CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 678

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The United States, hopever, is not itself an opium-

ucing country,

in order to make its laws fully ef-

tive and stamp out the evil there should be control of

amount of opium suipped to this country.

To this end

...

will be necessary to secure international co-operation

ad 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 ques-

tion in its international bearing, and if feasible to draft

international agreement.

As, novever, the Government of Great Britain intimated

that procedure by way of commission seeged better adapted

han a conference for an investigation of the facts of the

trade and the consequences of the habit preliminary to an

action by the Powers jointly and severally, and inasmuch af the material placed before the conference might be insuffic-

ient to arrive at definite recommendations, the United.

States