The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1921-03-15
FAMINE CAUSE IN
CHINA is EXPLAINED
DROUGHTS AND FLOODS RE-
SPONSIBLE FOR MILLIONS
OF DYING INHABITANTS.

/ NEW YORK, n. "a graphic
description OF famine scenes in China,
an explanation of their cause and out
line Of methods of relief is given by
! Charles Davis Jameson, who has been
civil engineer in China since 1895, and
Tor the last ten years has been con-
neCted 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 people realize their danger of star
walton, 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 mis-
erv," he adds. Business is at once
paralyzed When | last passed through
a famine district there was not cart
of any kind in the roads or streets.
Nor a mule nor a horse nor a wheel
barrow was seen in motion. Not a
coole was encountered going to or
from market. 1t was as if great fear
were over the whole country and the
people were holding their breath and
listening and waiting for a horror.
NOHe out the Sldl wing VI DIN ar oN Nh'
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 chill
dren, going 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 its bark and dying. The
people walk until they can walk no
more and then sit down and die.
Not a day goes by but one passes
bodies in the highways or at the road
sides and the helds-men, women,
children 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 in
stances 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 and floods. Mr..
Jameson says. South of the Yangtze
river famines are rare, as the rainfall
is fairly regular, but north of the river
the country is classed as semi-arld and
the rainfall is subject to great varia-
tons. Some times the rain is so heavy
that the grain is beaten fiat on the
ground and large areas LETT under wa
ter. The harvest is lost, land becomes
sodden and no crops possible until the
next year What is not actually under
water becomes one vast swamp.
More than four-hfths of the trans
portation OF China is accomplished by
hundreds OF thousands of two wheeled
carts, pack camelS, mules, horses,
donkeys, men, wheel barrows and
boats alon gthe great rivers and ca
malls.
Mr.. Jameson asserts that the calam-
ity that has now fallen upon millions
OF Chinese is due to no lack of indus
try, for they are the most remark
able farmers in the world" although
their methods and tools are much the
same as those used in Egypt i'll the
time of Moses. The people live hand
to-mouth existence and a failure OF
crops one year means undertaking.
Two years of bad crops brings star
walton and worse.
Combinations of men, women and
draft animals pull the plowS used in
cultivating the soil. The crops are
reaped by hand and threshed on the
earth floor in the open. The straw
is stacked for use as fuel o. food and
the grain is ground between mill
stones moved by men, women or
donkey power. Old men and women
spin cotton with distaff and spindlcs.
Their houses are Of one-story with
two or three rooms built of sun-dried
bricks, with clay floor and matched
roof and windows covered with pa
per.