New-York tribune., 1911-03-03
| MILLION WILL DIE
IN CH|NA'S FAMINE
Thirty Thousand Dead from
Pneumonia Plague and 200
Are Expiring Daily.
100000 LIVE ON ROOTS
Lack of Food Is Claiming Thou
sands of Victims Daily
Warm Weather Expected
TO Stop Plague.

Peking. March 2.-Famine and the
plague sre sweeping over China. The
Known deaths from the plague number
10000. and. according 20 the official
statistics. the death rate averages zoo
daily.
The cfic,als. hos ever have little
knowledge Of the conditions in the in
terror, or. IL they have. they are not per
mitting tho facts 10 be known. There
are few or no foreigners in the interior.
and conditions there, for this reason. are
not attracting much putlic attention.
II is impossible even 10 estimate the
number of deaths that have resulted
from lack Of food. Or. Samuel Cochran,
an American. who Is engaged In the work
of relief. writes.
"One million people vill die before The
first crop 10 harvested. This viii be
scanty. because the people have not the
strength TO ill thc soil. and no animals
remain for ploughinE.
The Chinese arc directing their efforts
to control the plague chiefly along the
l8liNtN anu tIplliif4S. AFt F'iitANeA'
reasons since the recent Russian re-
quest for permission 20 cross the border
and quarantine Chinese towns along the
Amoor. China has been attempting 10
check the plaguo along that frontier. but
tie Russian Legation says that this has
been done ineffoctively because there
arc no doctors there who arc familiar
with modern methods Of sanitation.
Distrust Japanese and Russian Aid.
The local authorities. including the
police ard soldiers. in former epidemics
left the people 10 die: now they do not
care or do not know how 10 maintain
adequata sanitary measures. Althoug'
the central government has issued OK
plicit orders. and many Of them, both
supplies and funds are lacking.
japanese and Russians have both
offered assistance. but onlv in a few
places have these offers been accepted
the Chinese not liking To- receive favors
from Foreigners whose political motives
they distrust
Physicians enCs ged in combating the
disease are Of the opinion that warm
weather will Kill the germs. although this
may be only Q Temporary respite.
If the plague were Of the bubonic type
the summer heat would serve to aug
ment f. Bubcnic being conveyed boy
heas. rats AMI other eeru,iil. which
thrive in warm atmospheric conditions.
The pneumonia type. IN the hther hand
is transmitted Though the respiratory
oreans. and a. a Consequence when the
Chinese emerge from their winter quar-
tors into the optn air they VIII escape
much contamination.
II Is said by the medical authorities
that such an epidemic as the present
one. which is entirely pneumonia, has
not yi9ited TIE ycri6 s!rcc the Middle
Ages.
wing 70 ;ha political questions in
volved and tho presence Of foreigners
along the railways the plague in Man
churia is receiving greater attention
than the famine. but the death rate from
the famine is many times greater than
that from the plague.
The famine is the result Of the de-
struction Of the crops by a fell of six
teen inches Of rain in two days last Au-
gust in a district whore the people ordi-
narily have a hand to mouth existence.
As soon as the first panGs OF hunger
were felt the people lefs their homes. but
many OF them were unable to get beyond
the borders OF the flooded district. They
returned ard took up the death struggle
beside their homesteads.