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 funeral pyre of opium-pipes, we trust, marks the end, or the immediate beginning of the end, of Shanghai’s reproach, and it is distinctly to the credit of the 500,000 Chinese living within the jurisdiction of this foreign community, that they themselves are taking the lead in wiping out this stain on the “Model Settlement”—doing what the foreigner dared not and the “vested interest” would not do.
Charles F. Gammon.
MISSIONARY—TRAVELS
The Call of Korea
Illustrated, net, 75c. H. G. UNDERWOOD
“Dr. Underwood knows Korea, its territory, its people, and its needs, and his book has the special value that attaches to expert judgment. The volume is packed with information, but it is written in so agreeable a style that it is as attractive as a novel, and particularly well suited to serve as a guide to our young people in their study of missions.”—The Examiner.
Things Korean A Collection of Sketches and Anecdotes, Diplomatic and Missionary.
Illustrated, net, $1.25. HORACE N. ALLEN
Gathered from a twenty years’ residence in Korea and neighboring countries by the late Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Korea.