Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-08-26

About every ten or fifteen miles there
SeoSa Pee es nSase
enough at best for. them to live on. In
to work. delicate. women and little chill
dren were cared for stintedly at Govern
II described these camps and poor
houses fully IN my letters 70 your paper
Gle of over six million people eating the
two meals u day supplied by the Govern
ment. There are other and many inter-
camps, however For instance, the starv-
Ing people have to walk from ten to fifty
! not allow people who live In n certain
village, for instance, to enter the camp
n n IN , that village II they are VII,
relief they are pretty certain to be gem
uine sufferers. and we thus get Il mini
I'm tho relief camps people are seldom
arrested. They are too busy or too tired
son e ye he eSRbe rea
sons. They have nothing to steal from
one another.
In case of any wrong doing, however.
no corporal punishment Is INFLICTED upon
tho eulprits. If such culprits are well
workers entertain themselves on holidays
and Sundays and in the evenings? They
sleep, principally. On. Sundays tho men
maintenance during the coming week.
and the women scour the desert in search
which work may stop. But the minimum
wage Is always given, whether the task
is finished or not AZ some camps the
and that gang must have n thirty-man
task finished by nightfall. If the task is
ii not finished they ali get the minimum
wage. And herein is one respect in which
tho Famine Code could be improved. For
one, or two. or three. who are lazy, who
shrk. who allow the others to do most
| man task is not finished the entire gang
must suffer the penalty and be content
with the minimum wage, all because eau of
ernment do better to pay In grain at the
cost price. instead of money? No, be-
| eminent would enter into competition
with the bunniahs. and hence would close
up all tho private grain dealers shops;
| Is not Government completely reimbursed
| for its famine expense. you ask, BY i'm.
provements in which camp work results?
membered that most of such work is per-
| formed by unskillcd labor and has often
To- be done all oyer nSnin Wneh ~ me inne
ment is to give employment. If the work
thus secured is satisfactory, so much the
better ,
at seems incredible that so many mill
| lions of people can be starving at ono
sme 1nat y so nny snh exss
among. the living. But the scenes I have
described are just as true of the stricken
I sailed from Bombay n few wekes ago:
The famine will last throughout this year.
| and its effects will be felt for more than
u year to come
~ stopped over night at Godhra, where
cholera was moving people, down as i'll
In the district. met me at the station. TO
his bungalow, two miles from the station,
we rode In his smart tonga drawn by
crack ponies. y sepoy, his bare feet in
the strrups. acted as outrider. and two
coolies trotted beside the tonga His
l,,,,, lou, CT nH In hn
village, amid vast silence. Wc ourselves
sat down to n dinner for epicures. served
with all the adjuncts of u London side
board. The collectors wife was there.
cling In the furnace air. In their com
pound was Il big tree, the only tree for
miles around that boosted of leaves. 1t
was the one green thing In the world for
the brave little woman, ana IL helped 10
keep her eye bright, But the leaves were
Here were leaves enough to keep life In
several head of cattle till Government
would buy them. Under this tree night
ly, therefore, the collector posted his
sepoy That night slept In a tent, Il
guest chamber, luxuriously furnished and
Cooler than any room In the bungalow.
The tent was under the coveted tree. At
midnight there was n cry of alarm, ana
whack whack! the cow herds were at
lacking the tree with axes. Lanterns
were brought and the young collector
came out in his pajamas and talked 10
| the enemy in their own GuJarati, gave
them written orders on the local bunniah
for grain. and then we all went to sleep
again. Have TO go through that niue
comedy every seven days., said my most
next morning. Anything to Keep that
tree-for her."