Show CHINESE LOVE FOR OPIUM from the recent report on opium in the orient made by the united states philippine commiss on are taken the following paragraphs there seems to be in china neither i public opinion which controls nor a national life which welds and con soli dates a people there is no achl nese nation there Is merely a chinese race the fan ly is the un t and the individual is of importance only as part of that unit hence arises a bind of family se a desire to benefit the family regardless of in jury done to others this selfishness acts as a posit ve force in arg ng men to sell opium to others of a different family or clan for it is no matter how many persons are debauched provided only those of the debaucher s family are not harmed but benefited the chinaman justifies his giong course by saying that his first and only duty Is to his tarn ly that not only is he not his brother s keeper but that it is also his highest and par amount dut to benefit his family even though it be by destroying others morally and physical to him the injury of the many for the benefit of the few may be a r s duty pro vided only that the few are h s fam lly it may be sa d that all people crave a stimulant continues the report but are there no other cravings corn mon to mankin 1 are there not arav ings for amusement arav for foode and wh t people on earth are 0 o poorly provi led with food as the indigent chinese or so destitute ot amusement as all chinese both rich and poor there are no outdoor games in china a indeed any games ex capt in a gambling sense Ateo lute dullness and dreariness seem to prevail everywhere As these two demons drive the caucasian to drink so they drive the chinese to opium As an individual may by habitual toil ani attention to business become incata ble of amusement so a race of almonti incredible antiquity which has tolled for millenniums may likewise reach a point in its development where the faculty of being amused may have been atrophied and disappeared so that all that remains of that desire Is to spend pleasure in placidity and nothing contributes so much to this as op urn in formosa the merry japanese boys are teaching the placid chinese lads to play tenn s football polo vault ng and the like with a view the japanese teachers say of improve ing them ephs phs call and also of de celop ng in them a love of sports which will prevent them from wishing to spend their leisure indoors ing opium and the poor who have no leisure 7 they often have no food or so little that any drug which removes first the pangs of hunger and later the healthy cravings of appetite seems a boon to them add to this the feel ing of peace and well being that often accompanies the smoking of opium and it is not difficult to see why the chinese use it |