The New York herald., 1921-03-07
FAMINE CASTING
PAIL OVER CHINA
Business in Stricken Districts
Absolutely Halted While
Death Reaps Harvest.
BODIES STREW HIGHWAYS
Millions Of People, Half
Crazed, Wander About in
Silent Panic.
BODIES sTREw HIGHWAYS

-
scenes in China. an explanation OF their
cause and outline of methods of relief, Is
given by Charles Davis Jameson, who
has been civil engineer IN China since
1895 and for the last ten years has
been connected with the Department of
Famine Relief and Flood Control OF the
Chinese Government.
|. A silent panic" spreads rapidly over
the famine stricken area when the peo-
Pile realize their danger of starvation.
says Mr. Jameson. "All the people
| when hunger sets In and the food Is all
gone are wandering not to any definite
point, but to any place which changes
the scene of their misery he adds.
Business is at once paralyzed. When l
| last passed through a famine district
| there was not cart of any kind In the
roads or streets Not a mule nor
horse nor wheelbarrow was seen IN
motion. Not a coolie was encountered
! going to or from market. 1t was as IL
a great fear were over the whole coun-
! try and the people were holding their
breath and listening and waiting for
horror. None but the starving or sick
are seen In the streets at such time.
Famine fever and typhus soon break
out in every town and city.
Outside the walls of these towns and
on the highways are emaciated half
demented men. women and children 60
| ing anywhere, sometimes with a few
| belongings which they cannot SELL Some
may carry bowls or baskets containing
! leaves, twigs, straw or bark from the
! trees Nearly every tree Is stripped
of it's bark and dying. The people walk
until they can walk no more, and then
| sit down and die.
Fight with Dogs for Food.
Not day goes by but one passes
bodies in the highways or at the road
sides and the fields-men. women, chill
dren and babies. Over the fields and
along the roads prowl starving dogs
that once more are fierce wolves-gaunt
hungry, savage-devouring what lies In
their way. In some instances men and
women, insane, fight with the dogs for
food And once one of these dogs Is
| killed he is at once eaten by man or
dog"
| The natural causes of famine in China
are droughts apd floods Mr. jameson
says. South of the Yang-tze River fam
| Ines are rare, as the rainfall is fairly
regular. but north of the river the'
| country is classed as semi-arid and the
| rainfall Is subject to great variations.
| Sometimes the rain Is so heavy that the
| grain Is beaten flat on the ground and
large ARMS are left under water. The
| harvest is lost, land becomes sodden and
no crops are possible until the next
| year. What is not actually under water
| becomes one vast swamp.
| More than four-fifths of the trans
portation OF China is accomplished by
| hundreds of thousands Of two wheeled
| carts. pack camels, mules. horses, dom
keys, men, wheelbarrows and boats
| along the great rivers and canals.
| Mr.. Jameson asserts that the calamity
| that has now fallen upon millions of Chi
nese Is due to no lack of industry, for
they are the ''most remarkable farmers
| in the world" although their methods
and tools are much the same as those
used in Egypt In the tine Of Moses. The
people live hand to mouth existence.
and failure OF crops one year means
underfeeding Two years of bad crops
brings starvation and worse.
Quick Relief Necessary.
Combinations OF men. women and
draft animals pull the ploughs used
in cultivating the soil. The crops arc
reaped by hand and threshed on the
| earth floor In the open. The straw is
stacked for use as fuel or food and
the grain is ground between millstones
moved by men, women or donkey
power. Old men and women spin the
/ cotton with distaff and spindle. Their
houses are of one story with two or
| three rooms. built of sun drived bricks,
with a clay floor and thatched roof
and windows covered with paper.
| 1t is essential that relief work should
get under way as soon as possible ow-
/ ing to the extreme slowness OF trans
| portation. Mr.. jameson points out. Rice
/ and grain are shipped up the rivers
and overland and then distributed by
1 Chinese relief committees formed In
the towns ana Villages to forward food
| and clothing. In this work tho mis-
sionaries lend efficient aid. he says.
| The famine areas of Chihli and Shan
| tung are relatively easy of access, but
| In the less accessible provinces of Shan
Al. where the famine area Is widespread,
he predicts that the suffering and deaths
viii be appalling and the number OF
| fatalities may run into the millions. In
Chthli and Shantung the conditions are
said 10 "beggar description" Describ-
Ing the present situation, Mr.. jameson
says:
| This is the second year and the peo-
ple have no food or money. They have
| sold their belongings for few cents,
There is no credit and the land Is being
! sold at a quarter Of It's value. Families
| are bartering their children because
they have no food for them. Many small
| children and babies are being killed.
| 'There Is nothing TO eat but leaves,
| twigs. the bark Of trees and grass roots.
The Chinese Government is giving what
! aid IL can. but no business can be done
| and everything Is at a standstill. The
! only real hope OF the starving Is In for
eign money, administered under foreign
| supervision. But to save the people TINS
| IL