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Show CHINA'S GREAT OPIUM FIGHT. Tho ancient; Empiro of China, with 500,000,000 of people, a very large proportion pro-portion of them hcrotoforo addicted to tho use of opium, iB making a heroic struggle to eliminate opium from tho Empire. The effort has been in pro-gross pro-gross now some three years. It took form first in a popular movomont, and afterwarda was mado the subject, of an Imperial edict, in which the gradual extinction of tho cultivation of the poppy for tho mnking of opium was decreed. de-creed. In tho current number of tho Forum, Rosa Pendleton Chiles gives a full account of the movement. . The. Imperial decree reduced the area heretofore givon to the cultivation of the poppy one-ninth each year for nine years, this being afterwards chnngod to one-teuth each year for ten years; tho amount of acrcago must ,bc recorded re-corded in the title deeds; and the cultivation cul-tivation of the poppy on lands hitherto not used fOr that purpose is forbidden. Opium smokers aro required to slate the accustomed daily nmount used- by each, and a certificate will bo issued to each smoker setting forth that amount, and requiring the gradual reduction re-duction in uBe,".tho amount dopending upon the extent and habit of each UBer as recorded "in his certificate. No new certificates , -for the smoking of opium are, to be granted. Within six mouths all the opium shops containing- lamps for smoking are to be closed; tho sale of opium Inmps and pipes also to be forbidden, and also tho sale angl uso of opium in restaurants, and bars. Registration Regis-tration of all opium shops is made compulsory, and the 'opening of new ones is iorbiddon. Medicines for tho cure of the opium habit aro to be furnished fur-nished by the government, to be sold at cost, or where the person iB too poor to buy, these will be dispensed free. Anti-opium societies to assist tho government gov-ernment in tho eradication of the opium opi-um evil are fostered, and the registration registra-tion of smokers, cures, medicines distributed, dis-tributed, and the work of anti-opium societies .in each province is to be reported, re-ported, and officials showing extra good results in tho work are to be rewarded. The prohibition of smoking by officials is enjoined in a shorter time than that set for the elimination of smoking by tho people, this for moral effect, and officials that refuse to meet this requirement re-quirement are to be removed from office of-fice Tho Foreign Office was directed to negotiate a convention with Great Britain for stopping the importation of opium by the expiration of the time set for the complete abolition of the poppy culture in China. It appears, therefore, that the Chinese government has entered upon a definito and strict programme whereby the cultivation of tho poppj' and the making of opium in China will be entirely eliminated in ten years from the time it began, or in 1917. The co'rnpul3or' importation of opium from India was forced upon China by Great Britain in the infamous opium war. Tho treaty which followed that war required China to admit tho opium shipments of India. It was manifest to tho Chinese government that, as long as tho provisions of this treaty were in effect, it would be idlo for China to undertake, to radicate the use of opium among .Chinamen. Accordingly, According-ly, -an appeal was mado to the British government by the Chinese Foreign Office, Of-fice, with the rosult -that Great, Britain agrees to cut down the shipments of opium from- India to China in tho same proportion' and at the. same rata that China herself eliminates the cujturo of the poppy from which to make the opium. opi-um. The result will he that, at the expiration ex-piration of tho ten years specified, the "opium evil will, unless the programme fails, havo been completely eliminated "from China. Tho agreement pigned by the British .Minister, Sir John Jordan, with the Foreign Office in China oti May 8, 1011, provides that China shall continue for the ensuing seven years the game rate of diminution of tho poppy culture that it has enforced annually during the past throo years, and that the annual an-nual export of opium .from India to China shall bo diminished in the Bsme proportion. Tho British government agrees that tho export of opium from India to China shall ceaso in less than seven years, if proof is given that the production .of native opium in China has completely ceased. The British government further agrees that Indian opium shall not bo convoyed to any province in China which has effectively suppressed tho cultivation nnd import of native opium. But tho ports of Cnn-ton Cnn-ton and Shanghai shall only be closed to tho import of opium as the final step completing the measure agreed on. Representatives of the British government govern-ment aro porraitted to investigate conditions con-ditions in China, with a view to satisfying satis-fying themselves that China is in good faith roducing tho cultivation of the poppy ac decroed in tho Imperial edict. And China may nlao be represented iu the exporting houses of India to see that Great Britain is faithfully redue-ing redue-ing the exports according to agreement. agree-ment. In the meantime, the British government, consents to the increase of tho present duty on opium importod into China to 350 tncls per chest; tho increase to take effect simultaneously with the imposition of an equivalent excise tax in China on native opium. During tho present year tho Indian government gov-ernment will issue oxport permits for 30,600 chests of opium, and will progressively pro-gressively reduce tho number in tho ratio stated, until tho comploto extinction extinc-tion of tho export trade in 1017. Each chest so certified may bo imported into any treaty port in China. It appears, therefore, that this immense im-mense Empiro has ontered upon a reform re-form in this respect that a few years ago would have been declared . absolutely abso-lutely out of tho question. It did Boem incredible that any such a reform as this could be carried through; but the people of China have become thoroughly thorough-ly awakened, and alarmed at the inroads in-roads that the uso of opium is making in many directions; first of all, in its deteriorating effect upon the masBcs of the people, and second, in its dovotion of such large tracts of land to tho cultivation cul-tivation of the; poppy that aro absolutely abso-lutely needed for the raising of food products. And so ono or the great reforms re-forms of modern times, affecting, when wo consider China and India together, fully one half of the human race, is in a fair way of actual accomplishment. |