File No. 774/18–19.
The Secretary of State to Minister Hill.
Washington,January 31, 1907.
Sir: I inclose herewith a copy of an instructionb sent mutatis mutandis to the embassies at London and Tokyo by which the views of the British and Japanese Governments were sought with reference to a general and impartial investigation of the scientific and material conditions of the opium trade and the opium habit in the Far East, to be conducted by the principal powers having possessions and direct interests in that quarter, namely, the United States, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, China, and Japan.
The British Government has replied that it is willing to take part in such an inquiry if the other powers above mentioned are likewise willing to participate, and if, as regards China, the inquiry shall be extended to the production of opium in China as well as to the importation of foreign opium.
The Japanese Government has replied that it will be willing to join in the investigation suggested and to take steps looking toward a limitation or suppression of the opium traffic, provided that China’s bona fide cooperation is assured.
Since the department’s initial inquiry was made and the views of Great Britain and Japan thereon elicited, the regulations for the suppression of opium growing and smoking in China, drawn up and submitted by the council of government reforms, have been approved by imperial rescript dated November 21, 1906. A copy of these regulations is inclosed.
In a dispatch to the department dated December 6, 1906,c the American legation at Peking says:
It is intended to gradually eliminate the cultivation of the poppy, and the viceroys and governors are instructed to see that magistrates investigate and report on the acreage of poppy lands and issue licenses to farmers owning such lands, on condition that the quantity of poppy be reduced each year and replaced with whatever crop the nature of the soil may be fitted for.
Already the customs taot’ai, Liang T’un Yen, has been instructed by His Excellency the Viceroy Yuan Shih-k’ai to consult the consuls of Tientsin regarding the prohibition of the establishment of new opium dens in their concessions. Those in the Chinese city have already been prohibited, so that the young men may be freed from the temptation to become habitual smokers of this noxious drug, and all existing houses are to close their doors within a certain period. It is requested that a similar period be fixed by the foreign consuls after consultation with Taot’ai Liang.
[Page 146]The commissioners of the south and north sections of the Tientsin city police have received instructions from the viceroy to order the keepers of all existing opium dens, except shops that sell both raw and prepared opium, in Tientsin and its suburbs, to close their doors and stop business before the end of the current Chinese month (i. e., December 15) or they will be most severely punished without indulgence. In order to put this command into effect, Chinese restaurants, eating houses, and wine shops are prohibited from keeping lamps and pipes for opium smoking by their visitors after the 15th instant and offense will be punished by severe penalties.
All ships importing raw and prepared opium will be prohibited from carrying on this traffic within a certain time, i. e., after proper regulations have been drawn up between Sir John Jordon and the foreign office for the gradual reduction of the importation of Indian opium into China and of the planting of home-grown opium in the provinces. It is believed that His Excellency Tang Shao-i will open negotiations with the British minister on this subject shortly.
From the foregoing, China’s cooperation in the investigation may be confidently expected.
The views of Great Britain and Japan being favorable and the cooperation of China seeming assured, it is desired to have you take an early opportunity to bring this matter to the attention of the Government of the Netherlands, and to inquire of it whether it will be willing to join with the other powers mentioned in a conference on the opium question, or whether, if another course were deemed more convenient and practical, it would be prepared to name a commissioner who, in concert with like commissioners of the other named powers, would investigate the subject, with a view to submitting a joint recommendation to the powers, or in case of divergence of views a statement thereof, to the several governments, for their consideration and appropriate determination in the direction of united action, as the result of a conference, or coincident action by each government in its own sphere.a
I am, etc.,
- Supra.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1906, p. 365.↩
- Copy sent mutatis mutandis to the embassy at Berlin, January 31, 1907, No. 604, and Paris, January 31, 1907, No. 254,↩