October 26, 1996

On the morning after the 1992 Presidential election, Waldo County, Me., could easily have been called Perot County. With 36.2 percent of the county's vote, Ross Perot defeated Bill Clinton and George Bush. But this year in the same Maine county, there is little tangible evidence of support for Mr. Perot, like campaign offices and signs in yards and store windows. Interviews with more than two dozen county voters found that many did not take Mr. Perot seriously this time. Others said they were baffled by his timing in entering the Presidential race, his fight with Richard D. Lamm for the Reform Party's nomination and his choice of an obscure running mate.

Standard time resumes at 2 A.M. tomorrow, and clocks are set back one hour.

Bob Dole implores campaign audiences to 'rise up' against news media, which he says protect Clinton Administration and have liberal bias; tells appreciative audiences in Texas that Clinton has violated public trust, listing string of questionable practices; says country belongs to 'the people, not The New York Times'; also charges Democrats rush to naturalize criminal immigrants before Election Day; photo with wife and Gov George W Bush (S)

Mass Protest in Canada Thousands of Canadians paralyzed parts of Toronto to protest provincial government spending cuts that could reach nearly $6 billion. Page 3. Pace of Layoffs Was Steady New figures show that the rate of layoffs in the middle of the decade remained roughly constant compared with the early 1990's. Page 37 Disturbance in Florida A state of emergency was declared in St. Petersburg, Fla., after a fatal shooting by a police officer touched off a night of violence. Page 8.

Millions of poor farmers in Niujuan in northwestern China are living in state of hunger, poor health and illiteracy approaching deprivation levels of great famine of late 1950's; harvests have failed in four of last five years, peasants cannot send children to school, medical care is nonexistent and plague of rats is now feeding on pitifully small potato crop that must last through winter; Muslim villagers in Hui Autonomous Region say no official has ever hiked in to offer aid; new World Bank figures estimate that despite great economic gains in urban areas, about 350 million Chinese, one-quarter of population, are in substantial deprivation, subsisting on less than $1 a day; perhaps 15 million more are falling into poverty as moribund state factories jettison workers isn cities with no social security nets; photos; map; graph; big income disparities between rich coastal regions and poor inland regions have intensified; poorest people live in mountainous, desert and arid plateau regions where arable land and rainfall are rare; many are also from minority populations that were flushed into highlands centuries ago by conquering Han armies (M)