The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-12-19
World Front
"They Eat Even Tree Bark"
Starvation in Japan
Peasant Mothers Advice
By HARRY CANNES

" ton in their own lands the
| imperialists m tually &C.
COZ .modate each other. The
American boss press prints
nothing about the devastating
famine in Japan, Of which
there is voluminous pictorial, sta
tistical, oral and written evidence.
The japanese press, likewise, doesn't
say much about the hunger of the
unemployed in the United States.
For a long while, the japanese
press tried to hide facts of the
famine, at it's worst in the Tohoku
district. But failing in that, it has
now come out with some of the
truth.
On one day we see a picture in
the japanese press osaka Mainichi,
Nov. 81, 1934). We see the re-
production of a photograph with
the heading: "They eat even tree
bark" Below, the caption reads:
Starvation has caused the people
of Tohoku to seek anything that
may. be called edible. 1t has now
become a common practice to scrape
off the bark of trees, as here shown,
pound it into pulp, and mix it with
something else (perhaps the good
wishes Of the Osaka Mainichi-H.
g., just to keep their stomachs
filed"
The American workers are get
ting their stomachs filled with
Roosevelt's promises, which are even
less edible than the scrappings Of
the tree trunks.
In later issues of the Osaka
Mainichi there are more pictures Of
people tearing at tree trunks to keep
themselves alive.
THE pictures, like the one I have
L before me now, are CHASTITY. One
woman is shown furiously hacking
into the tree bark to get at some Of
the pulp. Another, weeping bitterly,
stuffs some of the scrappings into
her mouth. On her back is an
emaciated infant. Another child,
with that aged, pinched look of
starving children.
The government, considerate of
the morals of the people, has pasted
up posters throughout the district
saying: Don't sell your daughters"
More than 10000 have already been
sold to houses of prostitution, now
frequented more than usual by the
rich landlords, who have come to
enjoy the new crop that has come
out of the starvation of the peas
antry
"Amanojaku,o the Walter VIM
chell of Japan. describes the cxcdUs
of the girls of the Tohoku district
to the brothels. Ruthless famine
| forces many districts to become
desolate, deprived of all budding
girls" he headlines his column.
Then he becomes poetic and touch
i ing: Deserted Village by Gold
smith in touching Tableu Vivants."
Amano1aKu goes on TO say:
"WHEN told to accept the life Of
w shame in the hell, the girl usu-
ally mods her assent-but not with
out tears and inward bleeding. A
country lassie has her sense of
modesty and pride
"It is when the girl packs up her
few things and is about to bid fare
well to her parents and her little
brother and sisters that the most
unimaginable thing happens.
'Her mother, with her eyes
swollen from weeping all night, and
ever so sad to see her daughter
taken away from her, holds the
child in her arms and whispers in
/ her ear: Don't return to this cursed
place if you can help til"
Life must be indeed bitter for the
japanese peasants if mother tells
her daughter a house Of prostitution
is better than slavery and starva-
ton for the rich landowners.
In preparing war against the So
Wet Union, the Japanese imperial
lists. the rich landlords and indus
j trialists, are insuring greater starva-
ton for the Japanese workers and
peasants. The japanese war budget
is the largest in all history Taxa
ton is increasing, and the rich
/ landlord transfers it to the peas
ants, depriving them of every grain
of rice, of all hope of paying of his
debts.
1t is this dual effect of the Jap
anese war plans, the constant need
for enlarging its war machine, and
the impoyerishment of the masses,
that speeds the day of war. Jap
anese imperialism is in a race with
war and revolution. The imperialist
masters want warm order to stave
off revolution. But they will not be
able to escape revolution of the
starving, oppressed masses.
The Communist Party of Japan,
despite ferocious terror, despite over
1000 of its members suffering in
fiendish prisons, is striving, fighting
day and night, to rally the forces
of the Japanese proletariat to end
such horrible starvation. such ter
rible war moves that result from the
rule of the Japanese war lords.
WOrnan9S DoIoratsDn