There are
no opium shops in Japan, and the Japanese Government is as careful to
protect its people from the evils and dangers of opium as any European
country could be. It must be remembered, however, that Japan is a free
and independent country. It has never been conquered by a European
country, and perhaps one explanation as to why the Japanese are a
powerful, virile people, is because Japan is the one Oriental nation
that has never been dominated by a European power, and in consequence,
never drugged.

The other exception is our own possession of the Philippines, which
although a subject country, has never had the opium traffic established
as part of the machinery of an alien government.

On our return to America, we were greatly exercised over these facts
which we had unearthed. We continued our researches as to the opium
traffic in the New York Public Library, and in the Library of Congress,
in Washington, in both of which places there is a rich and abundant
literature on the subject. We obtained ready access to official blue
books and government reports, issued by the British Government, and it
is from these sources that the material in this book is largely drawn.
We were somewhat hampered in our investigations by the fact that
because of the war, these blue books have not always been of recent
date, some of them being two or three years old. For this reason, it
has not always been possible to give the most recent figures as to
opium consumption and distribution in the various countries. However,
we feel that we have obtained enough information to uphold our case,
and in any event, there is no doubt that the opium traffic, as fostered
by the British Government, still continues. In looking over the list of
British colonies where it is established, we may find here and there a
diminution in the amount of opium consumed, but this is probably due to
the exigencies of war, to the lack of shipping and transportation,
rather than to any conscientious scruples or moral turnover; because
the revenue derived from the opium trade is precious. In some
instances, as in the case of the Straits Settlements, the local British
Government derives from forty to fifty per cent of its revenue from
this source. Yet, taken in relation to the whole, it is not large.
However valuable it may be, however large the percentage in the case of
any particular colony, it can surely never be large enough to
compensate for the stigma attached. I