RELATION OF INTEMPERANCE TO MISSIONS.
By Mrs. Hester Griffith
“Go to one of our great opium dens.” I went, and saw men in hundreds, and saw that under one roof 2,000 were smoking at one time. He then said to me, “These object lessons were unknown until they saw the white face. Do you expect that we can have faith in Christianity?” Do you know how opium came to be introduced into China? This good statesman gave me the history. I read with amazement how this vice was thrust upon a heathen land by a Christian country, at the point of the bayonet. A Christian nation sent opium as a merchandise. The Chinese began to feel that this would blight and destroy the lives of the people, and in a mild way they protested, but no attention was paid to their protest, and finally they arose and seized the opium vessel with 28,000 chests of opium. A large portion was burned, and the ashes scattered on the Canton River. “That plunged that heathen country in war with one of the greatest Christian nations of the world. A great Christian enemy came over with its gunboats and soldiers, and shot and shell were poured heavy and fast into this empire until it resulted in victory for the English, and China had to take the opium, and when some of the wise men went to the emperor and said, ‘Well, after all, perhaps it would be a good thing; we will put a heavy tax upon it, and we will have a great revenue,’ and do you know what that old heathen emperor (we all call him an old heathen emperor) said? ‘I would rather see this empire perish than to know that it was supported by a revenue derived from the vices of our kingdom.’ Some of that heathen emperor’s sentiments might be imported to our legislative halls with profit to-day. The people of China found that wrong was being done to them, and the second time they protested—another war—a second time the Christian nation said, “China, you shall take the opium.” I went to India, and thought I would see what the opium traffic was like. I was told on the best authority that 12,000 acres of the most fertile land was set aside for the cultivation of the poppy. I felt it necessary to talk to these Indian folk about using opium, and while I was speaking to four or five thousand of the educated, high-class people, such questions were asked from the floor as rendered me speechless. A barrister arose and said, “Can you tell me why it is that to England’s white-skinned subjects this opium is a poison, and to its dark-skinned subjects it is sold as a food?” The day I sailed from Australia one of the principal and most influential Chinamen tendered me a farewell. He was a wealthy merchant. He arose and said: “I want to say something before this woman sails to her home. The Chinamen are being degraded—hundreds of them—through the opium fiend. I do not say anything about the Chinese, because some of the Christian people seem to think that they have no souls, so I will not plead for them; but I do want to ask that something be done for the white people of Australia, for opium smoking is spreading among these people until I know at least 150 women who smoke opium in this city alone.” The echo of the cry of other nations is only redoubled many times as it comes back to the hopeless and helpless hearts of those who sit in the shadow of these monstrous evils in our own land. Is it any wonder the Seminole Indians are puzzled about the white man’s method of dealing with strong drink? They say: “They first license a man to distil it, then license another to sell it, then they pay a policeman to catch those who drink it, and take them to jail, and when they come out they put them in again. Don’t understand.” “It is our strong young men who are tempted,” says the Indian on the home field. An old Indian mother, out of the fulness of her heart, said: “When my sons are at town, I listen all the time for the footsteps of some one who will tell me that some great evil has come upon them because of whisky.” This finds an echo in many a white mother’s heart. The boulder of the saloon lies right in the path of progress of all home mission work, lies over against the fairest things, and the best we know, and it entombs the hopes and happiness of 65,000,000 of people. It rests against the door of every home. What mother is sure her boy will return to her untainted and unharmed? In order to recruit the saloon it must rob 100,000 homes annually. It lies against the financial prosperity of the country, and politicians are disputing about the tax of $5.00 apiece for the running expenses of the government, forgetting that it costs each person $15 apiece for liquor and 15 cents apiece12for missions (foreign), $800,000 for paupers, $40,000,000 for crime, courts, and jail, $220,000,000 waste in industrial power, $100,000,000 for the insane, $1,500,000,000 for drink. It is said that the total amount of money circulating in the United States, gold, silver, and greenbacks, passes through the liquor dealer’s till every twenty months. Reflect upon the unspeakable poverty and misery for home missionary workers, to cope with unclothed multitudes of hungry children, and can you not see how much faster the curse makes home missionary work than the combined efforts can alleviate?—Mrs. Hester Griffith, in Pacific Christian.