The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-03-15
THE CHINESE FAMINE.

us praise his pluck and energy
Youths Companion.
THE CHINESE FAMINE.
Awful Cs.ditson of the Starving MinIons.
[From the New York Express.]
The four provinces of China which
now offer to the world the appalling spec
tacle of 10000, 900 of human beings per-
fishing with starvation are in the North,
bordering upon Mongolia. Shau-se is
| the province which seems to be most Sc
verely stricken with famine. 1t has an
area of 3,268 miles, and contains, be-
sides its capital, Tae-yuen Foo, eight
prefectural cities. The population of
Shau-se alone is returned at Ia, 004, 210.
Its starving millions strikingly illustrate
the Tantalus- like condition to which man.
kind is doomed before civilization has
provided it with intelligence and instru-
ments to wrest from the earth its treas
ures of agricultural and mineral wealth,
and to distribute in all directions the ele-
ments of comfort and prosperity. They
are literally dying in the very midst of
inexhaustible potentialities of happy
life
From the Southern frontier of Shau-se
to as far north as Ning-woo Foo there
is plateau 10000 square miles In ex-
tent, elevated from 5000 to 5000 feet
above the level of the sea. The whole
of this plateau is one vast coal-feld. Its
northern and western limits are bounded
by high mountain ranges trending south
west and northeast. Down the central
line of the province lies curious series
of deep depressions, all of which are
basins of ancient lakes. Shau-se is one
of the most remarkable coal and iron
regions of the earth. Baron Won Rich
thofen expresses the opinion that, at the
present rate of coal consumption, the
world could be supplied for thousands of
years from Shau-se alone" The vicinity
of Use chow Foo, in the south of the prov
ince, abounds in both coal and iron, and
has probably furnished more iron to the
Chinese than any region In the empire.
The iron is of great purity and easily fus-
ible, while the necessary means of man.
ufacturing it, such as all sorts of clay
and sand for crucibles, molds, etc., are
close at hand. Baron Won Richthofen
says of the whole plateau that its extra
ordinary conditions, for which he knows
no parallel on the globe, will eventually
give rise to some curious features in
mining. It may be predicted that If a
railway should ever be built from the
plain to this region-and there is no 9TH
er means of ever bringing to their due
account its mineral resources--branches
of it will be constructed within the body
of one or other of those beds of anthra.
cite, which are among the thickest and
most valuable known anywhere, and con-
tinue for miles underneath the hills west
of the present coal-belt of Ping-Ting
Chow. Such tunnel would allow of
putting the produce of the various coal
beds Immediately on railroad cars des-
tined for distant places.
Meanwhile, this marvellous railway OF
the future has not yet been built. There
is only one wagen-road leading into and
through Shau-se. In agricultural prod
ucts the province is poor. Meat is a rare
luxury, andlsalt fish. the usual substi.
tute for it, is enjoyed only by the wealth
Ter classes. The masses of the people,
as everywhere else in China, are ex
tremely poor, and in the mountain dis
tricts are chemically subject to famine
and starvation.
This unprecedented famine calls re-
newed attention to the danger of over
crowding country with people, far be
yond its normal capacity for supporting
them we'll. China is packed with people
like sardines in box-only the people
are alive, while the fishes are dead
Under ordinary circumstances they cal
exist, after fashion. on such diet a.
Dio Lewis and George Francis TraiI
recommend to Americans; but season
of scarcity is death to all who have M
means of purchasing supplies elsewher
or migrating for the time to anothe
province.
To relieve 10000, 900 of starving PEG
pie is out of the question; but to assis
China in preventing a recurrence of thi
calamity, and open an adequate outle
for her surplus population where the.
can find ample means of subsistence AM
clear the heart of a continent for futur
generations of civilized humanity woul'
be grand and profitable undertaking