Imperial Valley press., 1911-11-16
POVERTY or CHINA
Misery of the Millions That Are
Always Hungry.
GRIM STRUGGLES FOR FOOD.
Horses, OonI<eys, Mules and cameIs
When No Longer Fit For Work Arc
Turned Into Butchers Meat-Ths
Cleaners or tho 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 is too trifling
to be turned to account by the teem-
ing population. The sea is raked and
strained for edible plunder. Seaweed
and kelp have place In the larder.
Great quantities of shellfish no bigger
than ones finger nail are opened and
made to yield food that finds it's
way far inland. The fungus that
springs up In the grass after 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 strawber-
ries, half of them still green, are col
!ected 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 - the ground. for straw
and chaff are needed to burn under
the rice kettle The leaves of ths
trees are crop to be carefully gath
cred. One never sees rOttlng stump
or mossy log Bundles of brush car
ried miles on the human back heat
the brick kiln aud the pouer's fur
mace. After the last trees have been
taken the far and forhidding heights
are scaled by lads with AK and mat
took 70 cut down or dig UP the seed
iingS that if 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 silkw0rms are cav
en- after the cocoon has been unWound
from them. After their work is done
horses, donikeys. mules and cameiS be-
come butchers meat. The COW or pig
that has died natural death is not
disdained. In Canton dressed rats and
cats are exposed for sale. Scenting a
possible opening for a 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 as 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-
formance Of their duties. He found
just In time that such an act would
interfere with the food Of the people,
something a 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
Door women and children. who are con-
tent If in a days cleaning they can
gather a 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 bags Of beans or rice
are in transit dozen wait with basket
and brush 70 sweep up the grains
dropped from the sacks. On wharf
where crude sugar is being repacked
squat sixty women scraping 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 gangplank
and the deck the sugar mixed with
dirt that for two hours has been tram
pied into muck by the bare feet of
twOscOre coolies trotting back and
forth across a dusty road.
There are number of miscellane-
GUS facts that hint how close the
masses live to the edge Of subsistence
The brass cash. the most popular
coin in China. Is worth the twentieth
of a cent; but. as this has been found
too valuable to meet all the needs Of
the people. obIong bits of bamboo cir
culate 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 a
portion The melon vender's stand is
decked out with wedges Of insipid
melon the size Of two fingers The
householder leaves the butchers stall
with a morse of pork, the pluck Of
fowl and strip Of fish as big as a
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 well as food
The city coolie sleeps on plank in
an airless kennel in a filthy lane with
q block for pillow and quilt for a
cover When in a south China hos
pital the beds We're provided with
springs and mattresses. supplied by
oil