Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-10-02

change 1t for tOOd, for there was none.
ard that fully one-half the people were
already dead. 1t would be hardly
reasonable to mourn that il was 80, for
with famine for the alternative death
must have been the welcome CUES. of
thousands.
Again Shantung is heard from, and if
the province ever needed help it would
seem to be now. OnApril 4th we read
that "thc famine increased daily: no
rain has fallen and the ground is dry as
bone. The distracted mothers. I'M
able to still the hopeless, unanswered
cries Of their children, expend their last
efforts In burying them alive to stop
their moaning and end their miseries.''
Many villages present the same ap-
pearance, as if rebel horde had devast.
ated them. As Chinaman remarked.
where only short time ago one heard
IN passing along, the barking of dogs
and the singing of children at play now
all is hushed and still"-the dogs eaten
and the people too weak to laugh and
sing, or to do aught but to pray for food
or speedy death. Here is what one of
the distributors writes of the condition:
up to the present time the people con-
tented themselves with eating those who
had died, but now they XIII the living in
order to have them for food. Husbands
eat their wives, parents eat their sons,
and daughters and children eat their
parents" Women and girls are sold ut
less than 50 n piece and human flesh is
Oft.rnd for sol tlA
another; "a mother, after having with
her husband eaten their little boy six
years old, whom they had themselves
killed, prepared also to cut the throat
OF their little daughter, eight years old.
The little girl began to weep Mt the sight
of the fatal knife, and the neighbors who
heard arrived just in time to save her"
Note by Pere Notwithstanding
parents, so they may not be themselves
the horrible executioners of their own
children, agree with other parents--I
will kill his child for him and he shall
kill mine.') 1t is the same story in all
the provinces, and bodies of men COM
bine to attack the SIN aller hamle,s, not
to rob them of treasure or seek revenge
for wrongs inflicted. Literally and truly
they go about as wolves Seeking whom
they may devour." 1t would be pos.
slble, were it requisite, to continue this
chapter of horrors existing in these five
provinces almost indefinitely, for only
u half is told, and that half is weak and
tame rs compared to the actual facts,
but the particulars of the latest reports
are so revolving that it is inexpedient to
further their publicity. The widest
Imagination never pictured atrocities or
suffering equal to the scenes so common
now throughout the famine region, and
what the future has in store for them,
who can say? These are not reminiscent
ces of the past, but faithful statements of
what is and what must be the condition
of China for months to come.
for brighter immediate future is not
to be looked for. A full year must
elapse before the natural fruits of the
earth or government and private sup
plies with the best of management will
be able to meet with the requirements,
and in the interval China will be deci-
mated. To expect the foreign COM
munity to continue to any great extent
their liberal contributions of the past is,
in the face of the universal stagnation
of trade, unreasonable, and for the flu
lure it must devolve on the benevolently
disposed of all nations to alleviate SO
far as may be, the sorrows and suffer-
ings of Cathay. TO leave the victims to
the mercy or enterprise of their rulers
is to leave them to perish, for the cen
trail government is too utterly eflcte and
bankrupt and its subordinate officials
too given to peculation and self.aggra-
andizement to give us hope that neces-
sity may stimulate them to efficient ac-
ton. So far the aid from this source
has been shamefully inadequate and
intermittent, consisting very largely
in the remission or postponement Of
taxes they would have found it impos-
sible to collect. Even such material aid
as was extended was unavailable
through lack Of means to transport it,
and l know of no sadder satire on the
exclusive policy of China than her gov
eminent stores fmouldering grain, her
starving millions scarce two hundred
miles away, and the rusting rails and
ss-grown road-bed OF the Woosung
Railroad as monument against her.
In closing / may state that the total
foreign aid so far amounts to 1870, 1870
taels. of which America has contributed
a paltry 200 taels. have done, and if
my story diverts a single dollar from
the thousand channels Of sporadic
charity; if cali convince people that
just now pound Of rice is worth ton
of tracts, or that the prayer Of gratitude
from poor wretch saved from death is
sweeter than fulsome enlogies from
wealthy corporations, then shall / be
what now am not,