The Opium Monopoly Part 3

Says Mr. Arnold, in his Open Letter: "It will be seen that the t.i.tle of the pamphlet, Munic.i.p.al Ethics, describes a situation which is a complex one. It concerns first the actual att.i.tude of the Shanghai Munic.i.p.al Council towards the Chinese national movement for the suppression of the use of opium. This, we are a.s.sured by successive Chairmen of the Council, has been one of "sincere sympathy," "the greatest sympathy," and more to the same effect. Certainly no one would have guessed this from the facts and figures reproduced in this pamphlet from the columns of the "Munic.i.p.al Gazette."

"The second element in the ethical situation is the actual att.i.tude of the Council not only towards the Chinese national movement, but also towards its own official a.s.surances, protestations and promises.

"It is on this second branch of the subject before us that I specially desire to focus attention, and for the facts here stated that I would bespeak the most searching examination. The protestations of the Council as to its own virtuous att.i.tude in regard to opium reform in China are made the more emphatic, and also the more open to criticism, by being coupled with some very severe insinuations made at the time, as to the _insincerity_ and _unreliability_ of the Chinese authorities in what they were professing, and in what _they_ were planning to do in the same matter of opium reform. It so happens, as the event proves, that these sneers and insinuations were not only quite uncalled for, but were absolutely and utterly unjust. When a comparison is inst.i.tuted between (a) 'official p.r.o.nouncements' made two years ago by the Chinese authorities as to what they then _intended_ to do for the suppression of the opium habit, and (b) the 'actual administrative results' that in the meanwhile have been accomplished, the Chinese have no cause to be ashamed of the verdict of impartial judges. What they have done may not always have been wise, it may sometimes have been very stern, but the outcome has been to awaken the astonishment and admiration of the whole civilized world! When, on the other hand, a comparison is inst.i.tuted between (a) the fine professions and a.s.surances of the Shanghai Munic.i.p.al Council made six or seven years ago as to its _own_ att.i.tude towards the 'eradication of the opium evil' and (b) the 'actual administrative results' of the Council's own proceedings, the feelings awakened are of very different order. Here, not to mention any other consideration, two hard facts stare one in the face: First, in October, 1907, there were _eighty-seven_ licensed opium shops in the International Settlement. In May, 1914, there were _six hundred and sixty-three_. In 1907 the _average_ monthly revenue from opium licenses, dens and shops _combined_, was Taels 5,450. In May, 1914, the revenue from licenses and _opium shops alone_ was Taels 10,995. The Council will not dispute these figures."

At the beginning of the anti-opium campaign in 1907, there were 700 dens (for smoking) in the Native City, and 1600 in the International Settlement. The Chinese closed their dens and shops at once. In the Settlement, the dens were not all closed until two years later, and the number of shops in the Settlement increased by leaps and bounds. Table I shows an outline of the Munic.i.p.al opium-shop profits concurrent with the closing of the opium houses--and subsequently:

_Year_ _Month_ _Dens_ _Shops_ _Monthly revenue,_ _shops only_

1908 Jan. 1436 87 Taels, 338 Oct. 1005 131 623 1909 Jan. 599 166 1,887 Oct. 297 231 2,276 1910 Oct. Closed 306 5,071 1911 Oct. 348 5,415 1912 Nov. 402 5,881 1913 Dec. 560 8,953 1914 March 628 10,188 April 654 10,772

Mr. Arnold quotes part of a speech made by the Chairman of the Munic.i.p.al Council, in March, 1908. The Chairman says in part: "The advice which we have received from the British Government is, in brief, that we should do more than keep pace with the native authorities, we should be in advance of them, and where possible, encourage them to follow us." It must have been most disheartening to the native authorities, suppressing the opium traffic with the utmost rigor, to see their efforts defied and nullified by the increased opportunities for obtaining opium in that part of Shanghai over which the Chinese have no control. A letter from a Chinese to a London paper, gives the Chinese point of view: "China ... is obliged to submit to the ruthless and heartless manner in which British merchants, under the protection of the Shanghai 'Model Settlement' are exploiting her to the fullest extent of their ability."

There is lots of money in opium, however. The following tables compiled by Mr. Arnold show the comparison between the amount derived from opium licenses as compared with the amount derived from other sorts of licenses.

1913. Wheelbarrows Taels, 38,670 Carts 22,944 Motor cars 12,376 Cargo boats 5,471 Chinese boats 4,798 Steam launches 2,221 Total, 86,480 Opium shops 86,386 Opium, 86,386

Another table shows the licensed inst.i.tutions in Shanghai representing normal social life (chiefly of the Chinese) as compared with revenue from opium shops:

1913. Tavern Taels, 16,573 Foreign liquor seller 19,483 Chinese wine shop 28,583 " tea shop 9,484 " theater 8,714 " club 3,146 ------ Total 85,983 Opium shops 86,386

Treaty Ports are those cities in China, in which the foreign powers have extra-territorial holdings, not subject to Chinese jurisdiction.

Shanghai is one of them, the largest and most important. The Statistical Abstract Relating to British India for 1903-4 to 1912-13 shows the exports of British opium into these Treaty Ports.

1903-4 1,610,296 pounds sterling 1904-5 1,504,604 1905-6 1,130,372 1906-7 1,031,065 1907-8 1,215,142 1908-9 2,703,871 1909-10 1,234,432 1910-11 2,203,670 1911-12 3,614,887 1912-13 3,242,902

It was in 1907 that China began her great fight against the opium evil, and enacted stringent laws for its prohibition on Chinese soil. On page 15 of his little book, Mr. Arnold quotes from Commissioner Carl, of Canton: "The 1912 figure (for the importation of foreign opium) is the largest on record since 1895. The great influx of Chinese into the foreign concessions, where the anti-opium smoking regulations cannot be enforced by the Chinese authorities, and where smoking can be indulged in without fear of punishment, no doubt accounts for the unusual increase under foreign opium."

X

INDIA

India is the source and fount of the British opium trade, and it is from Indian opium that the drug is chiefly supplied to the world. As we have said before, it is a government monopoly. Cultivators, who wish to plant poppies, may borrow money from the Government free of interest, the sole condition being that the crop be sold back to the Government again. It is manufactured into opium at the Government factory at Ghazipur, and once a month, the Government holds auctions at Calcutta, by means of which the drug finds its way into the trade channels of the world--illicit and otherwise.[2]

[2] This description of the Opium Department is to be found in Statistics of British India, Financial Statistics, Vol. II, 8th Issue, page 159:

OPIUM. The region in which the poppy was cultivated in 1916-17 for the manufacture of "Bengal opium" comprises 32 districts of the United Provinces of Agra and Ouhd. The whole Department has, with effect from the 29th September, 1910, been under the control of one Opium Agent, with headquarters at Ghazipur. At Ghazipur there is a Government factory where the crude opium is manufactured into the form in which it pa.s.ses into consumption.

The cultivation of the poppy and the manufacture of opium are regulated by Act XIII of 1857, as amended by Act I of 1911, and are under the general control of the Lieutenant Governor and the Board of Revenue of the United Provinces, and the immediate supervision of the Opium Agent at Ghazipur. The possession, transport, import and export of opium are regulated by rules framed under the Indian Opium Act. Cultivation is permitted only under licenses granted under the authority of the Opium Agent.

The area to be cultivated is fixed by the license, and the cultivator is bound to sell the whole of his production to the Opium Department at the rate fixed by Government.... Advances, on which no interest is charged, are given to licensed cultivators at the time of executing the agreement and from time to time (though ordinarily no more than two advances are given) until final delivery. In March, April and May the opium is made over to the officers of the Department, and weighed and tested, and as soon as possible afterwards each cultivator's accounts are adjusted, and the balance due is paid him. After weighment the opium is forwarded to the Government factory at Ghazipur, where it is manufactured in 3 forms--(a) opium intended for export to foreign countries, departmentally known as "provision opium"--(b) opium intended for consumption in India and Burma, departmentally known as "excise opium" and (c) medical opium for export to London. Provision opium is made up in the form of b.a.l.l.s or cakes, each weighing 3.5 lbs., and is packed in chests, each chest containing forty cakes, weighing 140 1/7 lbs. It is generally of 71 efficiency. Excise opium is made up in cubical packets, each weighing one seer, 60 of which are packed in a case. It is of higher consistency than the "provision opium." Medical opium is made up into cakes weighing 2 lbs. Provision opium is sold by public auction in Calcutta. A notification is published annually, generally about the month of June, stating the number of chests which will be put up for sale in each month of the next calendar year, and the quant.i.ties so notified are not altered without three months notice. Sales are conducted month by month by the Bengal Government; 7,000 chests were notified for sale in 1917 for s.h.i.+pment to non-China markets. The number of chests actually sold was 4,615. In addition to this, 4,500 chests were sold to the Government of the Straits Settlements, 2,200 to the Government of Netherland Indies, and 410 to the Government of Hongkong. The duty levied by Government on each chest may be taken to be the difference between the average price realized and the average cost.

The following facts are taken from "Statistics of British India.

Financial Statistics, Volume II, Eighth Issue," to be found at the New York Public Library:

AREA UNDER POPPY CULTIVATION

Acreage: 1910-11 362,868 1911-12 200,672 1912-13 178,263 1913-14 144,561 1914-15 164,911 1915-16 167,155 1916-17 204,186

In the hey-day of the China trade, 613,996 acres were under cultivation in the years 1905-6, consequently this is a drop in the extent of acreage. But, as we have said before, the closing of the China market simply means that other outlets must be found, and apparently they are being found, since from 1914 onwards, the acreage devoted to poppy planting is slowly increasing again.

The opium manufactured in the Government factory is of three kinds--provision opium for export; excise opium, for consumption in India, and medical opium, for export to London. It is this latter form of opium which, according to Mr. MacDonald, in his "Trade Politics and Christianity in Africa and the East" is being manufactured into morphia by three British firms, two in Edinburgh and one in London, which morphia the j.a.panese are buying and smuggling into North China.

The "Statistics of British India" shows the countries into which Indian opium has been exported: we will take the figures for the last five years, which show the number of chests sent out.

_1912-13_ _1913-14_ _1914-15_ _1915-16_ _1916-17_

China 19,575 4,061 1,000 734 500

Straits Settlements 5,098 1,537 755 605 239

United Kingdom 11 115 498 199 0

Mauretius 10 19 23 65 120

Ceylon 50 105 80 65 80

Cochin-China 805 875 2,690 2,035 3,440

Java 3,010 3,265 2,650 1,835 1,965

Other countries 2,815 1,929 3,160 3,248 2,366

Total 31,374 11,906 10,858 8,786 8,710

In some countries we see a falling off, as in China. Cochin-China, the French colony, shows a considerable increase--the little Annamites, Tonquinese, Cambodgians and other inhabitants of this colony of the French Republic being shown what's what. Mauretius, a British Colony five hundred miles off the coast of Madagascar, in the Indian ocean, seems to be coming on. The falling off in s.h.i.+pments to the United Kingdom may possibly have been due to the war and the scarcity of s.h.i.+ps. "Other countries" seem to be holding their own. With the end of the war, the increase in s.h.i.+ps, and general trade revival, we may yet see compensation for the loss of China. With the increase of drug addicts in the United States, it may be that in time America will no longer be cla.s.sed under "other countries" but will have a column all to itself.

In another table we find a comparison as to the number of chests of provision or export opium and of excise opium, or that intended for consumption in India. Thus:

_Provision Opium_ _Excise Opium_

1910-11 15,000 chests 8,611 chests 1911-12 14,000 9,126 1912-13 7,000 9,947 1913-14 12,000 8,307 1914-15 10,000 8,943 1915-16 12,000 8,391 1916-17 12,000 8,732

Each chest contains roughly about one hundred and forty pounds.

REVENUE

The revenue of India is derived from various sources, and is cla.s.sified under eight heads. Thus: for 1916-17.

I. Land Forest Tribute from Native States Total 25,124,489 II. Opium 3,160,005 III. Taxation: 1. Salt 2. Stamps 3. Excise 4. Customs 5. Provincial rates 6. Income tax 7. Registration 32,822,976 IV. Debt Services 1,136,504 V. Civil Services 2,364,985 VI. Military Services 1,575,946 VII. Commercial: 1. Post 2. Telegraph 3. Railways 4. Irrigation 51,393,566 VIII. Miscellaneous Receipts 1,221,497 Grand total 118,799,968

Out of these eight cla.s.sifications, opium comes fourth on the list.

But in addition to the direct opium revenue, we must add another item, Excise, which is found under the third heading, taxation. In the "India Office List for 1918" we find "Excise" explained as follows: Page 383: "Excise and Customs: Excise duties in India are levied with the two fold object of raising revenue and restricting the use of intoxicants and narcotics." In the same book, on page 385, we also read: "Excise and Customs Revenues: The total of the excise and customs revenues on liquors and drugs in 1915-16 was in round figures ten million pounds.

This total gives an average of rather more than ninepence a head on the whole population of British India as the revenue charge on drink and drugs during the year."