The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-07-23
STARTED IN TIE MIDST OF PLENTY.
IN. Y. World /

IN. Y. World
If there Is one thing more sickening than
another in the dismal catalogue of the dis
eases of civilization, it is the fact that in
the greatest and most opulept communities
in Christiandom it is possible for human
beings absolutely to die of starvation. In
London, for example, death by starva.
ton is one of the permanent recognized
items of the regular bills of mortality. Only
the other day return was presented to
the House of Commons of the number of
all deaths in the Metropolitan District in
the year 1875 upon which a coroner's Jury
returned a verdict of death from starvation
or death accelerated by privation." The
number of such deaths in the central divis-
ion of Middlesex was7 in the eastern di-
vision, 30 in the western division, 1 +; In
the city of London and borough of South
wark, S; and in the city and liberty of
Westminster, total, &c.
The population of the British metropolis
may be stated in round numbers at three
million and half of souls. It is true that
this huge human hive is dependent upon
external supplies for it's daily bread, getting
its eggs and its meat from France, its fish
from the North Sea and the Channel and
it is equally true that the larger o city be-
comes, the less likely are those who live in
it to trouble themselves about the ways
and the wants of their immediate neigh
bors. Nevertheless it is and must remain
monstrous thing that in the course of q
single year nearly fifty human beings can
fall by the wayside and perish in the midst
of millions of their fellow-creatures pre-
cisely as they might have perished of ship
wreck upon desolate Island in the barren
sea. 1t is q not less monstrous thing that
within six weeks no fewer than seven sim
liar cases SHOULD have been reported by the
police of our own American metropolis as
happening at our own doors. Not o month
ago the wife and child of an unhappy man
were found dying of famine in an old and
shattered canal boat, hauled up and de-
serted, near Jersey City, in which, as it
appeared, they had all been living huddled
together during the winter, having taken
refuge there when they we're turned out of
house and home by disappointed land-
lord. And only the other day policeman
who had been casually made acquainted
with the fact that tbers was something
rather mysterious going on in an upper
chamber of tenemept-ho in crowded
part of the city, broke in the door of the
chamber, and found in it four children, all
delirious with hunger, and rapidly drifting
into the state of mania which precedes the
awful close of dramas like that of Ugolino
in the " Tower of Famine" In both of
these cases, very likely, a careful inquest
might have shown great faults and short
comiDgs on the part of those who were re-
sponsible for the we'll being Of the suffer
ers. But, however this may be, the naked
IacC remains ana stares US IN the lace, that
it is possible for an innocent human being
to wander unfed and dying with famine
through our streets for day after day, or to
creep into some dismal hole and corner
and there miserably perish for lack of the
most ordinary comforts aud necessities of
life. And this fact, we repeat, is sicken-
ing and a staggering fact which needs to be
looked manfully in the face, and to be dealt
with courageously. We leave to others the
cynical task of accounting for it. It is
enough, and more than enough, for us to
establish it as a fact.