The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-12-30
india IS FAMINE-RDDENl.
Forty Million British Subjects Actually
Starving.
GREEDY DEALERS LOCK UP GRAIN

America, Missionaries Tell OF Suffering
over All tho Land---PIague Adds It,
Dire Terror to Hunger snIators
Pltilessly Exactfng Thsir Ex,rbitant
Prices-Parsnts Desert Their Children.
NEW YORK Cry (spe ,ial). The appalling
extent OF the famine In British Indiais shown
BY extracts from American Missionaries
letters furnished to the World. Forty mill
Ions OF British subjects are actually starving.
About 1900, 900 blshels of American wheat
have already been shipped to India from
New York and San francisco. 1t was this
extraordinary demand which started the
recent rise Of twenty-siH cents a bushel,
which Is equivalent to 1927 100000 to Ameri.
can farmers on the years crop. The British
! Government has appropriated S125 ,000, 900
TO relieve the. starving people In India
Many million bushels oP4Americar, wheat
should be sent to India within the next ninety
days. a, y. ~,
> Starving India's misery fills the reports
Just received by the Rev. DR.. James r.. Bar
ton, Secretary of the Foreign Depart nent Of
4 the American Board Of Missions, and the
Rev. DR., Elnathan e. Strong, It's Editorial
HFrom eighty missions in India, ,"said DE-
Barton, 1--WE have accounts OF suffering be-
fyond description. The severityof the fam.
Inc does not indicate that therel Is no food In
India, but that scarcity In one section
has raised prices beyond the earning power
Of the people. Wage earners there earn
about a penny day. On that they can live
In ordinary times. Now, with the cost OF
food raised two or three fold, they cannot
possibly live on their wages. s
"Great masses ofthe population 0f India
are on the verge Of starvation even in the
best OF times. Millions must die for want OF
tie grain that dealers are holding In
granaries for high prices. The Government
will do all that 1t can. Since the famine OF
l877-78 It has been preparing for 9 famine
by planning reservoirs, roads and other pub
liz works These are to begin at CO, and
will furnish employment and wages r, many,
But India has population OF 287, ,000. 600,
and the $125, ,0D0, 900 TO be expended will be
but mere tribe in alternating oil Of the
suffering. is;EgfGt
"The letters that have Just come to u.s.
said the Rev. Dr.. Strong, .tshow only too
plainly that millions Of lives will be lost. !"
In the Mission Boards famine packe ket from
India, the Rev. james Smith wrot, from
Ahmednagar:
"Those who constitute the rank ami file OF
our churches are always in q condition bor-
dering upon starvation. There are 40. .000, 600
Of such poor people In India who never get
more than one meal day. Every night 80,
600, 900 lie down, on the ground to sleep,
: hungry. The average incomeof every man,
woman and child in India is less than one
sent day.
..In this Ahmedllagar district, !" writes the
Rev. Dr.. r. A. Hume. "there has been no
rain since July, and the prospect ts that for
eight months no more rain will fall * The
first crops have not been properly Ilpened
and the second crops cannot even be sowed.
The water supply In the wells Is low.
What will 1t be- In q few months hence!
The famine seems likely to be gea-
eral for nearly the whole popula.
tion, with its 500, ,000, 900 people. Grain riots
are common. Merchants will not sell
grain, largely, because they know the price
will greatly increase So the people break
open grain shops and granaries and threaten
to kill the m erchants If they interfere. They
say: We shtll soon die without grain; II you
interfere with our getting your grain We will
kill you In the struggle, and it will be all the
same Then they say to the police: ARREST
Us for stealing and support US In JAIL It
] will save US from death by starvation ASH
isimpossibla to ripen any grain fer over ten
months to come, what fearful suffering seems
to be in store! Parents arS deserting their
children. Cattle are being sold for rhe value
of their hides. Near the gate OF Ahmedna-
gar, cart with grain was plundered by hun.
1ry men, s-s,'.- ''N u