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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1912)
fr liSiihiliiL Nlhlhil: Conditions in . Central Zone "'. Desperate; Men, Women and .-Children Are Starving to Death in Hordes. (Special to Tba Journtl.) " ' ' Shanghai, China, Feb. 20. Conditions In famine-stricken China are almost too horrible to be imagined. Reports' from All parts of the famine zone tell of suf ,. fering and hardships seemingly unen- - durable. The Central China Famine Relief com mittee has sent agents over all of the - stricken region. Earl A.."Cressy,' one ot the agents, makes this report: irj: 1 "It was thought best to Investigate as 'closely as possible a limited area which Airtight be taken as typical, and for this .purpose the ' township of Lu Pl was selected. It Is 65 11 north by east from Tslrfe Kiang Pu in the northern part of .tlw province of Klangsu. BOO Persons to Square Mil si "The township Of Lu PI extends It 11 from -north to south. Is IT 11 from east to west, and thus contains roughly 15 English square miles. In it dwell 1700 families, aggregating 14,003 Indi viduals, so that the population is oven (00 to the square mile. This sample famine district contains about one half of one per cent of the total area and population now . famine1' stricken In China, v ' - . "Several neighboring villages were ex amined in each of two widely separated - groups, taking every house large or email, in all 65 homes, and there is no reason to; believe that they are not , representative of the township as a whole. One of the local gentry, the . head man of the township, accompanied ' me, and contributed much general .In formation, He has been found thorough ly reliable in previous famine relief work, but all his statements ' were checked up by conference with those who had charge of the relief work In this district last year. . - 1 ' Houses Are Examined. ' , - x "The method followed was to assemble the family and count and question them, and then thoroughly to examine every part of thfe house looking Into the cook ing vessels .on the stove to see what was In preparation, and then using an elec - trie flash-light to go through all baskets, jars and boxes where food was likely . to be kept These were all country peo- - j)l wha seldom-have- raoneyon nana, so that the supply of food- actually on the-premises is a good indication Of their condition. Under' other conditions - such an examination would have been an impertinence, but the head-tnan ex .. plained, -and the people seemed to ap predate the Interest t that was being taken In them. "A straw stack indicates that there has been a crop. I found straw, in four 1 yards one In It. Grain was found In only seven houses out of fj, and In no place over a peck of it. The food In process of preparation wis invariably ireens -sweet potato leaves f carrot tops, a thin, aorld smelling mess of the appearance of stagnant water ana about as appetizing, only once in a while con talnlng a bit-of tKtable or grain. About one-out of every ..three were eat . Ing" elm bark, which they prepare by reducing it to a fine sawdust and then making It Into cakes. Whole rows of . trees have been thus stripped of their , bark. Of even such sorry food as this, only a few have any great amount on .hand., After it is gone, they will eat the bark of the willow and mulberry, which cause swelling and hasten death. The r ' t I'swi t f.-r th' f e, the country e'.Je is ab solutely tare. Caly One Crop in rive Tea:. j tTn considering the plight of these people. It must be borne in mind that they have had but one fair crop in the last five years. Five years ago was a big famine. A good year followed, but this is the third year of famine since then. Last year they eold their work animals, so that except dogs, among the 65 homes visited, the only animals found were two calves and one chicken. "Household utensils hava also been sold, and in some cases the timbers of a part of the roof and rest of the house is made of mud and thatjjk. I round the average holding of lashd to be ll mow (about two English acres). the largest 60 mow and the smallest three. Questioning ; showed that the average crop this year among the fam ilies visited was four Chinese bush els per family. Last year's crop was only double this The cause of famine Is lack of drainage, so that the rain fall, which is as great as 16 to 30 inches In two weeks, simply stands and drowns out the crops. I wnt over the ground with C D. Jameson, the engineer sent out by the American Red Cross eocie lYi who gave his approval to a simple plan' of drainage proposed by the local committee, by which it will be possi ble to prevent another" famine in this township. , Many Starved to Death. ."Last year, in spite of the fact that in this township the famine relief com mittee carried 650 families through the season and the Chinese government gaye ISpO families enough to last them about a month,-100 persons, at a very con servative estimate, died of starvation, and 20 children and six or eight wives were sold. Children brought from one to three dollars Mexican and wives about 10 times as much. The object in such sales was as much to provide for the one sold as to secure food for the seller, and the sale was not always into a life of vice. This year two persons out of every three are' certain of death unless help comes - from outside, while the cost in suffering Is simply Incal culable. In the 65. homes visited four dead men were found, and marry more who were In the last stages. "In addition to all this, it is war time. Five thousand soldiers mutinied and looted Tslng Kiang Pu so thoroughly that many shops have not reopened, al though .that was three months ago. The whole district was for a while in a con dition of anarchy,, and at the present time robbery Is frequent, so that we made our investigation accompanied by retainers of - the head man with rifles at their backs. --' ' "To look back upon It, the whola seems like a bad dream. The gloom of the wretched homes, the Whirling snow, without, driven by the bitter wind, the hungry garrulousness of the old women, the modest shyness of young matrons at sudddenly finding themselves in the presence of a foreign man,, little chll dren crying over their pitiful food, the dumb' agony on the face of the woman whom be bad to tell that her husband had Just breathed his last, the dead with mummy faces and claw-lllctt feet all this is only a small part of the grim tragedy of the famine in Chirm where 2,600,000 are facing conditions .like these." , - - . The central China famine relief com mittee la making every effort to save life in this township and the adjoining regions. Rice is being shipped in, bean cake purchased locally, and men are on the ground ready to start the work the moment that the government is able to guarantee the maintenance of order and glva protection. v Contributions may be sent to the In temational . Banking corporation. New York or San Francisco, which will cable the money to the treasurer of the cen- Itral China Famine Relief committee In China. Warehouse and .Manufacturing Floors. Low rental. In new brick building, 85x100, just being completed at Hood and Baker streets. This is the best proposition in South Portland from a rental standpoint A. L. Flah, care The Journal. . . Eastern Boy's Eirst urn itu PLATES 10 m OREGON APPLES Senator Chamberlain Would Get Appropriation in Aid of 'm Standardizing Fruit of the " Northwest. - (W.ihington Burcan of .The Journl. Washington, Feb. 20.--Senator. Chanv berlain is trying to get kth appropria-" tlons committee to provide in the agri cultural appropriation bill for making a number of colored plates of Oregon fruit, from originals in, the possession of the department of agriculture, which will serve as guides in standardizing fruit. v The Oregon State Horticultural society, the Northwestern Fruit ex change, the "Chamber of Commerce of Portland, and in fact many other or. ganlzations. are much Interested In this matter, and some of them . have been carrying on a correspondence with the senator regarding It It Is reported that the Lafean bill, amended, is to be pushed at this session. Its provisions for the standardising of fruit are not wholly acceptable to the horticulturists at large, and the senator from Oregon is giving his attention to this Mnatter to the end that no injustice shall be worked on. his constituents. - --" J Oregon rrnit leads. ', Talking about fruit, there is no ap ple in this market that for general fla vor,' luclness. firmness and all-round ex cellence, can be compared with the Ore gon apple,. The writer has tested all of the vaunted Virginia apples, from the valley of the Shenandoah and from be yond in West Virginia, and he has found none that can excel, and few that can compare, with the delicious fruit from Oregon. JPurhaps-apples-fTom--WashiBgtenT Idaho, Montana, and a few sections of California may be as good, but one sel dom sees them here, while the Oregon beauties are on sale In almost - every fruit stand and grocery store. They bring better prices side by side with the Virginia and New York apples; and they bring more because they are con sldered better. In its apple lands Ore gon1 has a vein of wealth which will never be overworked and which - will yield mora yellow gold than everwas taken from the mother lode. '" . Registering by Mall. Hot a few of the Oregon lan s here seem to contemplate going home to cast their ballot. If one may judge by the number that are registering by mall. Thla Js AnQVfil ldeac-tO-mang- personal but Oregon voters are not slow to avail themselves of It. - .. . . . , There is a flourishing society here which, bears the name "Society of the Oregon Country, " which includes per sons who have resided in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and part of Montaha. This society recently held a meeting and ap pointed a committee to make arrange ments for- a banquet in commerhora tlon of some historical event in the his tory of the Oregon country, J, V. Rob inson was appointed chairman, and with W, P. Borland and'Max Pracht will fix the time and place. WHlam Steele, -of 'Medford, Or., gave an interesting talk about the Crater 'Lake National park. The officers of the society are A..W. ; Prescott. president; J. V, Robinson, vice president; Mrs. E. R. Williams, second vice president; Mrs. Sue Fits Ramsey, secretary; J. B, Ofner, treasurer. Mr. -Prescott has, been doing' nicely since his operation and it , is thought he will be able to be out f The Case of General Smith. . .Great Interest is being shown in the case of General William Sooy Smith, of Medford, Or., and many appeals are be- : r . ..n . in made tr corrr.-ss to j-us ft nator Chamberlain's - bill inak!:.g Genera Smith a briradier reneral on the re tired! list of the United States army. One-of the recent appeals of this char acter is from the Chicago commondery of the Military Ord.r of the LoyaJ Le gion or the Lnited States, Captain Ros well H. Mason, recorder. This organi zation recently passed resolutions urg ing the passage of the Chamberlain bill and forwarded the same to congress. General Smith is the oldest llvlne alumnus 6f the Ohio university and the alumni are rallying to his support y TO EAST MT. TABOR Residents of the East Mount Tabor district are, rejoicing-over the success ful efforts br the committee headed by Kev i rather James B. Fitspatrlck to secure a carllne extension for the popu lous section between. the, end of the present Mount Tabor line at East Six ty-ninth street out to East Eighty- eighth street, The street committee yesterday reo- ommended that, the franchise for the extension sought be granted. Father Fltxpatrlck and other members of the committee announced that they had set tled the details of financing the line. The property owners of .the district will have to bear half the expense of pro curing the right of wayand of con true Hon. ' ' , It will be necessary for the route of tbe extension to pass through a corner of Mount Tabor nark and ever a portion cf the water board's reservoir tract but tne city attorney has ruled that the council can grant the franchise without waiting for the park and water boards to give their permission for the right of way. under the agreement made be tween the. company and the property owners he new carllne down the east slope or Mount Tabor must be com pleted by December 81. . ' ; ; ' Members' of the committee of prop erty owners were? W. E. Allen. Rev, Father James B Fibtpatrlck, E. Gould, w. w. Amburn and T. S. Gaylor. CHINESE IS ARRESTED; PACKED CONCEALED GUN Patrolman Bunn yesterday arrest ed Ah Wey at Park and Flanders streets for carrying concealed weapons, follow ing the discovery of a huge revolver In his belt Several Other cases against uninese lor carrying concealed weapons were set ror today, but all were contln ued until next Saturday. Martin Zlramer was arrested at' 7 o'clock this morning by Patrolman Frey at Forty-first and Holgate . streets for carrying concealed weapons. He is em ployed in trje Southern Pacific shops, and is said to have claimed that F. W. lM?gerneQfthe supe the shops, advised him to carry the gun. It was on his belt in a holster, but a flap: over the holster concealed the gun, thereby , constituting an offense. The case will be tried by a jury next Wed nesday. - i . .' -d .' "' . New Use for Horseshoes. (Sneclsl to Th Journal Stevenson, Wash., Feb. 20.wH. P, Ash, one of the leading general merchants of this city, in making improvements on his building required eight conoreta foundations 2x6 feet each. Not being able to get spiral Iron In time to" finish the; work he purchased B00 pounds of old horseshoes which war used for re en forcing. Expert cement men , jvro nounce this plan eveAi better than spiral iron. Old horseshoes sell for less than a quarter of a cent a pound. Archdeacon Asked to Resign. London, Feb. 20. The eccentrlo Arch deacon Colley, rector of Stockton, has resigned by request Eight years ago theiarchdeacon had his coffin made and stored 1ST tha: factory;--; ----- - - VOTE 10 EXTEND Letter Home ra alui,;;:i r,it -mm Oregon Members to , Meet at Arlington Club Night . of February 22. Oregon .alumni of the University of Pennsylvania will meet In annual ban quet the night of February '22 at the Arlington club. Colonel C. K S. Wood will deliver an address and a program of college songs and yells will be given. i ne .meeung or tne alumnL In Port land will be one of many similar gather ings of University of Pennsylvania graduates, which will be hekl at the Brook$3Hat Without a Peer Y' SPRING BLOCKS NOW READY i VVV;S - . Spring 1912 Manhattan and the New Arrow Shirts Nv ready-plain and pleated bosoms, new colorings and designs, . regular and French cuff Extra Special gfss 95c ' Gemilae, Hole-. . proof Hosiery for Mert Worrierrand Children 6 Pairs Gtiar a n t e e d to wear 6 Months. sime time, Washington's . tirth-J.iy, throughout the United "STr.tes and in foreign lands. For 20 yenrs it has been the custom for many "old l'enrrty" men to get together on February 22,at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia. A banquet Is served and some nationally prominent speaker has given an address on a timely topic of interest to the uni versity and the nation at large. In the past these . annual sessions have been attended by all alumni who have been able to go, still a small per centage of. the total number of gradu ates It is to make these reunions more general In scope that the university trustees have urged- alumni the world over to arrange for general gatherings at points nearer their homes which will make It possible for those within a con siderable radius to attend, but still at less expense and loss of time than would be required, to attend the meet ing at Philadelphia! It is planned that at each of these banquets at 10 o'clock at night a toast to alma mater shall be drunk, accom panied by the singing of the"unlverslty hymn. It is believed .the movement will tend to strengthen old college ties. SOLE AGENTS FOR Youman Celebratecj $5 Hats IF IPS A HAT WE HAVE IT IF ITS NEW WE HAVE IT Fourth and Morrison Portland's Fashion Center ; is .. ... STATE MWS govern this bank. They are. thorough and efficient in every respect;-being formulated with the view to carefully safe guarding the interests of patrons. ' The Hibernia Savings Bank; ever since its establishment eighteen years ago, has invariably made it a cardinal principle to comply in every respect with the laws under which it is organized. The safety which this bank affords is well known throughout Portland and vicinity. ' "A Conservative Custodian" v - ; HIBERNIA SAVINGS BANK ; SECOND AND WASHINGTON STREETS. Open Saturday Evenings Six to Eight TWO STORY BU I k 1 - . W W I'll fslfj w . . . v v sas m w 0m v m mmm " " y facturing' ti !.. i ';ii? ..i--t. . :.:' ur i-i .'J i. m ii i uni r r mwk , vv u r rni cated at Hood and Baker streets, South Portland, and t'i' cent to the Oregon Electric tracks. An iclcsl Iccz!: : i f light manufacturing whefeT p!enly"pf ligt.t u'.. v !, I floor contains about 3500 sq. feet Lcn I--:-, ! "" r i' :A. L. FISH, Crr 1" ' (tilted Prn Ltel WI- I Fresno, Cal Feb, Z0. Chester V Rowell of Fresno, president cf the 1 i Follettt league, of California lias C -clared for Roosevelt and called a t meeung or progressives to Da ticu !;i San Francisco February i 8. The Oregon Alumni association Is de sirous of knowing the whereabouts ot any Pennsylvania alumnus in the state who has not been formally notified of the banquet Full information may b secured by addressing "University Day Committee," 314 Medical building, port land. ; It minutes, from First st to Oak rink. - :-,r.-- v-- - ,..., J. B. Stetspna Newest Creations Now Ready New Colorings, New Ideas $4to$10 Don't Overlook Our -Display of Pure, Silk Rep Neckwear 50c kind at 25 LDING FOR RENT - i l.jr iiv i .11111 i iim iu 4 , a n ' -'r: --