Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1906-04-12
Views Afoof

The greatest crop year of all our
history was 1905. Never before
has our soil brought forth so boun-
teously; and never before has any
land of all the earth produced so
much wealth in single year as has
our own in the last twelve months.
| Iowa's product of corn alone
reached value of several hundred
dollars for every man, woman and
child, living on our farms. The
total value of all the agricultural
products of the United States for
the year was six billions and half,
a sum that would purchase out
right any one of number of quite
important countries of the earth.
Prosperity has visited us and we
have been blessed abundantly. Are
we also grateful?
AS we revel in the midst OF plenty,
it seems strange to hear and think
of other lands in which the people
are actually dying in thousands from
! STARVATION. Yet this is taking
place NOW in north eastern Japan.
The three famine stricken pro
vinces have a population of nearly
three million-about the same as
that of Iowa. These people are un-
usually industrious, frugal and
brave. They are also stoical and
can suffer without complaint; but
they cannot live without food.
Their staple food is rice. This
is to them what meat and cereals,
all taken together, are to us. The
last year they titled as much soil,
and that as carefully, as in former
years. But there was too much
rain, and the crop failed almost
completely, being a mere fraction
of what it usually is. One village,
which raised thirty thousand bushels
in 1904, raised FIVE AND A HALF
bushels this year, not enough for a
single meal for the Inhabitants.
These people made no outcry.
Death confronted them as they we'll
knew; but they went about it to
stay his CHASTITY hand as best they
could. Food was used for time,
made of three fourths chopped
straw and one fourth rice. This
has failed; and they have taken to
eating roots, and bark, and grass.
Even these are nearly gone; and
there is nothing left but death, for
the harvest is still six months away.
| An witness states that in one
village of fifty houses, the people in
forty five are in starving condition.
"Their clothing, bedding, tools,
horses, everything that will bring a
little money, have been sold"
In another village of more than
five thousand people, there was food
enough on hand to last thirteen
days. And this was more than
thirteen days ago.
He continues, In some instances,
desperate parents are selling their
children. A girl of nine was offered
for one dollar. The purchaser
could pay only thirty six cents. 1t
was accepted" Be it remembered
that this is the last desperate re-
sort, in Japan. as it would be in
Iowa. Parents will part with their
children rather than let them perish
of hunger.
This condition prevails generally
throughout the provinces of Iwate,
Mivagi and Fukushima. From one
third to one half of the people are
actually suffering; and the number
is fast increasing.
1t is in times like this that our
Christian citizenship should assert
itself. To relieve misery and suf-
fering; to comfort the sorrowing and
distressed; to bring good cheer and
gladness into the world to dispel it's
gloom and sadness; these are the
first TESTS of Christianity. If
Christianity does not mean THIS,
it means nothing whatever. The
religion that can look complacently
on while fellow creatures SUFFER,
and STARVE, and DIE, and ex-
tend no aid, is sham and humbug,
it is hollow and full of dead mems
bones. Too many of us are Lee
vites who pass by the other side"
And where are the Good Samaritans? !?
Now it is not as if, by reason of
distance or other obstacle, we were
unable to render aid. Money sent
from our homes will be relieving
distress and saving life in Japan
WITHIN ONE WEEK from the
time it is sent. The relief bureau
conducted by the Christian Herald
CABLES the money where it is
most needed without loss of time
or any expense of any kind. Every