FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE OPIUM INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE APPOINTED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF ACT No. 800, AS AMENDED BY ACT No. 812 OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

GENERAL REVIEW.
MANILA, P. I., June 15, 1904.
The Committee found that five months was too brief a time in which to cover the territory required and to secure anything like full evidence. If conditions in Japan and Formosa seem to have been more thoroughly investigated than those eleswhere, it is because nearly two months of the entire period were given to the work there. Six months for the remainder of the itinerary would have been none too long. Much time was consumed in going from place to place, and on several occasions there was delay in getting a passage from one port to another. It was not always possible to begin work upon arrival ; official relations had to be established with due formality; interviews arranged for and various preliminaries attended to. The difficulties of language were an obstacle, especially in Japan and China. Though records and other official documents in the former country were at once thrown open to the Committee and translations made with expedition, the amount of literature was so great that five months elapsed before the completion of the translator's work. Again, in other places laws were undergoing a change, as e. g. in the Straits Settlements and Burmah, and the Committee was unable to secure copies until its return to Manila. But whatever impediments were met with grew out of the nature of things. In every instance foreign officials and representatives of American government extended interested, prompt, and efficient aid. It is largely due to them that this report possesses that measure of value which it has attained. The same may be said of all the Filipino officials in the different provinces, whose response to the request of the Committee for information and statistical aid was uniformly serviceable and courteous. We regret that this was not so of the Chinese in Manila. Only two—one a professional man and the other a merchant—presented themselves before the Committee to give testimony, though the opportunity was given others to present their view of the case. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which was asked to give, aid by expressing its mind, declined to do so except under conditions such as no government committee could accept.
In arranging interviews the utmost impartiality was observed. Of course, there were conditions in which the Committee had but little choice ; in the limited time at its disposal it was compelled to secure the testimony at hand. Otherwise such persons were interviewed as seemed to be best equipped by reason of length of residence, of occupation, or of force of character, to give accurate and useful information. No evidence has been suppressed ; even that which is obviously of little or no scientific value stands in the report as it was given. In one instance it seemed to the Committee that the testimony given was contributed in such a way as to make any effort to reproduce it for publication a breach of manners.
As far as the Committee. has knowledge, this is the first time in which any attempt has been made to collate the opium legislation of a number of countries where the use of the drug is dealt with as a matter of large concern ; though it ought to be added that time and means are lacking to digest and arrange in an orderly manner the information and facts obtained, so as to be easily available to an individual.
The Report of the Royal Commission to H. B. M. in 1895 was chiefly a study of the Indian problem in response to the following resolution of the House of Commons :
Having regard to the strong objections urged, on moral grounds, to the system by which the Indian opium revenue is raised, this House presses on the Government of India to continue their policy of greatly diminishing the cultivation of the poppy and the production and sale of opium, and desires that an humble address be presented to Her Majesty praying Her Majesty to appoint a Royal Commission to report as to:
I.—Whether the growth of the poppy and the manufacture and sale of opium in British India should be prohibited except for medical purposes, and whether this prohibition could be extended to the native states.
II.—The nature of the existing arrangements with the native states in respect of the transit of opium through British territory, and on what terms, if any, these arrangements could be with justice terminated.
III.—The effect on the finances of India of the prohibition of the sale and export of opium, taking into consideration (a) the compensation payable, (b) the cost of the necessary preventive measures, (c) the loss of revenue.
IV.—Whether any change short of total prohibition should be made in the system at present followed for regulating and restricting the opium traffic, and for raising a revenue therefrom.
V.—The consumption of opium by the different races and in the different districts in India, and the effect of such consumption on the moral and physical condition of the people.
VI.—The disposition of the people of India in regard to (a) the use of opium for non-medical purposes, and their willingness to bear, in whole or in part, the cost of prohibitive measures.
Furthermore, the British report did not close (on the contrary, it only opened) investigation regarding a subject in which history, observation, and the progress of scientific methods and knowledge all have a part to play.
The Philippine Committee feels that in however small a degree, yet at least in some measure it has made a contribution to what is one of the gravest, if not the gravest, moral problems of the Orient. While the instructions of the Governor to the Committee (see letter of instructions, Appendix B, p. 53) were to conduct an investigation for a local purpose, the Committee could not help being conscious of the wider aspect of the question, and it hopes that this work may be the starting point of a new investigation in other countries, especially an investigation along approved scientific lines relative to the effects of opium on man, when taken as it is in oriental countries. The Committee found that wherever it went, though there had been much desultory observation and most men had an opinion, formed by every-day experience or by personal prepossessions, facts established by scientific methods were few and far between.

The Committee, according to instructions, confined its efforts to securing information useful in framing regulations "for reducing and restraining the use of opium by the Filipinos" (see letter of instructions, Appendix B, p. 53). Indeed, it is too well known that opium is a prolific source of revenue to require any demonstration, and any one of several methods could be adopted ex animo to the financial benefit of the Government exchequer. Consequently, the moral and social problem was left free of any parallel or side issues. It is not perhaps generally known that in the only instance where America has made official utterances relative to the use of opium in the East, she has spoken with no uncertain voice. By treaty with China in 188o, and again in 19o3, no American bottoms are allowed to carry opium in Chinese waters_ It may be said that this is partly due to the fact that the American Government is in this way showing respect to an imperial edict of nearly three-quarters of a century ago, an edict long since dishonored, though not officially revoked, by China herself. But it is also due to a recognition that the use of opium is an evil for which no financial gain can compensate and which America will not allow her citizens to encourage even passively. The official attitude of the Government at Washington, while not determining the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee, has had some weight in its deliberations and is a support to it now that it has reached its decision. The conclusions of the Committee are unanimous, though the members started from varying view points, and in the course of the investigation almost the whole gamut of opinion was run. In the end the conclusions may be said to have shaped themselves slowly and naturally out of the data in the hands of the Committee, so that the recommendations herewith offered are made with conviction. Though cumulative testimony and longer observation would have made this report of more value to the public, the Committee-is of the opinion that in the main its conclusions would have been unaltered. Its recommendations, if carried out, are, in its judgment, the most likely to "reduce and restrain the use of opium" in the Philippine Islands, the most in accord with the official attitude of the American Government to the opium question in the Orient, and the most humane of any that could be adopted.

JAPAN.
The opium law of Japan is, in the words of a government official of Tokyo, "prohibitive and effective" (see Appendix C, p. 57). This is not an ex parte assertion ; among foreigners resident in Japan, as well as among the Japanese themselves, there is but the one verdict, thus admirably expressed in Mr. Kumagai's terse phrase. Neither in formal interviews nor in any of the frequent conversations on the subject which the various members of the Committee held with people of all classes was a dissenting opinion heard. The opium law of Japan forbids the importation, the possession, and the use of the drug except as a medicine ; and it is kept to the letter in a population of 47,000,000, of whom 8,000 are Chinese. So rigid are the provisions of the law that it is sometimes, especially in interior towns, almost impossible to secure opium or its alkaloids in cases of medical necessity. Not that the Japanese are ignorant of the medicinal qualities of the drug, for they are abreast with the foremost in their scientific knowledge, and the medical profession of Japan is as worthy of admiration as is that of America or England ; but the government is determined to keep the opium habit strictly confined to what it deems to be its legitimate use, which use, even, it seems to think, is dangerous enough to require special safeguarding.
At first the Committee was inclined to be somewhat sceptical of the efficiency of the law so far as it touches the Chinese, especially as these are settled chiefly in the coast towns where their well-known ingenuity in smuggling and the ease with which the commodity can be conveyed secretly into the country, afford facilities for evasion. But apparently the vigilance of the police is such that even when opium is successfully smuggled in, it cannot be smoked without detection. The pungent fumes of cooked opium are unmistakable and betray the user almost inevitably. In the judgment of the Committee—it could secure no information to the contrary—the Chinese residents in Japan are for the most part non-smokers. Occasionally a culprit is discovered and visited with severe punishment ; but when we consider that the last Chinese conviction was three years ago, and that during that period we have no record of a Japanese having been brought into the court for offenses against the opium law, it is safe to conclude that we are in the presence of effective legislation. Even in Formosa, where the Japanese are surrounded by an opium-smoking population, no tendency has been observed among them to yield to the evil influence about them. There is an instance on record where a couple of Japanese lads in North Formosa experimented with opium just for a lark ; and though they were guilty only on this occasion, they were detected, arrested, and punished. Mr. Ando (see Appendix C, p. 58), who was in Hawaii for three and one-half years, considered the Japanese practically proof against the vice. An instance was brought to our attention of a Chinese compradore who, because he was unable to secure opium in Kobe, resigned his lucrative and responsible position and returned to China. Our experience leads us to consider that legislation which minimizes offenses is entirely satisfactory ; it is seldom our good fortune to meet with a law that practically shuts the door completely against transgression. But such is the case with the opium law of Japan. It would be easy to jump to conclusions and to commit the folly of generalizing from a single instance ; but in order to estimate the intrinsic value of this chapter of Japanese legislation is is necessary to make a careful study. of the national conditions which prevail.
(I) In the first place, the Japanese to a man fear opium as we fear the cobra or the rattlesnake, and they despise its victims. There has been no moment in the nation's history when the people have wavered in their uncompromising attitude toward the drug and its use, so that an instinctive hatred of it possesses them. China's curse has been Japan's warning, and a warning heeded (see Appendix C, p. 58). No surer testimony to the reality of the evil effects of opium can be found than the horror with which China's next-door neighbor views it. In the days of the Tokugawa dynasty, when the gates of Japan were barred to the world, there was small opportunity for good, let alone bad, commodities to gain entrance into the land. But when the bars were let down and foreign products flowed in with a rush, the spear-point was lowered against opium and its alkaloids.
Added to the fear of the effects of opium, there is that powerful moral lever which society holds in its hands of ostracizing those who disregard its conception of propriety. An opium user in Japan would be socially as a leper. A -Japanese may get drunk every night in the week on sake without losing caste, but woe betide him if he resort to the seductions of opium.
(2) The law, then, is not an injunction superimposed on the people by the will of despotic authorities, nor is it the fruits of a victory of the majority over the minority, as in the case of some of our American states where a prohibition liquor law is found on the statute books ; but it is crystallized public opinion. The people not merely obey the law, but they are proud of it ; they would not have it altered if they could. It is the law of the government, but it is the law of the people also. This being the case, one of the main difficulties which would confront any other nation that pursued the same course, especially a nation with as extended a coast-line as that of Japan, does not enter into their reckoning to any appreciable degree—that is to say, smuggling and illicit traffic in the commodity. There being no demand for opium beyond what comes from a very limited number of Chinese, there is no inducement to import it secretly ; in short, the game is not worth the candle. Though it cannot be determined with certainty, it is a fair inference to conclude that the Chinese in Japan are chiefly men who have not acquired the opium habit. Knowing the impossibility of getting a supply of the drug in Japan, persons under the control of the vice would naturally hesitate before going there to live. The official opinion is that Chinese immigration is unaffected by the prohibitive opium law, except so far as it tends to exclude an undesirable class of immigrants.
(3) Prohibition was applied not as a cure but as a preventive. Neither the desire for opium nor its vicious use has ever existed in Japan. But with a nation notorious for its abandonment to the habit but a few miles away, guided by wise foresight, the Japanese took every precaution possible to avoid contamination. The value of prohibition rises and falls according to the degree of culpability among those whom the legislation affects, whatever it may do in a community dominated by the vice, it cannot rise to the height of effectiveness which it is capable of in conditions where its function is to act as a prophylactic against possible disease in a sound community.
(4) The conspicuous loyalty of the Japanese makes them in a peculiar degree a law-abiding people. They have a reverence for law which insures a high measure of success in its enforcement. As illustrative of this, it is worth mentioning that observing citizens noted that cigarette smoking was spreading with alarming rapidity among boys, and a law was forthwith passed forbidding the practice to lads under nineteen. To quote again the phrase of Mr. Kumagai, the law thus enacted was "prohbitive and effective," and that among those who were at the reckless, restless, experimental age of life.
(5) The police force is composed of a superior set of men. They belong to the ancient samurai or knight rank, and inherit a standing and a code of honor which put them above the temptations that ordinarily beset the guardians of the law. Their military lineage is a source of efficiency and noblesse oblige. Their intelligence, their training, their pride of ,profession, and their integrity make them formidable to the would-be transgressor. The government has confidence in them, a confidence which appears to be wisely bestowed.
(6) The Chinese, the only people in Japan who might be suspected of leaning toward the use of opium, are a very small portion of the population, so that they have the deterrent that comes from the overwhelming pressure of public opinion. Not only are they under the surveillance of an efficient police but, one might say, under that of the whole Japanese nation, who in their strenuous efforts toward self-preservation would not spare an unfortunate Chinese who was discovered to be an offender. Mr. Kumagai was asked whether in his judgment the law would work if the proportion of Chinese to Japanese were that of Chinese to Filipinos in the Philippine Islands. His answer was given with promptness and confidence: "It would make no difference however many there were." In the circumstances doubtless this would be true, provided that they remained in the minority. The fact that they are chiefly in three cities—Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki—makes it easier for the authorities to observe special vigilance regarding their habits.
(7) The opium question in Japan is viewed solely as a moral problem, and legislation is enacted without the distraction of commercial motives and interests. The single-mindedness of this viewpoint carries with it the force of concentration, a force that is lacking in countries where opium is reckoned with as a source of revenue. It is worthy of more than passing attention that Japan, which is a non-christian country, is the only country visited by the Committee where the opium question is dealt with in its purely moral and social aspect. The conditions are unique and favor this attitude, it is true, but the forceful and wise way in which the matter is handled indicates unexploited possibilities even in fields less suited to drastic legislative measures.
Prior to the enactment in 1897 of the laws and regulations pertaining to opium (see Appendix G, pp. 247-248), the penal code, together with an ordinance governing the sale and manufacture of opium for medicinal purposes (see article 17 of law, Appendix G, p. 248), held the ground. The present law is only a more specific application of the principles which have always prevailed. It is drawn with exactitude and thoroughness. Punishment for negligence is not overlooked (see articles 11-12, Appendix G, p. 247) in the provision of heavy penalties for flagrant offenses (see Penal Code, Appendix G, pp. 250-251). Unlike our own law, an unconsummated offense is liable to penalty (see Penal Code, Appendix G, pp. 250-251). Also, a person may be punished not merely for smuggling opium, but for smoking or eating it.
Certain persons are authorized by the head official of each district to manufacture and prepare opium for medicinal purposes. All that is thus manufactured and prepared is submitted to a legal test that determines its quality. That which is up to the required standard is sold to the government, and that which falls short is destroyed. The accepted opium is sealed in proper receptacles and sold to a selected number of wholesale dealers (apothecaries), who in turn provide physicians and retail dealers with the drug for medicinal uses only. It can reach the patient for whose relief it is desired only through the prescription of the attending physician. The records of those who thus use opium in any of its various forms must be preserved for ten years. This is the "prohibitive and effective" law of Japan (see Appendix G, pp. 248- 249.)

FORMOSA.
The Island of Taiwan (Formosa) was ceded by China to Japan on June 3, 1895, in response to the inflexible demand of the conquering nation. But it was not until the summer of 1896, after a hard struggle with insurgents, that Japan could be said to command the situation sufficiently to initiate her schemes for the development of the 3,000,000 people over whom she held sovereign rights. What has been done during the past eight years by this quick-witted, enterprising nation for the bpiefit of the Formosans, in the way of hospital and sanitary improvements, education, administration of justice, roads and railways, has resulted in a state of peace such as probably the history of the island has never before known, even temporarily. Not least in the Japanese campaign of progress has been the attempt to grapple with the opium problem and solve it so far as it touches Formosan life. In order to appreciate the magnitude of the task undertaken, it will be necessary to state certain facts regarding the Formosans and their conditions as well as to say something of the form of government which now obtains.
The bulk of the population is Chinese, consisting chiefly of the Haklos, who originally came from the province of Fokien, and who number more than two million, and the Hakkas, who came from the province of Kwantung, and who number about half a million. Both the Haklos and the Hakkas inhabit the coast chiefly, though the latter are more courageous than the former, laboring fearlessly in the camphor camps and tarrying on trade with the intractable savages who live in the interior. In addition to the above-mentioned, there are 40,000 Japanese, residents of Formosa ; the head-hunting aborigines, who number about 113,569, infest the mountain districts inland, and the Pepehoans, who represent a group of savages living in the lowlands and who have become more or less domesticated and speak the Chinese language. The Haklos and the Hakkas alone are consumers of opium. Prior to the Japanese occupation the Formosans (this term applies to the islanders living in Formosa when it became Japanese territory in 1895) were not restricted in their importation and use of the drug. It was a commercial matter only. The nearness of Formosa to the mainland of China, the constant moving to and fro of the Chinese, and the fact that the mass of the population had its home affiliations in Fonkien, where the opium vice is rampant, tended to create a population addicted to the habit in the "Beautiful Island." When the Japanese appeared on the scene, it was estimated that 7 per cent of the entire population were smokers of opium.
The present government of Formosa has at its head a Governor-General, who must be of high military or naval rank, over whom the home Diet has no authority, as he is directly responsible to the Emperor. He is aided by a council consisting of the chief of the civil administration, the chief of the financial department, the chief of the military staff, and the chief of the naval staff. The Governor-General is given a free hand in his administration and in the appointment of subordinates. The Japanese constitution is supposed to have followed the flag—at any rate, as far as it can be applied to the peculiar conditions which there exist.
Upon the inauguration of the new Formosan government little time was lost in grappling with the opium question. There is every evidence to indicate that from the first it was viewed from the same standpoint as in Japan. A prohibitive law was never enacted, but the wisdom of extending the Japanese law to Formosa was seriously considered. When action was eventually taken in 1897 the law that was put into effect (see Appendix G, pp. 254-256) took the shape of a regulative system looking toward the gradual suppression of the use of opium. It might be termed progressive prohibition and stands unique among all the laws that came under the observation of the Committee.
The system is one of government monopoly. The drug is handled and the traffic and sale controlled solely by the government. A large plant in Taihoku prepares all the opium consumed in the island, it being imported in the raw state. The cultivation of the poppy in Formosa is forbidden (see Appendix G, p. 252), though the government has made some experiments in growing it. The opium paste for smoking is in three grades and goes into the hands of the wholesale dealers in sealed cans through a government agent (see Appendix G, p. 254). The possession of the instruments used in opium smoking is forbidden any but physicians, apothecaries, druggists, pharmacists (see article 5, Appendix G, p. 252), persons licensed to open shops for the consumption of opium and licensed smokers (see article 7, Appendix G, p. 252). It is necessary to get a license from the district authority in order to open a shop (see chapter 2, article 19, Appendix G, p. 255). Excepting in cases where a physician prescribes opium in some form as a medicine, no one is allowed to purchase or use opium unless he is licensed to do so as a chronic morphomaniac (see article 3, Appendix G, p. 251) on the certificate of a physician designated by the district authority (see chapter 1, article 3, Appendix G, p. 254), for which he pays a small fee (see article 4, Appendix G, p. 254) and which is good for the calendar year only and must be renewed annually (see Appendix G, p. 255). Graduated penalties are visited upon transgressors of the law (see Appendix G, p. 253). After November, 19oo, the notice having been given as early as 1898, no licenses were issued to new applicants,- although those who had licenses prior to this date had the privilege of renewal each year as long as they desired (see interview with Dr. Goto, Appendix C, p. 61). No Japanese under any condition, except upon medical order in sickness, is allowed the use of opium ; and as far as we could ascertain the savages had not learned the habit.
It was partly considerateness and partly policy that determined the course of the Formosan government relating to opium. The suffering caused by immediate prohibition would have been great, and moreover, such action would have been unintelligible to Chinese consumers, among whom the use of opium has become a traditional custom. In view of the sensitive condition of the islanders, who loved their conquerors as little as any other subjugated people, especially as in their case the conquerors were hereditary enemies, and who had only just been chastised into submission, the government felt that a prohibitive measure would be construed as oppressive and would tend to excite disturbance. Added to this, the smuggling problem made drastic measures seem impracticable (see Appendix C, pp. 68, 71, 72).
(2) The Japanese government did not abandon the prohibitive principle in adopting the Formosan system in their newly acquired possessions. They attempted to make it progressive instead of categorical in its application. Their purpose was and is the complete extirpation of the vice at the earliest moment possible—in perhaps thirty years (see Appendix C, pp. 57,59, 60,63, 67, 68, 69)—with a minimum of suffering and friction. At first sight 6 or 7 per cent does not seem to be a very large proportion to be victims of the habit, or to make it necessary to conciliate. But when we take into consideration the fact that smokers are almost altogether confined to male adults, and that women and children have to be left out of the consideration, as well as the savage tribes, the situation is revealed in its true proportions. Some doubt has been cast on the motives of the government in the establishment of the opium monopoly (see interrogatories answered by Mr. Barclay, Appendix C, pp. 71-74). A man of judicial mind and eminent in public affairs in Japan hinted at this fear, though he had no evidence to adduce on the subject and said he was loath to impute sordid motives. The Committee, however, discovered no grounds for believing that financial interests play any part but a subsidiary and momentary one in the opium laws and regulations of Formosa. (a) The Japanese hold that the non-medicinal use of opium is always and everywhere a vice. (b) The original desire of the government was to enforce a prohibitive law. (c) Their ultimate purpose now is to achieve this end, and all the methods adopted have it in view. The revenue from opium, which is now considerable (3,000,000 yen in 1902), is bound to decrease under the provisions of the system until it fails to meet the running expenses of the monopoly.
(3) Side by side with equipment wherewith to satisfy the craving of opium smokers, is a department which uses every means practicable to cure victims. By refusing to give new licenses to the rising generation, the .increase of habitues is checked at its source and the company of smokers is confined to those who were addicted to the use of the drug prior to i9oo. Death, removal, and reform will gradually do away with these. But the Japanese are not hopeless of working a moral cure among a class of men who are perhaps more nearly hopeless than the victims of any other habit. The law does leave the morphomaniac to his fate, but puts in his way encouragements to break off the habit. Any victim can receive treatment in one of the ten government hospitals of Formosa ; medical care is provided for those outside of the hospitals, and pamphlets indicating home treatment are placed in their hands.
(4) In the public schools instruction is given the children on the evils of opium and its effects on the human body. The example set by the Japanese in their hatred of the vice is a powerful educative factor. 'They follow out their own teaching, and as Japanese and Formosan children sit side by side in the same schools, it is easy to see how the virtue of the former would impress itself upon the latter. Testimony received in Singapore (see Appendix C, p. 94) indicated that the use of opium among "Babas," or Straits-born Chinese, who are educated under British influence and imbibe British ideas, is there reduced to a minimum. In the case of the Formosans similar results may be looked for.
(5) It is always difficult to measure accurately the degree of success achieved by a partly effective law, especially if the law is still young and at an experimental stage in its history. That the Formosan system is not an unqualified success is obvious. But the testimony seems to prove that it is more effective in decreasing the use of opium than any other system which the Committee has cognizance of among a people where morphomania is a common vice.
(a) Smuggling still continues. Propinquity to China and the joy that comes to the Chinese heart when opportunity is offered to make the narrowest possible margin of profit, aggravate the illegal practice. With commendable shrewdness the Formosan system puts the government opium at a minimum price, so that there will be as little incentive as may be to the smuggler. Sometimes the price is below what.smuggled opium could be sold for, on account of the export tax levied in China ; although at other times it may be slightly in advance of the market-price elsewhere (see Appendix C, pp. 6i, 62). Statistics would seem to point to a decrease in smuggling. More than this cannot be said.
(b) Decrease in registered smokers, decrease in imports, decrease in revenue, all indicate progress. While not leaning too heavily on statistics, it is well to bear two things in mind : (i) The Japanese are remarkable for the minute information they acquire and for the pains at which they are to give accurate statistical tables (see charts, Appendix E). (2) The bulk of testimony gathered from independent sources (see Trade Report, Appendix E) bore witness to satisfactory progress. One of the leading Christian ministers in Formosa declined to give an opinion on the results of the system, on the ground that if he were in search of information on the subject, he would apply himself to the government records which he considered to be accurate.
The criticisms against laxity in enforcement of the law exceed those against the law itself. Almost all who were interrogated agreed in commending the system as humane and apt.

CHINA.
It may be well to recall a few general facts bearing on Chinese character and life, before passing to the consideration and the weighing of the testimony secured by the Committee in Shanghai, Hongkong and other places in China.
( 1) The Chinese on the whole are a moral, law-abiding, industrious and frugal people. How comes it then that they are addicted, more perhaps than any other race, to opium smoking and gambling, whose effects lead certainly to wastefulness and laziness, and generally to lawbreaking and immorality? If this question may be answered—in other words, if the cause producing these deleterious effects may be found—we shall have solved one problem connected with the use of opium in China.
(2) Why is it that in spite of the well-worded edicts, letters, petitions and literature condemnatory of opium, we find no governmental action taken to prohibit or limit its use? It may be safely held that the Chinese government officials understand the members of their race and the denizens of their countries better than foreigners do or can ; and it is not conceivable that all or even a majority of the ruling class in China willfully and deliberately encourage a custom which they all agree in condemning. And yet we find the opium vice, fulminated against by priest and illuminate, condemned and villified by merchant and laborer, steadily increasing and spreading more and more widely.
Perhaps the answering of these two questions is too difficult, too complicated with incomprehensibles and imponderables for any non-Chinese mind to deal with; and yet a comprehension of these conditions would certainly be most useful in deciding on what course to pursue in regard to opium in the Philippines, and is doubtless necessary in arranging and digesting the testimony of Chinese bearing on opium.
There seems to be in China neither a public opinion which controls nor a national life which welds and consolidates a people. There is no Chinese nation, there is merely a Chinese race. The family is the unit, and the individual is of importance only as an aliquot part of that unit. Hence arise many virtues, filial piety especially and respect for the past of the family, for ancestors as representing all that is noblest and best. Hence also arise iron-bound conservatism, opposition to change of all kind, and particularly a kind of family selfishness, so to speak, a desire to benefit and aggrandize the family regardless of the injury done to others or other families. This selfishness, which embraces not only the self—the ego—but the family—the alterego—acts as a positive force in urging men to sell opium to others of a different family or clan ; for it is no matter how many persons are debauched, provided only those of the debaucher's family are not harmed but benefited. When any person—or his own conscience—accuses a Chinese of wrong-doing in trafficking in opium, he has not only the stock answers that our liquor dealer has, but he adds to them this one, that his duty is first and only to his family, that not only is he not his brother's keeper, but it is also his highest and paramount duty to benefit his family, even though it be by destroying morally and physically others not connected with his family. To him the injury of the many for the benefit of the few may be a righteous duty, provided the few are his family and the many not. This peculiar altruistic selfishness is not confined to the Chinese, but as a general effective cause it pervades their life, their thought and their action. In it are found the roots of their frugality, patience, laboriousness and well-recognized commercial honesty ; and it may not be denied that this characteristic is often, if not generally, a great power for good. It is well known that there are many able, conscientious Chinese rulers, and many Chinese whom broad charity and uprightness make worthy of profound respect and admiration.
It may be said that all peoples crave a stimulant, the American Indian his tiswain, the .Caucasian his alcohol, the Arab his coffee, and the Chinese his opium. But is there no other craving common to mankind? Are there not cravings for amusements, cravings for food? And what people on earth are so poorly provided with food as the indigent Chinese, or so destitute of amusement as all Chinese, both rich and poor? There are no outdoor games in China, or indeed any games except in a gambling sense. Absolute dullness • and dreariness seem to prevail everywhere. As these two demons drive the Caucasian to drink, so they drive the Chinese to opium. As an individual may by habitual toil and attention to business become incapable of amusement, so a race of almost incredible antiquity, which has toiled for milleniums, may likewise reach a point in its development where the faculty of being amused may have atrophied and disappeared, so that all that remains of that desire is to spend leisure in placidity. And nothing contributes to this so much as opium. In Formosa the merry Japanese boys are teaching the placid Chinese lads to play tennis, football, polo, vaulting, etc., with a view—the Japanese teachers say—of improving them physically and also of developing in them a love of sports which will prevent them from wishing to spend their leisure indoors smoking opium. And the poor who have no leisure? They often have no food, or so little that any drug which removes first the pangs of hunger and later the healthy cravings of appetite seems a boon to them. Add to this the feeling of peace and well-being that often accompanies the smoking of opium, and it is not difficult to see why the indigent Chinese use it. We administer morphine to relieve pain. The life of the indigent Chinese coolie is pain, caused by privation. The opium sot is an object of pity rather than of contempt. If the Chinese seems more easily to contract' habits than other nations, and more the slaves of them, is not that due to the dullness of the lives of the well-to-do and to the painful squalor of the indigent? Chinese are said to be victims of the opium habit, of the morphia, the cocaine, and even the cigarette habit ; and in Shanghai the question has been gravely raised as to whether a certain brand of cheap and exceedingly poor American cigarettes contain opium ; as the coolies spend their last penny to secure a few of them, just as others do to procure opium. As opium is far more expensive weight for weight than tobacco, there would hardly seem to be any possibility of such sophistication as above indicated in these very cheap cigarettes. Nevertheless, the habit is acquired, for the cigarette employs the leisure, relieves the pangs of hunger and destroys the appetite. This habit is hardly more senseless than the eating of common candies or the devouring of cheap pickles to take away an insistent and expensive appetite.
Are the Chinese in earnest in denouncing the use of opium? 'Are their statements regarding its injurious effects and debasing tendencies to be accepted at their face value? On the whole perhaps the benefit of the doubt should be given them, and unquestionably all are in earnest when members of their own clan or family are concerned. Yet we should remember that like the rest of mankind the Chinese are likely to say one thing and do another, to "save their face" by fine speeches. Their mental and ethical training teaches them not only to appreciate high moral standards but also how to express those standards in the most beautiful and elegant words.
The attitude of the government of China may be understood from the following description of the examination of the government go-downs for opium and of the methods used by the government in handling opium at Shanghai.
Most of the opium imported comes from India—Benares, Malwa and Patna constituting the larger part of that imported. A small quantity of Persian opium is also imported, but practically none from any other country.
When a shipment of opium arrives in the harbor, the consignee places it in certain hulks or floating warehouses under bond. From there it is taken to the government godown, where it is weighed and labeled, and permits for its transfer issued on the payment of a duty of 110 Hk taels per 100 catties. This sum includes both duty and liken tax ; and after its payment the opium may be transferred at will. The native opium pays a departure duty of 4o Hk taels per ioo catties at its destination. Leaving China from the port of Lungchow, native opium pays an export duty of zo Hk taels, and should it be returned to China it pays an import duty of Ho Hk taels.
It will be see, therefore, that the Chinese government, at Shanghai at any rate, does nothing more than place a somewhat heavy duty and tax on opium. So far as the Committee was able to determine, no special measure to discourage or limit the use of opium exists at Shanghai.
In connection with the attitude of the government of China toward opium, we should consider the attitude of the American government toward the trade in that drug in China and in Chinese waters.
The following is an excerpt from "A Century of American Diplomacy," by John W. Foster :
"From the beginning of our political intercourse with that country (China) we have discouraged all efforts on the part of Americans to engage in the opium trade, so injurious to its people and forbidden by its laws. As early as 1843 participation in that trade by an American Consul was made a cause for his dismissal. Our ministers were instructed to inform the Chinese Government that citizens of the United States would not be sustained by their Government in any attempts to violate the laws of China respecting the trade; and by the treaty of 188o our citizens are prohibited to buy or sell opium in China, or to import it into the country. (See p. 291.)
"It is gratifying to record that the United States Government from the beginning has sought to discountenance the traffic. In the first treaty with China, that of 1844, it was provided that 'citizens of the United States * * * who shall trade in opium or any other contraband article of commerce, shall be subject to be dealt with by the Chinese Government without being entitled to any countenance or protection from that of the United States.'
"When Mr. Reed was sent out to negotiate the treaty of 1858, he was instructed to say to the Chinese Government that its 'effort to prevent the importation and consumption of opium was a praiseworthy measure,' and that 'the United States would not seek for its citizens the legal establishment of the opium trade, nor would it uphold them in any attempts to violate the laws of China by the introduction of that article into the country.'" (See p. 324.)
The same points are again insisted on in the treaty of 1903 between the United States and China, and restrictions against morphia are also added. The articles relative thereto are the following:
Annex XVI.—The Government of the United States consents to the prohibition by the Government of China of the importation into China of morphia and of instruments for its injection, excepting morphia and instruments for its injection imported for medical purposes, on the payment of tariff duty, and under regulations to be framed by China which shall effectually restrict the use of such import to the said purposes. This prohibition shall be uniformly applied to such importation from all countries. The Chinese Government engages to adopt at once measures to prevent the manufacture in China of morphia and of the instruments for its injection.
Annex XVII. Annex I.—As, citizens of the United States are already, forbidden by treaty tp deal in or handle opium, no mention has been made in the treaty of opium taxation.
There are unquestionably diverse views in China in regard to the methods of legislation to be recommended for opium; but the common consensus of opinion, as the Committee obtained it, was condemnatory of its use in any quantity whatsoever ; for it was asserted by all persons Nvho were questioned that a man who uses habitually even a small quantity of opium becomes as thoroughly dependent on the drug as if he used it to excess, and that he is as miserable, useless and hopeless, when deprived of his usual dose of opium, as he would be in such cases were he a user of considerable quantities of the drug. It is true, however, that the habit is more easily overcome when small quantities are used, as the period of suffering is shorter. While it may not be necessary to demonstrate the injurious effects which opium may exert on the prosperity of a 'community, the following extract from the North China Daily News of April 25, 19oo, may be worth considering :
"Messrs. Rochet and Hippisley have both, in the Shanghai Trade Reports, given it as their opinion that the sale of morphia ought to be especially restricted. During nine years the use of this preparation from opium by the Chinese has spread with remarkable rapidity. For the first time morphia appeared in the Trade Reports as a separate item among foreign sundries in the year 189r. Before this it was only covered up under the general title of medicines in the Annual Returns of Trade which are published by the Imperial Customs. The annual import amounts now to about 150,000 ounces, while in 1891 the value stated in the Amoy Trade Report is Tls. 1,079. This represents from 400 to 750 ounces. Two years later the Amoy import reached 2,632 ounces. In 1898 the amount stated is 11,810 ounces. The Commissioner remarks that the morphia habit is making continual and rapid progress. An increasing number of shops, both at Amoy and in the interior, advertise morphia pills as a cure for the opium habit; generally it is taken in the form of pills, but subcutaneous injection is rapidly coming into favor. He adds that the use of morphia is more injurious than the opium habit, as it is the most harmful of the narcotic alkaloids contained in opium, and cheaper ; and, being more convenient for use, a greater number of persons are able to indulge in the habit; the retail price of an ounce bottle is $3 to $3.20. The rapid increase in the use of morphia at Amoy is accompanied by a diminution in the opium habit. In 1897 Amoy purchased 4,306 piculs of foreign opium, and in 1898 the quantity was 3,790 piculs, which was less by 13 per cent. At tht same time poppy crops go on increasing in area every year. The total production of native opium was in 1897 valued at $2,400,00o for the district in which Amoy is situated; native opium bought at Amoy amounted to i,000 piculs in 1898. This was brought from Yunnan and Szechuan. If we compare these figures with those of 1882, when the entire import of opium at Amoy was 8,000 piculs, there is a probability that the disastrous opium habit is still increasing in a part of China where it has existed for about 170 years. This is unhappily a picture of all China; the people will, against all remonstrances, injure themselves by this habit. They expend the capital made by their labor in the purchase of a distinctly injurious article. This prevents the use of the same capital in productive industries. This very pernicious effect of the opium habit is very clearly seen in the trade in exports at Amoy. In 1898 the Amoy exports of tobacco, tea, paper, sugar, boots, shoes, chinaware, bricks, samshu, umbrellas, fishing nets, garlic, and vermicelli amounted to Tls. 2,550,000. In 1882 they amounted to Tls. 4,865,000. The opium habit, through the misemployment of capital, has caused the exports to decline one-half in sixteen years. From an economical point of view, it appears that the opium habit is far and away the greatest hindrance existing to the industrial productiveness of Chinese labor; the falling off occurs in sugar, tea, and paper. The sugar export fell from the value Tls. 937,000 to Tls. 716,000. The export of paper fell during the same sixteen years from the value Tls. 316,000 to the value Tls. 286,000. The tea export has fallen from a value of Tls. 2,600,0oo to Tls. 147,000. Opium is the bane of Amoy, and it cost the people Tls. 2,300,000 in 1882, and Tls. 2,370,000 in 1898.
"At Swatow, the next-door neighbor of Amoy, the sugar export has risen during the same interval of sixteen years from a value of five millions of taels to six millions. The entire exports at Swatow amounted to Tls. 7,000,000 in 1882, and to Tls. 13,000,000 in 1898. Morphia is not mentioned in the imports, and it is probably still unknown there. The foreign opium imported had dropped from io,000 piculs in 1879 to 4,50o piculs in 1898. Native opium paid duty on 489 piculs in 1898. It may be concluded therefore that, because there is less devotion to the opium habit in Swatow, there is a greater development of the industries which produce wealth. As additional evidence on this point, it may be mentioned that in the Trade Reports for 1895, Mr. Simpson stated that the small area devoted to the cultivation of the poppy near Swatow does not increase. The demand for opium must be less than it was to account for this fact. The exports become, in this view, of special interest. The most valuable are: Sugar, Tls. 6,000,000; tobacco, Tls. 914,000; paper, Tls. 9oo,00o; native cotton cloth, Tls. 628,000; grass cloth, Tls. 580,000; indigo, Tls. 196,000. The superiority of Swatow to Amoy in industries is very remarkable; the industries are much the same, but the quantity of exports is five or six times greater at Swatow than at Amoy; industry at Amoy is paralyzed by the opium habit. At Swatow there is less opium and no morphia, and a diminution in opium smoking leads to a great increase in the products of native industry.
"Morphia follows closely in the footsteps of opium; wherever the paralyzing effect of the opium habit is felt, morphia receives an invitation to enter. In 1892 it appeared only in two Trade Reports, those of Amoy and Shanghai. I14 1895 it occurs in that of Canton for the first time, and also in that of Foochow. In 1896 morphia went up the Yangtse River to Kiukiang; in 1897 it reached Chiukiang, and in 1898 Hankow. It was in that year in seven Trade Reports only. We may predict that it will follow everywhere the opium scourge. Recourse is had to morphia when the tyranny of the opium habit is most severely felt. Morphia in the form of pills is a cheap substitute for opium smoking, and this accounts for its rapid extension. The subcutaneous injection will not be preferred by many to pills. The disfigurement of the skin by ugly scars is too inconvenient to become a widespread custom. How is it in Kiangsi? If Kiukiang expended Tls. 856,000 in buying opium in 1882, and Tls. 1,500,000 for the injurious article in 1898, the people have now less capital to extend their industries. Accordingly we find that the value of the tea export has fallen from Tls. 6.7oo,00o in 1:•:2 to Tls. 4,496,000 in 1898. There has been a large increase in the export of paper, porcelain, grass cloth, and vegetable tallow. Notwithstanding this fact, the presence of morphia is a forewarning of evil to come in the province of Kiangsi."
The opinion prevails among some Europeans that the moderate use of opium by some persons who are robust and well-fed does little or no injury ; and the insurance companies do not seem to regard the moderate use of the drug—say not more than 2 mace or 2-10 ounce apothecary's weight per diem—as harmful. Special blanks are prepared for applicants for insurance who use opium, and if any of its evil effects are evident, the applicant is either rejected or an excess premium is charged. Here, as elsewhere, no statistics exist, and none will ever exist so long as Chinese life proceeds along its present lines. Perhaps the Chinese government may itself collect statistics from its army and navy in regard to the effects of opium, be they good or bad, on its subjects. In the dearth of trustworthy statistics, the opinions, views and experiences of persons living among the Chinese and familiar with their lives and habits, and particularly of the Chinese themselves, must be considered. It should be stated that conclusions based on such testimony may be logical and satisfactory, but statitstics are necessary to make them mathematically accurate and exhaustive.
It is generally conceded (i) that the user of opium commonly increases his dose, (2) that he is worthless and unfit for work when deprived of his customary dose, whether it be large or small, (3) that the effects of the drug are practically the same in kind on Chinese and Europeans, and (4) that the excessive use of opium is in all ways deleterious, leading to unthrift, theft and occasionally to arson and other crimes, but generally to crimes against self or those dependent on the criminal rather than against the public. Nevertheless the sales of wives and children are frequently made in order to secure opium. On the whole this vice seems to be more insidious and more difficult to overcome than the alcohol vice, even though not so productive of crimes of violence.
No evidence was gathered proving that the Chinese government is making, or ever has made in modern times, any earnest effort to diminish the use of opium. Certain of the high officials, who wrote the most eloquent letters, condemnatory of the opium traffic, and appealing to foreign nations to prevent its introduction into China, are believed to have steadily increased the areas under opium cultivation in their own domains. It is alleged that the purpose was to grow opium to such an extent as to supply the demand, undersell the foreigner, drive him out of business and afterwards by edict prohibit the use of opium. Very little testimony bearing on this point was secured ; and the matter, to say the least, rests on very slender foundations. In the meantime opium culture occupies more and more land. The use of the drug is spreading. The old edicts against its use have fallen into desuetude, and the home and the foreign supply together are not now equal to the demand. Information was secured (see Appendix C, p. 83) indicating that in certain provinces opium is used as a medium of exchange, being more valuable weight for weight than silver, and far more so than ordinary copper or brass subsidiary coin—the cash.
The weight of testimony seems to be to the effect that Chinese firms prefer not to employe opium users in positions of trust. There is, however, testimony to the contrary. The demoralization of the Chinese army and navy is attributed by more than one witness to the use of opium by the officers.
One witness asserted that the police courts of Shanghai showed that the use of opium and crime are intimately associated in that city (see Appendix C, p. 76). He also stated that it is customary to advise the destruction of opium-smoking apparatus, when its owner dies, in order to prevent his children or members of his family from smoking. The physiological effects of the drug were described as being mainly on the nervous system, though loss of appetite, constipation, etc., were also mentioned. Physicians in China, as well -as elsewhere, do not observe any marked diminution in the power of resistance to disease or to surgical operations in those who use opium moderately ; on the other hand, the sudden stopping of opium, when a patient who is an habitue of it comes into the hospital, may induce a condition resembling delirium tremens.
It is found that there is a demand for opium cures throughout China. As opium and morphia are generally ingredients of these cures, little is to be hoped from them (see Appendix C, pp. 77, 8i).
A well-known business man of high position in Shanghai talked very freely with members of the Committee, but in such circumstances that it might be a breach of confidence to go into detail, and stated that he believed that opium in moderation does no harm to Chinese, but that on the whole its influence when not used to excess seems to benefit the user.
Dr. Macleod (see Appendix C, p. 75) did not believe that the fact that a man uses opium moderately militates against his obtaining work. He also stated that the Chinese may use opium in moderation for a lifetime without any bad results.
From an interview with certain Chinese merchants and taotais (see Appendix C, pp. 77-81) the views of the natives of the better class may be had. There is discontent with the present system, and there is also a tendency to hold the Imperial government accountable for the present unsatisfactory conditions. The gentlemen favored a government monopoly as being the only way in which the use of opium may be controlled. They also recommended a gradual reduction of the dose as the best method of diminishing and finally of eradicating the habit. Mention was made of the edict of the Emperor • Tao Kwang (1836-1840), imposing a heavy penalty on the use of opium. This edict has not been repealed, but is not obeyed. The views of these gentlemen shown in their testimony and in their written statement are worthy of the closest and most respectful consideration. They state s clearly that no man can smoke opium for a long time without harm td himself. On the whole they do not seem sanguine, and assert that the producing of opium is more profitable than the producing of cereals, and that while this is true, farmers and others will continue to produce opium, in spite of laws to the contrary, even if effort were made to enforce such laws. It is to be regretted that a system of rewards and social distinctions, as suggested by them, cannot be devised to reward non-consumers ; for if it were practicable to reward the law-abiding as well as to punish the law-breakers, our system of jurisprudence would be more efficacious.
One witness (see Appendix C, p. 82), entitled to great respect, stated that large numbers of Chinese use opium as moderately as we use tea or coffee. He stated also that as a rule inquiries are not made as to whether a man is or is not a moderate user of opium, when he seeks employment. The difficulty and even danger of leaving off the opium habit suddenly, when one has become an habitue, is generally acknowledged, as is also the tendency to increase the quantity used. The custom of smoking opium on market days alone, in certain districts of the interior, was also brought to the notice of the Committee (see Appendix C, p. 82). The statement was made that in the western provinces of China from 8o to go per cent. of the people use opium. The fact that the withdrawal and export of silver is the main reason why the Chinese officials now object to the import of opium was also mentioned (see Appendix C, p. 82). Reasons were given why the provincial authorities could do nothing, unless aided by the central government. One provincial official who endeavored to forbid the use of opium in his province was removed by the Imperial government (see Appendix C, p. 83). The possibility of carrying out prohibitive measures in China does not seem likely.
There appears to be little reason to believe that the Chinese would resort to alcohol or to any other stimulant, in case they should abandon opium. The point has no more than an academic interest, however, as the abandonment of opium by the Chinese is hardly to be expected so shortly.
It is to be observed that there are certain towns and communities in China where opium is not used ; and the inhabitants seem rather proud of the fact (see Appendix C, p. 83).
Dr. Fearon, the first secretary of the Anti-Opium League, Soochow, believed absolute prohibition would entail extreme suffering among the victims of the opium habit. She recommended the gradual abandonment of the practice (see Appendix C, p. 85).
Another witness, Reverend J. N. Hayes, present secretary of .the Anti-Opium League at Soochow, favors prohibition, and has no faith in a gradual stopping of the habit (see Appendix C, p. 86).
Dr. Sluggett, of Honolulu, stated that an act for its prohibition (except for medicinal purposes) was passed in Honolulu, but that it was not then and never had been enforced, as it simply encouraged smuggling and mas made a source of blackmail (see Appendix C, p. 85). This was said to have been true also in Java.
One witness, strongly condemnatory of the opium habit, concludes his testimony with the statement that "prevention is the only cure" (see Appendix C, p. 87).

HONGKONG
The laws, regulations and ordinances pertaining to the use of opium and the traffic in the drug in Hongkong are models of clearness, definitness and accuracy, as are the statistical tables and the forms used in moving the drug. Farming is the system adopted, and a considerable part of the income of the colony is obtained from this source, as may be seen from the tables appearing in this report. The consensus of opinion is to the effect that the moderate use of opium is not productive of harm. The statements of the Chinese which the Committee interviewed are in favor of a law like that in vogue in Formosa. Perhaps one-third of the Chinese in Hongkong use opium, and the habit seems to be spreading. No effort —except the increased price demanded by the farmer to compensate for the higher price he has to pay to secure his monopoly—is made to deter persons from using opium in this colony (see Appendix C, pp. 88, 9o). A good deal of the drug—rather one-third of all used—is smuggled into Hongkong (see Appendix C, p. 91). Personal liberty is allowed. Very few women use opium in Hongkong. Its use seems to be increasing, a fact due partly to the increase in population by immigration and partly to the dying out of the old opinion that opium smoking is disgraceful. There seems to be a tendency on the part of mercantile firms not to employ opium users. The drug is mainly smoked in Hongkong; although it is sometimes taken in the form of pills. The hypodermic use of morphia is rarely, if ever, practiced. One witness (see Appendix C, p. 9o) suggested that a prohibitive price be fixed by the government, a measure which he believed would diminish the use of the drug. The laws of Formosa were spoken of as being the most efficacious known to the Chinese (see Appendix C, pp. 88, 91, to5). Most of the opium used in Hongkong comes from India.

SAIGON
Opiutri and all that thereto pertains is a strict government monopoly in Saigon (Cochin-China), and a large revenue is derived from it. The laws, regulations and ordinances concerning the use of the drug are clear, definite, comprehensive and full. The monopoly is in the hands of the Bureau of Customs and Excise.
Most of the opium used comes from India and Yunnan. Nearly every adult male native is said to use it, and the extent of the habit is rather on the increase. Some Europeans resident in Cochin-China also use it. There seems to be no difference in the quality of the effects produced on the different nationalities. As the Annamite or other natives of Cochin-China are not very robust, it is possible that they do not stand the effects of the drug as well as other men. The use of opium on the whole seems to be "moderate" (see Appendix C, pp. 91, 92).
A feature of both the French (Indo-China) and the Dutch (Java) laws is the emphasis laid upon the dross or residue left after the opium has been smoked. There seems to be no effort to diminish or prevent the use of opium by the natives or Chinese in Indo-China. The drug is mainly smoked, though it is used in other ways also.
Farming was tried some year ago, but was abandoned for the present system of monopoly, which is working in a satisfactory manner. In 1902, 63,183.7 kilos of Yunnan opium and 86,44o kilos of Benares opium were imported into Cochin-China. The monopoly brings in from 9,500,000 piastres to 16,000,000 piastres yearly, the differences being due mainly to differences in the rice crop, the sale of which furnishes the means with which to buy opium.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS
In the Straits Settlements, in a total population of a little over halt a million, the Chinese outnumber the Malays by 66,000. There are 281,933 Chinese in the Colony, only 44,022 being Straits-born.
The opium system that obtains is that of the farm. Every three years the government lets the opium and spirit farm conjointly. The revenue from the opium alone for the last three years (this does not include license fees) amounted to $3,732,000 annually ; for the current term (1904-1907) the annual rental is $5,58o,000.
The government is desirous to dissuade the Malays from using opium, but the law does but little to accomplish it. What protection they have is chiefly due to such moral suasion, official and voluntary, as may be exerted. The only inhabitants allowed to consume opium in an opium-farm shop are adult male Chinese (see "The Opium Ordinance 1894," Appendix G, p. 268). No European or native soldier, "without authority in writing from the commanding officer of such soldier," can purchase or receive the drug at the shop. Presumably Malays or both sexes and Chinese women, if they so wish, are at liberty to smoke opium elsewhere than at the public divan, though neither Malay women nor minors are permitted to enter the shop where alone Excise opium may be procured at retail (see article 43 ( I) (h),Appendix G, p. 247). The amount of increase in revenue every three years at the re-letting of the farm—in 1901, $1,414,000 in advance of 19oo, and in 1904, $1,848,00o in advance of 1903—is indicative enough of the rapid increase in the habit among an inconsiderable .population (572,249, including foreigners of every description).
Of course no official figures take into account smuggled opium, which would seem to be an item in the total amount consumed in the Straits Settlements (see Appendix C. p. 97). Notwithstanding the fact that the law is as wise as may be in its provisions, and that the farmer retains a prosecuting agent to guard his interests, illicit traffic continues. The government fixes the maximum retail price of the opium (see Ordinance, article 7, Appendix G, p. 268), a course, which, in the judgment of some, keeps in check the use of the drug, though official figures fail to confirm this theory. Moreover, the higher the price the greater the aggravation to smuggle.
A certain standard of purity and a minmum percentage of morphia content is required by law, samples of opium being submitted to the government analyst from time to time for approval (see Second Schedule, article 8, Appendix G, p. 278).
The morphine habit has been growing at an alarming rate in Singapore, so that this year morphia has been taken out of the province of opium and can be sold only under medical direction (see Appendix C, pp. 93, 97, 103).
The Committee finds nothing in the Opium Ordinance of the Straits Settlements commending it as apt to check or prevent the extension of the opium habit. The testimony and figures indicate the opposite effect.

BURMAH
An earnest and persistent effort has been made by the government of Burmah to protect the natives of the country against the opium habit. The belief prevails that the Burmese are more likely to go to excess than the Chinese or the Indians, who constitute the majority of the non-Burman population addicted to its use. Indeed, it is stated that the Burmese are likely to go to excess in both the opium and the alcohol vice.
An effort was made about a dozen years ago to prohibit the use of opium in both Lower and Upper Burmah and the question of forbidding its importation was considered. But the effort was not successful, for opium was smuggled in from all sides—by sea and by land— so that the government abandoned prohibition, seeing that it was doing no good.
The policy in force in Lower Burmah was then changed. It was made illegal for any Burmese to smoke or eat opium, unless he was twenty-five years of age and had been registered. Only registered Burmese were allowed to buy opium and they could buy only three tolas at a time. All Burmese who could prove themselves to be opium habitues were allowed to register up to 1893. Since that time no one has been allowed to register. The statements of the applicants for registration were considered sufficient evidence to entitle them to the
privilege. According to a most credible witness, not more than thirty per cent. of the Burmese habitues. (in Lower Burmah) availed themselves of the opportunity for registration. No one except the Burmese was required to register. An individual of any other nationality could possess three tolas of opium without registration.
The government opened certain shops for the sale of opium, between forty and fifty in Lower and Upper Burmah. These shops were sold by auction to the highest bidder. The proprietors of these shops were the only persons who had the right to sell opium in the centers or districts where their shops were located. Sometimes these centres (or shops) were thirty or forty miles apart. They purchased opium from the government at a fixed price and sold it to their customers at any price they could demand.
The proprietor (or licensee) of a shop, having bought his opium at a fixed rate from the government, sold it at any price he could get to the registered Burmese or any one else who was not a Burmese; but not more than a certain number of tolas per head could be sold. Knowing the number of registered Burmese in a district and the approximate number of other inhabitants who used opium, it was not difficult to say about how much opium should be consumed—theoretically—at the rate of three tolas for each person authorized to use it.
The government sold the opium to the vendors, either raw or prepared, depending upon the demand. Generally the shop licensees preferred to buy their opium raw and prepare it themselves, as they found this procedure more profitable.
This method was found to be a complete failure, and with true British courage it was so acknowledged to be. It was found that the opium habit was spreading. In some places opium was considered necessary to control malaria. The demand was enormous, and to meet it an enormous supply was needed. The opium smoker—for opium is used in Burmah chiefly by smoking—often lived a four to six days' journey from the nearest shop ; and as he could get only three tolas at a time, he frequently reached home with little or no opium, one-half tola per diem being considered a fair quantity for•an habitue to use (one tola: 18o grains apothecary approximately). This was owing to the distance the habitue had to travel, thirty to forty miles and back, and to the difficulties and slowness of transportation. In many cases almost the entire time of an habitue was consumed in traveling to the shop and back.
Moreover, the system of registration was imperfect. The Burmese disliked to register and perhaps two-thirds of the users of opiuril failed to do so ; and as no registration has been permitted since 1893, the many Burmese who have contracted the habit since that date are illegal consumers of opium, "practically outlaws."
As the Chinese were allowed to buy without registration or license, though only three tolas at a time, many of them bought this amount at various shops or at various times at the same shop under fictitious names, and then sold at higher prices to the Burmese. A business was thus started which debauched and impoverished the Burmese and enriched the Chinese. This could hardly be considered as protecting the Burmese.
It was then determined to increase the number of shops in Lower Burmah to sixty and to give them out at a fixed fee of from i,000 to 2,000 rupees per annum ; for it had been demonstrated by the enormous prices paid, when the shops were disposed of by auction, that there was some source of profit to the proprietors not contemplated by the government. In fact, it was found that the men who bought the shop monopoly, bought also the monopoly of smuggling; for, as they were the only persons who could legally sell opium, they made it a point to sell all they could, of both government opium and smuggled opium. As these proprietors (always Chinese) made large profits, they were able to offer large bribes, and generally succeeded in bribing practically everybody. It was hoped that by diminishing the fee for the shop license to from i,000 to 2,000 rupees and by placing in every opium-shop a man to watch the sales, called the "Resident Excise Officer," fraud would be decreased. The smaller license fee meant a smaller expense to the proprietor ; and the presence of the Excise Officer, it was hoped, would deter him from any attempt at fraud. The Resident Excise Officer is a government detective. He is fairly well paid ; and the increase of government expenditure caused by hiring these officers amounts to about 200 rupees a day.
Now if the Chinese vendor wishes to smuggle opium, he offers the Resident Excise Officer twice or thrice his salary and buys him. These officers are generally Burmese. The Chief Magistrate of Rangoon said (see Appendix C, p. 117) that he had some honest Burmese Excise Officers. But even in that case, and when the vendor himself is honest, opium is smuggled from many points into the province or region blessed with the presence of at least two honest men, and its consumption increases.
The policy of the government of Burmah is to suppress the opium dens, and this policy is carried out wherever a den is discovered. Of course, some of them escape detection.
The opium traffic is enormously profitable in Burmah. Men have been known to accumulate fortunes in two or three years.
In order to escape punishment for smuggling, the vendors have been known to keep in their employ certain men, usually criminals, who will commit crimes for pay, and who will even permit themselves to be convicted of charges—of which the principal is really guilty—confessing themselves to be the guilty parties, under the consideration that they be paid a certain sum monthly during the period of the sentence.
Opium is bought in Calcutta for thirty to thirty-five rupees per seer (22 pounds), it is sold in Rangoon for sixty-five rupees ; so that in the latter city one hundred per cent. is made. Further up the country still larger profits are made. As communication and transportation are difficult, the people up country are willing to pay two and one-half times as much as the government pays for opium.
Owing partly to the unsatisfied demand for opium, it is found that in Rangoon at least the hypodermic use of morphia and cocaine is becoming common. Dens for the hypodermic use of these drugs are springing up in Rangoon. Morphia and cocaine are imported from England and other parts of Europe in large quantities and are producing deplorable results. It is hoped that the government will suppress this evil (see Appendix C, p. 117).
In Upper Burmah the Burmese are prohibited by law from possessing opium. In point of fact, a witness testifies (see Appendix C, p. 116) that this prohibitive law does not prohibit, for nearly as much opium goes into Upper Burmah as into Lower.
Formerly there was a strong religious feeling among the Buddhists against the use of, opium, as there is in Japan, one of the Cardinal Commandments of Buddha being interpreted to forbid the use of opium as well as that of intoxicants. As Buddhism continues to lose its power, this feeling continues to diminish in intensity. On the other hand, wherever there is a strong Buddhistic feeling, there is a religious and social denunciation of the opium vice. In such places a Buddhist who smokes opium is classed with thieves, liars and outcasts ; and the term "opium-smoker" is regarded by the Burmese as the epithet "liar" is by the Anglo-Saxons. Buddhism was once so strong a force as to keep the Btuviese from the use of opium ; but this force became weakened by contact with English influence. As a people usually passes from one religion to another through a period of ethical disorganization during which evil influences are likely to triumph, so the Burmese, passing from Buddhism towards Christianity, have reached the ethical condition in which opium, morphia and cocaine can do the greatest harm. Unquestionably the government is doing all it can to fight against these vices ; and though misunderstood by natives and reviled by those who should know better, it is working conscientiously and steadily for the protection of the Burmese.
The Chinese have been known to distribute opium gratis among the Burmese in order to cause them to acquire the opium habit. After this has been done, the Chinese sell, and generally at any figures they please. Sometimes Burmese children are thus lead to contract the habit. This is the most hideous feature of all connected with the opium habit in Burmah.
To give an idea of the absolute failure of the policy of registration, the following is quoted verbatim from the testimony of the Chief Magistrate of Rangoon (see Appendix C, p. 117) : "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 and 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." As the opium-smoker becomes lazy and inert he will not go to the shop but waits for the liawker or peddler to bring the drug to him. And the hawker—generally a Chinese—charges sufficient for the opium brought to realize a handsome profit. On the whole the system seems to have been a failure; and this is asserted by some of the highest authorities in Burmah, with admirable frankness and boldness. And the officials were engaged, at the time the Committee was in Burmah, in endeavoring to formulate and put into practice some method or protecting the Burmese against the opium habit. The Committee has not yet been able to secure a copy of the laws which it is hoped will accomplish this purpose ; but it is expected that they will be on hand by the time that this report shall be submitted to the Governor of the Philippine Islands.
The following suggestions were made by the Chief Magistrate of Rangoon and seem to the Committee to be sound and wise :
( 1) The government should have complete control of the opium business in all its branches. So long as the vendors have control they direct the business into any channels they see fit.
(2) The government should meet the real bona fide demand.
The vendors encourage smuggling for their own benefit. They find hirelings to go to jail for them, so that the real criminal may escape punishment.
The government should have sufficient shops to meet the real demand. It was suggested that the extent of the real demand might be discovered by permitting all shop licensees to have peddlers (or fakirs), who would go from village to village and find out all opium users. This method would greatly increase the number of shops as well as the apparent consumption of opium. While the quantity of opium consumed would probably be increased, the apparent increase, due to getting an accurate account of all the opium consumed, would undoubtedly subject the government to criticism. At the time of the Committee's visit to Burmah there seemed to be no limit to the consumption of opium, as it was so easily smuggled into the country.
The law of demand and supply exists and cannot be overcome. As the Chief Magistrate said, "the facts should not be concealed at all." Surely the facts are necessary in order to form a sound conclusion, and any effort to conceal or pervert facts that bear on so grave a question as the use of opium should be met with the stern condemnation uttered by this witness. This witness (see Appendix C, p. 119) held that the use of opium is not so grave a matter as some maintain, that the opium-smoker is usually quiet, lazy, sleepy, useless and given to petty theft, but never violent or a menace to society. His evil is inflicted on himself and on those dependent on or connected with him. However, the habitue must have his opium, or he will commit any crime to get it ; though he may be perfectly gentle and harmless after he has had his dose.
The ease with which opium may be smuggled into a country was dwelt upon (see Appendix C, p. 118). This witness recommended (a) that the demand for opium be met fairly and squarely, and (b) that an effort be made through educational and religious influences to suppress its use. He recommended inculcating through the schools a dread and contempt for the drug, hoping thus to get an ethical hold upon the. young. He believed that by creating a strong feeling against the use of opium it might ultimately be abolish, just as lying has been practically abolished in Anglo-Saxon schools by teaching the children to hold lying and liars in contempt. A feeling of this sort still exists in Upper Burmah and might be strengthened in the way just indicated.
This witness thought that if this feeling could again be created through the schools, the opium habit would disappear.
Another witness of high position (see Appendix C, pp. Iog, III,  112) did not think that there was any need of cultivating a feeling against the use of opium, as he believed that it was already sufficiently strong, or at any rate as strong as such an influence could be.
Legislation was regarded so far as a complete failure (see Appendix C, pp. 109-113, 120). There were many crimes against the opium laws and many convictions—often of the wrong persons—especially for smuggling.
The present system seems to have diminished the smuggling of opium somewhat. Some officials believe that it has diminished the use of opium among the Burmese. The number of shops in Burmah is ninety-one at the present time, but it is the intention of the government to have more, with a view to. meeting the demand, preventing smuggling and controlling the use of opium.
Raw opium costs one rupee per tola, cooked opium one rupee and eight annas, the prices at which it is sold by the government to vendors. The vendors sell it at any price it may bring.
It has not been found easy to cause the vendors to co-operate with the government; and when they do not do so, their licenses are not renewed. This witness (see Appendix C, p. Io8) believed the Chinese to be more injured by opium than the Indians. The latter, he said, use it moderately, as do also the Burmese, the amount consumed being only one-eighth tola per diem. The young Burmese, however, are inclined to use it to excess. The purpose of the government is to protect the Burmese against the vice.
One of the most noteworthy purposes for which opium is used is to dull the feelings of boys while being tattooed. All Burmese boys are tattooed in the most intricate and artistic patter–s from the knee to the waist, so that they seem to be wearing a pair of skin-tight trunks. The process of tattooing may last for many days, and is usually performed while the subject is under the influence of opium. There is danger that the Burmese youth may contract the opium habit while undergoing this process. All tattooers have licenses to buy and administer opium.
One witness, a physician of large experience in Rangoon, stated (see Appendix C, p. 106) that a very small proportion of the Burmese use opium, owing to a social and religious feeling against it. He further said that while more Chinese than Burmese use it, the number of the former is not large. He called attention to the fact that among say twenty Chinese who are physical wrecks, not more than one owes his condition to the use of opium. He stated that the Chinese born in the Straits Settlements, under British influence, as a rule do not use
opium.    This view was confirmed by the testimony of other witnesses.    This witness did not believe the moderate use of opium to have any deleterious effect, mentally or morally. Its constipating effect, he said, sometimes produces injurious results, such as diseases of the liver. He thought that users of opium are not so likely to be employed as non-users.
This witness (see Appendix C, p. Io6) stated that he knew of one case, a Burmese, who had voluntarily abandoned the use. of opium, to which he had been addicted for years. The Committee has reason to believe that it questioned personally the man referred to ; but, if so, he denied that he had ever known of an habitue's abandoning opium.
Mention was made of the fact that prisoners are compelled to stop the use of opium on entering prison and experience no permanent ill results from doing so (see Appendix C, p. 107). This witness believed (see Appendix C, pp. 107, io8, r io) that there was much more danger for the Chinese and Burmese in the growing use of alcohol than in that of opium. He considered the opium vice in Rangoon almost infinitesimal as compared with alcohol evil in London. The combined use of alcohol and opium appeared to this witness to be very detrimental.
A prominent Parsee physician stated (see Appendix C, p. io8) to the Committee that about five per cent, of the Chinese use opium, and a smaller percentage of Burmese. The latter, he said, usually take the drug in pill form, whereas the Chinese smoke it. He believed the native of India to bear the effects of opium best, the Chinese next and the Burmese worst. He mentioned the custom of giving opium to children in order to quiet them, especially in India. He believed the use of opium to be increasing. In his opinion, the results of its use in moderation are exaggerated, and stated that if a person accustomed to its use were to abandon it, he would not be likely to resort to alcohol. He thought that a law prohibiting the use of opium might do harm. He stated that the use of the drug prevents the chill manifestation of malaria by dulling the nervous sensibility to the malarial poison. The use of opium appeared to this witness to be preferable to that of alcohol. The use of the latter is increasing in Burmah, as the alcoholic drinks which are brought from Europe are more palatable than the native drinks and therefore more widely consumed.
A native Burmese whom the Committee interviewed (see Appendix C, p. Ho) stated that he was opposed to the use of opium in any form or quantity, as all its effects are bad. Its use, he said, is increasing and is particularly deleterious to the Burmese. He called attention to the Buddhistic commandment which is interpreted to forbid its use. He mentioned the fact that opium is often smoked wrapped with tobacco in cigars. He was of the opinion that an opium habitue would probably resort to alcohol if deprived of the drug. He advised allowing a period of three years within which the users of opium might cure themselves of the habit, at the end of which time total prohibition should be enforced.
A well-known missionary of Burmah stated ( see Appendix C,p.112) that in early days the use of opium in Mandalay was confined largely to the Chinese. This is not so markedly the case now. He was of the opinion that the question of revenue was a factor in the policy of the Government. He believed the whole influence of opium on the user to be the weakening of moral principle. The Chinese, he said, collect opium from the poppy and cook it to be used on the same day. He also called attention to the complete prostration of coolies who use it, when deprived of it. Of the Five Great Commandments of Buddha, the one which reads, "Thou shalt not drink intoxicating liquors," is supposed to include opium. He believed the use of alcohol to be increasing even more rapidly than that of opium. He called attention to the fact that the Chinese farmer had opium distributed in small pieces among the children in order to increase its use, and that a similar custom prevails of giving free alcoholic drinks to people for the same purpose. Both of these practices, he said, were highly successful. This witness stated that cocaine is used. He had known of some cases in which persons who were deprived of opium became insane or died. He referred to a decoction by using which some of the opium-smokers of the Shan States are able to break off the habit entirely. The Committee was unable to secure .a sample of this decoction or the prescription for making it. This witness had suggested to the Royal Opium Commission the advisability of trying prohibition against opium in Burmah. He believed, however, that the habit had already gained so strong a foothold that such a measure would be useless. It was his opinion that much good can be done through the schools by teaching the children to abhor opium, to condemn its use and to look down upon its users. He stated that King Theebaw was opposed to the use of opium.
The lessons most plainly taught by the failure of the opium laws in Burmah are :
(i) The inadvisability of permitting the vendors of opium to derive a profit from its sales. They should be salaried officials, held to strict account and bonded if necessary.
(2) The impossibility of keeping a people or class from using or obtaining opium when another people or class in juxtaposition to it is permitted to use or obtain the drug.
The Committee regrets that it did not obtain a copy of the laws which will be in force in Burmah after April, 1904.
JAVA
Java, with its 28,000,000 native inhabitants and its 273,000 Chinese, offers a wide field of study in all that pertains to the control of the opium vice. The character of this field is varied, owing to the numerous and diverse social conditions of its inhabitants as well as to the flexibility of the Dutch government in its regulation of the opium traffic in that colony ; a prohibitive system being in force in some of the provinces or "residenties," and in others a private monopoly, while there are still others where the traffic is under the exclusive control of the government.
From the information secured we were able to determine the fact that the opium vice is very extensive among the Chinese and the nonchristian native soldiers, and that the extent to which it is used among the natives varies with the different provinces, gradually increasing from west to east, with the exception of two provinces, namely, Batavia and Banduang, in which the vice is rather extensive. There is no satisfactory explanation of why certain districts have remained /neontaminated by it. It is said by some that one of the causes which conduce to the spread of the vice is the unhealthful condition of certain of the districts, for it has been noticed that the districts where fevers are most prevalent are also those where the opium vice is the most extensive. Social contact between the natives and the Chinese is also considered to be another factor operative in the extension of the vice among the former, as is shown by experience in Batavia and Banduang;
but against this observation may be placed the experience of the Island of Banka, the native inhabitants of which have not been contaminated by the vice despite the presence of large numbers of Chinese among them.
It was impossible for us to determine the exact proportion of opium-smokers ; but among the Chinese and native soldiers it may be estimated at between forty and fifty per cent., while among the rest of the native population it is much smaller.
Regarding the manner of using opium, it may be said that the vice is practiced all over Java by smoking, although there are a few who take it by swallowing. The use of hypodermic injections is unknown.
Recognized, as the Dutch government is, to be the protector of the material and moral interests of the Javanese, it could not maintain an indifferent attitude toward the spectacle of the spread of the opium vice. The Dutch government is convinced that its legislation should be directed toward a gradual suppression of the vice, this method being preferable to absolute prohibition, the failure of which it has had opportunity to observe in districts where it has been put into effect ; a conviction which is confirmed by the powerlessness of prohibitive laws to suppress the alcohol vice in the countries of the Occident.
For the purpose of carrying into effect its policy of gradual suppression, the Dutch government until some years ago employed the system in force in the Philippines during the Spanish regime and which is at present the one used in the English colonies, namely, the concession of monopolies to private persons, at the same time prohibiting the sale of opium to the natives in "prohibitive districts," where the vice had not yet gained entrance. This system is an old one and pours a large revenue into the public treasury, when in vogue bringing in nineteen million guilders for the whole of the Dutch Indies. It was then decided to substitute for it the system now in force, a system under which the government is vested with the control of everything that pertains to the importation of and traffic in opium, with the exception of pharmacies, which may import and sell the drug for medicinal purposes, as may be seen from the laws accompanying this report (see Appendix G).
The old system of farming out the sale of opium, in fact, not only was counteractive in practice, as far as the gradual reduction of the consumption of that drug was concerned, but it was also a source of corruption and bribery of government employees on the part of the Chinese farmers, who were tempted to extend the sale of the drug to persons who were unauthorized to buy it. It was also the cause of frequent disturbances, in cases where it was employed by unprincipled persons as a means of revenge. These persons would surreptitiously place opium in the houses of private persons, and then maliciously and falsely accuse them of possessing opium clandestinely. The principal reason for the abandonment of this system was that the farmer, in order to push his business, exhausted all available means to extend the sale of his merchandise.
In view, therefore, of all these reasons as well as the policy recently adopted by the Dutch government for expelling the Chinese from the interior of Java, the farming system was replaced in 1898 by a system under which the government has exclusive control of the importation and sale of opium. By this system the importation and sale of the drug, both wholesale and retail, and even the supervision of the public smoking-shops, passed into the hands of the government, which exercises its functions through salaried employees, thus eliminating all private interest or ambition which might tend to increase the consumption of opium.
The Dutch government in 19oo erected in Batavia a magnifient opium factory, which cost 1,25o,000 guilders, for the purpose of supplying opium to the "residenties" where the drug is consumed. This factory is the most complete of its kind among all those that the Committee has had the opportunity to visit. It has all the departments necessary 'for its operation, from the laboratory, which examines the quality of the dross, thus enabling the government to keep a strict vigilance over smuggling, to the saw-mill plant which turns out the lumber to be used in the manufacture of boxes for packing. There are employed in the factory 600 natives and 5o Dutchmen.
The material used in the preparation of the opium comes principally from India and Persia, and a small quantity from China. The government manufactures also a special kind of opium, known as "tike" or "tikw," which consists of a mixture of opium and the leaves of the awar-awar, intended for sale to opium-smokers who are too poor to buy the better class of the drug. The prepared opium is sold in metallic tubes of different sizes, containing, respectively ioo, 5o, 25, 1272, 5, 2, I and matas.
In the preparation of the opium as well as in the manufacture of the tubes containing it, the government has ingeniously adopted a method of such a nature that the opium acquires a peculiar composition, which cannot be imitated without detection, and the metallic tubes, when once opened, cannot again be utilized without discovery.
As may be seen from the accompanying laws (see Appendix G), there exists in Java a system of regulation intended gradually to restrict the opium vice and at the same time to prevent smuggling. Thus, the number of opium shops which may be opened in any district and the hours during which they may do business are regulated ; the persons who are authorized to buy opium are specified ; the maximum quantity of opium which may be bought by one person is limited to one-half tael ; the possession of instruments used in the manufacture of opium is prohibited ; and every smoker is obliged to return to the government within a reasonable time the dross derived from the opium which he has smoked. Finally, mention should be made of the existence of a law which provides, in cases of punishment for the violation of the opium ordinance, that a judicious distribution of the fines paid by the violators shall be made among those persons who have cooperated in the discovery of the violation.
Although the present law was first enforced in 1896 in the provinces of the west—Probolingge, Pasoeroean, and Besoeki—it was not until the present year that its application was extended to the whole of the Island of Java ; so that it would as yet be somewhat premature to pass judgment on the efficacy of the new law. From the statistics there would appear to be a gradual diminution of the consumption of opium in the "residenties" of Madioen, Kediri, Soeroebaja and Besoeki, as opposed to Pasoeroean and Probolingge, where it has remained at approximately the same figure as before.
Below are briefly given the actual conditions affecting the opium problem in Java, as far as we have been able to determine them during our short stay in that island. Making a resume of our impressions, we found:
(i) A Javanese population, with a common religion and ruled by the Dutch government during the past three centuries, a people among whom the extent of the opium vice is exceedingly variable, there being some districts in which it is entirely unknown and others in which it is practiced to a considerable extent. After inquiring into the reasons for these differences, it may be asserted that education and religion have exercised a potent influence on the spread of the opium vice, an assertion which is confirmed by the fact that the people of the west, being the most religious, are at the same time the least contaminated by the vice. This assertion is corroborated by the statement of Dr. A. H. Vortsmann, of Soekaboemi, who has served as physician in the colonial army during eight years, to the effect that the Christian soldiers of Amboina are free from the vice.
(2) That prohibition has proved unsuccessful in the Dutch colony of Java, although its people are held to be the most submissive to law among all the colonies of the world.
(3) The failure of the system of farming out the opium monopoly to private persons. For commercial reasons such a system may be converted into an important instrument for the extension of the traffic. For the same reason it serves as a means of corruption in the case of government employees, with whom the farmer necessarily comes in contact. In this sytsem personal vengeance has a clear field for action. Opium is maliciously placed under the door of the house of a peacable citizen, who is then accused of having smuggled the drug.
(4)' The superiority of a system of absolute government control, entrusting to this moral entity all the responsibility involved in the gradual suppression of the vice, making its spread more difficult and eliminating all private interest which tend to swell the sale.
The population of the Philippine Islands is 7,572,199, of which about 7,502,199 are Filipinos and about 70,000 Chinese. It is estimated that io,000 Filipinos are addicted to the opium habit.
If there were an attitude toward the use of opium among the Filipinos similar to that which prevails among the Mohammedan Malays in the Straits Settlements or among the Buddhist Burmese, there would be less danger from a law permissive as touching the Chinese, but prohibitive as touching the natives. In the cases quoted religious tenets, strongly believed in, diminish the force of temptation flowing from the example and influence of the Chinese. In the case of the Christian Filipinos no religious sentiment regarding opium prevails of a sufficiently definite character to protect them with similar armor, while among the Moros the consumption of the drug has already reached considerable proportions (see Table of Imports of Opium to Sulu Islands. Appendix D, p. 169).
In the judgment of the Committee the immediate enforcement of a prohibitive law would be warranted only as a preventive measure where the vice is as yet unknown. It is supported in its position by many of those who advocate prohibition as the only desirable legislation (see Appendix C).
' Under other conditions than those which confront us, i. e., if a larger percentage of the population were addicted to the vice, the Committee would incline to the adoption, mutatis mutandis, of the Formosan system. But while the Committee have no utopian or over-sanguine expectations regarding the working of such a law as is herewith proposed, it is its firm belief that, under the circumstances, progressive prohibition of a somewhat sterner type than that which the Japanese have devised for Formosa, and with the most stinging penalties that can be imposed, will be the most effective legislation that could be put into force. The percentage of smokers in the entire population is possibly one-third of one per cent., if our returns are any guide, the percentage of Filipino smokers being slightly more than one-eighth of one per cent. Though these figures are alarming enough when we consider that the increase of opium imports is steady, there is reason to hope that if prompt and drastic measures are used, the vice has not yet made sufficient headway to defy eventual extirpation. But the fight will have to be a strong and steady one, if the day is to be gained and the Filipino peoples preserved from what would be as disastrous to them as fire to the forest ; for an individual or a people with a relatively low degree of vitality suffers palpably from the inroads of a vice like this more than those whom nature has more richly endowed with powers of resistance. On the other hand, in comparing the effects of opium-smoking on people of differing racial temperament and constitution, it is at best an imperfect argument to maintain that in some instances no great depth of degradation is reached and therefore no serious evil is involved. The question is not only to what but also from what do men fall. Degradation, like poverty, is relative. So that if a Chinese, for instance, endowed with large powers of endurance and fine intellectual faculties lowers those powers ten per cent by some vice, although not becoming incapacitated by his excess, he is as culpable as the Malay with fewer gifts who by the same vice reduces his vitality in the same measure but in so doing touches the bottom of worthlessness. In both cases the social order is robbed of power, though in the latter the spectacle of the abused faculties is more striking and the results more immediately disastrous than in the former. In the long run the chastisement for the fault is as severe in the one case as in the other.
It is important to note that almost everywhere the Commitee found opium-smoking freely permitted, the use of the hypodermic syringe was assuming alarming proportions. This was true of Shanghai, Amoy, Singapore and Burmah. In Singapore a conservative estimate numbers the victims of this form of vice at xo,000. It would appear that in a scourge like the subcutaneous use of morphia the inevitable logic of permissive opium-smoking is being reached. At any rate the Committee has no knowledge of any considerable number of persons in a community uncontaminated by other forms of the opium habit becoming slaves to the most revolting and fatal form of morphomania. If smoking is the least injurious form of the vice, it appears to prepare people for the worst form. No testimony is at had, however, to determine whether those who have .succumbed to the morphia habit began as smokers. The inference from the class of victims in Singapore—chiefly rickshaw coolies, who have a large percentage of smokers wherever found—is that their occupation is such as to make it inconvenient for them to observe the leisurely ritual which attaches to smoking and to cause them to resort to the more expeditious method of the hypodermic syringe. However that may be, the widespread habit of morphia injections is found at its height in opium-smoking communities.
Again among the states visited, where the law discriminates between the Chinese and the native, allowing the former to use opium, but forbidding, restricting or dissuading the latter, native life, even in such cases as those quoted above, where religious conviction forms a safeguard, little by little is becoming infected. In Formosa alone, where the small Japanese population is under prohibitive law and the Formosans have a permissive system for the time being, infection up to the present has not taken place. But it must be remembered that the Japanese in Formosa are under the same law there as at home, and they have precedent as well as the constant pressure of national sentiment weighing upon them. Where tribal relations exist so as to put different sections of a community in direct antagonism one to another, where peoples under one government are separated from one another by the conformation of the country, or where permanent social barriers between various nationalities exist, a law discriminating between people and people might work. But where, as in the Philippines, Chinese and natives live in many parts of the Archipelago side by side, where there is constant social intercourse, and where intermarriage is not uncommon, there is no reason to suppose that prohibition would be effective among the Filipinos, if permission should be the rule among the Chinese. The process of contamination might be slow, but it would be unerring. No further guide is needed to reach this conclusion than that of common sense.
The laws in the English colonies visited, Burmah excepted, accomplish the purpose for which they were drafted. The drift of the Report of the Royal Commission represents the official mind of Great Britain in the Orient, and it is to the effect that ( i) the use of opium is not necessarily injurious to Orientals, in some circumstances possibly being beneficial ; (2) when it obtains as a fixed habit, it is useless to try to extirpate it ; and (3) as it affords a means of revenue, the government may as well as not seize the opportunity it gives of swelling its credit. As carefully drawn laws protecting trade interests, they are above criticism, barring their failure to quench the practice of smuggling. They do not pretend to be laws for the protection of a people against a vice, but rather commercial regulations guarding a branch of commerce.

THE PHILIPPINES
In trying to present the recommendations most suitable to combatting the use of opium, as based upon the practice observed in the colonies visited by the Committee, the question naturally arises whether absolute prohibition is practicable in the Philippine Islands. In order to answer this question, it will be sufficient to give a general analysis of the conditions affecting the problem in the Philippines.
In a general way we may say that these conditions are somewhat similar to those of Java. In the Philippine Islands the practice of smoking opium is an exotic one, imported by the Chinese since time immemorial. The number of Chinese inhabitants in the Philippine Islands is about 70,000, distributed in varying numbers thtoughout all the provinces of the archipelago, the greater part being found in the large towns, such as Manila, where there are about 40,000. From 1843 to 1898 the farming system was in vogue in the Philippines, its purpose being to raise revenue and to check the opium vice among the Filipinos, prohibition being considered an impossible utopia. Although this system prohibited the sale of opium to Filipinos and forbade their entering public smoking shops, they were contaminated by the vice in all the provinces, though only to a small degree. From the statistics which we have secured and which accompany this report, it is clearly seen that the provinces in which the vice is the most widely spread are Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Surigao, Cagayan, and Isabela ; there being many pueblos in which the vice is unknown among the natives, owing to the lack of social contact with the Chinese. The swallowing of pills is exceptional among those who abandon themselves to the vice, and hypodermic injections are unknown. The average number of smokers in the pueblos varies. Filipino women rarely use opium, and the drug.is never administered to children.
As an exception to this rule may be mentioned the pueblo of Tayasan in Negros Oriental, where the vice has taken hold of entire families.
From this analysis of the conditions affecting the use of opium in the Philippines, it is easy to see that absolute and immediate prohibition would not prohibit, an opinion confirmed by its failure to do so in certain districts of Java where it is in effect.
The medical criterion, the supreme tribunal to which we must appeal in this problem, explains to us why the prohibitive system is a failure in the places where the vice exists. A superficial analysis of the physiological processes entering into the opium habit shows us that in all inveterate habitues three phenomena are present : (I) The irrepressible craving for opium ; (2) the gradual increase of the dosage, and (3) intoxication. These three phenomena constitute the physiologic picture of the opium habitue ; they pursue him as the shadow does his body. The external evidence of intoxication appears after a longer or shorter period, varying according to the susceptibility of the individual.
(1 ) The irrepressible craving for opium.—This phenomenon forms one of the most noticeable characteristics of the opium habitue. At regular hours of the day he is seized, in a manner well nigh fatal, by an indefinable sensation, as imperious as the sense of hunger. This craving, which constitutes a passion, is a veritable mania (the morphium sucht of the Germans). A phenomenon often observed is the necessity of causing infants newly born of opium-smoking mothers to inhale the smoke of opium in order to revive them. This craving, therefore, is not a fitful phenomenon subject to the caprice of the will, but is one of vital permanency.
What we have just said is not mere theory. Medico-legal statutes admit as an indisputable fact the irresponsibility of the habitue during periods of abstinence. In the Philippines, this vital demand forced upon the smoker is known as "guian," a word which has but one meaning wherever used, whether in Visayas or in Luzon, and which describes that irresistable craving which seizes the opium smoker at regular hours, forcing him to yield to the vice, and when unable to do so, seeming to place his life in suspense. It may therefore be said to be a fact generally admitted that the opium habitue, when seized by this maniacal craving, is irresponsible—a fact confirmed by the many instances in which such habitues have committed criminal acts as a result of being deprived of the drug.
(2) The gradual increase of the dosage.:—The story is told that in ancient times King Mithridates,, fearful of being poisoned, was so cautious that he used regularly to take certain poisons in small doses in order to inure himself to them, so that when maliciously administered to him by an enemy their effects might not prove mortal. This is how the practice has originated of giving the name "a law of habit" or "mithridatism" to the properties which certain poisonous drugs, such as morphine and arsenic, have of inducing an attenuation of their effects when regularly administered to persons. In order to obtain the desired effects the smoker finds himself obliged periodically to increase his dose of opium, the amount of increase depending upon the economic resources which the habitue has for continuing the practice, and also to a greater or less degree upon his will-power. This explains the statement that the consumption of opium increases or decreases according to the fall or rise of commercial prosperity, and that the Malays, who as a rule possess less self-control than the Chinese, are more harmed by the effects of opium than the latter.
(3) Intoxication.—Daily observations shows that the phenomenon of intoxication is not apparent at the beginning ; on the contrary, for some time the smoker enjoys excellent health, the ailments which led him to contract the vice disappear, and even his mental and reproductive functions seem improved. But after a longer or shorter period, varying according to the susceptibility of the individual, the phenomena of poisoning are not slow to appear ; the brief period of good health is followed by that of intoxication with all its digestive disorders and emaciation ; the moral and mental condition becomes clouded, the sexual desires are dulled, and the end is reached in a physical, mental, and moral degeneration.
As correlative to what we have said on the physiology of the inveterate habitue, the following may be added as general principles :
( 1) The impossibility of obtaining a spontaneous cure of the inveterate habitue, his enslavement to the vice being the rule.
(2) The fatal tendency of passing from the use to the abuse of opium. Recalling the words of an eminent physiologist regarding the alcohol vice, it must be said that men must become angels before the opium habit will lose its danger.
Manifest as is the impossibility of adopting absolute and immediate prohibition in the Philippine Islands, we may now proceed to discuss the policy which shall be the most suitable and the most practicable in protecting the inhabitants of the Philippines from the inroads of this social evil.
The first thing that we should bear in mind in discussing this question is that at the present time the use of opium fortunately does not constitute so grave a social calamity in the Philippines as it does in the neighboring territories. As we have already observed, the proportion of Filipino smokers to the entire population of the Islands is insignificant, save in three or four pueblos. The danger therefore lies in the tendency of the vice to grow and spread, until the number of victims, now inconsiderable, may at some future time reach a point where it shall constitute an alarming evil. As long as the present Chinese exclusion act continues in force, there Can be no influx of opium smokers
into-With-or and with a steady effort of the government to prevent an increase in the number of proselytes to the vice within, the habit will be confined to those who are already its slaves.
In connection with what has been suggested, we would recommend, as a general policy, the measures tried with so large a degree of success in Formosa and Java, so modifying them as to make their provisions as efficacious and as nearly conformable to the peculiar conditions of these islands as possible.
(I) We would recommend the adoption of a system of exclusive government monopoly, limiting the right of importation, wholesale and "re" aril,a-dpium to the government. The exercise of this governmental function should be entrusted to upright, intelligent, honorable, and well-recommended persons, following the practice observed in Java, with the object of eliminating from so responsible a trust all personal and commercial interests which would tend to extend the sale of the drug. It is understood that this system of monoply shall be replaced as soon as practicable by one of absolute prohibition.
(2) We would recommend the adoption of a system of registration and licensing for all chronic smokers, limiting the right to procure opium in definite quantities to them.
(3) As a corrective and educative measure, we would recommend the promulgation of a law depriving all Filipino opium habitues of the right of franchise and making them ineligible to all public offices, municipal, provincial, and insular.
(4) We would recommend the adoption of a measure providing for the gratuitous treatment of all habitues wishing to free themselves from the opium vice.

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
DEFINITION.
In the following findings and recommendations the word "opium" embraces opium, raw or cooked, chandoo, morphia, codeia, the other soporific alkaloids found in opium and their salts, and all other articles containing any of these substances and commonly used to produce the same effects as opium.
The Committee considered the following systems or methods of regulating the traffic in opium and its use:
I.—HIGH TARIFF OR HIGH LICENSE.
It has been found :
(a) That the use of opium has increased under high tariff in these islands, and there appears to be no reason, except an increase in price,
-why high license should have any diminishing effect on its use greater than that caused by high tariff.
(b) That smuggling prevails, and would probably increase if the tariff or license fee were increased; at any rate, there are no grounds for believing that it would thereby be diminished.
(c) That the matter of raising a revenue from such tariff or high license would expose the government to misapprehension and detraction.
II.-LOCAL OPTION.
This method does not seem suitable in any way to the opium traffic.
III.—FARMING.
To this system there exist the following objections :
(a) The farmer endeavors to increase his profits by extending his business, and so the use of opium is increased.
(b) Extensive smuggling also exists under this system as found in those countries visited by the Committee.
(c) The same objections as in One (I) exist under this system to the revenue derived from- farming.
(d) And, it is hardly moral to delegate to an individual, not a representative of the people, such authority in the way of supervising, -detecting, and policing, as the farmer usually exercises. To exercise such authority is a function of government only.
Prohibition may be either immediate and complete or progressive. Immediate prohibition is likely to produce extreme suffering among those who are already habitues of opium, as it is exceedingly difficult for any one to discontinue the use of the drug at once. The investigation of the Committee leads'it to believe that immediate prohibition is practicable only as a preventive measure in communities where opium smoking has never obtained. In those communities where opium is used and prohibition has been tried, it has been found a source of blackmail. Progressive prohibition is considered under the head of Government Monopoly.
V.-GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY.
A government monoply seems on the whole to be the most desirable, as a more nearly complete control may thus be had of the use of opium and the traffic therein.
(a) The agents of sale, or dispensers, of opium must be salaried officials whose incomes shall in no way be influenced by the sales they make.
(b) Smuggling would undoubtedly exist ; but it is a constant factor in all the methods considered, and it is not believed that smuggling would be greater under the government monoply system than under another.
(c) The proceeds of the government monoply should be so regulated that the income derived from that source should no more than meet the expenses therewith connected, in order to demonstrate that this method aims solely at cc:Intim], repression, and abolition of the use of opium and the traffic thTrein,  and is not a revenue method.
IT IS THEREFORE RECOMMENDED:
( i) That opium and the traffic therein be made a strict government monopoly immediately ;
(2) That three (3) years after that shall have been done, no opium shall be imported, bought or introduced into these islands, except by the government and for medical purposes only. (The time necessary to enable one accustomed to the use of the drug to discontinue the habit has been estimated at from six months to twenty years. It has seemed necessary to the Committee to state a definite period after which the use of opium shall be prohibited, because the force of any law or ordinance depends largely upon the exactness of the time at which it may be enforced. If a longer period than this were allowed, the time at which the habitue would begin to disaccustom himself to the use of the drug would be postponed indefinitely. Three years would seem to be a period of sufficient length. At the expiration of this time the government will be in a position to determine what is wisest and best to be done.)
(3) That the use of opium shall be prohibited to all inhabitants of these islands who are not males over twenty-one (21) years of age.
(4) That only those males over twenty-one (21) years of age who have licenses to use opium shall be permitted to use the drug.
(5) That licenses shall be issued to males over twenty-one (21) years of age by the government only, when it is shown by sufficient evidence that said males are habitual users of opium and would be injured by being compelled to discontinue its use suddenly.
(It is to be noted that no distinction has been made among the various nationalities which reside in these islands, as it is believed that the interests of equity and justice are thus best subserved.)
(6) That no person who is known to be an habitual user of opium shall be authorized to exercise the franchise or hold office under the Government of the. Philippine Islands.
(7) That in case a native of these islands (not a Chinese) violate any of the laws, regulations or rules against the use of opium, he (or she) shall be punished for the first and second offenses by fine or imprisonment, or by both, and for the third offense by being deprived of his (or her) right to exercise the franchise or hold office under the Government of the Philippine Islands.
(8) That in case a Chinese or other non-native violate any of the laws, regulations or rules against the use of opium, he shall be punished for the first and second offenses by fine or imprisonment, or by both and for the third offense by deportation from these islands, said deportation to last for at least five (5) years.
(9) That the pupils in the public schools of the Philippine Islands shall be taught the evil and debasing results of the opium habit, and that a primer of hygiene containing this information (and such other as the Honorable, the Secretary of Public Instruction, may deem fit) be prepared and used as a text book in said schools.
(That part of the primer containing the information relative to the use of opium might be translated into Chinese and distributed among the Chinese or published in the Chinese newspapers.)
(to) That all persons who are opium habitues and desire to be cured of the opium habit be admitted into hospitals, where they may be treated for the same; and that when such hospitals are under the control of the government, a fee shall not be charged in the case of indigent persons who voluntarily enter the hospital for the purpose of receiving treatment for the opium habit; Provided, that nothing in this section shall prevent any person from entering any hospital, refuge or other institution, not under the control of the government, which he may choose.
(11) That, as the Committee is of the opinion that public places for the smoking of opium (fumatories) exercise a pernicious influence on the public, no fumatories be allowed in the Philippine Islands.
(12) That the written statement of the licensee and of two trustworthy persons, one of whom shall, when practicable, be a regular licensed physician, shall be considered sufficient evidence on which to grant a license; and
(13) That the cultivation of the poppy (Papaver Somniferum) for the purpose of producing opium shall be made illegal in the Philippine Islands.
If these findings and recommendations should be approved, it would seem advisable that opium already prepared for smoking, provided there be a demand for it, should be purchased and imported, as the establishment of the plant necessary to prepare the cooked opium (chandoo) is costly and would be an unprofitable investment for the government, provided that prohibition should go into effect after three (3) years.
The Plan Outlined Is Briefly As Follows:
(1) Immediate government monopoly, 'to become
(2) Prohibition, except for medical purposes, after three (3) years.
(3) Only licensees, who shall be males and over twenty-one (21) years of age, shall be allowed to use opium until prohibition goes into effect.
(4) All vendors or dispensers of opium, except for medical purposes, shall be salaried officials of the government.
(5) Every effort shall be made (a) to deter the young from contracting the habit by pointing out its evil effects and by legislation ; (b) to aid in caring for and curing those who manifest a desire to give up the habit, and (c) to punish, and if necessary, to remove from the islands, incorrigible offenders.
In Working Out the Details of the Plan the Committee Recommends:
(I) A head office or depot in Manila where opium may be supplied to licensed consumers in Manila and to sub-offices (entrepots) in such places as the Commission may select.
() These entrepots will supply the licensed consumers in their vicinities.
(3) A system of entry, registration and bookkeeping should be devised to keep accurate account of the quantity of opium sold each licensed habitue, so that it may be detected in case he is buying for others or increasing his own dosage. In that case the quantity sold should be diminished.
(4) The licensee should be licensed to buy at one depot or entrepot only, and should be required to show the vendor his license, a copy of which, together with a photograph of said licensee, should be furnished to the said vendor.
- The Committee desires again to call attention to the fact that its work has been much hindered by circumstances over which it had no control—by the difficulty of securing sufficient clerical assistance, by the shortness of the time given within which to prepare the report, and by the fact that each member of the Committee was obliged to attend to other important matters at the time the report was preparing.
If the efforts, views, conclusions, and recommendations of the Committee may in even a small degree serve to open a discussion of legislation concerning opium, they will not be in vain. It is expected that they will encounter opposition and disapprobation ; but they are at least honest.

EDWARD CHAMPE CARTER,
Chairman Opium Investigation Committee.
CHARLES HENRY BRENT,
Member Opium Investigation Committee.
DR. JOSE ALBERT,
Member Opium Investigation Committee.
CARL J. ARNELL,
Secretary to the Opium Investigation Committee.