astern
and middle provinces it is reduced to a minimum. It is well for Shanghai
to be allied with Soochow, Hangchow, and Nanking, and not to permit itself
to be a refuge for bad men.

"The Chinese merchants in the International Settlement have sent in
earnest appeals to the Council on this question. As friends of China,
might not the ratepayers give their appeals a courteous consideration?

"The question of opium at the Annual Meeting commands world-wide attention
and Saturday's papers throughout Christendom will bear record of and
comment upon the action.

"To close the dens is right. Shanghai cannot afford to be the black spot
on Kiangsu's map. _Opium delendum est._

"In behalf of the Anti-Opium League,
"HAMPDEN C. DUBOSE, _President_."

The appeals from Great Britain, America, China, and Japan, like the
petitions of merchants, missionaries, and officials, were without effect.
The "vested interests" carried the day, and a resolution, ordering the
closing of the dens on or before the end of December, 1909, was lost by a
vote of 128 to 189, the council, as usual, influencing and controlling the
votes and carrying the original motion--the only concession it would grant
to this gigantic movement.

Another surprise came to the cynical foreigner, when, on April 18th, the
whole of the opium licensees participated in a public drawing in the town
hall, to decide by lottery which establishments should be shut down on the
1st of July, numbering one-fourth of the total number, this method being
adopted by the council to avoid any suspicion of partiality in the
selection. The keepers of the dens cheerfully acquiesced in the proposal,
the sporting chance no doubt appealing to the gambling spirit for which
they are noted, and in the town hall this remarkable drawing was held
without any sign of disfavour or rowdyism. The keepers of the Shanghai
opium shops are no doubt thoroughly convinced that the feeling of the
native community is entirely against the retention of these places and
are ready to bow to the inevitable. None of the trouble or rioting feared
by the Council, materialized, and it is certain that the entire list of
licenses might have been immediately revoked without disturbance of any
kind--and without protest. Three hundred and fifty-nine licenses thus
cease with the end of June, and it is doubtful, with the present spirit
manifest in the Chinese, that such another drawing will be necessary at
all. The fu