The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-03-20

can be depended upon. And wheat has
been grown for centuries on the same
soil, with never a hint of fertilizing.
The manure that is used as fertilizer
in more favored countries there is saved
and dried for fuel. 1t is the only fuel
the common people have, there being
no coal, and wood is out OF the ques-
ton owing to its cost. Consequently
the II has been growing poorer from
year to year. Famines are recurring
with increasing frequency and will CON
tlnue SO until the end, the country be-
ing too large to be saved by any process
of artificial fertilizing and the popuIa-
ton too numerous to be moved away.
Friends in India have just informed
the countess that every rcad leading
from the cities reveals scores of dead,
uncared for and in plain sight OF the
passers, thousands of whom are them
selves as thin as their shadows and hard
ly able to drag themselves along. The
seriousness of the situation is further
emphasized by the fact that the lead
ers of the Indian people direct those
who are trying to relieve them to give
NJ thought to the old men and women,
but to save the young so that the people
may not perish from the face of the
earth.
In spite of the criticisms of Countess
Wachtmeister and other eminent ner-
sons, however, it must be admitted that
the British government is leaving moth
ing undone to assist its Indian subjects,
Vast building, canal and irrigation en-
terprises, which give employment 10
100000 persons, have been inaugurated
and will be prosecuted to completion.
The wages paid are, of course, ridic-
ulously low, but sufficient to keep the
men employed and their immediate fam.
lilies from starving, thus indirectly saw
ing thousands of lives. Moreover, the
irrigation plants in process of construc-
ton will contribute largely toward rob-
bling dry seasons of their terror and i'm
surfing fairly remuneratiYe wheat crops,
In the south of India drainage cham
nels are TO be built, to minimize the
dangers now resulting from p~rofuse
rain falls.
The beneficient results of these pub
lie works will, however, not be felt for
some time to come. In the meantime
the starving millions of human beings,
many OF whom are intelligent and
scholarly, are dependent on the charity
of their fellowmen. Contributions are
pouring into India from every civilized
country, the most liberal offerings COM
ing from private sources in Russia. The
latter fact has aroused some politicu.
antagonism in Great Britain although
why the average American, who is apt
to look on the purely humane side of
such a deplorable picture as the Indian
famine, cannot understand. The fear
evidently entertained by many English
jingoes that Russia is trying to UNDER
mine British influence in India seems
without foundation when one thinks
of the liberality with which Russia has
always come to the suecor OF suffering
humanity. lnasmuch as conservative
estimates place the number of those
who have already died from starvation
and the plague. and those who will
probably die before April, at 1,500, GOO,
hostile political comments on the gen
crosby of another nation seem absurd.
The sanitary authorities of Europe
and the United States are taking ample
precautions to keep the plague confined
to Asia. Vessels arriving from Bombay
and other Indian ports are overhauled
with c~ommendable care and d~isinfected,
and should the epidemic continue to
spread in India stringent quarantine
regulations will be enforced.
@. W. WEIPPIERT.