FEARFUL FAMINES OF THE PAST 



89 



The four years between 1333 and 1337 

 constituted a period of unimagined suf- 

 fering throughput China, and it is highly 

 probable that it was in this era that the 

 seeds of disaster were sown for Europe's 

 Black Death, which appeared in the fol- 

 lowing decade. Famine and pestilence 

 laid the whole country waste. Excessive 

 rains caused destructive inundations, and 

 according to Chinese records 4,000,000 

 people perished from starvation in the 

 neighborhood of Kiang alone. Violent 

 earthquakes occurred in many parts of 

 the kingdom ; whole mountains were 

 thrown up and vast lakes formed. The 

 fury of the elements subsided and the rav- 

 ages of famine ceased in the very year 

 that the Black Death reached England. 



The four famines of 1810, 181 1, 1846, 

 and 1849 are said to have taken a toll of 

 not less than 45,000,000 lives. In 1875- 

 1878 four provinces in northern China, 

 the district known as the "Garden of 

 China," suffered a failure of crops ow- 

 ing to lack of rain, and in an area about 

 the size of France nine millions perished. 



Two recent periods of dearth in China 

 which awakened wide interest and elic- 

 ited generous ■ contributions from the 

 United States for relief work were the 

 famines of 1906 and 191 1, when floods 

 in the Yangtze River basin affected 10,- 

 000,000 people residing in an area the 

 size of the State of Kentucky. 



During both of these famines parents 

 found it necessary to sell their daughters, 

 not only to obtain food for themselves, 

 but in order that the children might not 

 starve. They were usually sold to wealthy 

 families, in which they became slave 

 girls. Early in the period of distress 

 girls of 10 to 15 years of age brought as 

 much as $20 each ; but when the food 

 shortage was most severe the customary 

 quotation in the slave market was 60 

 cents each, while in one instance a father 

 is known to have accepted 14 cents and 

 two bowls of rice in exchange for his 

 child. 



No other race is as docile as the Chi- 

 nese in times of famine. Their resigna- 

 tion in the face of calamity is amazing. 

 For instance, in the food shortage of 

 1906-1907 a starving army of 300,000 

 peasants camped beneath the walls of the 



city of Tsinkiangpu. The grain ware- 

 houses of the town, a place of 200,000 

 inhabitants, were overflowing with wheat, 

 maize, and rice, and these supplies were 

 constantly on display ; yet there were no 

 riots. The thousands outside the walls 

 sat themselves down to die, while those 

 within continued to transact the ordinary 

 affairs of every-day life. 



HUNGER AND THE RUSSIAN PEASANT 



Next to the proletariat of India and 

 China, the Russian peasant feels the pinch 

 of poverty and hunger more keenly and 

 more frequently than any other citizen 

 on earth. 



One of the earliest famines in Russia 

 of which there is any definite record was 

 that of 1600, which continued for three 

 years, with a death toll of 500,000 peas- 

 ants. Cats, dogs, and rats were eaten ; 

 the strong overcame the weak, and in the 

 shambles of the public markets human 

 flesh was sold. Multitudes of the dead 

 were found with their mouths stuffed 

 with straw. 



Three Russian famines of compara- 

 tively recent date were among the most 

 severe in the history of the country. They 

 occurred in 1891, 1906, and 191 1. Dur- 

 ing the ten years following the first of 

 these periods of dearth the government 

 allotted nearly $125,000,000 for relief 

 work, but the sums were not always ju- 

 diciously expended. 



In 1906 the government gave 40 pounds 

 of flour a month to all persons under 18 

 and over 59 years of age. All peasants 

 between those ages and infants under one 

 year of age received no allowance, and it 

 became necessary for the younger and 

 older members of the family to share 

 their bare pittance with those for whom 

 no provision was made. The suffering 

 was intense and the mortality exceedingly 

 heavy, but the available statistics are not 

 wholly reliable. 



The famine of 191 1 extended over one- 

 third of the area of the empire in Europe 

 and affected more or less directly 30,000,- 

 000 people, while 8,000,000 were reduced 

 to starvation. Weeds, the bark of trees. 

 and bitter bread made from acorns con- 

 stituted the chief diet for the destitute. 

 This was unquestionably the most wide- 



