Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1906-03-15
APPEAL FOR SUFFERING
IN NORTHEAST Japan

IN hORIH-tASI JAPAN
c. Shiozawa, editor OF the Hawaii
Shinpo. has issued the following ap.
peal to the public In behalf of the poor
stricken people In the northeast Of
Japan:
Americans generally do not realize
the terrible famine conditions which
induced President Roosevelt 20 urge
subscriptions for the relief Of sufferers
In the northeast of Japan. Were this
region one accessible to- or frequented
by. the correspondents and artists of
the great newspapers of the land, there
would be articles and Illustrations
which would shock the world like the
awful scenes sent forth from the last
great famine in India. In Japan, as
there are women and children starving
and freezing to death. There are thou
sands and thousands Of families unable
TO obtain food to maintain life and
unable to protect their shrinking bodies
from the cruel cold of an unusually Sc
we're winter. There might be pictures.
as there were from India, Of slowly
dying mothers giving OF their last
strength to thin, suffering babes at the
breast. or whole families might be
shown huddled hopelessly In their I'M
warmed homes-dependent upon what
more favored people OF earth can send
to their district to help them, until
nature shows more kindly spirit
Snow covers grounds where the able
bodied would work II they could and
these, together with the aged. the Grip
pies. the women and the children
there are from twenty-five to forty
thousand sufferers In all-have no hope
but that the human charity that al
ways is ready to respond to real suffer-
| ing will be Informed Of their dire need.
| In this emergency, all over the civil
lied world-and especially in more for
tunate parts OF Japan-effoTts are be-
ing made to secure funds for the strick,.
en- districts. Honolulu is asked to help.
The spectacle Of a single woman. a
single child. freezing or starving 10
death. II close at hand, would be
enough to melt the heart OF anyone
seeing II, enough to stir him to the
most earnest, even frantic. efforts to
give relief In this case there are
| ~ anu lhtg dlN
not bit the less real because they arc
Il long way on. Let those who have
the imagination picture the terrible
scenes In these luckless homes In ia
pan. and they will be sure to respond
TO the appeal for help.
As showing the conditions that exist
the following extracts are quoted from
the japanese press:
Enough has been said OF the dis.
tressing cases OF starvation, they are
many. but will give one or two In the
village we are giving relief In a fam
lily Of seven living in a shed-no win
dow,-all laying In straw on the barr
earth. The aged father a cripple. tn
mGther blind, a son farm laborer will
wife and three young children. Hus
band unable to work In the land be
cause of deep snow. Another family
also seven in number living in a hol
dug out OF the hill side, about Ike feet
four and half in height, little lean
to roof or kitchen 3x6 feet. The Who'll
family huddle together in this hole
Needless to say the poor mother an
children look like sick patients; tn
eldest boy OF ~ is Ill with consump
lluHf tue Htdu HhHit II ohhullu M
shlroku. Further up the mill mos
. piteous cases are everywhere. II is
wonder how people live under such cir
cumstances. In nearly all cases on
finds a child hanging on TO the moth
er's breast, the poor mother, still ful
OF smiles. giving her very life TO fee
her child. Another case, an old moth
er, aged 73. with grandchildren; tn
mother had died two days before
arrived in the village. She left he
aged mother with q son aged Is, per
haps a life invalid. unable TO walk. !
girl of 20, the only one able to worl
They lived In shed, nothing to lay /
except straw mating and between tn
lot two filthy dirty old futons. Tn
whole space which the four had to liy
in was not more than five mats, TIL
name OF these people is Suzuki. coul
go on telling story after story, but 9th
ers besides myself have found the sam
state of things over and over agaiI
What are we doing to help?
Very careful Investigations hay
been made and It is found that in thes
three provinces there are from $4,000 I
1000 sick and aged persons and nelp
less children, not one of whom ca
support himself by his own labor an
who must be helped for some months
whether II SHOWS or not and no mat
ter II the weather is cold or hot. Blu
4, how bitter is their lot In this sever
| winter"
) Columns might be filled with sue
descriptions of the present conditions
Surely Hawaii will help to give relic