Department of State,
Washington, October 13,
1906.
No. 315.][Inclosure.]
Bishop Brent to
the President.
Zamboanga, P. I., August 20, 1906.
Same, mutatis mutandis, No. 35
to Embassy at Tokyo.
My Dear Mr. President: Pursuant of the
subject of agitating international action in connection with the
opium question, I beg to inform you that I have just heard from the
Bishop of Victoria, from whose letter I herewith quote:
“I am glad that you are agitating in the matter. We English bishops
in China have this year sent or are sending a representation to our
Government about the China trade; and we, the pastors and heads of
the various British churches and missions in Hongkong, have this
week sent in a petition to the governor against the system of
farming in which we quote largely from your most valuable and
interesting report. Generally, things seem to be coming to a head
with regard to the matter * * *. I am inclined to think that they
(the Government at home) will be more ready to act in the matter
than their predecessors.”
I also recently heard from a man of prominence in Shanghai, who said
that our report had been translated into Chinese and was being
scattered through the Empire.
I greatly regret, and I know that I speak the mind of the
governor-general and vice-governor, that Congress did not give more
leeway to the Philippine
[Page 363]
Commission and put them in a position to set in operation
progressive prohibition. I am alive to the fact that the licensing
system was the only thing left for them to adopt, inasmuch as two
years would be insufficient for the system which we proposed. If now
it were possible for Congress to pass an act lengthening the time
before it would be necessary to put the prohibitory law into
operation, the commission would be ready and willing to follow out
the proposition made in our report.
Yours, very faithfully,
C. H. Brent,
Bishop of the Philippine
Islands.
