Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-02-02
THE FAMINE In CHINA.

| One Hundred Thousand FamllicS with
out Food. shelter or Clothing-Man
Sleeping in Mud and Water-Child
rem Being Sold to Save them froI
Starvation.
Marking, China, Feb. 2.-Childrel
are being sold by hundreds of Chimes
families in their struggle for food
said missionaries returning today from
the famine districts in Kiang Su ant
Anbui provinces, Tales Of suffering
almost unbelievable in their shocking
details ere rccounted by those engaged
in relief work.
More than 100000 families are with
out food, shelter, or clothing, it i!
estimated. Two and one half million!
are affected by famine, with the GER
tainty that conditions will grow worse
for several months.
In the rural districts, the unburict
dead line the roadways Families are
sleeping in mud and water in the
inundated river lands, all with little OF
no clothing. Besides actual starvation,
famine fever most loathsome disease,
has appeared, and is adding to the
death roll.
The famine is due to the flooding ol
the valleys Of the Hwai river and its
tributaries. No crops we're gathered
last summer and fall. Ever the simplest
coarsest fooi is lacking.
The natives first pawned their fur.
niturc, then their clothes and finally
sold the very timbers Of their rude
houses, and now. the babies are being
sold. The girls are sold as slaves or
bound out for a long term OF years,
while the boys are in many cases
bought by well-to-do families who have
no sons or by employers.
Relief is extremely difficult. rs
most OF the stricken area is inaccessi-
are Joined not even by ROADS, put rough
maths. Water still covers much OF the
land. Thousands Of families are MI
grating, moving south in an effort to
find sustcnance. Men arc leaving their
families to almost certain death by
di scasc or starvation, while they wan
der in search of employment.
The government is doing what 1t can
to give aid, while foreign subscriptions
arc being expended by relief commit
tees operating from this city and Shang-
hal. The money thus far is but drop
of what is needed, say those directing
work.
Those Of the natives successful IN
getting out OF the affected districts into
the cities are being fed daily by the
authorities. A sort OF Cruel, made
from moldy rice, is served to all who
apply. In the stricken regions. how
ever. not even this disease breeding
ration is available to the starving thou
sands.
Pekin, Feb. 2.-The cremation oil
the bodies OF plague victims at Hardin
was completed today, when oOU
carpses we're inc;nerated. Most of the
bodies we're rudely coflined. They
formed a hugh pyre on the outskirts Of
the city, and the stencil OF the burning
oil-soaked corpses permeated the coun'
try for miles. -,
Similar disposal OF victims will be
made at Mukden. The authorities arc
being urged to enforce greater pre-
cautions upon the coolies, whose dis
regard OF all preventive measures !:
doing more than anything to sprea6
the disease. The coolies are being per
mitted to handle the collins and ever
the bodies OF the dead without beng
masked. Hundreds of them have be
come afflicted in this way.
Censored reports received from Tlel
Tsin show the disease to be spreadln!
at an alarming rate there.