Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1907, (In two parts), Part I

File No. 774/52–53.

Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State.

American Legation,
Peking,March 15, 1907.

No. 559.]

Sir: In further relation to the measures being taken by the Imperial Government for the suppression of opium smoking I inclose herewith a translation of an imperial edict emphasizing the determination of the Throne to carry out this great reform.

So far as I can learn, the only province in which the regulations are being enforced is this one; in the others one hears of a few localities where stringent measures are being tried, but on the whole indications are not wanting to show that the genuineness of the Government is still doubted.

I have, etc.,

W. W. Rockhill.

[Inclosure.—Translation.]

Imperial edict against opium traffic.

February 19, 1907.

viceroys ordered to reduce poppy-cultivation area.

The following imperial edict has been published:

With reference to the memorial of the ministry of the interior regarding the universal prevention of the opium habit, we may state that, owing to the great harm the drug does to our people, we had already issued on a former occasion our decree that opium must be strictly prohibited and a certain limit of time allowed for the complete abolition of its use amongst the people of the Empire.

The memoralists advocate that branches of the antiopium society be distributed as widely as possible, and that opium divans in the provinces be abolished and closed in accordance with the new regulations.

We hereby command the viceroys, governors, and tartar-generals of provinces to impress upon their subordinates the importance of doing their duty in this connection with diligence and energy.

To abolish in earnest the practice of opium consumption it is most necessary to clear out the source of supply, and this is the prohibition of the cultivation of the poppy plant.

We therefore look to the said viceroys, governors, and tartar-generals of provinces to pay diligent attention to the regulations sanctioned by the Throne, namely, the gradual annual reduction of the area devoted to the cultivation of the poppy plant, so that the production of foreign, as well as native, opium may entirely cease within the stated limit of ten years.

Let there be no subterfuges to deceive us in the matter, so that we may attain our greatest desire to protect from harm and show kindness to our subjects by stamping out a deep-seated and dangerous habit.