The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-05-15
FAMINE NOW At ITS WORST
STARVATION DESTROYING THOU
SANDS OF PEOPLE IN CHINA.
AwfuI Are Stories of Suffering and
Death in the Stricken Country
Children the Last to Die.

children the Last to Die.
Ranorts from China received a
+bo national headquarters of the Rec
Cross within the last few ays>stat'
that the famine is now at its mos
acute stage. During the next 81
weeks while the new crops are rip
aning the need for relief will be mos
intense. At present the relief com
noittee is employing about 9o'oVO
men on public works and the edi II
ings of these men are saving pIooa-
bIy 500. 900 persons from starvation
Meanwhile certainly 2,0OO,OOO are
suffering and many thousand must
die unless the relief measures alo
greatly extended.
Mr. Charles w Harvey OF the 1 >
M G A. of Tientsin made recent
tourney through the famine dlstrlctS
and at the request of United states
Minister Calhoun at Peking prepaF-
ed a report of his observations. me
character of this report, when mas
been forwarded to the state depart
ment and is now in the hands OF the
Red Cross may be indicated by quot
ing briefly from it's contents.
'NO children were seen at play
No grain. meat, vegetables or 1000
stuffs of any kind except the park Oh
trees. dried grass, wild garlic ana
roots were seen. We found no sign
Of clothing anywhere, except the rags
on the backs of people; no bedding
few farming implements, nothing
no
money except an occasional piece Vi
furniture and the doors or the nouST'
or rafters in the matched roofs III
many places we noted the absence
of doors in the homes and saw tne
mud walls of houses stripped OF roofs
which we soon found had been USED
for fuel or exchanged for 1000. Oh
the first morning out Of Ching Al
angpu we met a man pushing
wheelbarrow containing low nat
haskell in which was huddled the
starving forms of his wife and chlIu
and beside them a few charred pieces
of wood which he hoped to exchange
i'm the city for food. / shall never
forget one little mud hut without
door. window or furniture on the
floor of which sat young woman Oh
+wentv-two with a child of two years
living on it's face moaning. When
asked her why he moaned she re-
piled without comment, / cannot get
him to eat any more grass; ne Is
starving to death.
'In all our visits to the homes OF
these starving peasants there was no
begging, no appeals to our pity, no
tales of their suffering, no tears, no
emotion. but simply the one sentence
over and over again: 'wo men Essu
1iac'-'We are starving to deaUn
Unlike the beggars so common III
the cities, these people a few years
ago were successful farmers ana Id
borers unaccustomed to begging
They have not learned to peg. we
found several homes in which only
children were left, and in one nome
a single little child of eight years
was huddled in a corner with DOW
Of cooked bark and weeds, which
she was eating with chop sticks. she
was the last of her family. The
workers in famine relief said 1t was
usual for the father to die first, then
+he mother, then the older children
and the Younger children last OF all,
showing that affection and self-sac-
rif1ce persisted even under these con"
ditions.
81 visited two Of the stations for
famine relief carried on by the Cen
trail China Famine Relief Committee.
These were at You Kou and Sun
CHA Wei Tsu; the first was conduct
ed from a village of about 1000 and
the latter in a farm house of one OF
the local gentry We thoroughly IN
vestigated the relief work in opera
ton. talked over the plans OF the
Chinese and the foreigners in charge
and with those being relieved and l
am convinced that the relief Is being
sanely and economically conducted;
effective in relieving the suffering OF
the people; in helping to prevent the
repetition of famine conditions; does
not pauperize those helped but rath-
err encourages self-help; and that eV-
cry dollar is honestly administered.
The American Red Cross has for
warded to the relief committee in
China over $3.50, 900 since January /.
This includes the amount raised by
the vigorous efforts of the New York
Famine Relief Committee, which is
a tlreleSS AUXILIARY OL me NSu " O0o'
But the committee in China pleads
for at least 100000 more to enable
it to carry on its great task until
the new harvest ripens. Contribu-
lions of any amount will help. They
should be sent to the American Red
Cross, Washington, or to the treas
urer of the State Red Cross Board OF
any state or to Mr. Jacob H. Schiff,
treasurer of the New York commit