The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-04-15
STARVATION In INDIA
SUFFERING CONDITION or FIFTY
MILLION BRITISH SUBJECTS.
Facts Concerning the Famine-Strfck-
en- Region-The Government
Cannot Care for All.

Correspondence OF the indianapolis Journal
NEW YORK. April l3.-The appeal for
aid for the India famine relief fund re-
Gently issued by the Christian Herald. OF
New York. and the immediate and gen.
erous response from every State in the
Union, has aroused widespread interest
in the famine-stricken land OF which Vic
toria is Empress. The receipts average
more than 5000 a day, and $4,000 has al
ready been cabled TO India and DIR. Tai
IMAGES paper. mentioned above, will at
once send a flying relief with a cargo OF
corn for Bombay.
The Queen, or In other words, the gov
eminent. is doing everything possible for
the starving people, but even so. the gov
eminent can take care OF only one-tenth
Of the people in the breadless districts
Fifty million are in peril OF death for want
of food: OF these England can feed only
five million. The remaining forty-five mil
lion can be helped by other nations. n
other nations. in cases of distress like this.
means principally the United States. The
breadless area extends over 100000 square
miles east. north and south of Bombay
Thus over nearly half OF India there is
ldnl1cs III SuutEeTS lfOtn liCH N
fully one-sixth of the whole population
of the empire. The American people can
at best feed but comparatively a small
portion OF the starving host. and TO help
even this much, the help OF every man.
woman and child in this country is needed
The chief relief measures which the British
government have put in force are: First.
relief works, where tens of thousands OF
people are employed. such as making COM
mon roads, railroad entertainments, and i'm
proving the irrigation OF the country. The
thousands of men. women and children I'm
these relief camps. are paid from two 10
four cents a day, just enough TO keep body
and soul together. but not enough TO
tempt anyone away from his legitimate
work. The second chief relief measure on
the part OF the government. Is providing
kitchens. or headquarters for free supplies
CT food, for children and for adults who are
too weak TO work.
METHODS OF HELP.
Some of the practical applications OF the
governments principle of helping without
pauperizing, are as follows: Opening OF
grain depots where corn is sold at cost
price. This helps 10 feed the hungry and
at the SAINT lltlC httpc NVWA Az ~ -
grain. The latter fact is important. as IL
serves to check the avarice of the native
grain dealers. bunniahs, as they are called.
who. in time OF famine. try TO run up the
price of grain to an exorbitant figure. II
government practices another helpful form
of relief I'm buying all the products of the
toll Of all who can work. at prices suf-
fcient to support them and thus keep them
at their work. Thousands OF handlooms are
ir this way kept in operation. Thus, what
is known as the government famine code,
is now giving employment TO five million
people. AS many as possible OF the remain
ing forty-fve million famine sufferers. must
be cared for by other nations than Eng
land. And the work Of distributing food
purchased with the money sent from those
other nations, which practically means
only Americans, devolves upon mission
aries. Upon the arrival OF the relief ship
headquarters will be established in Bonn
bay. and trains will be dispatched 10 all
the missionary stations in the famine
area
Not all the sufferers from the present
scarcity of food are recruited from the
lower castles. or from what would be
hhOhh III NAlA0 tO0hNl1 90 Nl0 A0aI|
Thousands of those who are starving and
at deaths door are high caste people who
a few months ago owned their own houses.
lands. cattle and tools or farming imple-
ments. and were comparatively well-to-do.
These people, since the beginning OF the
famine. have sold first one thing. then an
other. till to-day everything they owned L.
gone and they are simply tarers on the
highway, drifting TO the portals Of another
land-naked, starving. outraged. diseased
II must be remembered. also. that thou
sands who do not die for want of food sue
cumb to one OF the various diseases which
famine breeds. Among the sufferers thou
sands of blind people may be seen. The
eyeballs decay and are entirely consumed.
leaving only CHASTITY cavities. Again. lack
OF food weakens the heart action: the body
has not strength enough to send blood to
the feet and hands. Thus. after losing HIS
eyes, the sufferers feet or hands begin to
crack, to disintegrate, and death is very
near.
NEED OF PROMPT AID.
Hence. prompt aid viii save hundreds OF
thousands OF human beings not only from
death by starvation, but from the terrible
bodily ills which starvation breeds.
From correspondents In the heart OF the
famine district come heartrcnding tales OF
individual sufferers. Two little girls. be-
tween four and FIVE years OF age. sat to-
gether near a cactus hedge. The poor waits
were questioned. but were so reduced by
hunger that they seemed not to compre-
bend what they wanted. where they were
OF who left them there. One old woman.
with her four sons. two daughters-in-law
ard three grandchildren came a long dis
lance. hoping 10 get relief: but. failing 10
find either work or food. and weakened BY
the journey. one after another died. TIN all
were gone save the poor old woman n
one g~randchiid. 4 widow was found, with
two children, a girl OF two years and a
bright boy OF six. The woman was trying
TO sell the little girl for two rupees. about
20 cents. saying they must all die anyway.
and the price OF the girl would keep life in
her and the boy for yet a little while.
Thousands Of women are so weak for lack
Of food that they cannot stand. and the
children around them are nero skeletons
covered with skin. A mother so situated Is
helpless. She would deny herself and give
10 the children. but she has food neither
for herself nor for them. A Mahometsn
xrfft oFxo 49, % .-t - 49, 49,