The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-02-06
HORRORS or FAMINE IN
FINLAND And SWEDEN
Thousands Of People Are Hun
dreds Of Miles From the
Relief Depots.
FAMILIES DIE OF HUNGER
Relief Expeditions in Interior ofeen
Find Cabins in Which Whole Fam
lilies Have Perished Of Hunger
and Gold.

lies Have Perished Of Hunger
and Gold.
Stockholm, Feb. 5.-InveStigations by
government agents and representatives
of great charity organizations Of fam
inc conditions in North Sweden, Lap
land and Finland, prove the famine this
winter is perhaps the greatest in Se-
ries of like calamities that have visited
this region in the last six centuries.
Finland and Lapland are suffering
worst. Accurate statement is impos-
sible, but 100000 people are certainly in
great DANCE; of death by famine, and
not far frori a half million are already
great sufferers.
Finlandis condition is, if possible,
worse, because Finland is part of the
Russian empire, but Russia is anything
but friendly. The determination of the
czar's government to absolutely ex-
tinguish the national feeling ;. of the
country has caused intense hostility.
Finland was for many centuries part
of Sweden; it's name is, Swedish, its
people have Swedish sympathies, and
Sweden is the country on which they
most rely in the present crisis.
Finland's has been a history of sor-
SCWJ Cllty 10 lIldl Ol IOleillu.
In the wars of centuries between
Sweden, Denmark and Russia, it was
always 8 battle-ground. Gustavus
Adolphus of Sweden, having made it
part of Sweden, gave it parliament,
established schools, courts, ETC., and
did much for it. The great Peter OF
Russia wrested large part Of it from
Sweden, in 1721; and in nearly hun
dred years later Sweden and Russia
fought long 7sar for recovery Of the
provinces. Sweden was defeated, and in
1909 the whole of Finland went to Rus
sia, which has held it since.
The Present Conditions.
The meager crops of Finland Lap
land and Northern Sweden failed last
year. An immense rainfall converted
the country into a vast marsh, SO that,
always low and wet, tits worse than in
generations. The people are largely
dependent on their stock. for which
there is almost no feed, and which are
dying or being slaughtered and eaten
by thousands. The governments have
positively forbidden further slaus inter-
ing, but it has produced no effect. Peo-
pie Will kill their starving cattle rather
than see their children starve.
There must be provided immense
quantities of hay and of other food for
the stock, or the live stock will b., ali
gone before the winters end. Much of
this territory is inside the arctic circle,
a boundlesS, frozen, ice and snoW-cov-
cred waste. The main trunk railroad
from Stockholm extends far inside the
circle, but beyond it's terminus, where
relief headquarters are established,
supplies must be carried by horses,
dogs and reindeers, into the remote
parts of Lapland, hundreds of miles.
In Finland also are some railroads, but
the sufferers are far from these and the
same methods of transportation are re-
quired. Because of the great cost OF
transportation money is the only use.
full donation. The provisions needed
can be had in the lower peninsula; to
get them delivered is the problem.
The Long Winter.
Winter in this northern country be-
gins in early October in earnest and
lasts fully eight months. Then in the
short, hot, humid arctic summer the
MOSES, grass and small grains grow,
which provide forage for stock and food
for the people. Utter failure of the
forage supply has forced the people to
feed their animals birch bark boiled in
water. This keeps the animals alive for
time, but they finally get fever. and
die unless the diet is varied; while peo-
pie trying to use their milk also con-
tract the fever. Yet this is the best
thousands have.
~ The delivery of provisions across
hundreds of miles of the frozen, bleak
wastes, where there are now no roads
because the floods have destroyed the
poor. ones previously existing, involves
great difficulties and suffering. Every
thing possible with the means at hand
is being done. The people live to a
considerable extent in villages, and are
congregating together in this way more
than usual in order to make common
them. Yet in the larger towns, even,
there are daily, hourly deaths Of
famine. The animals are merely skin
and bone; the people, fever-racked and
emaciated, are no better. In one parish
where the census shows 1000 families,
over two-thirds of them have applied
for relief. Investigation proves that
it. Practically all will require sub
stantial help before spring if their
lives are to be saved
Provisions That Are Asked.
Flour for the people, hay, straw and
oil meal for the animals, are most de-
manded. The requirements of each dis
trict are being tabulated by the relief
authorities. One parish has asked 900
tons of straw and 100 tons of oil NEAL
1t is hoped that by mixing these with
the birch leaves and bark, the cattle
may be kept alive.
In one small district-and it is near
the railroads, too-one- third of the 800
families have already applied for help,
and all are found to need it. This COM
munity is not more than a days trip
for a reindeer team from the railroad
terminus; yet there are other and larger
communities, hundreds of miles farther
north, and where general conditions are
far worse.
The people, both in Finland and
Sweden, are doing all they can to make
the work of relief easy. Those of COM
parative wealth-the owners of herds
of stock and large areas of land-have
placed everything they have at the dis
posal of the poorer people around them.
Nothing is wasted, nothing is refused
by its owner to one who may be in
greater need
Relief parties frequently bring in re-