The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-03-25
HORRORS Of FAMINE
Millions Are Dying in India at
This Very Moment.
B0ER WAR HIDES 1T ALL
And Takes the Money England
Should Use for Bread.
B0ER WAR HIDES 1T ALL


World, says: The cable reports state thai
100000 people are starving in India Lord
Curzon has cabIed to the Indian Office
that 3,7S4,0c9 starving persons are receiv-
ing government relief. He also cables
that the famine is increasinf.
But government figures do not express
the horror Of an Indian famine In 1851
100000 sufferers were reported by the
Government 1t is estimated that 10000.
05J died. But for the events in South At
rlca the famine would be the one theme
Of comment.
The Ficeroy, Lord Curzon, is supervis-
ing the work Of relief, assisted by his
American wife
The proportion Of those who reach the
Teiief stations 70 those who perish in the
sohtudes is extremely small
At the last report the famineswept area
Comprised 10000 miles Of British territory
and 10000 miles Of the territory OF native
states, each section comprising l5,0O0.00)
people Il is still increasing.
Recent reports indicate that plague and
famine are worse today IN India than
they were three years ago, when per
scnally investigated conditions there. On
me other hand comparatively little is be-
ING done in the way Of relief. because
England is pre0ccuDied with the destruc-
ZION Of the Boer republics in South Afri-
ca A small part Of the money thar Great
Britain is spending 10 XIII Duthc farmers
ana seize their country would keep mill
ions Of Indians alive through the dis
rreSs
Ny present business, however is not n
ErralEn ri lin
readers Of the World some idea Of what
starvation in India means. India is
plain nearly million square miles in
area with the Himalayas and the Hindu
kush on the northwest and north. and
otner small mountain ranges elsewhere
When the monsoons Cor rains) fail. the
rivers remain dry from one to four years.
and the vast areas which they drain pre-
sent a surface Of unmitgated mud desert
without a green thing upon it except the |
mango trees and one or two other trees
which have tap roots hundred feet or
more in depth. and which also seem to |
lmoibe moisture through their leaves /
from the atmosphere
This mud desert IS perfectly level save
Tor little ranges Of hillocks or small hills
II IS cultivated BY the Inhabitants wber-
ever possible, but there are large Jungle
tracts which are uncultivatabIe and breed
tigers jackaIs and serpents.
Such is India, physically. upon the
whole the most repulsive country in the
world
When history discovered India 1t was
s9arsely inhabited by aboriginal tribes
the descendants Of which survive. un-
changed in appearance and habits. When
the British East India COMPANY was
formed in 1850 the population was about
one hundred millions, and had been kent
a. this figure for many generations. the
natural increase having been kept down
by internecine wars, by suffice and infant
Iclde, by massaCres and by plague and
famine Since the English took hold they
have prevented SO far as they could these
drains upon the population with the re-
suit that there are today nearly three
hundred million persons living in the
same area which formerly supported but /
indirerently one-third Of that number {
Attempts TO introduce improved Sor.ping /
methods have had very small success.
Moreover. the nature character. igno- {
rance and prejudice of the people. Hindus {
and Mahometans alike. make the task Of | (
helping them extraordinarily difficult. | I
There are no less than five hundred d
thousand separate castles in India. some +
coH'7risins but a few individuals. but all q
Of them opposed to mingllng with one an
other OFTEN a Hindu caste man will O
sooner die than eat food which has been d
touched by a person Of another caste. or q
than occupy a dwelling which another h
caste has occupied. These preiudices r
The Indian Mutiny was caused by the at I
tempt 70 make Sepoy soldiers use cart v
ridges creased with hog lard. Again. o
there are about fifty different nations in o
India, each the deadly foe IF the rest and Il
the Mahometans fifty millions strong. O.
are mortal foes Of the Hindus. who mum
Der 1--WE eimes as many, but are less g "
yressive. n
once more. the practical owners Of In n
liza are NOT the rajahs nor the EncIis. but "
he bunniahs. a caste OF grain merchants h
Ind money lenders. All but "a small frac- W
ion Of the Indian population are small r
armers and laborers. Owing 10 their er
mprovidence and 20 misfortunes. every n
me is IN debt 70 a buuniah with no &c
nance IF paying the debt Generally The
nan inheri,s the debt from his forefath- b,
rs; IL ANY event he never reaches his A.
majority without becoming a hopeless h.
ebtor Nothing in The world is his except / 81
is power 20 work. u
When drought comes The farmer is de- v
rived Of food The bunuiah has plenty in
o sell him. but he has nothing To buy IL AZ
-ith. The worse the scarcity the higher at
he price At which the bunnjah holds the
rain. q
But suppose that the farmer owns his IN
q, and its contents. s few 5Uliocks his A.
arm tools and his clothes. When famine he
inches him he d5sooSes of these things. CO
ne after another. TO the bunn.ah. reeeiv- m
~ in return srain- First 20 his pots IA
nd pans. then his wtee's bangles and the he
-her silver ornaments. then his hoes and / al
'ades. then his bullocks. chen the roof Z
T his mud hlt. then the wooden doors. ca
aauy his garments. These disposed Of i1s
2 has nothing left but his Ioin cloth ~,
By this thine be is already starved. sc- r.
'rding 20 cur standards; but long eaper- au
nee has enabled the Indian to s.a-ve a 7v
-eat deal louger--nonths and years long va
than any white man car. The starry air
< man and such az his family as sur n
We grid on their Join cloths and saris ma
Id wander forth homeless. ia-
All around Vhem extends the bouu6less We.
I'D deser1-a2t an atom of food 70 be I
10 within hundreds OF miles. Slowly me
"a aimlessly they drag themselves in
ong over the dusty plain. under the roz
sring sunlight = handful OF raw grain b.
day would keep them alive. but none IS CO
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