THe withdrawal of the Ameri: can and) Chinese delegations from the International Opium Conference, held under the auspices of the League of X meetings which, it was hop might do much to end the tragic in this benighted drug. Esforts! to suppress the opium tral the Far East commenced in 1907, when Great Britain and Chiuit Teached a tentative agreement with regard to the limitations of the importation of Indian opium) into China. This agreement was! made permanent in 1911, two! years after an international commission had met in Shanghai and had fully investigated the subject. The treaty provided:
From the Ist day of 71911, China shall diminish inualiy' for seven years the pro: duction of opium in China in the same proportion as. the ex-Port from India is diminished accordance with the terms of this! agreement and of the annex appended hereto until total extinetios in 1917; Article 2. The Chinese Government have adopted a most rigorous! volley for prohibiting the produc: tion, the transport, and the sinoki of native opium, and Hix Majest Government have expressed their Jagreement therewith and willing hess to give every assistance, view to facilitating a continuance of this work, His Majesty's Govern. ment agree that the export of plum from India to China shall coos less than seven years, if clear p n of the complete absence production of native opium in Chin.
Article 3. His Majesty's Gover ment further agree that Indian opium shall not be conveyed. in: larly province of China which can establish by clear evidence that it] has effectively suppressed the jeultivation and import of native opium. It is understood, however, that the closing of the ports of Canton and Shanghai to the import of Indian opium shall not take effect except as the final step on the part of the Chinese Government for the completion vf the above measure, The British Government has more than lived up to its promise. Before the term of ex-_ Piration.of the agreement, 1917, {all exports of Indfan opium had ceased, the ports of Shanghai and Canton were closed to opium and the British traders were Prohibited from dealing in the commodity. A report made at the Geneva Conference stated that since 1917 no Indian opium had been exported to China. On the other hand, the opium problem -has become increasingly serious. Not only has China not lived up to her agreement to suppress the cultivation of opium, but the drug has been raised in -inereasingly large quantities until opium has become not only one of the principal commodities of commerce but has come to have an unsavoury political effect, in that mi tarists force its cultivation with a view to trafficking in the drug themselves and also as a source The widespread use of drug in China and its spread to other countries has attracted the attention of all human n agencies and the governments of the world.
The League of Nations has at ious times discussed the prob-fern and finally called two conferences, one to meet on November 3, 1924, and the other on November 17, to discuss the possibility of restricting the evils arising out of the use of the drug. The first conference was to deal with prevention of opium-smoking in the Far Bast and the second with the limita: tion to medical and_scientifle needs of manufactured narcotics ud the raw materials exported for the purpose. The first con?!
came to grief on the question of export certificates, the Japanese delegation being unwilling to agree to the resolutions reported. The second conference met on November 17, the chairman stating its purpose:
7 aim we have in view is to a really effective weapon fight a scourge which has become nereavingly dangerous to mankind, 'The evil which we are' here vobat has spread to all classes of society and to almost all countries," ays in the last phrase of the presiding: officer's address dyes one find the reason: for the ron attitude taken by the American delegate A pro posal was made by the Americans which is tantamount to a total extinction of the trade in ium. A report from an Ameri-an source nates that the Un States "required titude. has led an appalling. rug addiction for which there gan no remedy, so Jong. as opium and narcotics are' produced in the present excess The attitude of the United fates is clearly stated in the preamble to the Enabling Act passed by the United States Con-press on May 18, 1924, which authorized the appropriation for the delegation to attend the Con-fe Two clauses of this preamble contain the gist of the ths purpose wf the Hague Opium Convention (22) is to be achieved, according t ite spirit and trim intent, it_must be recognized that the ure of opium products for other than medical and fe purposes is an abuse and is illegitiabuse wduetions it ix necessary exercise control of the produc of raw opium in such a marine that there will be no surplus avai for non-medical and no! selentitie purposes Now, it will be noted that the conference was called to deal with manufactured narcotics and the limitation of their export, as well asthe export of raw materials going into the manufacture of narcotics. The American proposal dealt with raw materials. It must be borne in mind that all proposals sought to accomplish the same end, that is, the eventual elimination of the use of opium and its. derivative as a drug except for medical purposes. But the jauéstion which faced the delegates was how to accomplish this without altogether upsetting the economic. life of the peoples in opium-growing countries, what time limit to set for the accomplishment of the task and how to prevent the reforms Processes of life and business in those countries as not to incommode the people too much or in such a way as to lead to political difficulties as well as economic instability. On this question, the Americans refused to compromise. They insisted that the. root of the evil is opium-growing and that the root must be stamped down, enough, the Ameri-seconded by the-Chinese delegation, which represent-the largest opium-growing country in the world, Dr, Sze, in his speeches, admitted' that China had become a large opiumxvowing country; he failed to prove that China was not exporting opium to Burma and Indo-China and other Far Bast= ern countries: he could produce lence to combat the fact that Chinese officials were enkwxed in the opium trafic, He explained all away by the statement thut China had been" in order since 1917, the year the British agreement became final-effective, and that if the wor would have sympathy with China, China would ultimately mend' her ways. Furthermore, he pointed to the province of hansi, which was free from the m curse, he said, due to a and capable government, He said nothing about the provines of Fukien, Kansu and Anhui, ov other places where the poppy flourish With the best of desires to do nothing to embarrass China, the British delegation could not. overlook the fact that although eat Britain had lived up to an which China had fail respect or was incapable rapecting. she was again called upon to make the whole sacrifice, while nothing was ask-led of the others, Mr. Sze could would coa that the Chinese Government in a position to prevent opium from being grow even in Chihli province. Yet India was required to cease all opium growing forthwith. The attitude of the British Government is stuted succinctly in a Reuter's despatch dated January 6:
It is understood that the Cabinet yesterday discussed the question of Policy involved. Tt may be taken that the British Government, while sympathizing with the object' of the American proposal gradually suppress the opium traffic, questions the wisdom of the particular method: proposed, It is of the opinion that it would be better to evolve a means of controlling the import of opium 10 countries where the trade is doing harm than to attempt to end the "trade ut one stroke. It declared that the prominence given to India was quite unfair, Tt point= not export opium except to governments which want it, and can control its There been no ex-to China, The American plan amounted not only to a prohibition of the export of narcotics, but a prohibition of the growing of the poppy anywhere. Great Britain might perhaps have been willing consider such a prohibition for humanitarian reasons, were it not that China constantly ob-Jiected to the discussion of her internal affairs, meddling her internal affairs, supervision over her internal affairs. The [growing of the poppy in India happens to be the internal affa of Great Britain. Were China in a position to live up to her agreement, Great Britain might have considered the proposal, But the complete prohibition of the growth of the poppy in India,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.