The San Francisco call., 1897-02-16
WILL CALIFORNIA HELP?.
A Dollar Buys a Quarter Ton
of Corn for the Starving
of India.
Other States Coming to the Front to
Make Up Shipload of Food
From Here.

What will the people of California give
toward alleviating the distress and famine
now prevalent i'll India? is a question that
is presenting itself to the San Francisco
Chamber of Commerce.
Several Eastern States have readily Of
fered to furnish large quantities of corn
and others are falling in line with volun-
tary additions to a general fund for the
purchase OF cereals and other cheap stand
ard breadstuffs.
The idea is to send as soon as possible at
least one shipload OF $500 tons, principally
of corn, direct from San Francisco to Cal
outta, India. The voyage will require five
weeks.
Already President Huntington, for the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company, has
promised TO transport 1000 tons of corn
from Nebraska to San Francisco free of
charge. Eastern railroads converging to-
ward the corn centers are Offering conces-
sions in transports tation for the same gen.
eral plan of forwarding provisions west
ward by one of the main through lines to
| this City. Among them are the Chicago
| and Rock Island, the Denver and Rio
Grsnde, the Rio Grande and Western, the
| Chicago and NorthwesternS the Union
Pacific and the Burlington.
On Saturday last Senator Perkins tele-
graphed to the head originators of the en-
terpriss in this City that resolution had
unanimously passed the Senate authoriz-
| ing the Secretary OF the Navy 10 transport
| supplies donated by people of the United
States for the relief of the suffering people
| of India, and he said also that a delega-
tion will urge the passage of the resolu-
tion by the House.
This is an unusual Government act, and,
II successful, means that ship will be
! furnished by the United States to carry
] tho nannla's dnnatinnS IN the StaYVipo in
! India
| But the case is urgent, and humanity
| dictates that the people OF this country
should not calmly permit the poor OF In
| dia to starve to death when many of them
| NAV be saved at compa rativeiy little cost,
provided prompt action be taken by ciui-
zens cognizant of the sad plight in which
the natives of another land now find them
selves.
There are in all India over 2s5, ,0O0, 900
persons, over four times as many as in the
whole United States. Three-fourths OF
that enormous population, three times as
many persons as there are in this country
to-day, are poorer than the poorest class
known In the United States. And added
to this common extreme poverty some of
them are suffering from a plague that
easily finds helpless victims among the
starving.
Corn is mparatively cheap in Ne
be bought delivered at the cars for only S4.
Every man that gives dollar to the re-
lief fund now practically gives 500 pounds
Of corn to alleviate the suffering OF some
helpless natives of India. Every child
that gives but 90 cents gives 100 pounds of
corn toward lessening famine that
already promises to be more devastating
and more pitiab!e in its effects than the
historic ia mine of Ireland.
Subscription blanks are being issued as
rapidly as possible by Chairman W. w.
Clark of the relief committee at the
Chamber OF Commerce rooms In Cali
fornia street. kilograms to and from
boards of trades of different cities on this
coast and in the East relative to the In
dian famine relief movement are being
transmitted free of charge by the Postal
Telegraph Company and by the Western
Union Telegraph Company.
San Francisco, through its Chamber of
Commerce, has taken the initiative in the
matter, and is laying and carrying out the
general pian. But the individual citizens
of San Francisco and of California are
looked 10 now to contribute little sums
which in the aggregate shall make up CAL
fornia's charitable offer to distant human
beings in dire distress.