Frost Oun Own Conesroxoent Peiping,. May 30.
One of China's oldest trades, for so Jong carried on. under cover, is out {im the open again in Peiping—opium is now sold as openly and freely as are vegetables and meat. The seal authorization of such sales was set on it today when the Ministry' fof Administration of the Provisional Government issued an order imposing a general welfare tax of 20 cents! per ounce on all raw opium sold in opium shops.
The new tax is to be collected by the Finance Bureau of the Munieipality and presumably the money from this course is to swell the coffers of the Municipal Government, This new tax follows two. other significant announcements this month. The first was the statement of the Consolidated Tax administration on May 11 that st had decided to permit the establishment of 300 opium dens:
the city and 100 opium shops.
First Flourishing Trade is most probable that at the time of the order there were many more than this in Peiping, for during the period of confusion' which followed the ousting of the Sung Cheh-yuan regime and the establishment of the Provisional Government the drug trae was one of the first trades to Bet on its feet ard flourish. Nor were the Chinese and Japanese en-ely to blame for this for some foreigners had a finger in the pic.
But if, the order of May 11 decreased the number of dens and shops Ht also put the seal of legality on the Jdrug business. The sale, purchase and smoking of opium is now a legal business.
A curious part of the order of May 11 was the stipulation that each of the 300 opium smoking dens should have a minimum capital of $1,000 and. that each of the 100 shops allowed to. sell raw opium must have a minimum Jeapital of $10,000. The reason for this does not appear to be clear, but it is thought by some that this is to keep the poorer people as far away from the drug as possible as obviously a proprietor who has put $1,000 into an. opium den wants better paying cus fom than the rickshaw coolie who. wants a 5 cent puff at the pipe.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.