Connecticut western news., 1922-01-05
FALLS VILLAGE
MEN WHO WORKED IN
 GREAT CHINA FAMINE
Americans in Charge of Red Cross Operations Tell of
 Effective Plan Used

The following IS taken rom Cne Honolulu "Star-Bulletin" which tells of the work being done by E. Alfred Davies. MT. Davies is a nephew ot Miss Louisa M. West and brother. to Mrs. Arthur Dean and Mrs. Lyle Loverin, and has friends here, who will be interested in his work.
 Examine relief without charity was demonstrated on a gigantic scale during the past year in four pro- vinces of China by the American Red Cross, and two of the men in charge of carrying out this great re- lief work are passengers on the steamer Golden State, which left today for San Francisco.
 "The two men are John L. Baker, of California and E. Alfred Davies of Connecticut. Baker was director of operations, and Davies, who caIn2 to the relief work in China after wide experience with the American Red Cross in Siberia, was director of accounts.
 Baker was also adviser to the ministry of communications of the Chinese government.
 "And Davies told with pardonable pride today that they had fed nearly a million people with grain at cost of only two cents gold per day.
 Needy People Given Work
 "A year ago yesterday l started the disbursement of $1,214,000 gold bv employing men on public works, said MT. Baker: "There was strenu- ous opposition to this method of giv- ing relief because people thought that money would be wasted and lives lost from immediate need. How ever, we demonstrated beyond ques- tion the practical superiority of giv- ing employment instead of charity on a vast scale in the provinces of Shan tung, Shansi, Honan and Chih1i.
 "The physical accomplishments with this money, of which s ,OOO,O ,OOO was given by the American Red Cross in the states and territories and the remainder by chapters of the same organization in the far east, was the building of $50 miles of roads, the digging and lining with brick of 3632 wells for irrigation purposes and the planting of 10000 trees.
 About 100000 laborers were used, bringing the number of people relieved at certain times of the year up to 100000. These men were paid in daily rations of food for themselves and in fortnightly ra- tions for their families.
 "Expert dietitians at the Rocke- feller Foundation in Peking worked out a scientific diet which was the cheapest possible with proper bal ance and consisted chiefly of beans or bean cake and kaoliang, which is Egyptian corn. The cost of this food in gold was two cents per person per day. Engineering, commissary and overhead added less than One-half of one cent so that the people were fed and the roads built for less than 2 F cents per person per day. Millions Saved in Transportation
 "An annual saving of $5,000,0OO on transportation costs on one road in Shansi proves the high economic value of the work. This particular ] road has a daily traffic of 700 tons. Transportation over this was for merly on donkeys at cost of $26.5O per ton. Now it is done with carts and costs but $6.50 per ton. Local authorities are arranging to main tain these roads and organizing au- tomobile bus lines for passenger ser vice.
 Famine conditions are now over in China but much trouble is re- Nf hn districts that were formerly suffering from drought are now under water. However, the country as whole is in much improved condition. Busi- ness has shown a marked increase, both in imports and exports, during the past few months"
 "There was also organized a med ical force which prevented a single case of typhus in Shantung where an epidemic was greatly feared. Among 61,OOO laborers in Shantung there were but five deaths from dis ease and two from accident on men who were not working but were hid ing to avoid work.
 "Aside from the saving of lives the greatest benefit of this work is the quickening of the movement for progress along transportation lines in China", added MT. Baker. "The greatest accomplishments of labor ever made anywhere were the build ing of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall in China. In later years these people seem to have lost the power of organizing themselves for great works but as a result of last years efforts they are regaining confidence in the power of their combined num-