1882 – Treasury Department Circular promulgating the prohibition of importing opium by Chinese subjects living within the United States
Washington DC: 1882. Unbound. This one-page document is titled, “Circular / Opium-Importations by Chinese Subjects / 1882. / Department No. 42. / Secretary’s Office. / Treasury Department / Washington, D. C. April 10, 1883.” Signed in print by “Chas. J. Folger, Secretary.”
It begins with an excerpt for the “Treaty with China, proclaimed October 5, 1881” which reads in part:
“The Governments of China and the United States mutually agree and undertake that Chinese subjects shall not be permitted to import opium into any of the ports of the United States: and citizens of the United states shall not be permitted to import opium into any of the open ports of China. . .. This absolute prohibition . . . shall be enforced by legislation on the part of China and the United States; and the benefits of the favored-nation clause in existing treaties shall not be claimed . . . against the provisions of this article.”
The circular further explains,
“Opium imported into any of the ports of the United States, by Chinese subjects, will be seized and held for forfeiture. [Additionally,] all parties concerned . . . shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, not less than fifty dollars, or be imprisoned for any time not exceeding two years or both. . ..
“Officers of the customs will take pains to bring the provisions of this circular to the attention of Chinese subjects who have heretofore been in the habit of importing the article into the United States.”heretofore been in the habit of importing the article into the United States.”
. Item #010803At the time, the federal government collected significant revenue from legal opium imports, which were used in medicines and tonics, through high tariffs that brought in nearly half a million dollars annually. However, no taxes or fees were collected from Chinese nationals living in the United States who illegally imported the drug for use in the, then prevalent, opium dens that operated illicitly in the “Chinatowns” of many cities, especially San Francisco, New York, Denver, and El Paso, frequently using Chinese laundries as fronts.
This circular is tied to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which in addition to restricting the immigration of and prohibiting citizenship for Chinese nationals, also forbade the importation of smoking-opium by Chinese nationals.
.Price: $150.00