be significant. It +would leave little to say for the representatives of foreign civilization +in China. + +There was a particular reason why the prohibition should be made +effective in and about Tientsin. The one official who stood before his +country and the world as the anti-opium leader, who personified, in fact, +the reform spirit which is leavening the Chinese mass, was Yuan Shi K'ai, +the Northern viceroy. Tientsin was his viceregal capital. Before he could +hope to convince the cynical observers of Britain and Europe that the +anti-opium crusade was really on, he had to make good in his own city. + +Yuan Shi K'ai is a remarkable man. Unlike some of his colleagues who have +travelled and studied abroad, he has never, I believe, been over the sea; +yet no Chinese official shows a firmer grasp on his biggest and most +bewildering of the world's governmental problems. Practically a self-made +man (his father was a soldier), he worked up from rank to rank, himself a +part and a product of the antiquated absolutism of his country, until he +emerged at the top, a red-button mandarin, a viceroy, with a personality +towering above the superstitious, tradition-ridden court, and yet +sufficiently able and skillful to work with and through that court. We +have seen, in an earlier chapter, how Yuan, then a governor, kept Shantung +Province quiet during the Boxer outbreak. It is he who is building up the +"new army" with the aid of German and Japanese drill-masters. It is he who +succeeded in introducing the study of modern science into the education of +the official classes. He is committed to the abolition of the palace +eunuch system. He has, during the past year, made great headway with his +bold plan to remodel this land of fossilized ideas into a constitutional +monarchy, with a representative parliament. But first, and above all else, +he places the opium reforms. Unless this curse can be checked, and at +least partially removed, there is no hope of progress. + +Throughout this magnificent struggle for a new China, Viceroy Yuan has +radically opposed the very spirit and genius of his race; but far from +ostracizing himself or splitting the government, he has grown steadily in +power and influence, until now, as a sort of prime minister, he appears to +hold the substance of imperial authority in his hands. Try to imagine a +self-made, reform politician outwitting and beating down the traditions of +Tammany Hall in New York City, multiply his difficulties by a thousand or +two, and you will perhaps have some notion of the sheer ability of this +great man, who has risen above the traditions, even above the age-old +prejudices of his own people. There are many Europeans in his +retinue--physicians, military men, engineers, educators--all of whom +apparently look up to him as a genuine superior. An _attache_ summed up +for me this feeling which Yuan inspires in those who know him: "You forget +to think of him as a Chinaman," said this _attache_, "as in any way +different from the rest of us." + +The viceroy took a personal hand in the Tientsin situation. On December 2, +1906, he issues the following document to the North and South Police +Commissioners of Tientsin native city. Rather than altar the quaint +wording, I quote just as it was translated for me: + +"I have just received instructions from the cabinet ministers enjoining me +to act according to the regulations which they presented to the throne, +and which received their Majesties' consent. The evil effects of opium are +known to all. It is the duty of us all to act according to the +regulations, and do our utmost to get rid of them. + +"The North and South police commissioners are authorized to close the +opium dens, which have been the refuge of idle hands and young people who +are not allowed to smoke at home. The said dens are to be closed at the +end of the Tenth Moon (December 14th), at the same time notifying the +keepers of restaurants and wine shops not to have opium-smoking +instruments or opium prepared for their customers, nor are their customers +allowed to take opium and smoke there. + +"As to the concessions, the Customs Taotai is authorized to open +conference with the different consuls, asking them to close the opium dens +within a limited time." + +The two police commissioners at once made the proclamation public; and, as +is evident from the following "Reply to a petition," met with difficulties +in enforcing it: + +"It is impossible to change the date of closing dens. What is said in the +petition, that the keepers cannot square their accounts with their +customers, may be true, but the viceroy's order must be obeyed. The dens +shall be closed at the specified time." + +These orders were carried out. It is one of the advantages of a +patriarchal form of government that orders can be carried out. There were +no injunctions, no writs to show cause, no technical appeals. The few den +keepers who dared to violate the prohibition were mildly punished on the +first offense--most of them receiving two full weeks at hard labour. The +real responsibility was placed upon the owners of the property rented out +to the den keepers. It was recognized that these owners were the ones who +really profited by the vice. They were given an opportunity to report any +violations occurring on their property; but if a violation occurred, and +the owner failed to report, his property was promptly confiscated. Here we +see successfully employed a method which we in this country have been +unable as yet to put into effect. The futility of punishing engineers and +switchmen for the sins of railroad corporations, of punishing clerks for +the offenses of bank directors, of punishing keepers of disorderly houses +in cases where we know that the real profit goes, in the form of a high +rental, to the respectable owner of the property, has long been recognized +among us. In China, while we see much that seems intolerable in the +enforcement of law, we must admit that it is refreshing to find laws +really enforced, and to see responsibility sometimes put where it belongs. +We of the United States are far ahead of the Chinese in all that goes to +make up what we call civilization. But we have, among others, a law +forbidding the sale of liquor on Sundays in New York City. We couldn't +enforce the law if we tried; and we haven't enough moral courage to strike +it off the books for the dead letter it is. + +Yes, the Tientsin situation has its refreshing side. Yuan Shi K'ai--a +Chinaman,--set about it to close the opium dens that supplied this +swarming cityful of Chinamen, and succeeded. He solved that most difficult +problem which confronts human governments everywhere--in every climate, +under every sky--the problem of moral regulation. He drove the +manufacturers of opium and of opium accessories out of business. He cut +his way through a tangle of "interests," vested and otherwise, not so +different in their essence from the liquor interests of this country. +Thanks to his own character and resource, thanks to the cheerful +directness of Chinese methods of governing (when directness and not +indirectness is really wanted), he "got results." And not only in Tientsin +native city, but also in Peking, and Pao-ting-fu, and all Chili Province, +and throughout Shansi Province, and over large portions of Shantung, +Shansi, and Manchuria. It was not a case of Maine prohibition, or Kansas +prohibition, or New York excise regulation. He closed the dens! + +While he was accomplishing this result, and while the native Chamber of +Commerce was appropriating a sum of money to found a hospital for the cure +of opium victims, the "Customs Taotai," obeying the viceroy's +instructions, courteously requested the consuls, as rulers of the foreign +city, to help along by closing the dens in their municipalities. It was +mainly to see whether or not the consuls were "helping" that I went down +to Tientsin. There was no need to ask questions or to burrow among +statistics. The opium dens of the concessions were either or they were +not. Accordingly, I set out from the Astor House at nine o'clock one +evening, by rickshaw. For interpreter I had Mr. Sung, the secretary of the +Native Young Men's Christian Association, and with us went a young +Englishman who spoke the language. This test seemed a fair one to apply, +for it was April 23d, nearly five months after Viceroy Yuan's +proclamation, and several weeks after the closing of the last dens in the +native city. + +We began with the French concession; and our first glimpses of the +thriving opium business of the little municipality astonished us. The +Taiku Road, the main street, where one finds churches, mission compounds, +offices, and shops, displayed a row of red lights. Our three rickshaws +pulled up at the first and we went in. + +An opium den usually takes up one floor of a building. Against the walls +is a continuous wooden platform, perhaps two feet high and extending over +seven or eight feet into the room. This platform is divided at intervals +of five or six feet by low partitions, sometimes but a few inches in +height, into compartments, each of which accommodates two smokers, with +one lamp between them. Sometimes a rug or a bit of matting is laid on this +hard couch, sometimes not; for the Chinaman, accustomed to sleeping on +bricks, prefers his couches hard. A man always lies down to smoke opium; +for the porous pill, which is pressed into the tiny orifice of the pipe, +cannot be ignited, but is held directly over the lamp and the flame drawn +up through it. + +The first den we entered was on the second floor of a rickety building. We +climbed the steep, infinitely dirty stairway, crossed a narrow hall, and +opened a door. At first I found it difficult to see distinctly in the dim +light and through the thick blue haze; and the overpowering, sickish fumes +of the drug got into my nose and throat and made breathing a noticeable +effort. There was a desk by the door, behind which sat the keeper of the +den, with a litter of pipes and thimble-like cups before him. In a corner +of the desk was a jar of opium, a thick, sticky substance, dark brown in +colour, in appearance not unlike molasses in January. There were twenty +smokers on the couches, some preparing the pellet of opium by kneading it +and pressing it on the pipe-bowl, some dozing off the fumes, and a few +smoking. An attendant moved about the room with fresh supplies of the +drug. For each thimbleful, enough for one or two smokes, the price was +fifteen cents (Mexican). + +The smokers seemed to be mainly of the lower classes; though hardly so low +as coolies, who are lucky to earn as much as fifteen cents in a day. It +was evident to both of my companions, from the appearance of these men and +from their talk, that they could ill afford the luxury. The number of +smokes indulged in seemed to range from three or four up to an indefinite +number. The youngest and healthiest appearing man in the room told us that +after three pipes he could go home and go to sleep in comfort. He had been +at it less than a year, he said; and, judging from the expression of +peaceful content that came over his face as he held the pipe-bowl over the +lamp and drew the smoke deep into his lungs, he had not yet begun to feel +the ravages of the drug. + +The next den we entered was small, crowded, and dirty. The price was only +ten cents. But the third den was the largest and decidedly the most +interesting of any that we saw. Like the others, it was situated in a +prosperous section of the Taiku Road, with its red light conspicuously +displayed over the door. From the facts that it was frankly open for +business and that not the slightest concern was shown at our entrance, it +seemed fair to believe that the keepers had no fear whatever of publicity +or of the law. Even when we announced ourselves to be investigators, our +questions were answered cheerfully and fully, and the man who escorted us +from room to room was apparently proud of the establishment. The couches +were not all occupied, but I counted thirty-five men sitting or reclining +on them. One man had a child with him, a girl of some six or eight years +of age, and when he had prepared his pipe and smoked it he permitted her +to take a whiff or two. In a rear room we saw four women smoking with the +men. The price of a smoke in this den was twenty-five cents. + +I do not know how many opium dens were open for business in the French +concession on this particular April 23d, 1907, but of those that were open +I personally either entered or at least saw fifteen or sixteen, and that +without attempting anything in the nature of an exhaustive search. In the +Italian and Russian concessions I found about sixty dens open, mostly of a +very low grade. But the worst of the concessions, in this regard, was the +Austrian. Lying nearest to the native city, it had profited more largely +than any of the others by the native prohibition. It seemed also to have +the largest Chinese population; indeed, in appearance it was more like the +quaint old Chinese city than any of the other foreign municipalities. + +We entered only three of the Austrian dens. But we saw the signs and +glanced in through the doorways of so many others that I was quite ready +to accept Mr. Sung's rough estimate of the total number within the narrow +confines of the concession: he put it at fifty to one hundred. It is +difficult to be exact in these estimates, because where laws are so +languidly enforced the official returns hardly begin to state the full +number of flourishing establishments. These three dens which we entered +were enough to make an ineffaceable impression on the mind of one +traveller. I have eaten and slept in native hostelries, in the interior, +so unspeakably dirty and insanitary that to describe them in these pages +would exceed all bounds of taste, but I have never been in a filthier +place than at least one of these Austrian dens. And the other two were +little better. It would require some means more adequate than pen, ink, +and paper, to convey to the reader an accurate notion of the mingled, +half-blended odours which seemed to underlie, or to form a background for, +the overpowering fumes of what passed here for opium. What this drug +compound was I really do not know; but it was sold at the rate of two +pipes for three cents, Mexican, equivalent to a cent and a half, gold. For +real opium, of fair or good quality, it is quite possible, in China, to +pay from ten to twenty times as much. Such dens as this, then, are not +only vicious resorts maintained for the purpose of catering to a +degrading habit; they are also breeding places of disease and pestilence. + +Thus one night's work made it plain that the foreign concessions were +taking no steps that would evidence a spirit of cooeperation with the +Chinese authorities in their vigorous attempt to check and control the +ravages of opium. Tientsin, like Shanghai, did not care. Tientsin, like +Shanghai, is sowing the wind in China. + +Let us now turn aside for a moment to consider the third important point +of contact between the two kinds of civilization--Hongkong. + +Hongkong is neither a "settlement" nor a "concession." It is a British +crown colony, with its own government and its own courts. The original +property, a mountainous island lying near the mouth of the Canton River, +was taken from the Chinese in 1842, as a part of the penalty which China +had to pay for losing the Opium War. Later, a strip of the mainland +opposite was added to the colony. Hongkong is one of the most important +seaports in the world. It is the meeting place for freight and passenger +ships from North America, South America, New Zealand and Australia, India, +Europe, Africa, and the Philippines and other Pacific islands. It +commands the trade of the Canton River Valley, which, though not +geographically so imposing as the wonderful valley of the Yangtse, +supports, nevertheless, the densely populated region reached by the +innumerable canal-like branches of the river. The city of Canton alone, +eighty or ninety miles inland from Hongkong, claims 2,500,000 inhabitants. +It is safe to say that fifty million Chinamen are constantly under the +influence of the civilizing example set by Hongkong. + +What is the attitude of the Colonial government towards the opium +question? Simply that the opium habit is a legitimate source of revenue. +The British gentlemen who administer the government seem never to have +been disturbed by doubts as to the morality or humanity of their attitude. +Let me quote from the report of the Philippine Commission: + +"Farming is the system adopted (renting out the monopoly control of the +drug to an individual or a corporation) and a considerable part of the +income of the colony is obtained from this source. The habit seems to be +spreading. No effort--except the increased price demanded by the farmer to +compensate for the increased price he has to pay to secure the +monopoly--is made to deter persons from using opium in the colony. Most of +the opium comes from India." + +The attitude of the residents and merchants of the colony seems to be +expressed plainly enough by an editorial in a leading Hongkong paper which +lies before me, dated December 1, 1906: "It will take volumes of imperial +edicts to convince us that China ever honestly intends or is ever likely +to suppress the opium trade. It is up to China to take the initiative in +such a way as to leave no doubt that her intentions are honest and that +the native opium trade will be abandoned. Until that is done, it is idle +to discuss the question." + +In other words, Hongkong refuses to consider giving up its opium revenue +until the Chinese take the market away from it. + +I think we may consider the point established that Great Britain is +directly responsible for the introduction of opium into China, and, +through the ingenuity and persistence of her merchants and her diplomats, +for the growth of the habit in that country. To-day, in spite of an +unmistakable tendency on the part of the Home government (which we shall +consider in a later chapter) to yield to the pressure of the anti-opium +agitation in England, the government of India continues to grow and +manufacture vast quantities of the drug for the Chinese trade. To-day the +representatives of that government at Hongkong are profiting largely from +a monopoly control of the opium importation. To-day, at Shanghai, where +the British predominate in population, in trade, and in the city +government, the opium evil is mishandled in a scandalous manner, and--as +elsewhere--for profit. Small wonder, therefore, that other and less +scrupulous foreign nations, where they have an opportunity to profit by +this vicious traffic, as at Tientsin, hasten to do so. + +These three great ports--Shanghai, Tientsin, and Hongkong--are in constant +touch commercially with a grand total of very nearly 200,000,000 Chinese. +They are, therefore, constantly exerting a direct influence on that number +of Chinese minds. As I have pointed out, this influence, because it is +concentrated and tangible, is much stronger than the admittedly potent +influence of the widely scattered missionaries, physicians, and teachers. +From the life and example of the Western nations, as they exist at these +ports, the Chinaman is drawing most of his ideas of progress and +enlightenment. + +In a word, the new China that we shall sooner or later have to deal with +among the nations of the world is the new China that the ports are helping +to make--for this new China is to-day in process of development. She is +struggling heroically to digest and assimilate the Western ideas which +alone can bring life and vigour to the sluggish Chinese mass. And yet, +turning westward for aid, China is confronted with--Shanghai, Tientsin, +and Hongkong. Turning to Britain for a helping hand in her effort to check +the inroads of opium, she hears this cheerful doctrine from the one +British colony which China can really see and partly understand, +Hongkong--"It is up to China." Dr. Morrison has stated in one of his +letters to the _Times_ that Britain's attitude towards China is one of +sympathy, tempered by a lack of information. One very eminent British +diplomat with whom I discussed the opium question assured me that that +attitude of his government was "most sympathetic." Later, in London, I +found that this same government was quieting an aroused public opinion +with assurances that steps were being taken towards an agreement with +China in the matter of opium. All this was in the spring and summer of +1907. Six months later, the one British colony in China, and the two great +international ports, were cheerfully continuing their cynical policy of +sneering at or ignoring the attempts of the Chinese to overcome their +master-vice, and were cheerfully profiting by the situation. + +It would perhaps seem fanciful to suggest that the great nations should +unite to regulate the coast ports. It would appear obvious that such +regulation, in so far as it might create a better understanding between +the Chinese and the representatives of foreign civilizations with whom +they must come in contact, would work to the advantage of commercial +interests. Anti-foreign riots are in progress to-day in China which have +their roots partly in racial misconception, partly in a long tradition of +injustice and bad faith; and it is hardly necessary to suggest that an +atmosphere of injustice, bad faith, and rioting is not the best atmosphere +in which to carry on trade. But, nevertheless, the inevitable difficulties +in the way of drawing the great nations together in the interests of a +better understanding with the Chinese people would seem to make such a +solution academic rather than practical. + +But, still hoping that something may be done about it, something that may +lessen the likelihood of the reaping of a whirlwind in China, suppose that +we alter the phrase of that Hongkong editorial and state that instead of +the problem being up to China, it is distinctly up to Great Britain? Great +Britain brought the opium into China. Great Britain kept it there until it +took root and spread over the native soil. Great Britain has admitted her +guilt, and had pledged herself by a majority vote in Parliament, and by +the promises of her governing ministers, to do something about it. Suppose +that Great Britain be called upon to make good her pledge? It would be an +interesting experiment. All that is necessary is to cut down the +production of opium in India, year by year, until it ceases altogether, +and with it the exportation into China. This course would solve +automatically the opium problem at Hongkong; and it would put it up to the +municipal authorities at Shanghai and Tientsin in an interesting fashion. +It would in no way jeopardize Britain's interest in the diplomatic balance +of the Far East. It would work for the good rather than the harm of the +trade with China. And it would be the first necessary step in the arduous +matter of cleaning up the treaty ports and setting a higher example to +China. + +To this course Great Britain would appear to be committed by the +utterances for her government. But the world, like the man from Missouri, +has yet to be "shown." In a later chapter we shall consider this question +of promise and performance in the light of Britain's peculiar governmental +problem. + + + + +VII + +HOW BRITISH CHICKENS CAME HOME TO ROOST + + +We have seen, in the preceding chapters, that the Anglo-Indian government +controls absolutely the production of opium in India, prepares the drug +for the market in government-owned and government-operated factories, and +sells it at monthly auctions. Let me also recall to the reader that +four-fifths of this opium is prepared to suit the known taste of Chinese +consumers. The annual value to the Anglo-Indian government of this curious +industry, it will be recalled, is well over $20,000,000. + +Now we have to consider the last strong defense of this policy which the +British government has seen fit to offer to a protesting world, the report +of the Royal Commission on Opium. Against this stout defense of the opium +traffic in all its branches, we are able to set not only the findings of +other governments, such as those of Japan, the Philippines, and Australia, +which have opium problems of their own to deal with, but also the +curious attitude of a certain British colony, amounting almost to what +might be called an opium panic, on that occasion when the Oriental drug +found its way near enough home to menace British subjects and British +children. + + +[Illustration: WEIGHING OPIUM IN A GOVERNMENT FACTORY, INDIA] + + +The men who administer the government of India have a chronically +difficult job on their hands. In order to keep it on their hands they have +got to please the British public; and that is not so easy as it perhaps +sounds. It would apparently please both the government and the public if +the whole opium question could be thrown after the twenty thousand chests +of Canton--into the sea. But the British public is hard-headed, and proud +of it; and the spectacle of the magnificent, panoplied government of India +gone bankrupt, or so embarrassed as to be calling upon the Home government +for aid, would not please it at all. Of the two evils, debauching China or +gravely impairing the finances of India, there has been reason to believe +that it would prefer debauching China. That, at least, is what successive +governments of Britain and of India seem to have concluded. It has seemed +wiser to endure a known quantity of abuse for sticking to opium than to +risk the cold British scorn for the bankrupt; and, accordingly, the Indian +government with the approval of one Home government after another, has +stuck to opium. The only alternative course, that of developing a new, +healthy source of revenue to supplant opium, the unhealthy, would involve +real ideas and an immense amount of trouble; and these two things are only +less abhorrent to the administrative mind than political annihilation +itself. + +But there came a time, not so long ago, when a wave of "anti-opium" +feeling swept over England, and the British public suddenly became very +hard to please. Parliament agreed that the idea of a government opium +monopoly in India was "morally indefensible," and even went so far as to +send out a "Royal Commission" to investigate the whole question. Now this +commission, after travelling twenty thousand miles, asking twenty-eight +thousand questions, and publishing two thousand pages (double columns, +close print) of evidence, arrived at some remarkable conclusions. "Opium," +says the Royal Commission, "is harmful, harmless, or even beneficial, +according to the measure and discretion with which it is used.... It is +[in India] the universal household remedy.... It is extensively +administered to infants, and the practice does not appear, to any +appreciable extent, injurious.... It does not appear responsible for any +disease peculiar to itself." As to the traffic with China, the Commission +states--"Responsibility mainly lies with the Chinese government." And, +finally (which seems to bring out the pith of the matter), "In the present +circumstances the revenue derived from opium is indispensable for carrying +on with efficiency the government of India." + +To one familiar with this extraordinary summing-up of the evidence, it +seems hardly surprising that the Rt. Hon. John Morley, the present +Secretary of State for India, should have said in Parliament (May, +1906)--"I do not wish to speak in disparagement of the Commission, but +somehow or other its findings have failed to satisfy public opinion in +this country and to ease the consciences of those who have taken up the +matter." + +The methods employed by a Royal Commission which could arrive at such +remarkable conclusions could hardly fail to be interesting. The Government +opium traffic was a scandal. Parliament was on record against it. There +was simply nothing to be said for opium or for the opium monopoly. It was +"morally indefensible"--officially so. It was agreed that the Indian +government should be "urged" to cease to grant licenses for the +cultivation of the poppy and for the sale of opium in British India. This +was interesting--even gratifying. There was but one obstacle in the way of +putting an end to the whole business; and that obstacle was, in some +inexplicable way, this same British government. The opium monopoly, +morally indefensible or not, seemed to be going serenely and steadily on. +If the Indian government was urged in the matter, there was no record of +it. + +Two years passed. Mr. Gladstone, the great prime minister, deplored the +opium evil--and took pains not to stop or limit it. Like the House of +Peers in the Napoleonic wars, he "did nothing in particular--and did it +very well." So the vigilant crusaders came at the government again. In +June, 1893, Mr. Alfred Webb moved a resolution which (so ran the hopes of +these crusaders) the most nearly Christian government could not resist or +evade. Sure of the anti-opium majority, the new resolution, "having regard +to the opinion expressed by the vote of this House on the 10th of April, +1891, that the system by which the Indian opium revenue is raised is +morally indefensible,... and recognizing that the people of India ought +not to be called upon to bear the cost involved in this change of policy," +demanded that "a Royal Commission should be appointed ... to report as to +(1) What retrenchments and reforms can be effected in the military and +civil expenditures of India; (2) By what means Indian resources can be +best developed; and (3) What, if any, temporary assistance from the +British Exchequer would be required in order to meet any deficit of +revenue which would be occasioned by the suppression of the opium +traffic." + +The crusaders had underestimated the parliamentary skill of Mr. Gladstone. +He promptly moved a counter resolution, proposing that "this House press +on the Government of India to continue their policy of greatly diminishing +the cultivation of the poppy and the production and sale of opium, and +demanding a Royal Commission to report as to (1) Whether the growth of the +poppy and the manufacture and sale of opium in British India should be +prohibited.... (4) The effect on the finances of India of the prohibition +... taking into consideration (a) the amount of compensation payable; (b) +the cost of the necessary preventive measures; (c) the loss of revenue.... +(5) The disposition of the people of India in regard to (a) the use of +opium for non-medical purposes; (b) their willingness to bear in whole or +in part the cost of prohibitive measures." + +Mr. Gladstone's resolution looked, to the unthinking, like an anti-opium +document. He doubtless meant that it should, for in his task of +maintaining the opium traffic he had to work through an anti-opium +majority. Mr. Webb's resolution, starting from the assumption that the +government was committed to suppressing the traffic, called for a +commission merely to arrange the necessary details. Mr. Gladstone's +resolution raised the whole question again, and instructed the commission +not only to call particular attention to the cost of prohibition (the +shrewd premier knew his public!), not only to find out if the victims of +opium in India wished to continue the habit, but also threw the whole +burden of cost on the poverty-stricken people of India--which he knew +perfectly well they could not bear. The original resolution had sprung +out of a moral outcry against the China trade. Mr. Gladstone, in beginning +again at the beginning, ignored the China trade and the effects of opium +on the Chinese. + +But more interesting, if less significant than this attitude, was the +suggestion that the Indian government "continue their policy of greatly +diminishing the cultivation of the poppy." Now this suggestion conveyed an +impression that was either true or false. Either the Indian government was +putting down opium or it was not. In either event, if Mr. Gladstone was +not fully informed, it was his own fault, for the machinery of government +was in his hands. The best way to straighten out this tangle would seem to +be to consult the report of Mr. Gladstone's commission. This commission, +on its arrival in India, found no trace of a policy of suppressing the +trade. Sir David Balfour, the head of the Indian Finance Department, said +to the commission: "I was not aware that that was the policy of the Home +government until the statement was made.... The policy has been for some +time to sell about the same amount every year, neither diminishing that +amount nor increasing it. I should say decidedly, that at present our +desire is to obtain the maximum revenue from the opium consumed in India." +As regarded the China trade, Sir David added: "We will not largely +increase the cultivation because we shall be attacked if we do so." And +this--"We have adopted a middle course and preserved the _status quo_ with +reference to the China trade." + +Mr. Gladstone's resolution was adopted by 184 votes to 105, the anti-opium +crusaders voting against it. And the Royal Commission, with instructions +not, as had been intended, to arrange the details of a plan for stopping +the opium traffic, but with instructions to consider whether it would pay +to stop it, and if not, whether the people of India could be made to stand +the loss, started out on its rather hopeless journey. + +One thing the crusaders had succeeded in accomplishing--they had forced +the government to send a commission to India. They had got one or two of +their number on the body. The commission would have to hear the evidence, +would be forced to air the situation thoroughly, showing a paternal +government not only manufacturing opium for the China trade, but actually, +since 1891, manufacturing pills of opium mixed with spices for the +children and infants of India. If the Indian government, now at last +brought to an accounting, wished to keep the opium business going, they +could do two things--they could see that the "right" sort of evidence was +given to the commission, and they could try to influence the commission +directly. They adopted both courses; though it appears now, to one who +goes over the attitude of the majority of the commission and especially of +Lord Brassey, the chairman, as shown in the records, that little direct +influence was necessary. Lord Brassey and his majority were pro-opium, +through and through. The Home government had seen to that. + +The problem, then, of the administrators of the Indian government and of +this pro-opium commission was to defend a "morally indefensible" condition +of affairs in order to maintain the revenue of the Indian government. It +was a problem neither easy nor pleasant. + +The Viceroy of India was Lord Lansdowne. He went at the problem with +shrewdness and determination. His attitude was precisely what one has +learned to expect in the viceroys of India. A later viceroy, Lord Curzon, +has spoken with infinite scorn of the "opium faddists." Lord Lansdowne +approached the business in the same spirit. He began by sending a telegram +from his government to the British Secretary of State for India, which +contained the following passage: "We shall be prepared to suggest +non-official witnesses, who will give independent evidence, but we cannot +undertake to specially search for witnesses who will give evidence against +opium. We presume this will be done by the Anti-Opium Society." This +message had been sent in August, 1893, but it was not made public until +the 18th of the following November. On November 20th Lord Lansdowne sent a +letter to Lord Brassey, "which," says Mr. Henry J. Wilson, M. P., in his +minority report, "was passed around among the members [of the commission] +for perusal. It contained a statement in favour of the existing opium +system, and against interference with that system as likely to lead to +serious trouble. This appeared to me a departure from the judicial +attitude which might have been expected from Her Majesty's +representatives." + +From this Mr. Wilson goes on, in his report, to lay bare the methods of +the Indian government in preparing evidence for the commission. To say +that these methods show a departure from the expected "judicial attitude" +is to speak with great moderation. It is not necessary, I think, to weary +the reader with the details of these extended operations. That is not the +purpose of this writing. It should be enough to say that Lord Lansdowne +and his Indian government ordered that all evidence should be submitted to +the commission through their offices; that only pro-opium evidence was +submitted; that a government official travelled with the commission and +openly worked up the evidence in advance; that the minority members were +hindered and hampered in their attempts at real investigation, and were +shadowed by detectives when they travelled independently in the +opium-producing regions; and, finally, that Lord Brassey abruptly closed +the report of the commission without giving the minority members an +opportunity to discuss it in detail. The result of these methods was +precisely what might have been expected. Opium was declared a mild and +harmless stimulant for all ages. No home, in short, was complete without +it. + +There is an answer to the report of the Royal Commission on opium more +telling than can be found in speeches or in minority reports. In an +earlier article we examined into the beginnings of opium. We saw how it is +grown and manufactured; how it passes out of the hands of the British +government into the currents of trade; how it is carried along on these +currents--small quantities of it washing up in passing the Straits and the +Malay Archipelago--to China; how it blends at the Chinese ports in the +flood of the new native-grown opium and divides among the trade currents +of that great empire until every province receives its supply of the +"foreign dirt." Now let us follow it farther; for it does not stop there. + +The Chinese are great traders and great travellers. The weight of the +national misery presses them out into whatever new regions promise a +reward for industry. They swarmed over the Pacific to America in a yellow +cloud until America, in sheer self-defense, barred them out. They swarmed +southward to Australia until Australia closed the doors on them. They +swarm to-day into the Philippines and into Malaysia. In the Straits +Settlement, in a total population of a little over half a million, more +than half (282,000) are Chinese. When America would build the Panama +Canal, her first impulse is to import the cheap Chinese labourer, who is +always so eager to come. When Britain took over the Transvaal she imported +70,000 Chinese labourers. And where the Chinese travel, opium travels too. + +The real answer to the Royal Commission on opium should be found in the +attitude of these countries which have had to face the opium problem along +with the Chinese problem. Let us include in the list Japan, a country +which has had a remarkable opportunity to view the opium menace at short +range. What Japan thinks about opium, what Australia and the Transvaal and +the United States think, what the Philippines think, is more to the point +than any first-hand statements of a magazine reporter. We will take Japan +first. Does Japan think that opium is invaluable as a general household +remedy? Does Japan think that opium is good for children? + +Here is what the Philippine Opium Commission, whose report is accepted +to-day as the most authoritative survey of the opium situation, has to say +about opium in Japan: + +"Japan, which is a non-Christian country, is the only country visited by +the committee where the opium question is dealt with in the purely moral +and social aspect.... Legislation is enacted without the distraction of +commercial motives and interest.... No surer testimony to the reality of +the evil effects of opium can be found than the horror with which China's +next-door neighbour views it.... The Japanese to a man fear opium as we +fear the cobra or the rattlesnake, and they despise its victims. There has +been no moment in the nation's history when the people have wavered in +their uncompromising attitude towards the drug and its use, so that an +instinctive hatred possesses them. China's curse has been Japan's warning, +and a warning heeded. An opium user in Japan would be socially a leper. + +"The opium law of Japan forbids the importation, the possession, and the +use of the drug, except as a medicine; and it is kept to the letter in a +population of 47,000,000, of whom perhaps 25,000 are Chinese. So rigid are +the provisions of the law that it is sometimes, especially in interior +towns, almost impossible to secure opium or its alkaloids in cases of +medical necessity.... The government is determined to keep the opium +habit strictly confined to what they deem to be its legitimate use, which +use even, they seem to think, is dangerous enough to require special +safeguarding. + +"Certain persons are authorized by the head official of each district to +manufacture and prepare opium for medicinal purposes.... That which is up +to the required standard (in quality) is sold to the government: and that +which falls short is destroyed. The accepted opium is sealed in proper +receptacles and sold to a selected number of wholesale dealers +(apothecaries) who in turn provide physicians and retail dealers with the +drug for medicinal uses only. It can reach the patient for whose relief it +is desired only through the prescription of the attending physician. The +records of those who thus use opium in any of its various forms must be +preserved for ten years. + +"The people not merely obey the law, but they are proud of it; they would +not have it altered if they could. It is the law of the government, but it +is the law of the people also.... Apparently, the vigilance of the police +is such that even when opium is successfully smuggled in, it cannot be +smoked without detection. The pungent fumes of cooked opium are +unmistakable, and betray the user almost inevitably.... There is an +instance on record where a couple of Japanese lads in North Formosa +experimented with opium just for a lark; and though they were guilty only +on this occasion, they were detected, arrested, and punished." + +That is what Japan thinks about opium. + +The conclusions of this Philippine Commission formed the basis of the new +opium prohibition in the Philippines, which went into effect March 1, +1908. The plan is a modification of the Japanese system of dealing with +the evil. + +Australia and New Zealand have also been forced to face the opium problem. +New Zealand, by an act of 1901, amended in 1903, prohibits the traffic, +and makes offenders liable to a penalty not exceeding $2,500 (L500) for +each offense. In the Australian Federal Parliament the question was +brought to an issue two or three years ago. Petitions bearing 200,000 +signatures were presented to the parliament, and in response a law was +enacted absolutely prohibiting the importation of opium, except for +medicinal uses, after January 1, 1906. All the state governments of +Australia lose revenue by this prohibition. The voice of the Australian +people was apparently expressed in the Federal Parliament by Hon. V. L. +Solomon, who said: "In the cities of the Southern States anybody going to +the opium dens would see hundreds of apparently respectable Europeans +indulging in this horrible habit. It is a hundredfold more damaging, both +physically and morally, than the indulgence in alcoholic liquors." + +That is what Australia and New Zealand think about opium. + +The attitude of the United States is thus described by the Philippine +Commission: "It is not perhaps generally known that in the only instance +where America has made official utterances relative to the use of opium in +the East, she has spoken with no uncertain voice. By treaty with China in +1880, and again in 1903, no American bottoms are allowed to carry opium in +Chinese waters. This ... is due to a recognition that the use of opium is +an evil for which no financial gain can compensate, and which America will +not allow her citizens to encourage even passively." By the terms of this +treaty, citizens of the United States are forbidden to "import opium into +any of the open ports of China, or transport from one open port to any +other open port, or to buy and sell opium in any of the open ports of +China. This absolute prohibition ... extends to vessels owned by the +citizens or subjects of either power, to foreign vessels employed by them, +or to vessels owned by the citizens or subjects of either power and +employed by other persons for the transportation of opium." Thus the +United States is flatly on record as forbidding her citizens to engage, in +any way whatever, in the Chinese opium traffic. + +The last item of expert evidence which I shall present from the countries +most deeply concerned in the opium question is from that British colony, +the Transvaal. Were the subject less grim, it would be difficult to +restrain a smile over this bit of evidence--it is so human, and so +humorous. For a century and more, Anglo-Indian officials have been kept +busy explaining that opium is a heaven-sent blessing to mankind. It is +quite possible that many of them have come to believe the words they have +repeated so often. Why not? China was a long way off--and India certainly +did need the money. The poor official had to please the sovereign people +back home, one way or another. If a choice between evils seemed +necessary, was he to blame? We must try not to be too hard on the +government official. Perhaps opium _was_ good for children. Keep your +blind eye to the telescope and you can imagine anything you like. + + +[Illustration: WHERE THE CHINAMAN TRAVELS, OPIUM TRAVELS TOO A Consignment +of Opium from China to the United States, Photographed in the Custom +House, San Francisco] + + +The situation was given its grimly humorous twist when the monster opium +began to invade regions nearer home. It came into the Transvaal after the +Boer War, along with those 70,000 Chinese labourers. The result can only +be described as an opium panic. I quote, regarding it, from that +"Memorandum Concerning Indo-Chinese Opium Trade," which was prepared for +the debate in Parliament during May, 1906: + +"The Transvaal offers a striking illustration of the old proverb as to +chickens coming home to roost. + +"On the 6th of September, 1905, Sir George Farrar moved the adjournment of +the Legislative Council at Pretoria, to call attention to 'the enormous +quantity of opium' finding its way into the Transvaal. He urged that +'measures should be taken for the immediate stopping of the traffic.' On +6th October, an ordinance was issued, restricting the importation of opium +to registered chemists, only, according to regulations to be prescribed +by permits by the lieutenant-governor--under a penalty not exceeding L500 +($2,500), or imprisonment not exceeding six months. + +"Any person in possession of such substance ... except for medicinal +purposes, unless under a permit, is liable to similar penalties. Stringent +rights of search are given to police, constables, under certain +circumstances, without even the necessity of a written authority. + +"The under-secretary for the colonies has also stated, 'that the Chinese +Labour Importation Ordinance, 1904, has been amended to penalize the +possession by, and supply to, Chinese labourers of opium.'" + +Apparently opium is not good for the children of South Africa. That it +would be good (to get still nearer home) for the children and infants of +Great Britain, is an idea so monstrous, so horrible, that I hardly dare +suggest it. No one, I think, would go so far as to say that the Royal +Commission would have reached those same extraordinary conclusions had the +problem lain in Great Britain instead of in far-off India and China. Walk +about, of a sunny afternoon, in Kensington Gardens. Watch the ruddy, +healthy children sailing their boats in the Round Pond, or playing in the +long grass where the sheep are nibbling, or running merrily along the +well-kept borders of the Serpentine. They are splendid youngsters, these +little Britishers. Their skins are tanned, their eyes are clear, their +little bodies are compactly knit. Each child has its watchful nurse. What +would the mothers say if His Majesty's Most Excellent Government should +undertake the manufacture and distribution of attractive little pills of +opium and spices for these children, and should defend its course not only +on the ground that "the practice does not appear to any appreciable extent +injurious," but also on the ground that "the revenue obtained is +indispensable for carrying on the government with efficiency"? + +What would these British mothers say? It is a fair question. The +"conservative" pro-opiumist is always ready with an answer to this +question. He claims that it is not fair. He maintains that the Oriental is +different from the Occidental--racially. Opium, he says, has no such +marked effect on the Chinaman as it has on the Englishman, no such marked +effect on the Chinese infant as it has on the British infant. I have met +this "conservative" pro-opiumist many times on coasting and river steamers +and in treaty port hotels. I have been one of a group about a rusty little +stove in a German-kept hostelry where this question was thrashed out. Your +"conservative" is so cock-sure about it that he grows, in the heat of his +argument, almost triumphant. At first I thought that perhaps he might be +partially right. One man's meat is occasionally another man's poison. The +Chinese differ from us in so many ways that possibly they might have a +greater capacity to withstand the ravages of opium. + +It was partly to answer this question that I went to China. I did not +leave China until I had arrived at an answer that seemed convincing. If, +in presenting the facts in these columns, the picture I have been painting +of China's problem should verge on the painful, that, I am afraid, will be +the fault of the facts. It is a picture of the hugest empire in the whole +world, fighting a curse which has all but mastered it, turning for aid, in +sheer despair, to the government, that has brought it to the edge of ruin. +Strange to say, this British government, as it is to-day constituted, +would apparently like to help. But, across the path of assistance stands, +like a grotesque, inhuman dragon,--the Indian Revenue. + + + + +VIII + +THE POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN + + +An observant correspondent recently wrote from Shanghai to a New York +newspaper: "China has missed catching the fire of the West in the manner +of Japan, and has lain idle and supine while neighbour and foreigner +despoiled her. Her statesmanship has been languid and irresolute, and her +armies slow and spiritless in the field. Observers who know China, and are +familiar at the same time with the symptoms of opium, say that it is as if +the listless symptoms of the drug were to be seen in the very nation +itself. Many conclude that the military and political inertia of the +Chinese is due to the special prevalence of the opium habit among the two +classes of Chinamen directly responsible: both the soldiers and the +scholars, among whom all the civil and political posts are held in +monopoly, are notoriously addicted to opium." + +The point which these chapters should make clear is that opium is the +evil thing which is not only holding China back but is also actually +threatening to bring about the most complete demoralization and decadence +that any large portion of the world has ever experienced. It is evident, +in this day of extended trade interests, that such a paralysis of the +hugest and the most industrious of the great races would amount to a +world-disaster. Already the United States is suffering from the weakness +of the Chinese government in Manchuria, which permits Japan to control in +the Manchurian province and to discriminate against American trade. This +discrimination would appear to have been one strong reason for the sailing +of the battleship fleet to the Pacific. If this relatively small result of +China's weakness and inertia can arouse great nations and can play a part +in the moving of great fleets, it is not difficult to imagine the +world-importance of a complete breakdown. Every great Western nation has a +trade or territorial footing in China to defend and maintain. Every great +Western nation is watching the complicated Chinese situation with +sleepless eyes. Such a breakdown might quite possibly mean the +unconditional surrender of China's destiny into the hands of Japan; +which, with Japan's growing desire to dominate the Pacific, and with it +the world, might quite possibly mean the rapid approach of the great +international conflict. + +We have seen, in the course of these chapters, that China appears to be +almost completely in the grasp of her master-vice. The opium curse in +China is a dreadful example of the economic waste of evil. It has not only +lowered the vitality, and therefore the efficiency of men, women, and +children in all walks of life, but it has also crowded the healthier crops +off the land, usurped no small part of the industrial life, turned the +balance of trade against China, plunged her into wars, loaded her with +indemnity charges, taken away part of her territory, and made her the +plundering ground of the nations. She has been compelled to look +indolently on while Japan, alight with the fire of progress, has raised +her brown head proudly among the peoples of the West. So China has at last +been driven to make a desperate stand against the encroachments of the +curse which is wrecking her. The fight is on to-day. It is plain that +China is sincere; she must be sincere, because her only hope lies in +conquering opium. She has turned for help to Great Britain, for Britain's +Indian government developed the opium trade ("for purposes of foreign +commerce only") and continues to-day to pour a flood of the drug into the +channels of Chinese trade. Once China thought to crowd out the Indian +product by producing the drug herself, as a preliminary to controlling the +traffic, but she has never been able to develop a grade of opium that can +compete with the brown paste from the Ganges Valley. + +This summing up brings us to a consideration of two questions which must +be considered sooner or later by the people of the civilized world: + +1. Can China hope to conquer the opium curse without the help of Great +Britain? + +2. What is Great Britain doing to help her? + +In attempting to work out the answer to these questions, we must think of +them simply as practical problems bearing on the trade, the territorial +development, and the military and naval power of the nations. We must try +for the present to ignore the mere moral and ethical suggestions which the +questions arouse. + +First, then: can China, single-handed, possibly succeed in this fight, now +going on, against the slow paralysis of opium? + +China is not a nation in the sense in which we ordinarily use the word. If +we picture to ourselves the countries of Europe, with their different +languages and different customs drawn together into a loose confederation +under the government of a conquering race, we shall have some small +conception of what this Chinese "nation" really is. The peoples of these +different European countries are all Caucasians; the different peoples of +China are all Mongolians. These Chinese people speak eighteen or twenty +"languages," each divided into almost innumerable dialects and +sub-dialects. They are governed by Manchu, or Tartar, conquerors who +spring from a different stock, wear different costumes, and speak, among +themselves, a language wholly different from any of the eighteen or twenty +native tongues. + +In making this diversity clear, it is necessary only to cite a few +illustrations. There is not even a standard of currency in China. Each +province or group of provinces has its own standard tael, differing +greatly in value from the tael which may be the basis of value in the next +province or group. There is no government coinage whatever. All the mints +are privately owned and are run for profit in supplying the local demand +for currency, and the basis of this currency is the Mexican dollar, a +foreign unit. They make dollar bills in Honan Province. I went into Chili +Province and offered some of these Honan bills in exchange for purchases. +The merchants merely looked at them and shook their heads. "Tientsin +dollar have got?" was the question. So the money of a community or a +province is simply a local commodity and has either a lower value or no +value elsewhere, for the simple reason that the average Chinaman knows +only his local money and will accept no other. The diversity of language +is as easily observed as the diversity of coinage. On the wharves at +Shanghai you can hear a Canton Chinaman and a Shanghai Chinaman talking +together in pidgin English, their only means of communication. When I was +travelling in the Northwest, I was accosted in French one day by a Chinese +station-agent, on the Shansi Railroad, who frankly said that he was led to +speak to me, a foreigner, by the fact that he was a "foreigner" too. With +his blue gown and his black pigtail, he looked to me no different from the +other natives; but he told me that he found the language and customs of +Shansi "difficult," and that he sometimes grew homesick for his native +city in the South. + +That the Chinese of different provinces really regard one another as +foreigners may be illustrated by the fact that, during the Boxer troubles +about Tientsin, it was a common occurrence for the northern soldiers to +shoot down indiscriminately with the white men any Cantonese who appeared +within rifle-shot. + +This diversity, probably a result of the cost and difficulty of travel, is +a factor in the immense inertia which hinders all progress in China. +People who differ in coinage, language, and customs, who have never been +taught to "think imperially" or in terms other than those of the village +or city, cannot easily be led into cooeperation on a large scale. It is +difficult enough, Heaven knows, to effect any real change in the +government of an American city or state, or of the nation, let alone +effecting any real changes in the habits of men. Witness our own struggle +against graft. Witness also the vast struggle against the liquor traffic +now going on in a score of our states. Even in this land of ours, which is +so new that there has hardly been time to form traditions; which is alert +to the value of changes and quick to leap in the direction of progress; +which is essentially homogeneous in structure, with but one language, +innumerable daily newspapers, and a close network of fast, comfortable +railway trains to keep the various communities in touch with the +prevailing idea of the moment, how easy do we find it to wipe out +race-track gambling, say, or to make our insurance laws really effective, +or to check the corrupt practices of corporations, or to establish the +principle of local municipal ownership? To put it in still another light, +how easy do we find it to bring about a change which the great majority of +us agree would be for the better, such as making over the costly, +cumbersome express business into a government parcels post? + +But there are large money interests which would suffer by such reforms, +you say? True; and there are large money interests suffering by the opium +reforms in China, relatively as large as any money interests we have in +this country. The opium reforms affect the large and the small farmers, +the manufacturers, the transportation companies, the bankers, the +commission men, the hundreds of thousands of shopkeepers, and the +government revenues, for the opium traffic is an almost inextricable +strand in the fabric of Chinese commerce. In addition to these bewildering +complications of the problem, there is the discouraging inertia to +overcome of a land which, far from being alert and active, is sunk in the +lethargy of ancient local custom. + +No, in putting down her master-vice, China must not only overcome all the +familiar economic difficulties that tend to block reform everywhere, but, +in addition, must find a way to rouse and energize the most backward and +(outside of the age-old grooves of conduct and government) the most +unmanageable empire in the world. + +On what element in her population must China rely to put this huge reform +into effect? On the officials, or mandarins, who carry out the +governmental edicts in every province, administer Chinese justice, and +control the military and finances. But of these officials, more than +ninety per cent. have been known to be opium-smokers, and fully fifty per +cent. have been financially interested in the trade. + +Still another obstacle blocking reform is the powerful example and +widespread influence of the treaty ports. Perhaps the white race is +"superior" to the yellow; I shall not dispute that notion here. But one +fact which I know personally is that every one of the treaty ports, where +the white men rule, including the British crown colony of Hongkong, chose +last year to maintain its opium revenue regardless of the protests of the +Chinese officials. + +Putting down opium in China would appear to be a pretty big job. The +"vested interests," yellow and white, are against a change; the personal +habits of the officials themselves work against it; the British keep on +pouring in their Indian opium; and by way of a positive force on the +affirmative side of the question there would appear to be only the +lethargy and impotence of a decadent, chaotic race. How would you like to +tackle a problem of this magnitude, as Yuan Shi K'ai and Tong Shao-i have +done? Try to organize a campaign in your home town against the bill-board +nuisance; against corrupt politics; against drink or cigarettes. Would it +be easy to succeed? When you have thought over some of the difficulties +that would block you on every hand, multiply them by fifty thousand and +then take off your hat to Tong Shao-i and Yuan Shi K'ai. Personally, I +think I should prefer undertaking to stamp out drink in Europe. I should +know, of course, that it would be rather a difficult business, but still +it would be easier than this Chinese proposition. + +So much for the difficulties of the problem. Suppose now we take a look at +the results of the first year of the fight. There are no exact statistics +to be had, but based as it is on personal travel and observation, on +reports of travelling officials, merchants, missionaries, and of other +journalists who have been in regions which I did not reach, I think my +estimate should be fairly accurate. Remember, this is a fight to a finish. +If the Chinese government loses, opium will win. + +The plan of the government, let me repeat, is briefly as follows: First, +the area under poppy cultivation is to be decreased about ten per cent. +each year, until that cultivation ceases altogether; and simultaneously +the British government is to be requested to decrease the exportation of +opium from India ten per cent. each year. Second, all opium dens or places +where couches or lamps are supplied for public smoking are to be closed at +once under penalty of confiscation. Third, all persons who purchase opium +at sale shops are to be registered, and the amount supplied to them to be +diminished from month to month. Meantime, the farmer is to be given all +possible advice and aid in the matter of substituting some other crop for +the poppy; opium cures and hospitals are to be established as widely as +possible; and preachers and lecturers are to be sent out to explain the +dangers of opium to the illiterate millions. + +The central government at Peking started in by giving the high officials +six months in which to change their habits. At the end of that period a +large number were suspended from office, including Prince Chuau and Prince +Jui. + +In one opium province, Shansi, we have seen that the enforcement was at +the start effective. The evidence, gathered with some difficulty from +residents and travellers, from roadside gossip, and from talks with +officials, all went to show that the dens in all the leading cities were +closed, that the manufacturers of opium and its accessories were going out +of business, and that the farmers were beginning to limit their crops. + +The enforcements in the adjoining province, Chih-li, in which lies Peking, +was also thoroughly effective at the start. The opium dens in all the +large cities were closed during the spring, and the restaurants and +disorderly houses which had formerly served opium to their customers +surrendered their lamps and implements. Throughout the other provinces +north of the Yangtse River, while there was evidence of a fairly +consistent attempt to enforce the new regulations, the results were not +altogether satisfying. Along the central and southern coast, from Shanghai +to Canton, the enforcement was effective in about half the important +centers of population. In Canton, or Kwangtung Province, the prohibition +was practically complete. + +The real test of the prohibition movement is to come in the great interior +provinces of the South, Yunnan and Kweichou, and in the huge western +province of Sze-chuan. It is in these regions that opium has had its +strongest grip on the people, and where the financial and agricultural +phases of the problems are most acute. All observers recognized that it +was unfair to expect immediate and complete prohibition in these regions, +where opium-growing is quite as grave a question as opium-smoking. The +beginning of the enforcement in Sze-chuan seems to have been cautious but +sincere. In this one province the share of the imperial tax on opium +alone, over and above local needs, amounts to more than $2,000,000 +(gold), and, thanks to the constant demands of the foreign powers for +their "indemnity" money, the imperial government is hardly in a position +to forego its demands on the provinces. But recognizing that a new revenue +must be built up to supplant the old, the three new opium commissioners of +Sze-chuan have begun by preparing addresses explaining the evils of opium, +and sending out "public orators" to deliver them to the people. They have +also used the local newspapers extensively for their educational work; and +they have sent out the provincial police to make lists of all +opium-smokers, post their names on the outside of their houses, and make +certain that they will be debarred from all public employment and from +posts of honour. The chief commissioner, Tso, declares that he will clear +Chen-tu, the provincial capital, a city of 400,000 inhabitants, of opium +within four years; and no one seems to doubt that he will do it as +effectively as he has cleared the streets of the beggars for which Chen-tu +was formerly notorious. When Mr. J. G. Alexander, of the British +Anti-Opium Society, was in Chen-tu last year, this same Commissioner Tso +called a mass-meeting for him, at which the native officials and gentry +sat on the platform with representatives of the missionary societies, and +ten thousand Chinese crowded about to hear Mr. Alexander's address. + +The most disappointing region in the matter of the opium prohibition is +the upper Yangtse Valley. In the lower valley, from Nanking down to +Soochow and Shanghai (native city), the enforcement ranges from partial to +complete. But in the upper valley, from Nanking to Hankow and above, I +could not find the slightest evidence of enforcement. At the river ports +the dens were running openly, many of them with doors opening directly off +the street and with smokers visible on the couches within. The viceroy of +the upper Yangtse provinces, Chang-chi-tung, "the Great Viceroy," has been +recognized for a generation as one of China's most advanced thinkers and +reformers. His book, "China's Only Hope," has been translated into many +languages, and is recognized as the most eloquent analysis of China's +problems ever made by Chinese or Manchu. In it he is flatly on record +against opium. Indeed, when governor of Shansi, twenty odd years ago, this +same official sent out his soldiers to beat down the poppy crop. Yet it +was in this viceroyalty alone, among all the larger subdivisions of China, +that there was no evidence whatever last year of an intention to enforce +the anti-opium edicts. The only explanation of this state of things seems +to be that Chang-chi-tung is now a very old man, and that to a great +extent he has lost his vigour and his grip on his work. Whatever the +reason, this fact has been used with telling effect in pro-opium arguments +in the British Parliament as an illustration of China's "insincerity." + +The situation seems to sum up about as follows: The prohibition of opium +was immediately effective over about one-quarter of China, and partially +effective over about two-thirds. This, it has seemed to me, considering +the difficulty and immensity of the problem, is an extraordinary record. +Every opium den actually closed in China represents a victory. Whether the +dens will stay closed, after the first frenzy of reform has passed, or +whether the prohibition movement will gain in strength and effectiveness, +time alone will tell. But there is an ancient popular saying in China to +this effect, "Do not fear to go slowly; fear to stop." + +We have seen, then, that while the Chinese are fighting the opium evil +earnestly, and in part effectively, they are still some little way short +of conquering it. Also, we must not forget, that all reforms are strongest +in their beginnings. The Chinese, no less than the rest of us, will take +up a moral issue in a burst of enthusiasm. But human beings cannot +continue indefinitely in a bursting condition. Reaction must always follow +extraordinary exertion, and it is then that the habits of life regain +their ascendency. Remarkable as this reform battle has been in its +results, it certainly cannot show a complete, or even a half-complete, +victory over the brown drug. And meantime the government of British India +is pouring four-fifths of its immense opium production into China by way +of Hongkong and the treaty ports. It should be added, further, that while +the various self-governing ports, excepting Shanghai, have very recently +been forced, one by one, to cover up at least the appearance of evil, the +crown colony of Hongkong, which is under the direct rule of Great Britain, +is still clinging doggedly to its opium revenues. The whole miserable +business was summed up thus in a recent speech in the House of Commons: +"The mischief is in China; the money is in India." + +What is Great Britain doing to help China? His Majesty's government has +indulged in a resolution now and then, has expressed diplomatic "sympathy" +with its yellow victims, and has even "urged" India in the matter, but is +it really doing anything to help? + +There are reasons why the world has a right to ask this question. + +If China is to grow weaker, she must ultimately submit to conquest by +foreign powers. There are nine or ten of these powers which have some sort +of a footing in China. No one of them trusts any one of the others, +therefore each must be prepared to fight in defense of its own interests. +It is not safe to tempt great commercial nations with a prize so rich as +China; they might yield. Once this conquest, this "partition," sets in, +there can result nothing but chaos and world-wide trouble. + +The trend of events is to-day in the direction of this world-wide trouble. +The only apparent way to head it off is to begin strengthening China to a +point where she can defend herself against conquest. The first step in +this strengthening process is the putting down of opium--there is no +other first step. Before you can put down opium, you have got to stop +opium production in India. And therefore the Anglo-Indian opium business +is not England's business, but the world's business. The world is to-day +paying the cost of this highly expensive luxury along with China. Every +sallow morphine victim on the streets of San Francisco, Chicago, and New +York is helping to pay for this government traffic in vice. + +But is Great Britain planning to help China? + +The government of the British empire is at present in the hands of the +Liberal party, which has within it a strong reform element. From the Tory +party nothing could be expected; it has always worshipped the Things that +Are, and it has always defended the opium traffic. If either party is to +work this change, it must be that one which now holds the reins of power. +And yet, after generations of fighting against the government opium +industry on the part of all the reform organizations in England, after +Parliament has twice been driven to vote a resolution condemning the +traffic, after generations of statesmen, from Palmerston through Gladstone +to John Morley, have held out assurances of a change, after the Chinese +government, tired of waiting on England, has begun the struggle, this is +the final concession on England's part: + +The British government has agreed to decrease the exportation of Indian +opium about eight per cent. per year during a trial period of three years, +in order to see whether the cultivation of the poppy and the number of +opium-smokers is lessened. Should such be the case, exportation to China +will be further decreased gradually. + +The reader will observe here some very pretty diplomatic juggling. There +is here none of the spirit which animated the United States last year in +proposing voluntarily to give up a considerable part of its indemnity +money. The British government is yielding to a tremendous popular clamour +at home; but nothing more. Could a government offer less by way of +carrying out the conviction of a national parliament to the effect that +"the methods by which our Indian opium revenues are derived are morally +indefensible"? The English people are urging their government, the Chinese +are diplomatically putting on pressure, the United States is organizing an +international opium commission on the ground that the nations which +consume Indian and Chinese opium have, willy-nilly, a finger in the pie. +And by way of response to this pressure the British government agrees to +lessen very slightly its export for a few years, or until the pressure is +removed and the trade can slip back to normal! + +There are not even assurances that the agreement will be carried out. +While this very agitation has been going on, since these chapters began to +appear in _Success Magazine_, the annual export of Bengal opium has +increased (1906-1908) from 96,688 chests to 101,588 chests. And it is well +to remember that after Mr. Gladstone, as prime minister, had given +assurances of a "great reduction" in the traffic, the officials of India +admitted that they had not heard of any such reduction. + +A few months ago, the Government issued a "White Paper" containing the +correspondence with China on the opium question, so that there is no +dependence on hearsay in this arraignment of the British attitude. Let us +glance at an excerpt or two from these official British letters. This, for +example: + +"The Chinese proposal, on the other hand, which involves extinction of the +import in nine years, would commit India irrevocably, and in advance of +experience, to the complete suppression of an important trade, and goes +beyond the underlying condition of the scheme, that restriction of import +from abroad, and reduction of production in China, shall be brought _pari +passu_ into play." + +Not content with this rather sordid expression, His Majesty's Government +goes on to point out that, under existing treaties, China cannot refuse to +admit Indian opium; that China cannot even increase the import duty on +Indian opium without the permission of Great Britain; that before Great +Britain will consider the question of permanently reducing her production +China must prove that the number of her smokers has diminished; that the +opium traffic is to be continued at least for another ten years; and then +indulges in this superb deliverance: + +The proposed limitation of the export to 60,000 chests from 1908 is +thought to be a very substantial reduction on this figure, and the view of +the Government of India is that such a standard ought to satisfy the +Chinese Government for the present. + +Even by their own estimate, after taking out the proposed total decrease +of 15,300 chests in the Chinese trade, the Indian Government will, during +the next three years, unload more than 170,000 chests of opium on a race +which it has brought to degradation, which is to-day struggling to +overcome demoralization, and which is appealing to England and to the +whole civilized world for aid in the unequal contest. + +We must try to be fair to the gentlemen-officials who see the situation +only in this curious half-light. "It is a practical question," they say. +"The law of trade is the balance-sheet. It is not our fault as individuals +that opium, the commodity, was launched out into the channels of trade; +but since it is now in those channels, the law of trade must rule, the +balance-sheet must balance. Opium means $20,000,000 a year to the Indian +Government--we cannot give it up." + +The real question would seem to be whether they can afford to continue +receiving this revenue. Opium does not appear to be a very valuable +commodity in India itself. Just as in China, it degrades the people. The +profits in production, for everybody but the government, are so small that +the strong hand of the law has often, nowadays, to be exerted in order to +keep the _ryots_ (farmers) at the task of raising the poppy. There are +many thoughtful observers of conditions in India who believe it would be +highly "practical" to devote the rich soil of the Ganges Valley to crops +which have a sound economic value to the world. + +But more than this, the opium programme saps India as it saps China. The +position of the Englishman in India to-day is by no means so secure that +he can afford to indulge in bad government. The spirit of democracy and +socialism has already spread through Europe and has entered Asia. In +Japan, trade-unions are striking for higher wages. In China and India, are +already heard the mutterings of revolution. The British government may yet +have to settle up, in India as well as in China, for its opium policy. And +when the day for settling up comes, it may perhaps be found that a higher +balance-sheet than that which rules the government opium industry may +force Great Britain to pay--and pay dear. + +Yes, the world has some right to make demands of England in this matter. +China can make no real progress in its struggle until the Indian +production and exportation are flatly abolished. + +The situation has distinctly not grown better since the magazine +publication of the first of these chapters, a year ago. If the reader +would like to have an idea of where Great Britain stands to-day on the +opium business, he can do no better than to read the following excerpts +from a speech made last spring by the Hon. Theodore C. Taylor, M. P., on +his return from a journey round the world, undertaken for the purpose of +personally investigating the opium problem. + +First, this: + +"We shall not begin to have the slightest right to ask that China should +give proof of her genuineness about reform until we show more proof of our +own genuineness about reform, and until we suppress the opium traffic +where we can. China has taken this difficult reform in hand. She has done +much, but not everything. In Shanghai, Hongkong, and the Straits, we have +done nothing at all. I want to say this morning, as pricking the bubble of +our own Pharisaism, that from the point of view of reform, the blackest +opium spots in China are the spots under British rule." + +And then, in conclusion, this: + +"I am convinced, and deeply convinced, as every observant and thoughtful +man is that knows anything of China, that China is a great coming power. I +was talking to a fellow member of the House of Commons who lately went to +China, and went into barracks and camps with the Chinese, and who made it +his business to study Chinese military affairs, which generally excite so +much laughter outside China. He spent a good deal of time with the Chinese +soldier. He said to me, as many other people have said to me, 'The +Chinaman is splendid raw material as a soldier, and, if his officers would +properly lead the Chinaman, he would follow and make the finest soldier in +the world, bar none.' It will take China a long, long time to organize +herself; it will take her a long time to organize her army and navy; it +will take a long time to get rid of the system of bribery in China, which +is one of the hindrances to putting down the opium traffic; but, depend +upon it, the time is coming, not perhaps very soon, but by and by--and +nations have long memories--when those who are alive to see the +development of China will be very glad that, when China was weak and we +were strong, we, of our own motion, without being made to, helped China to +get away from this terrible curse." + + + + +Appendix--A Letter from the Field + +THE OPIUM CLIMAX IN SHANGHAI + + +_Editor "Success Magazine":_ + +It is fitting that in the columns of _Success_, a magazine which has so +recently investigated and so thoroughly and ably reported upon the opium +curse in China, there should appear the account of a unique ceremony held +in the International Settlement of Shanghai, illustrating in a striking +manner the general feeling of the Chinese towards the anti-opium movement +and setting an example that will make its influence felt in the most +remote provinces of the empire. In response to liberal advertising there +assembled in the spacious grounds of Chang Su Ho's Gardens, on the +afternoon of Sunday, May 3, 1908, some two or three thousand of Shanghai's +leading Chinese business men, together with a goodly sprinkling of +Europeans and Americans, to witness the destruction of the opium-pipes, +lamps, etc., taken from the Nan Sun Zin Opium Palace. In America, such a +scene as this would have appeared little less than a farce, but here the +obvious earnestness of the Chinese, the great value of the property to be +destroyed and the deep meaning of this sacrifice, should have been +sufficient to put the blush of shame upon the cheeks of the Shanghai +voters and councilmen, who, representing the most enlightened nations of +the earth, have compromised with the opium evil and permitted +three-fourths of this nefarious business to linger in the "Model +Settlement" when it has been so summarily dealt with by the native +authorities throughout the land. + +Within a roped-in, circular enclosure, marked by two large, yellow +Dragon-Flags, were stacked the furnishings of the Opium Palace, consisting +of opium boxes, pipes, lamps, tables, trays, etc., and as the spectators +arrived the work of destruction was going rapidly on. Two native +blacksmiths were busily engaged in splitting on an anvil the metal +fittings from the pipes, and a brawny coolie, armed with a sledgehammer, +was driving flat the artistic opium lamps as they were taken from the +tables and placed on the ground before him. Meanwhile the pipes, mellowed +and blackened by long use and many of them showing rare workmanship, were +dipped into a large tin of kerosine and stacked in two piles on stone +bases, to form the funeral pyre, while the center of each stack was filled +in with kindling from the opium trays, similarly soaked with oil. On one +of the tables within the enclosure were two small trays, each containing a +complete smoking outfit and a written sheet of paper announcing that these +were the offerings of Mr. Lien Yue Ming, manager of the East Asiatic +Dispensary, and Miss Kua Kuei Yen, a singing girl, respectively. Both +these quondam smokers sent in their apparatus to be burned, with a pledge +that henceforth they would abstain from the use of the drug. + +During the preparations for the burning, Mr. Sun Ching Foong, a prominent +business man, delivered a powerful exhortation on the opium evil to the +enthusiastic multitude and introduced the leading speaker of the +afternoon, Mr. Wong Ching Foo, representing the Committee of the +Commercial Bazaar. Mr. Wong spoke in the Mandarin language and stated that +all of China was looking to Shanghai for a lead in the matter of +suppressing opium and that it was with great pleasure the committee had +noticed the earnest desire of the foreign Municipal Council (and he was +_not_ intending to be _sarcastic_!) to assist the Chinese in their +endeavour to do away entirely with this traffic. It was a very commendable +effort, and he was sure the foreigners there would agree that no effort on +their part could be too strong to do away with this curse, which was not +only undermining the best intellects of China, but by the example of +parents was affecting seriously the rising generation. To-day a gentleman, +who had been a smoker for twenty-nine years and had realized the great +harm it had done him, was present, and had brought with him his opium +utensils to be destroyed with those from the opium saloons of French-town. +The Nan Sun Zin Opium Palace, from which the pipes and other opium +utensils had been brought for destruction, was the largest in Shanghai +and, he had heard, the largest in China, patronized by the most notable +people. The example of Shanghai was felt in Nanking, Peking, and all over +China, for the young men who visited here took with them the report of the +pleasures they saw practiced in this settlement and thus gave the natives +different ideas. These young men often came here to see the wonderful +work accomplished by foreigners, and it was not right that they should +take this curse back with them. It had been originally intended to burn +also the chairs and tables from the palace, but as this would make too +large and dangerous a fire it had been decided to sell these and use the +proceeds for the furtherance of the anti-opium movement. + +Among the pipes were some for which $500 had been offered, but the +Committee of the Commercial Bazaar had purchased the whole outfit to +destroy, and they hoped to be able to buy up a good many more of the +palaces and thus utterly destroy all traces of the opium-smoking practice. +Mr. Wong remarked that China had recently been under a cloud and in +Shanghai there had been protracted rains, but to-day it was fine and it +was evident that heaven was looking down upon them and blessing their +efforts. With heaven's blessing they would be able to overcome the curse +and be even quicker than the Municipal Council in completely wiping out +this abominable custom. + +As the speeches were concluded, the Chinese Volunteer Band struck up a +lively air and amid the deafening din of crackers and bombs a torch was +applied to the oil-soaked stacks of pipes which at once burned up +fiercely. Extra oil was thrown upon the flames and the glass lamp-covers, +bowls, etc., were heaped upon the flames, thus completing a ceremony full +of earnestness and meaning. + +It has come as a matter of great surprise to many sceptical foreigners +that the Chinese should be making such strenuous efforts to do away with +the opium-smoking curse. Not a few have thrown cold water upon the +scheme, sneered at the Chinese in this endeavour, and doubted both their +desire and ability to suppress the sale of opium. The Commercial Bazaar +Committee, consisting of well-known Chinese business men, is not only +seconding the Municipal Council in its gradual withdrawal of licenses in +the foreign settlements but has also accomplished the closing of many +opium dens through its own efforts by bringing pressure to bear upon the +owners of the dens. Already, many private individuals have given up their +beloved pipes and some dens have voluntarily closed. It has also been +agreed by the Chinese concerned that all of the shops run by women are to +cease the sale of opium. This activity on the part of the Chinese +themselves is a striking rebuke to those who cast suspicion upon the +honesty of purpose of both the Chinese government and people, refusing to +immediately abolish the opium licenses in the foreign settlements of +Shanghai, despite the appeals from the American, British, and Japanese +governments, the petitions of the leading Chinese of the place and the +general popularity of the anti-opium movement. Yielding to great pressure +from all sides, the Shanghai Municipal Council _did_ consent to introduce +a resolution upon this question before the Ratepayers Meeting to be held +March 20th, but the concession made was small indeed compared with what +was generally desired or what might be anticipated from the leading lights +of "civilized and highly moral" nations. The resolution was as follows:-- + +"_Resolution VI._ That the number of licensed opium houses be reduced by +one-quarter from July 1, 1908, or from such other early date and in such +manner as may appear advisable to the Council for 1908-1909." + +While there was in this a definite reduction of one-fourth of the +opium-joints in the settlement, there was nothing definite as to any +future policy, though the implication was that the houses would be all +closed within a period of two years. In his speech introducing this +resolution before the ratepayers, the British chairman of the council +said, among other things, "I feel sure that every one of us has the +greatest sympathy with the Chinese nation in its effort to dissipate the +opium habit, but we are not unfamiliar with Chinese official procedure, +and how far short actual administrative results fall when compared with +the official pronouncements that precede them. It is impossible not to be +sceptical as to the intentions of the Chinese government with regard to +this matter, although on this occasion we quite recognize that many +officials are sincere in their desire to eradicate the opium evil, and I +am sure there is every intention on the part of this community to assist +them. Yet we know of no programme that they have drawn up to make this +great reform possible, if indeed they have a programme.... The absence of +these, so to speak, first business essentials, on the part of the Chinese +government, was among the reasons which led us to the view that the +settlement was called upon to do little more than continue its work of +supervision over opium licenses, and wait for the cessation of supplies of +the drug to render that supervision unnecessary.... The advice we have +received from the British Government is, in brief, that we should do more +than keep pace with the native authorities, we should be in advance of +them and where possible encourage them to follow us." + +In the following quotations from a letter written by Dr. DuBose, of +Soochow, President of the Anti-Opium League, to the municipal council, the +attitude of the reformers is clearly shown. + +"The prohibition of opium-smoking is the greatest reformation the world +has ever seen, and its benefits are already patent. Let the ratepayers +effectually second the efforts being made by the Chinese government to +abolish the use of opium throughout the empire. + +"It has proved a peaceful reformation. In the cities and towns about +one-half million dens, at the expiration of six months, were closed +promptly without resistance or complaint. The government will grant all +the necessary privileges of inspection to the municipal police in the +prevention of illicit smoking. + +"The consumption of opium in the cities has fallen off thirty per cent.; +in the towns fifty per cent.; while in the rural districts in the eastern +and middle provinces it is reduced to a minimum. It is well for Shanghai +to be allied with Soochow, Hangchow, and Nanking, and not to permit itself +to be a refuge for bad men. + +"The Chinese merchants in the International Settlement have sent in +earnest appeals to the Council on this question. As friends of China, +might not the ratepayers give their appeals a courteous consideration? + +"The question of opium at the Annual Meeting commands world-wide attention +and Saturday's papers throughout Christendom will bear record of and +comment upon the action. + +"To close the dens is right. Shanghai cannot afford to be the black spot +on Kiangsu's map. _Opium delendum est._ + + "In behalf of the Anti-Opium League, + "HAMPDEN C. DUBOSE, _President_." + +The appeals from Great Britain, America, China, and Japan, like the +petitions of merchants, missionaries, and officials, were without effect. +The "vested interests" carried the day, and a resolution, ordering the +closing of the dens on or before the end of December, 1909, was lost by a +vote of 128 to 189, the council, as usual, influencing and controlling the +votes and carrying the original motion--the only concession it would grant +to this gigantic movement. + +Another surprise came to the cynical foreigner, when, on April 18th, the +whole of the opium licensees participated in a public drawing in the town +hall, to decide by lottery which establishments should be shut down on the +1st of July, numbering one-fourth of the total number, this method being +adopted by the council to avoid any suspicion of partiality in the +selection. The keepers of the dens cheerfully acquiesced in the proposal, +the sporting chance no doubt appealing to the gambling spirit for which +they are noted, and in the town hall this remarkable drawing was held +without any sign of disfavour or rowdyism. The keepers of the Shanghai +opium shops are no doubt thoroughly convinced that the feeling of the +native community is entirely against the retention of these places and +are ready to bow to the inevitable. None of the trouble or rioting feared +by the Council, materialized, and it is certain that the entire list of +licenses might have been immediately revoked without disturbance of any +kind--and without protest. Three hundred and fifty-nine licenses thus +cease with the end of June, and it is doubtful, with the present spirit +manifest in the Chinese, that such another drawing will be necessary at +all. The funeral pyre of opium-pipes, we trust, marks the end, or the +immediate beginning of the end, of Shanghai's reproach, and it is +distinctly to the credit of the 500,000 Chinese living within the +jurisdiction of this foreign community, that they themselves are taking +the lead in wiping out this stain on the "Model Settlement"--doing what +the foreigner _dared not_ and the "vested interest" _would not_ do. + +CHARLES F. GAMMON. + + + + +MISSIONARY--TRAVELS + + +The Call of Korea + + Illustrated, net, 75c. H. G. UNDERWOOD + +"Dr. Underwood knows Korea, its territory, its people, and its needs, and +his book has the special value that attaches to expert judgment. The +volume is packed with information, but it is written in so agreeable a +style that it is as attractive as a novel, and particularly well suited to +serve as a guide to our young people in their study of missions."--_The +Examiner._ + + +Things Korean A Collection of Sketches and Anecdotes, Diplomatic and +Missionary. + + Illustrated, net, $1.25. HORACE N. ALLEN + +Gathered from a twenty years' residence in Korea and neighboring countries +by the late Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United +States to Korea. + + +Breaking Down Chinese Walls From a Doctor's Viewpoint. + + Illustrated, net, $1.00. ELLIOTT I. OSGOOD + +"Dr. Osgood was for eight years a physician at Chu Cheo, and conducted a +hospital and dispensary, visiting and preaching the Gospel in the villages +round about. He writes from experience. The object is to show the +influence and power of the medical missionary service, and of the daily +lives of the missionaries upon the natives, told in a most interesting +manner by the record of the living examples."--_United Presbyterian._ + + +Present-Day Conditions in China + + Boards, net, 50c. MARSHALL BROOMHALL + +"This book is very impressive to those who do know something of +"present-day conditions in China," and most startling to those who do not. +Maps, tables and letterpress combine to give a marvelous presentation of +facts."--_Eugene Stock, Church Missionary Society._ + + +The New Horoscope of Missions + + Net, $1.00. JAMES S. DENNIS + +"Dr. Dennis, who has long been a close student of foreign missions, and +speaks with authority, gives in this volume a broad general view of the +present aspects of the missionary situation, as foundation for 'the new +horoscope' which he aims to give. The book is made up of lectures +delivered at the McCormick Theological Seminary on The John H. Converse +Foundation."--_Examiner._ + + +The Kingdom in India + +With Introductory Biographical Sketch by Henry N. Cobb, D.D. + + Net, $1.50. JACOB CHAMBERLAIN + +"This volume is Mr. Chamberlain's own account of what he did, saw and +felt. As a teacher, a preacher and a medical missionary, Dr. Chamberlain +stood in the front ranks. If all who are abroad could have the ability, +the training, and the heart interest in the redemption of the endarkened +lands that Mr. Chamberlain's life reveals, and the support for carrying on +the gospel were adequately furnished, the future would be radiant with +hope."--_Religious Telescope._ + + +The History of Protestant Missions in India + + Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, net, $2.50. JULIUS RICHTER + +The author of this book is the authority in Germany on missionary +subjects. This, his latest work, has proven so valuable as to demand this +translation into English. India is a vast field and the missionary +operations there are carried on by many societies. This survey of the +field is broad and accurate, it reaches every part of the work and every +society in the field, and gives a splendid summary of what has actually +been accomplished. It has the unqualified approbation of the workers on +the field themselves. + + +Overweights of Joy A Story of Mission Work in Southern India. + + Net, $1.00. AMY WILSON CARMICHAEL + +Mission-loving men and women, if you would know India, and the glorious +uphill fighting of its missionaries, you _must_ read this book, hot with +actual experiences, and learn the truth. + +"A priceless contribution to Missionary literature."--_Illustrated +Missionary News._ + + +Bishop Hannington and The Story of the Uganda Mission + + Illustrated, net, $1.00. W. GRINTON BERRY + +The personality of Bishop Hannington was full of color and vigor, and the +story of his work, particularly of his adventures in East Africa, ending +with his martyrdom on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, is one of the +most fascinating in missionary annals. Hannington was himself a +picturesque writer, with a noteworthy gift of producing dashing and +humorous descriptive sketches, and quite a third of the present volume +consists of Hannington's own narratives. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "sod" corrected to "pod" (page 26) + "suport" corrected to "support" (advertisements) + +Other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and +hyphenation have been retained from the original. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Drugging a Nation, by Samuel Merwin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRUGGING A NATION *** + +***** This file should be named 33586.txt or 33586.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/8/33586/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/33586.zip b/33586.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8ea506 --- /dev/null +++ b/33586.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..55d7b9a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #33586 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33586) |
