Show CROP fAILURES HAVE CAUSED MANY f FaMINES Greater Death List Shown in Nineteenth Century Than in Any Two INDIA AND CHINA ARE I HEAVIEST SUFFERERS Approximately I Inhabitants Die of tion By FREDE RIO J. J HASKIN HASBIN Tho record of terrible seasons of hun hunger hunger ger begins early in the worlds world's history and tho the terrific toll famine no has taken of ot human life can cnn only bo be mated Somo famines were duo to droughts some to deluges a few to war and some to isolation Man Many of them could never occur under present methods meth meth- methods of ot communication and transportation orta tion and it seems certain that tho the widespread wide icle spread distress and the tho great r at death cleath lists of the past can never recur No land was exempt from them in iii tho the first fifty centuries of human history Tho The nineteenth century especially tho the first eight decades of ot it probably showed a greater taur dc death th list from lam fam ines mes than any other two centuries to- to c ether It way was dur during Ilg t this is that the Irish potato famines start started the tides of Irish immigration toward towar American shores and anti demonstrated thai tha truly it is an on ill wind that blows s a ac c good And it was also l o during t this i teD ceo tur tury that In India lia China had th thE worst visitations is in all their h history Early Famines Are Arc Recorded i iThe The Bible frequently speaks of f lam fam m mines ines Inca in Palestine an and its neighbor countries and tho the seven e lean years ears o of biblical Egyptian b history story atc are said u tc J have hare begun in liDS 1703 B. B U U. U I. I There is ef et evi dence pointing to the fact tact th that t thi thu period of starvation f extended also otho ov o over or r tho the whole of Pale Palestine From that tha time to the end of the nineteenth tell een en tur tury there were nearly nearl famines c ex eF extensive enough to be li listed ted in the liter of hungry r people Rome Koine early carl in its history felt the the tai pan pangs 8 of ot hun hunger er In II B. B C. C there then was a famine so o sore in the eternal dernal eitz citI that thousands threw themselves into int the Tibor Tiber to escape the tho p pang panne ng-d ng of starn staria tion In 12 A A. A D. D Ireland was lh the scene of so great a famine that Ie lands landi land and houses territories and anel tribes were wen emptied Thousands left their native Erin Enn and this i is said faiti to b by the fir first fint timo time in history where a great grent wave ware of oi emigration was forced upon th the people b by crop failures A century later En land lanel suffered tho the same sort of ot a visit visits visits' tion and the people aro are arc said to have hard r become so famished hed that the they the bark from trees tre like liko rabbits With Within ith in a generation another famine overtook overtook over Oyer took England and it is said pt pea pIe plo starved l' l Parents Eat Children J In A A. A D D. D Antioch was visited hj by a af famine so serious that a bushel 0 oj of wheat brought pieces of ot silver and anda M Ma a hundred years later Italy was Tas t the scene of a scarcity of ot f food od 1 so great tu that 1 JIA a atho parents ate their many tho the years immediately preceding D W England and Ireland suffered a faw faU t If terrible as that of Italy and Scotland and Ireland in turn suffered a li like like- fat fate while at another time the groan ground of wales Wales was gas U covered with de dead a bodies bodie of men and beasts beasty starved to 4 1 death kino kinc of or lean rho Tho seven soven years ears car of or the Egyptian history told about in in the tle f biblical story of ot Joseph find a co counterpart counter unter Der part in the famine of Egypt in in JOW 1061 A. A D D. when whon the tho overflow o of ot tho the Nile failed for seven beven years to put i in i. i K its J t annual appearance Two P were entirely entire v depopulated and na half of oft t the tho o people of other provinces were ere iso S' S u Tied fled away by dent death or emi rat Bread went so eo high that only the tho v VOT vert s rich could afford it The Tho poor resor l to cannibalism after tho the supply or of a r rand and other vermin was exhausted p rr pie le on the streets were b wr l men fIsh boat P a u men dropping down clown huge huse n h BOO I t ta hed to i- i ropes rope from windows windoRa a gf Continued on page 6 6 CROP FAILURES HAVE CAUSED MANY FAMINES FAMINE S Continued d from pa page e 4 catching them under the chin or b bythe by bythe y the clothing In 1252 En England was the tho victim of ot a drou drought bt in which no rain tall fell fro from m am Whitsuntide to autumn and tho the prices price s of foo foodstuffs rose to unprecedented hei beights Only six years later the country county coun ty try was again stricken this timo as n a result of cold north winds in the tho grow growing growing OVin V O in ing season Man Many thousands starved and fifty shiploads s of foodstuffs were procured from German Germany Citizens o of London were prohibited from dealing i in inthis n this his food foods in order to prevent anyone from taking advantage of tho the extremities ties ics of tho the people In n spite of ll legislative legisla- legisla isla- isla tive ivo efforts that wow wore made mado to too hob hold d down tho the price of food wheat sold fo for r more than 5 a bushel as lon long as there then was any to sell and in the end some 1 people starved to death in Landon Lon Lan London don alone alono Royal Proclamation Issued One Ono of tho the long longest st famines in tho the history his his- tor tory ory of th the tho ra race e was during the tho last par part t of the thirteenth century when for fo r twenty wenty years together there was an unbroken un un- rs broken chain of crop failures of prices price s that hat were all but prohibitive to the poor and of hunger throughout th the tho e length and breadth of England En Parlament Par Par- lament at the end of this lean era Ara passed p Ii law regulating prices and a aroal royal roal proclamation was mado made forbidding g tho the manufacture of beer In 1321 England had what is regarded d by most authorities as the last of its it s serious serious famines But this was was was' tho beginning beginning be be- ginning of a series of great reat crop shortages short short- a ages iges es in in Ireland I In 1332 wheat sold for fo r 10 10 n a bushel there A half balf century later late rr r there hero was a famine of three years rears i in England which was attributed attribute b t d to the tho hoarding of corn The mayor and citi citi- sons ns of London took out of the tho orphans orphan s chest in their guild hall haU mone money to o bu buy sv v corn and Bother other foods beyond its seas sens seas and provision was made whereby th the tho 0 government sold food to the poor ata at ap pointed prices rites where the they ere were able ablo blo to o pay for or it and took notes payable parable e several years hence where the they were 0 not able to pay pa- cash The English poor law dates from 1586 G w when hen Queen Elizabeth observing th the e general de dearth of corn and abd other foods et resulting partially from drought bu but t principally from the the greediness r s of th the theorn c corn orn masters issued a proclamation requiring requiring re ro- quiring quirin government relief to be extended ex ex- tended ended by br the justices of tho peace to the he poor of oC f their communities Ono One of the frequent complaints in England was that too much grain pro pro- ro- ro there was sold abroad Pen han ham jam says that in 1795 some ap apprentices ren- ren flees tices and other young people about abort tIlee tIle the e city t of London being eing pinched of their victuals more than they had been accustomed tomed took butter from the market folks paying but 3 pence a pound when the owners could not afford to sell Elen it under C 6 j pence a pound for foj- fo which disorder disorder dis dis- order the said youn young men were punished on the of June Tun b by whipping th tho pill pillory or and lon long imprisonment It It was about this time timo that England became became be he came vel very severe on all people who gave ao short shot weight or otherwise took advantage advantage ad ad- vantage of tho rho buyers buers of food Half Million Die in Russia There were numerous famines in in the seventeenth century beginning with the theone theono ono one in Russia in which a half million people died dietl Wars caused famines in Ireland and in India durin during tithe this cent cen tury fury In 1786 occurred tho the first of the Teat rent famines of India of which wo YO avo record It is estimated that 00 people died f during this famine and the hc of oC tho period say that the ibo air was so infected by bJ y tho the o odors of decaying bodies that it was WM scarcely possible pos p s- s I sible to go o abroad without perceiving it and ana without rearing hearing l also abo the frantic I cries of the tho victims ot of the famine who were seen at every stage of suffering and death When the ne new crop came camo forward in AU August iu in man ninny many cases it had no owners owner With the tiro rapid growth of population during daring rife nineteenth century and tho the slow t Ilo of transportation facilities there were demands for food that cou could d not be bo met India and Ireland Ire Ire- land were wre the tho worst sufferers Irelands Ireland's first t great grent potato famine occurred in 1822 and was r repeated at intervals up to IS 1 During the tho latter attar year ar it was supposed that a qUI quarter of ot a million pea peo peo people died flied P Parliament ut advanced nearly for prot protecting t th the n masses to e from torn Starvation starvation More Ioro than a million Trish left Idt for America to escape the tho starvation and t the tho which fol fob lowed That was Wt tho the last of oC the great famines of oC Ireland India and China Ohina St Suffer A million and n a half balf people perished peri bcd in in to India in in l and in hi 1876 1816 to ISIS 1878 In lu China nc nearly ar perished during this thin latter period am amin and in n the last year ear of or the century tho the lasof last las of tho the great t r Indian famines occurred entailing I a loss of a million lives and Tho government spent on relief relict and at one ono time timo nearl nearly people were dependent upon outside aid While Whilo there aro are no statistics available to show dhow the number of at people who died from starvation in the near nearly famines famines fam fumy ines inea of history it In is conservatively esti estimated mated that no ilo less Jess than have ha died from starvation and that hat of these theo three fourths may be attributed to crop failures which were tho the result of or droughts drought |