The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1868-02-28
Thc 6ais OF Fnmlne.


From Sweden, Finland, Northern and
Eastern Russia, Eastern Prussia. Tunis,
and Algeria, we have accounts of the peo.
pie perishing for want Of food. In some
parts Of France and Spain the scarcity is
also great. In Tunis, eo many are the
deaths that burials are made in trenches,
as after battle, or during the hight Of a
malignant pestllence. In the colder re.
gions bark and buds Of trees, in the warmer,
blossoms and tender vegetation, are con-
sumed for food. In England tho uestitu.
ton is greater than has been Known for
many years: Tho London Star says
" Men aud women die in tho streets every
day of starvation. One is afraid not TO re-
lieve the professional beggar, knowing
that Yesterday one who looked like him
lay down in his rags on this spot where
YOU are now solicited. and died Of sheer
starvation. Whole districts are sinking
into one vast, squalid, awful condition Of
helpless, hopeless destimtion." This has
more particular application to the East
End of London; but the distress in many
country places is extreme. In what has
been called years ofplen,y, there have been
thousands who always received relief; and
so small are the wages Of the laborer that
after he has passed bis hftloth year, or is
incapable of labor, the poorhouse is his
only refuge, During the last, six months
there has been Constant flow of poor
aboring 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. Tho women staggered with ex.
haustion, and some had no other cloth.
ihg than old sacks. One Of the prisoners.
q man % years Of age, who had been sen.
fenced to Fl days in Jail as beggar. died
in few hours of starvation, though he
had been given piece Of bread and some
Cruel.
Meanwhile, great anxiety is felt regard
ing the wheat crop now in the ground.
Last year, before the harvest, the wheat
had never promised so bountefully, and yet
to the surprise Of every one, II was sadly
deficient now II is alleged that, through
long cultivation, this grain has been struck
with disease analogous TO the potatoe rot.
This is n fnnci(ul fear, and would be scarce.
ly worth repeating did itnot show how
great is the need for an abundant harvest,
aud how much suffering would follow an.
other year oil disaster. Hitherto, America
has been a netbr.fOiling resource but now,
owing to our own. difficulties. prices in
New York arc higher than in Liverpool
Not ouly English statesmen, but intelligent
men of every class, are discussing the
causes and the remedy of their deplorabe
condition. Various reforms-some Of 30
radical character as to call into question
the laws of land tenure and Of primogeni'
ture--aro proposed; but tho plan most
generally urged is a system of edncatior
which shall give instruction to the children
of the laboring classes. Not ono half o.
tho children have any ihstruet on, and
when young people are married, only abou
| 80 per cent. can write their names.
In the United States, suffering for wan
of food is Ivy no means noticeable; still
with the dearth Of employment and the
high price of provisions, there are many
through our whole country who do no
know which way to turn. Beggars push
out for tho principal Atlantic cities IL
swarms, and ask at every hotise for bread
Some are in the regular profession bu
often one sees among them respectable m6r
who, being out Of work; know not wha
else to do. III the Southern States plenty
of grain was raised, but owing to the shor
cotton crop for two years, or, We shoulo
say, for six years, and to general disorgan
ization, so little money is in circulation
that food cannot be bought in sectiont
where it is plentiful aud moved to thos,
where il Is deficient and the poor whites
and tiinorous freedmen are, in many cases
in want, through perhaps actual famine
nowhere exists! We may safely predi0
that next year will witness decided i'm
provement, for il cannot be that with &C
much land capable of producing food thu
people will neglect the means by which
! life is sustained.
But in Europe; particularly in England
the prospect is gloomy, and the more sC
because, with the large population, there
are no natural causes that can produce
permanent relief. While machinery doel
the work of millions Of hands, it adds Il
the population, but by no means increases
in proportion the supply of food. In ad
ding machinery to an old system of society
suited to scanty population, two thing
which are incapable of harmonizing arr
brought together. Machinery establshe
IL remorseess competition and an un:emit
| ting Industry, making conflict between
unfeeling iron, propelled by CHASTITY life
and human muscles, impelled by fear o
hunger. While this conflict is goiEs on
we have on the one hand, as a growth o
the old society, a class composed OF th'
wealthy, frivolous, and learned. and on th'
other, a class so besotted, ignorant, ant
degraded, that the most which can be sait
in its favor is that il had rather beg thai
steal. 1t is not saying too much, becaus
il is easy to see that the ultimate tendenc.
| Of the use of machinery is to bring societ
into condition where, in self.defense,
will be forced TO organize industry in sue
a matter that this lower class, at least, ma
earn its own bread.-NeW York Tribune