The morning call., 1891-12-18
FEED THE HUNGRY.

At this season. when every ones heart is
supposed to be open and every hand is full
of help for the afflicted, two appeals are
made to our benevolence for starving peo-
PIE in foreign lands. One comes from
Japan and is for relief for the sufferers by
the recent earthquake. At latest dates il
appears that besides those who were hur-
ried into eternity by that awful catastrophe,
who appear to have numbered at least 5000,
more than 10000 people have been rendered
houSeless and are without work in conse-
quence of the destruction of the factories
where they earned their scanty subsistence
and the partial destruction of the crops on
which they lived. A small contribution out
OF our abundance might be the means of
saving the lives OF women and children.
Subscriptions have been opened in New
York and probably will be opened here.
The other sufferers are nearer neighbors
OF ours. The people Of the Mexican State
Of Durango are said to be starving. The
State is not fertile, being chiefly mountain
and broken country; but in the valleys OF
the streams the people have hitherto been
able to raise corn enough for their subsist-
ence. Last season the crops failed in conse-
quence of a prolonged drought, and famine
in an aggravated form has made its appear
anee. Crowds of famished creatures throng
the streets of the city of Durango; the
bakers shops have been sacked, and food of
every kind stolen by the hungry. Both ths
State and the city have purchased corn in
Kansas and shipped it by rail to Durango
City; but it appears that the railroads
which carry ii charge so much for the I'M
usual transportation that it costs, delivered,
81 80 a bushe Few of the poor classes are
able to afford to pay such a price. A few
thousand bushels of wheat would be boon
that would be highly appreciated, and per-
haps the Southern Pacific and the Mexican
National might see their way to carry it
from some of our southern counties at
nominal rate OF freight
The comfortable well-fed Californian, who
eats his three square meals day, who
growls if his srloin steak is not done to his
liking. and scorns to purchase the cheaper
cuts of steer, sheep or pig, can hardly re-
alize what it is to be hungry. The stories
of past famines, in which children died of
hunger and men hunted rats for food, read
to him like fables. he cannot get it through
him that such dreadf III agonies can have
ever been endured by human beings. And
yet in olden times. before transportation Was
swift and universal, they were the common
est thing in the world. There was hardly a
country in which the priest did not pray
that the people might be spared from pes
thence and famine" and III which at regular
intervals little children did not die by the
roadside with punched stomachs and wasted
hands clutching blades of grass. Steam
ships, railroads and humanity have between
| them rendered famines rare, but they occur
nevertheless from time to time We have
! seen them in ireland, where populations
| enfeebled by the use of the potato, persisted
| in dr0ves after few weeks privation; also
| we have read from day to day dreadful tales
| of starvation in Russia, and to-day, almost
at our own door, in this Christmas season,
women and children are dying for want of
| food in Durango.
! When the famine broke out in Ireland
some forty odd years ago and New York
| was appealed to for relief, committees were
| appointed, and the usual entanglements of
red tape threatened to strangle the benevo-
| lent purposes of the people in the cradle.
| But the knot was cut by pubiic-spirited
| citizen. now in his grave, who ordered a
flour merchant to load snip with flour and
send her TO Cork with all possible dispatch
| The example was contagious, and New York
| did her duty. Have we any public spirited
citizen here to emulate the good deed of A.
L. Stewart? There is no glory nor capital
to be made in the enterprise. Few people
know or care anything about Japan or Du-
range. They have no friends here to re-
quite kindnesses bestowed. The only re-
ward which a generous Californian who
feeds these hungry strangers can expect is
that which he will get from his own con-
science and the respect and affection of the
few who appreciate disinterested beneyo-