The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-10-21
AWFUL STORY
Millions Are Starving in China and
CanibaIism Is Common.
SEEN UPON livery HAND

Heaps of Decaying Dead Piled in
Streets and Other Places and
Sights are Sickening- Horror Of
Devastations Produced by Vast
Flood Which Swept Central China.
Advices from Shanghai say that
millions of people face starvation IN
Central China. Parents are eating
their children ] the flood-stricken
districts. Marauding bands are in
control and head the fight for the
survival of the fittest. Missionaries
coming from the interior state that
the situation surpasses anything
within, the history of the country.
From Ichang to the sea, a dis
tance of a thousand miles, the valley
of the Yangtse is bordered by heaps
of decaying dead, while the black
flag and canibalism holds undisputed
sway. The flood-devastated villages
are overrun with starving Chinese.
The water-sodden ground is past all
cultivation. The rice crop is COM
pletely destroyed, and even the grass
along the river bank has been uti-
lized for food. Not cog, rat or
bird that could be captured has been
spared.
The same conditions prevail in all
the valleys of Central China. Re-
ports from the interior proclaim a
state of anarchy. All trade is sus-
pended and the principal cities will
soon be in a state Of siege, with their
inhabitants facing starvation, the
government is unable to cope with
the conditions. Millions OF dollars
in food are needed at once.
Driven from their homes by the
foods, thousands of refugees fled to
the hills and camped on the sides
in little mat sheds. Here they have
been making pitiful efforts to pre-
serve their lives until the subsiding
flood gives them an opportunity to
return to their homes. They brought
with them in their flight small
stocks Of rice but in the weeks OF
waiting this has been exhausted and
now they are eating anything that
holds nourishment. On the hillsides
they, are digging into the ground with
their bare fingers to get roots OF
weeds and grass and some have
mixed clay with tneir rice in order
to give it more bulk.
In Anhui province the refugees
have overrun the wheat fields which
were recently harvested and are
cleaning the stubble of every grain
which was left by the harvesters.
Those who have been able to reach
the larger cities are offering their
children fer sale, many little girls
being sold for a few dollars and the
boys for a slightly larger amount. In
the smaller villages which have been
cut off from any food supply for
weeks canibalism is the depth to
which starvation has driven the flood
victims. Many parents have eaten
their own children.
Ordinary flood statistics are insig-
nificant in comparison to those which
are necessary in enumerating the
extent of this flood. For thousand
miles the Yangtse is a vast inland
sea, it's former course serving only
as a channel in the stream which
stretches away 10 the horizon or the
hills on eirhe side. For two hur-
dred miles to the north of the
Yangste the Han is out Of it's banks
and south of Hankow, Tung Ting
lake is so far out of its banks that
it has fooGed villages fifty miles in
land. In one village six hundred
were drowned, in another three hun
dred At least ten thousand were
drowned in the villages and towns
alone.
An area as large as a European
country, is under water, its crops
ruined, and it's population homeless.
AS to the number which are starving,
two millions is as conservative esti-
mate, the most conservative Of any
which have been made. After a
three weeks trip through the flooded
region, it is my opinion that the
number will exceed 100000. In
Anhui province alone the homeless
number half million. In the Tung
Ting lake region there is an equal
number ard these two sections cover
only small part of the vast area Of
the flood.
From American standards their
necessities of life are ridicuiously
small. A dollar will supply whole
family with food for week. A hun
dred dollars will keep village in
comfort for a month. Poverty such
as is ever present in China. is ulr-
known in America, Just as suffering
such as is caused by this flood is
unknown here. There may be hun
cry people in America but none is
starving. In Changteh and in other
cities in the flooded district, they
are dying by the hundreds daily of
actual starvation.
In all of these cities you may see
bands Of refugees so weak from
starvation that they can scarcely lift