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conference program, it may be pointed out that the preparation of the program has been left to the United States as the initiator of the international meeting.
China Bars Use of Opium
The Chinese government decided in 1906 to abolish the use of opium in the course of ten years by forbidding the consumption of the drug and the cultivation of the poppy, carried on hitherto in every province.
The prevention of imports received from India, Japan, Persia and Turkey then became necessary, and a conference was proposed by the American officials at Manilla, This was held at Shanghai in 1909, and measures were adopted for the prohibition of the export of opium and morphine to countries which interdicted the importation.
The twelve powers represented at that conference will complete their work when the delegates reassemble at The Hague.
Great Britain is called upon to make the largest sacrifice, since the Indian government derives a considerable revenue from opium, but it is expected to persevere in the policy by which all exports of the drug will cease by 1920.
Persia, Turkey and Japan will also agree to restrict their exports, and stringent measures will be proposed for breaking up the morphine traffic. Morphine is now manufactured on a large scale in London, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Berlin, New York and San Francisco, and it is exported through indirect channels and reaches China.
OPIUM CONVENTION SIGNED
American Delegates Will Not Divulge Terms of
Agreement
[Marconi Transatlantic. Wireless Telegram to the Public Ledger.]
London, Jan. 27, 1912.—The American delegation to the opium conference at The Hague returned to London yesterday and will sail on the Auguste Victoria to-morrow. All the members of the delegation refused to discuss the subject in any way, saying that it would not be proper to do so before reporting to Washinton.
