The "Recorder" for June famine number and more mcelane choly reading it would be hard find, There are half-a-dozen photos graphs taken in the famine" area Which includes Honan, Shensi and Kansu, a territory about as large og the half of Europe. The first photo, which is the fror piece of this number, ie that of an old. wor rman in Honan who has avcceeded in gathering a basket of leaves that She doubtless regards as a fortune ate find and the picture illustrates near to the animal state starve tion can reduce a human being. An= other shows famine victims who have reached the door of a famine, refuge. in Shensi and have fallen down, too weak to enter.
The article on "Famine and civil war in China" by Dr. Robert Fitsh, the interim Editor, is a masterly presentation of the subject. A foreign guest in the famine oxea exe pressed doubt that conditions could Hovas. bad as his hosts. said they were. He "Look at the dogs. They seem well fed, Do you think 8 Chinese would feed his dog were starving himself?" The anoine aly was explained when he learned that in the ety of Sianfu, the ca tal of the Province of Shensi, th were, during the winter, 100 deaths per day from cold and hunger. The ground was' frozen' 80" that. the corpses could not be buried except under a thin covering of snow and sit was a common sight to see dogs digging up and eating those bodies "Women and girls are being sold out of this province and. can, be bought for $2 or $3, The gove ment is so desperately in need of money that it is actually placing a tax of $10 on each girl or woman taken out of the province. "Some are sold into Shansi were they may. bring as much $200, which 1100"less than the usual price." The starving parents who sell" their daughter get $2 to $3 for her. The government gets $10, and the harpy who purchases her sells her" again for $200!
"All through this time of famine the government has made monthly requisitions on the people, Pailure to remit means that the Magistrate apprehended and placed in gaol Tu January of this year there wore not fewer than 18 Magistrates.
The soldiers too suffer, "The forme ration was 20 ounces per day, Beginning with the middle of December the ration was cut to 12 ounces, TI practically starvaion diet for the amount calculated for gruel kitchen it 10 ounces, per day pee person fed. Nor are soldo fers quipped for the ook. They have ragged garments and no five Wood. During the deal of winter it fs reported that many of the of: ers wore making their men get. in the middle of the night and drill that they would not freeze oath." This of course, refers local soldiers; not to the armies in the field.
As for sums of famine relief, the Peking committee has sent $140,000, The Shanghai Famine Relio€ corns mittee $186,500. The Nanking Gove minent $500,000, "The" American Advisory committee has also sent 1,000 tons of grain and S00 tons of bean seed. From purely Chinese sources, x0 far about $800,000 have been contributed, this being later than the combined foreign eontrioae tions."
Now it matters nothing at all to those stricken people whether Chiang Kai-shek or Feng Vu-hsiang becomes victor in the present war. What does matter is that the resources of the country are being wasted in ruinous war while mile ions starve to death. If all the resources and all the energy now being devoted to the task of slaaghtering men were used for saving those that are dying and for building the shattered homes China might be saved. A continuance of the present policy of the rulers may bring about a situation that will Native shipping business is said in to be paralyzed by the civil foreign companies are taking advantage of the situation to increase their tonnage in Chinese waters. With the exception of the Wenchos: service, Chinese companies are now maintaining only a skeleton north China and Yangtze service. It is said that there is not a single Chinese-owned vessel on the south China: run.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.