The Virginia enterprise., 1907-09-27
existence itself as the stake at issu

existence itself as the stake at issue,
it Is scarcely surprising to find rever-
sions to beast-selflshness. So, when I
saw a woman with two little children,
one OF them suffering from smallpox,
living In mat hut three feet high,
three feet wide, and four or five feet
long, was not astonished to learn
that her husband had deserted her;
that has been the way of some hus.
bands In every such disaster. The as
ton1sh1ng fact Is that so many parents
and husbands are loyal; it is royalty
common among these uncounted FAM
Inc victims to find the parents wan
and emacfated and the little children
comparatively ruddy. True, many pa
rents are selling or giving away their
children, and even drowning them, but
this is usually an expression of solici-
tude for the child's welfare. Even the
sale OF little daughters into slavery
must not be judged by occidental
standards. Several mothers have. be-
sought me to buy their children, or to
accept them as a gift. This morning
mad pressed on me by a forlorn
motner as healthy specimen of Chi
nese babyhood as one would care to
possess. Having been driven from the
refugee camp, with her family and pos
sessions on wheelbarrow, she was on
ner way back to the country to starve.
she said, and fear she spoke truly.
Practically the entire famine dis.
trict has been almost wholly cleared
OF live stock. I'VE have no beasts. and
men are eating beasts food" is the
way one farmer succinctly put it. He
meant that the people are living on
grass, bark, roots, leaves and such
like. This morning I inspected the
houses Of almost an entire village
looking for food-and such bare
crude, filthy and comfortless homes
they are-and nowhere did 1 see q.
grain of rice. The whole village ia
subsisttng upon dried sweet potato
leaves, which I found cooking over
many stoves. Out here it is CUSTOM
aryi to extract the oil from peanuts
ana then to press peanuts, shells and
all, into hard cake as cattle fodder
Beans are treated in the same manner
Now these dried cakes are sold an
food for human beings l watched ono
man, on whose features grim hunger
had written large her signature. buv
a portion of this. He was given a
wedge about four inches long. three
inches deep, and possibly two inches
wide at the outer edge, for 20 cash
which is two-thirds of the government
allowance per day for an adult. The
avidity with which he seized and de-
voured dry few additional crumbs
the little more" that goes with every
bargain in China-was eloquent of tho
cravings Of his body.
This dole of 30 daily cash-eoniva.
lent to one and half cents, American
currency-the Chinese government
pledges to give every sufferer in the
famine district north of the Yangtze
river. It really seems as IL the higher
officials are in earnest, and extraor.
binary efforts are being made to pre.
vent squeezing by the other officials
through whose hands the money must
pass. This is one of tbo manifesta-
tions of new" China which abound
these days. Of course, the attempt ia
not wholly successful, and 1nyriads of
starving people have not received a
single cash. Most of those who have
encamped, ominously, outside of the
walls of several cities have been help
ed; for the officials fear them. Now.
with force and fair promises. the
larger part Of these refugees are being
driven back into the country. All of
them distrust the official promises of
help. The assistance that is at pres
ent extended is not expected to hold
out for a month, since cent and a
half day given to 100000 persons
is a sum to tax any treasury.
Foreign relief is being distributed
In the form of -four to bring down the
prices. Famine prices," is no mere
phase here; the cost of all foodstuffs
has risen 200 per cent or more. The
missionaries, who have been chosen
by the general relief committee at
Shanghai to disburse the worlds boun-
ty, are busy dotting the stricken re-
gions with depots for the sale of food.
thus making every dollar given con-
tinue its work throughout the entire
six months Of distress; for the worst
will not be over until July.
Copyright, 1907, by Joseph B. Bowles)