St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1907-03-13
China'S Starving Millions.
Fully Million Destitute are Crowded
into Death Camps-DeSpair Settles on
Great Communities

N4Ai-~'N-N'-A-'''
News from the "Kianpeh" district in
Northeastern China continues to pile
horror upon horrors head. Upon out
side relief, upon American contributions
is based the only hope for the saving OF
millions of lives. 1t is hard for Ameri-
cans to realize that between four and
five millions of human belngs-more
men, women and children than are living
to-day in New York, the second city OF
the world-are in danger of death by
starvation, lingering and awtuD by
exposure to winters storms and cold,
or by diseases bred in filthy camps OF
refuge
There are thrice as many destitute
people in the camps around Tsiangpu to-
day as there were reconcentrados III
Cuba in 1898. Official advices from
that city, which is practically on the
frontier of the devastated district, show
that without its walls there are fifty
camps each containing 10000 or. more
famine-stricken refugees. Tsiangpu
proper has population of $4,000
people, none of whom is in proper case
to give help to the suffering. Think of
a city larger than Cleveland in which
lives no one who is not absolutely de-
pendent upon charity for food to keep
body and soul allied. Imagine a mass
of half million humans in which rags
are the only wear, fimsy huts of matted
grass and crumbling mud the onlyshel-
ter, digging of grass roots and stripping
of bark for food the only possible occu-
patton.
Other camps there are, around other
cities, and it is actually true that in
many of the smaller and more remote
settlements the only thing the authori-
ties have been able to do for the sufferers
is to designate for their use "a place to
die n'-sometimes a cemetery, some
times vacant area given over, in better
times, to refuse, pariah dogs and the
outcasts of earth.
How awful, more than month ago,
were conditions in Antung can be
gathered from the report of a cores
pondent for one of the English papers i'll
China who made an extensive tour and
exhaustive inquiries in that province.
He reports that in Antung alone there
were 100000 destitute, all threatened
with death The Chinese officers, con-
ironted by this heartrending state of
things, ackno wledged their helplessnes,
and said that the only feasible course
was to let 100000 starve and endeavor
to get seed and scanty food for the 400,-
600 remaining. Just here it is fair and
right to say that all Chinese officials are
not helpless or careless. 1t is of record
that the ruler or project of one district, a
mandarin OF high rank, great wealth
and much local consideration, was
brought before the viceroy of the pro-
vice and convicted of neglect of duty in
that he did not report to the higher
authorities the approach or the extent of
the famine and that he failed to repress
INSTRUMENTATION peculation by officials
and highway robbery. This princely
ruler is now serving out a sentence of six
years hard labor on the roads as con-
Wet
The affected people in normal times
live on millet, rice, peanuts, sweet po-
tatoes, maize and wheat and, knowing
this the American Missionary Com
mittee, as early as possible in the famine,
loaded boats with 3 900 bags of millet
and rice and sent them up the great
canal. This shipment reached the famine
district all right, was distributed
effectively and on its heels another, OF
10000 bags was sent and, from all
sources, before this is printed, total OF
nearly 10000 bags of -four, bearing the
familiar American labels, will have been
used to allay suffering and avert death.
However the relief is as yet trihing in
comparison with the need. Chinese
officials of the better sort have awakened
to the imperative necessities; taxes in the
affected provinces have been abated,