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Show CHINA'S SUCCESSFUL WAR ON OPIUM. In many provinces now not a poppy seed sprouts from yenr's end to year's end, and a raembor of ho Grnnd Coun- ell tells me that 05 per cent, of tho officials whp were formerly opium smokers havo quit, wbllo tile other C per ccnL Indulge only in secret, tho Damocles sword ot romoval hanging ever nbove their heads as tho penalty of discovery. Let an official bo caught, and very soon thereafter you will read In tho Official Gazette some such notice ns tho following: f "The Viceroy of Chill, Chen Kill-chung, Kill-chung, and the Deputy Lieutenant-General Lieutenant-General of Shanghai Wwan, Ju Lin haul, havo presented n Joint memorial, recommending that Expectant District I'ollco-Mastcr Wan Ll-hsun, who has falied to rid himself of tho opium habit, bo cashiered and never allowed to ro-ontor tho public servlco." Tho reform among officials, however, howev-er, tho cashlorlng of tho unrepentnnt smokers, nnd tho fnct thafrlght hero In Peking two or thrco officials died as u result of quitting tho habit too suddenly, do not nfford tho best Illustration Il-lustration of tho earnestness with which China has prosecuted what was , planned ns a ton years' war, but may now prove only n five or six years' war, If England Is but willing to give tho emplro tho right to prohibit opium Importnntlons. Tho greatest sacrifices havo been made by tho farmers. Dr. C. I). Tennoy, of tho Amerlcnn Legation, Lega-tion, Is my authority for tho statement state-ment that In tho provinces of Shnnsl nnd Yunnan land values In somo cases cas-es havo decreased as much as 75 per cent, by reason of tho farmers having hav-ing to stop poppy culture. On these particular lands other crops are only one-fourth as profitable. Mortgages mndo on tho basts ot old land vnlues have been foreclosed; owning pens-ants pens-ants havo had to sacrifice their ancestral an-cestral homes, but China has thought no price too great to pay in her effort ef-fort to free her people from their ancient an-cient curse. Mr. Frederick Ward, who has Just .returned from a visit to many provinces, prov-inces, finding In all tho same surprising surpris-ing success In enforcing nntl-oplum regulations, declares: "tl is the miracle mir-acle oftho Mlddlo Kingdom and a lesson les-son for tho world." Not without reason rea-son did His Excellency Tang Shao-yl, 'Director of Posts and "'Communications, "'Communica-tions, declare to mo: "Let America try to st6p drinking amount 100,000,000 peoplo, and sho will then understand Chlnn's stupendous' achievement Tin stopping opium-smoking among four times that number." From "China: Awako and nt Work," by Clarence Poo, In tho American Review ot Ite-views Ite-views for February. |