Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 77, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1912 — APPEALED TO THEIR CUPIDITY [ARTICLE]

APPEALED TO THEIR CUPIDITY

Comparatively Well-to-Do Residents of Yokohama Got Rice Intended For the Poor. The nearest Japan has yet come to the “free soup kitchen” idea, so common in the western countries in times of scarcity, says the Japanese Advertiser, was the “poor man’s rice market” at Toeb and Motomachi In hama Sunday. This market opened Sunday morning and will continue for a week, during which the needy can purchase Rangoon rice at the cost of 16 sen a cho. The opening of the market was a signal for considerable disorder, sharp trading and deceit. The promoters of the sale, Mr. Abe, a director of the Yokohama Rice Exchange, and his associates were disconcerted at the close of the day’s business to learn that many well to do persons had visited one or the other of the stores and had purchased five cho of Rangoon rice, which was the maximum limit for the purchaser. In fact the number of those who were sufficiently well to do to purchase rice at the outside market price wrns so numerous that many of the deserving poor who came to the sale were crowded out and returned to their homee at the close of business for the day with empty baskets. The miscarriage of plans In this way led the promoters to seek the aid of the police and yesterday the storekeepers were Instructed to sell rice to no person unless he or she produced a certificate from the city office that he was poor and deserving. The scenes at the two stores were boisterous and caused the police to be called in on several occasions to get the crowds in order. The wouldbe purchasers came from all parts of Kanagawa prefecture. 1