New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-02-11
TILE Days or FAMINE.

From Sweden, Finland, Northern and East
ern Russia, Eastern Prussia, Tunis, and Alge-
ria we have accounts of the people pcrishlng
for want of food. In some parts of France and
Spain the scarcity is also great. In Tunls, so
many are the deaths that buTials are made M
trenches as after hattie, or during inc highV
of malignant pestilence. In the colder re-
gions bark and buds Of trees, in the warmer,
blossoms and tender vegetation, are consumed
for food. In England the restitution is greater
than has been known for many years. The
London Star says: "Men and women die IN
" the streets every day of starvation. One IS
afraid not to relieve the professional beggar,
" knowing that yesterday one who looked like
" him lay down in his rags on the spot where
90 YOU are now solicited, and died of sheer star
ovation. Whole districts are sinking into one
"vast, squalid, awful condition of helpless,
hopeless restitution" This has more par!icu-
lar application 10 the East End OF London but
the distress in many country places Is extreme.
In what has been called years of plenty, there
have been thousands who always received re-
lief and so small are the wages of the laborer
that after he has passed his fftieth year. or IS
incapable Of labor, the pOorhouse is his only
refuge. During the last six months there has
been constant flow of poor laboring people
from the country into the cities and towns
In London, 81 in one week, mostly OF this
class, were arrested and all the money on their
persons was one penny. The women stag
gered with exhaustion, and some had no other
clothing than old sacks. One of the prison
ers, a man 81 years Of age, who had been
sentenced to 81 days in jail as a beggar, died
in few hours of starvation, though he had
been given piece of bread and some Cruel.
Meanwhile, great anxiety is felt regarding
the wheat crop now in the ground. Last year.
before the harvest, the wheat had never
promised SO bouDtifully, and yet, to the sur
prise of every one, it was sadly deficient;
now it is alleged that, through long cultiva-
ton, this grain has been struck with a disease
analogous to the pOtatoe rot. This is a fanci-
full fear, and would be scarcely worth repeat
ing did it not show how great is the need for
an abundant harvest, and how much suffering
would follow another year of disaster Hitherto,
America has been never-faling resource; but
now, owing to our own difficulties, prices in
New York are higher than in Liverpool. Not
only English statesmen, but intelligent men of
every class, are discussing the causes and the
remedy of their deplorable condition. Various
reforms-some of so radical character as to
call into question the laws of land tenure and
of primogeniture-are proposed; but the plan
most generally urged is a system of education
which shall give instruction to the children OF
the laboring classes. Not one half of the chill
dren have any instruction, and when young
people are married, only about 80 per cent
can write their names.
In the United States, suffering for want of
food is by no means noticeable; still, with the
dearth of employment, and the high price of
provisions there are many through our whole
country who do not know which way to turn.
Beggars push out for the principal Atlantic
cities in swarms, and ask at every house for
bread. Some are in the regular profession; but
often one sees among them respectable men
who, being out of work. know not what else to
do. In the Southern States plenty Of grain
was raised, but owing to the short cotton crop
for two years, or, we should say, for six years,
and to general DISCRIMINATION. so little money
is in circulation that food cannot be bought in
sections where it is plentiful and moved to
those where it is deficient; and the poor whites
and timorous freedmen are, in many cases, in
want, though perhaps actual famine nowhere
exists. We may safely predict that next year
will witness decided improvement, for it can
not be that with 50 much Land capable of pro-