The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-03-25

When it is time TO move on one or tw,
will not move-they remain; they ar
| corpses.
The others leave them there, heap o.
wizened dark skin and bones. with a few
rags 1uttering on their bodies and tut
of black hair on their skull There they
squat or lie, and toward evening the
jackals and yild dogs canter up and be-
gin to pull the wretched remnants OF NOR
tally TO pieces.
The others are still wandering on. AS
they pass through the rocks and scrub
Of the jungle a cobra stings one of them
and he falls and dies Then they toll on
one Of the little children can walk no
further, or the baby which the mother
has hitherto carried slung on her hip be-
comes too heavy burden for her. She
| leaves the baby under a rock; the ckild
falls down and no one notices it.
But do not infer from this awful fact
that the Indian mother loves her Off
| spring any the less than your wife loves
/ hers 1t is only after starvation has
| reached a certain pitch that the maternal
| smiling, plump baby OF yours. Can you
imagine any exIgency that would induce
you TO leave it by the roadside TO die?
Gould its mother conceive Of such a
thing? And yet you would do it if you
had starved as these people starve.
But let US follow what is left of our
dwindling family. Famine breeds various
diseases peculiar to itself 4 decay at
tacks the eyebalIs, which are slowly eat
en- out Of the head until nothing but rot
ten cavities remain. The enfeebIed heart
ceases TO send the blood to the extreni-
ties, and the feet begin to crack and fall
TO pieces. This Is q sure forerunner Of
death-you can pick out a dying man by
his feet.
The eating Of roots. berries or raw
grain causes Inflammation of the bowels
and dysentery. which in the exhausted
condition Of the patient kills rapidly; yet
not rapidly enough A painful swelling
besets the lips, tongue and interior of the
mouth; the swellings exude a virulent
matter; the sufferer cannot stand: he
squats in a bowed position. suffering a
torturing pain, unable to close his mouth
or TO utter any sounds but inarticuIare
ones; there he squats, while the acrid dis
charge drops constantly from his distort-
ed lips, until he falls forward and dies
This is a common accompaniment of the
Then disease attacks the scalp, caus-
ing the hair TO fall of and a thick. whit !
ish scab 10 form. This is a very frequent |
affection Of the little children. Swarns |
Of flies hover over this scab, leaving it |
raw and oDeh Large ulcers also form /
on the legs, often sloughing away the /
flesh TO the bone. but that is not far, for /
the legs are but bones with thin COW |
ering Of skin and dried tissue. The flies
settle on these sores also. Excessive dis
tension OF the belly is a mark Of an ad-
vanced stage OF starvation. in small
children especially. I have heard unin-
structed persons, looking at photographs
IF children in this condition, remark that
hey must have had a good dinner. but
he distension is caused by enlargement
If the liver. which is speedily fatal. No
.hiid in this condition ever RECEIVERS.
Finally, starving people are very liable
o catch smallpox, or the plague. or to
all victims to leprOsy. I have been in
lative villages where every inhabitant ;
vas in one or another stage of the small
.ox. except dozen or so whose hands
nd feet were eaten off by black Ieprosy
II these persons were also starving.
It will be sem, then. that our typical i
nevertheless some Of them do survive Z
ing enough TO reach a government relief s
-ation. numbers Of which are dotted over
he vast mud desert 5
In the famine of 1897, which I saw. the /
nal estimate by those who had access to
le most trustworthy information, was !
nat nearly twenty million persons per- s
he'd either directly from starvation or @
ON some one Of the diseases caused by f
.arvation. t
The present famine area is far larger a
ian that Of 1897. and the accompanying {
.seases, owing to the weakening of the r
e1pe by the 1897 famine, are much more
'evalent and wore fatal than they were b
len. The figures which give will seem [
dubious to some readers. and would be I
anied by most of the famine officials on
lie ground But they will be substanti- p
ed by persons having intimate knowl- e
ige OF the situation. who are not under =
fcial Utilization to minimize the facts. r
ur minds are impotent to imagine TWEEN g
millions Of people dying within a year n
Two. in a single country. from lack of u
Cd 10 eat But twenty millions are but
.e-ffteenth Of the DopuIa ton Of India.
But let US suppose some members of
IT family 70 have been admitted to the
lief works; or. if they were too much
hausted TO work, then TO the poor
use. What are relief works? They are
ad or railroad building. canal digginb |
1gation tank making. kept in reserve
r such contingencies. Ordinarily they
'uld progress slowly with regular gangs
laborers. But famine causes thousands
feeble laborers II be employed in order
al they may receive the famine wages
from two 10 four cents a day
Two to four cents viii keep a man or
man in grain enough Il live, provided
ay do not have to work. but exertion
.kes them need a little more. and they
AIKEN till they have 10 be sent u the
=pital or poor house or the die in the
rks. out Of thousands Of persons on :
ief wrks who lie down 70 sleep an ay-
,ge Of seventy are found dead in the
'rning. They might live longer only
certain irregular conditions. %
ndia IS administered by white peoDIa OF
onging 10 the Indian civil service. but o.
there are too few 10 do-the work they II
We To accept the assistance OF native -
oordiaa-es- No fault i 70 De found -
n the English ciyn servantS-,hey =
TX faithfully At all times and in fam \,
times they are greatly overworke5 "a
! constantly die Of fever o. exhaustion ho
their posts. on
he native subocdina,es may be re- Fl
-dei as q necessary evil. for. although tn
y understand their fellows. Yet they en-