Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1911-11-08
POVERTY OF CHINA
Misery of the Millions That Are
Always Hungry.
GRIM STRUGGLES FOR FOOD.

l
Cleaners on the Sugar Wharfs.
Writing Of the millions and millions
of inland China. whose lives are spent
face to face with starvation, Edward
Alsworth Ross In the Century says:
mo natural resource Il too trining
to be turned TO account BY the teem-
ing population. The sea Is raked and
strained for edible plumber. Seawsed
and kelp have a place In the larder.
Great quantities OF shelinsh no bigger
than ones finger nail nre opened and
made to yield a food that finds Its
way far inland. The fungus that
springs up in the grass after a rain Is
| eaten. Fried sweet potato vines fur
nish the poor mans table The road
side bitches are bailed out for the
sake OF fishes no longer than ones
finger. Great pnnniers OF strawbei-
ries, half Of them still green. are col |
lected in the mountain ravtnes ana
offered In the markets. No weed or
stalk escapes the bamboo rake OF the
autumnal fuel gathersr. The grass
tufts on the rough slopes are dug up
by the roots. The sickle reaps the
grain close to the ground. for straw
and chan are needed to burn under
the rice kettle. The leaves OF the
trees are 4 crop to be carefully gath
cred. One never sees a rotting stump
or a messy log Bundles OF brush Cur
ried miles on the human buck heat
the brick kiln and the potters FUR
uace After the last trees have been
taken the far and forbidding heights
are scaled by lads with AZ and mat
took TO cut down or dig up the seed
Iings that II left alone would reclothe
the devastated ridges
: THE cuisine OF China IS one OF the
] great toothsome cuisines of the world.
: but for the common people the stom-
: | ach and not the palate decides what
> shall be food. The silkworms are eat
en- after the cocoon has been unwouno
from them. After their work Is zone
horses. donkeys. mules and camels be-
4 come butchers meat. The COW or pig
: that has died d natural death Is not
n disdained In Canton dressed rats ana
q cats are exposed for sale. seeming u
a possible opening for a tannery. the
A governor OF Hongkong once set on foot
q an INQUIRY as 10 what became or the
=. skins of the innumerable pigs slaugh'
- tered In the colony. He learned that
o they were all made up as marine dell
% cacy' and sold among the Chinese.
n Another time he was on the point
:, Of ordering the determination OF the
NANCY ours that Infest the villages II
;, the Kowloon district because they ha
a rassed the sikh policemen In the per
Hn fOnn(
!, lust in time that such an act would
% interfere with the food OF the people,
something a British colonial governor
o. must never do.
- Though the farmer thriftily comb
his harvest field. every foot or tn
- short stubbe Is gone over again b.
Door women and children. who are con
tent II in days cleaning they cal
gather n handful OF wheat heads I
keep them alive OH the morrow. On tn
HonCkony water front the path OF tn
coolies carrying produce between ware
house and junk * lined with tattere
women, most OF them with baby o
the back Where bags Of beans or nc
are in transit Il dozen wait with baskt
and brush TO sweep up the grain
:" dropped from the sacks. On whai
where crude sugar Is being repacEe
sN SQUAT sixty women scraping the insid
70 of the discarded sacks. while othel
run by the bearer. II his sack leaks
'a' little, to catch the particles as the
la fall. When sugar is being uniOaded
liz mob Of cleaners swarm upon Il
ne lighter the moment the last sack leave
no and eagerly scrape from the gangplar
my and the deck the sugar mixed wit
~ dirt that for two hours has been trnr
oS pied into II muck by the bare feet
JILL twoscore coolies trotting back al
forth across dusty road.
There nre ii number OF Muscular
GUS facts that hint how close q
~" masses live 20 the edge OF subsistence
The brass cash. the most popul
VI coin in China. is worth the twentie
of a cent: but. as this has been fou
ia" too valuable to meet al the needs
the people. oblonG bits OF bamboo C
culate in some provinces at the val
OF half cash.
"IncredibIy small are the porto
prep. ed for sale by the huckster. r
~, cubic inches OF bean curd. four W
nuts, FIVE peanuts. fifteen roast
beans. twenty melon seeds. make
portion The melon vendors stand
decked out with wedges of insil
9TH melon the size Of two fingers. I
g. householder leaves the butchers st
NJ with a morsel of pork. the pluck OF
fowl and strip OF fish as big as
- sardine. ti, together with a blade
grass. Careful observers say that 10
~r