THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FAMINE-STRICKEN DISTRICTS IN THE NORTHERN PART OF JAPAN
BARON T. OZAWA, Vice-President
The Red Cross Society of Japan
To the American National Red Cross:
Having been fully occupied in looking after all the affairs relative to the relief work of the late war-victims, some of whom are still left behind in our hospitals, I could spare no time otherwise up to this very day, when, nevertheless, I found a few days to be squeezed out in order to have realized my earnest desire of inspecting the present conditions of the famine stricken districts in the Northern Provinces in Japan and, besides, it was a proper time to be had for that purpose. Leaving Tokyo on the 13th instant by a night train, in company with our Mr. Masatake Togo, Honorary Secretary, and Mr. Kow Isobe, one of our clerks, and arriving at Fukushima at 4 o’clock in the next morning, I started for another journey escorted by Gov. Arita, President of the Fukushima Red Cross Branch, and several other officers, and visited as many counties, towns, and villages as possible meeting, at the same time, their head men and officials, and dropping, once in a while, into the huts of suffering peasants and telling them, upon every opportunity, how generous and sympathetic President Roosevelt, members of the American National Red Cross Society, proprietor of Christian Herald and its readers had been in practically rescuing the famine stricken people from the verge of starvation.
Before distributing the money, which you sent to us, however, we had very carefully investigated the best methods, by which no peasant there should laze away his time simply relying upon such helps. With this in view, we instructed each Branch of our Society at those districts to provide the poorest with foodstuffs.
An official instruction, No. 146, given by the Governor of Fukushima Ken (Prefecture) on the 10th of March, 1906, to the head men of counties, towns, and villages may be of interest to you. It runs as follows:
“The President of the United States has extended his sympathy to Japan so deeply that he appealed to Americans in behalf of our famine stricken provinces to raise a Relief Fund. As a result, we have now received a certain amount of money as a part of contributions from America which reached here through the channels of the Red Cross Society of Japan, the Department of Home Affairs and the American National Red Cross Society. I wish you would convey to your sufferers the kindness and sympathy so practically shown to them by Americans. This money should only be used to provide the sufferers with food....”
The amount of money we sent to Fukushima Prefecture was up to the 13th of April distributed among counties as follows:
THE AMOUNT OF MONEY DISTRIBUTED AMONG COUNTIES OUT OF AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS.
| NAME OF COUNTY. | AMOUNT. |
|---|---|
| Shinobu | Yen 4,943.00 |
| Date | 5,244.00 |
| Adachi | 5,364.00 |
| Asaka | 4,642.00 |
| Iwase | 3,315.00 |
| Minamiaidu | 1,508.00 |
| Kitaaidu | 1,084.00 |
| Yama | 2,070.00 |
| Kawanuma | 1,265.00 |
| Onuma | 1,265.00 |
| Higashishirakawa | 2,267.00 |
| Nishishirakawa | 4,521.00 |
| Ishikawa | 2,268.00 |
| Nakamura | 5,847.00 |
| Ishijiro | 4,452.00 |
| Futaba | 3,375.00 |
| Soma | 5,847.00 |
| Wakamatsu | 1,000.89 |
| Total Yen | 60,277.89 |
The methods of helping that have been adopted by proper authorities in co-operation with local officers of the Red Cross Society of Japan are in general similar with those in other two Prefectures, and are applied quite scientifically, if I could use such an expression. In classifying the sufferers, for instance, the authorities have carefully inspected every family in order to find to what extent and how its members should be helped. The following is an example given to me by the President of Iwate Red Cross Branch:
| NAME of the head of the family, Wutaro Rai. | ||
| Address, No. 334 Nakamura, Ishikawa Co. | ||
| Business, Tenant farming, Age 46. | ||
| Health, Suffering at present, Rheumatism. | ||
| NAME. | AGE. | HEALTH. |
|---|---|---|
| Grandfather, | Nil | |
| Grandmother, | “ | |
| Father, Taro | 75 | Unable to work. |
| Mother, Hana | 72 | “ “ “ |
| Wife, Chika | 40 | Able to work in the house. |
| Two daughters, | ||
| Kuni, | age 25, | married. |
| Yasa, | 18, | serving as maid in a remote; sends a little money to help. |
| Amount of taxes, Yen, 1.20. | ||
| Property, mortgaged. | ||
| Beddings, quite insufficient. | ||
| House, bad. | ||
| Condition of living in the past, lived pretty well comparatively. | ||
| Remarks: Entire help is at present needed. | ||
Thus, persons, men or women, who are quite unable to work, are fed and clothed with contributions that have been made at home and abroad towards the sufferers, whilst those who are able to work outside of the house, are furnished by the local Governments, for measures of relief, with wage-earning works such as those in rearranging public roads, paddy fields, in opening new fields for mulberry trees, and those in the house with materials for straw-works, bamboo-works, fishing-net-works, etc., which are bought up afterward by the authorities dearer than ordinary prices. Besides, to those sufferers, who own themselves even a little bit of land or who are tenants, are furnished with seeds of various kinds of vegetables without charges whatever. The wages they earn in these ways run from 12 sen (6 cents) to 30 sen (15 cents) per day in accordance with the degree of their laboring power.
Foodstuffs, which we purchased with the money you sent to us, consist mostly of imported rice, wheat and flour.
The number of sufferers or paupers in Fukushima Prefecture is altogether 174,573, out of which 86,196 persons are helped in such a manner as to be furnished with manual labor and 88,377 directly with foods, which had been partly purchased by the authorities with the money contributed from individuals to the amount of Yen 235,322.00 up to the end of March and partly sent by them in the form of provisions in a good quantity.
In Iwate Prefecture, there are 78,588 sufferers, out of whom 35,211 are altogether helped being totally unable to work. The total amount of money, which we sent to this district out of your contributions, is up to the 22d instant, Yen 58,276.37. Foodstuffs, worth Yen 24,619.08, had already been distributed among the sufferers and at present some more foods are being purchased. The total amount of money that has been contributed by the natives and expended is to the same date Yen 147,933.60.
In Miyagi Prefecture, there are 475,135 persons, who have needed help either directly or indirectly. Those who have been furnished with foodstuffs number 51,058 and those with the manual labor number 424,077. The total amount of money, which we sent to this district out of your contributions is up to the 15th instant Yen 100,464.78 and that consisting of donations made at home is Yen 448,892.70.
It may well be to state that, in consequence of the famine, there have been established several societies in aid of the sufferers in these three districts. The Ladies’ Relief Society in Fukushima, for instance, has ever been collecting new and old clothes and distributed them among the sufferers. The Society for the Protection of School Children, which was established under the auspices of the authorities in each Prefecture of those districts since the number of pupils had been found to be daily decreasing, has done a great deal of work in helping and brightening them. At present, as a result, the number of pupils who every day go to school is figured out, on the average to be 95 per 100, whereas before the famine, its percentage was about 85. All the text books, pencils, pens and other necessities have now been pouring into their hands from such children as are under different circumstances entirely. Such articles, being in general second-handed, are disinfected thoroughly before distributing them.
Thus the authorities have been taking much precaution against epidemic that may likely spring up in the coming Summer as often should be the case with famine. As the sufferers’ huts are apt to become more filthy and unhealthy than used to be, policemen are frequently sent to such houses for inspection. Moreover, on those who keep their own houses clean are at present conferred prizes in the shape of money.
School-children, in addition, get free luncheons at the school, which are served by the Society for the Protection of School-children. “I am very hungry. Oh no! I am not hungry” is a spirit of Bushidoism or Samurai. It may be of interest to state here that there had been at first some children, who refused free luncheons notwithstanding they ate nothing for more than two days and some fathers and mothers who refused gifts from others.
In order to encourage the education of children in these districts, the Central Government made allowance of Yen 300,000 for them, Yen 120,000 for Miyagi Ken (Prefecture), Yen 110,000 for Fukushima and Yen 70,000 for Iwate Ken being respectively assigned.
The following, however, is the other side of society indispensably resulted from the famine:
CRIMINALS.
| Comparative Time | No. of Robbers | No. of Thieves | No. of Swindlers | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept.-Nov., | 1905 | 5 | 833 | 99 | 937 |
| “ “ | 1904 | 5 | 123 | 36 | 163 |
| Dec. | 1905 | 1 | 363 | 70 | 434 |
| “ | 1904 | 1 | 69 | 36 | 106 |
| Jan. | 1906 | 1 | 266 | 27 | 294 |
| Jan. | 1905 | 0 | 80 | 0 | 80 |
| Feb. | 1906 | 1 | 211 | 51 | 263 |
| “ | 1905 | 1 | 46 | 22 | 69 |
In Sendai City, at the beginning of the famine, all rice dealers constituted a trust in order to enhance the market price of rice. Mayor Hayakawa determinedly imported rice from Tokyo at his own risk to the amount of about 102,600 bushels to check the trust, which was, in consequence, almost panic-stricken and had to bring down the price lower than before. Currency being scarce at the time in this district, he issued temporary notes to be used for paying wages only on public works. These notes could be exchanged for foods only, not for wine or liquor nor for tobacco, and are even to-day in circulation among wage-earning people there. I enclose herewith their samples.
Speaking generally, all sufferers have now been rescued from starvation throughout these three famine stricken districts. It is not any exaggeration to say that many lives have been saved through the generosity of American people, and that every peasant, rich and poor, or wise and ignorant, has more than highly appreciated the kindness and sympathy you have extended to him so practically.
In Sendai City, at my request, Hon. Kamei, President of Miyagi Red Cross Branch, introduced me to foreign missionaries living there, whose names, it gives me great pleasure to mention here, were:
Mr. W. E. Lampe, Mr. C. S. Davison, Mr. C. Jacquet, Dr. J. H. DeForest, Mr. M. B. Madden.
I dined with them and enjoyed the party to a full extent. Scarcely need be said that these missionaries have played a great part especially by this critical time in helping the sufferers. I have no doubt that the former’s effort in enlightening, in addition, the latter in every respect together with all classes of people must have been and will be more than the whole Japan can repay.
At the close of this statement, I take great pleasure in adding that all foodstuffs purchased with your contributions have been distributed among the sufferers separately from others stating at each time to the effect that those articles were the gifts of American people, to whom the President Roosevelt and Christian Herald appealed for the alleviation in behalf of the famine stricken districts. All the head men of counties, towns and villages whom I met while on my trip requested me to convey to you their heartfelt gratitude for all the kindness you have tendered them. Enclosed is one of the letters of thanks, which has been addressed and forwarded to our Count Matsukata from the representatives of the sufferers, asking him to convey to you their highest appreciation.
Thanking you in anticipation for your kindness in reading this report, which I now have the honor to submit to you.
I remain to be, dear sirs,
Yours obediently,
BARON T. OSAWA,
Vice-President, Red Cross Society of Japan.
Meiji 39th year, 4th month ....day.
The American Red Cross Society,
Your Society having felt pity at the distressed condition of the people occasioned by the famine last year in this district, has expressed deep sympathy and collected extensive contributions for the purpose of affording relief, to be distributed through the proper authorities.
We immediately bought rice with the money and distributed it among the poor people of this village, fully explaining the philanthropic spirit in which you sent it. The people, who were in extreme poverty and could not follow their occupations, were deeply impressed by your kindness, and felt ashamed at their lazy habit, swearing that they would rise and exert themselves in future. They received the gift with tears of gratitude and bowed heads.
I hereby have the honor to express the sentiments of gratitude on behalf of the people of this village.
It is desired that your Society will kindly communicate the foregoing to the President.
Village of Niita, Adachi county, Fukushima district, Japan.
(Seal) SHOZO YENDO,
Village Magistrate.