The Opium MonopolyLa Motte, Ellen N. (Ellen Newbold)
History
The Opium Monopoly
La Motte, Ellen N. (Ellen Newbold)
Opium trade
No arrests were made up to Tuesday noon in connection with the
enormous seizure of opium, cocaine and liquor on the Blue Funnel
liner Cyclops, although the investigation is being continued by
federal officials. The ship has been seized and a fine of $49,265
has been assessed against her for having drugs not listed in the
ship's manifest.
United States District Attorney Robert C. Saunders filed a libel
Monday night against the Cyclops, the boat being seized later by
the customs service. Bond was fixed at $100,000, or twice the fine.
The Fidelity Surety Company filed the bond Monday. The ship was
released Tuesday morning.
A civil libel suit may be filed against Capt. W. Duncan, holding
him responsible for the liquor found on the ship. Captain Duncan,
questioned Monday by customs officials, claimed to know nothing
about the contraband.
The result of Monday's checking of the opium and cocaine showed
that the seizure amounted to 778 tins of opium, 670 ounces of
cocaine and 16 ounces of morphine.
A small paragraph in a New York paper, dated June 12, 1919, reads thus:
"Two New Yorkers jailed for smuggling opium. Pleas of guilty to charges
of opium smuggling were entered in the Federal Court to-day by Albertus
Schneitzer and Maxwell Auerbach, of New York. They were fined $500
each, and sent to Atlanta penitentiary, the former for two years, and
the latter for one year. The men were arrested in connection with the
seizure of opium on the Canadian border."
We cannot grapple with our problem unless we face the facts; if we
ignore the source of supply and distribution, and the reasons for this
immense over-production of opium on the part of the British Opium
Monopoly. The anti-narcotic laws on our statute books are powerless to
protect us. With Canada, a British province, to the north, and all
Mexico on the south, what chance have we against such exposure? Of what
use to send two smugglers to the penitentiary, when at the Calcutta
opium sales, once a month opium is auctioned off under the auspices of
the British Government, to be disposed of as the buyers may see fit?
Much of it, as we have seen, goes to those helpless states and colonies
which have no control over their own affairs, where the opium traffic
is conducted under the administration of the alien government. Much of
the rest of it goes out for smuggling purposes, to be distributed in
devious, roundabout, underhand channels throughout the world. We are
coming in for our share in this distribution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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