The Holbrook news., 1911-05-26

 TOLLOWING close on the heels
 of the plague, a great famine is
 sweeping over the Chinese em-
 pire, and the victims of the
 dual persecution are now mum gered by the tens of thousands. The Hague is bad enough, but the famine will be ten times worse. Already hundreds are dying from lack of food. yet these hundreds will number thou sands and tens of thousands before the first scanty rice crop furnishes relief. From the relief committees of the interior comes word that one mill lion people will die before the first crop is, harvested. Even this will be scanty, because the people have not the strength to till the soil and no animals remain for blowing.
 It is estimated that 100000 people are without food. They are existing on roots. grasses or anything that af- lords the slightest possibility of nour- ishment Those possessing grain guard 1t day and night Missionaries who are distributing relief tell of many tragic occurances-a man on his way to meet them. dying on the road; another falling by the wayside as he was returning to his family with packet of rice. These relief committees describe the people as horrible skeletons, some with their limbs hideously swollen. They suf- fer all the bangs of hunger until llh brings relief. This endless relief is coming to thousands daily from starv- Rtion.
 The pitiful condition of these starv- Ing wretches is well shown by the recent food riot at Sha-Yang. when 21 persons were trampled to death. The emaciated men and women fought like demons for these few mouthfuls of food, and the peril to the relief workers who were distributing it was great. A considerable amount of food stuffs had been received by the mis- sionaries. who planned a systematic distribution. Their work was hardly begun when thousands of desperate men, women and children. who had learned that there was a chance of their hunger being half satisfied, swooped down upon the supply depot. An uncomfortable riot followed. Each fought for himself and the weaker went down and were ruthlessly trampled.
 In some portions of the province parents are offering their children for a mouthful of rice. Many parents. despairing of keeping the entire fam fly until the new crops appear. are deserting their offspring.
 The lawlessness in the stricken ter ritory is growing each day. Made desperate by hunger, bands of hun dreds of starving refugees are rowing through the famine area plundering and killing. and a reign of terror pre- vails.
 At Kunshan, a walled village 50 miles from Shanghai, the villagers, after a raid in which stores were footed and many killed. meted out punishment peculiarly Chinese in it's callousness to the raiding refugees. A band of more than 500 are reported to have been surrounded in a com pound and burned to death
 Relief has been coming in, but 1t has proved inadequate. The Ameri- can Red Cross society has sent over about $25, 1000, while the Chinese of San Francisco have forwarded $2O,- 900. It costs but a cent a day to keep one of these starving Celestials, yet the United States and Japan have been the only nations to give aid. China is sending it's plea over the entire civilized world for help.
 The famine situation has recently somewhat overshadowed the plague ravages, but not because the latter has shown any signs of let up. It is still sweeping over the northeast ern territory. scattering death right