The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-11-09
POVERTY OF CHINA
Misery of the Millions That Are
Always Hungry.
GRIM STRUGGLES FOR FOOD.

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 is too triflng
to be turned to account by the TEEN
strained for edible plunder. Seaweed
and kelp have a place In the larder.
Great quantities of shellfish no bigger
than ones finger nail are opened and
made to yield a food that finds its
way far inland. The fungus that
springs up In the grass after n 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 panniers OF strawbev-
ries, half of them still green, are col
lected In the mountain ravines and
offered In the markets No weed or
stalk escapes the bamboo rake Of the
autumnal fuel gatherer. 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 chaff are needed to burn under
the rice kettle. The leaves OF the
trees are crop to be carefully gath
cred. One never sees q rotting stump
or q messy log Bundles of brush car
ried miles on the human back heat
the brick kiln and the potter's fur
mace After the last trees have been
taken the far and forbidding heights
are scaled by lads with AK and mat
took to cut down or dig up the seed
lings that If left alone would reclothe
the devastated ridges.
1.-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 unwound
from them. After their work is done
horses, donkeys, mules and camels be-
come butchers meat. The COW or pig
that has died Il natural death IS not
disdained In Canton dressed rats and
cats are exposed for sale. Seeming
possible opening for tannery, the
governor of Hongkong once set on foot
an inquiry as to what became OF the
skins of the innumerable pigs Slaugh-
tered in the colony. He learned that
they were all made up az marine deli
cacy' and sold among the Chinese
another time he was on the point
of ordering the determination OF the
NANCY ours that infest the villages in
the Kowloon district because they ha-
raised the Sikh policemen in the per
Torrance of their duties. He found
Just in time that such an act would
interfere with the food of the people,
something British colonial governor
must never do.
"Though the farmer thriftily combs
his harvest field. every foot Of the
short stubble is gone over again by
poor women and children, who are con-
tent If In days cleaning they can
gather handful Of wheat heads to
keep them alive on the morrow. On the
Hongkong water front the path Of the
coolies carrying produce between ware
house and junk Is lined with tattered
women, most Of them with baby on
the back Where bugs Of beans or rice
are In transit dozen wait with basket
and brush to sweep up the grams
dropped from the sacks. On n wharf
where crude sugar is being repackcd
squat sixty women seraping the Inside
of the discarded sacks while others
run by the bearer, If his sack leaks
little, to catch the particles as they
fall. When sugar Is being unloAded
mob Of cleaners swarm upon the
lighter the moment the last sack leaves
and eagerly scrape from the gangpank
and the deck the sugar mixed with
dirt that for two hours has been tram
Piled into a muck by the bare feet of
twoscore coolies trotting back and
forth across dusty road.
There are number of misCelane-
Gus facts that hint how close the
masses live 10 the edge of subsistence.
The brass cash. the most popular
coin in China. is worth the twentieth
Of cent; but as this has been found
too valuable to meet all the needs "
the people. oblong bits of bamboo cir
sulate In some provinces at the value
of half cash
Incredibly small are the portions
prepared for sale BY the huckster. Two
cubic inches of bean curd. four wal
nuts, five peanuts fifteen roasted
beans, twenty melon seeds. make
PORTION The melon vendors stand is
decked out With wedges of insipid
melon the size of two fingers. The
householder leaves the butchers stan
with Il morscl Of pork. the pluck OF a
fowl and "A strip Of fish rs big as q
sardine, tied together with blade Of
grass Careful observers say that -four
ffths Of the conversation among com
mon Chinese relates To food.
Comfort Is scarce as we'll rs food.
The city coole sleeps on n plank In
an nirless kennel In filthy lane with
u block for a pillow and Il quilt for a
cover When In a south China hos
pital the beds were provided with
springs and mattresses, supplied by a
philanthropic American. all the pa
tients were found next morning sleep
ing on the floor. After being used to
board covered with a mat they
could not get their proper slumber on
q soft bod -