Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1900-07-14
SUFFERING IN INDIA.
Fearful Famine Conditions De.
scribed by DR.. Klopsch.
SHOCKING SIGHTS IN HOSPITALS
Attendants Give Scarcely Any Heed
TO Low Caste Natiyes-Goyernme
Effort. to Relieve the Distress
Suggestions That Missionaries Re
Employed to Aid the Sick.

Employed to Aid the Sick.
DR.. Louis klopsch. proprietor of The
Christian Herald, who has been In In
dia experimenting the distribution of
the supplies and food purchased for
the relief of the people in the famine
districts with the money of The Chris
tian Herald relief fund. arrived In New
York on the Hamburg-A merican steam
ship Pennsylvania. In speaking of
some of his visits in India he was par
ticularly impressed with the efforts of
the government to relieve distress and
how these efforts were often futile
Poorhouses, hospitals and relief camps
under native management were fire.
quently found in a state of criminal
neglect. but as soon as cases of this
kind We're reported to the government
efforts were made at once to relieve the
conditions. DIR. Klopsch described one
of these hospitals at Dohad to a repre-
sentative of the New York Commercial
Advertiser. He said:
AT Dohad the state of affairs was
certainly the worst have ever experi-
enced In my life. The scenes In the
poorhouse We're distressing One wo-
man had gone stark mad and sat there
vacantly staring at the scene about
her. Out of 334 patients admitted In
two weeks all but 80 died. Sick people
lay on the cots, and food brought to
them was actually dumped beside
them One sick person turning around
put his body into the food. The air
was microbe laden. Clothing was i'm
pregnated with the smells in the place,
and 1t was two days before l could get
the odor out of my nostrils. Outside
In the sun. lying on the ground, was a
nude woman in the last throes of chol-
era. Next to her was another woman
grooming and writing in agony. while
native attendants looked stoically on
without making the least effort to as
sist these people. had the women
carried In and placed under shelter
The explanation of the apparent
carelessness of the attendant was that
the poor things were low caste women,
the Inference being that they were not
worth caring for. They We're treated
as If the officials had grudge against
them because they did not die fast
enough. The manner in which these
poor people We're regarded by the ma
tive attendants was indicated by one
instance. Regarding man who was
In the death throes, l asked how long II
would be before he died. Oh said the
attendant. he should be dead in ten
minutes, but he may live half day.
ITO make matters worse there was
plague of flies. There We're millions Of
fhntp and fhAu UnrOnd fhnncnIrac
the fostering sores on peoples bodies.
Nobody made any attempt to drive
these pests away.
Il visited a relief camp at Vansar,
near khaira, where there were 1000
people engaged. Everything there was
well ordered. the only drawback being
that there was no shelter for day or
anaai..ad h ana s. sns tees rwr.naTas De
their branches. for fuel. TIE reFFS1
camp at Viramgaum l also found to be
In good condition. visited this place
on a Sunday, and the people gathering
around the carriage l took the opportu
nifty of addressing them through the
medium of an interpreter. 1 told them
that they ought to be thankful for
what the government was doing for
thSAh. iISutiolcd That
sympathy for them had been aroused
and If they would only hold off little
longer relief on a gigantic scale would
surely come across the waters to them,
and this, with what the government |
was doing. would soon relieve their dis |
tress and give them q fresh start In |
life | also visited the hospital at Vi |
inspecting the smallpox and |
cholera wards, and found everything |
in excellent order. A few weeks before |
the hospital had been in a deplorable |
but a Christian missionary |
had been permitted to try his hand at |
1t. with the result that there was a |
great improvement.
while not presuming to recommend |
anything to the Indian government, it |
seems to me that it would be a wise |
thing If the greatest possible use be |
made of the missionaries, who are will |
ing to work for nothing and can give |
Intelligent and efficient cooperation. |
The missionaries should be made hon |
1rary superintendent in the institu- |
tons. so that they can get some official |
footing and their requests and sugges- |
lions receive attention"