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THE OPIUM EVIL.
other derivatives of opium as may appear on scientific inquiry to be liable to similar abuse and productive of like ill effects.
6. That as the International Opium Commission is not constituted in such a manner as to permit the investigation from a scientific point of view of antiopium remedies and of the properties and effects of opium and its products, but deems such investigation to be of the highest importance, the International Opium Commission desires that each delegation shall recommend this branch of the subject to its own Government for such action as that Government may think necessary.
7. That the International Õpium Commission strongly urges all Governments pos- sessing concessions or settlements in China, which have not yet taken effective action toward the closing of opium divans in the said concessions and settlements, to take steps to that end, as soon as they may deem it possible, on the lines already adopted by several Governments.
"8. That the International Opium Commission recommends strongly that each dele- gation move its Government to enter into negotiations with the Chinese Government with a view to effective and prompt measures being taken in the various foreign con- cessions and settlements in China for the prohibition of the trade and manufacture of such antiopium remedies as contain opium or its derivatives.
9. That the International Opium Commission recommends that each delegation move its Government to apply its pharmacy laws to its subjects in the consulär dis- tricts, concessions, and settlements in China.'
Although no formal declaration was made, it was a matter of discussion and was recog- nized by the commission as a whole that the foregoing resolutions, however important morally, would fail to satisfy enlightened public opinion unless by subsequent agree ment of the powers they and the minor questions involved in them were incorporated
in an international convention.
Impressed by the gravity of the opium problem and the desirability of divesting it of local and unwise agitation, as well as the necessity of maintaining it upon the basis of fact as determined by the Shanghai Commission, the United States deems it impor- tant that international effect and sanction be given to the resolutions of the International Opium Commission, and to this end proposes that an international conference be held at a convenient date at the The Ilague or elsewhere, composed of one or more delegates of each of the participating powers, and that the delegates should have full power to conventionalize the resolutions adopted at Shanghai, and their necessary consequences. The Government of the United States suggests as a tentative program, based upon resolutions and proceedings of the International Commission, the following:
the
(a) The advisability of uniform national laws and regulations to control the pro- duction, manufacture, and distribution of opium, its derivatives, and preparations; (b) The advisability of restricting the number of ports through which opium may be shipped by opium-producing countries;
(e) The means to be taken to prevent, at the port of departure, the shipment of opium, its derivatives, and preparations to countries that prohibit or wish to prohibit or control their entry;
(d) The advisability of reciprocal notification of the amount of opium, its deriva- tives, and preparations shipped from one country to another;
(e) Regulation by the Universal Postal Union of the transmission of opium, its derivatives, and preparations through the mails;
(f) The restriction or control of the cultivation of the poppy so that the production of opium will not be undertaken by countries which at present do not produce it, to compensate for the reduction being made in British India and China;
(4) The application of the pharmacy laws of the Governments concerned to their subjects in the consular districts, concessions, and settlements in China;
h) The propriety of restudying treaty obligations and international agreements under which the opium traffic is at present conducted;
(i) The advisability of uniform provisions of penal laws concerning offenses against any agreements that the powers may make in regard to opium production and traffic; The advisability of uniform marks of identification of packages containing opium in international transit;
(4) The advisability of permits to be granted to exporters of opium, its derivatives, and preparations;
(The advisability of reciprocal right of search of vessels suspected of carrying contraband opium;
(m) The advisability of measures to prevent the unlawful use of a flag by vessels engaged in the opium traffic;
(n) The advisability of an international commission to be intrusted with the carry- ing out of any international agreement concluded.
THE OPIUM EVIL,
Without attempting to prescribe the scope of the conference, or to present a program which may not be varied nor enlarged, the Government of the United States believes that the foregoing suggestions might properly serve as the basis at least for preliminary discussion, and invites a formal expression of opinion not merely upon the topics out- lined, but an enumeration of other aspects of the opium problem which may seem of peculiar importance to any participating nation. The United States considers it important that an exchange of views take place as early as possible before the meeting
of the conference.
If the program as outlined meets with the approval of the Government to which you are accredited, it will be highly serviceable that on some subsequent date--for example, on or before December 1 of the current year the participating Governments exchange their views, together with such recommendations and observations as occur to them. This course will not only facilitate the work of the conference and materially shorten its labors, but enable the Government of the United States to prepare in advance a definitive program based upon the suggestions and views of the participating Governments.
You are therefore directed to transmit a copy of this instruction to the minister for foreign affairs of the Government to which you are accredited, and at the same time to request that a delegate or delegates be appointed, furnished with full powers, to nego tiate and conclude an agreement, provided that the Government to which you are accredited is favorable to the idea of an international conference for the suppression of the opium evil, as the result of the inquiries of the Shanghai Commission.
I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant.
ALVEY A. ADEE,
Acting Secretary of State. Favorable responses were almost immediately received from the interested Governments to the above circular proposal, the project for the assembling of an International Opium Conference composed of delegates with full powers having met with general favor. By September, 1910, all the powers but one which had taken part in the International Opium Commission had signified to this Govern- ment their willingness to continue to cooperate with it in the inter- national movement for the settlement of the opium and allied ques- tions, while the tentative program contained in the department's circular proposal was broadened by suggestions made by the British Government to the effect that, those Governments sending delegates to the conference should agree beforehand to a thorough study of the production, manufacture, and traffic in morphine and cocaine, }} {{ should pledge themselves before the assembling of the conference to the principle of drastic legislation for the control of the manufacture and use of these drugs. The additional proposals of the British Gov- ernment were accepted by all of the interested Governments. In addition, the Italian Government proposed that the conference deal with the production, manufacture, and traffic in the Indian hemp drugs in a manner similar to opium, morphine, and cocaine.
The date for the assembling of the conference was originally fixed by the Netherlands Government for May 31, 1912, but because several of the powers were not able to make the necessary study of the morphine and cocaine questions by that time, the date for the meeting of the conference was postponed to December 1, 1912.
The delegation of the United States to the conference was com- posed of the following members:
Delegates plenipotentiary: Charles II. Brent, of the Philippine Islands; Hamilton Wright, of Maine; Henry J. Finger, of California. Secretary to the commission: Frederic L. Huidėkoper, of Wash- ington, D. C.
1 The Austro-Hungarian Government did not see its way clear to send delegates to the conference, but, nevertheless, informed this Government that it would observe the conference and its results with sympathy.