Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 March 1878 — The Famine in China. [ARTICLE]

The Famine in China.

Late mails received in San Francisco bring heartrending reports of the famine in China. Husbands are selling their wiyeA and parents their children to obtain! food for all. Three or four millions of peopld are dependent upon the Government for support. At least 10,000,000 are in extreme destitution. The four Provinces in which famine is felt, in a greater or less degree, are Shensi, Shansi, Chihli and Honan. They have an aggregate population of 75,000,000. Since the average of wealth among them is very low, it is probable that the additions to the number of the sufferers will be rapid and large. No relief from the crops can be looked for before May or June. Meanwhile, there are only three sources of relief open to the starving people, and none of these seem to be either sufficient or certain. First, there is the Chinese Government, which, with the best intentions to care for its subjects, is unable to deal with an emergency of this description. The resources of the British Government, which are many times larger than those of the Chinese, were taxed to their utmost to meet the demands of the Indian famine; and the latter was much smaller, both in the extent of territory covered and the number of sufferers, than the one which now prevails in China. Moreover the Chinese Government labors under the difficulty of having to make its distributions through corrupt and inefficient servants. The dispatches in yesterday’s papers state that the exertions of the Government are to a great extent nullified by the dishonesty of officials. This dishonesty has been so flagrant in many instances that outbreaks have occurred, and at Houching a Mandarin was beheaded for speculating on the necessities of the people. Another source of relief, suggested by the philanthropists of the United States, is the return of the Chinese Indemnity Fund, now unappropriated in the Treasury, for use in the relief of the sufferers. The objections to this scheme are, first, that it cannot receive the sanction of Congress until too late; and, secondly, that the United States have not the right to specify how the money shall be used when it is returned. If the money was unjustly extorted from China, it ought to be returned without conditions; if it was not extorted, it ought not to be returned at all. There is no room for casuistry in. the discussion of so simple a question as this. The third source of relief is voluntary contributions from the countries of the civilized world. This is manifestly the one upon which, next to the Chinese Government, the principal dependence ought to be placed, and which the benevolent friends of China in this country ought most eagerly to avail themselves of. Our commercial relations with China are closer and more profitable than those of any country except Great Britain, and a moral obligation rests upon us to contribute liberally to the relief fund. Let the lists be opened at once. Those who are clamoring for the return of the indemnity money can prove their sincer-“ ity and liberality quite as well by making.practical and personal appeals to the people for subscriptions. All that can be obtained in this manner will not be too much for the purpose. The Indian Famine Fund in England was a mere drop in the bucket, and the Chinese Famine Fund in the United States will scarcely be more. But, whatever it is, it should be applied rigidly and exclusively to the purpose for which it is collected. ' This will be comparatively a simple matter, if the distribution is made through special agents—say the American Minister or some well-known firm in the Pekin trade. The primary causes of this famine are worth inquiring into. They furnish an instructive commentary upon the policy which is now extensively pursued in the United States, of denuding the soil of its natural protectors — the forests and undergrowths of timber. Shansi and Shensi —the two Provinces which are now the principal seats of the famine —are high table-lands. They were formerly covered with rich growths of timber. These collected moisture and acted as cloud-arresters. As they were gradually cleared away, the climate became dryer. There was JesS rain. The crops began to fail. The soil grew parched and arid. In spite of all the warnings the people had, they continued in their improvident policy, and they are now suffering the natural consequences of their roily. The sojl is less fertile and less capable of supporting the population which occupies it now than it was 200 years ago. Part of this failure is due to natural exhaustion, but by far the larger part is due to the irregular and insufficient rainfalls. Still another cause of the famine, closely connected with the preceding, is the enormous increase ' of population in the rural regions of China following upon the primitive habits which prevail there. This increase, taken in connection with the positive decrease in the capacity of the soil to support life, has brought its legitimate results. The phenomenon of famine arising from such causes is observed, moreover, first of all, where we would expect to perceive.it—in an old country and among a stationary population. If China had rpore room, or if the people were still accustomed to migration, the lesson contained in their sufferings might have been delayed for centuries. As it is, the United States and Europe can scarcely misunderstand the warning and reproof such a calamity conveys to them. It ought th" be the sign of cultivation and morality among Nations as among individuals to postpone the present for the sake of the future, and to lay up a certain reserve of prosperity and contentment for posterity, rather than to consume, with the rapid self-indulgence of a prodigal, all the inheritance of mankind.— Chicago Tribune.