'THE International Opium Conference at Geneva would have attracted much more attention in China but for the deplorable state of chronic warfare in which we are involved. The conference was called primarily to devise means} to regulate the conditions under which the world's opium trade is} conducted. The nations which produce opium are Turkey, Persia, India and China. Britain is affected because of the relationship in which she stands to India. The other nations represented are affected in more or Jess degree by the moral issue involved and all are concerned with the use made of the den tives of opium in the manufacture of the deadly poisons used by drug addicts. Of these nations)
America is the most influential and she is deeply interested in the suppression of the drug habit. The prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors in the United States has given an impetus to the use of narcotic drugs which has made that problem assume the aspect of a national menace. It is said that "dope" addicts in America are numbered by the hundred thousand. They are becoming more numerous in every country and unless the evil is grappled with the trade will reach proportions that will dwarf the worst ravages of alcohol.
The American delegation the anti-opium conference had strict instructions from its Government not to sign any agreement that did not contain definite provisions for the control and reduction of the cultivation of the poppy plant. In pursuance of these instructions 4 delegate tabled a motion calling on the conference to enact such laws and regulations as would secure that within a term of fifteen years no opium should be grown anywhere in the wide world except for medicinal purposes. This proposal was backed by a powerful appeal, based on the moral issues involved, by Bishop Brent. The Indian delegation opposed the motion because (1) the growth and consumption of opium in India is under the control of the! native Leyislative Council. The delegation could not pledge the Council, which has its own views on the subject, (2) The In contend that there is no abuse of opium in India, The drug eaten as a prophylactic against fever and, to that extent, al. CH) India alone ions exercises absolute the jerowwth and die tribution of opium, Not an ounce is exported except at the of the government of the country: to which the consignment designated. The delegation, therefore, refused to pledge India to accept the American proposals.
Viscount Cecil was the spokesman for Great Britain, He contended that the chief evil: of opium, so far as western nations were concerned, was the use made of its derivatives and urged the conference to work for practical ends and secure effective regulation if, for the time being, a time limit for eradication could not be agreed on. He strongly: produced early; about ten times rest of the! to prohibit cultivation in Indi! where the border marches for} hundreds of railes with China. woul! be. Tike shutting a park gate to keep ut a butterily. offered to pierce the British Government to abolish opium-smoking in its Far Eastern territories, wherein it is temporarily authorized, within 2 period of fifteen years from the time that suppression of cultivation of the poppy in China reached a stage where smuggling could safeguarded against. The Ame-neons, however, are bound by the cast iron rigidity of their instruc-_ tions and could not accept this, it seems as though the Conference would break up without accomplishing its aims. This is a great pity. A magnificent opportunity to curb, if it cannot! Kill, the deadly trade will be let slip unless some modus vivendi can yet be found before the end of the session.
The attitude of the Chinese delegate, Dr. Alfred Sze, has been much commented on. He supported "the American proposals.. He manifested deep concern at the rapid increase of the cultivation of the poppy in China. He was ready to pledge his Government to the suppress sion of the poppy root and branch. The audience must have been impressed with the suavity and complaisance of Dr. Sze and compared it unfavourably with the reluctance of the British deleg tion to assent to, what seemed to them, a counsel of perfection. But the British representatives; knew that what they promised they were in honour bound to} perform; therefore their hesitation to agree to do the impossible. Dr. Sze was at the Conference, not to assist at the suppression of the opium trade, but to make 4 gesture, impressing other nations with China's sweet reas-enableness. He succeeded to degree. He agreed to everything. He would have pledged' his Government to colonize the mountains of the moon if that! would have pleased his hearers. China is drenched and cursed: with opium as is no other country'
the world, but her representative stands before an international audience, gay and. debonair, and promises with an airy wave of his hand to sweep it away like a cobweb. Fortunately, his sophistry was too transparent for even a Geneva audience.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.