It is not to be wondered at that Americans feel
strongly about opium, and of course, in this respect, they have our complete sympathy. Since alcohol was prohibited in America the use of dangerous drugs, particularly 'the derivatives of opium, has spread alarmingly. Opium- dens have sprung up in all directions. It seems that when men are deprived of one kind of narcotic they will find another by hook or by crook. But when the American representatives assume that the opium which is supplying the American market comes from India they are making a great mistake. No opium grown in India is exported to America. The method of the Indian Government is to license the sale of opium. But we agree that the revenue derived from opium is not an excuse for allowing the trade to continue a moment after it becomes humanly possible to stop it. The' real trouble is that the arrange- ment madewith China in 1907 for the suppression of opium- growing has quite broken down. At first it produced 'excellent-results, and at-the -end of ten years hardly any opium was being exported from China. Then came the disintegration of China, under the rival Tuehuns, and the cultivation of the poppy broke out again without let or hindrance.
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