The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-22
SAD rrAEs IN INDII.
The Country FamiAe-Striehen. Cholera
Scourged, aad Visited.

Inu1A Is Infnl0e7btTlCkons ClOiolh-sSOuIH HEs
and plague.visited. Famine was bad enough.
famine and cholera seemed a heavy scourRe,
but tho appearance OF the bubonic plague. or
black death, in Bombay has filled the cup Of
calamity 70 its trembling brim. India is indeed
stricken this year.
What the famine Is may be gathered from the
fact that less than half the usual rainfall has
boon received, and the greater part OF what has
fallen came unscasonably. Rice, wheat and the
cheaper grains, upon which millions live, have
slowly shrlvelled under the burning sun. Pas
lures have become crisp aud yellow. Every
breeze carries its two fold burden Of heat and
dust. Cattle arc mere skeletons. and starving
humanity abounds. In many parts of the fam
ine-stricken districts the population numbers as
high as 700 to every square mile. Imagination
can fill In the details of the suffering which crop
failure means to those close huddled millions Of
our fellow beings. Even tho guarded wording
of Government reports shows bow desperate a
conservative government considers the situa-
ton. | quote from the Weekly Alldhdbud Pio-
neer Of Oct. s:
1.-The continued drought Is proving disastrous
to the standing crops, except where irrigation is
practicable. and rain Is very urgently required
throughout the provinces. Agricultural opera
lions for the spring sowinEs are retarded Tor
to be unfavorsble. Flights OF, locusts passed
over several districts and caused slight damage
Lucknow. and Unao. The numbers employed on
relief works and in receipt of gratuitous RELIEF
Gn siHtaTaay y,e ssp', Jh nui T' sss; h Jaisan. SO:
Hardol 6.O73. Total. 1l,61S. q these o9d
were dependents gratuitously relieved on the
lieved under other provisions of the famine code.
Supplies are reported deficient In CawnRore,
BANK. Fodder Is becoming scarce and is dear
in many places. Prices are very high and gen
A private letter received yesterday from al
old friend In Lucknow says:
I'VE are just entering on q famine here. The
very cheapest rice IL . nnnas q seer equivalent
to . cents q pound three times ita regular
price,. and already some are dying. We are be-
out the professional berears we have started a
surki yard. The way a professional beRgar
won't break surki is a caution. But when they
stick TO 1t we give food or wages, as we think
$3.50 10 $3.50, are suffering. That amount
We shall try to buy rice cheaply In Calcutta.
ship 1t in, and sell 1t to our V people native
Christiansl at cost. The rascally grain dealers
tall Brahmans have cornered all the grain. and
when the Government tries TO force down the
price they simply shut up shop: Gh9iera Is yerg
out at bombay we feel that we are drinking the
dregs OF calamity"
The heartless grain dealers make huge profits
out OF this hunger OF midas millions. Selfish
ness in its most cruel and tendish phase never
sclipsed ina. or me ne caicH Tbe cen NIaep of he h
empire are the personifchtion OF mercy and
Justice compared to these. of one flesh and blood.
who slowly starve to death before their shops
for lack Of money to buy the gain which the
dealer bought cheap and sells dear.
The Government authorities provide relief for
the hunger bitten people in three ways: frat
by shipping in rice from other diS,riSts and sell.
ing IL to all who can buy usually below COST;
In the second place. relief works" are opened
in the afflicted districts, ni hTrl e. tSs ls es%st Of
fnmipe-stricken men who are paid In money or
grain, as they chovse. These relief works con
fer a double benefit on the { So Q hs,f.r roads dads fS. ete
ter irrigation channels. AND geRera,.{ iui'NSn
the interests Of commerce anu sssTicuia1Te III
return; The Government also supplies. g. w
ously. help or food, medicine and medical So.
tendant diseases to work.
lions of government are in allegiance at such a
directed to the work Of feeding the starving
ana caring for the sick. All this help Is Eng
Now the black death has added a new horror
to the situation. Its, appearance in Bombay
puzzles the city health officer. the sanitary
tanned. it has not come from Hong Kong, where
1t has ragged so fatally since 1899; Suspicion
holiest and tlthiest spot on the planet make
bombay their port OF arrival and departure,
from Arabia instead of from China In any
case. it has come. and parts OF the great city Of
BON bay are tull or the cries OF nOurnerS.
The sanitary authorities are bending all their
energies to rid the city Of tilth. All who voice
public opinion unite in nd vocatinR drastic sani-
tary reforms. regardless OF the expense involved.
4. centrifugal pump has been placed on one of
the main docks along the front ot the bay. and
ter mixed with carholic acid as it is discharged
from the pump is poured through the drains.
The drains OF houses where the plagued is raging
or threatening are being whitewashed. The
flushing of all pipe sewers is being undertaken
by means OF large flushing tanks. holding 600
DR.. Weir. the BON bay health officer. points
out that the drainage is wholly insufficient.
water supply since ls02."h he says. "trom To-
100000 gallons 10 100000 gallons or more
daily. and very little increase in the number Of
drains. The island is flooded or irrigated with
water, and unless drains are constructed to take
away all, the water that comes into the city the
life OF n healthy population will not be possible:
what has been seen in countries of marsh and
wet. the poisoning OF life from mClarial fevers,
Will be seen here. 1t is not possible to look TO
the future except with anxiety"
In spite Of all precautions the plague broke
out in i've new places in the city. aud the per-
centaCe OF fatal cases was daily rising when the
mail left. Thousands OF inhabitants fed. panic
stricken, to their native villages or down the
daily pilGriniagcs to shrlnes and to the seashore.
nj which latter place they solemnly cast in their
coS"apnt offerings to the gods OF the great deep.
With the famine and cholera to cut n swath
before It. the grim reaper of which we first hear
from Procopius. and, with the dread ravnges OF
which England and the continent, rs well AS
Africa and Asia, have learned TO their undoing,
NAV pile up n CHASTITY score OF victims.
In the year l34S 100000 died of the same dis
ease in Venice. leaving hardly enough inhab-
Venetian industry. The same year 30. 600 died
OF Lhe plague in Florence. n third OF the popu-
latiQn OF England persisted, and the country did
not make up for the victims OF this uncon-
querable plague until tho latter, part OF the
reign OF Elizabeth. In 1920 n ship from the
Lcvant brought the plague to Marseilles. and
go, 1000 OF the inhabitants fell before IL. Ten
years later the same disease almost depOpu-
lated Moscow. while toward the end OF tho
eighteenth century Egypt and Morocco lost
more than 900 900 inhabitants.
1t was this same plague that was mentioned
in BoccRCcio's - Decameron." To the renders Of
English fiction il, will be recognized as the dt-
sease which filled the loathsome charncl houses
Sanitary officials at all our seaports should
leave open no door OF opportunity through
American cities.
opu nrTUE M vryc rIpn