The following letter has been sent to: the Central China Famine Relief Committee by the Rev, Wade D. Bostick, of the Southern Baptist Mission, Pochow (Northern Anhoi)
'Your message, " Kindly send detailed report [amine conditions," jost to band. I coo give only an account of my observations and the reporte that I have heard and cannot do much as to' giving particulars or fares. While the famine of four years ago did not reach us here, still we were very much affected in that the price of all food staffs went up to something like double ordinary prices. Since then there have been three crops, none of which were failures neither were they fall crops, so the prices have not in these four years been in any way near normal. The result has been that the poor people become poorer and poorer until Inst spring there was great sui ing and bunger all around us. This past summer was one with excessive rains and many, many houses and homes were destroyed, with larve portion (in places, all) of the fall crop. That ives as condition like ti her the time of the year when all yrains ing at three times the price for five years ago. And what makes jit all the worse, many of the people have had all their crop destroyed and they have nothing to buy with, Thus we have many people that are out trying to beg living. Since the mid-die of Angast till now, there has been almost s continuous string of refogses passing to the west, where they were hoping to find some means to earn s living. It is pitiful to see whole family with sll their belonging; on s small wheelbarrow, and that is the way most of the travellers are seen, but! some of them could be seen carrying all' they badaas a "teaoza," in many instances: half of the load being s child too small to walk, I have been over this section, or about two hundred i of it, from cast to west and find that the worst destruction was a handred and fifty or more if east of here while the times' would bring five or six. stock is cheap accordingly. I am jo back from a trip of more than a hundred east of here and was surprised to nee many lakes of water yet out in the fields. And the people are anxious to get the land planted as soon as possible and much of it is being drilled in with wheat without even the slightest preparation for it, Why should I sey more? This is enough to show you that the conditions here are pitiable THE CAPITAL,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.