20,000,000 People in Want Tientsin, Sept. 2.
Numerous reports from Honan, Shantung and South Chihli_ emphasize the extreme gravity of the food situation in those provinces. The meagre harvest of last year, followed by the failure of the spring and autumn crops of 1920 has brought at least 20,000,000 people face to face with actual famine, and thousands are starving al-already. Whole districts are living on weeds, leaves of trees or bran, and there have been several authenticated cases in which whole families, having already reached the end of their resources, have committed suicide together. Many parents are selling their children, especially girls, for a few dollars. Thousinds of animals are being killed owing to lack of fodder or sold for a mere song. Numbers of of inhabitants are fleeing from their homes, emigrating to North or West.
Experienced foreigners consider the situation unprecedented at the end of the summer, and predict the most serious famine for over 40 years in the coming winter Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.