January 8.
Tax publication of a new Whits Book on the subject of opium suppression in China is to be welcomed on more than one ground. That the Chinese Government, certainly not without national support, is making an earnest effort to rid the empire of opium, has now been evident, on the testimony of impartial witnesses, for a long enough period to warrant confidence in the attempt. But to say that "China has more thi fulfilled her share of the bargain
capable of taking a dispassionate probably what few sympathizers view would have ventured to assert; and the statement, coming from so high a source and through channels
of untempered panegyric, will that are not accustomed to a fom received with cordial satisfaction. The experience of mission and other foreign hospitals in different parts of China has shown, what was, at one time a subject for not unreasonable scepticism, that an opium smoker even after years of indulence can be cured of his craving in ree weeks or a month, 'At least the temptation will not arise spontaneously. Thedanger of backsliding lies citherintheadvice of friends, aswhen the patient may be suffering from achill, or in the corruption of evil surroundings. It is, therefore,' of the utmost importance that the sense of the nation should set, as it appears to have begun to set, against the practice and that where public opinion is wanting, assistance should, be given from above by the forcible removal of the drag. From the international standpoint the White Book makes an apposite appearance, because with the beginning of this year the Indian Government enters on the last of what may be called the three probationary years daring which export of opium to China was to be limited to 61,900 chests in 1908, 56,800 in 1909 and 51,700 in 1910. Farther reduction was to be dependent on the evidence given by China of having proportion ately diminished the native production and consumption of opium within her own borders. But the ideal set forth was that the Indian export to China should continue to be reduced in the same proportion for ten years, by the end of which the trade would have ceased, entirely. It is, therefore, essential that before the close of the present year the Indian Govern ment, should know exactly where it stands.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.