Drug Abuse

APPENDIX C.

INTERVIEWS.

JAPAN.

INTERVIEW I.
INTERVIEWS WITH THE RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP NICOLAI, OP THE GREEK CHURCH;

THE RIGHT REVEREND J. MCKIM, BISHOP OP THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH,

AND THE RIGHT REVEREND W. AWDRY, BISHOP OP THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, IN JAPAN, AND CAPTAIN F. BRINKLEY, OP THE "JAPAN MAIL"

TOKYO, September 10, 1903.
A member of the Committee, in an interview with Bishop Nicolai, of the Greek Church, who has been in Japan upwards of forty years and has worked exclusively among the Japanese, asked him if he had met with the opium habit among the people. The bishop replied that he had seen absolutely no indications of the vice among the Japanese, "though the newspapers told of the occasional conviction of an unfortunate Chinese." He laughed heartily when the member of the Committee said he had come to Japan to study the opium traffic, because, he said, "there is none here." He considered the prohibitive law to be quite successful in its operation.
Bishop McKim, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, whose residence in Japan covers a period of more than twenty years, and Bishop Awdry, of the Church of England, who has resided in the country for about seven years; both said that their experience coincided with that of Bishop Nicolai. In the judgment of these gentlemen the law is strongly supported by public opinion, as the Japanese have an abhorrence and fear of the vice.
The same member of the Committee interviewed Captain Brinkley, of the "Japan Mail," the principal English paper in Tokyo. In the judgment of Captain Brinkley, the prohibitive law is carried out successfully and is commendable in the standpoint it takes. The convictions under it are very few, the last he remembered dating back some three or four years.

INTERVIEW II.
INTERVIEW WITH DR. WILLIAM IMBRIE, MEIJI UNIVERSITY, TOKYO, AND Da. D. IBUKA, ALSO OP MEIJI UNIVERSITY, AND RECENTLY RETURNED PROM FORMOSA.

TOKYO, September 10, 1903.
A member of the Committee called on Dr. William Imbrie, who informed him that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the law against opium is strongly supported by public opinion and is rigidly and satisfactorily enforced in Japan. He does not believe and never has heard that opium can be obtained at any place in Japan contrary to law. Dr. Imbrie has been in Japan almost continuously since 1875.
Through the courtesy of Dr. Imbrie, a member of the Committee was enabled to meet Dr. D. Ibuka, a Japanese gentleman well informed and speaking English fluently, who had just returned from Formosa. He explained the working of the laws in Formosa as being satisfactory, and stated that only Chinese of twenty years of age or over could be licensed to smoke opium. He stated that the use of opium in Formosa is decreasing and that there is a strong feeling among the Chinese, particularly among those of the better class, that it would be wiser to apply to Formosa the law in force in Japan. These Chinese asserted that unquestionably considerable suffering would result among the habitues of opium during the first one or two months; they maintained, however, that many opium smokers have been confined in prison for several months, where no opium was obtainable, and that none of them have died, but that, on the contrary, most of them when restored to liberty have been in a getter physical condition than when first confined. Dr. Ibuka stated that it is possible better food and environment were provided for these men than they were able to obtain when at large; but the fact remains that there is no record that any opium habitue has been permanently injured by being deprived of opium.
In this connection attention is invited to the fact that all the Chinese with whom this member of the Committee conversed in Hongkong are in favor of the prohibition of opium. One of the advocates of prohibition was a man of means and himself•.engaged in the opium traffic. When his attention was called to the apparent inconsistency of his expressed views with his conduct, he replied naively that the opium traffic would not cease if he discontinued business, that it was a very remunerative pursuit, and that just as much harm would be done by the opium sold by the person who would take his place ; so that no good would accrue to the public by his abandoning the opium traffic, that harm would result to himself, and that he was therefore justified in dealing in opium, though he thoroughly disapproved of it. This gentleman stated that if the traffic in opium were prohibited by law, he would gladly go into some other business.

INTERVIEW III.
INTERVIEW WITH THE REVEREND MR. SOPER, D. D., OP THE METHODIST UNIVERSITY, TOKYO, JAPAN.
TOKYO, September 25, 1993.
Through a letter of introduction from Dr. Stuntz, of Manila, a member of the Committee was enabled to meet Dr. Soper. Dr. Soper expressed it as his firm belief that the law of prohibition against opium in Japan is thoroughly effective. He said that no Japanese addicted to the vice had ever come under his observation, although he thought it possible that there might be a few isolated instances which escape public notice. The Japanese, he said; avoid the use of opium as they would that of a poison, and that under the circumstances.naturally the prohibitive law is strongly suppdrted by public opinion.

INTERVIEW IV.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. K. KUMAGAI, CHIEF OFFICIAL IN CHARGE OP FORMOSAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS.
TOKYO, September 25,1903.
The Committee called upon Mr. Kumagai at his office, by appointment, at two o'clock p. m., September 25. Mr. Usawa, barrister-at-law, whose services had been retained, and Mr. Imai, interpreter, were present. Mr. Kumagai received the Committee most courteously and placed himself entirely at its disposal.
Mr. Kumagai: Here is a paper in which I have had all of the laws and regulations bearing on the use of opium in Formosa fastened together for your use. I beg you to take it with you.
Chairman: We thank you sincerely for your courteous forethought and gladly accept the paper.
There are, however, some points on which our Committee desires some information. Will it be convenient for you to designate some one whom we may ques- tion, or shall we apply through our legation?
A. You may do as you please. Any information we have is at your service.
Q. In that case it would expedite matters if we could ask the questions immediately.
A. Do so by all means. I shall take pleasure in answering them. Q. What percentage of morphia in opium is fixed by law ?
A. I cannot say, but will send you the answer.

Q. Do Chinese apothecaries and druggists have the same privileges as Japanese in regard to selling opium?
A. The Chinese must first become naturalized citizens of Japan.
Q. Does the law in regard to licensing opium consumers apply alike to Japanese, Chinese and natives of Formosa?
A. No Japanese may be licensed.
Q. Is the law still in force which requires all those who are licensed to smoke opium to have a doctor's certificate?
A. Yes.
Q. Is it true that any adult applicant who declares himself an opium habitué may secure a license to consume opium?
A. No.
Q. Does the government derive any revenue from opium taxes and licenses in Formosa?
A. Yes. The receipts at the end of last year were 3,917,086 yen. Q. What were the expenses of enforcing the law?
A. 2,643,367 yen for the same period.
Q. Does the law work satisfactorily?
A. Fairly satisfactorily.
Q. Was the prohibition of opium, as in Japan, ever tried in Formosa? A. No. The conditions were unfavorable.
Q. What is the distribution of the Chinese throughout the Empire?
A. They are chiefly in Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki. The exact number will be ascertained and given later.
Q. Has any concerted effort to obtain opium ever been discovered among the Chinese in Japan?
A. Yes. They have tried secretly, but to no purpose. Their efforts have been suppressed by the vigilance of the police.
Q. What proportion, if any, of the Chinese in Japan use opium? A. It is impossible to say, as the law is prohibitive and effective.
Q. Do you think that the law as it stands would be equally effective, if the
proportion of Chinese were greater—say 1 to 8o of the population? A. It would make no difference however many there were.
Q. Is there any restriction put upon Chinese immigration here or in Formosa?
A. There are restrictions in Formosa—not in Japan. The number of ports where they can enter is limited to four. Chinese immigrants must be provided with certificates (or passports) from their own government, which are inspected by the Japanese officials. Chinese laborers or immigrants who have no occupation are refused admission to Formosa. There is no treaty provision with China on the subject.
Q. To what extent do Chinese resident in Japan visit their own country? A. This will be answered later.
Q. What has been the immigration of Chinese during the past ten years ? A. This will be answered later.
Q. Was there ever a larger Chinese population in Japan than at present? A. This will be answered later.
Q. Are the Chinese in Japan confined to the coast towns?
A. The Chinese may live in settlements. Any one who is not a laborer may do business anywhere ; laborers may work outside the settlements only with the consent of the district officials of any given district. The matter is regulated by Imperial Ordinance No. 352. Article 1 of this ordinance reads as follows :
"The foreigner (by this word is meant the Chinese) who has liberty of residence by treaty or usage, may also remove, reside or do business outside the settlements; but laborers are not allowed to reside or do business outside the settlements, unless special permission has been granted by the district administrative authortiy."
Q. Do you think the prohibitive law regarding opium tends to discourage Chinese from settling in Japan?
A. No. Immigration is unaffected by it.
Q. Are there many marriages between Chinese and Japanese? A. There are a few. The exact figures will be given later.
Q. Has there been any evidence of a tendency among the Japanese in Formosa to use opium?
A. There has been no such tendency observed.

INTERVIEW V.
INTERVIEW OP THE COMMITTEE WITH MR. T. ANDO, FORMERLY JAPANESE CONSUL AT HAWAII.
TOKYO, September 26, 1903.
Through the courtesy of Reverend Mr. Soper, the Committee was enabled to make an appointment with Mr. T. Ando, formerly Japanese Consul at Hawaii and at present connected with the Methodist University at Tokyo. Mr. Ando called on the members of the Committee at nine o'clock a. m., September 26, at the Metropole Hotel, and furnished the following information :
Q. Were there any Japanese in the Hawaiian Islands who used opium while you were there?
A. I was in Hawaii for three and a half years and did not observe a single Japanese who smoked opium. In fact, the question affected the Japanese so little that we thought nothing about it.
At the beginning of the introduction of opium into Hawaii, about six or seven years ago, the question was raised in the Diet of permitting the use of opium among the Chinese. The Christian people among the Japanese and also many of the non-christian people tried to discourage and suppress it; but it was impossible.
Q. Is the 'use of opium considered a disgrace among the Japanese people?
A. Yes. It is considered a disgrace. We had some fear that the Japanese in Formosa would acquire the habit from the Chinese; however, I do not believe that a single Japanese in that island uses it, although I cannot safetly say. At least, I do not think so.
Q. Do the Japanese never smoke opium?
A. Never. I think I can safely say that. It may be possible, however, that in Nagasaki, where the Japanese are intimately connected with the Chinese, Japanese women of the disreputable class may sometimes use opium.
Q. You have been in Shanghai and Hongkong. Is there a great deal of opium used in those two ports?
A. Yes. Among the Chinese.
Q. Is there any public sentiment among the Chinese regarding opium?
A. I think the Chinese there could tell you better than I. In my opinion, many of them think that opium is bad, and yet they smoke it, just as we drink alcohol.
Q. Would the Chinese be in favor of legislation looking to the diminution of the use of opium?
A. I do not think so; the Chinese do not seem to have time for that.
Q. In connection with legislation on opium in Japan, I was told by a Japanese that the prohibitive law in a measure resulted from the advice of General Grant. Do you know anything about that?
A. I think not, because the prohibition of opium in Japan was in existence previously to his coming. I was well acquainted with General Grant, being a member of the reception committee that went to Hongkong to meet him.
r-- I think that we are greatly indebted to Mr. Harris, the first United States I Minister to Japan. Mr. Harris undoubtedly had a great influence on the Japanese government in inducing it to prohibit the importation of opium on the opening of the ports to foreign commerce, especially to England.
—    The Japanese government was afraid of having an opium war such as China
had. The Japanese believe that the origin of the trouble and disorder prevailing in China is due to opium. The Japanese immediately took measures to prohibit the importation of opium into Nagasaki, which was the only port open at that time. and entirely kept it out.
Q. Is opium used among the Japanese in Hongkong?
A. There is not a single Japanese in Hongkong who uses opium, and probably not in Formosa, but as to that I cannot say. I suppose that you are going to China to study the opium question; but the question is so complicated that it will take you a half year to study it there.

 

INTERVIEW VI.
INTERVIEW BY THE COMMITTEE WITH DR. SHIMPEI Go'ro, VICE-GOVERNOR OP FORMOSA; MR. T. IWAI, DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU or MONOPOLIES, AND MR. KATO, DIRECTOR OP THE BUREAU OP SANITATION.
Dr. Go to: At first there were two opinions regarding the policy to be adopted by the government in the opium matter; one was to prohibit the use of opium at once, and the other was to adopt a plan by which a number of smokers could be reduced gradually. The government was divided in opinion as to the best policy.
At first it was feared that the latter system would tend to make the habit a permanent one among the natives and increase the number of smokers. It has been found, however, after five years' experience, that with the system adopted by the government this was not the case, indeed, that quite the contrary has been true; in other words, the number of smokers has decreased. The government has therefore decided that the best way to treat the opium smokers is leniently, that is, not to act directly against their desires. Now that conditions have become peaceful, the success of the government in the enforcement of the law is very encouraging.
One purpose for which the Chinese use opium is medicinal. When a child is sick, the smoking father gives it opium, and the child seems cured instantly. Not only is it given to children for this purpose, but adults also use it for the same reason.
A second reason why the Chinese use opium is that, when they have once acquired the habit, it is impossible or difficult for them to give it up.
A third reason why the Chinese use opium is the same as that for which beer and wine are used in Europe and America ; it serves as an element of pleasure in social intercourse. So, when Chinese assemble for social purposes, they smoke opium as a part of the entertainment to pass the time away.
It takes a long time to acquire a taste for opium. It is quite different from the manner in which a taste for sugar is acquired. The taste of sugar is agreeable the first time used, but this is not true of opium; to acquire a taste for which requires effort and time. Then, not only is it difficult to acquire a taste for opium, but when once acquired, it is just as difficult to free one's self from it.
Only two Japanese have violated the opium law thus far. Their purpose in smoking was not vicious, it was merely a curious desire to try it. There are many Chinese who, seeing the good physical condition of the Japanese who do not use opium, desire to imitate them; they appreciate the fact that it is injurious to them. If we should require of them that they stop the use of opium immediately, knowing that most of them can hardly live without it, the effect would be bad, as they would be compelled to break the law. Under the present law, they are allowed to act without compulsion, to use opium or not as they choose, and some of them are gradually trying to liberate themselves from the habit. This, I believe, is the best policy.
reduce purpose of the opium monopoly is both to derive a revenue and to ! ce gradually the number of smokers. The latter purpose is accomplished • in several ways, as, by educational measures, charitable institutions, sanitary im- i provements, etc.
It was thought by some people that if we should place a heavy tax on the importation of opium, we should be able to check the vice by making the price prohibitive. This, however, would not have been a very effective measure, as the people are addicted to the vice, and would obtain opium under any circumstances, whether the price were high or low. This, of course, would not remedy the conditions, but would merely serve to oppress the people and to cause discontent and disorder. The government, therefore, decided to take the manufacture of opium into its own hands.
You will notice to-morrow, when you visit the opium factory, that the odor of opium is very strong. It is therefore impossible to manufacture it in private houses- without being detected. There is a difference between the odor produced by smoking the drug and that present during its manufacture. This makes it a very easy and simple matter for the government to detect private manufacturers of opium.
In Japan as well as in Formosa no one is allowed to manufacture or import opium except the government. In Formosa, before the government assumed a monopoly of opium, the drug was manufactured in small quantities in private houses. The government found on the organization of its plant that it was unable to supply the demand of the entire island, and new devices and a larger scale of manufacture were put into operation. You will see that to-morrow.
The purpose of the monopoly bureau is to supply opium to the natives and the purpose of the sanitary bureau is to reduce the number of smokers, two purposes apparently radically opposed. At first the people were unable to understand the attitude of the government, considering the two bureaus as working against each other, which they of course thought inconsistent. The opium monopoly is a source of revenue and as such is conducted like any other monopoly; but many people misunderstand the motives of the government in collecting such a revenue. The revenue thus derived is devoted to the public health, to combat the very source from which it is derived. Both departments, that of monopolies as well as that of sanitation, are using their efforts to reduce the number of smokers.
Here are some statistics regarding the increase and decrease of smokers, the cost of manufacture, the amount of revenue, the comparative longevity of smokers and non-smokers, etc., which I will give you.
Chairman: The Committee is pleased to accept them, and thanks you very much.
Dr. Goto: Mr. Iwai, the Director of the Bureau of Monopolies, will answer any questions you may have to ask regarding monopoly matters, and Dr. Kato will inform you regarding the Sanitary Bureau. Mr. Iwai will be able to give you useful and interesting information regarding the smuggling of opium.
Conditions in the island have now become peaceful. Five or six years ago the bandits were scattered everywhere, even in the very vicinity of Taihoku (Taipeh). At that time the enforcement of the law was impossible. Since then, however, the extent of its enforcement has been increased gradually, until it now includes the whole island. Five or six years ago it was unsafe to go any distance into the country without an escort of ten or fifteen policemen. Under these conditions, as already stated, it was impossible to enforce the law ; 4 and the people thought the government had abolished it. It was then that the ' wisdom of prohibiting the importation of opium altogether was considered ; but it was finally decided that it would be an imprudent measure, as the people would think the government cruel and would become restless. We therefore decided to allow them to smoke opium, enforcing the law and reducing the number of smokers as rapidly as conditions permitted.
Q. In other words, the government was trying to cure a vice rather than stop a custom ?
Dr. Goto: Yes. At first the government had some difficulty in the matter of distributing opium among the people. Agents were then appointed, and they bought the opium from the government and distributed it among the people.
A person who is allowed to smoke opium must have reached the age of  twenty years or more and must be an opium habitue
Q. Must one who is licensed to smoke secure a new license every year ?
Dr. Goto: It was found that the people evaded the payment of their annual license fees, when that system was in practice, and many smoked without licenses. It was therefore decided to abandon it, and a license when once obtained is now good for all time.
Q. Does each smoker have to have the certificate of a physician?
Dr. Goto: Yes. He must have a certificate. We had about 105 Japanese physicians scattered everywhere throughout the island. These physicians were compensated by the government, but could practice medicine privately also, independently of their other work. They declared whether a person was an habitue or not, and whether a smoker's license should be issued to him. But this system was inefficient and very troublesome, as there were many places where no physicians were located. So whenever a Chinese applied for a license, the local officers could issue one, as they could tell by experience whether a person was an inveterate smoker or not. Physicians did not then issue licenses. This was practiced until Meiji 31 (1898), and since then no more licenses have been granted, as there are no new smokers. The government gave notice to the people. in 1898, that if they wished to smoke, they should notify the government, in order that they might secure licenses.
The last one was issued in November, Igo% at which time the number of licensed smokers was 169,000.
Q. When a license ceased to be used, either upon the death of a person or in case he gave up the use of the drug, the return .of the local office indicated that, I suppose?
Dr. Goto: Yes. There were many who stopped the use of opium and commenced again. There were some who had a desire temporarily to abandon smoking, and others who wished to cure themselves. The government does not 'interfere with smokers who stop and commence again. Only in case they are young men, in good health and physically strong, does the government try to prevent them from smoking.
In November, two, the total number of smokers was 169,000; and in three years the number has been decreased to 143,492. It is very difficult for the government to determine the exact number of smokers. At first we had opium inspectors; but they became useless and the force was very expensive. The police were then put in charge of it.
Q. Did you not have to increase the police force in order to do the extra work, when the use of inspectors was abandoned?
Dr. Go to: It was increased only slightly; but there was no great increase, however. The police who had sanitary matters in charge were also put in charge of opium.
Q. They then had special sanitary police, did they?
Mr. Iwai: Yes. Statistics were very difficult to obtain. The demand for opium depended upon the harvests : when the crops were good, they smoked a large quantity, and, on the other hand, when the crops were poor, the number of smokers decreased, and the demand for opium was smaller.
These pamphlets (presenting some pamphlets printed in Japanese) are intended to teach the people the poisonous effects of opium ; they give the results of an investigation of opium-smoking among the Chinese here. The readers used in the public schools teach the poisonous effects of the drug, and there are Chinese poems which describe the evil influences of opium. There are many instances in Chinese literature telling of the poisonous effects of opium. Not only are the people taught the bad results of opium, but the physicians in the island try to cure them of the opium habit.
Q. Are there hospitals in the provinces, or are the patients to be cured brought here?
Dr. Goto: The government has ten hospitals in the island. This is one of the influences in decreasing the number of smokers; and another one, which is probably the principal one, is the deplorable condition of the harvests. Until 1902 there were thirty-seven cases in which persons stopped smoking, because they could not get opium.
Statistics regarding the relative longevity of smokers and non-smokers show that smokers do not have less vitality than, and live just as long as, non-smokers. Opium does not seem to have any effect upon the length of life.
Q. Is the opium manufactured by the government sold at lower prices than that smuggled into the country?
Mr. Iwai: Well, as you know, the price of opium is constantly fluctuating. At certain periods the government sells opium at a price lower than the market price, but at other times the government price is higher. So we may expect that, when the price of opium in India or other opium-producing countries goes down, the number of smugglers will increase. This was the case in former years; but recently the number of police has been increased and they have also become more familiar with native customs and more expert in detecting smuggling. Recently the government price of opium has not been affected.
Q. From where is the raw opium chiefly obtained ?
Mr. Iwai: Chiefly, from India and Persia. In India, from Malwa and Benares.
Q. Is more opium Imported from Persia than from India?
Mr. Iwai: The tendency recently seems to be toward a decrease in the importation of Persian opium and an increase in that of Indian opium.
Q. Can you give the number of convictions (commitments) under the opium law, year by year, since the beginning of the law?
Mr. Iwai: Yes. The statistics will show that.
Q. I understand that the income derived from the opium monopoly is used for the public benefit?

Dr. Goto: Yes, chiefly for sanitary purposes.
Q. Will it be possible for us to see the method by which one of the opium shops is run?
Dr. Goto: Yes. We can show you that to-morrow. There is a shop near the opium-factory.
Q. Is there much smuggling now ?
Dr. Goto: There has been very little smuggling recently.    •
Q. Of what nationality are the smugglers chiefly, Formosan or Chinese? Dr. Goto: Both, but chiefly Formosan.
Q. These are persons who are trying to get the opium in for their own consumption rather than those who desire to make a profit from it, are they not?
Mr. Iwai: Yes. At first smuggling was due to the peculiar taste of government opium, which the people did not like. It was also due to the difference in price, but the chief cause was that the taste of government opium did not suit them. Some smokers liked it strong and others weak, and the taste of the opium differed according to the method of preparation.
Q. Is there much journeying to and fro between China and Formosa on the part of Formosans?
Mr. Iwai: Yes. There is a great deal of travel between China and Formosa, especially during the tea harvest. A great many laborers come during the tea season and go back again.
Q. Do they give any especial trouble in the opium matter ?
Mr. Iwai: No.
Q. To what extent has the immigration of Chinese decreased since the Japanese occupation?
Mr. Iwai: I cannot tell, as it is not known how many Chinese came here before the occupation.
Q. Do you think that Mr. Davidson's statement that 7 per cent. of the whole population of the island used opium before the Japanese occupation, is correct?
Mr. Iwai: Yes. Between 6 and 7 per cent.
Q. I believe there are some experiments going on to promote local opium-growing. What would the advantage of local opium-growing be?
Mr. Iwai: Well. The right of local opium production is not allowed to the public. The climate here not being very different from that of India or other opium-producing countries, we decided to make experiments, thinking that the island was adapted to the cultivation of opium. It was our purpose to determine the cost of production of the raw material.
Q. Would this not tend to make the people think that the traffic in opium was a permanent thing?
Mr. Iwai: Well. The purpose of the government is to get free from the present market price, which is regulated by the merchants in Hongkong. So that if opium production is successful in the island, we shall be able to escape from the exorbitant market price.
Q. What I wanted to ask is whether it would not have a bad moral effect on the people?
Mr. Iwai: No. If opium smoking were allowed without restriction to everybody, it would be bad; but since it is not, I do not think that the effect would be bad.
Q. Are the hospitals supported by the Japanese government or by the Formosan government?
Dr. Goto: The Japanese government assists the Formosan government, as the revenues here are not sufficient.

 

FORMOSA.

INTERVIEW VII.
INTERVIEW WITH REV. TERADA, PASTOR OP THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH OP TAIPEH, FORMOSA, WHO HAS BEEN IN THE ISLAND SINCE THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION AND IS INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE SOCIAL LIFE OP THE NATIVES.
TAIPEH, FORMOSA, October 13, 4903.
Q. What do you think about the present opium law in Formosa?

A. I do not think that it is prOving as successful as is generally supposed. The Japanese government expects entirely to eradicate the habit from the island within a limited period ; but I do not think it possible under the present law. During the early part of the Japanese regime in Formosa, the government was conducted by military officers, and as they were not acquainted sufficiently with methods of administration, conditions were very unfavorable. Since that time, however, a civil government has been established, and men competent to draft laws have been placed at the head of the government, and as a consequence conditions have been somewhat improved. The number of opium smokers has been slightly reduced. I do not think, however, that it is possible entirely to eradicate the habit, as a person inveterately addicted to the drug would rather die than leave off its use, and under the present conditions such persons will always exist. In the case of a person who has recently begun the use of the drug, it is possible, if he is attended to properly, to cure him of the habit.
Q. Do young men under the legal age-limit use opium?
A. A few have come under my observation. There are more young woman than young men who illegally use opium, and most of the former are found in houses of ill-fame. In my own experience I have succeeded in aiding three young men to stop the use of opium. They were not very far advanced in the habit, and after one week's treatment with medicine prepared for that purpose, they were able gradually to free themselves from the vice, experiencing but little suffering.
There is no one factor that more strongly influences the young generation against the opium vice than the instruction given them in the public schools regarding the poisonous and pernicious effects produced by the drug. The Chinese youth are slowly learning the Japanese language, and with it are acquiring Japanese ideas and ideals, among which the idea most deeply inculcated is the perniciousness and disgrace of the opium vice, for which they are taught to have an abhorrence.
Q. From where do these young people obtain their opium?
A. They obtain it clandestinely from persons licensed to buy and use the drug.
Q. In India it is a practice among mothers to give opium to their babes, in order to quiet them when they are cross. Does such a custom prevail in Formosa, as far as you know ?
A. Yes. During the early part of the Japanese regime here, when opium smoking was carried on more publicly, I have seen that done on several occasions. At the present time, although I have had no opportunity to observe personally, I have learned from several sources, including the Chinese themselves, that such a practice still prevails among Chinese mothers. This is one reason why I believe it impossible to eradicate the vice under existing conditions, for in many cases it is involuntarily acquired during childhood and obtains so firm a grip before the child reaches an age at which it is able to judge for itself that it becomes difficult for it to break away from the habit, so that victims of it will always be present.
Q. Do you think, then, that prohibition would be preferable to the present law ?
A. Yes. I think so. I do not believe that the government should sanction the vice. I am of the opinion that prohibition is the only way in which any hopeful results can be obtained, though prohibition would not be successful in eradicating the vice.
Q. Do you know of any Japanese who use opium?
A. No. Japanese do not use it. As far as I can learn, the Chinese of the better class are seldom addicted to it. Its victims are found almost entirely among the lower class, and those who frequent the opium-shops belong, without exception, to this class. They are generally poor, so that the amount of opium they are able to buy is very limited, the daily consumption of one person varying from six to twelve sen worth of the drug.

 

INTERVIEW VIII.
INTERROGATORIES ADDRESSED IN WRITING TO Da. F. P. ARRANZ, A CATHOLIC FATHER, WHO HAS RESIDED IN THE ISLAND OP FORMOSA DURING. THE PAST TWENTY-Pm; YEARS.
TAIPEH, FORMOSA, October ix, 1903.
Q. What proportion of the inhabitants of the island use opium ?
A. In so short a space of time it is impossible for me to make an exact statement regarding the extent to which opium is used by the natives. I believe that the estimate which places it at about eight per cent. is correct. In the city of Taotiutia-Daitotei there are about two thousand persons licensed to smoke; to these may be added those who smoke without licenses. There are in this city twenty-five large opium-shops, at which from 30o to Loo pounds of the drug are sold monthly. The price of first-class opium is eighteen yen and that of second-class about twelve yen per pound.
Q. Do the inhabitants of other races use opium, and if so, in what proportion?
A. During the Chinese regime the savages in one of the districts of Central Formosa, Polisia, were contaminated by the vice, and the natives of the plains, that is the civilized natives, use it in about the same proportion as the Chinese.
Q. In what class of society is the use of opium most extensive?
A. I have not investigated the use of the drug among women. In places of business it is said that fully one-third of the men use opium. In agricultural districts, however, the number of victims of the vice is small. In Formosa the habit is not found among children ; those who between the ages of fourteen and sixteen becomes addicted to the habit are rare, as for them to do so is considered ill-breeding and is thought to predict an unhappy future for the family.
It often happens that mothers addicted to the vice, when giving birth to children, are obliged a few days afterwards to cause the child to inhale the smoke of opium, without which it refuses to take the breast. It is observed that after inhaling the smoke the child again nurses. Within my knowledge there is at present in Daitotei a Chinese, named Lam Bo Ki, who has a child eleven days old, to whom he administers opium in the form of smoke mornings and evenings for the purpose just mentioned.
Q. In what form is opium generally used, by smoking or by swallowing in the shape of drinks or pills?
A. The ordinary form in which it is used is by smoking. When engaged in the performance of any work which made it inconvenient or impossible to smoke without losing some of the time necessary to the completion of the task, the natives of Formosa (Chinese) used opitim in the form of pills mixed with an oil of morphine, etc., a practice which existed until the Japanese government put a stop to it in 1898. Other subjects of the vice practiced the injection of morphine, which the government also prohibited.
Q. What effect is produced by opium on the health, the habits and the social life of the person who uses the drug?
A. As regards the health of the habitue, the use of opium produces a general debility by the irregular and severe excitation to which it subjects the nervous system; so says Dr. Liebermann in his "Etude sur les Fumeurs del'Opium en Chine."
Dividing the habitues into three or four classes, it may be stated with certainty that the larger part of the laboring class is greatly incapacitated for work owing to the loss of vitality caused by the use of opium. The cost of practicing the vice deducts so much from the attention to which the family of the habitue is entitled. This idle class with which he is brought into contact makes him negligent of his duties, drawing him into a life of dissipation and causing him to shun his ordinary work ; he frequents houses of ill-repute, his simple habits of life are abandoned, new avenues of evil are opened to him, and his passions are allowed to run with free rein. He obtains his livelihood by illicit means, and in his wickedness, from which he attempts no reform, he sets his children a dishonorable example, which they follow. The equilibrium of society is disturbed; and as the law places no penalty on the violation of the secret ties of marriage through illicit cohabitation and since there are no moral restrictions to check the evil, the moral laxity of the family, the unit of which society is composed, is very great.As to the merchant class, it may be said that they withstand the evil physical effects of the vice better than the class above referred to, since they are able to secure better nourishment with which to rebuild their wasted energies. As far as the other effects of the vice are concerned, such as waste of means, loss of time, etc., the merchant class is as much affected as, if not more so than, the lower or middle class.
The invariable opinion of the Roman Catholic Church, based upon data obtained from missionaries in constant contact with the family life, and among other decisions, confirmed by that of Leo XIII, 1892, in the month of December, adds great weight to the unanimous judgment of a great number of observers scattered over a century. The Pontiff just mentioned corroborates his decision by the laws of China itself, which previous to the opening of her ports to European commerce prohibited the cultivation of opium within her dominions; and it was only through the compulsion of an irresistible force that she ever submitted to the traffic. In Siam, at the beginning of the past century, the use of opium was prohibited under the penalty of death.
We have spoken of the injury inflicted upon society as a whole through the practice of this vice. A small part of those addicted to it, however, seem to be exempt from its disastrous effects, that is, in their health, the condition of their offspring, etc., by reason of the moderation with which they use the drug (as observed in some cases, either because of the robustness of constitution with which they are blessed or because of the self-control which enables them to avoid excess). This fact, however, should not induce us to ignore the general welfare, by adopting that attitude of extreme tolerance which has brought about in China and the neighboring countries the deterioration of the vital energies of their peoples and their debasement to a state of sickly inertia, with a gradual approach to such an obstinacy in the practice of the vice as to make impossible the reform, both physical and moral, which is necessary from a scientific point of view. Even in the matter of its own preservation and defense from outside enemies, China will be, unable to call to her assistance soldiers with such discipline and vigor as to make them capable of sustaining a long struggle. The late war with Japan has demonstrated the inferiority of her officers and soldiers, most of them lovers of the pleasures of opium.
Q. Is it true that the opium habitue becomes lazy and regardless of his duties to the extent of causing the ruin of his family?
A. Yes. It is very true.
Q. Do the deleterious effects produced by opium on the different races differ? Is it true that its effects on persons belonging to the white race are more injurious than those produced on other races?
A. The question is a very appropriate one, but would require a medical examination for its answer. The explanation, however, might be offered that the peoples of the Orient exercise their physical forces in hard labor, as loading and unloading cargoes, harvesting, etc., such as the peoples of the Occident would be unable to endure. The physical constitution, the climate, etc., might be considered concomitant factors. A European, for example, cannot resist the effects of dampness of the feet, while a native of the Orient endures it with impunity.
The use of herbs for medicinal purposes produces very favorable results in the case of Orientals, such as are not obtained by their use on our systems. This might also be true of opium; in them it seems to act as an absorbent of the aqueous fluids of the blood, while in us, who by temperament lack these, the drug effects an absorption of the vital forces ; in this fact might lie some difference in its effects.
Q. When the opium habit has once been acquired, is it easy to stop, or does the habitue become a slave to it? .
A. It is very difficult to stop the habit without the exercise of great willpower, and those strongly addicted to the vice are obliged to take medicines to strengthen their lungs, intestines, etc., which have been weakened by the practice. Without the use of tonics a peculiar dysentery sets in, when an attempt is made to leave off the habit, after it has once become rooted; in some cases the habitue is compelled to return to the pipe in order to save his life.
Q. Do you believe that those who use opium in the majority of cases use it with such moderation as to avoid any pernicious effects? Please mention any cases of opium habitues who have used the drug for a length of time without suffering any ill effects. Do you know of many cases in which a person has abandoned himself to the vice without any detriment whatever to his health?
C. Cases are cited in which the moderate use of the drug avoids the evil results which occur in the majority of instances, as already mentioned.
The exeperience of prisoners addicted to the vice who have been cured without the use of medicines and have left the prison in robust health proves that it is possible to leave off the habit without injurious results. Very few cases are known in which persons inveterate in the practice of the vice have died in prison or other places where they were unable to obtain the drug, if indeed the complications of some other disease contracted during the state of prostration has not been the cause of death.
Q. In your opinion, which is more pernicious in its effects on the health—the habits and the social life of the person addicted to it, the opium vice or the alcohol vice?
A. Physicians say that alcohol attacks the brain, the center in which is located man's power of self-control. In its pernicious effects it corresponds to opium. It seems that those produced by opium are not so sudden, because the injury is affected in a less delicate part of the body—that is, the drug attacks the lungs and the intestines, absorbing and drying up the juices which are necessary to keeping them in a proper condition, but does not directly affect the head, as it is not a substance or dose that puts into play the gastric glands, and in its vapor state is more volatile than-the liquid material which affects the tissues that communicate with the brain.
Q. Is there any foundation for the statement that the stopping of the opium vice is followed by the acquirement of the alcohol vice or some other of a worse nature?
A. In Formosa there is no tendency toward the alcohol vice among those who stop the use of opium; neither is it the case in China, as far as my experience goes. If the question involves the idea that the excesses and sins against nature would multiply as a result of stopping the use of opium, the answer may be made that the increase of such crimes would not be the result. Formosa and the Philippines are in nowise different in this respect. But even supposing that such were the case, the advantage of stopping a vice confined to certain persons, and of no consequence to society as a whole, is but slight when placed in the balance with the evils of opium, which, when once permitted, become more extensive in their sphere—evils frowned upon by the Almighty Creator, and which the governors of Christian society who acknowledge and respect the purposes of Providence in the guidance of rational creatures who at some time shall be called to give an account to the Judge of the Universe—are bound to restrict in their contaminating influence on the public.
Q. What, in your opinion, is the reason why Europeans are less addicted to the vice?
A. The morality, the refinement, and the differences of society established on a more enlightened and cultured foundation call out "Halt!" against the adoption of the opium vice among Europeans. Famous writers have also denounced the habit, exerting a great influence on the public. Our society enjoys other diversions of mind and body more agreeable than those of reclining upon the bed of an opium den.
Q. What is the motive which first leads a person to use opium? Is it true that the habit is generally acquired by taking the drug as a medicine? Is there any truth in the popular belief that opium prevents malaria, relieves fatigue and rheumatism, and allays the pangs of hunger?
A. The habit is almost always induced by the contagion of example. However, there are many cases in which it owes its origin to sickness, such as oppression in the chest, heart troubles, cough, asthma, inflammation of the body, feet, etc. Opium relieves fatigue and gives additional stimulus in physical exertion, especially, let it be understood, to those addicted to its use who, as has already been explained, are placed at a disadvantage in competing with those who are not victims of the vice.
Here in Formosa opium is often taken in cases of malaria; but since it does not cure the disease entirely in any case, and much less so when it is especially virulent, patients have little faith in the drug as a remedy and prefer to use European medicines, which they have on hand.

As a general rule, in disorders caused by the climate, etc., it proves a relief ;
but it cannot be said to be a medicine, since its benefits are only temporary. The answer to the question whether opium relieves hunger is negative. Q. Is it true that it is a custom among the mothers here to administer opium
to their infants to quiet them when they cry?
A. I have heard of no such custom, either in Formosa or China.
Q. Is there any feeling of repugnance to the use of opium among the people with whom you come in contact? To what extent is this sentiment prevalent?
A. There exists a general opinion that indulgence in opium is injurious; the better class of people cry out against the abuse, and even the habitues agree in considering it as attended with evil consequences. The just promptings of the conscience, misguided by the bait of a lucrative traffic (even in their religious exercises their motives are materialistic) and by a custom uninterrupted by prohibitive legislation—on the contrary, encouraged—are confused. They adopt a benign attitude toward a universal tolerance which inwardly they consider depraved, as is shown in making proposals of marriage, in which, if the man is a gambler or uses opium, he is likely to be rejected, unless his means are such that he will be able to support his family in a proper manner, and sufficiently large to outweigh the loss involved in the practice of the vice, or in some other manner is able to compensate for his bad propensities. They praise the Europeans because they do not smoke opium and are not subjects of its direful effects.
Q. Do you believe it possible with the present system of licensing opium smokers to eradicate the vice within thirty years?
A. The present law of licensing appears to me to be defective, since the inveterate smokers or habitues continue to use opium while new victims are being added. Neither in thirty nor in fifty years will opium smokers disappear with the present system. They say that the government is restricting the concession of licenses ; we have yet to see this done. The Kobe Chronical published the summary of an article written by Mr. Campbell, a Presbyterian missionary in Tainan, describing the present conditions in Formosa.
Speaking on the subject of opium, Mr. Campbell says as follows:
"Since 1891 the amount of opium, which in that year reached 463,86o pounds, has diminished somewhat during the succeeding years. Some one in Parliament having spoken of the sudden decrease in the amount of opium consumed by the Formosans, an investigation was made with the following result : In 1897 the import amounted to 145,668 pounds sterling; in 1898 the import amount to 204,489 pounds sterling; in 1899 the import amounted to 294,930 pounds sterling, and in woo the import amounted to 360,496 pounds sterling. Owing to the method of preparation adopted by the Formosan government, in 1899 the value of opium amounted to 447,784 pounds sterling, and in woo to 450,000 pounds sterling, the revenue accruing to the government amounting to ioo,000 pounds sterling—a fine sum, but disastrous to the inhabitants."
It is probable that Mr. Campbell was short in his estimate, because in 1901, according to Mr. Davidson, the government accounts of opium showed an entry of 4,287,888 yen, with a net gain of 2,931,126 yen. Mr. Davidson adds in a note, "Owing to the difficulties of prohibiting entirely the smuggling of opium and the sale of inferior opium in the interior, the amount of opium sold by the government has considerably diminished ;" but he does not say that the government has diminished the amount of the drug either this year or last for the purpose of restricting its use by the natives.
The statistics given here are thoroughly trustworthy, since the gentleman just mentioned copies. all his data with the assistance of a Japanese. These statistics are more eloquent than anything I might say to prove that the government has not yet put into effect the law of restriction which has been described to you. In this manner the habit will not be suppressed either in thirty or in fifty years.
The principal restrictions which exist are that the opium manufactured by the government is so inferior in quality, not being to the taste of the smokers, and the price so high—more than double what it was formerly—that the people have less inclination to use it.
The insular treasury is drained by the construction of railways, roads, agricultural improvements, etc., and to this fact we may attribute the suspense in which the good will of the government is held and the tendency among many to treat the Chinese as the English do in their colonies; indeed, it was for this purpose that a commission was sent to the Straits Settlements to study the English system, from which it may be inferred that the proposition advocated by Parliament has changed its course in a different sense. In view of these facts, one is inclined to believe that the Chinese are right when they suspect the government of permitting the smoking of opium for the purpose of replenishing the exchequer, while they have prohibited the use of the drug in the form of pills mixed with morphine, in which prohibition they have been successful, and from which success it is evident that with the same strictness and rigor as employed in the prohibition of the use of opium pills the vice could be extinguished among the general mass within two or three years.

 

INTERVIEW IX.
INTERROGATORIES ADDRESSED TO MR. T. Iwm, DIRECTOR OF THE MoNOPOLT BUREAU OF THE GOVERNMENT OF FORMOSA.
TAIPEH, FORMOSA, October 17, 1903.
Q. Is there any law concerning the use of spirituous liquors in Formosa?
A. The Chinese do not drink strong liquor; their alcoholic drinks are of a very mild nature. We do not, therefore, find any necessity for a law against the use of alcoholic drinks among them.
Q. Have there been any commitments for drunkenness among the Chinese in Formosa?
A. Drunkenness is very seldom observed in Formosa. No person has yet been brought to court for disorder in the street or other public place on account of drunkenness. It is a vice which is very limited among the Chinese.
Q. It is said to be a custom among the mothers in India to give opium to their infants to keep them quiet while they are working. Does a similar custom obtain among the Chinese in Formosa?
A. Children born to mothers who are habitual users of opium are generally in poor physical condition—weak, pale, and nervous. Naturally, these children are much more fretful than ordinary babies and cry a great deal, and the mothers to quiet them give them opium, generally by blowing the opium smoke into the face of the child, which then inhales it and gradually yields to its effects by becoming dull and sleepy, whereupon it ceases crying as long as it remains under the influence of the opium. Chinese mothers are known to give opium to their children, not only causing them to inhale the smoke, but, when sick, administering the solid opium through the mouth and allowing the child to chew and swallow it. How extensive the practice of administering opium to infants is we do not know, but it is certain that a great many mothers in Formosa are guilty of so doing.
Q. Is anything being done officially to stop the practice?
A. It is very difficult to interfere with this practice, as it is carried on secretly in private houses and can seldom be detected. However, the police are on a constant lookout, and whenever visiting a private house take special care to detect the practice. We also try to discourage the practice by distributing literature among the smokers, describing the poisonous effects of opium, especially for children.
Q. Is it permitted to transship opium in Japanese ports, and can it be carried through the country under bond?
A. Not only is the importation of opium into Japan strictly prohibited, but the drug cannot be transshiped in Japanese ports, nor can it be sent through the country under bond.
Q Was it ever proposed that the law of prohibition against opium in Japan be extended to Formosa?
A. In framing the present law concerning opium in Formosa, we had two objects in view: (i) to stop the smuggling of opium, and (2) gradually to reduce the number of smokers. If we should have tried to prohibit the smoking of the drug at once, it would have resulted in a sudden and great increase in the smuggling of the drug. The use of opium by the Chinese in Formosa extends back more than a hundred years, and we very well know that to eradicate at once a custom of such long standing is impossible. We were aware that should we attempt to carry into effect any such measure the people would violate the law and obtain opium under any circumstances. Further, should we try to enforce absolute prohibition, the number of prisoners would be greatly increased, even though only a part of those guilty of violating the law were convicted, and would, of course, necessitate extensive additions to our prison quarters. We should also have to increase our force of customs officials and police; all of which would involve a greater expense than the government could satisfactorily meet. We therefore considered the law at present in force in Formosa better adapted to its needs than a law of absolute prohibition similar to that enforced in Japan.
Q. Is any modification contemplated in the law regarding the use of opium among the Chinese in Japan?
A. No modification will be made in the Japanese law. The smoking of opium will be absolutely prohibited, among the Chinese as well as among the Japanese.
Q. In what proportion is opium used by smoking and in what proportion by eating in Formosa?
A. In Formosa eating is very seldom practiced among the poor people; smoking is the common method of using it.
Q. What departments and bureaus are connected with the opium monopoly in Formosa?
A. The three bureaus connected with the opium business are the following:
(i) The Sanitary Bureau, whose duty it is to see that the law concerning opium is enforced and to supervise the work of the various local offices throughout the island.
The duties of the local offices are to detect the private manufacturing of opium, to license opium agents and dealers in instruments used in opium smoking, and to prevent smuggling. Every local office has on its force a police inspector or assistant police inspector and a constable, whose duty it is to see that the law is locally enforced.
(2) The Monopoly Bureau (of Opium), which consists of two divisions:
a.—The Chemical Laboratory, where the opium is tested. This is where the tests which determine the classification of the government opium into three grades are made. Opium suspected of having been smuggled or mixed is also tested to determine whether it differs from the government standard.
b.—The Opium Factory, where the three grades of government opium are manufactured.
(3) The Customs House, whose duty it is to prevent and detect the smuggling of opium.
Q. In what ways is opium smuggled into Formosa, and what means are used by the government to detect it?
A. Opium is smuggled into Formosa with cargoes of other goods imported from China, either by steamer or in junks, the most usual methods of concealing its presence being the following:
(i) The opium is discharged outside the harbor under secret contract with the smuggler in port.
(2) The opium is placed in empty tins (oil cans, etc.), to which long cords are tied and which are then sunk beneath the surface of the water and pulled to shore by sampans.
(3) When cargoes of lumber are imported, it is a common practice to bore holes into the wood, fill them with opium, and then close them in such a manner that the cut is invisible.
(4) Coolies employed in ships' crews smuggle a great deal of opium, concealing it in various parts of their clothing. The government remunerates a person who detects and reports a case of smuggling by paying him half of the value of the opium so discovered.
Q. Are the police allowed to make arrests or search a house for violations of the opium law without a warrant?
A. If a police officer discovers a non-licensed person in the act of smoking opium he may arrest him without warrant, but the search of a house cannot be made without warrant.
Q. Would it not be wise in large cities to confine the smoking of opium to public shops?

A. A man prefers to smoke in his own home, where not only he but his wife and often his children also smoke; this is the way in which they pass the evenings. If smoking were confined to public shops, he would be obliged to take his wife and children to places where they would come in contact with the lowest and the most vicious element in town. The public smoking shops are patronized only by the coolies who have no families and who belong almost invariably to the lowest class. These coolies formerly smoked their opium in the streets and other public places, and it was to check this practice that the government has established public smoking shops, which now number about one hundred and twenty. Even if opium smoking were legally restricted to public shops, it would still be carried on in private, since it would be difficult or impossible in many cases to detect or prevent it.

INTERVIEW X.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. YEAP SONG KEE, TAMSUI, FORMOSA.
TAMSUI, FORMOSA, October 19, 1903.
Q. Were you here before the Japanese occupation?
A. Yes.
Q. Was any attempt made to check opium smoking then?
A. None.
Q. Do you think that the present law is effective?
A. There is no difference in the amount of smoking, so far as I can see. Q. You mean to say that there is just as much now as before the Japanese occupation?
A. Yes.
Q. Do the younger men smoke?
A. Yes.
Q. How do they get opium?
A. They misrepresent their ages. They may be fifteen and say they are twenty. They put it in holes made in chairs, in bundles, in holes made in shoes, in four-pound biscuit tins, etc., and sometimes elude the vigilance of the authorities.
Q. Do the women smoke opium much?
A. Yes. They may secure licenses. The rich women smoke much. Q. Why should they smuggle?
A. They say the opium is not so pure when the government prepares it. Q. What do you know about the attempt in the schools to teach the children the evils of opium smoking?
A. In Chinese times this was done. Every wise man teaches his children that the use of opium is bad.
Q. Supposing that the government should prohibit the use of opium, what would be the effect?
A. It would be used more than now. The smoker will get opium, no matter what the law is.
Q. Do you use opium?
A. No.

INTERVIEW X.—a.
INTERROGATORIES ADDRESSED IN WRITING TO EARNEST A. CRIPPITHS, ESQ., H. B. M.'S CONSUL AT ANPING, FORMOSA.
ANPING, FORMOSA, October 23, 1903.
Q. During the Chinese regime, was there any attempt to regulate the opium traffic on the part of the government?
A. Within recent years—that is to say, from the opening of the ports of Taiwanfu (Anping) and Takow in the early sixties until the end of the Chinese regime in 1895—no attempt would appear to have been made on the part of the government to regulate the opium traffic in this district.
Q. Was anything done officially to aid victims to break away from morphomania ?
A. Nothing, I am informed, was done officially to aid persons to break away from morphomania.

Q. At the inception of the existing law, what, in your opinion, was the popular feeling among the natives?
A. The promulgation of the existing law was naturally not welcomed by the opium smokers, who found themselves subject not only to rigid police supervision but also to the payment of a comparatively heavy fee for a license. As regards the non-smoking natives, I do not think there was any particular feeling of opposition toward the opium law as a means of regulating the opium traffic; but the arbitrary way in which at first, I am told, the opium police used the power intrusted to them by the law to enter and search houses informally at all times gave cause for bitter feeling, especially among the women.
Q. Has there been any change in the popular opinion regarding the merits of the law during the past five years, and if so, upon what grounds?
A. More consideration is now shown for the susceptibilities of the natives, and, so far as I can learn, no feeling of resentment or opposition prevails.
Q. Are the provisions of the law rigidly carried out in your section of the country?
A. The provisions of the law, I am informed, are strictly, though with consideration for the natives, carried out in this section of the country.
Q. What effect has the educational movement, which I understand is in operation, to discourage the opium habit among the younger generation?
A. I cannot learn that the "educational movement" has as yet touched upon the opium question. The younger generation, of course, are not granted licenses and are therefore not permitted to indulge in the opium habit.
Q. Do you think the law tends to stimulate the victims of the vice to make an effort toward release? Have more cases of this kind come under your observation since the promulgation of this law than prior to it?
A. I have heard of cases where men have expressed a desire not to renew their licenses, but this has been for economical reasons, the holders finding the license fees a burden which, with the increased cost of living in this district during the past two or three years, they can ill afford to bear.
Q. To what extent, in your experience, is there illegal use of opium?
A. I do not think that there is now much illegal use of opium, though I have heard of women making use of their husbands' smoking utensils, they themselves not being licensed to smoke.
Q. What emendations in the present law or what substitute law, if any, would you suggest as being more effective than the ordinances and regulations now in force?
A. I have no suggestions to make in this connection.
Q. Have you observed any instances of Japanese acquiring the opium vice in your district, and if so, how many authenticated cases?
A. I have observed no instances of Japanese acquiring the opium vice in this district.

INTERVIEW XI.
INTERROGATORIES ADDRESSED IN WRITING TO REVEREND THOS. BARCLAY, ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN MISSION, TAINAN, FORMOSA.
TAINAN, FORMOSA, November 14, 1903.
Q. During the Chinese regime, was there any attempt to regulate the opium-traffic in Formosa on the part of the government?
A. During the Chinese regime there was absolutely no attempt to regulate the opium traffic; the traffic in it was as free as in any other article of merchandise—that is, internally ; there were customs house regulations.
Q. Was anything done officially to aid the victims to break away from morphomania ?
A. No official cognizance of morphomania was taken. This vice had not attained any great prominence in the island.
Q. At the inception of the existing law, what, in your opinion, was the popular feeling among the natives?
A. Among the opium smokers, of course, the law was unpopular. Among others it was recognized as the right thing to do—by some heartily welcomed. Considering the state of feeling among the people at the time, one could not look for enthusiastic approbation; the mere fact that it was proposed by the Japanese was enough to set people against it. I believe, however, that they were passively favorable and not opposed to it.
Q. Has there been any change in the popular opinion regarding the merits of the law during the past five years, and if so, upon what grounds?
A. Any change of feeling arises from the fact that the provisions of the law have not been carried out. The original plan was that no one should get a permit to smoke opium, except those whose health would suffer or whose lives would be endangered by giving it up; but no such restrictions seem to have been made, any one being able to get a permit who applied for it and was willing to pay. So much was this the case that the Chinese came to believe that the government had no real desire to stop the practice, but looked upon it as a regular source of revenue. This belief was also general among the members of the foreign community; even Japanese have expressed themselves to me to the same effect. The authorities have, however, always denied it. Undoubtedly this has caused much offense to the Chinese, who have freely criticised the government for its failure to act as it had originally proposed doing. They blame it for making high moral professions, while all the time its object is to get the trade into its own hands, so that it might raise the price and make a good profit out of this harmful practice. I have heard far more said against failure to carry out the law 'than I have heard said against the law itself.
Q. Are the provisions of the law rigidly carried out in your section of the country?
A. I am informed that for about three years, I believe, no new permits have been issued, and that this is telling rapidly upon the number of smokers. My own inquiries among the people corroborate this. But doubtless you will have fuller statistics than I can give you. The police supervision is, I believe, very strict. The Chinese are quite afraid to be found in the company of one smoking opium. Any one, they say, found within five feet of a person smoking opium is liable to arrest, if not himself the possessor of a permit, the idea being that he is awaiting his turn. So much is this the case, that I am told that numbers of persons who do not smoke themselves but have occasion to associate with those who do, take out permits simply as a matter of precaution. I was horrified lately to hear that an elder of our church was the holder of a permit to smoke opium; but I was assured that there was no ground for suspicion. There is, I believe, practically no smuggling.
Q. What effect has the educational movement, which I understand is in operation, to discourage the opium habit among the younger generation?
A. The educational movement has not yet affected the life of the island to any practical extent, except among a few high-school or medical students, etc. It would not have occurred to me to think of it as a factor in the opium question. The rising generation is taking more to cigarettes and drink.
Q. Do you think that the law tends to stimulate the victims of the vice to make an effort toward release?
A. The law tends to stimulate giving up the practice in that it is now felt to be more troublesome; the regulations must be observed. There is uncertainty as to what may be the next regulation. There is a rumor among the people that all opium smokers are to be obliged to wear a red uniform. The practice is less fashionable now ; it is not safe to offer the pipe to a visitor until it is known that he has a permit. The drug also is said to be more expensive and less pleasant to smoke. The government is said to be doctoring the drug with a view to weaning the smokers from its use.
Q. Have more cases of this kind come under your observation since the promulgation of the law than prior to it?
A. On this matter I have no personal experience. Cases of this description do not come directly under my observation, except in the case of those who become worshippers; but I am informed that of late such cases are more frequent.
Q. To what extent, in your experience, is there illegal use of opium?
A. On this matter I have no personal experience; but I am informed that illegal smoking takes place to a much greater extent than I would have supposed from the strictness of police inspection. By illegal use I understand the purchasing of opium by one who has not himself a permit in another person's name, the use of another person's pipe, etc. One estimate given me was as high as so per cent of the whole amount used ; but I imagine this is much too high. Of late I have heard of fewer cases of suicide caused by the use of opium. From the completeness of the Japanese registration system and the hold this gives them over the people, I imagine this illegal purchase might be stopped, if the government really wished to reduce the amount consumed.
Q. What emendations in the law, or what substitute law, if any, would you suggest as being more effective than the ordinances and regulations now in force?
A. As a missionary I am, of course, opposed altogether to the use of the drug, except as a medicine. From a government point of view, even, it might have been a simpler and, it might be argued, a more merciful, plan to have abolished this practice entirely from the first. It would have caused some suffering, perhaps some deaths (though this may be questioned, and provision might have been made for such cases), but less suffering than has followed its continued use. It might have driven away some of the wealthier Chinese, whom the government was anxious to retain in Formosa. More drastic measures lacking, however, the plan proposed, if it had been faithfully carried out, would have been a great boon to the people. If it is the case that no new licenses are being issued, in a few years a marked improvement should be visible. It ought to be made quite clear to the people that the government is earnest in wishing to put a stop to the matter. This is not generally believed. Persons professing to be cured and wishing to return their permits should be taken at their word and the permit confiscated. They might be kept under supervision to make sure that they have really given up the practice. Our Mission Hospital has no difficulty in getting tenants for the rooms set apart for this purpose. At present there seems to be great difficulty in getting rid of permits. Why there should be this reluctance on the part of the officials I do not know—probably from want of faith in the reality of the cure. The saying among the people used to be that it was much easier to get a new permit than to get rid of an old one. The retention of the permit, of course, makes return to the practice much easier, when the temptation comes—and it always does. Criminals in prison are cured by drastic measures, with, I understand, uniformly good results. Such persons should have their permits taken from them, so that they might not resume the practice.
Some years ago, as you are aware, a movement for the cure of the habit spread like wildfire through the island. There were objectionable features about the movement which justified the authorities in interfering; but they might have accepted the cures. Had the permits of all who professed to be cured been taken from them, there would be far fewer smokers in the island today. I have been told that today native medical practitioners are not allowed to treat patients for the cure of the opium habit. The patient must apply for the cure of some other disease; then the doctor tells him that during the time he is in his hands he must abstain from the use of opium. By the time he leaves his hands he is cured. There may be no truth in the statement, but it shows how little confidence the people have in the desire of the government to reduce the number of smokers. Had the government been enthusiastically in earnest in seeking the extinction of the vice, and rigidly carried out its proposals, not only refusing licenses to learners, but also discriminating among the smokers, determining what part of them really required the drug, in a very few years from now the question would have been practically settled.
Q. Have you observed any instances of Japanese acquiring the opium vice in your district, and if so, how many authenticated cases?
A. I have never heard of any Japanese acquiring the habit, and think probably there are no such cases.
As regards the subject in general, I should say that one very interesting point is that the government, whether in Formosa or in the Philippines, should be clear in its own mind that this is a hurtful and obnoxious practice, which it is anxious to bring to a stop and from which it will seek to draw no revenue. In this matter it will have the sympathy of the people and the approbation of all right-thinking ones among them. It can in no sense be regarded as a hardship that such regulations should be made. In England and Japan, and I suppose America also, opium is treated by law as a poison, which is to be bought and sold under the same regulations as other poisons. In the ordinary course of events, in the case of new possessions this law would go into force along with the whole body of laws, and it could not be felt by any one as a grievance that this should be so. Whether the fact that the practice is found already existing should or should not affect the question may be fairly considered. In any case, it should be made plain that any legislation abolishing the traffic is in accord with the natural course of events and is not to be considered special legislation directed against the smokers. On the contrary, the exceptional legislation is the permissive legislation, if any such is passed, authorizing the temporary continuance of the practice. Any such regulations are acts of grace on the part of the government which the people have no right to demand and which the government has the right strictly to limit. It should be made plain that it is not to be expected that any such special legislation is to be permitted to any great extent or for any length of time, but that at an early date the law of the land will come into full operation.
',Emit ATTACHED To THE PRECEDING INTERROGATORIES.
TAINAN, FORMOSA, November 14, 1903.
DEAR DR. BRENT :
I do not know how far what I have written may be of service to you. In order that I might not simply send you my own impressions, I submitted your questions to the students of our Theological College, drawn from all parts of the island and able to speak frankly and freely without regard to what they might think I wished to hear. What I have written represents my own judgment after hearing their statements. You may rely on the information so far as it goes. I have put down a good deal of what the people are saying, not as being necessarily right, but at least as showing what they think. I understand, of course, that your Committee is in possession of all the official statistics, etc., which the government has compiled, and that what you wish from me is rather what the people say, think, and do. From my own experience, I do not think the Chinese will resent pretty firm dealing in this matte, so long as it is honestly meant for their good. They recognize the evil that flows from the use of opium, though they have not strength enough to give it up. But they do resent anything like double dealing, professing to seek their good while really wanting their money. I am glad that the government here has taken a firm stand. We shall watch for the results with much interest. I am, very truly,
THOMAS BARCLAY.

 

CHINA.

INTERVIEW XII.
INTERVIEW WITH THE RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP GRAVES, WHO HAS BEEN A RESIDENT or CHINA FOR THE PAST TWENTY YEARS.
SHANGHAI, November 4, 1903.
The opinion of Bishop Graves, after several years of observation among the poor class of people, is to the effect that the moderate use of opium is pernicious, for generally speaking a man who begins by using the drug moderately, increases the dose from time to time, until he becomes a slave to the habit. He states that he has personally known many natives who, from being moderate users of opium, have become immoderate ones and have suffered all the evils consequent upon such a course. He also stated that sometimes men of strong will who find that they are becoming enslaved by the habit attempt to break if off. but that they rarely if ever succeed in so doing. He was of the opinion that the use of opium in the provinces of the interior of China is a great and unmistakable curse to the inhabitants.
The Bishop was under the impression that mercantile and other firms are averse to employing moderate users of opium in positions of trust, or where money is handled. He stated also that the moderate user of opium becomes dependent upon it, even if he remains moderate in its use, and that while he may perform his work in a satisfactory manner as long as he is able to obtain the drug, if by any accident he should be deprived of it, he would become practically useless.
He mentioned several instances in which excessive users of opium sold their children or wives in order to procure the drug. It was also stated that the men and officers of the Chinese army and navy as a rule use opium, and the supposition was advanced that the demoralization said to exist in these services is due to its use.

INTERVIEW XIII.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. G. E. TUCKER, SECRETARY OP THE ASIATIC DEPARTMENT or THE NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.
SHANGHAI, November 5, 1903.
Mr. Tucker placed such information as was in his possession at the disposal of the Committee. He stated that but few users of opium apply for insurance, and an examination of his records demonstrated the accuracy of his statement. A considerable number of Chinese, however, have been insured by the company, and among them some who stated that they used opium, but in no case more than 2 .mace (5-5 ounce) per diem. Mr. Tucker said that if emacia- tion or any other sign of injury to the applicant resulting from the use of opium, such as pallor, anaemia, etc., is apparent, the application cannot be unconditionally accepted.

INTERVIEW XIV.
INTERVIEW WITH DR. N. MACLEOD, EXAMINING PHYSICIAN OP THE SHANGHAI AGENCY or THE NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.
SHANGHAI, November 5, 1903.
Dr. Macleod stated that he advises companies with which he is connected to scrutinize with care the applications of all persons (Chinese) who use opium. He believes that Chinese can use opium moderately for years, indeed for a lifetime, with no ill results, but that many are injured by it. He has prepared a number of questions to be asked by the agents of the insurance company in the case of Chinese applicants. (A copy of these questions is hereto attached.) He laid stress on the difficulty of determining what is a moderate use of opium and what an immoderate one. Individuals differ in their constitutions and in their susceptibility to the effects of the drug. Dr. Macleod did not believe that the fact of a man's using opium militates against his opportunity of getting work, unless he gives evidence of using it to excess, in which case his chances are diminished.

NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY,
SHANGHAI BRANCH OFFICE.
Every Chinese applicant should be asked if he now smokes or ever has smoked opium. The following questions will be considered part of the application :
I. What is the daily amount now consumed?
2. If ever exceeded, when, and how much ?
3. If not consumed daily, how often, and how much?
4. When was the habit commenced, and with what amount?
5. If opium is not now taken, when was the habit stopped?
Applicant.
To the Examining Physician:
Note any evidence of the habit, like delicacy, pallor or anaemia.
M. D.
Note: Two mace per diem is the limit placed on the quantity of opium which may be used by an applicant without disqualifying him for obtaining Insurance.
mace equals cir. i-so oz. equals i-io tad.

LETTER.
SHANGHAI, November 6, 1903.
DEAR MAJOR CARTER:
The following is the gist of what I had to say to the New York Life Insurance Home Office re opium smoking:
"In the absence of anything like reliable statistics and as the effects of the moderate use of opium are at least no more evident than those of the moderate use of alcohol, while the effects of opium abuse are certainly not so obvious as those of alcoholic excess, no more definite statement as to the prevalence of opium smoking in China is possible than that it is apparently less than the use of alcohol among the white races. The statements vouchsafed by the users of the drug as to the quantity vary from a few pipes occasionally to i to 4 mace, which latter figure, confessed to, raises suspicion of approaching excess. A 'pipe' may vary from three to eleven grains, the latter representing a mass preferred for smoking and known as a Pipe,' a large one, I should say. Smokers who can afford it have their 'mixtures,' but the quality is of less importance than the quantity. Social pleasure is the usual plea for commencing the habit—seldom pain relief. By excess, health is disturbed and disease resistance and longevity lessened; short of excess, the question of effect is, I believe, on all fours with that of alcohol in moderate use, it may or may not shorten life. The effects of excess are written large on its subject in the form of pallor, loss of weight, expression, the condition of the gums and the breath odor."
I am sorry I cannot give you anything more definite on the subject. I am,
Yours sincerely,
N. MACLEOD,
Examining Physician of Shanghai Office of N. Y. Life Insurance Co.

INTERVIEW XV.
INTERVIEW WITH DR. BOONE, A RESIDENT Or SHANGHAI FOR FORTY YEARS, DURING WHICH TIME HE HAS BEEN, AND STILL IS, IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.
SHANGHAI, November 5, Icro3.
Dr. Boone stated that he believes his opportunities for studying the effects of opium upon the Chinese have been rather good, as most of his practice has been confined to these people. Among his clients have been many men of rank and position.
In his opinion the use of opium is increasing, and is certainly more common than it was forty years ago. He regards it as very difficult to draw a line between the moderate and the immoderate use of opium, within the physiologic limits even, as some persons are more easily affected than others. He believes that a large percentage (probably sixty-six per cent) of those who use opium moderately for a while, increase the dose gradually until they become excessive users. This is the natural tendency and only a strong will is able to resist the increased use or to diminish the quantity of the dose when that quantity has been recognized by the user as being injurious.
Many, if not most, of the Chinese officials use opium, and while its use is generally on the increase, this is particularly true so far as the women are concerned. Children also—boys from ten to twelve years of age—smoke opium, generally with deleterious results.
Dr. Boone could see no difference in the effect of the drug upon Europeans and Chinese. Its moral effect on the Chinese is often to make him a criminal. Opium smokers are prone to lying and to acts of malicious mischief, such as incendiarism, etc. The police courts of Shanghai show that the use of opium and crime in Shanghai are intimately associated. Dr. Boone stated that on the death of the father of a family, when he is a user of opium, the friends of the family are wont to urge the widow or the surviving head of the family to destroy the pipes and other apparatus used in opium smoking, in order to prevent the sons from following in the footsteps of the father.
Dr. Boone mentioned a number of cases which had come under his observation of the breakdown of users of opium under mental strain. He stated that while foreigners take chances in employing natives, the Chinese are unwilling to employ in positions of trust any one using opium, particularly do they decline to employ such persons in positions involving the handling of money.
The Doctor regards opium as having its physical effect chiefly on the nerves; contrasting it with alcohol, the effects of which are confined mainly to the kidneys, the liver, the stomach and the arteries. There is, of course, alcoholic neuritis. There appears to be no post-mortem evidence of the use of opium which is pathognomonic.

He does not think that the use of opium has any marked influence upon the power of resistance in cases of illness or injury, or in surgical operations. If a person is in the habit of using opium, it is unwise to compel him to discontinue its use on entering the hospital as a patient, since a condition resembling delirium tremens might be superinduced, exactly parallel with such circumstances in alcoholic cases.
The Doctor was sure that the area devoted to the cultivation of opium in China is steadily increasing, a condition which he believes to be due to the action of the land owners and high officials, as larger and quicker money returns can be derived from the cultivation of the poppy than from that of any other crop. The statement has been made that the Chinese government desires to produce opium sufficient to drive the importer out of the market, and after that has been accomplished, to prohibit the cultivation of the poppy and the use of opium. Dr. Boone regards the statement misleading and meant only to serve as an excuse for the increasing of the area planted with the poppy—"to save the face" of the government.
The opinions of Dr. Boone and of an eminent British medical man at Shanghai were requested for submittal to the Royal Opium Commission. Both opinions are said to have been of about the same character as that above set forth. (The Committee, however, has not been able to find these opinions in the proceedings of the Royal Opium Commission.)
Dr. Boone said that there is a demand for "opium cures" in many parts of China, but that as most of the so-called cures contain opium or morphia in some form, they do more harm than good, since the remedy is usually in tablet or pilule form and can be carried about with no difficulty and used by the habitue as many times a day as he may desire.

INTERVIEW XVI.
INTERVIEW WITH MESSRS. Yu, YENG, CHAO, LI AND SU, ALL LEADING CHINESE MERCHANTS or SHANGHAI AND HOLDING TAOTAI RANK.
SHANGHAI, November 7, 1903.
Chairman: (Explains the purpose for which the Commmittee has come to Shanghai.)
Mr. Chao: The wealthy class in China, as a rule, does not smoke opium; the habit is largely confined to the poor, upon whom most of the consequent hardship and injury fall. We would welcome any measure looking to the prohibition of the use of opium.
Mr. Yu: But it would be very difficult to stop the use of opium, as a great many people have already become so accustomed to it that to deprive them of their supply would entail an immense amount of suffering.
I would suggest that opium smokers should be licensed, and that only those should be granted licenses who are already addicted to the habit. Opium should be sold only by the government. In that way the government could largely control the matter.
Mr. Li: I would also suggest that the amount of opium an individual be allowed to smoke should be regulated by his needs.
Q. I should infer that all these gentlemen are dissatisfied with the present status of the opium problem in China?
Unanimous assent.
Mr. Yu: A great many begin the use of opium on account of illness or weakness and soon become slaves to the habit.
Q. Are the people satisfied with the present regulations regarding opium, or would they like some change?
Mr. Chao: The people would change the conditions if they could, but it is not an easy matter.
Q. Suppose that a province, we'll say, for instance, this province of Kuangsi, should, through its government, try to enforce prohibition, would there be any possibility of carrying it out? Would a prohibitive law be possible in any province?
Mr. Chao: It is only through the central government that any such law could be enacted.

Mr. Yeng: Opium is not the very worst thing in China. There is also gambling, which is the worst of all evils; but the addition of opium to this vice makes conditions very deplorable.
Mr. Li: Has the government of the Philippine Islands statistics of the number of Chinese who smoke opium and of the amount they smoke, so that regulations could be made to allow each smoker only the amount that he is actually smoking now ? Regulations should be made forbidding a smoker to increase the amount of the dose?
Chairman: We could determine the number of persons that use opium, but we should have to take their statements for the amounts they use.
Mr. Chao: Do you have opium-dens in the Philippine Islands, as we do in China?
Chairman: At present, yes.
Mr. Chao: Could opium not be made a government monopoly?
Chairman: The object of this committee is to determine whether such a course is advisable.
Mr. Chao: I am entirely in favor of a government monopoly; it is the only way in which the habit can be controlled. Get the smokers to state the amounts they are using at the time they obtain their licenses, and then permit them to buy only that amount, gradually reducing the dose until they become free from the habit. Only with a government monopoly could such a measure be enforced.
Q. Are the other gentlemen of the same opinion?
Unanimous assent.
Mr. Li: A heavy penalty should be placed upon those who are licensed to sell opium, for violating the regulations.
Q. Is there any organization in China looking to the improvement of the --, present opium regulations?
Mr. Su: There is nothing of the kind at present, excepting church organizations, known as anti-opium clubs or societies. We intend to effect an organiza;" tion which shall be outside the church, to see if we can do anything to limit I or stop the use of opium in China.
Q. Are any of the gentlemen present members of an anti-opium society?
A. None. (None of those present, it should be stated, uses opium.)
Mr. Li: The entire matter lies in the hands of the central government. When you speak to a high official about opium smoking, he says you must not smoke; but a great many prominent persons smoke opium and think lightly of it, a condition of affairs which makes the problem all the more difficult. In the central government rests the power, and the provinces can do only what it says in the matter.
Q. We understand that there is an old imperial edict forbidding the importation of opium. The clause in our treaty referring to opium is based on the assumption that there is such an edict.
Mr. Chao: Under Emperor Taokwang a heavy penalty was placed on the use of opium. That was about sixty-six years ago. It was then held to be a great crime.
Q. Has that law been revoked?
Mr. Chao: No, but the law is not carried out.
Q. Our government does not allow American merchants to import opium into China on account of this law, which we suppose is still on the statute books.
Mr. Li: I believe that three months or so notice should be given to all merchants in the Philippine Islands who are at present dealing in opium, after' which they should be made to sell whatever they have on hand to the government at a stated price.
Q. In your opinion, should a young person under twenty years of age be granted a license, that is, if he already smokes? .
Mr. Chao: In case such a person has smoked only for a number of months, so that the habit could easily be stopped, no license should be granted to him; but if he has used opium for two or more years, the suffering in his case would be as great as in that of an older person, should he attempt to break off the habit, so that it would be unjust to refuse him the license.
Mr. Li: A great deal could be accomplished by making a moral distinction between a smoker and a non-smoker, by publicly considering the one as belong ing to a high class of society and the other to a low class. This would be a great inducement to many to stop the use of opium.
Q. Do you think that instruction in the public schools regarding the evils of opium would influence the people in breaking off the habit?
Unanimous assent.
Q. In employing their clerks and laborers,. do Chinese firms and businessmen investigate to find out whether the applicants use opium or not?
Mr. Chao: Yes.
Mr. Li: As a rule we prefer those who do not smoke opium, but there are many instances in which the only person we can secure who knows the ins and outs of the business is an opium-smoker, and we have to employ him.
Q. Is it possible for a man to continue smoking all through life with moderation, in such a way that it does not affect him in body or mind?
Mr. Chao: No, it makes a great deal of difference; the use of opium is always dangerous. No man can smoke opium for a long time without harm to himself.
Mr. Su: One of the signs that distinguishes an opium smoker is the dilly-dallying and slowness with which he performs his work. He is lax and careless in all his habits.
Q. Would you compare the moderate use of opium with the moderate use of cigars or the moderate use of alcoholic drinks?
A. All concurred in the opinion that the use of opium is much worse.
Mr. Yu: An opium smoker must have his daily dose; if he cannot buy it, he steals it.
Q. Is that true also in the case of a man who is a moderate user of opium? Mr. Yu: There is no difference.
Mr. Li: There is, however, a difference between the well-to-do and the poor people in the extent to which the use of opium injures them. The well-to-do are better fed and clothed and as a result have more resistance, enabling them to smoke opium with less injury and suffering.
Q. How do you regard the increasing growth of the poppy in China? Do you think this is unfortunate or otherwise?
Mr. Li: We do not regard it as good; but it cannot be helped. The farmers find the cultivation of opium much more profitable than that of cereals, and even if the government should forbid it, they would still continue to cultivate the Poppy.
Mr. Yeng: In the province of Shansi especially.
Mr. Li: You have a very good religion, and it would be a very good thing if no opium-smoker were allowed to become a member of a church.
Mr. Chao: Bishop Graves (of Shanghai) told us that the admission of moderate opium-smokers to membership in the church was tried by one of his missionaries, but was so disastrous that it had to be given up.
Mr. Su: Any plan for the suppression of opium which is to accomplish anything must come from above, must come from the central government, and not from below.
Mr. Yu: The importation of morphia which comes into the country in the little cigarettes called "Pinhead Cigarettes" should be carefully looked into. A laborer who makes ten cents a day at first spends two cash daily for Pinhead cigarettes, but as he continues their use, he gradually increases the number he daily smokes, until all of his earnings are required to satisfy his craving for them, finally leading to his ruin.
Mr. Yeng: It is only the low class of people that buy these cigarettes; the better class do not smoke them. Those who begin to use them seem to become so addicted to the habit that it is almost as difficult for them to break it off as in the case of opium. Their sale has increased until it amounts to more than 3,000,000 annually.
Q. Where are they made?
Mr. Li: They are made in America.
Chairman: They are sold also in the Philippines. We shall have them analyzed.
Mr. Chao: All the so-called anti-opium medicines which are being sold throughout China contain morphia in some form. They are sold very extensively.
Q. Where are these remedies made?
Mr. Chao: They are prepared here. The morphia is imported in large quantities and the remedies put up here. If the present treaty is enforced, the importation of morphia will be prohibited.
Q. In your judgment, would it be wiser for the government to control the preparation of opium and to have direct administration of all that pertains to it, or would you recommend farming out the work to such reliable men as might be chosen?
Mr. Chao: It is better to keep it entirely in the hands of the government. Mr. Li: I would suggest that the government of the Philippine Islands get
hold of their leading Chinese and in consultation with them make rules that
will be best for the regulation of the matter.
Chairman: The government has already consulted with the leading Chinese of the islands. Two ideas were advanced by them, one, total prohibition, and the other, government monopoly.
Mr. Ls: The Chinese should be consulted for several reasons, among others, because they understand the inner workings of the Chinese mind and can make suggestions that might be helpful to the government in the control of the traffic.
Chairman: We thank you very much, gentlemen, for your kindness. Mr. Li: We shall prepare some suggestions which we will submit to you. Chairman: We shall be very glad to receive them.
(Translation.)
STATEMENT BY MESSRS. Yu, YENG, CHAO, LI, AND SU.
From what we have seen and heard, we believe that the effect of the continuous use of opium is most dangerous and often deadly, owing to the fact that once acquired the habit is very difficult to get rid of. The Chinese are especially its victims. They acquire the habit either by using the drug in the treatment of disease or by smoking for pleasure. When first used no immediate harmful results can be noticed; but as time goes on, the mental and moral attributes are materially affected. Therefore, steps should at once be taken to prohibit its being widely used.
The following seven regulations may be of use if carried out:
(i) The government should control the importation of opium and its alkaloids (morphia and others) and appoint agents to sell it. No persons should be allowed to sell except the government agents. Penalties should be imposed upon persons selling this drug without being duly authorized.
(2) The importation of opium should be limited to a period of twenty (20) years only ; and after that time has expired, no more should be imported. The quantity imported should be reduced every year. Report should be made of the number of consumers and the amount consumed each month. Every consumer should, during the first six months, reduce his accustomed dose one-fourth, following this with a similar reduction during the following six months. Thus in one year the amount of opium used will be only one-half of the former quantity.
(3) Every opium consumer should be required to apply every six months for a permit, with photograph attached, granting him permission to use the drug during that period. After twenty years no more permits should be issued. The quantity to be used should be stated on the permit, and when the permits are renewed the quantities should be reduced with each renewal until gradually the whole amount is cut off. Badges should be worn on exposed parts of the person by every opium consumer, in order that he may feel his shame, thus hurrying his desire to stop the use of the drug. People who stop the use of the drug within a year should be rewarded and their permits canceled. When an opium consumer dies, his relatives should at once notify the authorities so that his permit may be canceled. Penalties should be imposed upon persons keeping such permits illegally.
(4) The permit of every opium-smoker should be properly registered ; and if after one (i) year any person is found to be using opium without such properly registered permit, a penalty of one year's imprisonment at hard labor should be imposed for the first offense, five years for the second offense, ten years for the third offense and life imprisonment for the fourth offense.
(5) No registered opium consumer should be allowed to sell his opium to others, whether they be registered opium-smokers or not. The penalties for the violation of this regulation should be the same those for the use of opium without registration.
(6) No person should be allowed to keep opium on his premises (unless authorized by law as above stated) ; and if caught so doing, he should be punished the same as for being found with arms and ammunition in his possession without license. Before the passage of this law all persons having opium in their . possession should be obliged to sell it to the government at a price ten per cent higher than the government price. The government should have three different prices for the sale of opium:
(a) To the rich, double the cost-price.
(b) To the middle-class, add ten per cent to the cost-price.
(c) To the poor, deduct ten per cent from the cost-price.
(7) Although anti-opium pills can be secured from every dispensary in China, they are of no use in stopping the habit, as their principal ingredient is morphia. It would be beneficial to the government and to the opium consumer, if an anti-opium formula could be gotten up without the use of morphia or other of the opium alkaloids as the principal ingredient.

INTERVIEW XVII.
INTERVIEW WITH REVEREND TIMOTHY RICHARDS, WHO HAS BEEN A RESIDENT OF CHINA FOR THIRTY-THREE YEARS.
SHANGHAI, November 7, 19o3.
Q. Is the moderate use of opium common in China?
A. A very large number of Chinese use opium moderately, as moderately as we use tea or coffee. I am aware that there are many who would express a different opinion.
Q. Does the moderate use of opium seem to have no effect on the individual?
A. Well, I should not say "no effect," at least no serious effect.
Q. When mercantile or other firms employ Chinese, do they investigate
to find out whether the applicant for employment uses opium or not?
A. I do not believe any inquiries are made in that regard as a rule. Q. Is that true of both Chinese and foreign firms?
A. There are many Chinese who are very strict about it; but these are the exception rather than the rule. Opium is taken as a matter of course, more or less, just as we in England take beer or wine; but that does not justify those who take it in an extreme manner. The great mass of business-men in Shanghai use opium moderately.
Q. What is the effect on the moderate user of opium when he is deprived of it?
A. Well, I should say that he contracts a sort of malaria, and in general is out of sorts and can do nothing very well.
Q. I suppose that this condition finally passes away entirely?
A. Yes, but it takes considerable time, and it is only men of strong will that are able entirely to break off the habit. There is a fact that might be mentioned in this connection. There is quite a large number of persons addicted to the use of opium, who were obliged to take it to relieve sickness or suffering. After once commencing its use they became dependent upon it, and if deprived of it would die. There are innumerable instances of this kind. They resort to opium because they are on the point of death, and it is only the opium that sustains them. I have seen a number of cases where opium was abandoned at the cost of life.
Q. Is the proportion of those who begin by using opium moderately and gradually increase the dose until they become excessive users, considerable?
A. Yes. There is a tendency in that way. In this one respect opium differs from alcohol. There is a tendency gradually to increase the use of it, and when once the habit is contracted, it is a thing that the user must get every day. This is not true of beer and wine; I know lots of people who take a glass of beer only when they have company and never think of using it at other times. In the case of opium, however, there is in most cases a daily craving for it, when once the habit is permanently established. It is an exceedingly difficult thing to get rid of.
On the other hand, I learned this very interesting thing from a friend of mine who came from the interior, that in a certain province they smoke opium only on certain days when they attend market, never touching it while at home. That resembles a custom in England. Many people take a glass of beer with their friends on market days, and do not think of touching it until they come to market again.
However, my observation during most of my life in China has been that there is a daily craving for the drug; very much the same as in the case of a man who is in the habit of smoking and must have his cigars daily, only much more so in the case of opium. From what I have heard, it is generally used moderately.
Q. They use it as some people who are addicted to the use of coffee or tea?
A. There is more truth in that comparison, in my judgment, than is generally allowed by those who are in the habit of running down the use of opium. I think that there have been extreme statements on both sides. Some say that the use of opium has no bad effect whatever ; that I believe to be an extreme statement. Others say that a person who uses opium is bound to go to rack and ruin ; that also, in my opinion, is an extreme statement.
Q. Is opium used in all ranks of society?
A. Yes. In many provinces from 8o to go per cent. of the people use it.
M. C. That bears out Dr. Osler's statement. He says that the majority of the inhabitants of the East use it, referring chiefly to China and India.
A. Yes. In the western provinces of China fully 8o to go per cent. use the drug.
Q. Are they any less vigorous than the people in those provinces where it is not used to such an extent?
A. That I cannot answer. I have not observed the conditions sufficiently to make a satisfactory answer. It would be a random answer, which is of no value.
Q. We have heard the statement made that the Chinese government is encouraging the cultivation of the poppy, with a view to supplying all of the opium that is wanted in the country, after which it is the purpose of the government to stop the raising of the poppy and prohibit the use of opium. Is that statement correct?
A. I have heard that statement made. I should not be at all surprised that a few of the most rabid officials would do so with all their hearts ; but I have not the facts.
Q. Do you know anything concerning the action of the government?
A. I could not place my hands upon any documents. The regime of a tariff on opium is a definite proposal by the officials themselves. I believe the statements made by such a man as Dr. McKay to be perfectly correct. The only objection the officials have to the use of opium is that the silver goes out of the country. They do not say so in their proclamations, but there is no question about it. The Chinese government for the last fifty or sixty years has been of anything but a high moral tone. Everything is done from an inferior motive; the welfare of the people is one of the last things considered by the government. The government has deteriorated immensely from what it was at one time; its main motive now is money.
Q. Do you think there is any regulation that might be put into force in China that would decrease the use of opium, or are matters now conducted as well as they could be?
A. If it were the purpose of the government to stop the use of opium, it could very easily be done. Let them place so high a duty upon all opium produced in the country that the cultivation of the poppy would have to be suspended, and then let them raise the price of the drug to such an extent as to make it prohibitive. The thing is done instantly.
Q. But the different provinces have practically independent governments; in other words, the only government there is in China is the provincial one. Is not that true?
A. Certain things the central government reserves to itself.

Q. Do you know of any instance in which a province has taken a definite stand against the use of opium?
A. There are several provinces that have taken fits and starts in the matter, but they have never done it to such an extent that it would convince anybody that they were thoroughly in earnest. A proclamation is issued to the effect that the cultivation of the poppy is absolutely prohibited. Then the governor goes along the road, for he is obliged to visit the whole province at least once during his term of office. When the proclamation is issued, there are many who think that he will make it hard for those who raise the poppy, and when the people learn that he is likely to come along a certain road they are careful to see that not a poppy is in sight. This I personally know to have happened in the province of Shansi. Outside the main route, however, the thing is going along as usual.
Chang Lu has the reputation of being the most vigorous opposer of opium. He insisted that every prefect and every district magistrate should see that the poppy was not grown, and he raised the duty upon opium during his term of office; but it lasted only for twenty months, when another man came into office. This amply demonstrates that the Chinese government, as a government, has no intention of stopping the use of opium.
Q. Is there any Chinese government?
A. If a viceroy does obey the central government, he will find himself high and dry. It is a government to that extent. The appointment of all high officials is in the hands of the central government.
Q. I understand that there is a law on the statute books of the Chinese government forbidding the use or importation of opium. Do you know of such a law?
A. I cannot tell you whether such a law exists or not, but as a matter of fact opium is imported and has been for a long time. If such a law exists, it is a dead letter and is known to be a dead letter.
M. C. The American Government goes on the supposition that this is the law of the empire, and for that reason does not allow its merchants to deal in opium in China. I have not been able to find the text of the law, but it is mentioned in the treaty of 188o as well as in the treaty which has just been negotiated.
It was on acconut of the supposed existence of this law, making the importation of opium contraband, that this clause was put into the treaty.
A. I suppose that you can get hold of the document. The taotai will be able to assist you in securing a copy of it.
M. C. I think it will be well to do so.
Q. Is there any difference in the proportion of Chinese that use opium in the cities and in the outlying districts ?
A. Yes. There are many places where opium is but little used, and quite a number of districts where practically no opium is used. In the province of Shantung there is village after village, with as high as xo,000 inhabitants, where scarcely any one takes opium.
Q. That is south of Chili, is it not?
A. Yes.
Q. Is there any important port there?
A. Yes, Chefoo.
Q. Can you give us any reason for this?
A. No, I cannot give any definite reason for it. But I suppose that there is a sort of hereditary opinion among them in regard to the matter. They pride themselves that they have not used opium. In a village of Soo there may be only four or five families who take opium. There are many such places. It is observed that wherever there is much trade with foreign countries, and especially with the people that come from the West of Asia, the opium habit is prevalent.
Opium is also used as a medium of exchange. Paper money issued in one district can seldom be used in another, and traders can carry opium more easily than silver. Opium can be sold everywhere. Everybody is handling it. It is this kind of a thing that prompts the people to the use of it.
Q. Do you know of any village or community which was free from opium and in which its use has recently been begun?
A. No, I cannot recall any such place.
Q. The reason I ask the question is that the statement is made tnat the members of a community, who have just begun the use of the drug and are not accustomed to it, are in a much worse condition than those of a community where the drug has been used for several years. I have not been able to find upon what this statement is based.
A. I could not give you any light upon that question. Chinese farmers have found that they get much more money from their land by cultivating opium than by cultivating corn or other cereals; but in spite of that they are much worse off than they were before. When everybody was cultivating cereals, the people were able to secure enough of the necessaries of life at very moderate prices. Cereals were heavy and could not be easily transported, so that they were consumed on the spot where they were produced. But since the people have gone in largely for the cultivation of opium, cereals have become scarce, and now they have to buy the necessaries of life with the money which is obtained from the growth of the poppy. The money gained is lost through the increased price they have to pay for cereals. It is a very complex problem.
Q. Do you think that the Chinese people, as a rule, would be inclined to favor any measure looking to the prohibition of the use of opium?
A. A very large number of people, as a matter of sentiment, would hail it gladly, especially the poor, who attribute their poverty to the curse of opium. The hard-headed men, however, who have studied the subject in its bearings, apart from sentiment, would be differently inclined. What the ultimate results of such a measure would be I do not think can be said ; the question has so many pros and cons, and becomes immensely complex the moment you touch it in this way. The sentiment against opium may be classed with that against gambling and vices in general. If such a measure should be proposed, everybody would say, "Yes, this is a good thing," and would speak of it highly at once. Any one that introduced such a measure would become popular all over the land.
Q. Could such a measure be carried out?
A. That I question very much; it would be almost next to impossible. You have tried to stop the use of liquors, but have not succeeded. Such, in my judgment, would be the result in the case of opium.
Q. In the event that the use of opium should be discontinued, would there be any danger of the Chinese resorting to the use of alcohol or some other stimulant in its place?
A. I do not think so, for this reason: Where they do not smoke opium, for instance, they do not use alcoholic liquors. It is an exceedingly rare thing to see a drunken man in China. I have not seen in China, during my thirty-three years' residence here, over a dozen drunken men that could not take care of themselves.
Q. Your experience has been quite broad?
A. I have spent about twenty years in the interior and thirteen on the coast. I have seen all classes of men, both high and low.
Q. Do you think there are more excessive users of opium in the cities than in the inland districts?
A. In the cities a larger number of people take opium than in the country; but as I have already said, in the western provinces its use is almost universal. As to Canton, I do not know, as I have not been down there.

INTERVIEW XVIII.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. W. MARTIN, U. S. CONSUL AT NANKING.
SHANGHAI, November 9, 1903.
Mr. Martin says that men of wealth may use opium for a great many years—a lifetime even—without showing any effects due to it. However, if such moderate users are deprived of their opi•im they are miserable, useless, and incompetent; but after again taking their usual dose they regain their physical and mental vigor. A case he mentioned was that of a high official who could not be seen in the morning until he had taken his opium.

INTERVIEW XIX.
INTERVIEW WITH DR. SLUGGETT, FORMERLY CONNECTED WITH THE BOARD OF HEALTH, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
SHANGHAI, November so, 1903.
Dr. Sluggett, formerly connected with the Board of Health of. Honolulu, stated that he was a member of that board at the time of the passage of the act totally prohibiting the use or importation of opium except for medicinal purposes. The act had not been repealed, as far as he was aware, but, while still on the statute books, was not and practically never had been enforced. Opium, he said, could be obtained after the passage of the act, as it was smuggled in; and the law was sometimes made use of by unscrupulous persons as a means of blackmailing Chinese. Dr. Sluggett regarded the prohibition of opium in about the same light as that of liquor, considering the act above mentioned, as a failure and worse than useless. He was inclined to believe a high tariff or license system as more practicable and efficacious than prohibitive measures.
In the Hawaiian Islands there are, or were, about 5o,00o Chinese who were remarkably quiet, industrious, and law-abiding. Dr. Sluggett stated that most of them used opium moderately and were not visibly affected by it. He also said that if the habitual moderate user of opium was suddenly deprived of it, he suffered much distress and was useless and incapable until he again obtained it.

INTERVIEW XX.
INTERVIEW WITH MRS. FEARON, M. D., WHO HAS HAD TEN YEARS' EXPERIENCE AS A MEDICAL MISSIONARY IN SOOCHOW, AND WAS THE FIRST SECRETARY OP THE ANTI-OPIUM LEAGUE.
SOOCHOW, CHINA, November ro, r9o3.
Dr. Fearon suggests that a census be taken of the, opium users and the amount necessary provided. Absolute prohibition, in her judgment, would entail extreme suffering among the victims of the opium habit. In a large number of cases it would be impossible to make the people break off immediately, without unwarrantably causing distress, and even death.
In the hospital with which she is connected, by a graduated use of morphia victims are aided to break away from the habit. A three-ounce mixture is prepared with a quarter of a grain of morphia for each dose. On every occasion that the patient takes a teaspoonful of the mixture a teaspoonful of pure water is added to it, thus by degrees diluting it, until the morphia contained in the dose given to the patient is reduced to an indefinitely small amount.
Dr. Fearon believes that some such system as the Formosan, as outlined to her by a member of the Committee, ought to be an effective way of dealing with the opium problem.

INTERVIEW XXI.
INTERVIEW WITH REV. J. N. HAYES, WHO HAS RESIDED FOR TWENTY-0NE YEARS IN SOOCHOW, CHINA.
SooCHow, CHINA, November ro, 19o3.
Q. Is the drug used by smoking, swallowing, or as morphia hypodermically ?. A. It is used in all three ways.
Q. Do persons in all ranks of life use it?
A. Yes.
Q. Is it administered to infants in any way?
A. It is sometimes.
Q. Is it believed that a moderate use of opium may not be harmful ?
A. Even a small amount is harmful.
Q. What is the opinion of the better class in regard to the use of opium?
A. Almost universally condemned.
Q. Do firms and business men employ moderate users of opium as freely
as they do abstainers? A. No, they do not.
Q. Does the moderate user of opium perform his work as well as the
abstainer?
A. No.
Q. Does the moderate user of opium have any difficulty in obtaining insurance?
A. I do not know.

Q. Is his premium increased?
A. I do not know.
Q. Is the use of opium on the increase?.
A. Yes, the native drug.
Q. Is the importation of opium on the increase?
A. I do not know.
Q. Is the production of opium on the increase?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know why this is so?
A. To supply the growing demand.
Q. Does the Chinese government disapprove of the use of opium? A. Yes and no.
Q. What measures has it taken to discourage the use of opium? A. It resisted it firmly, but it was forced upon China by England. Q. Have you ever heard it to be the purpose of the Chinese government to
produce opium to such an extent as to drive the importer out of business and
then to prohibit its use?
A. Yes, I have heard that some of the officials had that idea.
Q. Do you consider such a scheme practicable?
A. I fear it would be a long time before it could be done.
Q. If the authorities should decree total prohibition, do you believe it could be carried out?
A. I believe it could.
Q. Which do believe to be the better, total prohibition or the licensing of persons who are habitues to smoke?
A. Prohibition.
Q. What would be your suggestions as to the best method to be used in diminishing or stopping the use of opium?
A. I have not much faith in attempting to stop it gradually.
Q.. Do you believe that persons who are accustomed to a moderate use of opium would die or suffer greatly if deprived of the drug?
A. A few of the very weak might die; they would doubtless all suffer for a few days.
Q. Does the moderate use of opium have any effect on the power of resistance of the user in case of illness or injury?
A. I should say yes; but it must differ in different persons. Anything that weakens one in any degree must make him less able to resist or to recover from sickness.
Q. What is the effect morally, intellectually, and physically on a moderate user of opium, in case he is deprived of his usual dose?
A. Morally, he will be unbalanced; intellectually, it unfits him for concentration of thought; physically, he is weakened and unfitted for the performance of his ordinary duties.
Q. What is the program of the Anti-Opium League in China?
A. The Anti-Opium League in China is not pledged to any one line of procedure in trying to stop or decrease the use of opium. It is seeking to bring to light the facts regarding the effects of opium upon those using it, and trusts that time and experience will cause such plans to be adopted as will bring the use of opium to an end.

INTERVIEW XXII.
INTERROGATORIES ADDRESSED IN WRITING TO DR., IN CHARGE OF HOSPITAL,  , CHINA.
November 24, 1903.
Q. What practical measures (a) legally, (b) educationally, and (c) medically should be taken in a community addicted to the opium vice (i) to prevent its spread among the younger generation, and (2) to discourage the use of the drug among those who are its victims?
A. Legally, opium should be on the same footing it occupies in America, England, France, and other civilized countries of the world. It is a poison, and should be recognized and treated as such everywhere. All opium dens should be closed and opium and its preparations should be sold only on a doctor's prescription. Especially should all opium paraphernalia be banished from houses of ill-fame. Opium first stimulates and then inhibits the sexual functions, and prostitutes in China are not slow to take advantage of these properties. Many a youth meets his doom out here by smoking opium in order to prolong and enjoy the sexual act.
Educationally, the young should be shown the dangers of opium by the attitude of the government toward it. If they are taught that it is a poison by honest attempts to keep it out of their reach, they may be induced to look with disapproval on all who use it. If a child should not eat candy, it is far better to keep it out of his reach than to put it where he can get it and then advise him to let it alone. Education cannot do much toward keeping people from using opium if the temptation is ever before them.
I would be as chary of prescribing opium for a chronic painful affection, such as neuralgia. in a Ph. D. as I would in the most ignorant clodhopper who ever lived. The educated and uneducated all use it alike, and the one will deceive, lie or steal to get it as quickly as the other.
Nothing can be done to discourage the habit among those who are its victims except to take it away from them and lock them up. All are slaves, whether they belong to the so-called "moderate" users, or whether they use it in larger amounts, and to lecture them on the evils of the habit would do about as much good as whistling to the wind. Every opium-smoking Chinaman abroad should be sent back to his own country in short order. This might work temporary hardship in some countries, like our own new possessions ; but for the sake of coming generations, it should be done. The Chinese should not be allowed to carry with them this fearful habit wherever they spread abroad over the world.
As for China herself, I have no plan and no hope that she will ever free herself of this curse. Opium is so insidious, and so much money is to be made in handling or controlling it, that it is liable to corrupt all who come in contact with it. As soon expect a man to lift himself by( his own bootstraps as to see the Chinese officials restrict or restrain the opium habit among their people.
If our government undertakes to sell it in the Philippines, I should hate to have any friend of mine placed in any position of opium responsibility. There are enough defalcations there already. What will they not number when our officials get to dealing out opium?
Medically, change the proverb, "Prevention is better than cure," to "Prevention is the only cure."

HONG-KONG AND SAIGON.

INTERVIEW XXIII.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. Ho Su CHO, A CHINESE MERCHANT CONNECTED WITH CHINA-AMERICAN COMMERCIAL COMPANY, OF HONGKONG.
HONGKONG, November 27, 1903.
Q. About what proportion of the Chinese population in Hongkong uses opium?
A. At most one-third. Many use it occasionally, but are not addicted to the habit; they can use it or not, as they choose. Most Chinese who use opium do so for pleasure, just as other people smoke cigars or cigarettes. When a visitor calls at a place he is offered opium to smoke. Apparatus for smoking is kept in most places of business, so that when a customer comes he may be entertained by being offered a smoke of opium.
Q. What effect, if any, does the moderate use of opium have on the user—physically, mentally, and morally?
A. The effect is bad in all cases. The moral effect, however, is not so degrading in the case of the rich or well-to-do as it is in the case of the poor. This is due to the fact that the rich man has the means with which to buy the opium he wishes, whereas the poor man is often compelled to resort to theft and other dishonest methods in obtaining the money with which to buy the drug.
Q. Do Chinese or European firms employ indifferently users and non-users of opium?
A. No. Generally, when a firm or business man wishes to employ a clerk or laborer, a person who does not use opium is taken in preference to one who does.
Q. Do you know whether insurance companies make any difference in the premiums demanded, if the applicant for insurance is known to be a moderate user of opium?
A. I do not know. It is said, however, that the use of opium prolongs life. For that reason I should think not.
Q., Is there any inducement offered by the authorities, or by any one, to lead to discontinuance of the habit?
A. Many years ago an attempt was made to forbid the use of opium, but it was unsuccessful.
Q. Do persons who have used opium moderately for some time—say, over two years—ever voluntarily discontinue the habit?
A. I have known a person who did. Those who do it, however, invariably return to the habit. To a person who uses the drug it seems more necessary than food and drink.
Q. Is the habitual moderate user of opium affected in any way if he is deprived of his usual dose?
A. Yes; he becomes sick.
Q. Is opium used in Hongkong by women? By children?
A. Very few women in Hongkong use it. In the north, however, it is used very largely by woman, although not so much so as by the men. Children do not use it.
Q. Is the use of opium in Hongkong and vicinity diminishing, stationary or increasing?
A. Increasing.
Q. To what do you attribute this?
A. It is hard to say. Formerly a shop for the smoking of opium was considered disgraceful; but now in most homes and places of business as well as in the public shops apparatus for smoking the drug is kept, in order that visitors and friends may be entertained. The use of opium has become more respectable and as a result has increased.
Q. Do you believe that any opium except that provided by the official farmer is used in Hongkong and vicinity?
A. Yes. Opium is smuggled into Hongkong.
Q. Do you think that the laws, regulations, and ordinances now in force in Hongkong have the effect of diminishing the use of opium?
A. I do not think so. They increase the price of opium, but do not reduce the number of smokers; for a person who uses the drug must obtain it at any price.
Q. What is the general opinion among the Chinese in regard to the good or bad effects of opium? Is that your opinion?
A. Educated and intelligent Chinese consider the use of opium as very injurious. They are desirous of freeing their countrymen from the habit. My own opinion is that the Chinese should not be allowed to use opium, that the drug should be prohibited throughout the empire.
Q. Is opium used by persons in all ranks of society?
A. Yes, by all ranks of society, from the coolie to the merchant.
Q. Is opium offered to guests at banquets or to visitors making social calls? A. Yes, it is served at banquets and is offered to friends making calls, by
Coolies and merchants alike.
Q. In what way is opium used?
A. It is always smoked.
Q. So that the hypodermic use of morphia or opium is not practiced, then? A. No. It is not used in this way, except for medicinal purposes.
Q. Do you think that the effect of the use of opium on the Chinese is differ-
ent from that on Europeans?
A. I have known Europeans who used opium for pleasure, and its effect on them seemed to be the same as that produced on the Chinese.
Q. What measure would you recommend to limit or eradicate the use of opium?
A. I would recommend such a system as that in force in Formosa. It seems to be very suitable and to be meeting with great success. It is gradually reducing the number of smokers.
Q. Do you think prohibition, high tariff, a government farm, a government monopoly or high license likely to diminish or eradicate the use of opium?

A. No. The people would get it anyway. It would be smuggled.
Q. Do you think that the Chinese would assist the government in any measure taken to stop gradually the use of opium?
A. Yes, the intelligent Chinese would give their assistance. They are desirous that the habit should be abandoned by their countrymen. But to stop the use of opium would be a very difficult matter. I have a friend who tried to stop the habit. He left off smoking, but resorted to the use of pills, and finally returned to smoking. It is especially hard for a person who is not in good health.
Q. Do the Chinese that smoke opium do so generally in their own homes or in public shops?
A. In the case of the rich the practice is generally carried on at home; but the poor man smokes in the public shop. Then, as already mentioned, opium is offered at banquets, clubs, and places of business.
Q. Is Chinese public sentiment against the use of opium?
A. Yes.

INTERVIEW XXIV.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. Ho FOOK, A CHINESE MERCHANT CONNECTED WITH THE FIRM OF JARDINE, MATHIESON AND COMPANY, HONGKONG.
HONGKONG, November 28, 1903.
Q. About what proportion of the Chinese population of Hongkong uses opium?
A. About 40,000.
Q. What is the Chinese population of Hongkong?
A. About 270,000.
Q. What proportion of the users of opium use it moderately?
A. About one-fourth use it moderately.
Q. What effect„ if any, does the moderate use of opium have on the user—physically, mentally, and morally?
A. Of course, that depends upon the individual user. It generally injures his constitution and makes him lazy.
Q. Does it influence him mentally?
A. Yes, of course, it affects his mind.
Q. Do Chinese or European firms employ indifferently users and non-users of opium?
A. Of course, they prefer non-smokers. Sometimes Chinese who are known to smoke opium are employed by European firms; but the preference is always given to the non-smoker.
Q. In the case of a position of trust, where financial responsibility is involved, would a smoker be employed by Chinese?
A. Oh, yes.
Q. Do you know whether insurance companies make any difference in the premiums demanded if the applicant for insurance is known to be a moderate user of opium?
A. Yes, they charge a higher premium.
Q. How much opium do you think a man may consume daily without injury to himself?
A. Of course, that depends upon the individual constitution. A small dose will do one person more harm than a large one will another.
Q. Is there any inducement offered by the authorities, or by any one, to lead to a discontinuance of the habit?
A. There is no such inducement. An official, however, who is known to smoke opium may be sacked.
Q. Do persons who have used opium moderately for some time—say, over two years—ever voluntarily abandon the habit?
A. That depends upon the will of the individual. A man may smoke opium for twenty years, and if he makes up his mind to stop he can do so. It is entirely a personal matter.
Q. Is the habitual moderate user of opium in any way affected, in case he is deprived of his usual dose?
A. You mean when a person has not the money to buy opium or is traveling in a place where he cannot get it?
Q. Yes.

A. Well, he feels out of sorts. Saliva flows from his mouth. When• a person travels he generally carries opium with him in the form of pills. If, however, he does not get his dose of opium at the regular hour of the day, he feels out of sorts and is unable to perform his work properly.
Q. Is this true in the case of the moderate user?
A. Yes. When a person once gets into the habit of using opium he must take it every day at the regular hour. If he does not, he feels out of sorts.
Q. Is opium used in Hongkong by women?
A. A very small percentage of women use it.
Q. Is it used by children?
A. No, it is not used by children. Of course, when you speak of children, if you mean a person fifteen or sixteen years old, there might be cases in which such persons squander their money, if their parents are rich, in smoking opium. Young children do not use it.
Q. Is the use of opium in Hongkong and vicinity diminishing, stationary or increasing?
A. Increasing.
Q. To what do you attribute this?
A. Of course, more people are coming into Hongkong from China, and among these newcomers there is always a certain percentage that smokes opium.
Q. Do you think that the percentage of opium smokers among the people who have lived in Hongkong for some time is increasing?
A. I do not think that it is increasing, because the government farmers are demanding higher prices, which will naturally tend to decrease the amount of opium used by a person.
Q. Why has the government put up the rate?
A. The government has not done it; it is the opium farmer. Every three years the opium monopoly is sold to the highest bidder, and, of course, he must put up the price of opium so as to make a profit on his investment.
Q. Do you believe that any opium except that provided by the official farmer is used in Hongkong and vicinity?
A. Yes; opium is smuggled in; it is bound to be—principally from Macao and Canton.
Q. Do you think the laws, ordinances, and regulations now in force in Hongkong have the effect of diminishing the use of opium?
A. No. If anything, it would be the price that the new farmer asks for opium that would tend to diminish or increase its use. The law does not prevent a person from smoking opium.
Q. What is the general opinion among the Chinese in regard to the good or bad effects of the use of opium?
A. Bad.
Q. Is that your opinion?
A. Yes, of course. It is one of the chief vices of China.
Q. Is opium used by persons in every rank of society?
A. Yes, from the highest to the lowest.
Q. Is opium offered to guests at banquets or visitors making social calls? A. Oh, yes.
Q. Do you believe persons who use opium moderately would be likely to resort to some other drug or stimulant if deprived of opium?
A. Some persons might take to drink if deprived of opium; but generally not. That depends upon the individual.
Q. In what way is opium used?
A. Smoked.
Q. Is there any hypodermic use of morphia or opium?
A. No.
Q. What is the effect of the drug on the different races—Chinese, Europeans, and Malays?
A. The effect is the same on all nationalities.
Q. Can you suggest any measure for limiting the use of opium? A. Charge a prohibitive price.
Q. Who would determine the rate?
A. Of course, that must be done by the government. If the government should enforce such a prohibitive price, it would naturally diminish the use of opium.
Q. That would be what we call high license?
A. Yes. I believe that the policy in vogue in Formosa is not a bad one.

Q. Which do you think is best—prohibition, high tariff, a government farm or high license?
A. The policy that is in force in Formosa.
There is one thing to be said—that is, if the Chinese in the Philippines are allowed to use opium, the Filipinos will also contract the habit.
Q. Can we find out at what price opium is sold to the consumer?
A. Yes. The price is $2.50 per tael, their being twelve taels to the pound. It will be increased to about $3.50 by the new farmer, whose term will begin on the 1st of March. He must raise the price in order to protect himself from loss resulting from the high price which he has paid for the monopoly.
Q. That is the price of opium of the first quality?
A. Yes.
Q. That is about double what is charged in Formosa. How much opium is smuggled into Hongkong compared with what is imported?
A. I should say that about one-third of the opium used in Hongkong is smuggled opium. The farmer, until about a month ago, sold 3,400 taels per day. Since the price has been raised to $2.50 per tad, his sales have dropped to about 1,50o taels a day. However, both before and now, about one-third of all the opium used in Hongkong is smuggled.
I might mention the fact that I was connected with the opium farm from 1801 to 1897.
Q. Is there any society looking to the suppression of the opium traffic in Hongkong?
A. No.
Q. Do you know whether there is any such society anywhere in China? A. No, there is not.

INTERVIEW XXVI.*

*The manuscript received by the War Department contains no Interview XXV.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. FRANCISCO GOMEZ, MANAGER OF THE FIRM OF BRANDAO AND COMPANY, HONGKONG.
HONGKONG, November 28, 1903.
Q. Of what nationality are the merchants who export opium from Hongkong to Manila?
A. British, Portuguese, German, and Armenian.
Q. What is the amount of opium annually consumed in this colony? A. About 7,300 chests.
Q. Where is the supply obtained?
A. Principally from Patna and Benares, some from Persia, and a little
from Malwa. The traffic is free, everybody being allowed to sell opium in this
colony, excepting prepared (boiled) opium, of which the farmer has a monopoly. Q. Are places licensed for the consumption of opium?
A. Yes, places are licensed for opium smoking.
Q. Do the great majority of opium consumers become slaves to the practice, or are the majority of them found to be moderate in its use?
A. Some are moderate consumers.
Q. Is opium commonly used by the people of this colony?
A. Perhaps one-third of the Chinese population of this colony use opium. Q. By what classes and by what proportion of the adult males of those classes?
A. It is impossible to say.
Q. To what extent is opium used by women?
A. Among the rich class about one woman in ten thousand uses opium. Q. Is opium used by children?
A. No.
Q. Is the use of opium regarded by the inhabitants of this colony as disgraceful?
A. Yes, especially by the foreigners.
Q. Can appreciable effect upon the public health be traced to the use of opium?
A. None whatever. The mortality is not affected by it. It is said by the Chinese to protect against the plague.
Q. Has the exportation of opium from Hongkong to Manila increased since the American occupation, and if so, to what extent?
A. As far as I am able to find out, it has increased from about twenty to fifty chests monthly.
Q. What regulations govern the exportation of opium?
A. Before exporting opium from the colony the shipper must obtain a permit from the superintendent of the import and export of opium, which must be viseed by the opium farmer before bringing the opium to the steamer or removing it from one godown to another.

INTERVIEW XXVII.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. LEON LOUPET, INSPECTOR OF CUSTOMS AND REVENUES FOR COCHIN-CHINA, WHO HAS RESIDED IN THAT COLONY FOR FOURTEEN YEARS.
AT SEA, December 7, 1903.
Q. Can you tell us approximately how much opium is sold annually by the government of Indo-China?
A. About 200,000 kilos are sold annually in Tonkin, Annam, Cochin-China. and Cambodia.
Q: At what price is opium sold?
A. The best quality of Benares is sold at 102 piastres per kilo ; the second quality of Benares at 82 piastres, and Yunnan at 66 piastres.
Q. Which opium has the largest sale?
A. About three-fourths of the opium sold is Benares ; the other fourth is Yunnan, which has been on sale only during the past three years. The sales of Yunnan opium are increasing month by month, whereas those of Benares are diminishing.
Q. Is any opium cultivated in Indo-China?
A. A poppy plantation has been begun in French Laos, and thus far the opium produced has brought a good profit. Mr. Luttau was the first to undertake the experiment.
Q. How is the opium sold to the consumers?
A. The opium is sold at shops, to which access is forbidden to minors, native women, and Europeans. Only agents in the service of the excise are allowed to enter them for the purpose of inspection. The dealer sells the opium to the consumers in boxes furnished him by the excise, which supplies them at a fixed profit of so per cent.
Q. Are licenses issued to vendors?
A. Yes. There are seven classes of licenses, varying in price from ten to one hundred piastres.
Q. In what manner is the opium delivered to the dealers in the provinces? A. In the provinces the government maintains depots, where the opium is sold at retail to the small dealers.
Q. Do you know whether any opium is smuggled into China?
A. Yes. A great deal of opium is smuggled into Indo-China from Hongkong, especially when the harvest here is poor.
Q. About what is the annual income derived from the opium monopoly in Indo-China?
A. The annual income is about 16,000,000 piastres.
Q. What proportion of the male and female population uses opium? Do children use it? Europeans?
A. It is estimated.that about 6o per cent of the male adult and 20 per cent of the female adult population use opium. Children do not use it. The extent of its use among Europeans is from 8 to so per cent. The latter contract the habit as a result of lonesomeness and homesickness ; this is proved by the fact that most of them are found in the interior.
Q. Do those who begin the use of opium as a rule become slaves to it?
A. Yes, they generally become slaves to the vice. The larger part of the smokers, however, are moderate.
Q. Does the use of opium seem to be injurious to the natives?
A. To those who go to excess it is injurious; but the moderate users suffer no ill-effects. On the contrary, they perform their duties better as the result of using opium, and as a rule have no other vices.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

SINGAPORE AND PENANG.

INTERVIEW XXVIII.
INTERVIEW WITH FREDERIC KERSEY JENNINGS, RETIRED CHIEF INSPECTOR OF POLICE or THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, ON PENSION. TWENTY-ME YEARS EXPERIENCE IN THE COLONY AMONG THE CHINESE. Now PROSECUTING AGENT' FOR THE OPIUM AND SPIRIT FARMS or SINGAPORE, MALACCA, AND JOHORE.
SINGAPORE, January ro, 1904.
Q. Have you a large Malay population to deal with? What is the method relating to opium?    CZ-
A. Opium-shop keepers are prohibited from selling the drug to Malays    .
or to women of any nation, under heavy penalty. Only outcasts among the Malays incline to opium smoking. A larger number are inclined to drink.
Q. It is among the Chinese only, is it, that opium is used?
A. If the government did not recognize the opium habit among the Chinese
lby a system of control (from which a large revenue is derived) opium would be much cheaper than it is now, and of course would be consumed in much largerattiian quantities arid    by a number of persons who under the existing conditions
cannot afford it.
CE --Wh at in your judgment is the effect of a moderate use of opium?
A. In my experience, the habit of opium smoking in a moderate degree after the day's labor, by a Chinese, especially in malarial districts, appears to be not only harmless but in soms, ways beneficial. I base my opinion on the report of the Royal Commission.
Q. What is the character of the benefit of which you speak? A. The effect on the working-man is refreshing.
Q. Is morphia used here?
A. I would roughly estimate that io,000 coolies use it, chiefly night rickshawmen. Morphia until January I is considered opium; after that a special ordinance puts it under the control of the principal medical officer. Hitherto European chemists have done an extensive business in morphia and syringes. A short time since one chemist was prosecuted under my direction. His license was canceled.
Q. What class of people constitute the opium brokers?
A. The trade in raw opium is chiefly in the hands of the Jews. The farmers throughout the colony buy from these merchants.
Q. Is there any difference between the effect of opium when smoked and morphia when injected?
A. Yes. Morphia is much the worse. In the gaols, when an opium-smoker is deprived of the drug, he soon recovers, but the morphia user does not, if deprived of morphia.
Q. What class of people smoke opium?
A. The majority of the rickshaw coolies use it, as well as dock laborers, day laborers and boatmen. They have a pipe once a day in the evening.
Q. Do Chinese and European firms employ indifferently users and non-
iters of opium? A. Yes. Q. Do you know whether insurance companies reject opium smokers?
A. They do not, if the smoker can pass the doctor's examination. Chinese are insured largely in Singapore.
Q. Is any inducement offered by the officials, or by any one else, to lead to a discontinuance of the habit?
A. No. It is impossible,/
Q. Do you know of any persons who have voluntarily abandoned the habit after a considerable period?
A. Yes. Several among the British-Chinese volunteers.
Q. Is opium given to children?
A. Not often. Amahs occasionally give it to quiet babies, but it is rare.

Q. What is the effect of opium on the Valay?
A. It usually makes him "run amuck."../
Q. Is the use of opium in the Straits Settlements diminishing, stationary or increasing?
A. It has increased during the last three years.
Q. /Are you retained by the government or by the farmer?
A.'/By the farmer. The farm in Singapore and Malacca is independent of that in Penang. Johore has a separate government, but the same farmer. In Johore opium is cheaper than in Singapore. The respective governments reg-u[late the price_and keep the revenue for their several purposes..
Q. Do you believe that any opium except that provided by the official farmer is used in the Straits Settlements?
A. Yes. There are a great many prosecutions. Day before yesterday I instituted a proceeding against a man who had in his possession illegitimately sixty-eight cans of prepared opium. Opium is introduced from China in bladders, skins, etc. French sailors often smuggle it.
Q. Is opiumii-s-Cd-toSi-pergiins in all ranks of society?
A. Yes.
Q. Is opium offered to guests at banquets or to visitors making social calls? A. Yes. A room is prepared so that any one who wishes to smoke may do so.
Q. In what way is opium used?
A. As opium prepared for smoking.
Q. What method would you advise for dealing with opium?
/ A. Regulate it only. Keep it in check.
Q. -What is the influence of the public shops where opium is smoked?
A. There are no bad effects. Women are not allowed in them. It is chiefly in Chinese brothels that women use opium.
Q. Is Chinese sentiment against the use of opium? A. There is no public sentiment about it.

INTERVIEW XXIX.
INTERVIEW WITH ONE OF THE FORMER MANAGING PARTNERS OF THE OPIUM FARM OF SINGAPORE. HALF HIS LIFE SPENT IN SINGAPORE, WHERE HE WAS BORN AND EDUCATED.
SINGAPORE, December IQ 1903.
Q. What is the effect of the moderate use of opium on the user—physically, mentally, and morally?
A. It is bad always, even when used habitually in moderation. I was born and educated in Singapore; I have mixed with all classes of people and have had a good opportunity for observation.
Q. Do Chinese and European firms employ indifferently users and nonurers of opium?
A. European firms, so far as I know, make no distinction.
Q. Is there any inducement offered by the authorities, or by any one else, to lead to a discontinuance of the habit?
A. No. I believe not.
Q. Do persons who have used opium moderately for some time—say over two years—ever voluntarily abandon the habit?
JA. Some. The degree of difficulty in breaking away depends upon the will-power of the individual. Q. Is the habitual moderate user of opium in any way affected, if he is deprived of his usual dose?
A. Yes. He is incapable of work unless he has his .pipe. It is worth noting that among Chinese-British subjects (Chinese born in Singapore) there rare very few opium smokers. It is the effect of English sentiment and education that leads such people to adopt the same attitude towards the use of opium as the Englishmen themselves maintain. You cannot depend upon English infor' mation on the subject. It is a commercial matter and their judgment is colored by that fact.

Q. Is opium used by women? By children? By Malays?
A. Chinese women use it. Malays do not; it is forbidden by their religion (Mohammedanism). It is not given to children.
Q. Is the use of opium in Singapore and vicinity diminishing, stationary or increasing?
A. It is bound to increase. When.. the farmer_pays such a large sum  for his privilege, he will use every means in his power to sell. During the years I was in the Business, $118,000 per -mensein was paid by the farmer; this year $465,000 per mensem was the accepted bid. These figures show how things are.
Q. How do you account for the increase?
A. There is an increase of population. The Chinese are more prosperous and better able to buy.
Q. Is there any smuggling?
A. So far as I know, pot  much.
Q. What in your judgment is the effect of the laws, regulations and ordinances in force in Singapore?
A. It i    . At least so say those who do not sm_olce. Smokers say that
it is goo .    e government says the same thing.
As a business man, I say that the laws give a good opportunity for making money. Speaking from my conscience, I am dead against the opium business; I should be glad to see other and better legislation. But if the law calls for tenders, I will take advantage of the law:: In the Philippine Islands, if it were made a legitimate business, I would try to make money by bidding for the monopoly. I know in my conscience that the use of opium is bad, but it is a paying business.
Q. Is the hypodermic use of opium or morphia practiced here? A. Yes. A great deal among the Chinese.
Q. Do you think that the effect of the use of opium is different on the Chinese and Europeans?
A. It has the same effect on every one, no matter what nation he belongs to. If you take a poison, it is bound to act on you as a poison.
Q. What effect does it produce on the Malay?
A. He begins to neglect his work at once.
Q. What measures would you recommend to limit or eradicate the use of opium?
A. If possible, prohibi.4. But you cannot prohibit at once in the case of those WTia1Save opium smoking as a settled habit, without causing them bodily harm. In some way prevent any new smokers among_ the...young people. I would suggest hjgh -license with laws carefully drawn to meet the needs of the co_mmunitx.
Q. Do you think the Chinese would assist the government in any measure taken gradually to stop the use of opium?
A. No. They prefer the government to allow it.
Q.  What is the effect of. the_publie smoking_shnpQ
A. It is bad, thoroughly bad. It increases the use of opium.

INTERVIEW XXX.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. M. ARTHUR WHITE, INSPECTOR OF THE EASTERN ASIA BRANCH OF THE MANUFACTURERS' LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY OF CANADA.
SINGAPORE, December 11, 1903.
Mr. White says that very few policies are issued to opium smokers, inasmuch as the company comes in contact chiefly with the British-Chinese. who are not largely addicted to the practice. Short term policies are asked for, and the company prefers to give them to Chinese applicants.

INTERVIEW XXXI.
INTERVIEW WITH DR. D. J. GALLOWAY, A LEADING EUROPEAN PRACTITIONER OF SINGAPORE, WHO HAS BEEN EXAMINER FOR A NUMBER OF INSURANCE COMPANIES.
SINGAPORE, December II, 1903.
Dr. Galloway states that the moderate use of opium does not prevent an applicant from being received as a first-class risk, provided he is in good physical condition upon examination. In his judgment a moderate smoker is a man whose life is so carefully regulated that the chances are in favor of longevity. Everything centers about his daily indulgence; nothing is done, no habits are permitted, which will interfere with this.

INTERVIEW XXXII.
INTERVIEW WITH DR. S. B. SEARLE, MEDICAL EXAMINER OP THE CHINA MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, LTD.
SINGAPORE, December II, 1903.
Dr. Searle states that his company, which is six years old and has a large business among the Chinese in this part of the country, makes no difference in the premium where a moderate use of opium obtains. Where there is excessive use, a heavy lien is placed on the policy. About thirty per cent of the applicants for insurance are smokers, but in the majority of cases the amount of opium used is very small.

INTERVIEW XXXIII.
INTERVIEW WITH DR F. B. WEST, M. D., WHO HAS BEEN IN THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS DURING THE PAST SEVENTEEN YEARS ; AND WITH MRS. BLACK-STONE, WHO WAS ALSO PRESENT.
SINGAPORE, December 12, 1903.
Q. Your practice, Doctor, is confined to the natives, is it?
Dr. West: Yes, to the natives, including Malays and Tamils.
Q. You are thus of course brought into contact with the natives as only the physician can be?
Dr. West: Yes.
Q. Do you discuss ordinary topics with them, as for example, the opium question?
Dr. West: 0, yes.
Q. Will you please state what is you opinion in regard to the operation and effect of the laws in Singapore in restraining or encouraging the use of opium?
Dr. West: My own opinion is that the law in operation in Singapore is intended directly to encourage the use of opium.
Q. Would you mind giving your reasons for this opinion?
Dr. West: The reason is that there are two parties interested—the government and the opium farmer. The government is interested in getting as much revenue as possible, and the farmer is intersted in getting back his money, and therefore naturally pushes his trade.
Not only has the number of shops for smoking opium increased, but the fact of the matter is that the use of opium has increased very largely in the home—"private consumption," if I may so speak. When I came here seventeen years ago, there was practically no opium used in the home among the better class of Babas (Straits-born Chinese) in Singapore, whereas now there are very few homes into which it has not found its way.
Q. Among the Babas?
Dr. West: Yes, among the Babas, the business men. The use of opium has increased also among the Malays, notwithstanding the fact that the Singa-
I pore government forbids their using it. Its use among them has become so ex-
! tensive that one may often find them in the public opium shops, although they
J are arrested, if discovered.
The number of opium shops has also increased, although not to a very considerable extent. For instance, ten years ago there were some 275 shops, whereas now there are 574, an ihcrease of about 300 in ten years. 1 v
The most amazing increase, however, has been in the amount of revenue derived by the government. The opium revenue has increased extraordinarily. I believe it is out of all proportion to the increase in population.

Q. Do you think that the increase in the amount of opium used is in direct proportion to the increase in population?
Dr. West: I think it is largely so. There has been, of course, an increase in the price of opium, brought about by the opium farmer, and then the variations in the rate of exchange of silver have also affected it; which accounts largely for the increase in revenue.
Q. Is all this opium consumed in the Straits Settlements?
Dr. West: Yes. Opium is required by law to be consumed at the place where prepared.
Q. Is that law violated to any great extent?
Dr. West: Not to any great extent, because the government assists the opium farmer with all its power. While there are opium prosecutions going on all the time, it is not so to any great extent.
Q. What proportion of the people in Singapore use opium?
Dr. West: I cannot give any reliable information on that point. I myself have urged the question, but nothing has yet been done.
Q. In connection with this, we should like to know whether you have come in contact with any who use morphia hypodermically.
Dr. West: Yes. The use of morphia as a hypodermic has increased amazingly. It is no uncommon thing to find men whose arms, legs and bodies are one mass of sores.
Q. Where does the morphia come from?
Dr. West: The morphia is largely of German manufacture.
Q. There is an ordinance, I understand, which goes into force on the first of January of the coming year, by which morphia is put under the direct supervision of a medical officer and is sold only as a poison. Is that not so?
Dr. West: Yes. That will be the law. Its use will be restricted to medicinal purposes. Numbers of people having on hand a larger quantity of morphia than necessary for medicinal use have been arrested. These arrests have been -instigated by the opium farmer for his own protection. The use of morphia in the form of pills to be swallowed has also increased very largely.
Q. What class of people use morphia?
Dr. West: Principally the rickshaw coolies.
Q. I was told that most of those who use morphia are night coolies. Is that the case?
Dr. West: Yes, that is largely true; but many of the day rickshaw coolies also use it. They take a dose before going out in the morning, and then return several hours afterwards to take another, and so on throughout the day. It is no uncommon thing among these rickshaw coolies to find a man installed in a place occupied by them, whose duty it is to perform the hypodermic injections for the establishment.
Q. Do you think that opium is smuggled into Singapore?
Dr. West: There are constant attempts at it. There is no way in which we can tell what amount is smuggled; only the opium farmer can estimate that. Q. In what way is opium principally used?
Dr. West: The principal method of using it is by smoking.
Q. Do you think that the effects of the use of opium are different on the different nationalities?
Dr. West: No. I cannot say that I have observed any marked difference. Q. Can you tell us what proportion of the native population uses opium? Dr. West: I would not like to venture.
Q. Among this number there are some who use opium with moderation and some who use it to excess, are there not?
Dr. West: Yes. There are beginners who use only a very small quantity; and there are those who are in the last stages of excess.
Q. Have you been able to form any idea as to what proportion of those who use opium use it to excess?
Dr. West: As far as my observation goes, the proportion of excessive users—and what I call an excessive user is one who has reached that stage where he has no comfort unless under the influence of opium—is, I should say, about two-thirds.
Q. What effect, if any, does the moderate use of opium have on the user—physically, mentally, and morally?
Dr. West: The moderate use of opium, if that means such a use of it as enables a man to take a dose and then leave it off if_he feels inclined to do so, does not produce any very appreciable effect. Of course he does not use very much. But a man in a state where he is not an excessive user, and yet has reached that point where he must have his dose every day, is very appreciably affected. The first effect that I have noticed is that morally the user becomes irresponsible for his statements. He has no regard for truth, or else he is unable to distinguish between truth and untruth. Its physical effect consists mainly in its interference with digestion. One of the most constant symptoms that I have observed is that the user of opium loses his feeling of hunger and and a result takes insufficient food to nourish his body.
Q. I suppose that is why so many of them are emaciated?
Dr. West: Yes.
Q. Suppose that a man who is accustomed to using two mace of opium a day were unable to get his dose at the regular time, what effect would that have on his capacity for work?
Dr. West: For the first thirty-six or forty-eight hours he would be incapacited for work ; after that time, however, he would be able to resume it.
Q. From your observation, would you say that there is any difference between the man who uses liquor in moderation and the man who uses opium in moderation in the effects produced on them, if deprived of the stimulants?
Dr. West: Yes. I believe that the man who uses opium is in by far the worse state. He suffers with extreme nervousness.
Q. Do Chinese and European firms employ indifferently users and nonusers of opium?
Dr. West: They have begun to make a difference. They have not done• so heretofore, and while a very great distinction may not yet be made, it is beginning to be so. Firms employing clerks are generally careful to ascertain whether the applicants are users of opium or not.
Q. If it is known that a Chinese uses opium habitually but not to excess, would that fact make it hard for him to secure employment?
Dr. West: It would make it difficult for him to secure work among the Chinese. Among the Europeans, however, it would not affect him sufficiently to make much difference.
Q. Do you know whether insurance companies make any difference in the premiums demanded, if the applicant for insurance is known to be a moderate user of opium?
Dr. West: I do not know.
Q. How much opium do you think a man may consume daily without injury to himself?
Dr. West: I do not believe I am able to answer that. Of course a great deal depends upon the constitution of the man. Some men may be able to take one smoke a day, confining it to that, and keep it up for a considerable period without showing any evil effects, while others are not able to take any at all without giving evidence of bad effects.
Q. Is any inducement offered by the authorities, or by any one else, to lead to a discontinuance of the habit?
Dr. West: No, there is not a single inducement offered by anybody discouraging the use of opium.
Q. Do persons who have used Opium moderately for some time—say over two years—ever voluntarily discontinue the habit?
Dr. West: I do not believe so, unless as the result of religious influence. Q. Is opium used by women also?
Dr. West: Mrs. Blackstone will be able to answer that.
Mrs. Blackstone: Yes. It is used very largely among the women. They often begin taking it as a medicine, but it gets such a hold on them that they cannot give it up.
Q. How do they commonly commence its use?
Mrs. Blackstone: As a medicine as well as by smoking.
Q. I believe that the law forbids women using opium in the public shops? Mrs. Blackstone: I do not know.
Dr. West: Yes. But the law is not enforced.
Mrs. Blackstone: Opium is used in many of the homes where I have been. I have seen a bride sitting with a haggard woman on each side of her and all smoking opium.

Q. Is opium used by children?
Mrs. Blackstone: It is given to the children of Europeans as paregoric is, to make them go to sleep. It is also used among the Chinese for that purpose. I have seen many Chinese children who looked drowsy, as though they were under the influence of opium.
Dr. West: It is a common practice to place the opium between the finger
and the finger-nail and then allow the child to suck the tip of the finger.
Q. Is the use of opium in Singapore diminishing, stationary or increasing? Dr. West: It is increasing.
Q. To what do you attribute this?
Dr. West: I think there are two prime causes. First, the fact that the farmer wants to get his money back induces him to use every means in his power to encourage its use. He pushes his business. He unquestionably does so. The next cause is the large number of new arrivals. These persons come into contact with opium users and naturally acquire the habit. (Many of them are already users.) A large number of men have told me that they began the use of opium in a spirit of play, finally becoming unable to leave off the practice.
Q. Do you think that the laws, ordinances and regulations now in force in Singapore have the effect of diminishing the use of opium?
/Dr. West: No, I do not think they were framed for that purpose.
Q. What is the general opinion among the Chinese in regard to the good or bad effects of the use of opium?
Dr. West: I do not believe that you will find among the better class of Chinese a single advocate of the use of opium, excepting of coursse-rii-medicinal purposes.
Q. Is opium used by persons in all ranks of society?
Dr. West: Yes.
Q. Is opium offered to guests at banquets or to visitors making social calls?
Dr. West: No, not as liquors are offered. There is, however, a certain kind of entertainment, a sort of opium-smoking banquet, where opium is offered in place of liquors. At these opium-smoking gatherings you will generally find only two or three persons. A larger number would destroy the prime object of opium-smoking—the repose.
Q. In your judgment, what is the effect of opium divans on the use of opium? Do they tend to increase it?
Dr. West: Undoubtedly.
Q. They foster other vices also, do they not?
Dr. West: Yes.
Q. Do you believe that persons who use opium moderately would be likely
,to resort to some other drug or stimulant, if deprived of opium?
Dr. West: As far as the Chinese are concerned, I do not think so. It is
quite probable that an American or Englishman, if deprived of one stimulant,
will resort to another. I do not believe that is the case with the Chinese.
Q. Do you consider it desirable that the use of opium should be abandoned? Dr. West: I do, certainly.
Q. Do you think that persons who are habitual moderate users of opium can be expected to abandon the use of the drug?
Dr. West: Not voluntarily.
Q. Do you think prohibition, a high tariff, a government monopoly or high license likely to diminish or eradicate the use of opium?
r.    Dr. West: I do not think that any of them would be very effective, except,
) of course, prohibition.
Q. What measure would you recommend to limit or eradicate the use of opium?
Dr. West: I should favor prohibition. I think, however, that for those who  are excessive users and who` iiiolirri-direr if deprived of opium, some other provision should be made temporarily. Prohibit its use ,entirely among those lwjojia.ve....unt_already acquired the habit. For those who do use opium at present, I would adopt a system somewhat similar to that we employ in the trades. Let a man who uses opium secure a license, and let him continue its use under certain conditions. When lie dies or removes, one opium smoker is gone.
Q. Your idea, then, is to prohibit the use of opium among such as are not habitual users of the drug? Would you make any regulations as to the quantity of opium that a person could use?

Dr. West: That would involve further elaboration. it goyernment institutions or refuges were built, where these persons could receive treatment, this .-wouttt-be-possibte. We should then be able to regulate the amount of the dose ' that the smoker should be permitted to use. Unless this could be done, the _opium-smoker would have to be allowed to regulate his own dose.
a new settlement is estaNiShed, prohibition can be put into effect, and he then went on to outline the Formosan policy. It seems very significant that three /different persons should have the same idea occur to them.
M. C. Your idea, then, is the same as that of the Japanese. That is the system they employ in Formosa. The Island is not very large, but they have twelve hospitals where opium-smokers are received for treatment.
Dr. West: I did not know that.
M. C. Well, it is very interesting to find that the same idea should come from two entirely independent sources. Your idea is exactly the Japanese idea.
Q. Do you think that any influence could be brought to bear in the schools where the Chinese attend?
Dr. West: As to the public schools I do not know. In our schools we teach them the evils of opium. We have one school of eight hundred boys and another of four hundred girls.
Q. There are public schools for the Chinese, are there?
Dr. West: 0, yes.
Q. Do you know whether anything is said in the school primers in regard to the use of opium?
Dr. West: No, I do not know. Of course, any instruction they might receive in the public schools would depend entirely upon the teacher.
Q. How about the Catholic schools?
Dr. West: I do not know.
Q. What do you think would be the effect of a crusade among the school children against the vice?
Mrs. Blackstone: I think that is a very good idea. I am glad that you mentioned it.
M. C. It is not original with me. That is what the Japanese are doing in Formosa.
Q. Mrs. Blackstone, can you not give us some information about individual cases?
Mrs. Blackstone: I do not think that I can say anything more; Dr. West has already said all that t could say. I simply came to enter my protest as a member of the W. C. T. U.
Dr. West: Mrs. Blackstone, can you tell us whether opium is used in gambling places?
Mrs. Blackstone: Yes. A great many of the Chinese women are very rich. They do not know how otherwise to pass their time, and so they spend it gambling and smoking opium._
M. C. fDr. Lim Bun_ KengLjtold me that his father-in-law has founded a colony in Some), and has made an arrangement with the government to the effect that no opium should be allowed in this colony. In his judgment, wherever
Dr. West: I have visited that colony two or three times. The prohibition
/of opium in that colony is absolute. There is no fence around it either. We have just organized a colony for Chinese, for which a similar arrangement has been made with the government. The government has agreed to prohibit the opium farmer from taking opium into this colony. Although it has been organized only four months, it has thus far proved successful.
Q. Do you think that the opium question is being agitated any more than formerly?
Dr. West: There is a constant agitation going on, and it has been increasing ever since I have been out here. There is a strong sentiment among the Chinese, as it affects them seriously. The increase in the use of opium among them has been alarming. To them the question is a live one. They have a right to be disturbed. We should also be if the use of liquor should increase to such an extent that there would be two or three drunkards in every home.

 

INTERVIEW XXXIV.

INTERVIEW WITH DR. P. V. Locicr„, WHO HAS RESIDED DURING THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS IN PENANG, S. S., WHERE HE HAS AN EXTENSIVE PRACTICE AMONG THE NATIVE AND CHINESE POPULATION.
PENANG, S. S., December 15, 1903.
Q. About what proportion of the Chinese population of Penang uses opium?
A. If you divide the Chinese inhabitants of Penang into four parts, I should say that fully three of these use opium. Of these three parts, the first consists of those who use sensual purposes, practicing the vice only when visiting brothels, and is composed largely of young men. The habit has not yet victimized them, so that they are able to refrain from it under other circumstances, if they so choose. The second part is composed of those who indulge in the practice merely as a pastime, this class being made up largely of the well- o-7-6:----TheY are almost invariably habitues, and it is among them that the arger par of those who use the drug is to be found. This is owing to the fact that most of those who compose this class are men of leisure and have more time to indulge in the practice. They began the use of opium when young for sensual purposes, being composed largely of the members of the first class who succeeded in accumulating sufficient money to make them independent and men of leisure. The first class of smokers might therefore be said to be the recruiting school for the second. The Third part of those who use opium is composed of the Chinese laboting_men,_the coolies, who take a smoke of opium after the day's work because it seems to act as a sort of restorative, refreshing them and making them insensible to fatigue. Those who compose this class are generally moderate users, because they have neither the time nor the money to carry the practice to excess.
Q. When the use of opium has once been begun, is there not a tendency to excess ?
A. Yes, certainly. That is owing to toleration. After a given quantity of the drug has been used for a given length of time, varying with the constitutional peculiarities of the individual, the body fails any longer to respond to its effects. Then in order to produce the same reaction, the same sensation, as that originally produced, the dose must be sufficiently increased to overcome the toleration that the body has acquired. This is of course an indefinite process, so that finally the amount of opium required to produce the desired reaction may also be sufficient to kill the user. Of the coolie, however, this is not true to so large a degree, because his daily work causes him to take a great deal of exercise, generally sufficient to work off the poison that has lodged in his body as a result of the previous night's indulgence and leaving his body in an almost normal state for that of the following night. To the coolie the use of opium is in many cases undoubtedly beneficial, at least as a rule harmless, while at the same time making him for the time during which he is under its influence insensible to the bodily fatigue and pain produced by the day's strenuous work.
Q. Do the Malays use opium?
A. Yes, very extensively.
Q. -Tare -Is- ati isrdinance forbidding their using it, is there not? A. No. No such ordinance exists.
Q. There is such an ordinance in Singapore, for we secured a copy of it. Perhaps it is not applicable to Penang?
( A. 0, yes. If such an ordinance is in force in Singapore, it is in force in
,/ Penang also, the system of laws in effect in these two places being identical.
had never heard of it. It is so dead a letter as to be of no importance what- ever. Come with me after dark to any of the opium dens of Penang, and I will show you Malays by the score, openly indulging in the practice with perfect impunity.
Q. What proportion of the Malays use opium?
A. Full one-eighth.
Q. Do Chinese and European firms, when hiring employees, discriminate between users and non-users of opium?
A. Not at all.
Q. Is a moderate user of opium incapacitated for work, if deprived of his regular dose of opium?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know of any cases in which moderate users of the drug have voluntarily abandoned the habit?
A. Yes. Numbers. I am acquainted with two influential Chinese gentlemen in Penang, one of them a municipal commissioner and the other a wealthy merchant, both of whom have used opium for a number of years. They both decided to break off the habit. One has completely succeeded) and the other, when I met him the other day, told me that he had taken no opium for the past six weeks and believed himself completely cured.
Q. Do you believe that the opium habit can ordinarily be cured?
A. In cases where it can be cured, the rapidity of the cure depends very largely upon the relative will-power of the individual. But something interesting, which I meant to have mentioned before, has come to my notice in Penang. A small red pill, advertised as a cure for the opium habit, is sold by the farmer. The two Chinese gentlemen whom I have already mentioned attribute their cure to these pills. It is most extraordinary. The municipal laboratory has analyzed these pills for morphia, but was unable to detect the presence of the slightest particle of it ; I myself have analyzed it also with a negative result.
Q. Does not the fact that these pills are sold by the farmer make their purpose look suspicious?
A. Yes. That is the extraordinary thing about it. But no one has been able to detect morphia in them.
Q. Are prisoners, who have been habitual users of opium, allowed to continue its use after confinement?
A. Legally, no. As a matter of fact, however, it is smuggled into the prison by the wardens, who are bribed for that purpose by relatives and friends of the inmates. In many cases the wardens do it voluntarily, disliking to see the prisoners suffer, as it makes them annoying and unmanageable, as a result of being deprived of the drug. Of course the prisoner is not allowed to smoke opium, as that would be too open to detection ; the form in which it is smuggled is that of pills.
Q. Which do you think is the greater evil, the opium habit or the alcohol habit?
A. If I may not venture to say that the alcohol habit is the worse of the two, they are at least equally bad. Comparing the effects of the two upon the user himself ; alcohol causes an organic deterioration, and this is not limited to any one part of the body, but affects the whole anatomy, producing fatty degeneration, drying up the tissues and clogging the pores. The effect of the use of opium is purely functional, and the injury produced by it is confined principally to the stomach. Morally, the excessive alhocol user becomes a menace to society, he endangers the safety of life, he causes untold misery in his home, he composes the larger part of the inmates of our prisons and penitentiaries, and swells the list of suicides. The use of opium, on the other hand, directly tends to produce a state of mind radically opposed to these tendencies, a state of exhilaration and an inclination to seek seclusion from society, the opium smoker resorting to criminal acts only when unable to obtain the drug by just means. The irresistible craving may lead him to commit theft, or, if need be, murder, in order to secure that with which to satisfy it; and if unable to do so by any means, he may end his life as a last resort. These are acts to which he is forced only by the irresistible demands of a physical appetite, and never as the result of a mental temperament or moral disposition produced by the use of opium. Then it must be remembered that, while such crimes are recorded among opium smokers, they are very rare, as are the circumstances which cause the victims of the habit to resort to them. Any crimes of a graver nature than mere deception or theft are peculiar only to the very excessive users. In short, then, the alcohol habitue not only wrecks and disorganizes his entire physical make-up, but, as a result of the vicious moral temperament and mental disease characterized by criminal tendencies, which are the direct result of the degenerating influence of alcohol, irrespective of circumstances, he becomes also a menace to society. The opium habitue, on the other hand, not only suffers less extensive physical injury, but, except under the circumstances already mentioned, he is as harmless to the safety of society as if he did not exist.
In this connection I wish to call attention to the error which is made by missionaries, who unintentionally, often as the result of excessive zeal but always in perfect good faith, draw hasty conclusions from insufficient premises and greatly exaggerate the evil of opium. They tell frightful tales of the rapidity with which the evil is spreading and of its blasting effects on the body of the user, as evidenced by his extreme emaciation. I know that I am correct when I make the statement that almost every opium user who shows marked emaciation is a consumptive, that he began the use of the drug on the advice of a physician (and as a physician you know that opium is our only resort in consumption), and that his condition is not the result of the use of opium, but that the use of opium was begun as a result of his condition. You can divide opium smokers into two distinct classes : those who are emaciated and those who show no signs of emaciation whatever. This seems to me evidence sufficiently strong to justify our attributing the emaciation to some other cause than the use of opium; for, if the drug were responsible for the extreme emaciation observed in a large proportion of the users, it should produce at least a degree of emaciation in the other portion of them. This, however, is not the case; the weight of the larger number of users being in nowise affected by the drug.
Q. Is consumption common among the Chinese?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you think that an habitual user of opium, if deprived of it, will resort to alcohol or some other stimulant ?
A. Among the Chinese this tendency would be very small. They are a very sober people; alcohol does not seem to appeal to them as it does to the American or European. Among the Malays, however, in spite of the fact that their religion, for they are Mohammedans, forbids the use of alcohol, if a user of opium is deprived of this drug, he falls a victim to the use of alcohol.
I have known Chinese, on the other hand, who, in attempting to break off the opium habit, have used alcohol to accomplish their ends. It is their practice, whenever the craving for the customary dose of opium is approaching the point where it becomes irresistible, to drink sufficient alcohol p3 make them stupid, thus enabling them to pass over the critical period. They go on repeating this process every time the craving for opium reappears, until it finally disappears altogether. This is what might be called a cure by substitution.
Q. Is the use of opium in Penang and vicinity diminishing, stationary or increasing?
A. Increasing.
Q. Is any opium smuggled in?
A. Yes, a large amount. It is smuggled in under all conceivable forms, in a great many cases absolutely defying detection. It is commonly smuggled in the form of eggs, the contents of which have been so carefully replaced by opium as to defy detection. The other day, as I was standing on the dock, a Chinese disembarking from a vessel dropped a bag of eggs, which broke and scattered the contents, forming a mass of yelks and whites of eggs and opium. The would-be smuggler was promptly placed under arrest. It is often placed in tin cans, which are dropped beneath the surface of the water some distance from shore and by means of cords attached to them is pulled to land by sampans. Of course it is impracticable for the customs officers to inspect every sampan coming ashore. And many other devices.
Q. In what way is opium used?
A. Principally in smoking.
Q. Is there any hypodermic use of morphia ?
A. Yes. The hypodermic use of morphia is very extensive, and is continually increasing.
A law placing the sale of morphia in the hands of the government goes into effect on the first of January. It is now classed with opium; but on the adoption of the new law, it will be classed as a poison, to be sold for medicinal purposes and on a physician's prescription only. Even now, if a person, excepting a licensed chemist or pharmacist, be found to have in his possession a larger quantity of morphia than that necessary for medicinal purposes, he is promptly arrested by the opium farmer. The law, however, is evaded in the following manner : A number of Chinese, sufficiently large to make their offer profitable, appoint a licensed chemist, a man with few or no scruples, which kind is by no means lacking, to act as their middleman. They then turn over to him a sum of money which he is to invest in morphia, allowing him a generous commission. He purchases the drug and imports it, ostensibly on his own account and for purely medicinal purposes. Since, as already stated, any person not a licensed chemist found with more morphia in his possession than is necessary for medicinal use is liable to arrest, these Chinese make their appointee serve as a repository of the drug, drawing upon him as their daily needs require.

INTERVIEW XXXV.

INTERvIEw WITH MR. G. T. HARE, PROTECTOR OP THE CHINESE AT SINGAPORE.
SINGAPORE, January 7, 1904.
Two members of the Committee called on Mr. Hare. He is of the opinion that on the whole opium is not so much of a curse as alcohol, its victims. being less likely to commit crimes of violence or make public nuisances of themselves. He stated that it is his belief that prohibition might advantageously be applied against opium in countries where there are not many Chinese. He said that at present only about thirty per cent of the inhabitants of the Chinese Empire smoke opium, but that the vice is spreading there. A period of six months, he thought, would be sufficient between the notification that prohibition is to be put into effect and its application. In his opinion the Chinese are a reasonable people and generally obey the law. He was inclined to believe that a law of prohibition might deter two classes of Chinese from immigrating: viz., the wealthy class and the coolies, as these two classes use opium more generally than the others. He was confident that prohibition might be enforced in China, if the government were in earnest about it. Mr. Hare said that those habituated to the use of even a moderate quantity of opium are as much slaves to the habit as excessive users, and are more or less helpless without it. He also thought that the effects of opium and morphia are more deleterious to the Malays than to the Chinese.

INTERVIEW XXXVI.

A STATEMENT OP THE OPIUM QUESTION BY DR. LIM BUN 1*NO, SINGAPORE, S. S. Q. Will you kindly make a statement of the opium question as it appears to you?
A.    I.
The Effect of Opium in Moderate Doses.
The effect depends materially on the mode of taking the opium. Three modes concern us practically—swallowing dross or crude opium, hypodermic injection and opium-smoking; that is in reality, (a) entrance of the poison by the mouth and alimentary canal, (b) its dissemination from the subcutaneous tissue directly through the circulation, and (c) the absorption of opium fumes by the lungs. The most remarkable point to remember is that the resistance of individuals varies very much; and also in the same individual in health and when in an opposite condition. Frequent experience proves that when the bodily health has been undermined, opium acts very powerfully on the central nervous system, in producing the much-feared craving. This may be explained by the weakened inhibition exercised by the nervous centers. It is quite common to find healthy persons who do not experience any great inconvenience due to this craving, even after months of indulgence, on sudden deprivation of the drug; but should any form of chronic ill health at any time intervene, it would be proved afterwards that the person had become quite a confirmed smoker.
There is no doubt that opium-smoking is the least harmful. Hypodermic injection is the most pernicious form.
As tolerance is soon established, the dose has to be increased steadily to produce the desired effect; so that it is very difficult in the absence of direct experiments to speak of the effects of moderate doses, inasmuch as habitues tend to take more and more of the drug. But perhaps for practical purposes, a person who does not vary much from month to month may be said to use a moderate dose, provided the amount taken does not apparently interfere with the functions of the individual or seriously disorganize the vital functions of the body. The exact quantity of opium to be called moderate cannot be determined, for naturally it varies widely for different persons and for different races.
As to the moral condition of the habitue, it is very difficult to make any positive assertion. But judging from experience, one must say that moral sensitiveness is deadened, or the activity of the brain concerned in the esthetic sense suffers with the brain generally. Moral torpor and indifference gradually supervene; and this is most noticeable in those who, previously to the habit, had in every way an exceptionally immoral character. But the moral state varies, for the unfortunate victim under the influence of the drug is not the same person as when he is suffering from the pangs of deprivation. This fitful state must be perpetually borne in mind; otherwise, no obesrvations made will be of the slightest value. More than the above one is not justified to say. I positively disbelieve that opium smokers are more untruthful than mankind in general; nor do I think that they are more sensual. The fact is that the majority of sensual persons seek the aid of opium to refine their sensuality.
Mentally the effect is nearly identical with that on the moral character. Opium habitues under the full influence of an accustomed dose exhibit full vigor of intellect, with a calmness and acuity of cogitation, that have been indeed remarkable. But there is no evidence at hand that such a concentration could not have been obtained without the use of opium at all. Doubtless among the habitues this is absolutely impossible when the use of the drug is suspended. In this I recognize the great harm of opium. The actual dependence upon it for the purpose of prolonged mental effort makes opium to the sot an absolute necessity of life.
Physically, we note gradual but certain impairment of the digestion, leading sooner or later to loss of weight, caused by devolution of the whole muscular system, through want of exercise and the new formation of fat, due no doubt primarily to the inhibitive action of the drug on the pancreatic secretion, with consequent inadequate digestion and assimilation of fat. As with the mental and moral state, so here we note that without the drug no satisfactory work can be done. In considering the effect of moderate doses, we must consider the effect on the habitues when deprived of the drug, say, for twenty-four to thirty-six hours. Those who say that opium does not interfere with work, omit to add "provided the opium is continued in proper doses," and as without his accustomed dose the habitue is morally unfit to control himself, mentally incapable of prolonged effort, and physically a cripple as regards the use of his muscles for hard work, we must consider that the permanent use of opium even in moderate doses is prejudicial to the individual and to society.
II.
The system of control best adapted to the Philippine Islands is that so successfully carried out by the Japanese government in Formdsa. Certain modifications to suit local conditions may be required, but the model of the Japanese system bi....tale-elest+f-ttether.ed_to—. If the American government justifies this J "sr-Vein- in the Philippine Islands, I cannot see what should prevent them from expelling all those Chinese who will not apply to the government hospitals for getting rid of the opium habit. A certain period of grace, say six months, should be permitted to the habitues to reform their conduct, and if failing to do so by the end of this period, the ordeir of banishment should be applied against them.
On the other hand, let admission to the Philippines be made conditional on abstinence from opium. Any infringement of this rule should make the person so admitted liable to immediate expulsion.
These suggestions are based on the assumption that the Chinese Exclusion Act will be applied permanently to the islands.

 

BURMAH.

INTERVIEW XXXVII.

INTERVIEW WITH DE. T. F. PEDLEY, TWENTY-PINE YEARS A RESIDENT Or RANGOON, WHERE HE HAS A LARGE PRACTICE AMONG THE NATIVE AND CHINESE POPULATION.
RANGOON, December 21, 1903.

Q. How long have you been practicing medicine in Rangoon, Doctor?
A. Twenty-five years.
Q. Do you find that the Chinese, Burmese, and other nationalities here all use opium?
A. No, by no means all; only a very small proportion. If you question a Burmese in regard to the use of opium, he looks upon it as degrading. In fact, both the Burmese and the Chinese do so.
Q. Upon what grounds do they consider the habit as degrading? A. On account of their religion.
Q. What proportion of the Chinese population uses opium?
A. I believe that it is very small, although larger than that of the Burmese. I constantly come in contact with Chinese who are physical wrecks; but among twenty of these persons, say, only one will owe his condition to opium.
Q. Is there any considerable proportion of the Chinese who go to excess in    1
the use of opium?
A. I do not think there is. The number in Rangoon is very small.
Q. From what province do the Chinese in Rangoon chiefly come?
A. They are principally from Canton and Fukien. A large number of Chinese come from the Straits ; we call them Malacca Chinese. A great many of these are not pure Chinese, but have Malay blood.
Q. Do you think that the effects of opium are different on the different nationalities? Different on the Chinese, for example, than what it is on the Burmese?
A. No, I do not think that there is any difference in its effect on the system. My experience with European opium users is very small, and they generally eat it, so that the effect on them would probably be different. I have never seen a European in Rangoon who used opium; I do not believe I have heard of one. With the Chinese and Burmese the operation of opium on the system is always a very slow process. I do not believe that there is any noticeable difference.
Q. Does the moderate use of opium have any effect on the user, physically, mentally or morally?
A. Well—I think that the moderate use of opium, physically, has a constipating effect. Those who use it always seem to suffer from constipation. It often gives rise to liver troubles.
Q. What are its effects mentally and morally?
A. I do not believe that any mental or moral effects of any consequence are produced.
Q. Do you know whether Chinese and European firms employ indifferently users and non-users of opium?
A. I do not think Chinese firms do. European firms might sometimes refuse to employ a person if he is known to smoke opium. I believe that the larger number of Chinese in European firms do not touch opium.
Q. Do you know whether insurance companies make any difference in the premium demanded if the applicant is known to be a moderate user of opium?
A. There are very few Chinese in Rangoon who apply for life insurance. I do not believe the question has yet arisen.
Q. Do you know of any cases where persons who have used opium moderately for some time have voluntarily abandoned its use?
A. I do know one case. This case is a Burmese. It is very rare. I could not tell you of any case among the Chinese. I have been able to help many of them greatly in lessening the amount used. Several have told me that they are now taking a smaller quantity than at the beginning of treatment; but I have never heard of any one who has given up the habit entirely.
Q. Is that in the case of those who smoke it?
A. Both smokers and eaters.
Q. Which is the common method?
A. Both smoking and eating are common; but smoking is the more frequent method.
Q. Is any inducement offered by the authorities, or by any other person, to aid the user in breaking off the habit?
A. No, not that I know of.
Q. If a person who is a moderate user of opium is deprived of his regular dose, is he affected thereby in any way?
A. I have not had the experience which would enable me to answer that. Q. Do you know whether he is able to work or perform his business without his opium?

A. It is said that he cannot. Prisoners are not allowed to use it; when they go to jail their opium is stopped. I always use this argument when I wish to convince my patients that it is possible to stop the habit. There are many prisoners who, as a result of stopping the use of opium, become healthy and fat.
Q. Do you know whether women and children use opium?
A. No, I have never heard of any so doing.
Q. Do you know whether the use of opium in Burmah is diminishing, stationary or increasing?
A. As far as I can see, I do not find that it is increasing.
Q. Do you think that the laws, ordinances, and regulations now in force in Burmah have the effect of diminishing the use of opium?
A. I hear that they do; that in those places where they were not in force formerly the number of Chinese that used opium was very large. Of course, it is to the interest of the sellers and farmers to sell as much as they can. I hear that they use special inducements to induce the rural population to take up the habit. As to Rangoon, I do not know.
Q. Are there public shops where men may gather to smoke opium?    •
A. Such shops are not allowed. There are shops where opium may be bought. A man who buys opium has to be licensed. But there are no opium-smoking saloons, or anything of that sort. However, if you go into the Chinese quarters you will find places where a half dozen men are assembled in a little room, lying down and perhaps asleep, with their opium pipes beside them.
Q. Is opium used by persons in all ranks of society, by the high as well as by the low?
A. Yes, I think so. A Chinese takes a smoke of opium somewhat as an Englishman takes a glass of sherry. Some Englishmen must have two or three drinks of whiskey ; in the same way, one Chinese may be contented with one-half of a grain of opium, while another must have two or three grains. They think it a great mistake to go to excess.
Q. Is opium offered to guests at banquets or to visitors making social calls?
A. I have never seen that done. It is possible that among. themselves one
Chinese may offer another a pipe of opium. It is done as a matter of politeness. Q. Do you think that a Chinese who uses opium moderately, if deprived of
it would resort to alcohol or some other stimulant?
A. I believe that much more alcohol is used among the Chinese than opium. Alcohol is by far their worst vice. Both Burmese and Chinese use it; it is making far more rapid strides among them than opium. Where opium and alcohol are both used, of course the effect is very bad.
Q. Is opium used hypodermically?
A. It is very rare.
Q. I would infer that there is not so much opium used here as in China, where it is reported that from 6o to 8o per cent of the people use it?
A. Oh, no. I do not think that so much as that is used. About 20 per cent would be right.
Q. We learned in Singapore that the Straits Chinese are not so prone to the use of opium as are those born in China; and since you get a large part of your Chinese population from the Straits, perhaps that accounts for the fact to some measure?
A. Yes.
Q. What is the Chinese population of Rangoon?
A. I cannot tell you. You can get that from the census.
Q. Would you consider it desirable that the use of opium should be discontinued entirely?
A. If it were possible to do so. But I think that the opium vice is so small here, compared with that of alcohol, that it is not worth noticing.
Q. Is the Mohammedan population here inclined to the use of opium? A. A great many of them do take a little, but not to excess.
Q. Do you consider the effects of opium as bad?
A. I do not say that opium is not bad. What I do say is that the effects of opium here, as compared with those of alcohol in London, judging from what I have seen in both places, are so infinitesimally small that they are not worth noticing.
I think the effects of opium are worse on the Burmese than on the Chinese. The Burmese are naturally lazy, but the use of opium makes them lazier ; and they neglect their wives and families. The Chinese do not do this. I think the effects on the Burmese are very much worse than on the Chinese.
Q. Is there much intermarriage between the Burmese and the Chinese?
A. Oh, yes. A Chinese man will marry a Burmese girl, but a Burmese man never marries a Chinese girl.
.Q After the opium habit has been once acquired, is it possible to continue it with moderation, or, owing to the creation of a tolerance for the drug, will it be necessary to keep increasing the dose in order to produce the desired effect?
A. The opium user can be as moderate as the alcohol user. I know persons that have told me that they have used opium for thirty or forty years, but always with moderation. From what I have seen, the effects of alcohol on the Chinese are much worse than those of opium, and the alcohol habit is spreading very rapidly among them. There are some that take both alcohol and opium; of course, they completely destroy the liver and wreck themselves.
INTERVIEW XXXVIII.
INTERVIEW WITH Ds. N. N. PARAKH, A PARSEE PHYSICIAN RESIDING IN RANGOON, WHERE HE HAS BEEN IN THE PRACTICE OF HIS PROFESSION DURING THE PAST TWENTY YEARS.
RANGOON, December 22, 1903.
Q. You are a practicing physician, are you, Doctor?
A. Yes.
Q. How long have you been engaged in your profession?
A. Twenty years.
Q. You have been in Rangoon most of that time, have you?
A. Yes.
Q. You are, of course, familiar with native life?
A. Yes.
Q. Is opium used to any extent by the native Burmese?
A. It is used more by the Chinese than by the Burmese.
Q. About what proportion of the Chinese use opium?
A. About 5 per cent.
Q. What proportion of this 5 per cent use opium moderately?
A. I could not tell.
Q. Have you observed any effects of any kind, physically, mentally or morally, from the moderate use of opium?
A. Not many.
Q. What do you consider a moderate use of opium? How many mace, or whatever unit of measure is here used, do you think constitute a moderate use—that is, per diem?
A. It is very difficult to say. I should put it between one-eighth and one-fourth of a grain, never more than one-fourth. That is, taken in the form of pills. This is the way in which the Burmese use it; the Chinese generally smoke it.
Q. Have you observed any difference in the effects of opium on different nationalities, native, Indian, Chinese, etc?
A. The Chinese do not seem to bear opium as well as the natives of India. They seem to be more or less affected, whether they take it in large or in small quantities.
Q. How about the native Burmese?
A. I have had very little experience with the native Burmese.
Q. How do you account for the fact that the Chinese do not bear opium as well as the natives of India, difference in work or difference in constitution?
A. I suppose difference in constitution. Then also, the Chinese take opium in larger quantities than the natives of India.
Q. If they were to take it in equal quantities, would there be any difference in the effects on them?
A. No, I do not think so.
Q. Do firms employ indifferently users and non-users of opium? A. I have never heard of any difference.
Q Do you know whether insurance companies make any difference in the premium demanded, if the applicant for insurance is known to be a moderate user of opium?
A. I do not know.
Q. Have you known, in your experience, of persons voluntarily abandoning the use of opium, after having used it for a year or two?
A. Yes.
Q. Is that true to a great extent?
A. No.
Q. How is the habitual moderate user of opium affected, if he is deprived of his usual dose?
A. He generally becomes irritable, very much depressed, and has pains and aches all over his body?
Q. Is he able to work?
A. No.
Q. Do you know whether opium is used by women and children? A. Yes. It is given to children. Women also use it.
Q. How is it given to children?
A. In the shape of paste or pills. The children are drugged with opium in order to keep them quiet. This is a custom among the natives of India.
Q. Is the use of opium diminishing or increasing?
A. Increasing.
Q. Do you know whether any opium except that provided by the government is used in this city?
A. 0, yes. A great deal is smuggled in.
Q. Do you know whether the laws, ordinances and regulations in force in Burmah have the effect of diminishing the use of opium?
A. No, I do not think so.
Q. What is the general opinion among the Chinese as to the good or bad effects of opium?
A. They do not seem to express any opinion.
Q. How about the Burmese?
A. The Burmese are against it.
Q. Is that because of their religion, or because they consider the effects of opium as injurious?    -
A. I do not think it is because of any injurious effects. It is merely for moral reasons.
Q. Is opium used, among the Burmese, Chinese and natives of India, by persons in all ranks of society?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you think that a person who has used opium moderately for some time would be likely to resort to alcohol or some other stimulant, if deprived of that drug?
A. Yes.
Q. What is the ground for your belief?
A. They require a stimulant. If they are deprived of one stimulant, they must have another.
Q. Have you known of any such cases?
A. A few.
Q. Among the Burmese, is there any native distilled liquor?
A. Yes.
Q. Was that in use among them before outside influence came to bear? A. Yes.
Q. In what way is opium mainly used?
A. By smoking among the Chinese, and in various crude forms among the natives of India.
Q. Is the hypodermic use of morphia practiced?
A. Yes. Among the Chinese it is increasing.
Q. Is it the natural tendency to increase the dose of opium from time to time?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you think that much evil results from the use of opium in these provinces?
A. I do not think so.

Q. Do you think that a law prohibitive of the use of opium, except for medicinal purposes, would be effective, and if it were effective as far as the preventing of. the use of opium is concerned, do you think it would be a salutary law?
A. I cannot say. It might do harm.
Q. In your judgment, is the moderate use of opium necessarily an evil? A. No. In malarial countries it is a blessing. It prevents the chill mani-
festation of malaria by dulling the nervous sensibility to the malarial poison.
Q. In your judgment, what is the effect of the hypodermic use of morphia
compared with the use of opium? Is it more distressing?
A. I have had no experience.
Q. Are there any other points upon which you can give us any information? We shall be very pleased to get it.
A. I have seen no crimes due to the use of opium.
Q. Do you think that the use of alcohol is decreasing or increasing? A. It is increasing.
Q. What, in your opinion, are the effects of alcohol compared with those of opium?
A. I would rather have opium than alcohol.
Q. How do you account for the increase in the use of alcohol, if the natives have a distilled liquor of their own?
A. The alcohol imported is of a better quality and more agreeable to the taste.
Q. Of what medical school are you a graduate?
A. I finished my course in Bombay and afterwards studied in London and Edinburgh. I am also a member of the Society of Physicians of Glasgow and of the Society of Pharmacists of London.

INTERVIEW XXXIX.

INTERVIEW WITH MR. SHWE WAING, A. T. M., TRUSTEE OP THE SHWE DAGON PAGODA, WHO WAS FOR TWENTY YEARS IN CHARGE OP THE OPIUM FARM IN BURMAH.
RANGOON, December 22,
Q. Is opium used extensively in this country?
A. Well, I think extensively.
Q. Is it used by Burmese, Chinese and Indians alike?
A. It is used extensively by Chinese. The Burmese do not use so much. Q. About what proportion of the Chinese use it?
A. Well, I cannot say; but they use is extensively.
Q. What effect does the moderate use of opium have on the user? A. I do not think it should be used at all.
Q. Does it have any effect physically, mentally, or morally?
A. Yes.
Q. In what way?
A. It causes sickness. It makes the person unable to perform his business and thus to make a livelihood. The user becomes worse and worse. His constitution is badly affected.
Q. Do firms employ indifferently users and non-users of opium? A. Well, I think it would be hard to make a difference.
Q. Do you think insurance companies will insure a man who is known to use opium?
A. No. I do not.
Q. Is there any inducement offered by the authorities, or by any one else, to lead to a discontinuance of the habit?
A. No. Not to any extent. They have tried to do so, but the law in force is not strong enough.
Q. Do persons who have used opium moderately for some time—say over two years—ever voluntarily abandon the habit?
A. No.
Q. How is the moderate user of opium affected, if he is deprived of the drug?
A. Well, I do not know exactly what to say. But a man who has begun the use of opium generally sticks to it; he does not like to give it up.
Q. Is opium used by women or by children?
A. Not by children. I think some women use it.
Q. Is the use of opium increasing? A. 0, yes.
Q. What is the reason for this?
A. One reason is the increase of population in Rangoon. Then, of course, users also increase the amount of opium taken.
Q. Taking Lower Burmah as a whole, is the use of opium increasing? Is it increasing also in the country districts?
A. 0, yes. It is increasing, not decreasing.
Q. Do the laws, ordinances and regulations now in force in Burmah have the effect of diminishing the use of opium?
A. No.
Q. 'What is the general opinion among the Burmese as to the good or bad effects of the use of opium?
A. Bad, very bad.
Q. Is that your opinion, also?
A. Yes. Buddha does not allow the use of opium. It is forbidden in one of the five commandments.
Q. In what way is opium used?
A. By some it is smoked, by others it is used raw. It is sometimes dried and rolled up in betel leaf to be smoked, and sold in that form for one anna, two annas, etc. There are two or three different ways of using it.
Q. Is there any hypodermic use of morphia?
A. Yes. But only the very poor class of people resort to it.
Q. How about the use of spirits in Burmah, is it diminishing or increasing? A. It is increasing.
Q. Would a person who has been in the habit of using opium, if deprived of it, resort to alcohol?
A. Yes. Men who are accustomed to the use of opium, when stopping it, generally resort to alcohol.
Q. What measure would you recommend to limit or eradicate the use of opium?
A. I think the best plan would be to recommend that the government allow a certain time to the users of opium within which to stop its use, and after that to abolish the use of the drug entirely. I think that it could be thus permanently abolished.
Q. Do you consider it desirable that the use of opium should be permanently abolished?
A. I do.
Q. Do you think that those who are already in the habit of using opium could be expected to abandon its use?
A. Yes. Within a certain time. Give them time. Let the government put this policy into effect in 1904, and give the users three years within which to stop.
Q. Do you believe that those who are habitual users of opium would be able to abandon it?
A. Not at once. Give them three or four years' warning, so that they may begin to reduce it gradually. Then at the end of that period stop it entirely.
Q. Do you consider that possible?
A. Yes.
Q. Is there any difference in the effects of opium on the different races? A. I do not know of any.
Q. What proportion of the Burmese smoke opium?
A. It is very small.
Q. Is that due partly or entirely to the influence of the Buddhist commandments?
A. Yes. Then, if a Burmese is known to smoke opium, those who do not smoke refuse to associate with him.

INTERVIEW XL.

INTERVIEW WITH DR. J. N. CUSHING, OP THE BAPTIST MISSION (AMERICAN), WHO HAS BEEN IN BURMAH FOR A LARGE NUMBER or YEARS AND IS FAMILIAR WITH NATIVE LIFE.
RANGOON, December 27, 1903.
Q. Can you tell us what proportion of the Burmese use opium?
A. I cannot. My experience during recent years has been confined largely to Lower Burmah. In the early days the use of opium in Mandalay, as far as I could see, was confined largely to the Chinese. Since Upper Burmah was annexed, the use of opium has been greatly extended. A great many regulations have been made with regard to the sale of opium, their object being to prevent the Burmese from using it; but they seem to have been inadequate. I think that the government is very anxious to get its revenue.
I cannot say what percentage of the Burmese use opium. I think that a large number of Burmese use opium secretly, because it is considered a disgrace among them to use it.
Q. In your opinion, what effect does the moderate use of opium have on the user, physically, mentally, and morally?
A. I think that in the beginning it is very much like that of intoxicants. At first it does not seem to have any very serious effect. But it is certain that the taste for opium grows very decidedly as time passes, until at last the opium eater or smoker becomes entirely addicted to it and is lost to all moral principle. He will do almost anything to get his opium. I feel that the whole influence of opium on the user is the weakening of moral principle. I have seen many cases of that.
Q. Do you think that there is as much smoking among the Burmese as among the Chinese or the Indians?
A. I think that there is much more smoking among the Chinese. The Chinese have always been opium-smokers. They brought the poppy plant with them to Burmah from China. The Chinese go out to the gardens in the morning, make incisions in the poppy, take out the white juice and cook it for the day. The Burmese, I do not think, have been addicted, as a rule, to the use of opium in the same way as the Chinese.
Q. Do Chinese and European firms employ indifferently users and nonusers of opium?
A. I do not know with certainty. I think some firms do employ users of opium. It is used by some of the foremost merchants here. Some consider the use of opium as a real help to the natives. I can quite understand how it might be a stimulant for the moment. I know this to. be the case. Formerly, when I used to travel in the interior, I had with me a large number of coolies. Some of them were Burmese. If a coolie used opium, the moment he got away from the base of supply, all his strength left him and he was perfectly useless.
Q. Is it a fact that a man who uses opium even moderately, when deprived of it, is unable to perform his work?
A. Certainly. This is always the case.
Q. If it is known that a Chinese or Burmese uses opium habitually, will that fact make it difficult for him to obtain employment?
A. You mean European firms or native?
Q. Both.
A. I do not know about European firms. If it were well known I suppose it would be a barrier. Among the natives it does have a bad effect. They are very strong in their denunciation of the opium habit.
Q. On what do they base that denunciation?
A. Well. It makes a man in the end violate all the common laws in relation to the family and to society.
Q. Is there any Buddhist canon or law against the use of opium?
A. There are the five great commandments of Buddha, one of which is, "Thou shalt not drink intoxicating liquors." This is supposed to include the use of opium. There is no commandment referring specifically to the use of opium. It is classified with intoxicating liquors.
Q. Do you think that the use of opium in Burmah is diminishing, stationary or increasing?
A. Increasing, no doubt
It makes it very difficult for us missionaries. The natives often put to us the question, "You tell us to do so and so, and why does not your Christian government do it?" They do not distinguish between English and Americans. "Until your government came," they say, "and licensed these liquor and opium shops, we did not have these things." The use of liquor has increased even more extensively than that of opium.
We held a series of temperance meetings some time ago. One night was allotted to the Christians, one night to the Buddhists, one night to the Hindus, one night to the Mohammedans, etc. It was a painful fact that we sought in vain among the English-speaking Burmese for a man who did not use alcohol to preside at that meeting. We finally had to take a man who was only half-Burmese. The tendency among the English-speaking Burmese to take to alcohol is very much greater than among the others. This is true also in respect to opium.
Q. Do you know whether insurance companies make any difference in the premium, if it is known that the applicant for insurance is a moderate user of opium?
A. I do not know.
Q. Is there any inducement offered by the authorities, or by any one, to lead to a discontinuance of the opium habit?
A. I do not know of any. There have been some attempts, one being the administration of the opium farms. But the increase in the use of opium shows that they have not been successful.
Q. Is the government making any effort through its schools to lead to a diminution of the opium habit?
A. I have not heard of anything of that kind.
Q. Does the government give any assistance to a person that comes to it saying that he wishes to discontinue the opium habit?
A. I have not heard that anything of that kind is done.
M. C. The Japanese government has a system of hospitals, medical assistance and care for such persons in Formosa.
A. No. I have never heard of anything of that kind here.
Q. Do persons who have used opium moderately for some time ever voluntarily discontinue the habit?
A. I have known of some very rare cases where the users left off the habit without medical assistance.
Q. Is opium used by women to any extent?
A. I have heard of women using it. I have known, in Burmah, of Indian nurses using it sometimes to quiet children. I have never known of women using opium.
Q. Do you think that any opium is smuggled into Burmah?
A. A great deal. Both from China over the border and through our ports. Q. To what do you attribute the increase in the use of opium?
A. I do not know exactly. It strikes me that it is due a good deal to the
contact of person with person.
It was proved some time ago that opium was scattered around in small pieces among the children, raw ; this was done by the Chinese opium farmers. I do not know whether it is done now or not. The same is done by the liquor shops. They go out and give strong alcoholic drink to the people, and this draws them in. It does succeed. I know there have been attempts on the part of the government to put it down. I know there have been attempts to spread the opium habit among the people by giving it to the children. A law has been passed, I understand, forbidding the use of opium to all Burmese except those who were registered. Nobody else can get opium. But opium is used everywhere, and the habit is spreading.
Q. Do you believe that the laws, ordinances and regulations now in force in Burmah tend to diminish the use of opium?
A. They might diminish the amount of sales, but I do not think that they have diminished seriously the use of opium among the people. I think that the measures were intended to check its use among the Burmese, confining it to the habitual users. It has failed in that.
Q. What is the opinion among the better class of Chinese in regard to the use of opium ?
A. I am not familiar with them. I, know only a few. I do not want to give any definite opinion on that. Most of my knowledge is confined to the Burmese.
Q. Among the Burmese?
A. It is used among the high class of Burmese.
Q. Is it offered to guests at banquets or to visitors making social calls? A. I have never heard of that.
Q. Do you believe that a person who uses opium moderately would be likely to resort to some other stimulant or drug, if deprived of opium?
A. I think very likely. Cocaine is used very much. Ganja is used a great deal among the natives of India and among some of the Burmese. I do not think that, if deprived of opium, they would necessarily resort to something else. But it becomes life or death to them. I have seen some cases in which persons have been deprived of opium, and they have become insane and died.
Q. In what form is opium used here?
A. Partly in smoking, partly in chewing.
Q. Is there any hypodermic use of morphia?
A. I have heard that it is used.
Q. Do you think that persons who are habitual users of opium can be expected to abandon the use of the drug?
A. I think they might if they had. the mental determination. I do not know about the Burmese, because I have seen so very few cases of any persons doing it among them. I do not want to be absolute on that point.
Among the Shan people I have known of several cases. They are divided into smokers and non-smokers. Some of them will smoke opium for several years, and then with a certain amount of will-power or by means of a decoction which they use, break off the habit entirely.
Q. Can we get hold of that decoction?
A. I do not know. There is an English gentleman that has the prescription. It was used successfully a good many times. It is so long since I saw it that I do not remember what it was. I have not seen anything of the people for twenty years.
Q. Do you consider that prohibition, high tariff, government monopoly or high license would be likely to diminish the use of opium?
A. I know very little of the legal phase of this question. I do not think that prohibition is possible here. I was asked that question by the Royal Opium Commission. I said to them that it would be well to have no opium in Burmah. I suggested that the government be recommended to try it. I told them that I should like to see it tried, but did not know what the result would be. But opium is now so extensively used that it is doubtful whether such a measure would be possible. I cannot say.
Q. Have you any suggestion that you might make as to the methods that might be utilized in diminishing or eradicating the use of opium?
A. Evidently what the Englishmen have tried here is an entire failure. If it were a country in which the opium habit was just beginning, I should like to see prohibition put into effect. Here the habit is already prevalent and very extensive. If prohibition had been put into effect fifty years ago, it might have been successful. Whether it would be practicable now or not, I doubt. I should think that some more effective restrictive measures might be devised. When the English came to Upper Burmah, a regulation was passed, providing that only habitual users should be supplied with opium. I think that something of that kind is very plausible. The large number of the administrators of these things are natives, Burmese. The Burmese is certainly not very conscientious or very effective in carrying the regulations out. He himself may be sympathetic.
Q. Do you think that anything can be done throligh the schools?
A. I think that most important. The Women's Christian Temperance Union had one of its representatives here, to see what could be done through the schools. They have a series of books. I have seen them. I do not know whether they are altogether correct from the present status of information. The matter was brought before the educational authorities. They succeeded in inducing them to pay for a set of books showing the danger of stimulants of this kind; but the sentiment here was strong against it and it was impossible to do anything. I believe that it would be a very great help if the young were educated to know the evils of intoxicants and opium. These books did not refer to opium ; only to the use of liquors. But the whole sentiment of the authorities was. against it. I think that all such books should be strictly in accordance with scientific results.
M. C. We are trying to devise some method of keeping the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands from this vice. We have a coast line greater than that of the United States, and an enormous number of harbors and bights. We are forty-eight hours from Hongkong. The difficulties of preventing smuggling are very great.
A. It would require an immense revenue. I wish in some way the government would be stricter in the enforcement of its laws. I think that the desire for revenue should influence it is a very serious matter.
I know some men who spoke very strongly against the opium laws in force here, some of whom were addicted to the use of opium. King Theebaw was a great friend of mine. He was very strongly opposed to the use of opium. He knew its evil effects. We have had no legal vote on this question.
M. C. I believe that if a vote were put to the Filipinos, there would be an overwhelming decision against the use of opium.
A. If prohibition were put into effect there—so far as smuggling is concerned, I suppose, of course, that the Chinese are found only in the large places, or where there is a great deal of money—would not the people, if they thoroughly understood the issue, if they are of that character, would they not unite and assist the government?
M. C. Yes.
A. Opium involves such a destruction of moral principle. It is worse in its destructive influence than liquor.
Q. I suppose that lies in its greater likelihood of spreading? A. There is something in that.
Q. What is the rule of the Baptist Church in regard to the admission to church membership of opium smokers?
A. A person who is found to use opium is immediately put out of the church.
Q. Is that so with all the Protestant churches?
A. The Methodists, Presbyterian, and other Protestant churches here are all very small bodies. They have only a few members. As to the Church of England I do. not know.
Q. How about the Roman church?
A. I have never heard anything in regard to them. But with us there has been quite a good number of cases of discipline. In our church, if a man becomes accustomed to the use of intoxicants, he is disciplined. The Burmese knows no limit; he has no control over himself.
I think that more opium is used in the Shan States than in Burmah. The Shan States lie right between Burmah and China.
Q. If it is known that a Chinese or Burmese uses opium habitually, will that fact make it difficult for him to obtain employment?
A. You mean European firms or native?
M. C. Both.
A. I do not know much about European firms. If it were well known, I suppose it would be a barrier. The Shans use a great deal more opium than the Burmese, lying, as they do, on the Chinese border and having Chinese caravans coming through them. Then there is a large section of that country where they have an idea that opium is preventive of malarial fever. In many of these sections opium is quite lightly used, never becoming a serious habit.
M. C. The statement has often been made to us that it is preventive of malarial fever. Men who have given the subject a really scientific study say that it merely dulls the sensibilities of the user, so that he does not feel the chills.
A. I do not know.    •
M. C. I think that is the basis of the whole statement.
A. I think that if the opium areas were put under cultivation with grain, the population itself would be much better off.
Q. Is not the government for the benefit of the people, and not the people for the benefit of the government ?
A. Of course. I do not feel that the idea of benefitting the people is kept in the front when it touches revenue.

INTERVIEW XLI.

INTERVIEW WITH A. E RIGGS, ESQ., I. C. S., SENIOR MUNICIPAL MAGISTRATE Or RANGOON.
RANGOON, December 26, 1993.
Mr. Riggs: The policy in this country has been to prevent the Burmese from eating opium, if possible, from getting it. Some years ago when Sir A. Mackenzie was Lieutenant Governor of this province, he prohibited its use entirely to all Burmese.
Q. This prohibition applied to both Lower and Upper Burmah, did it?
A. Yes. He even wanted to prevent the importation of opium altogether. It was impossible to put the policy into effect. Opium was smuggled from all sides. It could be brought in from Singapore, Penang, Madras, Calcutta, the Shan States, and China. There were opportunities for smuggling it in all directions. It was so easily concealed, being brought in in packages large enough to last the smoker a year. A package would last the ordinary smoker for three years. Since it was so easily concealed, it was impossible to prevent its illicit importation.
The policy was then changed, that is, in Lower Burmah. Now a Burmese before he can legally buy or smoke opium must be registered. Only registered Burmese are allowed to buy the drug, and they can buy only three tolas at a time. Up to 1893 all Burmese who proved themselves to be opium smokers were thus registered, and since then no further registration has been allowed. It has been absolutely stopped.
Q. What method was used for finding out the smokers? Merely their own statement to that effect?
A. Yes. That was supposed to be sufficient. As a matter of fact, I do not believe thirty per cent of the Burmese availed themselves of the opportunity of registration. It was only the Burmese who were compelled to register in order to be able legally to smoke. The Chinese, the Hindus, the Singalese, the Malays, the Europeans and all other nationalities could possess three tolas of opium without registration. The only ones compelled to register were the Burmese. The supposition is that opium does them more harm than it does other nationalities. The Chinese take it, the Sikhs take it ; but it does not seem to do them any harm. In fact, it is often found to be beneficial. The Chinese coolies take it in very large quantities, but it does not seem to be injurious to them in the same way that it is to the Burmese. If a Burmese confines himself to a moderate use of opium, it will not do him so much harm ; but unfortunately he is prone to go to excess in its use.
That has been our policy. The government then opened up a certain number of shops ; I have not the exact figures, but there were between forty and fifty shops in Lower and Upper Burmah. All these shops were put up at auction. They had the sole right to sell. They could sell opium only in the centers where they were situated. These centers were perhaps from thirty to forty miles apart.
Q. Where did these shops obtain their opium?
A. From the government at a fixed price.
Q. In selling it, were they obliged to sell it at a price fixed by the government?
A. No. The price was not fixed. They sold it at any price they chose, depending upon the character of the population, the demand, etc.
After having got the privilege of running a shop, the licensee must limit his sales to a certain number of tolas per head. This was estimated. All Burmese allowed to buy opium were registered. Any one else could buy three tolas without being registered.
Q. Was the opium prepared by the government before being dispensed?
A. That depended upon the demand. We sold both prepared and raw opium. The shop licensees preferred to buy the opium raw and prepare it themselves, because they made a larger profit in that way. Then, the Burmese, who generally use opium by eating, bought it raw ; those who smoked it preferred it prepared.
Q. I understand, then, that all vendors were licensed, and that the Burmese smoker was also licensed and could buy only three tolas at a time. Any one else could purchase that amount without license. That is right, is it not?

A. Yes. But we found the system a complete failure. We had to change it. The opium habit was spreading. In some places it was absolutely necessary to prevent the inhabitants from getting malarial fever. Of course there was an enormous demand, and there must be an enormous supply. It could not be otherwise. It was simply a question of convenience. The smoker could get only enough to last him six days, and he must then make another journey to get some more. In many cases he had no sooner got home than he had to go for some more. The shops were thirty or forty miles apart and transportation slow and difficult.
Then the system of registration was extremely imperfect. The Burmese had to be registered before he could buy opium; the Chinese could buy it without registration. The result was that the Chinese made a regular business of supplying opium to the Buremese, going back and forth to the opium shops and registering fictitious names.
Q. How long has the recent law been in effect?
A. This is the second year that it has been in operation. It increased the number of shops in Lower Burmah to a limit of sixty. In addition to that it abolished the sales of opium at auction entirely. When the shops were put up at auction, the man that bought the monopoly of selling bought also the monopoly of smuggling. Such enormous prices were paid for the shops that it was apparent that the licensees must smuggle in order to make anything.
Q. They were the only persons allowed to have opium in their possession, were they?
A. They were the only persons allowed to sell it. They went in for as much as they could sell. They bribed everybody.
Q. Then what has happened is that the number of shops has been increased and they are no longer sold at auction?
A. Yes. The shops are now given out at a fixed fee, varying from t,000 to 2,000 rupees a shop. We have in Rangoon a shop that pays 2,000 rupees. In addition to this, it has been so arranged that the vendors get a very liberal margin of profit. The object of that is to give John Chinaman enough to induce him to assist the government in preventing smuggling. It was thought that he would not be likely to smuggle if he received a liberal profit. We tried to make it as much as possible to his.interest not to do so. In addition to that we instituted in every shop a man whom we call the Resident Excise Officer. It is his duty to watch the sales to see that they are properly made. He is a sort of government detective stationed in the shop to keep watch on the vendor.
Q. Has that addition increased largely the cost of maintaining the system?
A. The increase ranges at about 200 rupees per day.
These men, of course, vary greatly. They are all Burmese. I have one or two who are thoroughly trustworthy. As a rule they are easily bought over by the Chinese. If a Chinese vendor wishes to smuggle opium, he simply bribes the Resident Excise Officer. I think it is done very easily. If the vendor is honest, you need no Resident Excise Officer. It is only a question of increasing his salary to three times that paid by the government, and he is bought over. Even supposing that the vendor is perfectly honest, and I have some such, you have to remember that they have not control of the entire market. There is an enormous amount of illicit importation into the province. It is so very easily conveyed into the country.
Then of course you must take into consideration the mixed character of the population. A Chinese will buy three tolas of opium in one shop, three in another, and so on, in each case entering a fictitious name. It is impossible to detect him. The names are so similar. He thus opens up a little business on his own account. There are opium dens which get opium from the government shops in the same way. It is our policy to suppress these dens. So that if we prevent the consumers from getting as much as they want, they get it somewhere else.
Q. Is there any change contemplated in the present laws?
A. I could not say as to that.
The opium business is so enormously profitable. There are men who have made fortunes in two or three years. The vendors keep a large number of criminals in their pay. These Chinese are paid to go to jail. They do not mind going to prison. They take all the risk; The business is so extremely profitable. We sell opium at sixty-five rupees ; it can be bought at Calcutta at from thirty to thirty-five rupees. This is so low that even in Rangoon they can make one hundred per cent. on it. Further up in the country even larger profits can be made. The people are willing to pay two and one-half times as much as the government pays for it. Communication and transportation are difficult and slow, making it hard to get opium.
Another respect in which the system is troublesome. Recently a registration was held. Only those were allowed to register who were classified as opium users in 1893. The result is that those who have begun its use between that date and the present have not been allowed to register. They are practically in the position of outlaws, as far as the supply of this drug is concerned.
There is another thing that I might mention. We find that in Rangoon, and I suppose that it is the case in other parts of the province also, morphia and cocaine are taking the place of opium to an amazing extent. These drugs are imported from England in enormous quantities. Dens for the hypodermic injection of morphia and cocaine are springing up.
Q. Yes. I was exceedingly surprised to hear that cocaine is in use in such large quantities here.
A. It is a most painful, fact. It is a thing which should be rigidly suppressed.
Q. Is prohibition still in force in Upper Burmah ?
A. In Upper Burmah the natives are prohibited from possessing opium altogether. The prohibition is being continued.
Q. Does it prohibit?
A. No. Nearly the same amount of opium is taken into Upper Burmah as into Lower Burmah. This increase is partly due to this fact. Formerly there was a strong religious feeling against the use of opium among the Buddhists. This checked the spread of the habit. Unfortunately we are weakening the influence of the Buddhist priests. The people are becoming anglicized. Wherever there is a strong Buddhistic feeling, there is a religious and social denunciation of the vice. In such places a Buddhist who smokes onium is regarded as a man to be shunned; he is classed with thieves, drunkards, liars, and other criminals. That feeling was once so strong that it practically succeeded in keeping the Burmese away from the opium habit. That feelirg does not exist in Lower Burmah. It is dying out in Upper Burmah. The opium user is not so despised as he used to be.
Q. Do you find that opium has more deleterious effects on the Burmese than on the Chinese or Indians?
A. I think it does. The Burmese is always prone to excessive indulgence. Q. You attribute this to the fact that he is an excessive user rather than to the fact that he uses it at all ?
A. Yes. I think so. I know some persons who are regular smokers and who do their work thoroughly. I do not think that opium in moderate quantities is harmful.
We find that our registers are worse than useless. It is impossible fcr us to check them. The system excludes a large number from being registered, a thing which a Burmese extremely dislikes. Then registration is a thing which is very easily dodged.
Q. In Upper Burmah where the natives are not allowed to buy opium, do you find that this prohibition can be carried out? Do not the Chinese buy the opium and turn it over to them?
A. They get it as easily as they can desire. It is smuggled in from China and the Shan States. There is every facility for obtaining opium. It is something enormous.
Q. With your waterways and your neighboring states, I do not see how it is possible to prevent smuggling.
A. It is absolutely impossible.
Q. Have you any suggestion you can make to meet this difficulty?
A. The first thing necessary before trying to control it, is for the government to get the opium business entirely into its own hands. It is impossible for the government to control the distribution of opium, as long as this is in the hands of the vendors, who direct it into any channels they wish. The next thing for the government to do is to meet the bona fide demand.
Q. Your suggestion, then, is that the entire control be placed in the hands of the government, that is, make it a government monopoly?

A. It is already a government monopoly. The difficulty is with the government vendors. They are dishonest and encourage the smuggling of opium for their own profit. They find large numbers of hirelings who are willing to go to jail if necessary.
Q. How couki the government get it into its own hands, then?
A. By having a sufficient number of shops and a sufficient supply to meet the demand. I should suggest that it allow all the licensees to have a certain number of fakirs (peddlers). Let these find out from each village what amount of opium is likely to be demanded there, and let them take these amounts from the shops and visit the various villages.
Q. That would of course increase very much the number of shops and vendors?
A. Yes.
Q. It would also increase the apparent consumption, would it not?
A. It would certainly. The real consumption would, of course, continue as now, for wherever opium is desired it is so easily obtained. There is practically no check, except a man's own conscience.
Q. The increase would be only apparent. But would any reason be strong enough to convince the people at home of this?
.A Of course, my idea is that the facts shall not be concealed at all.
M. C. The facts are very important. Wherever there is a demand, a supply also exists. That is a natural law.
.4. The only way in such a case is to choose the lesser of two evils. My own experience—and I have been here twelve and a half years and am Senior Magistrate at this place—leads me to believe that opium is a less serious matter than people would have it appear. The opium smoker is never more than a very petty criminal. He is not like the drunkard. He becomes lazy, sleepy, useless, and inclined on occasions to petty theft. He is never violent, never a menace to society. He becomes emaciated, anemic, and useless for hard work. This is the worst that you can say of him.
Q. That is a very important matter. The opium-smoker is comparatively a harmless creature?
A. They never give any trouble themselves. As long as they can get their opium they are generally peaceable. But they do create an immense number of hawkers, men who finance these things, as well as a large number of criminals, who defy the law of the land, who will go to jail for three years if necessary, because they are low, mean and without conscience. There are those who for a sufficient sum will not hesitate to commit murder, if necessary to effect their object. Opium is so easily concealed. It is brought in in a thousand and one ways. You cannot prevent its coming in. You would have to have an enormously increased customs department. Even then it would not be effective.
Q. It is found smuggled in in the soles of shoes? Eggs are emptied of their contents and filled with opium, and the opening sealed?
A. Yes. It is also smuggled in cocoanuts.
Q. Also in kerosene-oil cans?
A. Yes. You can do two things. Meet the demand fairly and squarely. Then try to suppress it by means of educational and religious influences. This is the only way in which the habit can be got rid of.
Q. In the event of a man who smokes opium not beilig able to obtain it, do you think he is likely to resort to some other stimulant?
A. I do not think so.
Q. Is the government making any effort to inculcate through its schools a dislike or dread of opium?
A. I do not think it is. This is the weak point of our system. We are not getting hold of the young from an ethical point of view.
Q. Would you suggest this as a means of meeting the difficulty?
A. I think so. To create a strong feeling against opium is the only way to suppress it.
M. C. This is what the Japanese are doing—from the kindergarten to the university.
A. You know how we British hate to be called liars. There is the same feeling in Upper Burmah in regard to the opium-smoker. He is associated with the drunkard, the thief and the liar. If we could only create that feeling again through our schools, this habit would quickly die out.

Q. In fighting the opium habit. we have on the one side legislation and on the other public opinion. Legislation seems to be rather a failure?
A. An entire failure. In this city we have four shops, which are situated, I believe, at a distance of one and one-half miles apart. In spite of that the people will not resort to them. I will mention a very striking fact, which will show you how this policy of registration is an entire failure. In Rangoon we have registered two thousand Burmese opium-smokers. In addition to that there must be at least three thousand five hundred who are not registered, so that there are about five thousand five hundred Burmese who are known to use opium. Out of that number throughout the whole city altogether only from eighty to ninety persons come to the opium-shops daily to purchase opium. Only that number. The amount that one person can purchase will not last more than six days. It might last very much less. You can see to what extent we supply the demand—only ninety persons out of five thousand five hundred. The rest must get it through hawkers or in other ways. These hawkers are generally Chinese, who buy three tolas here, three tolas there, and so on, and then sell it to the Burmese, registered and unregistered. It is simply a question of convenience. The opium-smoker becomes extremely lazy. He will not go across the street to get his opium, if he can have it brought to him.
Q. Do you think that the use of opium is increasing?
A. It is very difficult to say, as we do not know what it was before. Then there is a great deal of smuggling. We cannot tell how much opium is illicitly brought in. It is impossible to tell. I think that the general impression is that it is increasing. We do not find that this system of giving out licenses and allowing a liberal margin of profit has diminished smuggling at all.
Q. Do you find that many crimes are committed against the opium laws and regulations?
A. I should think there are. We cannot give exact figures.
Q. Are there many Convictions?
A. There are a large number of convictions, but they have comparatively little effect. It is so difficult to get convictions against the real promoters of smuggling.

INTERVIEW XLII.

INTERVIEW WITH W. T. HALL, ESQ., COMMISSIONER OF FINANCE OF BURMAH.
RANGOON. December 27, .1903.
Mr. Hall: The Opium Act remains the same, but the rules have been changed. The new scheme goes into operation from April I, igort. It is about ten years ago that we revised our opium arrangements. It was then our policy to prevent the Burmese from using opium altogether, but we found that they secured it from the Chinese. It was then decided to register all those who were in the habit of using opium. It 'was thought that the others would refrain from it by being excluded from the list. It was an entire failure. It did not stop the illicit distribution of opium among them. Both the young and the old men secured opium just as before. It was absolutely impossible to prevent it. There was such a great extension of smuggling that we decided to change the arrangement of our opium shops.
Up to that time, that is, April, 1902, we auctioned the right to sell opium. For that right to sell we got an income of five lakhs a year. There is no doubt that these large sums were paid, because the licensee counted on being able to deal illicitly. We calculated the suitable amount of opium that should go to each shop. We knew that there were so many registered Burmese. We allowed so much per head, and said so much for this shop and so much for that. It was impossible under the circumstances to offer these large sums without dealing illicitly. So it was thought best to alter the system.
There was any amount of illicit opium, which of course non-registered Burmese got hold of. We wanted to stop this illicit traffic. We therefore decided to stop auctioning the right to sell. We also placed a well-paid man in every shop. known as the Resident Excise Officer. He is a servant of the government. These men receive handsome salaries. some of them getting two hundred and some two hundred and fifty rupees per month. The Excise Officer is expected to see that no opium is sold illicitly in the shop to which he is attached. No more than three tolas can be sold to any one person. None is to be sold to Burmese who are not on the register. Every shop has a list of the registered users. When one of these buys opium, his name and address are entered. The sales to Chinese and natives of India are also entered.
Still we have not been able to stop the illicit sale of opium. Opium is still sold to non-registered Burmese. However, there is no doubt that our present system has stopped wholesale smuggling to a large extent. There is nothing like the wholesale smuggling there was two years ago. I do not think that it has stopped the hawking of small amounts. That still goes on. Formerly balls of opium of two pounds each were imported from Singapore and Calcutta. These were then divided up among special agents, who went around the country selling them illicitly. I think that we have been able to stop that to quite an extent. Now these Chinese take opium out of the shops in quantities of three tolas at a time, and sell it to unlicensed Burmese. The hawking business has changed. But we are anxious to find some method or other by which to induce the Burmese to take less opium. In that we have not succeeded; whether we shall or not, I do not know.
Q. How long has this law been in operation?
A. Two years.
Some officers say we are succeeding. Formerly opium was smuggled in large amounts. Chinese used to get in a large stock, and then would send agents through the country distributing opium to the Burmese free until they acquired the habit. Then they would turn around and sell at high prices. Some officers say that now it does not pay so well. The hawking business is small, because the stock is small. It does not pay to distribute opium free from a number of months. If the hawker fails in his purpose, he loses. So far our policy has made it more difficult for the Burmese to get opium. We have more shops.
Q. What number of shops do you find necessary?
A. We have four shops in Rangoon. In Upper and Lower Burmah there are altogether ninety-one shops.
Q. I should think it difficult for a man who is employed to have to go so far for his opium. Does that not encourage smuggling?
A. We are in favor of having more shops. Under the present circumstances a man has often to go thirty miles before reaching the nearest shop. By the time he gets home, it is nearly time for him to start back. But the government of India is not disposed to increase the number of shops to any great extent. At present we have ninety-one.
Q. At what rate is opium sold to these shops?
A. We sell it to them at the rate of one rupee per tola—that is raw. Cooked, it is one rupee, eight annas. The 'cooked stuff is worth only about one-fourth more, because the loss in cooking is only between twenty and twenty-five per cent. The licensee prefers to buy the opium raw and cook it himself.
Q. At what rate is opium sold by the vendor ?
A. It varies in different places. In Upper Burmah we had to reduce it because of the illicit importation going on over the border, and the population is also very scattered. In the thickly populated districts we insist on its being sold at one rupee.
Q. Is that the price at which the licensee must sell?
A. Yes.
Q. How are the shops assigned at present ?
A. We give them out. Auctioning was the old system. We had numerous reasons for abolishing it. A shop is, given out at one thousand rupees a year. In the case of shops where a very large profit is made, we raise the fee. At present we sell them the opium at sixty-five rupees a seer, generally. In India it is sold at thirty, in other places at sixty ; all that is arranged to check smuggling. When the opium is sold at sixty-five rupees, the licensee makes fifteen rupees on every seer he sells. because he sells it at eighty rupees a seer. Take a big shop where the sales amount to from 5,000 to 7,500 seers a year, and the profits are large. A small shop may sell only 3,000 a year. We now have a fixed fee of 1,000 rupees for small shops. We allow them a large profit, because we hope in that way to induce the licensees to co-operate with us in checking smuggling. Some have co-operated very willingly ; but the bulk of them do nothing. They take their profit of fifteen rupees and do nothing more. We leave that to them. If we find that they are not co-operating. we do not renew their licenses.

Q. Do you have wholesale vendors?
A. We do that. We sell the opium directly to the vendors.
Q. Can you tell me about what is the income derived from the opium traffic?
A. You will find all that in the Blue Book.
Q. Can you tell me about what proportion of the Burmese are opium smokers?
A. Well, that differs in different districts. You wish to know the proportion in the different districts, do you?
M. C. Yes. Something approximate is all that we care for.
A. I will get that for you. You know the population, do you not? M. C. Yes.
A. I do not know how you find things here ; but you consider opium consumption as a bad thing, do you not?
M. C. Yes. It is comparatively a new thing with us. We have a Chinese population of about 70,000. I suppose I am on the safe side when I say that about twenty-five per cent use opium.
A. A large number of Chinese suffer from it.
Q. How about the natives of India and the Burmese?
A.. They take it in very small amounts—only about one-eighth tola per day. It does not do them any harm. The only ones who suffer are the young Burmese; they take tremendous doses. Great stress was laid on that point at the time of our last opium inquiry. Then, in the country a large proportion of the people use it in a medicinal way. They find it valuable when suffering from malarial fever. In fact, they cannot get along without it. They consume very small amounts. I think that opium does them a great deal of good. The Chinese who work in the mines use it. They could not do the work they do without opium.
Q. Is it the purpose of the government to protect the Burmese against the use of opium?
A. Certainly. That is our intention.
Q. What is your special reason for that?
A. Well. Because it is understood that they suffer more than other nationalities. They are apt to go to excess. That is brought out in the Report of the Royal Commission. You will see that Burmah receives a great deal of attention there. Until the present ordinancei were passed in accordance with the recommendations of that report, no more restrictions were placed-on the Burmese than on other races. We always have bad certain restrictions applying to all races alike, such as that no one person shall be allowed to buy more than five tolas at the time. Now it has been reduced to three. We then decided to sell only to the Burmese who were registered, that is to those who at the time of the census, ten years ago, professed to be addicted to the habit. We wanted to keep the young men from taking the habit up.
Q. Has the government considered any other measures besides legislation to diminish the opium habit?
A. The administration of the traffic is altogether legislative.
Q. I mean to ask whether you make use of such influences as might be brought to bear through the schools.
A. I do not think that necessary, because in all respectable homes the parents teach their children to abhor opium. Such training is all gotten in the home. I do not believe that anything of that kind would be valuable.
Q. If some method of instruction could be developed in the schools, putting opium on the same footing as lying is put in England or America, would not that have an influence?
A. I do not think so. Among the Burmese there is no doubt already a very strong feeling against the consumption of opium. Very few except the very low class would tolerate it. The sentiment against the use of opium among them is so strong that I do not believe we could increase it. The most of those that take it do so medicinally. It is understood that it is the proper thing to be done. The fishermen all take it in that way. They are some of the hardest workers in Burmah. These fishermen undoubtedly benefit by it.
Q. Is there a Buddhist commandment against the use of opium? ,4. 0, yes. The opium commandment.
Q. If we could get the proportion of Burmese who use opium in Upper Burmah, we should he very thankful.

A. That will take some time. I shall get them for you. The percentage is very insignificant. I do not want to trust to my memory; but I believe that it is less than one per cent. Would you like the figures for Lower Burmah also?
M. C. We should like them very much.
A. I will turn them over to Mr. Rowett (Consular Agent for the United States of America at Rangoon), and he can transmit them to you.

JAVA.

INTERVIEW XLIII.

INTERVIEW WITH MR. A. A. DE JONGH, CHIEF INSPECTOR OF THE OPIUM ExcisE,
JAVA.
BATAVIA, JAVA, January 11, 1904.
Mr. de Jongh: We have only one system of controlling opium in Java. Java, as you know, is the largest and most important of our islands. So we began the regie (excise), which is the system we are introducing, in Java, where we have just finished applying it to all of the provinces. We are now beginning to put it into effect in the other islands, where the farming system still exists.
Q. Do you find the farming system satisfactory?
A. No. That is the reason why we are changing it.
Q. Is any one allowed to buy opium from the government—the natives as. well as the Chinese?
A. It is not allowed to natives, only to Chinese and to soldiers who are obliged to have it. For instance, we have one very fine "residentie," where the population did not use opium until the Chinese settled there about one hundred years ago, bringing opium with them. Nobody is allowed to smoke opium there except the Chinese. Nevertheless, the natives smoke; the officials say that it is. impossible to prevent it. Still nobody but the Chinese is allowed to smoke it_ Theseare what we call "forbidden districts."
Q. Do you find that in the forbidden districts the natives have stopped using opium?
A. In many of these districts they have never begun it. In others they smoke it in spite of the law.
.Q Do you believe that the use of opium is increasing in Java? A. It is decreasing.
Q. How many Chinese are there supposed to be in Java?
A. The Chinese male population of Java is about 150,000.
Q. Do you know what proportion of the Chinese are opium smokers? A. That I cannot tell you.
With regard to the opium regie, we have tried it from east to west, and just finished putting it into effect all over Java. Formerly the opium farmers-and their assistants were spread all over the island. They did harm to the people by lending money on the crops and oppressing the natives. They got a large amount of money out of them. They were a power in the provinces, and used that power to exert a bad influence on the people and on the native officials_ The government therefore decided to expel them from the interior and to drive them into the large cities, where they cannot do so much harm. We have now begun to do this.
Q. Does the government believe that the use of opium is injurious to the natives?
A. It is not so much the injury to the people as it is the cost of maintaining the habit. You probably know that the English government appointed a Royal Commission about 1805. Have you seen their report?
M. C. Yes. We have a copy of it.
A. The opinion of the Commission is that the use of opium does not do as much harm to the people as. for instance, drinking does in Europe. If you try to prohibit the one, you must put a stop to the other also.
M. C. In Burmah drinking is as extensive as opium smoking among the natives.
A. Here drinking is not very extensive among the natives.

Q. From where do you get your opium?
A. From Calcutta, India, and from Persia. We also get Chinese opium, but it is not liked.
Q. You manufacture it here, do you?
A. Yes.
Q. When it has been manufactured, how does the government distribute it?
A. The opium is manufactured in Batavia. From there it is sent to the various districts, in each of which there is a chief official, who distributes it to the lower officials, and these sell it to the people. It is sold to the people not by the Chinese or by persons interested in the amount of consumption, but by native officials, who have regular stipends of 3o, 40, and 5o guildens, disregarding the quantity of opium they sell.
Q. So that a man's income does not depend upon the amount of opium he sells?
A. No. We now have such an administration of the opium traffic that no one can squeeze the government.
Q. Do not the natives sell opium for more than government prices?
A. We sell our opium in tubes. (Shows some samples.) These tubes hold t tael, too mattas, 5o mattas, 25 mattas, 12% mattas, 5 mattas, 2 mattas,
matta, and V2 matta. The advantage of these tubes is that they cannot be opened and closed again without being detected by the police, so that they cannot be refilled with opium; and opium sold in any other way is illegal.
We make the tubes ourselves. They are made of a mixture of pewter and lead.
We also have a secret mixture which enables us to tell whether any opium sold to the people is illegal. Of course, I cannot describe that to you, but each person can look out for his own interests in that matter.
The natives often used opium as a means of revenge. When one person wished to injure another, as often happened, he would place a little piece of opium under the door of his house. Then he went to the police and informed them that there was opium in this man's house, and that if they only made the search they would find it. The man was generally punished, because the magistrates had no proof that the charge was false. Under the regie this is impossible. Opium thus found is examined by the director of the opium factory, to determine whether it is legal or illegal. If he says it is illegal the man may be punished.
Q. Your policy here is to diminsh the consumption of opium among the natives, is it?
A. Yes.
Q. The use of opium, then. is prohibited to all natives, is it?
A. No. Only in some districts.
Q. How many years has that law been in effect?
A. About forty years. It has often been changed. Sometimes a district where the use of opium was prohibited would report that it could not be done, and so the law would have to he changed. From now on the districts will remain in the same conditicn as at present. If opium is now prohibited, it will always be so.
Q. How is opium used?
A. It is smoked.    •
Q. Is there any hypodermic use of morphia ?
A. No. Never.
Q. Your policy does not include the Chinese, then?
A. The object of the government is to diminish the use of opium among the natives. The Chinese may go on smoking in the the same way. We do not mind about them; they can take care of themselves. The natives are like children; we have to take care of them.
Q. But is not the danger this? If you prohibit the use of opium only to natives and allow the Chinese to smoke, they will spread the habit among the natives. Their influence will be bad.
A. Our aim is to protect the natives. The Chinese may benefit at the same time; but we do not intend to compel them.
Q. Is there much smuggling?
A. It is impossible to give any figures for that, because we do not know how much is smuggled. However, when our sales decrease, we suppose that smuggling is increasing; on the other hand, when they increase, it is thought to be diminishing. I think that the regie will largely stop smuggling.
Q. Do you have special opium police?
A. No, we do not have any special opium police. We have had them under the old system, but under the regie they have been dropped. They did a great deal of harm. They were not always occupied in looking after opium, and when they were not they were doing a great deal of harm.
*    *    *    *    *    *

INTERVIEW XLIV.

INTERROGATORIES ADDRESSED IN WRITING TO MR. A. A. DE JONGH, CHIEF INSPECTOR OF THE OPIUM EXISE, JAVA.
BATAVIA, January SI, 1904.
Q. What is the population of Java?
A. Natives, 28,386,121, and Chinese, 277,265.
Q. About what proportion of the Chinese population of Java uses opium? A. It is not known.
Q. What proportion of the users of opium use it moderately? A. It is not known.
Q. What effect, if any, does the moderate use of opium have on the user, physically, mentally, and morally?
A. See "Report of the Royal Commission on Opium; London, 1895."
Q. If it is known that a Chinese uses opium habitually but not to excess, will that fact make it difficult for him to secure employment?
A. This fact is not considered, if the person is otherwise fit.
Q. Do Chinese or European firms investigate to find out whether their employees use opium or not?
A. It is not known.
Q. Do you know whether insurance companies make any difference in the premiums demanded if the applicant for insurance is known to be a moderate user of opium?
A. It is not known. Life insurance is but seldom taken out by natives; among the Chinese only occasionally.
Q. How much opium do you think a man may consume daily without injury to himself?
.4. See Report mentioned in answer to fourth question.
Q. Is there any inducement offered by the authorities, or by any one else, to lead to a discontinuance of the opium habit?
.4. While during the existence of the farm there was an incentive to extend the use of opium, under the regie this is not the case. On the contrary, persons possessing opium are strongly forbidden to resell or peddle it. Neither the employees of the regie nor the sellers are affected by the size of the sales.
Except in the "prohibitive districts," nothing is done either by the authorities or by any one else to discourage the use of opium, in the way that temperance or prohibition societies try to discourage the use of liquors.
Q. Do persons who have used opium moderately for sime time—say, over two years—ever voluntarily discontinue the habit?
A. See Report mentioned under fourth question.
Q. Is the habitual user of opium in any way affected, in case he is deprived of his usual dose?
.4. See answer to preceding question.
Q. How is he affected?
A. See answer to preceding question.
Q. Can he work or perform his business without opium?
.4. See answer to preceding question.
Q. Is opium used in Java by women? By children? Is it administered in any way to children?
A. As a rule, it is not used either by women or by children. There are a few women—wives of soldiers and inmates of houses of ill-repute—who do use opium. As far as is. known, the use of opium either by women or by children among the native population exists only in one "residentie."
Q. Is the use of opium in Java diminishing, stationary or increasing? A. Regularly diminishing.
Q. To what do you attribute this?
A. See first part of the answer to ninth question. By removing all incentive for encouraging the use of opium, each new generation should show a smaller percentage of users.
Q. Do you think that the laws, ordinances, and regulations now in force in Java have the effect of diminishing the use of opium?
A. Without doubt. Owing to the unusually high selling price of opium, it being from eight to ten times the cost price the illicit importation and sale of opium is so remunerative that the severe penP;ties provided for such offenses do not serve to deter persons from violating the law.
On the establishment of the regie, in order to prevent illicit traffic, a considerable increase was made in the native police, while at the same time the special opium police, who existed under the farming system, were abolished, as they had not met our expectations and had also given rise to complaints on the part of the people and to clashes with the general police.
Q. What is the ground for your belief?
A. See answer to ninth question.
Q. What is the general opinion among the Chinese in regard to the good or bad effects of the use of opium?
A. A moderate use of opium has no injurious effect; it is only excess that is harmful.
Q. Is that your opinion also?
A. Yes, that is my opinion also.
Q. Is opium used by persons in every rank of society?
A. The use of opium among the Chinese extends to all classes of society. Among the natives, it is confined principally to the day laborers, its use among the agricultural class being much more limited and among the better class exceptional. The use of opium is forbidden to government employees, under penalty of discharge. Only a very few Europeans use it, and those. without exception, persons who by birth and rearing are closely allied to the native.
Q. Is opium offered to guests at banquets or to visitors making social calls ?
A. Among the Chinese, to visitors making social calls, and at banquets ; among the natives, on festive occasions and during the rice harvest.
Q. Do you believe persons who use opium moderately would be likely to resort to some other drug or stimulant, if deprived of opium?
A. Probably.
Q. What is the ground for your belief ?
A. My experience on this point is limited. I base my opinion upon the fact that almost every people has its own stimulant, and that on being deprived of it, resort to another stimulant would be the natural result.
Q. What measure would you recommend to limit or eradicate the use of opium?
A. None other than the establishment of a regie on the same basis as that of the Dutch Indies—that is, proceeding on the principle that the demand for opium already existing should be fully met thus preventing illicit traffic and all the other evils connected therewith; while, on the other hand. care should be used in avoiding any measure which might tend to increase the use of opium among those already its habitues, or to create new users Districts which are free from opium should be closed to its introduction. There are two "residenties" in Java where the native inhabitants do not use opium, and which have therefore been declared throughout their entire extent as "prohibitive districts." In these districts there are several Chinese strongholds, where smugglers and formerly the farmers of the neighboring "residenties" supplied the demand for opium, without the government being able to check them. Under the regie, the use of opium is permitted in these districts, within the Chinese retreats to Chinese, and to native soldiers coming from the districts where the use of the drug'is not forbidden.
Under the old regime, as well as under the new, the native population of those two "residenties" has remained free from opium.
Q. Do you think prohibition, a high tariff, a government monopoly or high license likely to diminish or eradicate the use of opium?

A. Prohibition is possible only where few, if any, users of opium are found. The importation of opium into Java, except through the government, is forbidden. Import permits for that article are therefore not issued. The farm is certainly not the system destined to diminish or erdicate the use of opium, since the farmers strive to increase their profits and therefore employ all kinds of means, many of which are very questionable, in order to keep their sales at the same point and as far as possible to increase them.
Regarding the salutatory influence of the regie system, attention is called to the answers to the ninth, seventeenth, and twenty-fifth questions. It should also be noted here that the farm sells opium on credit, whereas under the regie it can be secured only on the payment of cash.
Another measure for diminishing the use of opium is a reasonable increase of the selling price—a measure, however, which should be applied with a great deal of foresight, in order thereby not to open the door to illicit traffic. In connection with this, a good, strong land police is a primary necessity, and an adequate coast-guard service should be maintained in order to prevent illicit importation.
The license system is unknown in Java.
Q. Do you consider it desirable that the use of opium should be abandoned ?
A. Without doubt. Not only is opium a considerable item in the b idget of the user, vi/hose ability to attend to the welfare of his family is thereby greatly lessened, but, in addition to that, opium undoubtedly has a harmful influence on the physical and moral character of the person who uses it to excess ; while, finally, smuggling, which will continue as long as this article is in use, in the districts which are favorable thereto, has a demoralizing influence upon the people.
Q. Do you think persons who are moderate habitual users of opium may be expected to abandon the use of the drug?
A. See the afore-mentioned Report.
Q. Would the compulsory abandonment of the drug by moderate users entail suffering and hardship on them?
A. See preceding answer.
Q. In what way is opium used?
A. Opium is smoked as "tjandoe," either mixed or unmixed with finely-cut leaves.
Q. Is there any hypodermic use of opium or morphia?
A. No.
.Q What is the effect of the drug on the different races?
A. See Report.

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