The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-05
THE CRYING NEEDS.
Famine Fund Press Committee Ca
bles for Information as to
Most Urgent Needs.
Upon Receipt. Of an Answer the
Committee Will Issue an APP
peal to the Public.

The press committee of the local fam
inc fund committee expect to receive to-
day from Stockholm and Hsingfos cable
messages giving exact information as to
the present needs of the famine sufferers
in Sweden and Finland. A request for
such information has been cabled by the
local executive committee. Minneapo
milling com panies having agents in Scan
dinavia have also cabled for reports.
When these replies are received the press
committee will be able to complete an
appeal to the public. - ...--. s..
Additional statements, comparatively
recent are repeated to the Chicago Trib-
une by it's staff correspondent, Guy
Craaner. Writing from Lulea, Sweden,
Jan. IA, Mr.. Cramer emphasizes the i'm
mense difficulty of delivering relief
supplies after they have reached
tons of supplies must in some
way be carried = over hundreds of
miles of broken, snow covered roadways
to towns and villages buried deep in the
pine forests. To Indicate roughly what
relief is needed, Mr.. Cramer cites that,
despite the death of half the live stock
in eighteen small divisions, Of the govern
ment district Known as Narbotten's Ian,
these districts mus have $3.50 tons Of
hay if the oftefaaiflfflg3 Stock is to be kept.
alive until the close Of May. Seventeen
small towns must have2 1000 tons of
flour. Eleven towns call for SS1 tons of
straw with which to save their stock
Nine districts ask for SO tons of oil cake
so that they can mix it with the leaves Of
/ birch trees and feed it to cattle as the
only available fodder until grass appears
the middle of next June. The town and
parish Of Diver Kalix are "only on the
edge of the land Of snow and Ice" The
town is but a short drive from a railway
terminal. Yet the residents of that town
have already appealed for $50 tons of
flour, $50 tons of hay, 220 tons of straw,
II tons of ell cake, 40 tons Of oats, and
66 tons Of fodder meal. These are the
lowest possible estimates and allow only
the scantiest meals for human beings and
for live. stock. The situation at the
myriad villages and settlements more in
accessible than Oliver Kalix is very much
worse.
In Lapland the floods Of last year had a
| marvellous result: They brought too much
water even for the fish. The torrential
rivers produced far less fish than usual
the bird called "ripa," which is the chief
source of profit for the little Lap hunters
But the reindeer herds have found ample
forage and have saved the lives of many
thousands human beings north of the polar
circle.
Future Needs.
| And when the winter at last is ended a
prodigious amount Of seed grain and veg
etables will be required to make another
harvest possible, however favorable may
| be the summer season Already the Swed-
ish government is securing pledges Of seed
grain and vegetables from certain dis
tricts of Southern Sweden where, thanks
to the elevation of the land, the products
are such as will grow to maturity within
the three months summer of the north
land.
! At Lulea Karl ]. Bergstrom, the gov
ernor of the Ian, is working day and night
| in cooperation with the central relief
committee in Stockholm. Through Mr.
| Cramer the governor extended his heart
:. felt thanks to the Americans that are
, contributing relief. ct am sure said he
that these gifts have Gods blessing or
! them What suffering they will aid in re-
| lieving can only be known when the true
condition in the famine stricken districts
is presented to the world
ut is difficult he added, ''to provide