251
27
26
THE OPIUM EVIL.
It is important to notice that the last paragraph of article 24 provides that in case questions shall arise relative to the ratification of the convention, for effectuation of the convention, or the effectua- tion of the laws, regulations, and measures which the convention involves, the Netherlands Government, if these questions shall not be decided by other means, shall invite all the signatory powers to designate delegates who shall assemble at The Hague to come to an immediate agreement on these questions. This is a novel feature, and as it will be readily seen practically provides for an arbitration at The Hague of any disputes growing out of the terms of the convention. Article 25 of the convention is common form, and contains the usual provision for denunciation, for the deposit of the convention, and for the transmission of certified copies of it to the powers represented at the conference
It may be stated that the novel final provisions of the convention were designed because of the difficulties connected with its Chapter III concerning morphine and cocaine. Chapters I and II concerning the production and traffic in raw and prepared opium and Chapter IV concerning China are composed of distinct pledges by the signatory powers made on questions on which there was little or no disagree- ment, and to which it was thought the powers not represented at the conference would readily adhere. Chapter III, on the other hand, deals with the question of the traffic in morphine and cocaine, on which there was disagreement considerable enough to compel certain of the delegations to hold that the chapter could not be effectuated by the signatory powers until it was subscribed to by the States not represented in the conference Therefore the novel final provisions were designed because of the difficulties connected with the contents of Chapter III, and the ratification of the entire convention must now wait upon the necessary supplementary signatures of 34 other States. Toward the end of the conference, and with the object of escaping this dilemma, the American delegation proposed that the convention should be broken in two parts--one to be composed of Chapters I, II, IV, and V, on the contents and strict pledges of which all the delegations were agreed, and to have as final articles the ordinary form of such articles in other conventions which provide for adhesion and ratification; the other convention to be composed of Chapters III and VI, the latter to contain the novel final articles as eventually adopted for the convention as it now stands. The American view, however, was not acceptable to a majority of the delegations, and therefore was not pressed.
In addition to the convention the delegates to the International Opium Conference signed a protocole de clôture, which contains the following views: That the conference is of the opinion that there is reason to draw the attention of the Universal Postal Union to the urgency of regulating the transmission by post of raw opium; to the necessity of regulating as far as possible the transmission by post of morphine and cocaine and their respective salts, and of the other substances contemplated by article 14 of the convention; to the necessity of prohibiting the transmission of prepared opium by post and of the advisability of the study of the question of the Indian hemp drugs from the statistical and scientific standpoint with a view to regulating their misuse should the necessity thereof make itself felt.
THE OPIUM EVIL,
Generally speaking, it may be said that the convention is satis- factory, and illustrates that the most powerful nations in the world are now agreed that an evil such as the opium evil is never wholly national in its incidence, can never be suppressed by two nations alone-as was supposed to be the case in regard to the Indo-Chinese opium traffic-but that such an evil as it appears in one State is a concomitant or reflex of a similar evil in other States and is therefore international in its moral, humanitarian, economic, and diplomatic effect; that this being so, few evils can be eradicated by national action alone; and therefore only by the cooperation of all the States directly or indirectly interested can such an evil be mitigated or suppressed.
The convention marks a decided step in advance in the inter- national movement for the suppression of the opium evil initiated by the United States. This movement at first was thought to con- cern only those countries of the Far East, or those western nations having territorial possessions in the Far East-five or six in number. But it has proceeded by way of a sober international commission of inquiry, composed of commissioners representing 13 nations, and by a conference composed of delegates with full powers repre- senting 12 of these nations. These delegates having formulated and signed on behalf of their Governments a convention containing strict pledges for national legislation and international cooperation, the convention has now been presented to the remaining States of Europe and America-34 in number--for their signature.
But, quite apart from the contents of the convention itself, the international movement initiated by the United States has had a directly beneficial effect on the interested nations, for pending the assembling and action of the International Opium Commission, and while the diplomatic correspondence, aimed to secure The Hague con- ference, was in progress, many of the Governments concerned per- fected domestic legislation for the suppression of the evils connected with opium and other narcotics, and took measures concerning the export of these drugs which were of international significance.
By the final provisions of the convention contained in Chapter VI, there will probably be a delay of a year before the convention can be ratified by the signatory powers and those powers who agree to sign the protocol of supplementary signature. That, however, is of little moment compared to the new international comity which has been established by the document, and the furtherance by it of new principles of international commercial law; while the deduction may be made from article 22 of the convention, that all future Hague conferences dealing with matters of general international commerce must be composed of an overwhelming majority of the nations.
There is, however, one aspect from which the convention may be viewed that should be disquieting to the Government and the people of the United States. It has just been stated that a reflex effect of the initiation by the United States of the international movement for the abatement of the opium evil took the form of improved domestic legislation in nearly all the countries concerned, of very drastic legislation in some, while one country at least-Great Britain-both by national and colonial law, effectuated resolution 4 of the Inter- national Opium Commission, as now embodied in article 3 of the International Opium Convention.