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THE OPIUM EVIL.
tinue its efforts to mitigate if not entirely stamp out the opium evil through the proposed international conference and otherwise by fur- ther investigations and proceedings. Your recommendation for a new appropriation was supported by the President in transmitting the report to the Senate and House of Representatives, and in the general deficiency act of 1910 the Congress provided as follows:
To enable the Government to continue its efforts to mitigate if not entirely stamp out the opium evil, through a proposed international conference and otherwise, by further investigation and proceedings, $25,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of State.
There was, therefore, no break in the continuity of the effort of this Government to secure an international opium conference to follow upon, broaden, and conclude the work of the international commission, and on September 1, 1909, the Department of State issued an instruction to the diplomatic officers of the United States accredited to the Governments which were represented in the Inter- national Opium Commission, containing proposals for an International Opium Conference. That instruction is as follows:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 1, 1909. To the diplomatic officers of the United States accredited to the Governments which were
represented in the Shanghai International Opium Commission. GENTLEMEN: The Government of the United States has learned with satisfaction the results achieved by the International Opium Commission, which concluded its labors at Shanghai on February 26, 1909. In the opinion of the leaders of the anti- opium movement much has been accomplished by the commission, and by both the Government and people of the United States it is recognized that the results are largely due to the generous spirit in which the representatives of the Governments concerned approached the subject.
The Government of the United States appreciates the magnitude of the opium problem and the serious financial interests involved in the production of and trade in the drug, and it is deeply impressed by the friendly cooperation of the powers financially interested and the desire as expressed by the resolutions of the commission that the opium evil should be eradicated not only from Far Eastern countries, but also from their home territories and possessions in other parts of the world.
During the investigation of the opium problem in the United States by the American commissioners it ecame apparent that, quite apart from the question as it affects the Philippine Islands, a serious opium evil obtained in the United States itself; that this was primarily due to the large Chinese population in the country, to the inti- mate commercial intercourse with the Orient, and to the unrestricted importation of opium and manufacture of morphia.
Thus the interest of the United States in the opium pro lem is material as well as humanitarian, and as the result of the investigations made before the meeting of the commission at Shanghai, the Congress of the United States passed the following legislation:
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, That after the 1st day of April, 1909, it shall be unlawful to import into the United States opium in any form or any preparation or derivative thereof: Provided, That opium and preparations and derivatives thereof, other than smoking opium or opium prepared for smoking, may be imported for medicinal pur- poses only, under regulations which the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby author- ized to prescribe, and when so imported shall le subject to the duties which are now or may hereafter be imposed by law.
"SEC. 2. That if any person shall fraudulently or knowingly import or bring into the United States, or assist in so doing, any opium or any preparation or derivative thereof contrary to law, or shall receive, conceal, buy, sell, or in any manner facilitate the transportation, concealment, or sale of such opium or preparation or derivative thereof after importation, knowing the same to have been imported contrary to law, such opium or preparation or derivative thereof shall be forfeited and shall be destroyed, and the offender shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $5,000 nor less than $50, or by imprisonment for any time not exceeding two years, or both. Whenever, on
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trial for a violation of this section, the defendant is shown to have, or to have had, possession of such opium or preparation or derivative thereof, such possession shall le deemed sufficient evidence to authorize conviction unless the defendant shall explain the possession to the satisfaction of the jury.”
It will be observed that this act excludes from the United States opium except for medicinal purposes.
It is not unlikely that the Government of the United States may at an early date enact further legislation to place the entire manufacture and distribution of medicinal opium, its derivatives and preparations, and other habit. forming drugs like cocaine and Indian hemp under Federal supervision and control. The United States, however, is not itself an opium-producing country, and in order to make its laws fully effective and stamp out the evil there should be control of the amount of opium shipped to this country. To this end it will be necessary to secure international cooperation and the sympathy of opium-producing countries.
In the original despatches which led to the calling of the commission, the American Government considered the time had come to decide whether the consequences of the opium trade and habit were not such that the civilized powers should take measures in common to control the trade and eradicate the habit, and the suggestion was made that there be an international conference to consider the question in its international bearing, and if feasible to draft an international agreement.
As, however, the Government of Great Britain intimated that procedure by way of commission seemed better adapted than a conference for an investigation of the facts of the trade and the consequences of the habit preliminary to any action by the powers jointly and severally, and inasmuch as the inaterial placed before the conference might be insufficient to arrive at definite recommendations, the United States modified its original attitude. Therefore, in the latter part of 1906, the Government of the United States approached several of the powers more particularly interested in the question for an international commission of inquiry to study the scientific, economic, moral, and legislative aspects of the opium problém.
It was finally agreed by the Governments concerned that a commission should meet at Shanghai on the 1st of January, 1909. The commission met on February 1, having been postponed out of respect to the late Emperor and Dowager Empress of China, and adjourned on February 26, 1909. After a thorough and searching study of the opium question in all its bearings, the commission adopted the following resolutions:
"Be it resolved:
"1. That the International Opium Commission recognizes the unswerving sincerity of the Government of China in their efforts to eradicate the production and consump- tion of opium throughout the Empire, the increasing body of public opinion among their own subjects by which these efforts are being supported, and the real though unequal progress already made in the task, which is one of the greatest magnitude. 2. That in view of the action taken by the Government of China in suppressing the practice of opium smoking, and by other Governments to the same end, the Inter- national Opium Commission recommends that each delegation concerned move its own Government to take measures for the gradual suppression of the practice of opium smoking in its own territories and possessions, with due regard to the varying circum- stances of each country concerned.
3. That the International Opium Commission finds that the use of opium in any form otherwise than for medical purposes is held by almost every participating country to be a matter for prohibition or for careful regulation; and that each country in the administration of its system of regulation purports to be aiming, as opportunity offers, at progressively increasing stringency. In recording these conclusions the Interna- tional Opium Commission recognizes the wide variations between the conditions prevailing in the different countries, but it would urge on the attention of the Govern- ments concerned the desirability of a reexamination of their systems of regulation in the light of the experience of other countries dealing with the same problem.
4. That the International Opium Commission finds that each Government repre- sented has strict laws which are aimed directly or indirectly to prevent the smuggling of opium, its alkaloids, derivations, and preparations, into their respective territories; in the judgment of the International Opium Commission it is also the duty of all coun- tries to adopt reasonable measures to prevent at ports of departure the shipment of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives, and preparations, to any country which prohibits the entry of any opium, its alkaloids, derivatives, and preparations.
5. That the International Opium Commission finds that the unrestricted manu- facture, sale, and distribution of morphine already constitute a grave danger and that the morphine habit shows signs of spreading. The International Opium Commission, therefore, desires to urge strongly on all Governments that it is highly important that drastic measures should be taken by each Government in its own territories and pos- sessions to control the manufacture, sale, and distribution of this drug and also of such
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