The Opium Monopoly Part 1

The Opium Monopoly.

by Ellen Newbold La Motte.

INTRODUCTION

We first became interested in the opium traffic during a visit to the Far East in 1916. Like most Americans, we had vaguely heard of this trade, and had still vaguer recollections of a war between Great Britain and China, which took place about seventy-five years ago, known as the Opium War. From time to time we had heard of the opium trade as still flouris.h.i.+ng in China, and then later came reports and a.s.surances that it was all over, accompanied by newspaper pictures of bonfires of opium and opium pipes. Except for these occasional and incidental memories, we had neither knowledge of, nor interest in the subject. On our way out to j.a.pan, in the July of 1916, we met a young Hindu on the boat, who was outspoken and indignant over the British policy of establis.h.i.+ng the opium trade in India, as one of the departments of the Indian Government. Of all phases of British rule in India, it was this policy which excited him most, and which caused him most ardently to wish that India had some form of self-government, some voice in the control and management of her own affairs, so that the country could protect itself from this evil. Without this, he declared, his country was powerless to put a stop to this traffic imposed upon it by a foreign government, and he greatly deplored the slow, but steady demoralization of the nation which was in consequence taking place. As he produced his facts and figures, showing what this meant to his people--this gradual undermining of their moral fiber and economic efficiency--we grew more and more interested. That such conditions existed were to us unheard of, and unbelievable. It seemed incredible that in this age, with the consensus of public opinion sternly opposed to the sale and distribution of habit-forming drugs, and with legislation to curb and restrict such practices incorporated in the laws of all ethical and civilized governments, that here, on the other side of the world, we should come upon opium traffic conducted as a government monopoly. Not only that, but conducted by one of the greatest and most highly civilized nations of the world, a nation which we have always looked up to as being in the very forefront of advanced, progressive and humane ideals. So shocked were we by what this young Hindu told us, that we flatly refused to believe him. We listened to what he had to say on the subject, but thinking that however earnest he might be, however sincere in his sense of outrage at such a policy, that he must of necessity be mistaken. We decided not to take his word for it, but to look into the matter for ourselves.

We did look into the matter. During a stay in the Far East of nearly a year, in which time we visited j.a.pan, China, Hongkong, French Indo-China, Siam and Singapore, we looked into the matter in every country we visited. Wherever possible we obtained government reports, and searched them carefully for those pa.s.sages giving statistics concerning the opium trade--the amount of opium consumed, the number of shops where it was sold, and the number of divans where it was smoked.

We found these shops established under government auspices, the dealers obtaining their supplies of opium from the government, and then obtaining licenses from the government to retail it. In many countries, we visited these shops and divans in person, and bought opium in them freely, just as one goes to a shop to buy cigarettes. We found a thorough and complete establishment of the opium traffic, run by the government, as a monopoly. Revenue was derived through the sale of opium, through excise taxes upon opium, and through license fees paid by the keepers of opium shops and divans. A complete, systematic arrangement, by which the foreign government profited at the expense of the subject peoples under its rule. In European countries and in America, we find the governments making every effort to repress the sale of habit-forming drugs. Here, in the Far East, a contrary att.i.tude prevails. The government makes every effort to encourage and extend it.

Two notable exceptions presented themselves. One was j.a.pan. There are no opium shops in j.a.pan, and the j.a.panese Government is as careful to protect its people from the evils and dangers of opium as any European country could be. It must be remembered, however, that j.a.pan is a free and independent country. It has never been conquered by a European country, and perhaps one explanation as to why the j.a.panese are a powerful, virile people, is because j.a.pan is the one Oriental nation that has never been dominated by a European power, and in consequence, never drugged.

The other exception is our own possession of the Philippines, which although a subject country, has never had the opium traffic established as part of the machinery of an alien government.

On our return to America, we were greatly exercised over these facts which we had unearthed. We continued our researches as to the opium traffic in the New York Public Library, and in the Library of Congress, in Was.h.i.+ngton, in both of which places there is a rich and abundant literature on the subject. We obtained ready access to official blue books and government reports, issued by the British Government, and it is from these sources that the material in this book is largely drawn.

We were somewhat hampered in our investigations by the fact that because of the war, these blue books have not always been of recent date, some of them being two or three years old. For this reason, it has not always been possible to give the most recent figures as to opium consumption and distribution in the various countries. However, we feel that we have obtained enough information to uphold our case, and in any event, there is no doubt that the opium traffic, as fostered by the British Government, still continues. In looking over the list of British colonies where it is established, we may find here and there a diminution in the amount of opium consumed, but this is probably due to the exigencies of war, to the lack of s.h.i.+pping and transportation, rather than to any conscientious scruples or moral turnover; because the revenue derived from the opium trade is precious. In some instances, as in the case of the Straits Settlements, the local British Government derives from forty to fifty per cent of its revenue from this source. Yet, taken in relation to the whole, it is not large.

However valuable it may be, however large the percentage in the case of any particular colony, it can surely never be large enough to compensate for the stigma attached. It is a blot upon the honor of a great nation to think that she deliberately runs her colonies on opium.

No revenue, whether large or small, can be justified when coming from such a source as this.

In all these blue books and official reports, the question of the Opium Monopoly, as it is called, is dealt with freely. There is no attempt to hide or suppress the facts. The subject is reported frankly and fully.

It is all there, for any one to read who chooses. How then, does it happen that we in America know nothing about Great Britain's Opium Monopoly? That the facts are new to us and come to us as a shock? One is because of our admiration for Great Britain. Those who know--and there are a few--hesitate to state them. Those who know, feel that it is a policy unworthy of her. We hesitate to call attention to the shortcomings of a friend. There are other reasons also for this conspiracy of silence--fear of international complications, fear of endangering the good feeling between the two countries, England and America. Consequently England has been able to rely upon those who know the facts to keep silent, either through admiration or through fear.

Also the complete ignorance of the rest of us has been an additional safeguard. Therefore, for nearly a century, she has been running her Opium Monopoly undisturbed. It began as a private industry, about the time of the East India Company, but later on pa.s.sed out of the hands of private individuals into the department of Opium Administration, one of the branches of the colonial government. But, loyal as we have been all these years, we can remain silent no longer. The time is now rapidly approaching when the two countries, England and America, are to become closely united. How can we become truly united, however, when on such a great moral question as this we stand diametrically opposed?

There is still another reason why we should break silence. The welfare of our own country is now at stake. The menace of opium is now threatening America, and our first duty is to ourselves. Little by little, surrept.i.tiously, this drug has been creeping in over our borders, and to-day many thousands of our young men and young women are drug addicts, habituated to the use of one of the opium derivatives, morphia or heroin. The recent campaign against drug users, conducted by the New York Department of Health, has uncovered these addicts in great numbers; has brought them before us, made us see, in spite of ourselves, that thousands of them exist and that new ones are being created daily. The question arises, how do they obtain the drug? It was the fortune of the writer to be present during the first week of the opening of the Health Department Clinic for Drug Addicts, and her work consisted in taking the histories of these pitiful, abject wrecks of men and women who swarmed to the clinic in hundreds, seeking supplies of the drug which they could not obtain elsewhere. The history of these patients was almost invariably the same--there was a monotony in their tragic, pathetic recital as to how they became victims, how they first became acquainted with the drug. As a rule, they began in extreme youth, generally between fifteen and twenty years of age, one boy having begun at the age of thirteen. In nearly every case they had tried it as a lark, as an experiment. At "parties," they said, when some one of the company would pa.s.s round a box full of heroin, inviting them to snuff it. To snuff it, these children, very much as a small boy goes behind the barn to try his first cigarette. In many instances those who produced the box were peddlers, offering it as a gift at first, knowing that after a dose or two the fatal habit would be formed and another customer created. These peddlers doubtless obtained their supplies from smugglers. But that takes us back to our argument, namely, the part played by that great nation which grows and distributes opium to the world. For that nation produces an over-supply of opium, far more than is needed by the medical profession for the relief of pain. Opium is not profitable in its legitimate use. It is only profitable because of the demands of addicts, men and women deliberately debauched, either through the legalized machinery of colonial governments, or through the illegal activities of smugglers. A moral sentiment that will balk at this immense over-production, the sole object of which is to create drug victims, is the only weapon to fight it. In giving this book to the public, we are calling upon that moral sentiment. We feel that we shall number among our staunchest supporters that great body of men and women in England who have for years been vainly fighting the opium traffic. No more bitter opponents of this policy are to be found than amongst the English people themselves. From time to time, in Parliament, sharp debates have arisen as to the advisability of continuing it, and some of the greatest men in England have been steadfastly opposed. The great Gladstone has described it as "morally indefensible." The time has now come for us, people of both countries, to unite to stop it.

THE OPIUM MONOPOLY

I

GREAT BRITAIN'S OPIUM MONOPOLY

In a book shop in Shanghai, we came upon a small book with an arresting t.i.tle, "Drugging a Nation," by Samuel Merwin. It was published in 1908, eight years before we chanced upon it, shabby and shop worn, its pages still uncut. The people of Shanghai, the great International Settlement of this largest city and most important seaport of China, did not have to read it. They knew, doubtless, all that its pages could disclose.

We, however, found it most enlightening. In it there is this description of the British Opium Monopoly:

"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 t.i.tle, '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 10, 1907.... 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 una.s.sailable. 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.'

"The 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 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 of the year included 8,774 chests of opium for the Excise Department, about three hundred 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.... 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."

As the blue book states, this opium is auctioned off once a month. At that point, the British Government, as a government, washes its hands of the business. Who buys the opium at these government auctions, and what afterwards becomes of it? "The men who buy in the opium at these monthly auctions and afterwards dispose of it are a curious crowd of Pa.r.s.ees, 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 selling 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 illicit commerce.'"

"So clean hands and dirty hands went into partners.h.i.+p. They are in partners.h.i.+p still, save that the most nearly Christian of governments has officially succeeded the company as party of the first part."

You will say, if the British Government chooses to deal in opium, that is not our concern. It is most emphatically our concern. Once a month, at these great auction sales, the British Government distributes thousands of pounds of opium, which are thus turned loose upon the world, to bring destruction and ruin to the human race. The buyers of this opium are not agents of the British Government. They are merely the distributors, through whom this drug is directed into the channels of trade. The British Government derives a certain portion of its revenue from the sale of opium, therefore depends upon these dealers to find a market for it. They are therefore, as distributors, the unofficial agents of the British Government, through whom it is sold legitimately, or smuggled around the world. In seeking to eradicate the drug evil, we must face the facts, and recognize clearly that the source of supply is the British Government, through whose agents, official and unofficial, it is distributed.

America, so they tell us, is now menaced by the drug evil. Now that prohibition is coming into effect, we are told that we are now confronted by a vice more terrible, far more deteriorating and dangerous. If that is true, then we must recognize our danger and guard against it. Some of the opium and morphia which reaches this country is smuggled in; the rest is imported by the big wholesale drug houses.

There is an unlimited supply of it. As we have seen, the British Government encourages poppy production, even to the extent of lending money _without interest_ to all those who are willing to raise this most profitable crop. The monopoly opium is sold once a month to the highest bidders, and some of these highest bidders are unscrupulous men who must find their markets how and where they can. That fact, of course, is of no moment to the British Government. It is of deepest concern to Americans, however. To the north of us we have the Dominion of Canada. To the south, the No-Man's Land of Mexico. At the present moment, the whole country is alarmed at the growing menace of the drug habit, which is a.s.suming threatening proportions.

II

THE INDIAN OPIUM MONOPOLY

Let us quote from another dry official record, of unimpeachable veracity--the Statesman's Year-Book, for 1916. On page 140, under the heading of The British Empire: India and Dependencies, we read: "Opium.

In British territory the cultivation of the poppy for the production of opium is mainly restricted to the United Provinces, and the manufacture of the opium from this region is a State monopoly. A limited amount is also grown in the Punjab for local consumption and to produce poppy seeds. In the monopoly districts the cultivator receives advances from Government to enable him to prepare the land for the crop, and he is bound to sell the whole of the produce at a fixed price to Government agents, by whom it is despatched to the Government factory at Ghazipur to be prepared for the market. The chests of manufactured opium are sold by auction in Calcutta at monthly sales. A reserve is kept in hand to supply the deficiencies of bad seasons, and a considerable quant.i.ty is distributed by the Indian excise departments. Opium is also grown in many of the Native States of Rajputana and Central India. These Native States have agreed to conform to the British system. No opium may pa.s.s from them into British territory for consumption without payment of duty.

"The bulk of the exports of opium from India has been to China. By arrangements with that country, the first one being in 1907, the exports from India have been limited, and provision made for the cessation of the export to China when the native Chinese production of opium shall be suppressed. The trade with China is now practically suspended."

The important things to notice in the above statement are these: The growing of poppies, the manufacture of opium, and the monthly auction sales continue. Also, the opium trade with China is practically at an end. The history of the opium traffic in China is a story complete in itself and will be dealt with in another chapter. At present, we must notice that the trade with China is practically suspended, but that the British Government is still auctioning off, once a month at Calcutta, great quant.i.ties of opium. Where does this opium go--who are the consumers? If not to China, then where?

The same reliable authority, the Statesman's Year-Book for 1918, has this to say on the subject. On page 130 we read: "Opium: In British territory the cultivation of the poppy for the production of opium is practically confined to the United Provinces, and the manufacture of opium from this region is a State monopoly. The bulk of the exported opium is at present either sent to the United Kingdom, or supplied direct to the Governments of consuming countries in the Far East; a certain quant.i.ty is also sold by auction in Calcutta at monthly sales.

Opium is also grown in many of the Native States of Rajputana and Central India, which have agreed to conform to the British system." The following tables, taken from most reliable authority, give some idea of the exports to the "consuming countries of the Far East." Note that j.a.pan began buying opium in 1911-12. We shall have something to say about the j.a.panese smuggling later. Also note that it was in 1907 that Great Britain and China entered into agreement, the outcome to be the suppression of the opium trade in China. But see the increasing imports into the treaty ports; up till almost the very last moment British opium being poured into China. In the second table, observe the increasing importation into England, (United Kingdom), synchronous with the increased exports to j.a.pan, which will be discussed later.

III

j.a.pAN AS AN OPIUM DISTRIBUTOR

In an article which appeared in the _New York Times_, under date of February 14, 1919, we read: "A charge that the j.a.panese Government secretly fosters the morphia traffic in China and other countries in the Far East is made by a correspondent in the _North China Herald_ in its issue of December 21st last. The correspondent a.s.serts that the traffic has the financial support of the Bank of j.a.pan, and that the j.a.panese postal service in China aids, although 'j.a.pan is a signatory to the agreement which forbids the import into China of morphia or of any appliances used in its manufacture or application.'

"Morphia no longer can be purchased in Europe, the correspondent writes. The seat of industry has been transferred to j.a.pan, and morphia is now manufactured by the j.a.panese themselves. Literally, tens of millions of yen are transferred annually from China to j.a.pan for the payment of j.a.panese morphia....

"In South China, morphia is sold by Chinese peddlers, each of whom carries a pa.s.sport certifying that he is a native of Formosa, and therefore ent.i.tled to j.a.panese protection. j.a.panese drug stores throughout China carry large stocks of morphia. j.a.panese medicine vendors look to morphia for their largest profits. Wherever j.a.panese are predominant, there the trade flourishes. Through Dairen, morphia circulates throughout Manchuria and the province adjoining; through Tsingtao, morphia is distributed over Shantung province, Anhui, and Kiangsu, while from Formosa morphia is carried with opium and other contraband by motor-driven fis.h.i.+ng boats to some point on the mainland, from which it is distributed throughout the province of f.u.kien and the north of Kuangtung. Everywhere it is sold by j.a.panese under extra-territorial protection."

The article is rather long, and proves beyond doubt the existence of a well-organized and tremendous smuggling business, by means of which China is being deluged with morphia. In the body of the article we find this paragraph:

"While the morphia traffic is large, there is every reason to believe that the opium traffic upon which j.a.pan is embarking with enthusiasm, is likely to prove even more lucrative. _In the Calcutta opium sales, j.a.pan has become one of the considerable purchasers of Indian opium....

Sold by the Government of India, this opium is exported under permits applied for by the j.a.panese Government_, is s.h.i.+pped to Kobe, and from Kobe is transs.h.i.+pped to Tsingtao. Large profits are made in this trade, in which are interested some of the leading firms of j.a.pan."