The Green Forest tribune., 1899-06-01
FAMINE IN CHINA.
Thousa n ds of People Left Starving
 by the Recent Yellow River - Floods.

Even the great Yellow river floods of 12 years ago did not cause more widespread suffering than the recent inundation, which has left thousands of poor Chinese homeless and starving. At Yangehow there are now gathered 10000 refugees who are absolutely de- pendent on public charity for life. The Chinese authorities, assisted. by the missionaries, are trying to relieve the sufferingu but their funds already are nearly exhausted. Every day rice gruel is distributed free to the hungry mob, with the result that it requires. all the police force of the city to prevent the starving wretches from trampling to death the aged and weak. On the first day of this relief distribution the crowd pressed so about the doors that several children and aged people were crushed to death. Since then the police have prevented such crushes. Should the general government furnish aid the suffering will be severe and rioting will probably result. Most of the refugees saved only their clothes and few ar ticles of household use. They live in wretched holes in the ground, GOV cred with small straw huts, and many of them are clothed in rags, though the weather is seyere-
 Reports from the inundated country show that nothing has yet been done to check the break in the southern bank of the river. The water is still pouring through the great breach, and it will Fo -I.;11 vert the water. unless, as usually hap pens, the Chinese wait until the food water falls. Nothing has been heard from Lii Hung Chang's party, which started out with great plans fer the immediate checking of the flood. The only report received comes through ma tive sources and says that Li has turned back toward Peking, presumably be cause the hardships of travel in the depth of winter proved too much for him.
 Meanwhile the people who have a small accumulation of grain are eating it and will have no stock for seed, while the great majority will be fortunate if they get through the winter and early spring without losing some of their number by starvation. Letters from missionaries describe the scenes in the flooded district as heartrending. What impresses every foreigner is the ap- athy of the people, who calmly await death by slow starvation and make no outcry-
 Alarming reports come in from the rebellion in Honan and Anhui. and the Chinese war office is apparently very busy. but under any other government such a revolt would be crushed in a few weeks. In Honan the rebels are fight CTS. and they are fairly well supplied with arms and ammunition, but any well-drilled force could whip them. In Anhui the mob of malcontents has been swollen to 10000 armed men. but in the great majority of cases they have no ammunition. This Chinese rabble would excite the contempt of any we'll drilled foreign soldiers, but in China the imperial army lacks both equip ment and discipline. Despite the large sums that appear as expenditures for the army in each viceroy's accounts, the men are poorly armed and wretch edly clothed. The only things that are new and in frst-class trim are the banners, with which every Chinese army is provided, - Chicago Inter Ocean.