Show ap A FAMINE AMINE F IN INDIA WORST visitations OP or MOD mot TIMES if its ngath TT halt a million allies and 4 affet as 1 I tM barth tarsal 1 lat staka gorlek 0 0 wr war has diverted attention from tb the 1 state of affairs existing in india where kt leant least three million and a halt ot of people or a population about equal to that ot of greater mew new york iri ani being fed dally daily solely by the government an I 1 one of the oral famines of modern P time times I 1 Is sweeping at tia its victim victims the true famine district in india auit rs an area of clarr miles and con ulna a of 40 W people or juit just abou about the population of the british islee there la Is alao also an area of 0 square milea miles containing a it 1 opu of where general acar scar city prevails and where there la Is much distress the government of inilla india hue has issued a circular la in which the present famine la Is called unprecedented and it la Is said that if it the vre present sent rate ot of progress pro gressin jn la is maintained the crow crowds da rec clvin relief III far exceed the rec orda of aly previous loue damn arun and III not t the finances but b u I 1 the ad resources of the govern blent ment the 3 people now drawing ra eions from the government have been obliged to quit th tr burnt up zelda and seek tho the roeana means of life at the relief works which have been established the famine waa was caused by thi tho failure of the rains and unless something unlooked I 1 for happens hap pena the number of stricken will increase In creaco rapidly for no I 1 10 ordinary rainfall can eave save the spring 1 harvests ha rreta or cover with crop crops a land k baled into brick there are whole districts here even drinking water in not to be had bad and in some place places the native natives are belling selling their bullock bullocks worth orth 60 rupee rupees for I 1 rupee all cx ox capt a malt small remnant of these poor beasts must perish of thirst and starvation and large tracts which in ordinary yeara years export cotton and wheat rill will this year produce only bones and bide bides it 1 Is estimated that something like CO people will have to get through th the next bit months without the crops upon whim they depend for lher food the indian government baa has faced this fact and so far all who have come to the relief works have been fed P but all do not come in time detoro before an indian peasant will quit his beloved homestead for the relief works there i Is a period of struggle and long drawn out which leaves him so enfeebled I 1 that ht be falls an easy prey to disease disi or drops in sight of the relief which he finally seeks the present famine like all the recent ones Is felt heaviest in the central contral provinces of india these provinces long formed the great unoccupied apace space of central india the refuge r of the remnants of the oldest peoples of 0 the country who have buys treated before the march of mo moa developed races after the extension of the railroad I 1 2 system of india a groit greit increase k took place in the population of this region by immigration bom the more crowded tracts around round them the theae immigrants were almost entirely ot of the landless land lesa class whom the t tepid ald increase of population in the valley of the ganges bad had pushed pual aed out ahe I 1 he poorest aad and least thrifty classes from other districts flocked to the cebral provinces and althou although wh in gord seasons they are better off in ili their rew homes they never lay up a reserve to tall fall back upon and when the rains fall aud sud the land bakes they are the first to throw themselves on the charity ot of the gov t even in the early stages ot of the present famine 12 1 per cent of the whole population of central india went to the relief arks though in the stricken ricken at of india today the 11 earth Is turned into hot baked brick and the sky Is a dome of bum burning ing copper under which all green things are shriveled up and the thirsty sun drinks up the stream streams and the springs will not flow there are other district districts 1 where are prosperity and abundance |