The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-06-16
THB FAMINE IN INDIA.

We are in receipt OF printed circular
and typewriter letter from 70 Bible
House, New York city, containing a
pathetic appeal for funds to save the
lives of Queen Victoria's starving sub
jects in India. The first paragraph OF
the circular reads as follows:
Famine, from lack of rain, is now
shifting sixty millions of our fellow
beings. At this moment, death by sheer
hunger and thirst threatens one-sixth
of that number. Thousands are starv-
ing each twenty-four hours. In that
stricken land, the heavens are as iron
and the earth as brass"
The Irish Standard, like the rest of
its contemporaries, will be glad to re-
ceive and transmit contributions for the
relief OF the furnishing Hindoos, but we
think the British government, which is
spending millions in destroying the two
republics in South Africa, ought to
come to their rescue. We do not be-
lieve with the New York Committee
of One Hundred" which makes this
appeal, that the awful famine has re-
suited from lack of rain. We believe it
is primarily due to British misgovern-
ment in "the land of Ormuz and of
1nd,"-one of the richest regions on the
face of the globe when it was practically
seized by Great Britain. Many years
ago British poet explained how that
vast country was acquired:
War, disguised as commerce, came;
Britain, carrying sword and flame,
Won an empire-lost her name.
An Englishman named E. E. Lewis,
in letter to the Sioux City Times, dat
ed May "a, gives the following informa-
ton which will prove interesting at the
present time:
"The valley of the Ganges is the rich
est on the surface of the earth-could
raise food for the world-but it is large
ly withdrawn from the production OF
legitimate crops by its use for the rails
ing OF opium plants-poppy-and OF the
sale of opium the government has a
monopoly. The opium producer gets
about rs cents per pound, while the
government gets nearly S. per pound;
and not satisfied with selling even
monopoly in fair market, the govern
ment has sought to force this drug upon
the world. The war between Great
Britain and China, ending by the peace
of Marking in 1842, grew out of this
abomination. In 1889 China, after vain
ly demonstrating against the importa-
ton by the British OF opium from India,
destroyed some 10000 chests, and war
resulted. China has never been able to
close her doors against this opium traf-
fic by Great Britain.
1.-THE great poppy growing region is
the Gangetic valley, district stretching
from Dinajpur to Agra in one direction
and from Gorakhpur to about Singapur
in the other, and embracing perhaps
10000 square miles. This is the best
watcred region, and if cultivated to food
crops would largely avert a famine; but,
given to poppy raising, millions OF its
people must look elsewhere for food,
while its product goes to enrich for
eign nation and corrupt the world. For
the past century India has been the
land were Englishmen have grown fat,
and the white mans burden" which
Sir Walter Besant talks so fulsomely
about in his tribute to Kipling, has been
the sport of India. The sea has been
burdened with immense fortunes wrest-
ed from India and carried to England.
Even the great Koh-i-noor, the most
royal jewel Queen Victoria possesses,
first passed into British hands by the
robbery Of the Punjab. The govern