Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1877-06-30

The Dcod IiI@ndy Numbered by Millions. |
The famine which our Shanghai cor
respondents letter describes this morn
ing, is disaster Of woful magnitude. 1t
extends over very wide region of the
empire, it is carrying off the population
by thousands, and there is no near hope !
that its ravae es will soon be over.
Through the north and east of the cOun- |
try, from the near neighhorhOod of the
imperial city and from the shores of the
Yellow sea, beyond the line Of the great
wall which shuts off China from the
western world outside, the terrible visi-
tatiou extends. The suffering, We are
told, is beyond description. In addition
to the multitude who have already per
ished under it, there is the larger num-
Der of those who are ust managing to
keep alive, and from whose exhausted
ranks fresh victims are continually added
to the dismal roll. Anything that will
allay hunger is eagerly sought after, no
matter how uninviting or unfit to be used
as food. The rotten thatch of the houses
and dried leaves that serve generally
for fuel are not now neglected as nause-
Gus or unsatisfying, and lucky indeed
is the man who can get full sup
ply even of these. The government
is making the semblsnce of an
effort to relieve the widespread misery;
but the means it employs are wholly in
adequate. An expression of verbal SYM
pathy. grant of money which allows
abou. a farthing day for the relief of
each case of distress, and some we'll
meant but mistaken edicts, which have
had the effect of simply making matters
wore ti.an before, are the measure of
assistance which the Chinese rulers can
bestow. The famine proceeds in spite of
them. and matters are rendered worse by
the intense cold which was prevailing at
the date OF our correspondents letter,
and by the snow which lay so deep as to
prevent the people from picking up any
of the wild produce of the soil. AS
summer advances and as the weeds begin
to grow and the trees to be covered with
foliage, there may be change expected
for the better. Meanwhile there is no
remedy to be found, except in the readi-
ness of the people to do anything and
submit to anything that will furnish
them with the bare means of supporting
life, and in the willing but insufficient
relief found which is subscribed among
the foreigners resident in China and dis
tributed by the Protestant missionaries
in the North.
The cause Of the famine is the same
as that from which India is now suffer-
ing. The crops of last summer were,
we are told, almost entirely destroyed
by drought, and the peasantry have
new come to an end of their slender
reserves of grain, and have nothing left
on which they can fall back for support.
China is a country in which at the best
of times the population presses very
closely upon the means of subsistence.
There are no waste stores anywhere.
Everything is already turned to account,
and when the necessity comes there is
little room for any further saving or
reduction. Land and water are alike
taxed to the uttermost to furnish food
and dwellingspace for the teemiDg
multitudes which cover them. The
Chimes are hard workers, centented with
slender fare, and able to put up com.
fortably with a general scale of living
which would be simply into!erable to
Englishmen. These qualities and habits,
which turn to their advantage abroad
when they are brought into competition
with other races, are a source of dagger
to them at home. The Chinese can
undersell the Irish immigrant and the
native "white trash" in the distant
labor market of California. They can
not be equally sure that they will obtain
the poor pittance with which they will
be satisfied in China. In ordinary seasons
they can pull through well enough, and
can thrive and think themselves well off
on the slender material supplies with
which they have learned to be content.
But when the pinch comes, as come it
must sometimes; when the parched
earth will no longer yield its accustomed
increase, or when the store of food for