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 ,000. The present famine bids fair to beat the record in point of severity. The distress has already become acute. The worst time has yet to come, when summer sets in. This is the first time, I believe, that the British Colonies have been appealed to from India, and it is to be hoped the response will be generous. The Central Famine Committee at Calcutta must have exhausted all the resources before deciding to appeal to the Colonies. And it will be a great pity if the response is not adequate to the urgency of the appeal.

It is true that the outlook is not particularly cheerful even in South Africa, but it will be admitted that there can be no comparison between the distress in India and that in South Africa. And even if there should be a call on the purse of the Natal magnates on behalf of the South African poor, I venture to trust that that would not deter them from dipping their hands deep into their purses on behalf of millions of their fellow-subjects in India, who are on the verge of starvation. Whether it be in the United Kingdom or in the Colonies, I am sure British philanthropy will assert itself, as it has on previous occasions, on behalf of suffering humanity, no matter where and how often.

I am, etc.,

M. K. GANDHI

The Natal Mercury, 4-2-1897


 * 30This appeared under the title "The Indian Famine"

Appeal for Funds (3-2-1897)
[February 3, 1897]

DEAR COUNTRYMEN,

While we are having our meals daily, hundreds of thousands are dying of hunger in India. The dark shadow of famine has caused a gloom over our dear country. The people of India have applied to all under the British flag to send help to the starving millions there. It is, perhaps, not known to all of us that, without famine, 40,000,000 in India do not know what it is to have their hunger satisfied from year’s end to year’s end. Imagine, then, what must be the condition of our brethren i