Opium

Dr. W. H. G. Aspland, General Secretary of the International Anti-Opium Association in Peking, says: "In two districts in South Fu-Kien the military authorities are planning to raise $15,000,000 from opium taxes alone. It is also a matter of common knowledge that the five hospitals for curing the opium habit in Foo-Chow, run by the head of the Opium Suppression Bureau, are really facilitating the sale and consumption of opium." He continues that bribery of the customs officials goes on on a large scale, and that "in the old days opium cultivation was voluntary and merely a trade; now it is a compulsion."