OVER A MILLION IN THE NORTHERN PROVINCES, FACING STARVATION, CRY FOR HELP — WILL YOU HELP THEM?
Many Perishing from Hunger and Cold
Latest advices from the famine fields of Japan give a most harrowing picture of the present condition of the sufferers in that section.
The rigorous winter set in much earlier, in real earnest, and will stay very much longer. At present, thousands of children and aged folk are face to face with biting cold and the cruel pangs of hunger. The scene is harrowing enough even to imagine, but it is long-drawn, miserable death to many of the actors who experience its misery. To aggravate the misfortunes of the sufferers, the intense cold and the deep snows that cover the land, make it impossible for them to get even fern roots and bark of trees and shrubs for food any longer, and many poor people, after enduring the cruel attacks of hunger, have been starved to death.
Whatever is done to help these people must be done quickly, in order to be available.
AN OLDER SISTER
The response is generous, but the magnitude of the need to be filled is greater still. Let us, to whom hunger is but a name, concentrate in a common impulse to send food where starvation's gnawing grip has become an awful daily reality—where fathers and mothers are helplessly watching their children waste away before their eyes, and where wives and daughters, who have so lately laid their all upon the altar of their country's honor, are now facing a more appalling fate than death upon the battlefield.
A Missionary Story
Mrs. Gurney Binford, a devoted missionary of the Friends' persuasion, relates in simple language a tragedy more thrilling than any of fiction or drama, which has just taken place before her eyes, but of which she learned too late to be of service. In a district near her there lived an honest, industrious farmer, who, with his family, were brought to the last extremity. Everything had gone to procure the pittance which would keep them together for one more day, and at last the father said, "We have never begged—we cannot now. We must die of starvation here—there is no hope for us." So he traveled wearily up the hill, his wife and two children by his side, and together they flung themselves from a cliff, at the base of which their dead bodies were afterwards discovered.
Mrs. Binford adds: "There are so many, many suicides. The real Japanese war is only just beginning; there are so many widows and orphans, so many maimed and disabled soldiers who are fighting the grim enemy, Starvation. Yes, the war is only beginning."
Relief Work Progressing
The methods employed by the Japanese for distributing relief are exceptionally efficient. As the result of the sympathetic and helpful attitude of the officials, not one sen of this money will be spent in administration. The whole will be used in buying food. In no case will money be given. The money goes to the heads of the counties. There it is again divided in proportion to the need, and sent to the heads in the different towns and villages of the county. They in turn buy food for the amount, and give it to the sufferers in daily portions. We know that the authorities in the three afflicted prefectures are doing all in their power. Only let them at once have money or food, for it is only too certain that unless some great beneficent influence intervenes, the death-roll from hunger and cold in the next three months will shock the world.
Can we sleep on peaceful pillows,
When the light of day has fled,
While across Pacific's billows,
Tens of thousands starve for bread?
Pitying hearts that throb with sorrow,
By your deeds ye shall be known,
Give to-day, and ere to-morrow,
'Twill be carved on God's white throne.
The President Appeals
So ominous is the outlook, that President Roosevelt has been moved to address an appeal to the American people in behalf of the suffering nation, in which he says:
"The famine situation in northern Japan is proving much more serious than at first supposed, and thousands of persons are on the verge of starvation. It is a calamity such as may occasionally befall any nation. Nations, like men, should stand ever ready to aid each other in distress, and I appeal to the American people to help from their abundance their suffering fellow-men of the great and friendly nation of Japan."
Come, be a Burden-Bearer
Help us feed Japan's starving poor! It is an invitation to sit in the highest room, nearest to the Giver of the feast, Himself the Chief of burden-bearers. We have no fear but that the help will come in abundant measure, but it is difficult to present with sufficient strength the need for haste. The agony of starvation has begun—is now in existence! Who will stem this life-destroying tide? If you have not much, "Help just a little." If you have more, give of what you have.
A Prayer for the Starving
The Christian residents of Japan, both natives and foreigners, are wrought to keen and widespread sympathy with the desperate straits of the people of the famine-stricken section. An expression of their fervid interest is conveyed in the form of prayer appointed by the Protestant Episcopal bishop of Japan for daily use during the famine, inspiring all to self-denial and the ministry of service:
Happy Japanese Children Before the Famine Came
"Almighty and merciful God, Maker and Father of all men, upon whom the eyes of all do wait that thou mayest give them their meat in due season; look with pity, we pray thee, upon thy children in this land who are perishing from hunger. Fill us with compassion for the suffering that we may abound in sympathy and kindness. Make us willing to deny ourselves that they may be fed. Help us to bear the burdens of the weak, and to minister to the wants of all. Grant that this mind may be in us which was also in Christ Jesus, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister. Save us from pride and selfishness, and fill us with consideration and humility, for the sake of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen."
If We Hesitate, They are Lost
There are those to whom the miseries of the world are misery, and will not let them rest.
Thank God that this is true! Already the big American heart has guided the willing hand to the purse-strings, and contributions have begun to pour in from every quarter, sent us by many who never rest when the "miseries of the world" are brought before them. We have no fear but that the help so desperately needed will come, in Scripture measure—"pressed down and running over," but it is difficult for us to grasp the urgent need of quick action. We must stem the tide with an almost feverish haste, or thousands—yes, tens of thousands—will be swept away by the overwhelming flood ere we can stretch a hand to save them.
Think, think of mothers bound to the little ones they bore, by cords of love just as strong and undying as yours, who, to-day, this moment, heedless of the clutching grip of hunger tearing at their own vitals, are hopelessly and helplessly watching the bright, beautiful hopes of their poor, narrow lives, starve to death before their haggard eyes. "That love has a broken wing which cannot fly across the ocean." Send yours forth upon strong pinions to enfold within its shelter the shrunken baby form over which some other mother yonder is bending with breaking heart! Live as long as you may, you will never lose the blessing which will come to you according to His promise.
A JAPANESE MOTHER
The Daughters of the King
There are in every community godly women, sympathetic and kind; consecrated women, who long to do good, as they have opportunity, and to aid the poor, the suffering and the distressed. We look confidently to them for aid at this time. They can work, they can speak, they can plead, pray and give. May God call them to this mission and graciously prosper the work of their hearts and their hands.
The Ministry of Service
Let every minister of the Gospel, every Sunday School superintendent, every Young People's Society (whether Christian Endeavor, Epworth League, Young People's Union, or Y. M. C. A.), every generous man and every tender-hearted and sympathetic woman throughout the length and breadth of this land who reads THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, be true to Him whose life on earth was a ministry of helpfulness to the downtrodden, the unfortunate and the desolate; true to themselves and true to humanity, and lend a hand in this great work of throwing out the life-line to a million aged men, defenceless women and innocent children of Japan, and thus effectually answer their pitiful prayer of absolute helplessness.
A Piteous Appeal
The Rev. Henry Scott Jeffreys, of Tokio, writes to his brother, editor of the Post-Telegram, of Camden, New Jersey: "For God's sake print the clippings about the famine, and get all the help you can."
For contribution blanks, circulars, return envelopes in the interest of the Famine Sufferers, address as below.
Every contribution will be thankfully received, and promptly acknowledged in the columns of THE CHRISTIAN HERALD. Address:
Japan Famine Relief Work
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD
248 TO 258 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY
May God Bless the Givers and Multiply the Gifts.
