People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1897-03-05

until Iu0 poOI HSdehSu NhIhSO Sl10S
out Call off the troops-the men
hired and trained from youth to do
murder and I'll let the opium seller
enter"
So, the opium seller, good Christian
guns of England and France, and he
has worked enough damnation there to
satisfy the devils in hell.
Our liquor traffic barely compares
with what the opium trade has done
for China-a trade forced upon the
heathens at the Cannon's mouth by the
two nations which claim to be the
leaders of Christian civilization.
cit will be hard year all over
India" says The Speaker, ga year of
famine, or something little removed
from famine, among about one fourth
of the enormous population of our In
dian Empire" That the authorities
are doing everything in their power to
mitigate the sufferings of those starv-
ing millions IS acknowledged by all
moderate papers on the Continent
But there, as we'll as in England itself,
the British Government is accused of
having caused the present and preced-
ing famines by system of spoilation
before which the worst military tyran-
ny of Rome, Turkey, or Spain pale into
insignifcance. Among Englishmen it
| is chiefly the nonconformist conscience
which protests against the manner in
| which India is exploited. The Bombay
Guardian has an article by the Rev.
w. Shoolbred, D. D., whose remarks on
the connection between famine and
opium growing we condense as follows:
Tie cultivation of the poppy does not
ruin the Chinese alone. The war by
which China was forced to admit the
pernicious drug when the Chinese
Government prohibited it is in a great
measure the cause of famine in India.
The southern states in Rajputana, in
Guiding the country of Molwa, rejoice
in deep, rich, black soil, and good
average rainfall which rarely fails.
They are therefore extremely fertile,
and before the development of the
opium traffic were the granary of less
fertile northern Rajputana, greatly
cheapening food in ordinary years and
mitigating scarcity in bad years. Now
the southern region imports grain
from the north to feed the poppy
growing population. Hence the price
of grain is kept unnaturally high, and
during droughts both regions are
plunged.into famine. When l passed
through Molwa 1 found nine out OF
every ten fields waving with the poppy,
altho thousands of people were dying
for want of the food which these fields
should have produced. The people who
cultivate the poppy are all addicted tc
| the use of opium. There is not man
woman, or child among us that has not
taken to.the use of the drug" I was
told. And all this that the Gov
eminent may be able to reap the bene
fits of the export tax of $500 on every
chest of opium leaving the country. In
Molwa, as in Bengal, the Government
is directly responsible for this state OF
affairs, and with the Government the
British Parliament and the British
people share the sponsibility. Lit
erary Digest.
Recently, there was a meeting. in
London, presided over by the LORD
Mayor of London,} at which relief
\ u,e psesss.. ia lssshs.lfsf T..l;a ssss.ss ale
cussed.
The Soc ialist leader, Hyndman, pro.
posed, as an amendment to the pro,
gramme agreed on, that the Govern
ment be asked to spend, for Indla's
relief from starvation part of the mon
ey drawn from India for interest and
high salaries. A terrible uproar al
once ensued. The British masters OF
India were shocked and enraged at the
revolutionary suggestion, and voted il
down DANGEROUSLY.
Two hundred and fifty millions OF
Hindoo slaves toll for these British
masters, year in and year out. Two
hundred and fifty million dollars is the
tribute which British masters wiring,
every year, from these wretched serfs.
r. e. W.