The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-07-26
RELIGION MAKES THEM s SrAtVI.
Starving Natives OF India, With Mil
lionD or CATTLE at Hand, Dare Not
Eat 3cef

Starving Natives Of India, With Mil
Eat Beet.
In large districts Of India to-day
millions OF cattle could not be sold for
fifty cents a head. The country, yell
low and parched, has been turned into
q desert by the failure OF the Monsun
rains. There are grass lands and fod
der in other parts OF India, but the
poor animals are too weak to be driven
to them, even if there were cat
tie buyers to take them away; so IT, cy
die like flies, succu mbng to starvation
far moro quickly than their owners.
The thought has never occurred to the
80, ,OCO,O0 Indian peasantry now sulfer.
ing from hunger that the cattle would
have been u food resource to tide
them over the months Of crop failure.
They hevc plenty Of cattle. Among all
the animals Of India the various breeds
Of horned and bumped cattle hold the
first place. They are the draft animals
in the little field OF the poorest peas
ant. MI the transportation OF the in
land roads depends upon them. The
house that has not its COW is in the
dirGst poverty.
Suppose these natives, when the
signs pointed Enthusiastically to a sea-
son Of crop failure, had cured under
their hot sun many Thousand tons Of
beef by sun drying, as jerkcd beef is
prepared 10 South Amcrica, indescrib
able suffering and thousands Of lives
would have been saved but the very
idea Of making such provisions rs this
against the horrors Of famine would be
ineXpressibly shocking 10 the $50, ,000,-
600 people cf India, who base their
religious beliefs upon the Nedas
They would never dream Of such Il pro-
fanati0n uf the tenchings Of Brahmin-
ism. They would rather swallow dirt
and guaw roots than eat beef, and yet
they are not strict vcgetarians, for all
eat butter and milk, and also fish and
mutton when they can procure them.
The Hindus and those who share
with them their religious beliefs are
just what history tells us their fathers
were three and twenty centuries ago
The highest law that concerns the
Hindu is to eat correctly and beef is
one OF the prescribed foods; SD with
this. food resource in every farmyard,
priced highly, rs it Is, by most Of the
world, the Hindu dies OF hunger rather
than partakc Of it, These facts are
perhaps as impressive an illustration
as can be given Of tho profound lnilu.
ence which religious Injunction and
custom have upon the habits, tastes
and prejudices, and consequently upon
the commerce OF whole nations.
The value Of East Indian cattle for
food has been amply demonstrated.
The 81 600, 600 Mohammedans living in
India have no qualms or scruples about
beef eating. Some years ago we read
almost daily for time OF bloodshcd
between the Mohammedans and Hin.
dus Of Northwest India. Beef was the
cause Of the incipient warfare. The
Hindu neighhors Of tho Mosems de-
cided that tAl ir feelings had been out
ragged too long by the ropugnant spec
taclo Of cattle shambles and beef eat
ing. They resolved to put an end to
item, but the undertaking was too
large for the comparatively small
number OF zealots who engaged in it..
IN this vast region, so dcnsely popu-
lated that the spectre OF famine Is not
far away even in years OF plenty, no
meats are imported except for Euro
pean consumption. IL there is a par
tial failure OF rice, wheat, maize, bar
ley or the indigenous grains on which
tho labOrer lives starvation bcgius at
once and 80 while India sells to the
world every year from $3.50 600, 900 10
1850. 900, 900 worth Of products, and
buys about three-fourths as much as
sne sells, ner purchases are almost
wholly textiles, machinery, railroad
material and coal, even when hunger
stalks abroad and the main reason
why the great evil of famine Is not
averted or mitigated by food imports
Is because the religious tcnels Of most
OF the people cOLhne them To the few
cereals they raise themselves as the
mainstay OF life. In one respect, how
ever, religion prejudice is blessing
to the country. 1t Is to the lasting
shame of some modern nations that
they destroy thousands of barburous
or semi-civilizod men and women by
selling them poison in tho form of tho
purest qualities Of alcoholic liquors
but they find no market for their licrv
gin and forty.rod among tho hundreds
Of millions OF East Indians, because
Islam throughout the world is d vast
teototal society, and among the Hin
dus to touch liquor is a sign of the
lowest caste. Thus certain religions
which VIC do not include among the
highest forms have happily reared an
insurmountable barrier against one of
the worst evils OF Western civiliza.
tion.-Cyrus C.Adams in Ainsloo's.