its crying. It is
a social vice only among the upper classes. The most notable outward
effect of this indulgence is the resulting physical weakness and
lassitude. The opium-smoker cannot work hard; he finds it difficult to
apply his mind to a problem or his body to a task. As the habit becomes
firmly fastened on him, there is a perceptible weakening of his moral
fibre; he shows himself unequal to emergencies which make any sudden
demand upon him. If opium is denied him, he will lie and steal in order to
obtain it.

Opium-smoking is a costly vice. A pipefull of a moderately good native
product costs more than a labourer can earn in a day; consequently the
poorer classes smoke an unspeakable compound based on pipe scrapings and
charcoal. Along the highroads the coolies even scrape the grime from the
packsaddles to mix with this dross. The clerk earning from twenty-five to
fifty Mexican dollars a month will frequently spend from ten to twenty
dollars a month on opium. The typical confirmed smoker is a man who spends
a considerable part of the night in smoking himself to sleep, and all the
next morning in sleeping off the effects. If he is able to work at all, it
is only during the afternoon, and even at that there will be many days
when the official or merchant is incompetent to conduct his affairs.
Thousands of prominent men are ruined every year.

The Cantonese have what they call "The Ten Cannots regarding The
Opium-Smoker." "He cannot (1) give up the habit; (2) enjoy sleep; (3) wait
for his turn when sharing his pipe with his friends; (4) rise early; (5)
be cured if sick; (6) help relations in need; (7) enjoy wealth; (8) plan
anything; (9) get credit even when an old customer; (10) walk any
distance."

This is the land into which the enterprising Christian traders introduced
opium, and into which they fed opium so persistently and forcibly that at
last a "good market" was developed. England did not set out to ruin China.
One finds no hint of a diabolical purpose to seduce and destroy a
wonderful old empire on the other side of the world. The ruin worked was
incidental to that far Eastern trade of which England has been so proud.
It was the triumph of the balance sheet over common humanity.

And so it is to-day. British India still holds the cream of the trade, for
the Chinese grown opium cannot compete in quality with the Indian drug.
The British Indian government raises the poppy in the rich Ganges Valley
(more t