The appeal from the famine area of Central China is not only to the! foreigners. It is one that the revolutionary leaders also should surely bear in mind when they debate among themselves whether they should farther prosecute their republican ambitions or adopt the practical means of salvation even now open to them. News has just been received from Changteh, in northwestern Hunan, of yet another disastrous flood in that prefecture. During November there were continual rains and these have caused the Yuan river, which flows into the Tungting Lake, to overflow its bank. Coming as it does at a time of year when such mishaps are totally unex] l, this new flood has caused wide-spread disaster, inasmuch as the dykes broken by the floods of last summer had not been rebuilt. As many people as could do so had returned to their homes. They looked to the buckwheat crop to carry them through the winter. But all the low-lying country is submerged, and the buckwheat is said in places to be ten feet under water. Meanwhile, since the outbreak round about Tsingkiangpu early in November, lawlessness has prevailed throughout jthe northern part of Kiangsu. A fortnight ago the Famine Relief Commitiee was in a position to begin relief works in this district, which would have provided for some thousands of farmers. But it is quite impossible to make a start while present conditions prevail, and the beginning of the work must depend upon the ability of the revolutionary leaders to spare a regiment for the policing of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.