Evening star., 1922-09-16
BY JUNIUs b. WOOD.

BY cable to The Star and the Chicago Daily
News. Copyright, 1872.
(Mr. Wood has reached China on his way
back to his post at Toxic. and this is the
first Of a number Of interesting cable dis
patches from him which readers OF The Star
may expect to see under his name while he
Is investigating present day conditions In the
new China in his travels.)
SWATOW, China, September 16.-
Despite the loss Of approximately
$4,000 lives and property valued at
, $100. 100000 In the August typhoon. the
rich Swatow district no longer needs
! foreign relief. Funds already donated
tion to promised subscriptions, are
deemed sufficient by American ohicials
| to re-establsh the countryside with the
aid of the efforts of flood sufferers
| themselves.
AS is typical of disasters in China.
| only women, children and the aged
| perished. while the flttest survived
What Is not typical, the local Chinese
| Immediately organized relief measures,
while their kinsmen in other countries
and cities contributed literally to their
aid. This Is in striking contrast to the
| custom of north China. where food suf
| ferers always walt helplessly for Tor
| eign relief.
Red Cross Helps.
The British chamber OF commerce OF
| Hongkong contributed $4,000 through
! the local British chamber OF commerce.
and 20 per cent Of the amount was USED
| to establish an orphanage for the Eng
| lish Presbyterian mission at Chonghai.
The American Red Cross distributed
| $50 through Lester l.. Schnare. the
American consul. toward the, rebuilding
Of dikes on the Han river near Guasua,
eight miles northwest of Swatow.
! Portugal gave $500 and Japan 800
sacks of rice. With the exception of
several individual donations from for
egn firms. the remainder OF thu $780,
| GOO relief fund came from Chinese.
! Though Swatow suffered the heaviest
| financial loss on account of stocks of
merchandise destroyed only 1000 lives
were lost within the city The full force
| Of the typhoon covered an area of sixty
| miles along the coast and hfteen miles
! inland. Thousands of sampans and EN-
| tire fleets OF fishing boats collecting en-
! tire families were swept to sea, never
| to return. Whole villages were leNeled,
! and in several OF five hundred inhabi-
| tants each none survives and therefore
! no relief is needed.
| The work requiring immediate atten-
| tion is the rebuilding of dikes to pre-
| vent the continuous inundation OF fields
| by high tides
| Warnings of the approaching typhoon
|
! steady wind 1t kept up all next day,
i growing worse until it attained a We
! locity OF ninety miles an hour at 9
| o'clock in the evening. unroofing build
| ings and deynolishing stone walls. The
! center OF the typhoon arrived at II
| o'clock and there was a dead calm.
! Water was gradually rising in the
! streets and soon the lower floors Of the
! houses were submerged. An hour later
/ a wind blowing with hurricane force
! from the opposite direction completed
| the havoc wrought by the previous
| gale. 1t was accompanied by two tidal
| waves twenty-five feet high.
| Waves Fall Rapidly.
| Human beings were unable to leave
/ the crashing houses for fear of fall
| ing into greater danger. The tidal
| waves fell rapidly and the wind
! abated at daylight. An island lying
| off Swatow broke the force of the
, waves. although water stood eight
feet deep in the CITY in most places.
| Villages and farms on the plains