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THE OPIUM EVIL.
tive conclusions of the conference. It was, therefore, the desire of the American as well as the other delegations that nothing should go forth during the sitting of the conference that would lead to a speculative activity in the production of and trade in opium, mor- phine, and cocaine. This proved to be a wise view, for the con- vention as signed at The Hague had no sooner been published than there was a large increase in the market price of the drugs, part of which was undoubtedly speculative.
A feature which did not lend itself to the expedition of the work of the conference was the adoption of French as the official language. as provided by Rule XI. At the International Opium Commission English was the official language because the most convenient to the majority of the commissions. A large majority of the delegates to the conference preferred to speak English in spite of Rule XI. and the French delegation expressed itself bilingually. The proceed- ings were taken down in English, then translated into French, and printed in English as well as French, for the convenience of those delegates who were not thoroughly acquainted with the latter language. This procedure often led to delay, and it was not until the last two or three sessions that the conference could approve of its transactions to that time. This incident alone illustrates the necessity of a conference proceeding by a language most convenient to the majority of the delegates, when it has to deal with questions like the opium and allied questions involving vast economic interests. Rule IV provided for a comité de redaction, or editing committee- the original intention being that this committee should have referred to it the final action of the conference for edition. In practice, how- ever, this committee took up the day-by-day work of the conference, and attempted to reduce it before the ultimate views of the conferees had been expressed. Before the conference had been long in sersion disputed questions were also referred to this committee rather than to the program committee, or to a conciliating committee, which, mooted by the American delegation, did not prove to be acceptable to the conference. Some confusion ensued, and it finally became necessary for the conference to add to the editing committee Mr. Asser, the eminent international jurisconsult. Mr. Asser's services proved to be preeminently valuable, and before adjournment the conference unanimously expressed its dept of gratitude to him.
The American delegation fruitlessly strove to have the actual work of the conference done in commission and committee a practice that had been followed with great success by the first and second Inter- national Peace Conferences, and by the more recent London Naval Conference. But the majority of the members of the conference insisted on thrashing out intricate and difficult economic and diplo- matic questions in the plenary sessions. It is to be hoped that at future Hague conferences the plan of working details be by com- missions and committees which shall report to the conference in plenary session for approval, and after such approval submit the reports to a small editing committee for final revision.
In spite of the difficulties attending a defective organization, it is to the great credit of all the representatives that they were animated by a lofty spirit and a determination that the conference should achieve the practical results which had been hoped of it. This hope
THE OPIUM EVIL.
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was fruitful, although the convention, as signed, presents unique features as to ratification and effectuation.
The positive results of the conference may be stated as follows: Immediately after the adjournment of the International Opium Com- mission there were drafted in the Department of State two measures designed to control the foreign and interstate traffic in the United States of opium, morphine," and cocaine. When the conference assembled, it was soon seen that the principles contained in those measures were principles that could be readily applied by an inter- national conference to the international traffic in the commodities under consideration. It may be said, therefore, that the Interna- tional Opium Convention, as finally agreed upon, is based in part on well recognized principles, or proposed principles, of American interstate and navigation law. That part of the convention having to do with central governmental control of the drugs is based on the best European and Japanese practice, which on the whole is far in advance of the practice of our Federal Government.
A review of the convention will make this occult. Chapter 1 defines raw opium, and contains pledges on the part of the powers for the governance of the domestic and international traffic therein; Chapter II, of similar import, applies to opium prepared for smoking; and Chapter III to medicinal opium, morphine, and cocaine. Chap- ter IV, of five articles, is composed of pledges on the part of the treaty powers represented at the conference aimed to assist China in suppressing her great and vexatious opium problem. Chapter V is composed of article 20 as to possible laws, and article 21 as to illegal possession of opium to the international exchange of documents and statistics. Chapter VI, of four articles, is composed of final provi- sions on supplementary signature, ratification, effectuation, and arbitration of the convention such as have never before been seen in an international document.
The first paragraph of Chapter I gives a practical commercial definition of raw opium, and fairly well conforms to the definitions of this substance as provided for many years in tariff legislation of the United States.
By Article I of the convention the contracting powers pledge themselves to enact effective laws or regulations to control the pro- duction and distribution of raw opium, unless their existing laws and regulations have already regulated the matter. That is, by this article the interested Governments must effectually bring under some sort of Government supervision, either by the monopoly system as practiced in India, or by authorization of persons, the production and distribution of raw opium.
By article 2 of the convention the contracting powers pledge them- selves to restrict the number of cities, ports, and other places through which raw opium may be exported or imported. This article is in accord with American practice, for by virtue of the regulations issued by the Secretary of the Treasury under authority of the opium exclusion act approved February 9, 1909, the importation of opium into the United States is confined to 12 named ports. In practice, the effect of this article will be to secure a more strict governmental control of the importation and exportation of raw opium for medicinal purposes.
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