Daily camera. [volume] (Boulder, Colo.) 1891-1928, 1900-10-10
DARE NOT EAT BEEF
Natives of India Starve with Mil
lions of Cattle.
Religious Observances Prevent TheM
from Gratifying the Cravings
of Nature = Famine in
Years of Plenty.

In large districts of India to-day
millions of cattle could not be sold for
so cents a head. The country, yellow
and parched has been turned into a
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 cattle buy
ers to take them away; so they die
like flies, succumbing to starvation far
more quickly than their owners. The
thought has never occurred to the 3d.
000,000 Indian peasantry now suffering
from hunger that the cattle would
have been food resource to tide them
over the months of crop failure. They
have 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 ami
mails in the little field of the poorest
peasant. All the transportation of the
inland roads depends upon them. The
household that has not its COW is in the
direst poverty.
Suppose these natives, when the
signs pointed Enthusiastically to sea
son of crop failure, had cured under
their hot sun many thousand tons of
beef by sun-drying, as jerked beef is
prepared in South America, indescrib-
able suffering and thousands of lives
would have been saved: but the very
idea of making such provision az this
against the horrors OF famine would
be inexpressibly shocking to the 15O,-
COO 900 people of India. who base their
religious beliefs upon the Nedas. They
would never dream or such profana-
ton of the teachings of Brahminism.
They would rather swallow dirt and
gnaw roots than eat beef, and yet they
are not strict vegetarians, for all eat
butter and milk. and also fish and NUT
ton when they can procure them.
The Hindus and those who share
with them their religious beliefs are
just what history tells us their fathers
The highest law that concerns he Hin
du is to eat correctly, and beef is one
of the prescribed foods; so with this
food resource in every farmyard. priced
highly, as it is, by most of the world,
the Hindu dies of hunger rather than
palfake of it. These facts are perhaps
as impressive an illustration as can be
given of the profound influence 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 57,Oo0,OO0 Mahometans living in
India have no qualms or scruples about
beef eating. Some years ago we read
almost daily for time of bloOdshed
between the MahOmetans and Hindus
of northwest India. Beef was the
cause of the incipient warfare, The
Hindu neighbOrs of the Moslems de-
cided that their feelings had been out
ragged TOO long by the repugnant spec
taclc of cattle shambles and beef eat
my. They resolved to put an end to
them, but the undertaking was too
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