ultiply them by fifty thousand and
then take off your hat to Tong Shao-i and Yuan Shi K'ai. Personally, I
think I should prefer undertaking to stamp out drink in Europe. I should
know, of course, that it would be rather a difficult business, but still
it would be easier than this Chinese proposition.

So much for the difficulties of the problem. Suppose now we take a look at
the results of the first year of the fight. There are no exact statistics
to be had, but based as it is on personal travel and observation, on
reports of travelling officials, merchants, missionaries, and of other
journalists who have been in regions which I did not reach, I think my
estimate should be fairly accurate. Remember, this is a fight to a finish.
If the Chinese government loses, opium will win.

The plan of the government, let me repeat, is briefly as follows: First,
the area under poppy cultivation is to be decreased about ten per cent.
each year, until that cultivation ceases altogether; and simultaneously
the British government is to be requested to decrease the exportation of
opium from India ten per cent. each year. Second, all opium dens or places
where couches or lamps are supplied for public smoking are to be closed at
once under penalty of confiscation. Third, all persons who purchase opium
at sale shops are to be registered, and the amount supplied to them to be
diminished from month to month. Meantime, the farmer is to be given all
possible advice and aid in the matter of substituting some other crop for
the poppy; opium cures and hospitals are to be established as widely as
possible; and preachers and lecturers are to be sent out to explain the
dangers of opium to the illiterate millions.

The central government at Peking started in by giving the high officials
six months in which to change their habits. At the end of that period a
large number were suspended from office, including Prince Chuau and Prince
Jui.

In one opium province, Shansi, we have seen that the enforcement was at
the start effective. The evidence, gathered with some difficulty from
residents and travellers, from roadside gossip, and from talks with
officials, all went to show that the dens in all the leading cities were
closed, that the manufacturers of opium and its accessories were going out
of business, and that the farmers were beginning to limit their crops.

The enforcements in the adjoining province, Chih-li, in which lies Peking,
was also thoroug