[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.] 223
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[June 15.
SECTION 1,
[77953]
(No. 115.) Sir,
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 15.)
Peking, May 17, 1915. I HAVE the bonour to enclose herewith copy of an extract from a Presidential mandate published in the Government "Gazette" of the 13th May last, exhorting the people against the cultivation and smoking of opium, and repeating the prohibition against traffic in the drug.
In reference to the strictures against Shensi in the mandate, my latest information from that province, dated the 18th April, is to the effect that the Military Governor has given secret permission to grow poppy again this year. Sowing takes place in April, and thousands of mou (one acre equals six mon) have already been planted.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Extract from Government " Gazette" of May 13, 1915, Presidential Mandate.
(Translaion.)
THE evil of opium is known to all men, and no less than 8,000 millions of money and 10 000,000 lives have been sacrificed during the past few decades as a result of this evil. Once a person acquires the habit of opium smoking he degenerates into a parasite and is reduced to a skeleton. Thus a rich man becomes a pauper and a healthy man a weakling. This gives rise to the prevalence of undesirable characters and persons who do not care to work, the race deteriorates, morality declines, and both the family and the nation are affected and harmed. Fortunately, however, as a result of the unprejudiced spirit of the friendly nations and the well-intentioned publicity given to the matter by Chinese and foreigners an agreement was made in the third year of Hsuan Tung with Great Britain for the prohibition of the import of foreign and the cultivation of native opium within a certain time limit. A persistent policy has been pursued with regard to the prohibition of cultivation, smoking, and trading in opium and as a result of it Fengtien and many other provinces have succeeded in completely destroying all poppy plants; and the import of opium into these provinces has been prohibited by mutual consent. The International Anti-Opium Society also decided that within a certain time limit investigations should be made into the opium trade contemporaneously with the progress of the measures adopted by the Chinese Government. If this opportunity had been seized to make a clean sweep of opium the country's weakness would soon have been turned into strength. The prohibition was repeated at the beginning of the republican régime. But owing to the lack of order and discipline and the fact that there were many desperadoes and unruly soldiers who were mostly opium smokers, the evil sprang again into being. The ignorant people, seeing that there was great profit in the opium trade, defied the law hitherto in force. This was most regrettable. Some people urge that since the opium trade affects the livelihood of many persons it is unjust to use arbitrary methods for the prohibition of poppy planting. They forget, however, that the evil of opium smoking is like a dangerous ulcer that sinks deep to the bone, for the cure of which it is better to eut away part of the bone than to patch it up with a piece of flesh taken from another part of the body. Whether the profit in this trade is large or small, the traders should be made to understand in unmistakable language that no one can live by drinking poison to quench his thirst. The local headmen should be entrusted with the task of uprooting the poppy, and the farmers supplied with cotton, grain, and other seeds for sowing instead, so that gradually what is now a rule may become an exception. The plea of present livelihood is no justification for planting the seed of endless calamity in the future. We have heard lately that in certain parts of Shensi poppy plants are still being raised, and we have made enquiries of the high provincial authorities.
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