The Pensacola journal., 1906-04-14
LIGHT BREAKING
OVER ISLAND
KINGDOM
Spirit Of HeIpfuInsSS and Patient
Industry AGtuateS the Suffer-
eFS in Japan.

Prospects are frightening in the IA
mine-stricken provinces Of Japan. Al
ready one can see the fringe of the
dark cloud perceptibly lighter. For
many weeks the grim battle between
hope and despair has been waged, with
nearly a million lives hanging in the
balance. At times il seemed an al
most hopeless fight. Even the forces
OF nature seemed arrayed against the
workers, who we're held back from a
starving home by the deep SHOWS and
the bitter cold winds that piled up the
drifts and made the valleys impass-
able. But they worked on, and did
not spare themselves in their efforts
to reach the starving people.
Mr.. Uchida, the japanese Consul
General in New York. cabled a few
days ago to the Fmeprial Government
at Toxic, requesting the latest infor-
nation as to the present status of IA
mine conditions, and the prospects for
the immediate future. He received a
cablegram from the Minister of For
efgn Affairs, as follows:
AT present, the number of desti-
tute persons in the famine districts is
over 100000. OF these, about 1885,
600 must have food supplied to them
free, and others are being supported
by work specially provided for them
by the government authorities.
Measures taken by the government
since the end Of last year, and strong
efforts made by natives and foreign
ers, have been very effective in the re-
lief of sufferers"
The distress in the famine districts
will last until October, but the acute
stage will be over by June, when other
crops will be harvested. The severi-
ty of the ordeal through which the
people have passed will hardly
be realized by those accus-
toned to a higher standard of
comfort. Eight feet of snow covered
wide tracts of country, where help
less people and their hungry children
covered in fiimsy novels.
"One Of the most terrible starvation
emergencies of modern times" says
reliable private advices received from
Japan. The Foreign Committee for
the Relief of the Famine in the North"
puts specially impressive emphasis
upon four points Of it's report. First,
it is noted that, owing to the large
area over which the people are scat
tered, and the almost unparalleled
snow falls having prevented the use
OF jinrikishas in distributing assist
ance, there was narrowing delay in
administering relief.
Another phase Of the situation is
the patient industry of the people in
spite Of their suffering. There appears.
also, a splendid spirit of hope and
helpfulness which is wonderful in the
face Of such deep misery. An in
stance of this was seen in a village
called Devils Head" showed under
eight feet, leaving a hundred and six
ty-six people without a Particle of
food Of any kind. Immediately the
neighbOrs, but little better on, raised
sixty ven Ga yen is about forty-nine
cents), by means of which pittance|
every endangered life was insured for
three weeks, until other aid had time
to arrive. Even the children have
been pressed into service to relieve
the situation, and little tots in some
schools have been taught to braid
straw and wood shavings, their finish
ed work being sent to Yokohama. In
one instance the children made over
one hundred yen a week, and that in
a school where not a teacher has re-
ceived the smallest fraction of salary
since last November. Yet they all
help with smiling faces, and lessons
have been indefinitely postponed in
favor Of the more pressing necessity
of obtaining the means to sustain life.
Many Of Americas generous con-
trfbutOrs to the famine fund have
wondered why rice was not shipped
In huge quantities. Just as the