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Show 5 China Struggles to Free Itself ? from the Curse of Opium ? f Some New Prohibitory Statutes Are Laid Out and a Responsible Official 'Ms Put in Charge. 5 By LAI HUNG KUAN ' V ' (Chairman Chinese Ministerial Board) ' . of Terrible Drug P . ( Tells How Mother i s , Country Is At- P mJhrttni "QJS V tempting by En- N tdU Nrv ppy' C fiiufSl- E&s- nf!r ' SHINA would rid Itself of tho curse of opium, and tho Bwuy of the drug Is threatened, China, tho homo of tho drug, nnd millions of ltn devotees, Is proving Its sincerity by honestly administering administer-ing laws Intended to break the thrall In which the lulling poppy has hold tho nntlon for cen-Tho cen-Tho recently-enacted prohibitive laws aro being enforced ngnltiBt both rich and poor, and as they plan a gradual reduction of opium til nt the end of ten years it Is Interdicted altogether. It looks as though one of tho world's greatest vices had sustained Its fatal blow. In tho battlo against opium tho whole world has aided China. Quoen Alexandra of England served as ono of tha officials of an . International organization, whoso representations did much to finally toach the dowager omprczs of China that It would no longer be wisdom to opposo tho world protest ngalnst tho unlimited un-limited production and use of opium, Tho United States Jias sent liberal aid. Thomas Durko of Seattle, Dr. Hamilton Wright of Malno nnd Dr. Charles D. Ten-aoy, Ten-aoy, Chlnesn secretary of tho American legation at Poking, aro mombors of an International commission that has mado many valuable suggestions as to tho best methods by which tho curse of opium could bo lessened pending final obliteration. Messrs. IJurko and Wright nro devoting themselves to the rollcctlon of data on tho opium traffic In the United States and In tho Philippine Islands, and Dr. Tcnney Is studying tho situation situa-tion In China. The earthquake In San Francisco helped to solve tho opium problem In the United States, for It wiped out an area whvro moro opium was smoked than In any other part of tho country. Tho Chinese Chi-nese dens of San Francisco Fran-cisco numbered thousands thou-sands of smokers, Americans Ameri-cans as well as Mongo lians, nnd it Is said thnt In the number of whites who wept thero wero many leading persons of tho town who, beglnn ln perhaps morely as an experiment or as a lark, had finally fallen a victim to ono of tho most Insidious vices that has ever en-chained en-chained mankind. Tho enrthquako wiped out those dens, nnd It destroyed nn immense quantity of tho drug. Chicago, Now York, Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, New Orlenns nnd all the larger cities of the United States with any Chinese population have opium dens, but tho number Is decreasing, for renewed precautions by stato. city nnd federal authorities hnvo mado It Increasingly difficult for them to opernto. Hut tho biggest part of tho work, tho most vnlnablo nnd tho farthest reaching, Is that being done In China, for It strjkos nt tho very root of all tho troublo, literally at tho root. It Is right out on tho opium fields thomselvos, whoro the poppy lenves grow, that tho reformers nro doing tho most important part of their work. Tho laws of China that)rder tho reduction of the crops nro being enforced by tho mandarins. Many of these mandarins nro themselves smokers, slaves to tha weed, and thoy can never hope to overcome their fondness for It, but tho government govern-ment of China hns awakened, and tho penalty for dlsobedloncd Is a sovornd head. Thoreforo no matter what may be tho personal per-sonal feelings of tho mandarin, It Is not safo for him to dls regard tho Imperial order. According to tho Imperial edict, land under poppy cultivation cultiva-tion Ib to be reduced one-tenth annually, and rowards will be given In districts where tho production Is totally wlpod out beforo tho expiration of that period. All opium smokers now have to register themselves, stating tho amount of their consumption, and no opium may bo sold to a porson not so registered. Smokers under 60 years of ago must decreaso tbelr allowanco by ono-Ofth annually. an-nually. Equally Important has been tho compulsory com-pulsory legislation dealing with tho public pub-lic dens for tho smoking of tho fntnl pitch. Those had to bo closed within six months nftcr the law went Into effect. That time hns now expired, and Investigators In tho various districts report re-port that the order has boon genorally obeyed. Not only that, but In cases whoro In defiance of tho law dons nre still open for tho public they aro llttlo patronized, tha fear of official vengeanco frightening away tho smokers. The salo of smoking porqulsttes Is no longer pormltted, neither may wineshops or any other places of public entertainment entertain-ment permit tho salo of opium or smoking smok-ing of It on tho promises. Shops whero opium, or unythlng connected con-nected with It, Is sold must be registered, and must show an annual decrease In their business under ponnlty of confiscation. confisca-tion. Moreover, the now law earnestly cnlls upou tho officials of tho nation to set aii cxnmplo to tho people, nnd to opposo wherever posslblo the spread of tho hnblt. Officials aro ordered, In ensu thoy bo smokers, to glvo up tho habit within six monthB, and while this may not bo practicable, at least tho law will havo tho effect of compelling them to do tholr smoking In prlvnto, and thus provont tho populaco from being ablo to make tho excuse that thoy have only beon doing what tbelr officials did. Hut proclamations nro only of vnluo In so far as they aro enforced, nnd nil tho laws In tho world nro useless If they aro consigned to oblivion after onco hav Int? i.enn.,f nn ho statute booKs. it is inorciore or in-ofest in-ofest Ton1know tb t trained experts In conditions, not only Chinese n'gents. hut Americans, Knellrtmen bavo been sent throughout tho kingdom with tho good will ol Mo L , lo nnd out to what extent tho law. are being 0nBvMf?mi havo been found. In Kwnng-Tung. for Instance, ono Ingenious magistral Issued certificates so freely ns to In-dlcato In-dlcato that tho cntlro population of the district was moro than CO years of ago, and thoreforo Immuoo from tho drastic provisions pro-visions of tho law. . , It ba? also been found that whllo tboro nro ovnslons of the law, the. attitude of tho throno has borno valuable fruit in maklngrfho bettor clnssos of pooplo regard opium smoking as no longqf permissible to porsons of education nnd breeding. No longer nro tho young men In the ten shops tempted to acquire ac-quire th .habit from tho fact that ovorybody olso does and nobody (thinks It wrong. Tho government has not been so vigorous as might bo do-sired do-sired Infjiiinlshlng officials who are themsolves opium smokers, but It could hnrdly bo expected to bavo tho whole reform achlovePln n day. Thero havo been some punishments. Two lmporialtprlncos nnd two chief officials of the censorato wore forced tb glvo up their places becauso they loved opium moro than the royal command. It IsTno small loss thnt tho Ghlncso government faces In yleldlngfto the world's opinion and suppressing tho opium trado. Tholtcntrnl government will loso annually about 17,600,000, and thejoutlylng provinces will suffer to tho extent of about 120,000,000. It lsTs. curious tact that China, deprived of opium, Is turning to smoking tobacco. Tha government hus encouraged this ten dency.ffar tobacco Is infinitely less harmful than tho poppy, and ltKs argued that a nation used to smoking for untold centuries can hardly be expected to glvo over tho habit uulosi soma Harmless substitute Is provided. WitE governments all ovor tho world forbidding ths salo oOoplutn, save for medical uses, tbo habit seems to b doomed! B |