Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1912

File No. 511.4A1/1226a.

The Acting Secretary of State to the Delegates of the United States to the International Opium Conference: Messrs. Charles H. Brent, Hamilton Wright, and H. J. Finger.

Department of State,
Washington, October 18, 1911.

Gentlemen: Your are informed that you have been appointed Delegates Plenipotentiary to represent the United States at the International Opium Conference which is to meet at The Hague on the 1st of December, 1911.

The need of such a conference was suggested by the American Delegation to the International Opium Commission at one of the final sittings of that body which met at Shanghai in February, 1909; and although no formal action was taken, the Department of State, having considered the unanimous conclusions arrived at by the Commission as a whole, and the report of the American Delegates thereto, deemed it advisable to issue a proposal to the interested Governments that a Conference should meet at The Hague, or elsewhere, composed of one or more delegates of each of the participating Powers, and that such delegates should have full powers to give to the main salutary propositions of the Commission and the essential corollaries derived therefrom the force of law and international agreement. Therefore, on the 1st day of September, 1909, this Government issued a circular proposal¹ to the Governments concerned in which it was stated that the United States had learned with satisfaction of the results achieved by the International Opium Commission; that in the opinion of the leaders of the antiopium movement much had been accomplished; and that both the Government and people of the United States recognized that this was largely due to the generous spirit in which the representatives of the Governments concerned approached the subjects submitted to them. It was pointed out that the Government of the United States appreciated the magnitude of the opium problem and the serious economic interests involved in the production of and trade in the drug; and that a deep impression had been made by the friendly cooperation of the Powers financially interested, and by the desire, as expressed by the resolutions of the Commission, that the opium evil should be eradicated not only from Far Eastern countries, but also from the home territories and possessions in other parts of the world of the Powers therein represented. It was stated that, as the result of the investigation of the opium problem in the United States, it had become apparent, quite apart from the question as it affected the Philippine Islands, that a serious opium evil obtained in the United States itself; that this was primarily due to the large Chinese population in the country, to the intimate commercial intercourse with the Orient, and to the unrestricted importation of opium and manufacture of morphia.

Thus, it was observed that the interest of the United States in the opium problem is material as well as humanitarian, and that, as the result of the investigations made before the meeting of the International Opium Commission, the Congress enacted legislation which aimed to prevent the importation of opium into the United States except for medical purposes. But it was noted that the United States is not an opium-producing country, and that in order to make its present and proposed laws fully effective and so stamp out the national opium and allied evils, there should be control of opium and other habit-forming drugs shipped to this country; and therefore that to attain this end it would be necessary to secure international cooperation and the sympathy of opium-producing countries.

Continuing, the proposal stated that this Government, impressed by the gravity of the opium and allied problems and the desirability of divesting them of local and unwise agitation, as well as by the necessity of maintaining the entire question upon the basis of fact as determined by the Shanghai Commission, suggested the following tentative program:

(a) The advisability of uniform national laws and regulations to control the production, manufacture, and distribution of opium, its derivatives and preparations;

(b) The advisability of restricting the number of ports through which opium may be shipped by opium-producing countries;

(c) The means to be taken to prevent at the port of departure the shipment of opium, its derivatives and preparations, to countries that prohibit or wish to prohibit or control their entry;

(d) The advisability of reciprocal notification of the amount of opium, its derivatives and preparations, shipped from one country to another;

(e) Regulation by the Universal Postal Union of the transmission of opium, its derivatives and preparations, through the mails;

(f) The restriction or control of the cultivation of the poppy so that the production of opium will not be undertaken by countries which at present do not produce it, to compensate for the reduction being made in British India and China;

(g) The application of the pharmacy laws of the Governments concerned to their subjects in the consular districts, concessions, and settlements in China;

(h) The propriety of restudying treaty obligations and international agreements under which the opium traffic is at present conducted;

(i) The advisability of uniform provisions of penal laws concerning offenses against any agreements that the Powers may make in regard to opium production and traffic;

(j) The advisability of uniform marks of identification of packages containing opium in international transit;

(k) The advisability of permits to be granted to exporters of opium, its derivatives and preparations;

(l) The advisability of reciprocal right of search of vessels suspected of carrying contraband opium;

(m) The advisability of measures to prevent the unlawful use of a flag by vessels engaged in the opium traffic;

(n) The advisability of an international commission to be intrusted with the carrying out of any international agreement concluded;

It was made plain, however, that the United States had no desire to prescribe the scope of the Conference or to present a program which might not be varied nor enlarged; but that the tentative program was submitted in the belief that it might serve as a basis at least for preliminary discussion, and a formal expression of opinion was invited on the topics outlined and an enumeration requested of the other aspects of the opium problem which might seem of peculiar importance to any participating nation.

This circular proposal was made to those Governments which were represented in the International Opium Commission, and to the Turkish Government, which, although invited to participate in the International Opium Commission, failed to do so because it had no diplomatic representative in the Far East.

The proposal for an International Opium Conference has been accepted by all the Governments to which it was made, except those of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.

The Government of the Netherlands very courteously suggested that the Conference meet at The Hague. This has proved to be agreeable to all of the Powers, and the question of the date of the Conference having been left to the Netherlands Government that Government has finally found that December 1 next is acceptable, and invitations naming that date have been accordingly issued to the assenting Governments.

With regard to the tentative program laid down in this Government’s circular proposal, the following reservations, additional proposals, and suggestions have been made by certain of the participating Powers:

The French Government, making no objection to items (b), (c) (d), (e) (f), (j), and (k), has remarked as to items (a), (g), (i), (l) (m), and (n) of the tentative program: that item (a) demands the adoption of uniform national laws and regulations to control the production, manufacture, and distribution of opium, its derivatives and preparations, and expresses the view that they do not believe that it is desirable that this question should be brought up (in regard to this item it has been explained to the French and British Governments that a mistake was made by this Government in using the words “uniform national laws,” that they should have been “effective national laws”); that item (g) proposes the application of the pharmacy laws of the Governments concerned to their subjects in the consular districts, concessions, and settlements in China, and expresses the view that at present it would seem to be impossible to accomplish this purpose as it would tend to place in the hands of the Chinese or nationals of countries not signatories to a convention the exercise of the profession of pharmacy in the concessions; that item (i) as to the establishment of uniform provisions of penal laws concerning offenses against any agreement that the powers may make in regard to opium production would mean a modification of French penal laws, and that this is such a grave question that the Government of the Republic is not prepared to bring it up in the French Parliament. As to items (l) and (m), which raise the question of the right of search, and about which public opinion in France has always shown itself particularly susceptible, the French Government would not renounce its principles in this matter to prevent contraband opium. The French Government also reserves its opinion in regard to item (n), which involves the question of an international commission to supervise any international agreement concluded by the Conference. Within the limits thus indicated the French Government has declared its readiness to study proper measures to bring about the gradual suppression of the unnecessary production and misuse of opium.

The German Government, agreeing to the general principles of the tentative program, in particular consented that the morphine and cocaine questions be made the subject-matter of deliberations of the Conference.

The British Government, after pointing out that the illicit traffic in morphine and cocaine in India, China, and other Far Eastern countries is becoming more grievous and deadly than opium smoking, and that such an evil is certain to increase as the restrictions which are now being placed in India and China, on the production and use of opium become more stringent, suggested that the Powers participating in the Conference should definitely consider beforehand the question whether they would be prepared to make a statistical study of the manufacture and trade in morphine and cocaine and agree to impose severe restrictions on such manufacture of and trade in the drugs in their respective territories. Further, the British Government has stated that they take exception to those items of the tentative program number (h), (l), (m), and (n) and that they will not be prepared to discuss in the Conference, first, the arrangement made between His Majesty’s Government and China respecting the progressive restriction of opium imports and of opium production in China (i. e., the so-called ten-year agreement); second, other existing treaties between the two countries. It may be stated that all of the participating Governments have accepted the proposals of the British Government in regard to morphine and cocaine.

The Chinese Government has suggested in regard to item (a) of the tentative program that, in drawing up laws and regulations, there should be no interference with the sovereign rights of any nation; that in regard to item (i), that offenses against any agreement that the Powers might make should be punished by each country according to its own penal laws; that in regard to item (l), that the right of search of vessels should be restricted by the Governments concerned to vessels found within their own territorial waters; and in regard to item (n), that there would be no need of an international commission to supervise any agreement reached by the Conference and assented to by the interested Governments.

The Italian Government has pointed out the importance of the question of the traffic in Indian-hemp drugs to that Government, and has suggested that the Conference might advantageously deal with the question of this traffic.

The Netherlands Government, while agreeing to the general principles of the tentative program, at the same time observed that for the Netherlands Indies, where the culture of the poppy does not exist and where the opium régie is or will be introduced, the question of most importance to the Netherlands Government is for the Conference to arrive at an agreement as to measures to be taken to combat the smuggling of opium.

The Russian Government, while approving in principle of the general tenor of the tentative program, took exception to item (f), inasmuch as there is almost no production of opium in Russia, and for that reason the restriction and control of the cultivation of the poppy, as provided for by that item, would be superfluous as far as Russia is concerned, and would oppose a serious obstacle to the development of one of the branches of Russian agriculture.

The other Powers have accepted the tentative program as a basis for discussion, reserving their particular views upon it, which will be expressed at the Conference itself.

You will see, therefore, that although the tentative program proposed by the United States has been in some respects narrowed by the reservations made by several of the Powers, generally speaking the scope of the work of the Conference has been broadened by the suggestions that it include in its deliberations the question of the manufacture of and trade in morphine and cocaine and the Indian-hemp drugs. It therefore seems to this Government desirable that production of and traffic in all habit-forming drugs which have been proved to be a menace to the moral, physical, and economic welfare of the world should be considered by the Conference and adequately dealt with by it in the spirit of resolution 5 of the International Opium Commission, which places a ban on all drugs which appear on scientific inquiry to be liable to abuse and productive of the ill effects of opium, its derivatives or preparations.

It would be inexpedient to limit you by too rigid instructions upon the different questions which may be brought forward in the Conference for discussion; but you should closely bear in mind that, though it has been clearly demonstrated that the United States has large material interests in any action which the Conference may take, this Government has no revenue of moment at stake; and that primarily the international movement for the suppression of the opium evil was initiated by this Government with the object of assisting China in her recent and energetic effort to suppress her opium evil.

If in the course of the deliberations of the Conference the point be raised in any quarter that economic disturbances have resulted from the antiopium movement in China and Siam, with their bearing on treaties now in force between those countries and the treaty powers, you should not oppose its consideration, inasmuch as it is a matter in which any interested Power may legitimately express its views. Where the United States is not an interested party in this regard, it would not wish to participate in a discussion of the conventional rights and interests of other Powers. These economic disturbances have not as yet been clearly defined. However, as Dr. Hamilton Wright has made a close study of them, much dependence must necessarily be placed by you upon his good judgment and discretion in the event of the interested Governments bringing them forward for discussion; but any commitment of this Government in respect to the revision of its conventional tariff with China would not be considered germane to the scope of the Opium Conference. All of your communications and reports to this Government will be made to the Department of State for due consideration and final preservation in the archives. The records of the delegation will be kept by its secretary, Mr. Frederic L. Huidekoper. Should you be in doubt at any time in regard to the meaning or effect of these instructions, or should you consider at any time that there is occasion for special instructions, you will communicate concisely with the Department of State by telegraph.

I may say to you that it is the President’s earnest desire that the very old and troublesome opium problem growing out of the abuse of opium and the allied habit-forming drugs may be successfully dealt with by the Conference.

I am [etc.]

Alvey A. Adee.

1. For. Rel. 1909, pp. 107–111.