The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-11-03
midas FAMINE OUTLOOK.
SUFFERING NOT LIKELY TO BIZ As
SEVERE As IN FORMER YEARS.
Impro.ed Transportation VIII Help
the Stricken Districts-Present
and Past Conditions.


and the possibility of famine in that coun-
try have attracted the attention of the |
world Insufficiency of moisture recurs al !
most every season i'm one part OF the coun-
try or another but il is only when large
areas are affected that public attention is
drawn to the disturbance or the special IN
PREVENTION of the supreme government III
India is requisite.
Not less than nine great famines have &C.
CURED there within the last siXty-iiVe years
those of 1894. 1851 and 1SiI-'s having
been amongst the most serious. 1t was the
last three disasters which led to the APP
pointment of the famine commlslsoh anu
the adoption OF measures for the proven
ton and relief of these calamities oppor-
tunity will now be presented OF testing the
efficacy of the methods of combating the
trouble now threatened. Nothing OF the
kind at all approaching it in magnitude
has happened in India for nineteen years
and il is perhaps an advantage, so Tar as
the government is concerned, that the area
at present thr eatened is approximately tue
Same as that of the last great famine OF
1s77-7s, the history and incidents Oh which
were infinitely recorded, and were MADE
the basis of plans for prevention ana al
deviation.
he well to understand the facts OF the. pres
ont scarcity and its threatened increase
Last winter, owing to insufficient rainfall
tho cold weather food crops in the northern
nrovinces of which wheat and some OF the
mil,ets are the principal elements, were
scanty. and prices have been slowly ad-
vancinp during the last few. months. The
time is now approaching when these grains
should be sown for reaping In the carry
spring months of 1897, but as YET the ram
fail has been too slight TO soften the sou,
and III no relief Snould come before tne emo
of th, nresent month land which is not fur
nished with the means OF 1rr1Sation from
canals watercourSeS or wells must remain
to a large extent unproductlVe next winter.
~ - thns the prospect of the failure of the
harvest in the spring OF next year, ia.hei
than scarcity of present supplies, Wnlch Is
to he feared For, in addition TO the re-
seryes of previous crops, the summer crop
of "jowar," a millet grown between June
and September, has tended 10 mltgate the
effect of the deficient harvest OF last WINTER
AREA THAT HAS IRRIGATION.
The proportion of the cultivated area in
the Punjab, the northwest provinces and
Dude which possesses the means of arti-
| fetal irrigation amounts to fully % per
| cent. and much of this was destitute of
such provision twenty years ago. over so
much of the threatened area, therefore, the
| effect of continued absence of rain will
| merely be to increase the cost of cultiva-
| ton by the necessary payment for water
supply To this section must be added
| those portions of the area in question
| which have received the beneht OF local
| rain, for deficiency is rarely, If ever, uni
versal in the worst occurrences or this
| kind.
| The means of communication with and
in these districts have been enormously in
| creased since the last great famine. The
| total length of railway at work in the CEN
| trail provinces, the Punjab the northwest
| provinces and Dude has been augmented
| during this interval from 2,46O 6. "a miles.
| The Importance of this change can only be
| appreciated when ii is remembered that in
| previous visitations the worst consequences
| of famine-starvation and death--might
| have been enormously reduced. If not alto
gether averted, If facilities had been in ex-
| istence for bringing food from districts
| where ii was plentiful to those in which
| it hardly to be obtained at all. Then,
too, the charge for the conveyance of grain
| on railways has been materially reduced.
| No doubt there still remain many popu-
lous parts of the threatened area which
| are still remote from railways, canals ar
navigahle streams, but glance at the rail
way map of India is sufficient to show
that the northwest provinces are. more
fully covered by iron roads than any other
portion CT the country. Thus the extreme
| ly high prices of former famine periods are
all but impossible. 1t is TO doubt quite
true that the spread of railways has led
! to a red Jction of the large reserves of food
grains which from time immemorial ii has
4
| create But as matter OF fact, these
| great accommodations in one part of the
country or another were never fully avaiia-
| BILE for famine relief so long as the means
| of conveying them to the places where they
| were wanted were noneXStent.
| Moreover. sources of external supply are
| now within reach which We're barely
thought of twenty years ago. Within the
last three weeks cargoes. of wheat have
| States and even from this country-an oc
currence the like of which has never before
been heard Of
BETTER OUTLOOK THAN IN 1877.
1t is thus pretty clear that even If the
worst fears are realized in the total failure
of the winter crops over large areas of un
irrigated land the disastrous consequence
of the famine of 1S17-7S will not be repeated
or even approached.
1t is likely, however, that the government
will make preparations for affording relic
whenever it shall become necessary. Oh
former occasions Of this kind assistance
has sometimes been withheld until tn
needy applicant has parted with most o
his property. 1t was abundantly proved b.
the Investigations of the famine commits
sion that such a policy is mistaken, as wei
as cruel The slender possessions of the ap
plicant for relief are often his instrument
of industry, and even If they were not tn
price obtainahle for them at Al season o
scarcity is outNof all proportion TO their or
| binary value. because. buyers are few an
| sellers are many. VI course the cost o
! famine relief is a great burden upon tn
| treasury, not only because of the great
Increased expenditure, but also because O
| the necessity fer the remission of land rev
; | enue in those districts where the crop
: | have failed. But those losses are sprea
! over the whole country and the financia
J secretary is already empowered under tn
| famine insurance statutes to borrow in OF
der TO provide for such exigencies.
1t is to be apprehended that one result
| the scarcity will be a considerable fallin
off in the distribution of clothing. the cor
| sequences of which will he felt by MANI
= | facturers of cotton goods both in LaI
, what advanced prices of food resutin
from the short grain crops of last wintt
:. | have already done something to lessen u
= demand for cotton goods. The effect
: this direction of the still greater disast,
y now apprehended must. of course be COZ
, Siderably more grave. Meanwhile there
Z still room TO hope for a material lessenir
( of the trouble if rainfall in quantity suh
cient to allow of the sowing of the croI
should be announced within the next for
night and if the winter rains should M
be seriously deficient
Death by famine is a slow and insidiol
disease which kills long before it's victim
are really dead. A special popularity
the losses by previous famines was tn
thousands upon thousands OF poor Poop
persisted with plenty OF good food with
their reach. because the vital powers h;
came to hand. There is time in slo
starvation when the enfeebled frame ceas
10 be able 70 rebuild itself II may arri
while the starved are still apparently W.
and BILE TO work but it's strange and &C
, ! tain operation is that GOO 000 human ere
!, of emacia ton just when this system of 7
u ef and supply has apparently triumphe